Our Weekend with Flat Stanley

How many elementary school teachers have heard of Flat Stanley? Yay! If you haven't, that's ok. Thanks to wikipedia (my official source for all knowledge/information), we can learn about him:

"Stanley Lambchop and his younger brother Arthur are given a big bulletin board by their Dad for displaying pictures and posters. He hangs it on the wall over Stanley's bed. During the night the board falls from the wall, flattening Stanley in his sleep. He survives and makes the best of his altered state, and soon he is entering locked rooms by sliding under the door, and playing with his younger brother by being used as a kite. One special advantage is that Flat Stanley can now visit his friends by being mailed in an envelope. Stanley even helps catch some art museum thieves by posing as a painting on the wall. Eventually Arthur changes Stanley back to his proper shape with a bicycle pump.


The Flat Stanley Project was started in 1995 by Dale Hubert, a third grade schoolteacher in London, Ontario, Canada. It is meant to facilitate letter-writing by schoolchildren to each other as they document where Flat Stanley has gone with them. Dale Hubert received the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence in 2001 for the Flat Stanley Project. The Project provides an opportunity for students to make connections with students of other member schools who've signed up with the project. Students begin by reading the book and becoming acquainted with the story. Then they make paper "Flat Stanleys" (or pictures of the Stanley Lambchop character) and keep a journal for a few days, documenting the places and activities in which Flat Stanley is involved. The Flat Stanley and the journal are mailed to other people who are asked to treat the figure as a visiting guest and add to his journal, then return them both after a period of time. The project has many similarities to the Travelling gnome prank except, of course, for the Flat Stanley Project's focus on literacy."


So there it is! The fabulous and fun Miss Riley is doing Flat Stanley, and I was only too happy to participate!

We decided to take Flat Stanley out with us on a Friday night date to Wendy's.

Stanley saw a car get pulled over! Unfortunately, we were late and missed the car that actually got pulled over. We just managed to get the cruiser before it pulled away too!

So....delicious...

On Saturday, we took Stanley to a place we just knew he'd love:

Guess what else is cool? On the Idaho Falls Public Library website, I found out that: "The children's classic, 'Where the Red Fern Grows,' was written during the period when the author, W. Wilson Rawls, lived here in Idaho Falls, Idaho from 1958 to 1975. To commemorate this event, a statue has been placed on the lawn of the Library. Our thanks go to the generous support of people from all over the United States who helped this dream to come true. The life-sized statue depicts Billy Coleman and his two hounds and was created by Marilyn Hansen, a local Idaho Falls artist."

Lucky Stanley! So we got some pictures of him with the statue.

That was a super cool bench. It was sea themed.

And then guess what book we found...? 

We had fun reading together.

Thanks, Blake, for letting us join you on your Flat Stanley adventure! He'll get put back in the mail on Monday to end his journey in Idaho Falls. We had fun!

MUS-ic

Pandora

Did you know that apparently the Greek gods offered her "seductive gifts"? Her name means "all-gifted" or "all-giving." Her other name is Anesidora, which means "she who sends up gifts," up implying from below, within the earth (Hephaestus, under Zeus' orders, molded her out of the earth. It was part of the punishment because of Prometheus' theft of fire).

Pandora has been my savior when it comes to music. I need new music pretty much every other day. And Pandora is how I fulfill this need. I find it a very fitting name for that online radio station. So, well done, Pandora creators. Well done.

With the help of Pandora, I have decided to do a "song of the week" type of thing, more for my sake than anyone elses' (just to help me keep finding new music to be interested in).

I just can't help but love what I've discovered.

I've got a good list so far. You guys know how I love to share music. 

So here is the first installment of our weekly music education:

Noah & the Whale

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure how I don't already know about them. How could I have possible gone 6 years without them? I don't even know. But it was love at first listen. 

"Noah and the Whale (stylised "Noah & The Whale") are an English indie folk band from Twickenham, London, England formed in 2006.^[2] The band consists of Charlie Fink (vocals, guitar, ukulele, mandolin), Tom Hobden (fiddle/keys), Matt "Urby Whale" Owens (bass guitar), Fred Abbott (guitar/keys), and Michael Petulla (drums). ... The name 'Noah and the Whale' is a combination of the title of one of the band's favourite films, The Squid and the Whale, and the name of the film's director, Noah Baumbach.^[3] They are also avid fans of the film director Wes Anderson, who helped produce The Squid and the Whale; the group's e-mails, and many of their MySpace blog posts are signed "Sic Transit Gloria", a phrase frequently used in Anderson's film Rushmore" (thank you, wikpedia). 

