Mel's Box of Chocolates

Here in Delaware we have a new state test. No more week long tests with a big ol' workbook.  Nope. Instead, now we get to take two, 3 hour {or how ever long it takes} tests 3 times a year on an itty, bitty laptop. For my class our second test of the year is today.  We are the lucky ones and test on the first day that the testing window is open for the state.  Our school goal is for every student to raise their test score by 30 points, but nobody really knows what that is going to look like.  Will that be easy to do? Difficult? Impossible?  It's the unknown that scares me. It's funny because in my 6 years of teaching I've never really been worried about the state test.  I do what I do, my students do what they do, and it has always worked.  I've always seen awesome results and have been very proud of my students.  But this year it's different.  I just don't know what to expect. So if you get a second today I'd love if you would send ...

Last week I had one of those really bad days at school.  It seemed that every time I turned around somebody was being mean and it wasn't just my students.  People talking about other people, complaining about this and that, being straight up rude, and it annoyed the heck out of me. After school, Dylan asked me how my day was. I told him how tired I was of people just being plain mean.  That it made me feel sad. I shared that I hope he sees me and his dad trying to spread kindness in what we say and do.  I expressed my hope for him and his sister to become kind individuals.   He seemed to digest everything I was saying.  Then after a few minutes he finally spoke, "You know mom mean people do stink.  If we didn't have them then we would have world peace, but that isn't ever going to happen." From the mouth of babes.  

I never lived near my grandparents growing up so when we would make our annual trek to Michigan I so looked forward to seeing them. I have so many great memories from visiting.  One thing I remember is that when I would spend the night at my grandma's she would always make me a big bowl of Coco Wheats for breakfast.  It would be so creamy and chocolatey, but would also have these little lumps that I loved. Oh how I looked forward to that breakfast. At our house in Maryland though, my mom never could really find Coco Wheats. We would sometimes bring a box back from Michigan and it was a great treat to enjoy at home, but before long the box inevitably was empty.  I was thrilled when Dave and I moved to Delaware because lo and behold our local Food Lion had Coco Wheats!  However, I guess I was the only one who was excited about this because before long they stopped carrying it. Skip forward to yesterday when I was walking through Wally World when what to my wander...

My daughter is a Justin Bieber fan.  Now she has never seen him on tv, watched his music videos, or anything like that, but she did get his cd for her birthday and then this Christmas she got this in her stocking. She hung it up herself using tacks and a hammer. I couldn't figure out what she was doing in her room when I heard the banging and then went in to see Bieber hanging behind her bed. For the record, I did buy her the poster.  After asking daddy of course cause he wasn't so keen on Bieber.  He gave his permission though and Zoe was beyond thrilled when she opened it. But, after tucking her in and looking at the poster hanging there these last many nights, I started wondering.  Is 6 too young to have pictures of boys hanging on your bedroom wall? What say you?

Zoe is obsessed with her blond hair.  Seriously.  She loves it!  She can't understand why anybody would want brown hair and is often informing me of how jealous I am of her color hair.  The other day at dinner she was once again discussing hair color and cracked me up with her understanding {or lack of} genetics. As we were eating she got quiet for a minute and you could tell she was puzzled about something. Then she said..."You know what I don't get mom?" "What don't you get, Zoe?" "How is that we {her brother and her} are blondies, when you and daddy are brownies?" I found her words to be hilarious. Oh and for the record both daddy and mommy were blond as could be when we were kids.  I don't know what Zoe is going to do when she starts going dark!

Let me tell you a short story. Once upon a time, I remember asking my mom how old she was.  Her response, "I can't remember, let's see I was born in ___ so that would make me ***".  I thought wow she must be getting really old if she can't even remember how old she is.  Skip a few years. The other day I had a student ask me how old I was.  I looked at them for a minute and then they immediately apologized for asking me my age.  I think they thought I was offended because they asked {bravo to their parents for raising them right}, but truthfully I couldn't remember! I then blurted out "33"...no wait I can't be that old, so then I blurted "no I'm 31", then I ran away computing numbers in my head.  Let's see, I was born in '78, so in 2008 I turned 30, and now it's 2011 so...ohmygosh I will be 33.  I really am that old. I remember turning 30. Was that really 3 years ago ? Where did those years go ? Am I the on...

