Hey, Seventh Graders! This is your first-ever blog response...woo hoo! PLEASE don't feel intimidated by this. For me, this is a fun way to practice your writing skills (yes, you need to use correct writing techniques and grammar "rules"...no text-messaging talk) and for me to get to know you a bit better. Also, this is nice because you can comment on your friends' posts, too! For this blog post, I want you to share one of your favorite childhood memories with me and respond to two other classmates. My memory is about my Baby Tumbles Surprise doll. While I have some great memories of playing with my brothers - I was the only girl in my family growing up and I still am as an adult in my own home with Dan, the boys, and two male dogs - I've always been a pretty "girlie girl," so you definitely wouldn't have seen me playing army men or toy cars with my brothers; I was always more of a Barbie/Polly Pocket/finger-nail-painting kind of girl. Anyway, one of my favorite childhood memories is of my sixth birthday when I received my Baby Tumbles Surprise baby doll. As a little girl, I LOVED gymnastics (yes, Angie Gabel was my teacher, too) so the ONLY thing I wanted that year was this doll. She. Was. The. Best. I literally played with her until her head became detached from her body...graphic, I know. She tumbled all over the house - off of tables, off of the slide on our swing-set - anywhere I thought she could tumble, that baby doll tumbled. I can vividly remember her pink body with multi-colored polka-dots and her cute, blonde piggy tails. Part of me wants to look on E-Bay to see if I can buy one now just to have, but I'm sure they are really hard to find and they may be pretty expensive. Ya' never know, though! Because this was in 1995 (holy smokes, I know) I attached a commercial that aired on T.V. at the time advertising this doll. Here she is, folks! Hello Speech students!
In August, I wrote a blog titled, "Caskey's Top 5," and had so much fun with it that I decided to write a NEW post (this one) for my Top Ten! Woop, woop! Here is how this works: 1. Read my blog post. 2. Think about your personal Top Ten. 3. Respond! The email you'll use is your school email ([email protected]) 4. HAVE FUN! Like number four said, I just want you to have fun with this and write. Don't worry about proper grammar (even though it's nice!) and don't overthink anything - just write what first comes to you. Okay! Here's my Top Ten...for now, anyway. =) 1. Real Christmas Trees - For Christmas this last year, Dan and I decided to go cut down our own tree with the boys. We honestly debated for awhile about it, but in the end thought that if we didn't like it, we could just go back to using an artificial tree next year. Well we're now obsessed! There was just something magical about walking through the tree farm and finding/chopping down our own tree. When you're older, I would HIGHLY recommend it! 2. Cotton Candy Grapes - It's been over three months since I was able to snack on these delicious babies and I'm seriously having withdrawals. Yes, I'm addicted. While they're expensive (don't tell Dan!) they are so yummy. Seriously, you've gotta' try them...you'll just have to wait until summertime. 3. Floral Print Jams - This one's kind of weird, but don't judge. I follow a little boutique in Storm Lake, IA on Facebook and on Black Friday the owner had a massive live online sale. She has the cutest things, but I was eyeing these floral print pants (she calls them jams...I think they're more like lounge pants) that she was raving about because 1) they were cute and 2) she said they were sooooo soft. I plunged. I ordered them. And I'm in love. 4. Ice Cold Water - I've been trying to be healthier lately (wish me luck...I've got some lb's to lose...) so I stopped drinking coffee in the mornings and have started drinking water; I put sugar and creamer in my coffee and I just didn't need that added sugar anymore. ANYWAY...since I've been drinking more water, I now crave it. Good thing, right?! 5. Wrapping Presents - Dan thinks I could be a professional present wrapper. I don't want to brag, but I'm pretty darn good. I use real wire ribbon and cute tags that hang from the homemade bows that I make. It's super peaceful for me and I really look at it as a kind of "art." Have I told you how much I love Christmas?! 6. CHRISTMAS - 'Nuff said. 7. The Ages of My Kids - Ax is 9, Archer is 6, and Avan is 4. Dan just said the other day, "If we could freeze them where they're at right now, I would for a little while." So darn true...they're all potty trained - even at night - which might sound silly to you guys since you're so young, but it's a BIG deal, and they are just so much fun. They interact so well with one another and say the cutest things...I love them to pieces. 8. Trucks - Yep. Another weird one. The truck we have is "technically" Dan's, but I love to drive it. I honestly don't think I would ever want to go back to an SUV (even though I'm sure I someday will) if I could have a spacious, big truck. Homer thing?! 9. Bronzer - If I didn't use bronzer every day, I would be in trouble. I'm inching closer and closer to 30 and gave up tanning in a tanning bed which was huge for me, but I'm already having issues with not having much "tan" color. Bronzer is a God-send! 10. Unplugging - ...kind of. I've really been trying to stay away from my phone at home, but we still have the t.v. on. I just like to have background noise, I think. But seriously, we've become a society that is GLUED to our devices (I'm totally guilty here, too) and I've found that if I leave it on silent and just put it in another room and kind of forget about it, then I'm not as apt to use it. TRY THIS! It's nice. Rather than go Black Friday shopping (okay, I still shopped online!) my little family and I went to T&S Christmas Tree Farm in Hawarden, IA, to chop down our very first "real" Christmas tree. We absolutely loved it and it will now FOR SURE be another tradition we do as a family for Christmas. I love traditions like this and we have a lot of them, but I always like to hear what other families do for their traditions, too. That's what I want you to share for this blog post: one (or more!) of your family's traditions that you do every year during the Christmas season.
FYI: here's a picture of the "finished product," or Christmas tree this year! Sincerely, Mrs. Caskey In March of 2013, when asked about her best-selling novel, Wonder, R.J. Palacio said she wanted to impress upon her readers the power of words. She said, "You all have the power to change lives. Remember the power of words, and think about how you want to be remembered." This "movement" is now known as #choosekind and has made it's way across the country, with our elementary students pledging to choose to be kind and South Sioux City hosting their first #choosekind Walk. Now, I was super late to get on the Wonder bandwagon - I finished the book a couple of weeks ago and LOVED it. The movie is coming out in November, so I thought it would be fun to include the movie trailer because I am already counting down the days to take my boys to see it...I can't wait! What I want you to do for this blog is respond to the quote by Palacio that is in bold in the first paragraph. Are you acting/treating others in a way that is positively memorable? Or are you acting in a way that will have people not wanting to remember you? Every minute of every day you have the ability to pave the path for your life - you are responsible for you. Please respond by the end of class on Wednesday, September 20. - Mrs. Caskey |