Friday, February 22, 2013

James K. Polk

 Amelia's 3rd grade class had to write reports about a president. They chose by drawing out of a hat and Amelia got James K. Polk... who is he? I asked the same thing, but over the last month I learned a lot about our 11th president.

All the research and writing Amelia did ended with a living was museum show put on by all the third graders. They could either dress up like their president or make a poster. Amelia, like most of the kids, dressed up and she really got into it! She even wanted to spray her hair white. We found a blazer for $9 at forever 21 (I figure Anna can wear it when she has this project in two years). 

It was pretty cute to see all the students dressed up reading their reports, I think they all had fun. When we got home we took a few photos. Amelia was cracking me up with her poses. Her report is below.
The real James K. Polk




Hello, I am James K. Polk, the 11th president of the United States. I’m going to tell you a story about my interesting life as president.   
                                                     
Early Life
                  This is some info about my early life. I was born on November 2, 1795 in North Carolina. My parents, Samuel and Jane, were who gave birth to me. My mom had no job. My dad was a slave owner, farmer and surveyor. My brothers and sisters were Jane, Lydia, Franklin, Marshall, John, Naomi, Ophelia, William, and Samuel. My education was from the University of North Carolina. I was also a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. I married Sarah Childress  and I had no children. Now that was all of my early life.

Presidency
                  I was a very busy president, but I kept laser focus on my agenda. I was in office for only one term. My political party was the Democratic Party. My vice president was George M. Dallas. During my presidency a crack in the liberty bell occurred and it proves not to be rung anymore. In 1848, I made the treaty with Mexico. That gave the U.S. control over California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. In 1846, the Oregon Treaty prevented war between Great Britain and the United States in who would own Oregon. I did have a ton of things going on while I was president.

Post Presidency
When I retired from the presidency, I lived in a mansion in Tennessee. I had only 103 days to live after I retired. My cause of death was cholera. Cholera is an illness. My date of death was June 15, 1849. I wish I could be president again.

Conclusion
    I am remembered as the best one term president. Here is some of my legacy: I wanted to gather as much land in the western hemisphere as possible in the union, knowing everyone would be involved. I lowered tariffs and I ran circles around congress. I loved the chance to be the president of the United States of America!




Friday, February 15, 2013

A box is just a box... or is it?

click to enlarge image

In my futile attempt to clean out the basement I brought up a stack of old boxes to recycle. My first mistake was not taking them out to the bin that very minute. Because when the girls got home from school their eyes got big when they saw the mound of boxes. "Can we have those", Amelia asked. I could see her mind twirling with ideas of what grand item she could create.

I said maybe if you get all your homework, etc. done. Here is my second mistake... I should have taken them out to the recycle bin right then and maybe they would have forgotten about them. Out of sight, out of mind.

Later that night I went into the kitchen to find this mess! Brian doing the dishes amongst two feverishly working kids... cutting, taping and creating. They were having so much fun and enjoyed their homemade rocket ships.

I'm glad they had fun, I would never like to stifle anyone's creativity! But you know later that night where those boxes went... into the recycle bin!!

Don't worry, we all had an agreement that these projects could not stay and the girls understood.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Amelia's 2013 Valentine Cards

We came across these fun mustaches at the party store, 12 in a package for $4. Amelia did the heart drawing and wrote the message (under the mustache it says "moustache"). I scanned it all in and gave it a fun background and colored the heart red.  We were going to use glue dots to stick the mustache to the card but the paper backing so was slick nothing would stick to it. I even tried the glue gun and that was a bust. So we ended up just taping them on... not as pretty but it works! 

I think the kids in her class will sure get a kick out of them!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Anna's 2013 Valentine Cards


One of my valentine sweethearts!

We came across these cute erasers at the party store, 24 in a package for $6. Anna did the heart drawing and wrote the message (her heart drawing cracks me up, I love his teeth). I scanned it all in and gave it a fun background and colored the heart red. I had the plastic baggies leftover from another project. We think they turned out super cute, she can't wait to give them out to her class on Valentine's day!





Friday, February 1, 2013

Thinking Out Loud - Dressed Up

Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Jimmy and Mom - 1952


Have you ever noticed that most older people always seem dressed up? They are never hanging around in jeans and a t-shirt. They always seem to be nicely dressed. I always thought that was just a generational thing, they grew up in a different time. I wonder... when my generation are in their 80's how will we be dressed, will it be with the skinny jeans and t-shirts?

As I hit my... gulp... 40's I realized that I might be paying a little more attention to what I wear. Maybe if I am more polished with my clothing people will not notice those wrinkles around my eyes or those gray hairs. I know, I know.... you are saying to your self, what wrinkles, what gray hair? You are all too kind to me.

Then I thought maybe that's what all people do as they get older, they subconsciously try to over compensate in one area to deflect from another. Mmmmm, maybe that's really why older people dress up a bit more?

I'm not sure... only time will tell, 40 more years till my 80's... I wonder what we will all wear? I laugh a little at the idea of my fellow generation X's in skinny jeans and t-shirts at age of 80.