January Currently

What!! Already?? Farley has her January Currently already up and running.  I thought I would join in the fun before my family gets back from the beach and we begin our New Year's festivities.


So my kiddos got this new globe from grandma and it is really cool.  They are learning all kinds of facts about places all over the world.





You touch the globe with the pen and it tells you all about the city, country, etc...  It even has music from that region.  They have been playing the Egyptian music all day, lol!!

This toy might disappear into my classroom soon...

So this morning I got up early and decided it was time to hit the after Christmas sales and shop for myself.  I really need some new shirts.  I have plenty of jeans and scarves, but no cute tops to wear them with.  

I love shopping, but I love it when I am alone and have plenty of time to look at everything.  I do not like to be rushed.  Lets just say I was gone for 5 hours and was happy my girls were with their big sister who is here visiting from San Francisco. 

School starts on Thursday for us so I have two more days to procrastinate on my lesson plans, lol!!

My OLW is Balance.  I need to find time for all that I do and not let certain things...
ahem...blogging...surfing....pinterest.....facebook  get in the way of spending quality time with my family. 

I hope this New Years Eve is a fun and safe one for you!!  We always stay home.  My girls are still young and I don't like being out on the roads with so many people out partying.

 We will be up all night though.  Here in Hawaii the fireworks are insane!!  Seriously our neighborhood sounds like a war zone.  Hawaiians spend thousands of dollars on fireworks every year!!



It is super annoying, but luckily it happens only once a year.  They made fireworks illegal last year, but it didn't stop anyone.  They seriously go nonstop from dark until about 2 am!!  

You will all be celebrating the New Year before me, but I wish you the best and send lots of warm Hawaiian hugs and kisses your way!!









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New Year's Resolutions Linky

Aloha everyone. I am linking up with Jen over at the Teacher's Cauldron for her New Year's Resolutions linky.


This is a good one for me because you only need to post one resolution for blogging and one personal resolution.

Blogging

I just need to be a better blogging friend this year.  I started out visiting and leaving comments all over the place. Then once I started making products I got busy with that and things started to pile up from there.  I need to balance everything out and make time to read blogs and visit some of the newer ones that I just haven't had a chance to do yet.

Personal

This year I need to focus on the health of my family.  I have been so busy with working, blogging and surfing that cooking is just not something that takes priority for me.  I really want to start eating healthier and planning meals so that when I get home I don't just make peanut butter and jelly for dinner.  Honestly I am terrible!!

I love all those crockpot recipes that people talk about, but I have never taken the time to see if I could do it.  I want to plan my meals, and at least cook three healthy meals a week.  That should leave enough for leftovers right??

If you have any tips for me or great sites I would really appreciate it.

So those are my do-able resolutions, what are yours??

I want to read all about them so go link up with Jen.

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Winners!!

Thank you so much to everyone who left me a comment on my frames!!  I used a random number generator and these were my numbers ...





I will email you shortly with your new frames!!



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Vacation Creation

Aloha everyone!! I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas!  I have been enjoying my time here in Arizona with my family.  It has been very chilly and I have loved wearing turtlenecks, scarves and boots!  Our Christmas was lots of fun with tons of presents!  This is my favorite gift that I received from my little sis:)


It is a gray and silver sparkle chevron scarf from Armani.  I love it so:))  This is something I can wear at school for a few months when we have our chilly mornings.

It was really nice being here and really not doing much except eating and catching up with family and friends.  I brought my laptop with me, but my mother did not have WiFi until yesterday so I was forced to relax, lol!!

However, I am back online now and finally finished a few things that have been in the works for awhile.  

First I finished my heart frames that are similar to my Christmas frames.



And I have been playing around with some doodle borders.  I spend way too much time drawing these and then erasing them and doing it again!!  I finally stopped creating and decided I just needed to put it together into a pack and get it out there, lol!! 

 Honestly I am so thrilled that so many people liked my Christmas Doodle Frames!! Last time I checked they had been downloaded over 10,000 times!!




There are even more than what is displayed in the preview!

I really like the way they came out and now I want to start creating some items to use them in!!

I would love to share these two sets with some sweet fans. Please leave me a comment with your email and I will randomly select 3 people to receive both sets.  

I will pick the winners tomorrow when I get back to Hawaii!!

Time for me to board our flight back to the islands. Happy to go home, but sad to be leaving my family.  









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Silence For Sandy Hook Elementary











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Happy Holidays

Aloha Friends. I hope this post finds you healthy and thankful for all of the wonderful things that surround you.  I had planned another post today finishing out all of our holiday activities and in light of the awful events that occurred yesterday at Sandy Hook I just don't have the heart.

I just wanted to say how thankful I am for all the wonderful things that surround my life, especially my children and my family.  I am thankful for being able to have fun in a job that I love and have loved for 20 years and counting.

I appreciate each and every person who takes the time to stop by and read any of my posts. It warms my heart to know other teachers are out there sharing ideas and doing the best they can for their students.

I tend to live in a little bubble here in my island home.  I do not have television and we do not get radio reception.  I was told of the events that occurred yesterday after school and could not believe it.  I have not been able to sit down and process until this morning and my heart truly feels so sad for those involved.

The more I read the more tears that come.

I just want to wish each and all of my followers, fellow bloggers, teachers, mothers and families a wonderful and happy holiday season.  Take time to look around you and appreciate the little things that warm your heart.


