Pedals & Pencils
Teach. Write. Pedal. Repeat.

Category Archives: Thankful Thursdays

Thankful Thursday #93

May 30, 2013

This week I’m thankful for…

  • being here with you
  • waking to the sound and smell of rain
  • lunch with The Hubs
  • taking my little ones on a field trip to the city library to sign up for the summer reading program
  • riding my bike to school
  • oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
  • the last Thursday of the school year
  • this cover of I Believe in a Thing Called Love by the Branches

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Thankful Thursday #92

March 14, 2013

Gratitude.pdf-1

This week I’m thankful for…

  • playing Hide & Seek with my nephews
  • riding my bike to work
  • slow churned frozen vanilla custard
  • Saturdays in my pajamas
  • wearing my One Fish, Two Fish pajamas to school on Dr. Seuss Day.  Yes, I did ride my bike to school in my pajamas.
  • riding my bike home under a double rainbow backed by gunmetal clouds
  • arriving home on my bike just as it started to rain
  • this present I received from a little one at my school:
How adorable is this bike basket/bag?

How adorable is this bike basket/bag?  It gets even better…

TAGALONGS!!! There were Tagalongs inside!!! Surely I died and went to Heaven.

And look how my Sharpies look like a bright bouquet of happiness. Sigh. Perfection.

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Thankful Thursday #91

February 21, 2013

Gratitude.pdf-2

This week I’m thankful for…

  • giving my little ones new boxes of crayons for Valentine’s Day
  • the little girl who was thrilled by the “new crayon smell” when she opened her Valentine
  • three-day weekends
  • shredded chicken tacos from the Crock Pot
  • homemade ice cream topped with Magic Shell
  • walking to the movie theater on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon
  • lemons fresh from That Laura’s tree
  • spending a day with my very first student teacher who is doing an amazing job in her own first grade classroom
  • This VELO video from Motionlab.  Everything about it makes me happy.

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Thankful Thursday #90

February 14, 2013

Happy Bicycle Love Painting by AdSpice Studios - Happy Bicycle Love Fine Art Prints and Posters for Sale

This week I’m thankful for…

  • driving with the top down in February
  • clear, starry nights
  • riding Magnolia True to school
  • homemade ice cream
  • my mom
  • three-day weekends
  • Girl Scout cookies.  I could write a love poem about Tagalongs.
  • my Valentine
  • sweet love notes from my little ones
  • Cascade Bicycle Club’s Happy VELOtimes photo album

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Thankful Thursday #89

February 7, 2013

il_570xN.284414654.jpg

This week I’m thankful for…

  • riding up the hill home in a higher gear than usual.  Magnolia True and I are having the best time.
  • riding The Rocket during the Super Bowl.  We had a lovely time together riding on a practically empty trail
  • Cheerios and bananas for breakfast
  • a fresh haircut
  • lunch with my mom
  • the sound of rain on the roof
  • days when the rain holds off until after recess
  • my new bicycle scarf.  It’s ridiculously soft and perfect for cold morning bike rides to school.  Wow, your scarf jealousy is palpable.

Women_s Bike-Print Jersey Infinity Scarves | Old Navy

  • my new bicycle skirt.  Are you sitting down?  Your mind is about to be blown by this adorable skirt.  It’s breezy and thin, perfect for wearing with tights.

il_570xN.384061179_lxzg

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Thankful Thursday #88

January 31, 2013
Image courtesy of sewcraftcreate.com

Image courtesy of sewcraftcreate.com

This week I’m thankful for…

  • riding my bike to school
  • mandarin oranges from the corner stand
  • the sound of children playing at my neighborhood park
  • grilled cheese and pickle sandwiches
  • Heavy Metal Monday spin class
  • the blooper reel of my nephew learning to ride his bike.  I love the videos of him riding successfully, but I love the faceplant videos just as much.  Okay, maybe more.
  • the first rose on the rosebush by my front door
  • floating bicycle photos by Zhao Huasen.  They are so delightfully whimsical.  Here’s my favorite.  It makes me giggle each time I look at it.  Click the photo below to see the entire collection.  They’re guaranteed to make you grin.

bike1_mini

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Thankful Thursday #86

January 17, 2013

IMG_2527

This week I’m thankful for…

  • this graffiti heart That Laura and I came across on a walk home from lunch
  • teaching my little ones about Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • the shooting star I saw while soaking in my spa
  • the little one who said my new haircut, “looks just like Justin Bieber’s hair.”  Um, thanks?
  • parent volunteers
  • the sounds my hubby makes in his sleep
  • reading the Bible in chronological order-fascinating way to read it!
  • my new bike (but that’s a story for another day.

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Thankful Thursday #85

December 27, 2012

12807180159820570_biIUcFny_c

This week I’m thankful for…

  • Christmas Eve service
  • listening to my hubby read the Christmas story on Christmas morning
  • homemade fudge
  • time off with the hubby
  • walks on the river trail on frosty mornings
  • the smell of my Christmas tree
  • lasagna in the Crock Pot
  • sleeping in
  • a fresh haircut
  • warm clothes straight from the dryer
  • snow
  • the blog The Middlest Sister, which had me laughing out loud in obnoxious guffaws and snorts

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Thankful Thursday #84

December 20, 2012
Image courtesy of polish-my-crown.com

Image courtesy of polish-my-crown.com

This week I’m thankful for…

  • snow
  • slumber parties
  • time with the hubby
  • making Sweetmilks for breakfast
  • the rogue tree that is growing in my backyard
  • the grandfather of a kindergarten student who gave all the teachers at my school heavy-duty staplers
  • writing winter poetry with my little ones
  • the brave faculty at Sandy Hook Elementary
  • the fact that all 30 of my little ones are safe and sound

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Thankful Thursday #83

December 13, 2012

This week I’m thankful for…

  • crisp clear days when I can make the short drive to school with the top down and the seat warmers on high.  34 degrees out?  Pffft!  Perfect convertible weather!
  • my little one who sang Silent Night to the class.  She didn’t quite get all the words right, but frankly “holy infinity so tender and wild” is beautiful and profound
  • coffee with good friends
  • Christmas music in the morning
  • reading The Velveteen Rabbit to my class
  • the melted crayon Christmas tree batiks I made with my class and the parent volunteers who made painting with hot waxy cups of melted crayons with 30 first graders doable
  • the fact that I did not set the off the smoke detector when ironing the wax out of the batiks-that’s a Festivus miracle right there!
Here's one of my favorite Christmas tree batiks painted by one of my little ones.

Here’s one of my favorite Christmas tree batiks painted by one of my little ones.

 

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Thankful Thursday #82

December 6, 2012

mistletoe-sprig

This week I’m thankful for…

  • the little boy selling sprigs of “kissletoe” outside the grocery store
  • my fence that stayed standing in the fierce windstorms
  • holiday sweater sightings
  • Christmas carols
  • Salvation Army bell ringers
  • peppermint hot cocoa
  • spin class on rainy days
  • clothes warm from the dryer
  • scarves

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Thankful Thursday #81

November 29, 2012

This week I’m thankful for…

  • NaNoWriMo even though my friend, Ed, beat me to 50k words.  Good job, Ed.  Sorry, did my begrudging tone come through there?  Seriously, Ed, congrats.  Darn, there’s that tone again.
  • the smell of rain
  • morning snuggles with my littlest nephews
  • sweet time spent with friends doing absolutely nothing
  • travel
  • the joy of coming back home
  • my umbrella
  • my Little One who wrote a love song to the whole class
  • Jack the dog
  • my husband’s laugh

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Spoken Over Me

November 22, 2012

This is a special edition of Thankful Thursday, birthed out of a writing prompt from the National Writing Project Annual Meeting.  The direction was to take a moment to write a thank you to our writing mentors in the project.  I, of course, DID NOT follow the directions and instead wrote to my very first writing mentor.

Dear Mom,
You were my very first writing mentor.

You put books into my mind before I was old enough to hold them in my own hands. You took me to the library and let me read whatever I wanted just for the pleasure of reading. Even when it meant I only read Sweet Valley High and Babysitters Club. You had faith that I’d grow out of those books, that I’d grow up into richer things.

Thank you for giving me crisp notebooks to fill and for always reading my poems, even the really dreadful rhyming ones.  Maybe especially those ones.

You were careful with criticism and generous with praise, honeyed words that drew me back to the blank page time and again.

Thank you for understanding that my first language is the written word and for speaking it to me fluently in notes in my lunch box, birthday cards, post cards when you were away and hosts of other scraps of your writing that I’ve squirreled away.

Those scraps of paper have bound me into the writer I am today.  You were the first person to call me a writer and I’m starting to believe you.

I walk this earth, from the sunny skies of California to the humid heat of Africa, I walk with my pen in hand and a blank notebook because I am a writer.

I am a writer in large part because you first spoke that word over me.

Thanks, Mom.

Posted by in Letters, Thankful Thursdays Tags: ,

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Thankful Thursday #80

November 1, 2012

This week I’m thankful for…

  • waking to the sound of rain
  • rain that stops just in time for recess
  • chocolate covered pomegranate seeds
  • my NaNoWriMo writing buddies
  • rain boots
  • parent volunteers who literally did all the heavy lifting for me on our field trip when my back was out
  • the chiropractor who opened his office on Saturday and put me out of my misery
  • ice packs
  • my hubby, who does everything in his power to make me feel better
  • Mexican food
  • the scent of rain on asphalt
  • the kid who dressed as Clifford the Big Red Dog on Halloween
  • my little ones who are donating their Halloween candy to Treats for Troops
  • the safety of my loved ones and my home

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Thankful Thursday #79

October 18, 2012

This week I’m thankful for…

  • cherry flavored soda
  • Siri
  • cheeseburgers on pretzel buns
  • pumpkin shaped candy corn
  • walks with Jack the dog
  • my husband, who holds me until I fall asleep
  • The Writing Project
  • the fact that in one more day I will no longer be master teacher to a student teacher.  Seriously, I shouldn’t mentor anyone.  Ever. Again.
  • my teacher friends who have taken a sworn oath to repeatedly punch me in the neck if I ever take on another student teacher
  • pink carnations from my little ones on Think Pink Day
  • writing with my little ones who constantly surprise me with their wordplay

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