What I Found in My Mom's Flip...

A couple videos I wanted to save on youtube.com...

Morgan singing the cup song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5M8YJpt8Rg&feature=c4-overview&list=UUlEiBflpzVOnuPlwMTh3iCQ

Jacob and Morgan playing with Reese:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JDTLVYc6No&feature=c4-overview&list=UUlEiBflpzVOnuPlwMTh3iCQ

And these pics:

This was at the Wax Museum

We took this for Aunt Debbie.

And this was at the Ripley's Odditorium.  This room took your picture, then turned it into a shadow.

This is Jacob and Morgan posing as the weird camera/light thing moved over them.

And this is the finished product.  They are not standing behind the screen or anything-they have walked away and their shadow stays up there.  They could have stayed in this for a long time, but there were people behind us.

Morgan's 2nd Grade School Work

Thought I would also post some of my fave Morgie Porgie originals.

I posted this one mainly to serve as the perfect example of the differences between a girl and a boy.  Did you see anything nearly this neat and organized in the post of  Jacob's 2nd grade work?  No, you didn't.

Letter to Santa concerning the Elf on the Shelf in her classroom (yes, both Jacob's and Morgan's teachers from last year are to blame for that $30 stuffed elf.  And apparently it is an epidemic because this year's teachers joined in this activity designed to keep moms awake THAT much longer  nurture the magic of childhood. 

What can I say about this that you aren't already thinking? She IS too awesome for the town.

 I would like to point out, however, that the girl apparently had something running down her chin.  Interesting.  But not surprising.

An award.  Would you like to know why Jacob doesn't have any of these on his post? It ain't because he doesn't make good grades.  It is because his school "doesn't do awards to avoid making anyone feel bad."              I know. 

These next two pages were joined together.  

 Morgan should be ashamed of herself.  

Making those other kids feel so bad about themselves.  Geez.

 Again...

 and again...

 and again.  Such an inconsiderate child.

Their class evidently wrote to the Mayor of Lakeland.  I like what she felt was important to discuss.  I bet there were some kids who wrote about how bad they felt because she got awards and they didn't. 

And the mayor wrote back.

Quite the interesting description of how to make a pumpkin pie.  Please make sure the flour is not showing.  I hate that (how many 7 year old kids even know the difference between "flower" and "flour"???)  Also, I like the extra little touch she added in there, just to make it her own: granola.  Sounds delish.

 Everyone in Morgan's world is awesome.

This is apparently from 1st grade, which made me look back and notice that there are a couple other things from 1st grade.  Oh well.  The important thing to note here is that Morgan was awesome in 1st grade, too.

The casualties are just adding up.

And last but not least, a self portrait, declaring that she? the world? the sun? is awesomeness.  

**For memory purposes, I would like to note that Morgan and I are currently involved in a heated debate over which one of us came up with the word, "awesomeness."  I did, of course, but she thinks she did.  As if all those awards weren't enough, she has to take credit for the awesomeness of inventing a word.  I feel a therapy session coming on.

Jacob's School Work 2nd Grade

The genius and talent continues...

So this was a self portrait.  Yes that is a crown on his head, mustache and separate goatee on his face, and bling hanging from his neck...

This isn't actually school work, but I had stuck it in his school work folder for some reason (can't imagine why my mind may have been scattered).  Jacob wanted to leave Elfis, his Elf on a Shelf, a snack one night.  He put a bowl of  *orange crackers out for Elfis, and wanted me to write a note instructing him to share.  The part about putting it in the sink was my own personal touch.  A Mama can dream can't she?

 Elfis wrote back (and did put his bowl in the sink).

*Jacob has always LOVED crackers.  All types.  So when he was really little, we started referring to Ritz crackers as "yellow crackers,"  regular plain crackers as "white crackers," and Cheezits as "orange crackers."  And we totally still do, to this day.

Apparently we are going to get a yearly bowl of fruit painting.  I'm cool with it.

Spring time thoughts, by Jacob...

 For those of you who don't know, people go to parks during spring-OBVIOUSLY.  Also, Spring is epic.

 Not sure what the point of this was...just a personality description?  Well, it turns out, Jacob might be a ninja.

Ohhhhhh, I'm a dork.  And I don't even mind recording it for posterity's sake.  That thing above was attached to this pumpkin.  So I guess "I might be a ninja" is probably referring to what he might go as for Halloween.  I liked it better before I remembered...

 I think he was supposed to be writing this from a turkey's perspective.  A turkey made of medle (metal) that is...

