Moving On

We were in the middle of what turned out to be quite a fun project today when this conversation piece took place. The object was to create an American flag (in honor of Memorial Day) using red and blue pieces of pictures that we cut from magazines. When we got closer to completing our creation, it got harder and harder to find places to put the magazine pieces on our flag. One of my girls had the following dilemma:

“I’m going to put on my thinking cap…” (wonder where she’s heard that before…)

Medium-sized pause

“Hmmm…

“What’s a thinking cap? I forgot.”

Anyway, with or without her thinking cap (because I don’t know if she ever remembered what it was to be able to put it on) we made this awesome-looking American flag that I’m bringing to Connecticut with us to hang up at our picnic tomorrow.

It is exactly one year from today that I will be listening to Pomp and Circumstance for what will probably be the fiftieth time in my life, but this time will be the most special out of any of them. And I'm not talking about next year's Kindergarten Graduation. Exactly one year from today, David will officially be: Dr. David [insert last name here]. Dr. David. How natural does that sound?

If I looked it up somewhere, I'm sure I could tell you when the ceremony commences. And the place, I know for sure, will be the Academy of Music (pictured below) in downtown Philly.


I'm told that the architecture inside is absolutely stunning. I hope he is allotted at least 4 or 5 tickets, but that's probably stretching it. I'm getting all emotional just thinking about it and it's still a year away, Lord-willing!

Anyway, the countdown is on!

We were gathered around the rectangle table today, doing some afternoon work, when a discussion popped up about how to tell the very identical twins that are in our class apart. Usually I would have called out, “Focus!” but since there are only twelve days left of kindergarten, I am in a relaxed state.

“K has a mole on his forehead,” noticed one student.

“And J has a mole right near his mouth,” pointed out another.

“K has that scar across bridge of his nose, that’s how I can tell he is K,” I interjected.

“You have a lot of moles, Ms. Jessica,” observed The Class Loud Mouth to which she received a chorus of agreement.

How did the conversation turn to me??

“I get that from my mom,” I tried to explain, but they were too busy finding mole #3 on my arm. The wise guys got up to somewhere in the mid-twenties before I called off the hunt due to feelings of self-consciousness.

One of the girls burst out, “Man, Ms. Jess, it’s like you’re pregnant or something!”

WHAT!?!?

So I asked, “What do moles have to do with being pregnant?”

“When the baby pushes out your stomach, it pushes all the moles out too…” she said with that look of exasperation I often get when I ask them to explain their (crazy) thoughts.

To which I wanted to ask, “Does my stomach look pushed out to you?” but decided to take the high road and be the mature one.

We kicked off our weekend by inviting some friends over to have dinner and then play the Wii. There were all sorts of "funny" jokes about the word "Wii" being tossed around but I will spare everyone from that immaturity. I ended up making chicken kabobs with red onions and green peppers, along with a few sides, for dinner. I marinated the chicken and the veggies overnight in this marinade I made from Italian dressing, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and some other ingredients. Then, while the kabobs were cooking in the oven, I brushed some more of the marinade on all of the skewers which made the chicken so tender. Anyway, that was probably the first big dinner I've made in a while, so I have to talk about it in-depth so D'll remember it :).

We all played a game of Wii Bowling and then the boys tried golf and tennis and other games on Wii Sports since that's the only game we have. Us girls could only take so much of the Wii before we turned to talking as the favored form of communication. It was a fun time had by all and I'm sure this will turn into a weekly thing as the summer rolls around. It amazes me how much the Wii brings out the kid in people! :) Which isn't a bad thing.

Saturday D left for his one and only weekend call during this OB/GYN rotation. He ended up leaving around 7am Saturday morning and not returning until 8:45am Sunday morning. But he got to see and experience a lot, including four births. To which he asked me, "Uh, do you really want to go through all that?" Those are NOT encouraging words, I told him, but he was adament about the uncomfortableness of it all. I'm sure he's right. Then he said that once the babies were out and all the huffing and puffing and moaning and groaning was over, it was so serene and all anyone cared about was the baby. He said it was so odd to go from all the noise and the busyness to just quietness. Those were more encouraging words. Now, of course, I'm getting all the details of what I should do before getting pregnant, when to see a doctor after I'm pregnant, what kinds of foods I should be eating during pregnancy, and so on and so forth. I was expecting all this closer to the date of conception, but goodness, not now! However, I am glad that he is knowledgeable about all this stuff and will definitely heed his advice.

Saturday, for me, was a portfolio-completing marathon day. My goal is to have it all done by Thursday night, which is quite possible. I can see it now: I will be experiencing some sort of withdrawl when it's all over. I can't even begin to count all the hours I've spent on this thing. If I printed it all out, it would completely fill a three-inch binder. Ugh.