"Love of an Orchestra"

"Blue Skies"

"5 Years Time"

I really, really love all three of these songs. I love most of their songs. They make me so happy.

So, enjoy! Normally I don't plan on doing three songs per artist. Just a song will do, I think. But I just couldn't resist sharing three of my new favorite songs with you!

I'm just SEW enjoying my free time

People always ask me what I do with all of my free time now that I'm done with school and I'm not working (don't have a full-time job. I've been hired as a sub--woohoo! Foot in the door! So I'm doing that and nannying now). Well, there are some days that I'm a total lazy bum and just play Zelda all day, but there are other days too where I do cool things!

Scottie (with the help of my fabulous in-laws) got me a sewing machine for Christmas. Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhh! All my sewing dreams come true!! Except one tine detail.

I don't know how to sew.   :(

Sew... I enlisted the help of my mom and Laurie. Laurie suggested a receiving blanket and some burg rags as my first project, as they were simple. And it was! She took me to Porter's and we picked out some gender neutral fabric, since, y'know...I'm not pregnant, and am therefore uncertain of future baby's gender. And ta-da!

I made a very cute (if I do say so myself) set for my friend Natalie and her baby. Silly me though, I forgot to take a picture.

Out of no where I kind of decided I really wanted a jean skirt. I must have seen a picture of a girl in one or something. Anyways, I remembered that Sara and I back in our high school sewing class made a few jean skirts. So I took an old pair of jeans that were just too long, and turned them into a skirt. I'm not sure how to wear it though...I'm still experimenting. Are they even in?? Oh well. I like it.

Then I went home and my sweet, sweet mommy bought me a skirt pattern, fabric, and some buttons. We got the majority of the skirt done in 2 days. Yay! I finally got it all hemmed last week so I got to wear it to church yesterday! Can I say I love it? Because I really do.

disclaimer: I'm not a model. I'm not very good at posing. I learned that during my senior pictures, and that fact was reaffirmed during my engagement and wedding pictures. But it's still fun. :)  We took this after church. On fast Sunday. That means I hadn't eaten anything all day and it was 4:30 in the afternoon. I may have been getting a bit....shall we say...disgruntled? Impatient, perhaps?

Not quite ready for the shot...

A little TOO ready...

Scottie you're making me so ANGRY! hahaha

I attempted to make a matching flower.

Oh and can I send a shout out to Sheena? Hey Sheena! THANK YOU so much for the prettiest tights! I got several compliments on them. :)

Mom also bought me all the DMC thread I needed to cross stitch this totally epic pattern. The only problem is, I have yet to find aida cloth big enough! So I may have to suck it up, go to Porter's, and buy a yard so I can do it. :P  Anyways, since I haven't been able to work on that one, I decided to make a bookmark out of a scrap I had.

Yay! It's a Zelda bookmark! This is pre-finish, though. I used Fray Check on the edges and then I used the blue thread to stitch it to the felt to hide the back. Sew cool. Power, wisdom, and courage unite! I found this website that has a bunch of free Nintendo themed patterns. Does life get much better? Not really! Now if only I could find the aida cloth I want...!

Anyways, let this be proof to all those who may think that I lounge around doing nothing. I'm trying to develop other talents. I'm all sorts of inspired!

Sessions and Burgers

A few weeks ago, Brooks and Laurie told us about some food show they watched that featured a burger place in Salt Lake that put pastrami on their burgers. Were Brooks and Scott into that? Oh yeah. So we made plans for President's Day to go down for a session in the Salt Lake Temple and for lunch at Crown Burger.

So fun.

At Crown Burgers. We were going for the temple in the background.

Peacock interior? I'll take it.

It seemed oddly formal for a burger place...

Brooks checking out his Greek salad and burger.

My gyro. SOOOOOO yummy.

Laurie enjoyed some souvlaki.

Scottie and his burger with pastrami. He shared a little. yum.

Scott taste testing the souvlaki

After eating at the restaurant, we went to the mall. We spent most of our time at Barnes and Noble. :)

Scott was intrigued by these puzzles. He's a puzzle guy. :)

Hah. We saw this guy walking around with a green Mickey head. 

This is totally random, but this is chocolate. In the shape of the Big/Little Dipper. On my shirt.
I still have no idea how that happend.

