Post-Christmas, Pre-New Year's

Guess who met Santa yesterday?

Merry Christmas!

My little pickle is ready for the holidays! After a fun-filled 10 days with Grandma and Grandpa, she is getting ready to visit Camp Winston for the weekend. After Christmas, her cousins are visiting from NJ, and her mommy and daddy are taking her on her first trip to the beach. It promises to be a big 2 weeks for this little one.

Oh, and did I mention that she cut her first upper front tooth? OMG! The time is flying!

Truly Thankful

... for snuggly pets.

...for these two.

... for K, who loves my BFF *almost* as much as I do.

... that 5 hours isn't too long a drive.

... for peas and mashed potatoes.

... that I get to do this everyday.

Wordle, I love you.

Created this nifty little diddy at http://www.wordle.net/. Thanks to my pals at scrapfreak for introducing it to me!

Current Favorites

Currently loving this picture because you can see Bella's teeth! I did some silly editing with spot color to highlight those little white buds. They look cute, but they can be lethal! She's learning to not bite down on people with them, even though she still likes to grab everyone's hands and stick them in her mouth.

Another current favorite. Z did an amazing job taking and editing this photo (among others) of my folks hanging with Bella in our front yard. It looks like we live in such a nice house... Though you can't make it out very well, Bella is wearing her "cow outfit." Black and gray polka dot shirt, gray pants with black cuffs, black and white polka dot socks and a cowhead bib. It's a bit over the top, but what are grandparents for? And, yes, that IS a gigantic cross my dad is wearing. He was just returning from presiding over a wedding and he wears that cross when he's "working."

So hard to get motivated today. I've been fighting a sinus infection for the better part of the week. That, paired with parent-teacher conferences has left me absolutely obliterated. I broke the rules this morning and had Bella nap in the bed with me. She was awake for a while before I was able to open my eyes again. Dealing with a day at home without Z... attempting to do laundry and straighten up, though I'm not really getting far in either endeavor. Don't want to venture outside into the cold to get Kharma. Don't want to fold laundry. Would rather curl up with a book and a cup of coffee... Here's to Thanksgiving coming soon which brings many family visits... first from the aunts then the in-laws. Then it's Winter Break and two weeks of off time!

Guess what? I'm ready!

5 Months!!

It's been a big month for you, little girl. Leading up to your 5 month birthday, you've:

• gotten two new teeth on the bottom
• learned how to eat rice cereal, then green beans, then peas
• almost mastered rolling from your back to your stomach, though you still get frustrated and often refuse to roll from your stomach to your back without help
• celebrated your first Halloween
• discovered just how high you can jump in your johnny-jump-up
• decided that you're ready to crawl, you're just not sure how to do it yet
• mastered sleeping from 7PM to 6AM and sometimes a little later
• had your first swing in the park
• gotten very good at grabbing things and putting them in your mouth

So many new things you've learned how to do. You're growing, growing, growing, and we love you more and more everyday.

You don't know it, but you were also alive to witness history: our first African American president was elected the day before your 5 month birthday. What exciting times we live in. I'm so glad that you will grow up in a world where people are becoming more and more accepting of differences everyday. You won't think twice about someone other than a white man having power in our country. You won't think twice about someone speaking another language in your class. You won't think twice about your aunts being married and having children. You will recognize the person, not the color or language or religion or orientation. It will all be the natural way of life for you. Change is here. I'm glad you're alive to be a part of it.

Halloween Highlights

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. We carved pumpkins with the Clan and enjoyed 4 different varieties of chili, thanks to M! Bella was a black cat -- her homage to Gadget. She made it through about 4 houses before she fell asleep, but we kept her strolling along with her cousins. Can't wait for her to walk some of it herself next year!

Mystery Shoes

On Saturday a mystery package arrived addressed to Bella. No return address. No card included. In this mystery package were these ROCKIN Keens... in her signature color: purple. Now, we have a sneaking suspicion from whence these shoes came. The handwriting was vaguely familiar... looking quite "doctorish" but we're not sure if it would be a Ph.D. or M.D.'s handwriting, seeing as how neither's penmanship is really all that legible. =oP

In any event, we are LOVING the mystery shoes. We can't wait for her to use them. And we send big love and thanks to the MYSTERY family members who sent them. We miss you!