Sunday turned into a Saturday type-of-day. We rushed off to church when D finally made it home, had lunch, took a two and a half hour nap, and went for a thirty minute walk. Later in the evening we went out to dinner at T.G.I. Friday's in Delaware because the last time we were there, there was a survey on the receipt. Of course D called and took the survey, which got us $8 towards any appetizer until the 27th of May (and we still had a good amount of money left on our gift card). We ended up getting two appetizers for our dinner and sharing them: This sampler thing and then Spinach and Artichoke Dip with Chips. YUMMY! We then did some errands in Delaware due to their cheap gas and no sales tax laws.

Only four more days until CT! Well 4.5 really because we'll probably end up leaving late night Friday/early morning Saturday to avoid all that Memorial Day traffic that is inevitable. Yay for paid holidays! :)

So rewinding back to last weekend. We had visitors!! D's parents and his brother Peter came down later Friday night and stayed with us until early Sunday morning. We crammed so much into this small amount of time. After settling in Friday night and hooking up the Wii, we all tried to get to sleep at a decent time because we were going to be up early the next morning. Dad and Mom treated us to breakfast at Perkins in Lancaster. Which means we left our apartment by 8:45am to make it there by 10:15am so we could then make it to Sight & Sound Theater's IN THE BEGINNING production by its noon showtime.

What an amazing performance, like I expected anything else. I love these productions because they make you think. And it's biblically-based entertainment, which is hard to find nowadays. D and I have been reading through Genesis and it's really interesting all the information that is in there and all the information that the Lord saw fit not to put in there. It was the third show we've seen there, the first two were, respectively: Behold the Lamb and Ruth. Here are a few snapshots of our time there...




After the show, we went to visit a couple from our church in CT who had moved near Lancaster a few years ago. By then we, as in the girls, were famished and couldn't wait to get back to our area to have dinner. D used his exceptional information directory skills to find the closest Olive Garden. However, upon arrival, we learned it was a one hour wait and that would certainly not do. Across the way was a Macaroni Grill and it had a zero minute wait, which we promptly agreed was a good deal. I hadn't been to a MG in forever, that was the hangout of choice towards the end of high school.

Dinner was very yummy. They even had paper and crayons at the table, which Peter put to good use. See:



We headed back to our apartment and I crashed. It's hard to keep up with D's parents!! They left early the next morning to get home for Mother's Day dinner with D's sister and her family, but it was nice to visit with them while they were here! We're always so busy when we're in CT, it was fun having time just with them.

Not that I'm counting down or anything, but we'll be in CT in 8 days. Thankfully David was able to get the entire weekend, plus Memorial Day, off from his OB/GYN rotation. And just because I'm (not) counting down, I am prepared to have the slowest week ever next week...but that's okay...next week is also when my Portfolio is due!

Our pastor preached another excellent message on Sunday, closing out a study of Ecclesiastes that he has been teaching for months. At one point he was talking about joy ("Enjoyment of life is not an option, but a necessity"), and got a rather loud chuckle from the congregation when he said this:

"If you're feeling happy, would you please notify your face?"

It could just be my sense of humor, but I completely love that comment and quickly wrote it down so I wouldn't forget.

Such is the title of an email that David receieves daily from the Wii "people." It breaks down the time he spent on the Wii that day into the different categories they have, such as Mii or Internet Channel. Now that I know it exists, there's no fudging the answer when I ask him what he has been doing with his day. For example, "Total Play Time" today: 3:54. Also known as three hours and fifty-four minutes. Good thing he only had a class meeting from 1:00-2:00 this afternoon.

And I find that title funny: Today's Accomplishments.

When are we going to start learning attraction?

You mean subtraction?

Yeah, subattraction.

Oooh, that. In a few weeks.

One of my kindergartners and I were talking last week, you know, that idle chat that can only come on a sunny, carefree Friday afternoon. Somehow the conversation turned towards having children. This student is very smart: school and otherwise. Talking with her is like talking to a high schooler and a young child at the same time, if that makes any sense, because she knows a lot about somethings and not so much about other things. Here's a small window into her mind:

My auntie is still deciding if she wants a baby. First she has to find a man (she half-chuckles). Then when she gets a man, she still has to think about having a baby because you have to push four times and that is a lot of work! My mom only had to push three times, so it was easy. But, boy oh boy, having a baby is a lot of hard work!

Where do they get these things from???

Yaay, another Mother's day to celebrate. I won't even begin to list all the ways my mother is so wonderful because I would be occupied for the next 10 years. Sufficed to say she is the best mom ever and I hope I am just a quarter as good as she is when I am a mom (Lord-willing). Thanks for being a wonderful mother and a true friend. I love you with all of my heart!