I will leave you with something to lighten your mood.  This is the card my daughters and I made last year for Christmas.  My oldest is on the right, youngest on the left, mommy in the background playing the ukulele.







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12 On The 12th

Well today is 12-12-12 and I am linking up with Simpson's Superstars for her fun 12 on the 12th linky!


 
This is my  sweetie who wakes me every morning, no alarm clock needed!
 
 
We finished our elves and they came out really cute!!
 
 
The Gingerbread Baby Readers Theatre
 
 
Making Gingerbread Houses and a Graphing Activity
 
 
Happy Festive Kiddos
 
 
Finished Houses For The Gingerbread Baby
 
 
 
Making Our Own Gingerbread Babies
 
 
 

School Holiday Sing Along
 

 
Hawaiian 12 Days of Christmas
Perfect for Today!!
 
Hubby Making Dinner!!
My favorite thing;)
 
Go link up to share your 12 on the 12th!!
 
 
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Elf Yourself

I wasn't planning on posting today, but I had a request to share an ornament that I was planning on making with my kids this week.


I really love the Elf Yourself ornament idea that I found on this site



She has some really cute art ideas and lots of pictures!!

There was no template for making these so I decided just to make my own.




Nothing fancy, but it helps to have it all done already.  I plan to trace out onto different colored
paper and letting the kids take what they want to make their own.

You can grab this in my TpT Store by just clicking on the link or the picture.


I plan on giving them a few buttons and beads to embellish a bit.  I think they will love making them.

Hope you enjoy it!!


Classroom Freebies Manic Monday
 
Freebie Fridays

 


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Poinsettias and Surf Night

Aloha friends!! It is Saturday afternoon and I am now just sitting down to read through my emails and relax in front of the computer. This week has been busy and I am sure next week will fly by as well. I hope you have a cup of warm cocoa or tea as you read because you may be here for awhile!!

I wanted to share a cute project we did in class yesterday.

I was inspired by this idea on Art Projects For Kids.


I was looking for something festive for the kids to give as a gift and I thought this would be pretty. 
We talked about poinsettias which actually grow here. 
I have one on my kitchen table that I plan on planting in January.
I decided to use construction paper, because I had a difficult time tearing tissue paper myself.
I cut some red into 3x6 inch rectangles and some light green into a bit smaller pieces. I found some scrap pieces of yellow and let them get to work.



 They were such busy bodies!! The room was eerily silent and they worked hard to cut their papers just right. 

Once they finished I had them color with green.



Some finished, but others are still working hard to get them done.  I think on Monday I will have them color in a bit more so it looks a little darker like the one on the top left.  I may even have them paint with water color over the crayon to add another effect.
(WARNING)-The floor was a disaster!! I had a competition to see who could pick up the most paper at the end of the day.
After the bell rang I cut out of school a bit early to catch a quick surf before I headed back to school for our annual Surf Night fundraiser.
Each year at this time one of the biggest surf competitions is happening right across the street from our school.
The Triple Crown of Surfing ends at this beach park.  The best surfers in the world are in Town for this event which runs from November to the end of December depending on whether there are waves. 

This was at around 5:30 on Friday evening and the beach was packed.  The competition also turns our little town into 3 Ring Circus for this event. 




 So our PTCA has put this event to our advantage.  They host Surf Night every year and all the pro surfers come to our school to sign autographs for the community.  Many of the kids in our school have reltives who surf in the competition.
 Here is the line up already!!


 Inside our cafeteria all the sponsors for this event are posted.  All of these national and local companies donate items for our raffle.  If you buy a ticket, you will most likely win something. That's how many prizes there are!!
 This is where I volunteer, in the back next to the baked goods!! We also sell local food like Beef Stew, Curry and Spam Musubis.  All the parents donate the food and baked goods and we are busy selling all night long!


 Surfers signing autographs

This is one of my former students Kalani David. He was waving and yelling at me as I walked by, it was so sweet. You know those special students that you just seem to bond with and will always remember and love? He is one of them. How could you not love that sweet face?

 
He was one of my sweeties in my class 8 years ago.  He still gives me a big hug and is so happy to see me even as a teenager. He is an Amateur surfer now and at the highest level for his age. He travels all over the world for competitions.  He is also an amazing skateboarder and was in the X-Games this year.
  
Our teachers and office staff run the raffle along with the help of member of the community. They give away surfboards, skateboards, watches, jewelry, bikes, gift certificates, and tons of other items.

My daughters and I go every year for many reasons.
 One because I volunteer to work and have a great time supporting our school.
 Two because my daughters love it and all of their friends are there. 
Finally,  because of this man in the background picture above. (That's one of my sweeties this year in the pink)
 I wish I could say it was my hubby, but I call him my boyfriend, lol!!  This is Kelly Slater my number one favorite surfer. I have had a bit of a crush on him for about 15 years!! I have only worked at the school for 8 years and I had stars in my eyes when I first met him.  Everyone on staff teases me when he shows up and says "Your boyfriend's here!!"
This was last year.  One of my colleagues is good friends with him and took me over to meet him and take a picture. I was so nervous, but I love this picture!
Are you still here or did you nod off after the poinsettias??  Lol, I just wanted to share a bit more about why I am such a surf nut and what my life is surrounded by.  Mahalo for stopping by and have a great rest of the weekend!!


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