Kindergarten thoughts

Ask any teacher, and I bet they will tell you that they have back to school nightmares.   Mine used to be about the 6th grade throwing some sort of rebellion during my class.  I’d even get those dreams when I was not teaching, along with the its-the-last-day-of-finals-and-I-forgot-to-go-to-class dream.

You’d think I’d have middle school nightmares.

But I don’t.

Now the kindergarteners, on the other hand…

🙂

So I had my very first class of kindergarteners today.  They were cute and funny.  And only about a 1/3 of them speak English.  I have a feeling that my Spanish vocabulary is going to triple in the next few months.  I also have decided that teaching Kindergarten is like teaching a class entirely made up of my son.   All the different facets of his personality.  There are the School-Boys who follow directions and do their best.  There’s the squirrely-boys (no definition required, I think.)  There’s the Loud-shout-inappropriate-things-Boys, which in this case is a girl.   (Those of you that have attended church with us know this version of the Boy well.  🙂 )  There’s no-personal-space-boy, who pretty much spent the entire 40 minutes trying to get my attention by putting his hand on my arm, even while I was trying to play  guitar.  All in all, it was a good first day.  As long as I do my lessons in 5 minute  increments.  With every other activity involving hopping somehow.

Or marching.

And more hopping.

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Random thoughts

1.  I asked the boy to help me dry the dishes this morning and noticed how fastidious he is when he’s doing a job.  He dried every little crevice, nook and cranny and refused to go to the next dish until it was completely dry.  He does not get this from me.  Heh.  And the best part, when he finished he put his hands on his hips, smiled that smile, and said in his best superhero voice, “All done, Mama!”  Almost erases the memory of the birthcontrol tantrums (the ones that make you think having more children is crazy).  Almost.  🙂

2. So at school, the middle school kids were grouped in a class of 6th graders, a 6/7, a 7 and an 8.  (This is actually changing on Monday.)  I had them doing an assignment where they needed to write their name and grade level on the paper so I knew which class it came from.  In 7th grade, one of the kids asked, “Do we write straight 7 on it?”  Before I could answer, one of my more, ahem, exuberant students blurted  out, “Of course we’re straight.  We’re not wiggly.”  Internal sigh of relief on my part because that sentence could have gone so many other ways… 

3.  And for the record.  They actually are kind of wiggly.

4.  The boy has become enamored with a website called Animal Jam that was created by National Geographic.  It’s all fine and good until he gets “mail”.  Which then one of us has to come read to him.  Which usually just says, “Animal Jam rules!”  It’s also weird to have your 4 year old yell out, “Mom!  Mom!  How do I make my bunny join the Dance Party!?”  His avatar is bunny.  With flames and bat wings.  It’s really meant for older kids so we won’t enable the chat part, but he is enjoying the games.  And I guess it’s slightly better than the television babysitter…

5.  3 days of school and I already caught the crud.  Awesome.

Best intentions

So, since I got the drain out, I’ve been trying to make some healthy changes before school starts and the craziness ensues.  I’ve been reading Clean Eating magazine which is the basic healthy premise that less is more.  Less chemical ingredients,  more whole grains, fruits and vegetables.  You know, all  those things we know we should eat and yet don’t because of the convenience.

So yesterday morning I made these yummy breakfast turnovers that had 2 eggs, 6 egg whites, swiss cheese, red pepper and a little green onion.  Super yummy.  Super healthy.

Except now I have 6 egg yolks.

So what’s a girl to do, except to make this?

It’s all about the portion, right?  And I did substitute fat free evaporated milk for whipping cream.  Only because the whipping cream had gone bad…

Lost and Found

So a couple of weeks ago, my sister calls me and says, “You’ll never guess what I found!”

“My Charmed Knits!”‘

“Um.  No.  But you’ll be really excited.”

“More excited than if you’d found my Charmed Knits?”

I believe there was some eye rolling that I couldn’t see over the phone.  Heh.

So remember the camera I lost back in 2009?  It turns out I must have put it in the jogging stroller zippered pocket.  Now here’s the super amazing thing.  I gave that stroller away.  And before I did, I hosed it down.  And my sister’s friend then hosed it down again.  And then looked in the pocket and found the camera – which still works!

So I have pictures of L during Tae Kwan Do (the only day she didn’t cry, I might add).

But the happy finding things, doesn’t stop there.  I DID find my Charmed Knits book.  Sitting on the filing cabinet.  In my room.  Where I know I looked several times.  I think it was under an invisibility spell.

And here’s the kicker.  I went to take a picture of the old camera for this post.  And I can’t find it.

Things I love

In my kitchen:  Mason jars!  And spaghetti jars.  I actually prefer to make my own sauce, but will buy jarred just for the jars.  🙂 

 We all know how I feel about my crockpot.  I feel this has been well covered.

I am newly in love with basalmic vinegar.  That stuff is magic.  From the strawberry basalmic gelato, a glaze for salmon, to simply drizzling it on salad.  Amazing.

Lastly, I love my basil plant.  Turns out it costs less to buy the plant than to buy fresh basil at the grocery store.   I’ve been using basil leaves instead of lettuce on my sandwiches.