Tooth? No... TEETH!

Yep. This is the face of a teething Bella. About a week ago, she cut her first tooth. The bottom left tooth in the front. This weekend, she cut its partner... the bottom right front tooth. I guess all she wants for Christmas is her two front teeth!

Just love this picture of Bella with Kharma. She decided that she wanted to pet Kharma, so she flopped off my lap, onto her belly, and scooched over to Kharma. Kharma, being the very tolerant puppy that she is, let Bella hold her paws and lean against her for a few minutes -- long enough to snap a few of these shots. You can see the joy in Kharma's face, can't you? Finally, though, she decided she'd had enough and she slid off the couch, making sure that she didn't hurt Bella, and walked away.

Observation

Multiplication Flashcards

+

5 minutes 'til recess

=

Happy Third Graders

Early Peas

Babies' toes are like Early peas. Small, round, and ripe for the picking. I love them!

4 months old!

Can you believe that my little baby girl is already 4 months old?! I can't.

Guess what?

The new Ben Folds CD, Way to Normal, came out this week! Hooray! Buy it, download it, whatever... go get it!

Nothing Like a Good Book

So, there's this Siamese Cat, right? And he gets in trouble a lot, right? So his mom sends him to his room, and he realizes that he's not a Siamese cat at all... HOLY GUACAMOLE! He's a CHIHUAHUA! Insanity ensues, complete with a band of Chimichangos and a villian known as the Bumblebeeto. Ah, such the perfect book.

And when you're having a day like I'm having, i.e., "Didn't I ask you to put that in your folder? Not your desk. Your folder." or "I've given that direction 5 times already. When will you follow it?" or "Is it necessary to sneak those bubbles outside to recess? Couldn't you just ask?"... well, you need some Skippyjon Jones in your life!

Reading this book is a rite of passage for my students every year. I pull it out at different times each year, depending on the group and the situation. Today it became the pick-me-up for a group of children who needed to do some laughing... and their teacher who desperately needed to hear them laugh. Our litte Siamese Chihuahua hero, in his muy, muy soft voice and best Spanish accent always makes my day!

Because of him, I can pick up, move on, and remember... they're children. They don't always understand. They won't always listen. They ALWAYS need to laugh!

Sooooo....

Not a whole heck of a lot going on around here lately. Yeah... HA!!

I'm back to work which means I have less time to snap endless pictures, cruise Facebook, and, of course, add to my blog. I'm just beginning week 3 of my return to the classroom, so all of the kinks have yet to be ironed out. I have 18 little bodies to learn about, to re-train, and to teach. I have one new teacher in my room with me for half the day, which I love. And I have one HUGE pile of stuff left by my sub that I still need to get through. Did I mention grades go out in 2 weeks?

Bella is growing, growing, growing. She has her (gasp!) 4 month appointment on Friday. She's really starting to giggle and grasp at things deliberately, and attempt to roll over. All in all, she's an incredibly happy baby on an incredibly easy schedule.

Some things to look forward to (I bow down to my BFF, the queen of lists...):

• Seeing Bella's aunts in a few weeks.
• Seeing Amy Ray in November (Hooray, Laura!!)
• Bella's first Halloween... she's dressing up as a female Gadget... black cat, ears and all.
• Halloween in general, which means pumpkin carving with the Clan at the Compound.
• Fall weather... open windows, chili, and socks. It's trying, it really is!
• St. Augustine after Christmas
• Christmas on the way... so, seeing Z's parents and getting our tree.

Not to wish the time away, but with the way the economy is slamming us, with the way the election madness is just dragging on and on, and since my husband had to drive around like a madman finding gas for my car on Friday... these little things remain a spark, a light in the distance.

There's not really much else to report, so I guess it's off to bed for me. Gotta be ready for those kiddies tomorrow!

The Twinkies

Before the wedding, we had an opportunity to meet L&J's new girls: Caroline and Lily. They were 8 weeks early... born about a week before Bella. Because they were early, we couldn't see them until recently. It was so much fun to hold them, though I know L&J are just exhausted taking care of their little girls. We're going to have our hands full when these girls start crawling... nevermind when they turn 16!!