Polish Princess

There once was a Polish girl.

She got a new blue enamel roaster.

"What shall I do with this new roaster?" she thought. Well, what else would a Polish girl do with a roaster but make gołąbki.

And that she did. "What a meal!" she praised.

THE END.

A 36.78 Pounder

Saturday was a glorious autumn day here in Charlottesville. Luckily there weren't any sick people at the hospital so Rojelio had the day off.

We went on an old adventure, but at a new place. We usually called them cider mills in Michigan, here in Virginia this was just a plain old orchard. The two names could be synonyms if it weren't for the whole production of cider aspect. Carter Mountian Orchard. The name explains it all. The orchard is perched on the very top of a mountain over looking Charlottesville. The view was astounding. It was even more incredible to see how small downtown Charlottesville really is; especially when comparing it to our previous city of Grand Rapids. The biggest building in town seems to be the white one in the middle of the picture . . . which is actually the hospital.

As tradition goes we had to have cider and doughnuts. FRESH HOT doughnuts right off the . . . oil!?

Here's the view from the doughnut cam.

After we indulged, Rojelio spotted a few people carrying long poles with small cages on one end. Interesting. We stalked these carriers and found their destination was the apple picking check-in booth. As soon as those poles were brought back other consumers seized them. It didn't take long for us to figure out these poles were a hot item and hard to come by.

We were up for the challenge. We decided to hang out and shark our prey. Rojelio spotted him. An eight-year-old boy. The pole was bigger than he was. What an easy target. As the boy neared the check-in counter Rojelio swam in his current, being careful not to trip over the pole drowning in the dirt as the boy dragged it behind. SNATCH! A successful hunt.

Now that we had a pole and bag for our apples we were ready to hit the orchard.Yeah sure there were some apples within an arms reach, but what's the fun in that. We were so eager to have a pole to use; that was the primary reason we went out in the orchard. We got to try our hand at pole-picking.

This was a state-of-the-art facility, a doughnut AND pole cam. Who could believe it!?

For the grand finale, Rojelio walked away with a 36.78 lb pumpkin.

What do you call an over-weight pumpkin?

A plumpkin.

We had a doughnut-eatin', cider-drinkin', pole-pickin', pumpkin-haulin' good time!

It's What I Do

It's What I Do
by Annie F. Hokett, MA, CCC-SLP

These kids come to speech-language therapy,
I teach them everyday,
To learn to talk,
And know what to say.

I help kids practice the /r/ sound,
The /s/ and /th/ too,
If they already knew how to say these sounds,
I wouldn't have anything to do.

Some need help with vocabulary,
Some need help following rules,
This girl needs help with oral motor,
Because she always drools.

Many kids have trouble with grammar,
Pronouns, adjectives, and verbs,
Formulating sentences can be hairy,
They say, "I don't know what to do with all these words."

I've heard him scream, whisper and holler,
This boy sounds very hoarse to me,
He's been unable to phonate at times,
That's why he gets voice therapy.

Some kids have apraxia,
Speaking is not hard for me or you,
But these kids have trouble forming words,
They really really do.

The new kid has trouble with articulation,
An IEP is the way to go,
I will give him intervention,
Unless the State regulations say NO.

Whether it be articulation, language, voice, or fluency,
I'm here everyday,
I do the best job I can,
To get these kids on their way.

While you were out . . . kinda

Rojelio had an overnight on-call shift; meaning he'd be gone all day, night, and not back until the following afternoon. Annie's plan was to surprise him by painting the downstairs bathroom. Even though she had never painted before, she thought how long could it possibly take, it's a small room. They do redecorating projects on TV all the time within a day or two.

Well her project became a little more elaborate than expected. She worked all through the night, not even stopping to sleep. At this point she realized a one-man project team is a lot different than a whole crew like on TV.

Rojelio arrived home the following afternoon and unfortunately the room was not complete. But the first coats were on so he was able to get a feel of his new "thrown." Throughout the week finishing touches were added. There are still a few things that need to be incorporated and the idea of tiling the countertop is being toyed with.

Downstairs bathroom BEFORE


Downstairs bathroom AFTER

Even though it's just paint and some accessories it really feels like a whole new room, even bigger. The difference is amazing! One room down, three more to go.

A Special Concentration Puzzle

is


!

Use #64

Empty cardboard tube use #64:
Hide dog treats in it . . . YUM!YUM!

Homeward Bound

Annie's brother Paul is back on U.S. soil! He left Kuwait September 14 and arrived at the base in Little Creek, VA September 15.

Since it's only a few hours from our house Annie took a drive to the base last Sunday to see him. Paul showed Annie around the base and they took a short drive to Virginia Beach for lunch.

Paul hasn't been home or seen family since January. He should be returning home to Michigan within the next few weeks.

WELCOME HOME PAUL - HEY WHY IS THERE SAND IN ALL YOUR STUFF!?

Here are a couple ships that were docked at the base. Paul said these ships are considered to be little. They look pretty big though compared to the other patrol boats around them. And look at their size compared to the lights and water tower in the background! Just massive I tell you, massive.

Here are some of the boats the Seabees use to load and unload the big ships that come to port.

A Hiking We Will Go

We packed up the crew and headed up . . . and down . . .

We went to Shenanoah National Park to hike in the Blue Ridge Mountians. Rojelio wanted to see a waterfall. To make his dream come true, we drove 25-minutes to the park entrance. Once we were in the park we drove another 20-miles on the beautiful winding Skyline Drive through the mountains. We made it to the Jones Fall Trail.

Would we see any bears? Or how 'bout a spotted skunk?

Our hike began. It was only 3.7 miles round trip, which didn't seem too far, but take into account we are not walking on a flat trail. Down hill, up hill, over logs, across streams, uneven ground . . . it was quite the adventure.

We began the hike later in the day, 5:30pm. Would we make it back before dark?

We made it to the falls, took a quick break and some pictures before heading back to try and beat the sunset. All of the tall trees made it seem even darker in the forest.

CRACK - CRACK - RUSTLE - RUSTLE - WHAT WAS THAT!? We all scanned the forest for a bear or spotted skunk . . . nothing. We picked up the pace climbing the mountain.

As we trekked on it got dimmer and dimmer. We think we're getting close. WHAT WAS THAT!? We definitely heard something in the distance this time . . . it was getting closer and closer . . . it was a . . . a . . . a car. Just around the bend was the road. We got to the car as the sun fell asleep.

No spotted skunks or bears. But we had a dog the color of a skunk and we were all hungry as bears when it was all said and done.

Ms. Hokett's Schoolwires

How many websites does a girl need!?
TWO.

Besides having the most ultimate blog with the most ultimate posts, I have given birth to a "professional" webpage. Schoolwires is what the district here calls it. Each teacher is suppose to host a webpage about the happenings of their grade/classroom and what not.

I have made it my mission to post speech-language information and activities. My hope is that others (teachers, parents, the average Joe, etc.) will get an understanding of the kinds of things I do all day.

I just started this site, so it doesn't seem like there is much on it yet compared to the big picture of what I invision it to be. I will be posting much more throughout the year, especially since it is one of my yearly professional development goals I will be reviewed on (YIKES!).

Check it out from time to time to see new information. Ms. Hokett's Schoolwires. It's pretty much the coolest SLP site ever!

Besides here you can find the link in the right had column of this page under links titled Annie's Schoolwires. Happy surfing!

If anyone has any suggestions/comments/ideas/questions drop me a line.

Annie F. Hokett, MA, CCC-SLP

Mitt & Pole

The goal: play a joke on Rojelio's dad

Materials:
an extendable paint pole, an oven mitt, two people with nothing else to do on a Saturday night, a camera to capture the moment, and a change of clothes

The Plan:
1. Put the oven mitt on the pole
2. Bang on the window with the elevated oven mitt
3. Wait for Rojelio's dad to look out the window
4. Have the oven mitt dance in front of the window
5. Laugh until we pee our pants

Outcome:
Everything was going to plan, the mitt was on the pole. Rojelio was able to reach the window no problem . . . he banged . . . we waited . . . he banged again . . . we waited . . . bang . . .wait . . . bang . . . wait . . . bang . . . wait . . .

Maybe his dad thought we were doing work outside. Rojelio tried banging in a rhythm . . . and we waited . . . it was obvious the joke was really on us. Rojelio's dad never looked out the window. He must be sleeping we thought. We abandoned our scheme. Though our joke was unsuccessful we still had fun and laughed trying to pull it off; though not to the point we were peeing our pants.

Rojelio went upstairs to see if his dad really was sleeping. No. He heard us banging the whole time, but thought we were just fixing something downstairs.

Drats! Foiled again!