Gingerbread Men Cookies.

One thing that I learned about being a teacher is that you have to be flexible and just ignore the lesson plans sometimes. Today, my TA brought in this gingerbread man cookie kit and I went with it! She said that she was laying in bed when she got home after work yesterday and she sat up and said that she was on a mission to find gingerbread cookie kits.

I told her that in my class, I see her as a teacher, not only a TA...not that there is anything wrong with being a TA...I appreciate them, and I let all my TA's know that. They make MY life a lot easier! But I told her that if ever she had an idea that she wanted to do in my class, we can find time to do it...and so when she brought the cookies in...I said, why not?! Lets do it!

The kids loved it. I let them squeeze the icing onto the cookies and sprinkle the sprinkles onto their cookie. The kit had little candy balls that I decided not to give to the children, it seemed as if they could be a chocking hazard. But they still had a lot of fun! :)

Each cookie was different and unique and supper yummy looking! :)

And when my keikis saw that I was trying to take pictures of the cookies that they made, they wanted to put the toy dinosaurs there too. :) I love my keikis. I love making them smile. I love cookies. Not particularly in that order. :)

Cookies and Ice Cream.

The end of the month is here and I wanted to do something special for my keiki and so I asked my sister if she would make cookie dough for my classroom. Not just one flavor, but 3 flavors. I wanted them in dough form so that we can use the toaster oven to bake the cookies. I wanted them to experience them with all their senses and, no lie, I also wanted to eat the cookies! *laughs* But when my sister brought me the cookie dough, she didn't make only 3 flavors, but FOUR different flavors!

Chocolate chip, MINT chocolate chip, lemon, and coconut cookies! So, I had put all the dough together and had them smell the cookies and try to guess what the flavors where...and then we placed the cookies on the cookie sheet and put them in the toaster oven and we would check them and watch them bake. Each child got 1/4 of each cookie, I was NOT about to give the children all FOUR COOKIES...but they really liked the cookies...and of course, you couldn't have cookies without ice-cream. Well, you can, but where is the fun in that?!

So my friend had showed me a way to make ice-cream using only two ingredients, heavy whipping cream and sweetened condense milk. You mix those two ingredients together with a mixer, and add food coloring...and freeze it! Then you get some super yummy ice-cream!

I had some neon silicone snack container that I used to scoop some of the mixture in and then I let the children add the sprinkles and 3 chocolate chips each...and then we stuck in the freezer and had it for lunch. We were suppose to leave it in the freezer "overnight," but they were hard enough to eat 4 hours later for an after lunch snack. It was so ono and a lot of fun watching the children get excited about making their own treats!

Cookies, painted nails, and postcards.

Last night I did something that I hadn't done in such a long time. I painted my nails. Granted it is one of my simpler designs...but it's been months since I last painted my nails! And I have to admit...I miss seeing the flash of bright colorfulness throughout the day. I've always loved to paint my nails...it has always been very therapeutic to me. Then life happened and things got busy and I didn't realize that I was going a day, week, month, monthSSSS without painting my nails. There was a time where I use to paint and design my nails twice a week! My goodness...oh those young, carefree days. *laughs*

Anyways, I was on the phone with my friend, and she mentioned that she just painted her nails the colors of her son's baseball team, since the season started again for him. And she asked me what design I had on my nails...when I said my nails were only painted clear (just because I didn't design my nails, didn't mean I didn't clean them weekly and put a clear coat over them!)...so she told me to paint my nails. So I did.

Left Hand

Right Hand.

Like I said,  simple design...yet it made me happy to see my nails painted again. I think I should start doing that again...if I have the time! *laughs*

Today was a super busy day for me. But I have to say that it was a very productive day! I got a lot of thing done...and the last thing that I wanted to get done was my postcrossing postcards. I got the notice on Saturday that one of my postcards made it to it's destination...and that makes 15 total that I had sent out and was registered, which means that I can add one more postcard to send out at a time. So, I am up to 7 postcards out at the same time. I also got a message from someone asking if I wanted to direct swap with them, and I said yes, so I had to get that postcard done and sent off!

For some reason, I was craving something sweet, preferably chocolate-y when I was preparing my desk to choose and write the postcards that I needed to send out. I try not to keep sweets in my house since I do have the "happy drawer" full of all kine candy at my work. So I tried to ignore the craving, however when I went to my school bag to get the stickers and pens that I use to write the postcards, I saw that I had placed the cookies that my brother-in-law had gotten me from Big Island in my bag and it was still there...all perfectly air-title in a bag!

