songs on repeat

One of my favorite things about being a student is walking everywhere! Especially now that Spring is making this a little bit more pleasant. My foot has been injured since my half marathon in March, and it's just now allowing me to walk to and from class again. This morning as I cut through parking lots and around buildings to my last 8:30am class the sun was shining, the air was crisp, and I had my ipod on repeat with a song by Colin Hay (thank you Pandora for introducing us) called Waiting for My Real Life to Begin which I think is an appropriate name for an end of the semester walk to class song :) Something about his voice and these lyrics combined with a morning walk marries nostalgia for the present and idealistic hope for the future.

Any minute now my ship is coming in
I'll keep checking the horizon
And I'll stand on the bow
And feel the waves come crashing
Come crashing down, down, down on me

And you said,"Be still, my love
Open up your heart
Let the light shine in"
Don't you understand?
I already have a plan
I'm waiting for my real life to begin

When I awoke today suddenly nothing happened
But in my dreams I slew the dragon
And down this beaten path
And up this cobbled lane
I'm walking in my own footsteps once again

And you say,"Just be here now
Forget about the past
Your mask is wearing thin"
Let me throw one more dice
I know that I can win
I'm waiting for my real life to begin

Any minute now my ship is coming in
I'll keep checking the horizon
And I'll check my machine
There's sure to be that call
It's gonna happen soon, soon, oh so very soon
It's just that times are lean

And you say,"Be still, my love
Open up your heart
Let the light shine in"
Don't you understand?
I already have a plan
I'm waiting for my real life to begin

On a clear day
I can see, see for a long way

On a clear day
I can see, see a very long way

Cookin'

We made recipe books with our kids on Tuesday, asking each one to describe how to make a favorite dish. Here is my favorite, a recipe for "Sugar Mannies"... perhaps a version of a sugar daddy? :)

Sugar Mannies

Ingredients:
- chocolate
-hummy
-awfully
-butter
-sauce
-hally
-hovey
-sugar manny
-plain manny

Put it all in a bowl. Then get sugar and ice cream. It goes in the bowl too. When it is done it will taste good. And then we eat it all.

I am...

Jumpstart is coming to a close for the year with only three more Sessions left with our sweet four and five year olds! We brought our five children downstairs to the Jumpstart room today and they set their breakfasts down and ran to go help bring out chairs and their breakfast table from the storage room.

I am amazed and blessed by the changes in these children in 8 months. In September they didn't know each other's names. Today they set up chairs together and I heard words like, "Here Karen, sit with me!" or compliments to each other, "I like your hair Jasmine."
This is a big deal.

I sat down on the steps and all of a sudden Sincere was in my lap in tears protesting that she had a cough and needed to go home. I wrapped my arms around her and explained, "But today is one of our last Jumpstart days and you don't want to miss it! AND we're going on a fieldtrip to the Dogwood Festival that will be SO fun." Jasmine came over and said, "Sincere, we're going to have fun today. Come eat breakfast." And she did!! NO tears.
This is a big deal.

As we got up from Circle time to go pick out books to read one on one, I grabbed Sincere and put her in my lap, eager to push away any other woes in her little heart. I looked her in the eyes and told her, "Sincere, today we are going to have fun AND you are going to remember that you are BEAUTIFUL and SMART. Can you say that?"

And that little one put one hand on each of my cheeks and pronounced,

I am BEAUTIFUL. I am SMART. AND I CAN DO IT!

This is a huge deal. And it made me cry.

Princess Burrito

Last night I was putting Annabel to bed and wrapped her up in the fuzzy Princess blanket and paraded her around the house as Princess Burrito. It was pretty funny... her giggle is one of my all-time favorite sounds I think.

I plopped her right on the counter in the bathroom to brush her teeth, and between brushes of bubble-gum flavored Crest we had a little conversation about her spring break plans to go with her family to Williamsburg. It went something like this...

Me: Hey Burrito, are you excited about going to Williamsburg tomorrow?
A: Yep. There must be a lot of Williams there!
Me: Did you know I went to college there?
A: You did?? Were there lots of Williams?
Me: Yep, they were EVERYWHERE.

This seemed to satisfy her, and we proceeded piggy back style to her bedroom to put the Burrito to bed.

Princess Burrito
curiosity in fleece
put to bed to dream

Redemption and Adoption

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/27/AR2009022701549.html?sid=ST2009030602446


read every last word.

April Fools Day

In preschool yesterday Ms. Ann served the children ice cream cones for breakfast as her April Fools joke (my kind of lady). Afterwards she was taking a tally of the children's favorite flavors of ice cream.

Ms. Ann: Aniyah, what's your favorite kind of ice cream?
Aniyah: A lot.


See why I love this class? :)