UP!

I just got back from seeing one of my new favorite movies! UP is Pixar's newest movie and it is absolutely the cutest movie. The storyline is precious and the animation is incredible. I don't want to hype it up too much, but you must see it asap! I cried (a lot) and laughed out loud many times. You will not be disappointed. I promise.

Stress!

So, after reading this post, my desire to be far away on an island might make more sense. I am super stressed. There's a lot going on with the end of the school year. So, I'm going to make a list of things I need to do. Feel free to read, or not.

-send home kids' work
-make t-shirts for kids
-buy gift books for kids
-make slideshow of class/burn onto DVDs
-gifts for room parents
-chris's graduation on friday (hallelujah!!!!)/missing a day of school-stressful
-get everything together for chris's graduation party
-plan for craziness of last week of school
-report cards due tuesday
-clean and organize classroom
-deal with the emotion of saying goodbye to the sweetest class ever. love them.

ok, so writing it down certainly helps. i know it will get it done and somethings may need to be pushed aside. but there's lots going on and i'm big on closure. i don't want to fail to get good closure with this class that i have loved so much (and that has spoiled me rotten).

New Song to Love

I love Ingrid Michaelson. Her songs reflect innocence as well as peace that I love listening to. Somehow, though, I didn't really hear the last track of her album, Far Away, until today. It perfectly captures how I feel about my life right now. I would love to go far away, to a lovely, quiet island and live with my husband (who is a lobsterman-sweet) and three daughters, (whoe names are little Ella and Nelly and Faye-ok, sure). I can really get lost in the song and the idea of living far away.

I really love my life in so many ways. I love my little apartment and my new furniture. I love my job and precious 9 kindergarteners. I have a wonderful family and some great friends. I am a happy wife. But still, there is an itching inside of me to strike out and do something different. Life flies by and I wonder where our life will end up. I mostly don't want to passively end up living somewhere. I want to make a concerted effort and thoughtful decision about where we decide to "settle down." And lately, I've been thinking about that place being a middle-of-nowhere, right on the water, prefereably near mountains also, patch of land. We'll see.

*please pardon the hideous picture above. its the only video with the actual track i could find :)

So long for the weekend!

I'm off to bed and then, after a day with the kiddos, off camping until Monday. I will blissfully detached from the outside world, spending my time sitting around a campfire, biking long stretches of trails, looking hideously unkempt and stuffing my face with s'mores.

Adios amigos!

BFFL

o.m.g.! one of my little bits is six, going on sixteen. not that this is a revelation or anything, but today was such a perfect encapsulation of it. this little girl is here for a year while her parents take a sabbatical from missions work. she returns to her home in two weeks and its about all she can talk about. so, today she was telling all the kids about her good friend back home, Ronja. The children asked if Ronja is her best friend to which she replied,
"She's not just my best friend, she's my BFFL! My best friend forever* life!"

Haha. Seriously, the entertainment never stops.
*Yes that's exactly what she said. Not a typo :)

OH, actually, funny quote from this same little girl yesterday. We are studying the "V" sound this week. For morning work, the children had to color pictures that started with the "V" sound. The aforementioned little girl asks, "Is this one a vegetarian?"
I walk over and she's pointing to a veterinarian. So close! So cute :)

Eyeballs

Today (goodness knows why) one of my students asked, How did God make eyeballs?

Hmm, I don't know, but God can do a lot of cool things (or something to that effect), I replied. He was clearly not satisfied with my response and gave me a thoughtful look. He then excitedly said, Oh! I think he used juice!
Really? I asked.
Yes! And also some turkey!

God help us if our eyes are made of juice and turkey. Gross!

The chair is here! Early!

Our living room furniture is all here and ahead of schedule :) I wasn't expecting our swivel glider for another three weeks, so I'm pumped! I am extra pumped because I like even more than I thought. It is without a doubt the most comfortable chair I have ever sat in. I can imagine myself sitting in it in the middle of a night with a crying baby and being so grateful that my darling husband bought me this chair back when a crying baby was just a thought. The chair also matches perfectly with everything we've purchased. Life is good. Pretty chairs are just icing on the cake :)

Suction Ears

Meet Larry Boy.

All I know about Larry Boy is that he is a Veggie Tales character and he has suction cup ears. Why do I know this? Hmmm. Maybe because I teach Kindergarten. Also, maybe because one of my little boys thinks he has suction cups ears like Larry Boy. This little boy may or may not have walked up to a bookcase today, laid his head down on the top, made a perfect suction cup sound and announced, "See, I do have suction cup ears." Oh, to live in this little boy's mind would be quite a wild ride.