D's parents arrived tonight, and with them...the Wii. I snapped a few shots of David and Peter setting it up and of D starting to play the bowling game with his dad. Both of us created our Miis, too. Our night has been centered around this game console, so that's pretty much all I have to report. Tomorrow promises to be a very busy, but fun, day. Thanks again to Mom and Dad F for the great deal so we could get the Wii and thanks to Mom and Dad K for transporting it so we could get it earlier than expected!

The week has consisted of portfolio work and Spring cleaning. Both are coming along nicely, I am happy to say. Another reason for my happiness is that Kindergarten Graduation is now less than one month away on June 8th. YAAAAAAY!! I am so ready for this year to be over with and I am very much looking forward to Summer Camp and all the (free for me) adventures I get to go on all over the county. Until then, though, I still have some mighty funny kindergarten antics:

I needed to shred some of my personal papers while at work, so I figured I would let the kids in on how a shredder works. They always like learning about new, adult-type things, especially anything that is technology-related. So they were all watching me shred this one paper and saw how all the pieces fell in the attached bin through the little window. End of lesson. I was unplugging the shredder to put it back when one of the kids shrieked, "Ms. Jessica, one of the papers is still alive!!!!!!" I didn't know what to think, quite honestly, so I looked. There, in the bottom of the bin, was a fully intact piece of paper. Poor little guy couldn't get his mind around what a piece of paper was doing in a bin of shreds...until I showed him how the bin pulled out...

At random times, and for no rhyme or reason, I will give students candy for good behavior. Today was one of those days and, as one would assume, students usually respond very well to this little treat. Not so today, though. One of the kindergarteners raised his hand in the middle of a lesson, shortly after he had finished his Tootsie Roll, and proclaimed, "I have a problem with candy." I'm like, "Ummm that is unusual, but ok. What's your problem?" "Well," he says, "every time I eat it, my nose starts to hurt." To which I was speechless, but the little voice inside my head was not...Yep, that sounds about right for this class.

This week was fun. Besides the fact that we are incredibly short-staffed at work, raising everyone’s stress level by 100%, but we manage to channel our anxiety and make do. My answer to everything has been, “One more year.” This time next year my stint at KinderCare will be drawing to a close. So, in order to hold back from going into detail about everything that is wrong there, my simple answer has been those three words.

Anyway, I got a lot done on my portfolio, still plenty to go, but at least I feel like I have made a dent in it. We went over our friends’ house on Tuesday night for dinner and dessert. We’ve had such gorgeous weather all week, so we had a BBQ-type dinner. I brought brownies to make brownie sundaes for dessert. Our friends whose house we helped get ready to put on the market also came for dinner, unexpectedly. They’ve already had quite a few showings since Monday. I would like to attribute it to my fabulous painting job of the inside basement door, but I just don’t know for sure. At any rate, they are kicked out of the house for these showings, so with no place else to go, it was a nice surprise to have them for dinner, too.

Wednesday D had his last Psych call. Thursday he had choir practice. This is why I was able to get a lot done on my portfolio :) . Today we celebrated Cinco de Mayo in kindergarten and what fun! To begin the fiesta, many of us dressed in traditional Mexican-looking clothing. We’ve been speaking Spanish all week and they have gotten so good at it, so I took them to a local Mexican restaurant for lunch to taste the food and practice the language. We got to eat outside because the weather was great and because I think the wait staff was nervous about having 8 kids eating inside! However, the waiters LOVED them! The kids were speaking Spanish to them and they were answering back in these long sentences. I had to explain that they only knew a few words… Only three kids resorted to chicken fingers and fries, the rest tried the burritos, tacos, and enchiladas. D and I have a coupon to this restaurant and I can’t wait to go again. I ordered Mexican Fried Ice Cream to go, which D and I will be eating tonight. Along with some guacamole. I could eat Mexican for dinner four days out of the week. Anyway, the Ks even had a piñata filled with five pounds of candy to take their aggressions out on. All of us ended up pulling it apart in the end, but whacking it was quite fun. Cinco de Mayo just may become my newly-adopted favorite holiday.

Tomorrow D is going to see Spiderman 3 with some friends, while I get the better end of the deal: babysitting. And when I say babysitting, I mean babysitting. The little guy is but six weeks old and is cute as cute gets! I told his mommy I’d watch him so she could go on a date with his daddy…who promptly invited all these people, including my husband. Guys are such….guys!

Not much else to report. This week went by incredibly fast! We will be using next week to get the apartment in order for D’s parents and his brother Peter who are coming to visit next weekend. We will need all of that time. For now, though, Happy Cinco de Mayo!