Wordless Wednesday ... Guess What?

Dad's Memorial

 We had a beautiful memorial/funeral for dad.  It was just what he would have wanted!  This may be tacky to post pictures, but I think it helps the healing process, so I am doing it.

 

Dad did not want a funeral, so we had a memorial instead.  Do you know the difference between a funeral and a memorial? A funeral has the body and a memorial does not.  Something you will never need to know unless a loved one dies.  Anyway, I think a memorial is for the loved ones left - a way to bring closure and a part of the healing process.  We settled on a simple open house.  Dad would not have wanted a big fuss, so we tried to keep things really simple. 

 

My dad served in the Navy in the Vietnam War, so we settled on a red, white, and blue theme.  

 We borrowed all the tables and chairs and linens from my school

(I've said this a million times, but my school is AMAZING!)

 This flag is from my dad's house and the ribbon is from a super amazing co-worker. 

 Paula did all the decorating - white flowers and leaves from a tree in her backyard (which is where we held the memorial) along with red and white ribbon were the centerpieces.

We had a few table full of pictures of dad.  The miss matched frames looked great!  From when he was a baby (luckily we found a box with a few pictures in his attic) all the way to current pictures.  The guests really enjoyed looking back at all of the pictures and remembering when they knew him. 

 

We also had food and dessert!  I didn't take pictures, but we served meatballs, mac and cheese bites, and simple things like that.  For dessert we had camo cupcakes and carrot cake cupcakes (his favorite).  The food was great and of course the dessert was great too!

 

Overall it was a great memorial and we couldn't have done it without the help of Paula, Stacey, Alicia, mom, and I am sure I am forgetting someone.  THANK YOU!! 

 



Flat Aggie

I am VERY EXCITED to show off Flat Aggie.  This I am running pretty late since life got in the way, but Flat Aggie is ready to go!

We made Flat Aggie last year but, I did it a little different this year.  We read Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown then I showed them a few of Flat Aggie's adventures from last year.  They got really excited and wanted to make their own.  Instead of making just one and have it get lost in the mail, we each made one but we had to make them look alike so they would look about the same in pictures. 

I didn't take any pictures as we made them, but we started at the feet and talked about what kind of footwear people that visit farms should wear and voted on the color, and all the way up.  I have a class full of girls this year, but we voted on making it a boy since it already kind of looked like a boy and the hair would be easier to make (aren't kids the cutest?).

We then made the envelopes and my amazing helper laminated them for us.  I spent the first part of my break cutting them out and now they are ready to go!

 

 

 



I am very excited about our Army of Aggies and all they will learn this year! 

 

My kids made a list of things they wanted Flat Aggie to learn about:

- how money is made (since money is made from cotton)

- how cottonseed oil is made

- learn about a cotton bale

(can you tell we are in the midst of our cotton unit)

- how cows are milked

- how ice cream is made

- lots of my kids want to learn everything about agriculture

 

If you were in my class, what would you want Flat Aggie to learn? 

Where would you want him to visit?

 

Scrap Wood Flag Project

 

 I made a flag out of scrap wood - it was a simple afternoon project and most of the time was spent waiting for the paint to dry.  Here is what I did:

 

 You'll need a rectangular piece of wood, red, white, and blue paint, a tape measure, stars, and some painter's tape. 

 Having a sweet dog lay at your feet is an added bonus!

 

Paint your wood white - I gave it two coats. 

 Then measure out and tape stripes.  My painter's tape was 1 1/2" so my stripes are 1 1/2" - next time I would like to try 1" painters tape and see how that looks. 

 Paint two coats of red.

 Take off the tape. It's starting to look like a flag!

Stick as many stars as you can on - then tape with painter's tape (not shown since my red was still wet and I am impatient)

 Two coats of blue and remove the painter's tape. 

Peel off the stars

 

And enjoy your flag!  This would be perfect for the mantel or with a coat of poly it would make a nice porch decoration.  It was a quick and easy project that would be perfect for Veteran's Day!