Moving

So, I mentioned in yesterday's post that my parents are moving. I thought this announcement deserved a post of its own, and since my dad finally signed his contract and made it official I guess today's the day. My parents are moving to Texas for a new job my dad is taking. I'm really excited for them. I think my dad will make an amazing professor. Having a new start in a new state will also be great for them. I'm really sad for me, though! I have never lived more than 20 minutes away from my parents so this will be quite an adjustment. There are about 6 or 7 weeks left until the move so I am glad we have plenty of time to spend together and make some more fun Boston memories. I am also glad they are moving somewhere warmer (ie. melt-my-skin-off hot) so I can visit them in the dead of winter. All in all, its a good thing. Right now, its really sinking in for the first time and it stinks.

making the sibs proud.

i bought my first pair of converse sneakers today. i have a major thing for sneakers. LOVE them. i haven't purchased converse ones, however, because i always think they make my feet look like boats. today, i faced my fears, bought them and don't think my feet look like boats after all.

on a side note, the amount of shopping i do is directly correlated to my mental health. considering my last two posts are about shopping, something is clearly going on :) yesterday was mother's day and not my favorite one ever. it was the last mother's day with my momma living nearby. next year she'll be living in texas. yuck, yuck, yuck. so, ive been sad and down in the dumps about that. but, shopping (esp. with momma herself) makes me feel better. so, thanks chucks, cute ts and new house stuff for making this miserable monday a titch better.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

My mom is my best friend. She is a great listener. She listens to my rants, raves, thoughts and feelings without judgment and with patience. She is someone I love to go shopping with, eat Mexican with, see movies with and just hang out around. My mom has obviously taught me a great deal in my life and has helped shape me into who I am today. Right now, I am most grateful for the way she continues to help me with and teach me about the phase of life I am in now- being a wife, being a teacher and navigating friendships post-college and pre-babies. I am so very grateful for my mom.

spring shopping

shopping at the start of spring is so exciting/dangerous. its actually hard to practice self-control and not try on/buy everything i see. today i had to go to the mall for a gift for chris's mom and ended up shopping a bit for myself (oops!). i got a few really cute things all on sale!

there are a few things that, no matter what's in style, i adore.

1) wide-leg pants. i love wide-leg pants. i love wide leg jeans, wide leg trousers, wide leg sweat pants, wide leg anything. for variety i own pants that aren't wide leg, but i'd be happy in only wide leg bottoms. i think this is mainly because i've got fairly large hips, relatively speaking. i like how the wide leg balances it out :)

2) puffy sleeves, which chris calls my tuffets. these i love just because. i had quite a few puffy sleeved tops.


















(i promise this shirt is cuter on that it looks in the picture)

3. wrap shirts/dresses. i had the cutest black wrap top that i wore until it looked like junk. today i got a new white wrap shirt and i'm pumped. this one will be worn to bits, too, i'm sure.


















so happy spring all you shoppers out there. after a good day of shopping i'm feeling even more in the spring spirit :)


pictures: all gap.com

Mother's Day Breakfast

Today was our Mother's Day breakfast in Kindergarten. It was so very cute and fun. The children helped to bake muffins and breads yesterday afternoon. During the week we painted picture frames, wrote books about our moms and made tissue paper flowers. The children got to come in with their moms, share their presents and enjoy some breakfast. It was lovely.

My favorite part was the making of the books. Children in kindergarten are very ego-centric. They have almost no ability to think about their moms as anything separate from themselves. One of the questions they had to answer in their book was, "What makes mommy happy?" A few of them knew right away: running, shopping and they were exactly right. Most of them though, had either no idea or simply said, "me." And yes, true, little one, you do make your mommy happy, but there are so many things that also make your mommy happy like five minutes peace and going out on dates with daddy. The ones that had no idea need a bit of prodding. I asked them what their mommies like to do for fun. Of course, they replied with "playing with me." And again, I'm sure their mommies do enjoy playing with them, but its so funny how their minds work.

Kindergarten is such a special time and today was a very special day.

t-minus 18 days...

until our first camping trip of 2009. Yay!!! So, so, so excited. Camping is a little piece of heaven on Earth. Since I can't live in Wyoming (my favorite place on the planet) at least I can spend a few days each month in the great outdoors.

A glimpse of things to come, based on things that have passed:

groceries: check

chacos and homemade anklets (ha): check

campfire: checkbest little mini-tent ever: check

another living room update.

even though we're still waiting for our super comfy, super cute yellow, upholstered rocking chair to arrive (in early june. boo!) we are still making updates to our living room :)

(the mirror, combined with the pictures, now sits centered above the couch!!)
ps. that is not a ghost on the right side of the picture. i don't think.
our new custom framed picture!

(i am embarassed my how much of a dweeb i am posing with our new framed picture...except clearly i'm not because i posted this to the internet)

silly me.

for the past few weeks i've been feeling proud of my neighbors for getting home so early. for so long, i had noticed, they got home from work really late. for me, getting home late from work= icky. tonight, after going to the library, returning home, talking to a friend on the phone, going to dinner with my parents and doing a quick stop at the grocery store i returned home to see all my neighbors parked and in for the night. as i was thinking how nice it was they were all making getting home i priority (how much of a teacher am i!?), it dawned on me that they aren't getting home earlier. its already 7:00pm for pete's sake. the sun is simply going down a heck of a lot later. DUH. shoulda figured that one out a while ago, but it never ceases to amaze me how early the sun goes down in the winter compared to how much sunlight we seem to get in the spring.

either way, i am very, very grateful for more sunshine on both ends of the day.

(view out the kitchen window of our neighbors parked. you can see the sun is still holding on!)

Thank Goodness its Friday (TGIF!!)

TGIF! Happy Friday! I love Fridays! I always have a little burst of energy on Friday because I know its the last day I have to get up at the crack of dawn. So, Happy Friday!

On another note, do you remember TGIF on ABC?! My brother, sister and I loved it. We watched it religiously every Friday night. Man, we loved those shows. These were the shows we watched:





While we loved them all, I think Full House was a long-standing favorite. How about you?