Just a cute cat.  I thought it was pretty good. Also, it is blue.  While I do not know what the instructions were regarding choosing colors for their paintings (pick anything? pick something crazy?), I would like to mention that during my senior year, I took art (for an easy A).  And we made sculptures one time-I made a squirrel.  It was a pretty good one too.  Even brought in acorns one day to glue to his hands.  But when it came time to paint it, all the brown paint was being used.  So I painted it purple.  The look on my art teacher's face when she got that as the answer to her "Why is it purple?" question was pretty priceless.  I advise everyone to use this type of logic.

A book report project.  He was supposed to design a "cover" for the book we read.  In the book, Jack and Annie are trapped in a castle but manage to find a hidden staircase.  But the stairs lead to the moat.

This in fact did all happen.

 You might be thinking this is one of those Ink Blot tests.  You would be wrong.  It was a "symmetry project."  But if you read his description, he totally turned it into an Ink Blot test.  And I'm kind of happy about what he saw :)

 (parents kissing for those who can't read 8 year old boy spelling.

His hand print.  Sigh.

This is just kinda cool.  It was done with chalk? charcoal? I am clearly not an artist.

 This is about his friend Julian. They walk to and from school together.  They were in the same class this past year, and in kindergarten.

 In November, lots of things happen.  For instance, Mom gets out a heater.  And brothers and sister visit. 

 We are also apparently going to get a yearly "How to Cook a Turkey" narrative.  I'm actually hoping this does continue because it is fun to compare each year.  I am totally going to email his teacher this year and request it (note to self going on calendar now).  As you can see from his 1st grade post, Jacob "grilled" his turkeys last year.  This year we have changed to cooking it for 5 minutes.

 The next two were attached together (I remembered this time).  As you may be noticing, Jacob is a boy of a few words.  Why talk too much when you can say the important stuff in 5 sentences or less?

This is another book report project.  He had to read a biography on anyone he wanted.  He chose Troy Polamalu, a football player.  He read the book at home and took notes, but then made this at school, using the notes.  It was a whole body thing, and the arms opened up to reveal the facts about the person.

 If you will notice, he just repeats the same facts from the left section to the right section.  But they are interesting facts:  Troy has two sons, and he is famous for his hair (he's the player in the Head and Shoulders commercials).  And he has his hair insured for 1 million dollars.

These are the notes he took at home to bring to class that day to do the project.  Amazing how he managed to not fill in the entire 1-10 list and repeat the same few.

 Pumpkin.  No, I do not know what that thing is growing out of the bottom...

Weird creature/alien/bug/bird drawing.

A cute little hippo.  Don't know what the point was (and if you are wondering why I don't just ask Jacob about the things I don't understand, well, I did. And his answer was, "Mom, I don't remember.  That was a long time ago."  Even though I ask him the day the pictures get sent home...)

Tree house.  The house actually lifts up to reveal the tree underneath.

 This is a "Holiday Wishes" list.  To sum up, Jacob wishes everyone would be the same (?), he thinks it would be wonderful if "Christmas..." and doesn't finish the sentence, he wants to give "beaf" (beef?) to his friends, he repeats the word "happy" a couple times, and he hopes he is "not smelly" when he grows up.  Awesome.

Just, you know, being a genius.

 

My little boy's broken? badly sprained? ankle!

The rest of these are actually from all 3 grades (K, 1, & 2).  I had them in my decoration tubs for the appropriate holidays, but they were starting to get pretty numerous, and fall apart a little.  So I decided I better get them on here before they disintegrate.

I particularly like how the glue ran, then dried, so it looks like Rudolph is crying here.  Thoroughly accurate, I believe.

 Just a Christmas tree.  With a smiley face instead of a star.

This says, "My heart is happy."  O.M.G.  I can't tell you how happy this makes my heart.

  Hand print.  These just don't get old when they are little.

Now, what is great about this is that even though I know that says toys, it could totally be interpreted another way.  Like "tots" for instance, for a little shout out to Sonic.

Pretty sure this was kindergarten. 

Every Christmas needs someone singing the "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells" song.  I'm in love with the thought that the assignment probably called for the kids to write the lyrics to their fave holiday song.  And the teacher most likely intended for it to be a wholesome, classic Christmas Carol...

This sneaked in from last year too.

Oh the class pics.  Awesomeness

This past year's report card.

 Well this was my first indication that his 2nd grade teacher was horrible.  Although at the time I gave her the benefit of the doubt, since it was THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL when he brought this paper home.  You see, he missed 2.  Except that he didn't miss them.  He got them correct, but it is just difficult to see the answer because he colored over it in red.  Why did he color over the answer written in pencil with such a dark color, you ask? BECAUSE THE DIRECTIONS TOLD HIM TOO.  Note to self:  if the teacher is stupid already in the first week of school, IT IS ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE.