March 31, 2011

Flat Stanley

On the day before Spring Break, each of my boys brought home a paper cut-out of Flat Stanley from school. In addition to entertaining my children over the holiday, my children informed me that I also had to entertain the piece of paper. What's worse, I had to take it everywhere we went it AND take pictures of my sons with it.

This was more than I was capable of doing. It was also more than Kellen was capable to doing. Within five minutes of introducing me to Flat Stanley, my son left his new BFF on the kitchen counter...which was wet.

Like the high school student who manages not to crack the chicken egg he is entrusted to babysit for 24 hours, Cortlen took his role seriously. Wherever we went, Flat Stanley went too.

"Let me see Flat Stanley for a minute," Kellen demanded. We were at the zoo. Cortlen shook his head.

"I'm going to get in trouble with my teacher if I don't have at least one picture with Flat Stanley," he whined.

Cortlen handed Flat Stanley over to his brother. Reluctantly.

Shortly after this picture was taken, something very bad happened to Flat Stanley.

Shortly after that, some people around us started grumbling that some members of my family were hyperventilating too loud for the reptiles.

Shortly after that, we left the zoo. In all the commotion, I forgot to take a picture of what was left of poor Flat Stanley.

Let's just say this: he didn't look good.

19 comments

Anonymous said...

Lol is all I can say about that. My daughter had to do that once with the class stuffed bee. Except it was the only one and the teacher had been sending it home for years with students. It was incredibly clean for the life this stuffed be had lived. I was very nervous for this he's life around my 3 sons that constantly wanted a turn holding the bee.

Anita Wells said...

We had to do that with a mini teddy bear which was also lost at the zoo!
Fortunately, all of our F.S. projects have involved mailing them to relatives in exotic, far away locations like scenic Michigan, who get to do all that work for us.

Chelle said...

Flat Stanley was sent to us from our cousins in FL. For 2 weeks he went everywhere with us. While he was here, he also got wet and his leg tore off. I created a bandage and wrote in the letter that he broke his leg. We also lost him at the zoo, but thankfully someone found him and he was in the lost and found window.

But I had planned for that hour while we looked for him that if I couldn't find him I would blow up one of the pictures I already had and print and cut him out- there good as new. Maybe you could do that too?

Bossy said...

I don't know why but this sounds really fun. I might make me some Flat Stanley friends for fun.

When I was little I had a giant stuffed Chester Cheetah (yes like the Cheetos logo) that I drug to everything we did. I even tried to feed him my dinner. I am sure my mother regretted her decision to mail in all those bar codes. Because I was always being late getting Chester ready to go.

And yes, I still have him. And when my husband works graveyards I sleep with him. My kids don't like him. They make fun of him. Of course they might be nicer since Dad said they couldn't be dragging around their Cabbage Patch babies anymore. Something about boys with babydolls in public drives him nuts.

Kira
twelvemakesadozen.blogspot.com

Chalen said...

I'm glad my daughter's class had them send their Stanley's away. All we had to do was provide an address. We sent one to someone without kids.

Anonymous said...

j- my son's class had a writing assignment this week- 2nd grade...bring in a tiny stuffed animal, swap it and write about your adventures. my son focused on drop kicking it, farting on it and smothering it...i guess he didn't like who the the critters belonged to in his class. meanwhile, he wrote a fabulous essay about the first stuffed animal! we took it to see diary of a wimpy kid 2. i sure hope your teacher appreciated the efforts and calilmities of this assignment!!!

HW said...

Ah, Flat Stanley. One of ours went all the way to Korea where my brother was stationed with the Army. He came back wearing a set of cammies. My brother and his fellow soldiers had made paper doll clothes for him so he'd fit in. He also got do do some really exciting things - being on an Army base and all. My son was thrilled.

I'm sorry your Flat Stanley came to such a tragic end.

Bev said...

My husband and I have hosted Flat Stanleys several times that were sent to us by our grandkids and nieces. We always have so much fun taking them places, photographing them, and writing the stories.

The Flat Stanleys are always sent to us by the school after the kids provide our information to their teachers. Sorry that it didn't work that way at your sons' school because it can be a lot of fun and a great learning experience for the class to see where all the Flat Stanleys went.

Anonymous said...

Flat Stanley was my little nightmare. In addition to being 6 months pregnant and watching my 3-year-old while my husband traveled, I had to take pictures of
Flat Stanley and my kid. Then my son dropped my cell phone and erased all the pictures. It's amazing the things that can make you guilt trip when you're a mom.

Unknown said...

AAH! Flat Stanley! My nephew sent in to my son to do a family trip with us ... and, of course, I lost the darn thing!

So we ended up doing a Flat Stanley newspaper article about Flat Stanley being kidnapped and the Stanley family being soo sad and hoping their son would be returned ...

Apparently, my nephew's class thought it was hysterical. So I think that will be my new response to any Flat Stanleys I get sent in the mail.

Jen said...

Haven't had one of these projects yet...kind of hoping we don't!!

Jen
www.monogrammedeverything.com

Ross Farr said...

My daughter sent her Flat Stanley to New Jersey and the family sent us a packet filled with pictures, and a T-shirt from their school and some candy. They really went the extra mile.
So years later, when we received one from a second cousin, we did likewise--lots of pictures of Washington, and a t-shirt from the city (we homeschool). Bummer part was that my cousin never acknowledged the package--.
Kinda wonder if it got there...it would have been nice to hear how they liked it.

Nikki said...

We got Flat Stanley's too! But we have to mail our FS to family on the other side of the country so that FS can "travel the world" - FS is also supposed to get his picture taken in said vacation spot (to prove he was there) - I am then required to get said picture and turn it in to the school so that FS can have a school wide slide show - fun.

Anonymous said...

We have had several Flat Stanleys sent to us by relatives, and my boys love coming up wth places to take him. And while nothing has ever happened to old Stanley himself, I will admit, anonomously, that the random lake just a mile from our house has been the stunt double in several pictures for the much more well known Great Salt Lake that is 60 miles away.

Adam and Elissa said...

We got sent Flat Stanley from a friend in America (we are in Australia) and we over acheived by making him his own BLOG
http://flatstanleyoz.blogspot.com/

vanilla said...

Trust FS to the grandparents. That would be us in this instance. We took grandson's friend, Flat Stanley, all the way to Texas and BACK, documenting the journey with pix. Kid did nothin'.

Confessions of a Mother, Lawyer & Crazy Woman said...

I love that you admit Flat Stanley's tragic demise ... (wait? that sounded creepy ... poor Flat Stanley) ... what I mean is that I love you feel & admit Mom Guilt over the paper doll. Been there, except with a stuffed penguin that somehow got left at the Aquarium, I like to think he was happier there anyhow.

Unknown said...

My nephew came from NYC to Maine with his FS--we took him skiing. I thought it would be a great idea to take a pic of FS on the snowboard. Someone didn't take into account the 20 mph winds. RIP Stan.

Anonymous said...

We also had a Flat Stanley project when my son was in second grade. I must admit we cheated. Stanley was sent to a family friend who took a trip to Disney World. He had more fun than we did.