So as I did my postcards, I was silently sending thankful vibes over to my brotherIL for the yummy, yummy big Island Cookies!

Oh yes, Big Island is known for their yummy, yummy cookies...and I'm so glad that he got me some! :) But I am even more glad that he's back. He had to leave for a job that he had there...and I know that my lil DollGirl missed him a lot. I know she is a "Papa's Girl"...and so it was hard that he was gone for a few days. But he is back and he brought me cookies. :)

This postcard is going to France. I would love to visit France one of these days! That would be SO cool! This person (never mentioned if s/he was a male or female or their name) can speak and write in 4 different languages! That's pretty amazing! French, English, Spanish, and Chinese! That's pretty cool! "Person" had a few request on what postcards to receive, and one was "anything about your town, country, or culture) and I feel as if surfing (even though I don't surf) is a big part of our culture here in Hawai'i and so that is why I choose this postcard for this person. I wrote a few things about myself and how I would much rather go stand-up paddleboarding...but that I do love to go swimming. I hope s/he enjoys the postcard and that its gets to them safely!

This postcard will be making it's way to a lady in China tomorrow morning. I really like this card! And I hope she does to! She had a "My list (not must)" preference of postcards and "map card" was one of them. I hope that that qualifies! I love the "old world" feel to it...:) She wanted to know a little bit about me and so I told her basically the same thing that I told the postcard going to France...I wish this card a safe journey to China!

This is one of my favorite multi-view cards from Oahu. I don't know why I like it so much...maybe because it shows more diversity than other multi-view cards that I've seen, but I hope that Laura from Italy likes it! She had messaged me a few days ago asking if I wanted to do a Direct Swap with her and I had agreed. So I sent her my address and she wrote me back Saturday night with her address and informing me that she sent me a postcard last THURSDAY!...and so I had to wait to send her a postcard on Monday. So it's going out first thing in the morning! She seems like a really nice person! She wanted a multi-view card of where I lived and so that is why I choose this one. I put a sticker that says, "Fall in love with as many things as possible" on it with some candy stickers as well. And I also drew her a flower and since she mentioned that she wanted to learn words in other language, I told her about the word "Aloha" and how it is used here on the island and it's deeper meaning. I hope she likes the card!

I did receive a message from a postcrosser in Russia saying that she was going to send me another postcard because the one that she sent me didn't get to me. I have a feeling that postcards from and to Russia are going to be slow going. I did hear back from the first postcrosser that I sent a postcard to who happened to be from Russia. He is a very nice young man who is mastering the piano...and I think that that is awesome. I had written him telling him that I had sent him a postcard 3 months ago and if he got it...and I was willing to send him another one if he didn't  get my first one. He wrote back that he would appreciate it if I did send him another one and he would send me one too. So, I think that coming and going postcards from Russia are going to take a bit longer than everyone else...but that's okay. Patience, right?! :)

Exploring.

There are times where I feel like I am on the verge of suffering from "island fever" and I just want to get off the island...but I can't. But whenever I start feeling like that, I just go out and explore this beautiful island that I live on. I have almost lived here for 6 years, and there are things that I have not yet done because...I live here. Since today was a holiday (Statehood day for Hawai'i)...I decided that I wanted to go to two museums that I have always wanted to go to...but just never really did.

It just so happened that my landlady is a docent at the Honolulu Museum of Art and she had mention a while back that if ever I wanted to go, she could always walk me around to the different places. I asked two of my friends to come along and that made 4 of us total, and we were all excited to go on our adventure.

Honolulu Museum of Art is like 3 museums put together. The Spalding House, the actual Museum of Art and the Shangri La. Today we went to the Spalding House and the Museum of Art. (And yes, I am already planning to go on the Shangri La tour!)

We first went to the Spalding house where we were able to see the exhibit Plastic Fantastic.

 

It was a pretty cool exhibit posing the question, is plastic "fantastic" or not? We can use plastic for a lot of things...but then it is also something that is harmful for the environment. But without plastic we wouldn't have the medium to produce such beautiful art...but also in excess and used irresponsibly it is more harm. This exhibit used plastic that was "garbage" to show people that there are uses for plastic and you don't have to throw it away.

 

These amazing pieces were made with different colored plastic bottles that were cut up and used to make art.

 

 These "geos" were made from paper and plastic. (I can see my class doing something like this as a project in our class!)

We also participated in an art masterpiece....

So all the plastic pieces that you see here were found on the beaches of Hawai'i. So sad. :(

These were the instructions of what you could do to participate in a large-scale public installation that someone will put together next month.

It was actually a lot harder to find pieces to match up to 1 ounce! It took me a while to get it just right...but I finally did...and

 

I strung all the pieces together with a little metal wire...

 

 ...and placed my 1 ounce of plastic on the wall of nails where a plenty other 1 ounce pieces were hung. My landlady (the docent) said that this project has been going on since April (I think that's what she said!) and so this wall has been filled up so many times already! At least twice a week they had to take down the little one ounce pieces to make room for the new pieces! But it was pretty cool to be a part of that!

We also were able to walk the beautiful grounds of the Spalding House...

 

I could not get over just how beautiful the outdoor grounds were! This garden was amazing and so gorgeous! I feel as if I would be so inspired to do a painting here! If only I could sketch! I feel like I can stay here for a long time....

 This tree was begging to be climbed...and I could so see myself climbing this tree with a book in my  mouth (or in a backpack) and just reading balanced on one of the branches. It was so beautiful!

I was super bummed because we could have had a picnic on the lawn...however, when we were ready to eat lunch...there was a downpour. Which I wouldn't have mind eating in...but I didn't think my friends would have liked it the way that I did. But as soon as we had our amazing, yummy, tummy-filling lunch...we headed over to the Honolulu Museum of Art. But not before my friend and I played with this art piece!

It was actually a lot of fun and challenging trying to take a selfie in this mirrored art piece! 

This was the closest that I got to trying to get myself in all the little mirrors! :)

 

 Thank you James Seawright for this...it was very entertaining. :)

Before making our way to the Honolulu Museum of Art, my landlady warned us that we wouldn't be able to go through everything because of how big the place was. So I have decided that I would like to go back again one day. :)

The first exhibit that we went to was the art of the Philippines. I was ashamed to say that I didn't know about a lot of the art pieces that I saw...but in my defense, I did not grow up learning about the Philippine Art...I did notice though that I really liked a lot of the jewelry that they made!

I really liked a lot of the earrings! I can't really see myself wearing the necklaces...but I do like them as well! Their bracelets were pretty impressive as well!

This art piece caught my attention...but when I got close to it...it kind of freaked me out!

When you looked closely at this piece...you can see why I quickly jumped back. 

There are EYEBALLS all over this totem thingy! It reminds me of something from Jeepers Creepers! Yeah, it took me awhile to be able to have the balls to take this picture...because it was really nerve wrecking...eyeballs. Staring at you. *shivers* No, thank you.

Well this piece is called "Assemblage of miscellaneous objects." I guess the person just had eyeballs just laying around to add. Hm....

I don't really remember the room that this tea collection was in...but I really like it...I like teapots, teacups, tea anything...I want to have a huge collection myself! :)

One of the last things that we did was rest at the Shangri La Cafe...and have these amazing cookies!

And then I also had the hibiscus soda...and that was super refreshing as well! But the company was amazing, the day was filled with informational fun...and I had a lot of....fun. :)

I can't wait until my next excursion to cross off my bucket list. :)

Keiki Drawing.

Last day of Teacher Appreciation week...and look what I got! I got drawings and colorings from my keiki...and yes, they are going to go up on my wall as reminders of why I do what I do for whenever I feel like wanting to "give up." Because yes, I do love what I do, I do love my keiki...but we all have "bad days"'...and today was one of them...but it's knowing that I had an impact in my keiki's lives that I love doing what I love doing.

And here are the cookies that we got from the Main Office. Cute, ya?!

But I have to say that I am super glad that it's the weekend. I need it.

"We meet no ordinary people in our lives. If you give them a chance, everyone has something amazing to offer."-anonymous

Fun Snacks.

Day four of our Teacher Appreciation week brought me snacks! I did leave a bunch of them at school for me to eat slowly through out the weeks...but I did bring these home.

I have to admit that I am eating my gummy worms right now. *laughs* I will appreciate you FOREVER if you bring me gummies! *laughs* I love gummy candy!

Everyday (well, nearly everyday) my friends and I made fruit smoothies for our lunch break...and today when I opened the frozen strawberries that we had...I was in awe with the ice crystals that I saw surrounding the strawberries! :) So, I took a picture of it. I didn't want to disturb the prettiness of it all...but I did. I love how we make smoothies everyday (nearly)...they are yummy and I am super glad that I have friends that encourage me to stay healthy! 

"Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate."-anonymous