It was a really fun over night trip. The live session was absolutely incredible, and I cannot believe how beautiful the Salt Lake Temple is. I just sat there the whole time thinking, "Yeah, I can see this taking forty years to build." I would highly recommend taking the opportunity to go if you get the chance. I would definitely like to go back. I guess that's one of the blessings of living in Idaho Falls. I have to say, that is one of the neat things being here--the Idaho Falls Temple is also an old one, so it's pretty neat going there too. Can I just say how much I love going? Because I really really love it. It makes me feel really happy. :)


p.s. I fixed the videos on my previous blog so you can watch them now, if you feel so inclined. I felt really silly when Scott went to watch them and couldn't. Also, if you haven't scrolled down to the bottom of my page, do it! I have this really cool owl on a tree limb down there. It's cute. :D

Singing Time

I was fortunate enough this last visit home to be a part of Tasha and Beth's ukulele time.

heck yes!


So Tasha picked out "White Winter Hymnal," a really cool song by the Fleet Foxes (who she introduced me to, btw). Pretty incredible trio, so we decided to put it to the ukulele!

I would like to dedicate the "oohs" in this song to Mr. Jordan. Thank you, high school choir. 

At the beginning of the week I made Tasha and Beth listen to one of my new favorite songs: "Somebody I Used to Know" by Gotye (please don't ask me to pronounce it. I have no idea. I should look it up, but I'm too lazy for that). Awesome song, right? Unfortunately none of us knew it very well, so it was definitely a work in progress. It was still a work in progress when we recorded it, but I was leaving the next day, so it just had to get done.

disclaimer:   I do not, nor  have I ever, claim to be a solo singer. I am  better at and feel more comfortable in groups. I do much better in "White Winter Hymnal" than I do in this one. So no judging, please. We sing for pleasure and fun and general togetherness, not to show off. :)

I was having some serious issues getting my part right. :P  But this was  the best we could come up with, lol.

 

I am posting this one just to prove that I can sing my two verses, lol. I don't claim to be the best singer, but I can come in on time, I promise. 

I can't even tell you how many times we recorded these two songs. It was great. And hilarious. And more great. 

We're already planning for next time Sheena is with us.

If you're interested in the originals, here they are:

I love my sisters. I love how we spend our time together. We're so much fun!

Fashion Show

This fashion show was particularly enjoyable, as it was my husband doing the showing.

He hasn't bought a new suit since his mission (in case anyone was wondering, that was like....5-6 years ago). Needless to say, they don't fit quite like they used to. (...I <3 you Scottie! :)

Brooks told Scott he was going through his closet and found several suits he didn't wear anymore, and gave Scott the go ahead to pick out at least two. He also gave Scott two new belts: brown and black. Woohoo!

So, without further ado....THE SHOW!

For your information:

The show must go on.

Ow ow, baby!!

Brooks acting as his "dresser"

He is just sooooo dreamy.   :-}

"Hey, there's a pen in this jacket!"

Get ready for it...

BAM!!! Except...nobody but me is allowed to check out that oh-so-cute hiney. That's why his cute bottom pictures are EXTRA large...

"I like all your parts."

This is when Laurie looks away, thinking aloud that maybe she's glad we don't live with them.
Scott's response? "I have to keep her interested somehow, Mom!"

Thank you, Brooks and Laurie, for sharing your nice things with us. It's very much appreciated.

Men always look particularly nice in suits.

Curiouser and curiouser...

I posed this question to my 6th graders when we discussed similes:

How is a raven like a writing desk? 

This is what I've been in the mood for lately, so this is what I'm currently watching: 

This is an old made for TV version from 1985. It follows both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Lookinglass. It's a movie my sisters and I grew up on; I've probably seen this one more than the Disney one because it is so much more  awesome.

I mean, check but a few characters from this cast:

John Stamos as...um, some servant to the White King.

Carol Channing as the White Queen

Sammy D. as the Caterpillar

And.... (drum roll, please) 

Ringo Starr as the Mock Turtle

He sings a fabulous song about nonsense and how we simply can't live without it (postively true, if you ask me). 

All it took was a few minutes of this movie, seeing Alice with her drinks and cakes and cool keys...

and we were off on our own adventures.

I don't think many children pretend very well nowadays. I want my kids to be able to play with a big fridge cardboard box and a drying rack and go off to other worlds like my sisters and I used to. It's so important for kids to do that and just be kids. I am going to make my children read a lot. Though, with them being from Scott and I, I don't think we'll ever have to "make" them read.

It's kind of fun babysitting and getting to pretend with kids. I can't do it for very long, but it's a little liberating at the same time. :)