When Zoe heard that Miss America was going be on TV she couldn't wait to watch it.   Last year she participated in the Little Sister Program which is part of the Miss Delaware Pageant and she had a ball.  She got to get dressed up, dance a number on stage, and escort a Miss Delaware participant {Miss Rehoboth Beach} during the evening gown performance.  She was in heaven!  So Saturday night Zoe and me cuddled up in bed cheering on Kayla, Miss Delaware.  Since Zoe had met Kayla during the Little Sister Program she was intent on her winning and when it looked like she wasn't going to even make it to the semi-finalists the tears began.  Thankfully though Kayla came through as a people's choice and continued on. and she continued and continued until she got into the top 10, a record for Miss Delaware. GO KAYLA!! Sad to say though that is as far as she got. We are still proud of her though and as a mom I'm th...

Growing up my parents house always looked perfect {or at least that's how I remember it.}  Everything had it's place, it was clutter free, and every Friday was cleaning day where we didn't just pick up, but actually dusted, vacummed, or mopped.  Yes, EVERY Friday!  I was in charge of the living room and dining room and my bedroom. Speaking of my bedroom, I swear it was always neat and tidy.  My mom may be able to remind me otherwise, but I'm pretty confident that she would agree with me that I kept it looking pretty good.   Now jumping into the future, if you would visit my classroom you would find it very neat and organized. Everything has a place, there are labeled containers, notebooks, shelves, cabinets...my desk is clean {it drives some of my fellow teachers crazy}, and even my pens and Sharpies are organized in the spinner on the corner of my desk.  I like things neat. I like things tidy. I thrive on organization. So what's the problem?...

Last Christmas my mother-in-law and sis-in-law taught me how to knit.  They patiently worked with me and my clumsy fingers to teach me the garter stitch, then the purl stitch, then how to cast on, how to cast off, and even how to fix a few mistakes.  I was shocked that I could really knit!! For a couple months, I knitted away.  I had a little shopping bag with my project and wherever I went, the bag went. I signed up on Ravelry. I bought a pair of my own wooden circular needles. I bought my first skeins of yarn ever. For a few months, I was hoooked. Then my love of knitting fizzled. Looking back I don't know what happened really, but eventually my two bags of unfinished scarves was stuck in the corner of my bedroom behind a chair. Then came this Christmas break. With the frigid temp, the Christmas snow, and the roaring fireplace, I began to have an itch to knit.  I got out the bags and prepared to google some knitting videos to remind me how to knit....

I have a confession to make. I didn't know if I made a resolution last year or not! I had to go back in the box of my chocolates to see if I created one and if I did to see what the heck my resolution was for 2010.   After a bit of digging I eventually found it .  I think it was a pretty decent resolution actually. I've sat here reflecting on whether or not I would consider my resolution a success.  Did I relax?  While I definitely let some things go last year and chose to live in the moment, I still found myself often getting into a tizzy about things that were pretty much completely out of my control. I will say that last summer I rocked being unplugged and spending time with the family.  I was determined to really get out there and enjoy life rather than living to just blog about it!  Our summer was full of beach adventures, geocaching, crabbing, fishing, bike riding, and just having fun.  It was awesome. Then in some ways I thin...

To participate in  Jo-Lynne's Blog Recap Carnival  you have to take "time to look back over the year and share the first line of the first post each month." I dug into the bottom of my box of chocolates and hunted down the first post of each month in 2010. You can click on each month to find the whole post along with the others I wrote that month.   So this is is what I found... January  Our Christmas break got off to a zip-a-dee-doo-dah start when we got to see Disney on Ice Let's Celebrate Show in Philly. I shared a montage of pix that I took during our night out.  We love attending live shows and we were lucky enough to go to a few last year. February So excuse me while I build a snow family and a snow fort! This was the first post of many documenting our adventures in surviving the snowpocalypse that hit Delaware last winter.  We got hit with one storm and then another and I loved every minute of it!!! March So this weekend I'm att...