Eight Stars Of Gold...

...on a field of blue -
Alaska's flag. May it mean to you
The blue of the sea, the evening sky,
The mountain lakes, and the flow'rs nearby;
The gold of the early sourdough's dreams,
The precious gold of the hills and streams;
The brilliant stars in the northern sky,
The "Bear" - the "Dipper" - and, shining high,
The great North Star with its steady light,
Over land and sea a beacon bright.
Alaska's flag - to Alaskans dear,
The simple flag of a last frontier.
(Alaska's State Song ~ Written by Marie Drake ~ Composed by Elinor Dusenbury)

This is the state seal from Noah's state report on Alaska.

The state flower, the Alpine Forget-Me-Not.

The recipe Noah will use to prepare wild-caught salmon for his class.

He will also play Sitka City on his Cello.

Just a few of the many beautiful pages.

We miss Alaska. The state song sums it up! :-)

Spring Nature Nook

Ms. Thaw (She's always been a Ms. in our house) is still busy sweeping the snow away. Most of it is gone, but underneath it all the grass is still brown, some buds here and there, new life waiting to spring forth...

Our gnomes are always here, and there's a lil' snail crawling out, maybe enjoying some spring sunshine. The snail was an Easter gift to myself. I couldn't pass it by in the school store.

Yesterday, as we were out and about, we saw a rabbit. We don't see them too often here in suburbia, but yeah, the Easter hare's helpers are roaming the meadow...

Nate The Violinist

Nathan is a violinist now. He loves it. He has been wanting to play the violin for a while, and I was finally able to make it work financially. He sleeps with the violin next to his bed. :-) This is such a cute picture, I think.

Thirty-three.

I'm 33. A nice number. According to my Astrosophy chart I have no crisis now 'til Fall '10. What am I going to do without a crisis? I've become so used to them! So, what did I do to celebrate this day? I didn't want to do much. I don't like to be the center of attention. I thought not many people knew about my birthday. Seems I was wrong. I had gotten a yummy fruit tart for us at Whole Foods yesterday. Noah got up at 2 a.m. needing to use the bathroom, and decided to fix me a pot of tea while he was up, so there was tea when I woke up in the morning to go with the tart. So much for a nutritious breakfast. :-) With that sort of breakfast looming, my younger son, who has phlegmatic tendencies and it is a daily drag to get him out of bed, had no trouble at all getting up! At school each one of my students brought a flower or two creating this beautiful birthday bouquet. Colorful and unique just as they are! I love it!

Isn't it pretty?!?!
~~~

One of my colleagues, who also has two children in my class, had the idea for this necklace. So, having "conspired" with the handwork teacher, each student felted a woolen bead to create this beautiful necklace. (I love purple & green!) This was thus the gift from my 5th graders to me on this day.

Pretty, pretty, eh?!

~~~

I brought a tiny vanilla cake & ice-cream to share with my students not knowing what wonderful treasures they had in store for me! Planning on ordering pizza from this local place tonite... A nice day! Ahhhhh. I'm wondering what this year will bring?! Hmmmmmm... :-)