Craziness.

We are all still alive and well, but I have been slacking on taking pictures and/or uploading them to the blog, so hence the lack of updates lately. This whole kindergarten thing is still taking a lot out of me for some reason, probably because I feel so new and nervous that I'm wearing myself out trying to make sure I'm not known among my colleagues as a Giant Screwup.

Ironically, the arrival of a very challenging little boy has really helped me feel better about it all, though, because at least I feel like I'm doing a good job with him. He yells, "I gotta go peepee!" numerous times while I'm teaching, no matter how many times I teach him the Bathroom Signal, and cries hysterically when another student is called on or chosen for any reason. If we don't watch him, he runs outside to play whenever he feels like it. Yet, he is improving drastically already, and if I do say so myself, I have shown the patience of a saint. The child has seen nothing but high-fives, friendly reminders, and smiles from me, and I comfort myself with this every time I forget to play the "Good Morning" song, or realize I've sent someone to the cafeteria without their special lunch tag AGAIN.

Did you know that there's a Months of the Year Macarena song? I must be the only person in the universe who didn't know the macarena, until the wee ones taught it to me (I also couldn't pick the Jonas Brothers out of a lineup if my life depended on it, so my pop culture knowledge is clearly dismal these days), so that's added a whole new level of humility to the equation. Who would have guessed I'd be doing THAT on a daily basis? The beautiful thing about kindergarten, though, is that the kids have no concept of dorkiness yet, and for that, I am forever grateful.

Here's Cubby's best "Oh no you di-in't" face:

After we went out to eat one day and they gave her a small cloth napkin for her lap, the Cub decided that this is a requirement for all future meals...so dainty!

Every blade of this grass should be made of gold for how much it has cost us to maintain. Let's just say that the amount of our water bill began with a 4 this month...and let's just say that Mommy cried when she saw it. We are looking into whether it's all a big mistake (pleasepleaseplease) or whether it's from that "every 2 hours" watering the landscapers told us to do for the first two weeks after they laid the sod. To keep me from vomiting every time I think about it, I try to focus on how much Cub is enjoying our nice yard:


This would be Cubby's not-so-dainty side: the Nose-Picking Addiction. Actually, she doesn't really "pick"--she just seems to think that her nostrils are supposed to be finger holsters, and that they are a cozy resting place for her digits. In this pic, she was sad because Mean Daddy tried to make sips of his Vitamin Water contingent upon her trying a bite of potatoes:

This video isn't very exciting, but I love her in this dress and pigtails and had to catch her in action:


Cubby does these weird "rock out" versions of the songs she knows, where she uses this weird voice and sings them all choppy. Bear always tells her she's "so metal." Here's an example, now with bonus nose-picking!