The Grinch Party Attendees of 2010!

I Learned it All in Kindergarten!

Remember that verse about how the really important stuff in life was all the stuff you learned in kindergarten?
Here's the published version:
All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.
Such a sweet verse!
So, the other day, MY Kindergartner says to me ""Mom, I know all the 'portant stuff you need to know if your gonna be a good student at (school name)" "Wanna hear it?" You bet! 
Kayli's Version of: All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten...

1) You have to be nice to everyone
2) You have to share and get along with others
3) You should be 'cited (excited) 'bout learning
4) Don't open your milk funny
5) Don't act crazy at school, ONLY at home!"

Aww, Sweet...AND Funny!

Good-bye First Baby Tooth, Hello First Visit from the Tooth Fairy!

It all began when I dropped Kayli off at her kindergarten room last Friday morning and I heard her say to her friend, "Megan, look, I have a loose tooth!" Well, I thought, she was just making it up so she could have a story like Megan, who has had a loose tooth for a while. But, lo and behold, when I picked her up at the end of the day, she did indeed have a loose tooth! She was wiggling that tooth with her tongue, as proud as can be! That night, she spent some time in front of the mirror, examining that tooth, and worrying that she might swallow it in her sleep.

Tuesday morning, during her typical morning routine of alternating between doing something on-task, like brushing her teeth, followed by doing something off task, like rolling around on the floor while singing Jingle Bells, she suddenly stops and says "Look Mom, my tooth" as she holds it in her hand for me to see. Now, the excitement begins!

The ongoing dialogue, all the way to school, about the tooth fairy! The school nurse gave Kayli a special plastic tooth-shaped necklace to wear proudly around her neck at school, as her badge of honor!  Oh, yes, losing a tooth is BIG STUFF at school! Kayli couldn't wait to go to bed last night so the tooth fairy could come! She decided to put her tiny little tooth in a special little trinket box on the bedside table, so that the fairy wouldn't have a hard time finding it. She even propped the lid open, just to "help out" the little fairy. She nodded off to dreamland, with visions of the tooth fairy appearing in a cloud of pixie dust, to collect the tooth and drop off a few little trinkets!

Ohhhh, the squeals of delight in the light of the early morning, when Kayli discovered the pixie dust left behind on the bedside table, along with a stray white fairy feather, and  the trinkets left in the trinket box:  a pair of Christmas wreath earrings, a Christmas pin, and 2 shiny quarters! 

Kayli asks: "Mom, does this mean I'm growing up?" Yes, my sweet pea, it's one more milestone, which reminds me again how very quickly you are growing up, right before my eyes!

Kayli's New Bedroom

I've had requests to post some pictures of Kayli's new bedroom. We/I  had so much fun putting this room together, and I'm still adding things! Kayli loves it too! Not so much that she's ready to sleep in her own bed yet, but that's ok. Seriously, when I think about it, I never had to "learn" to sleep by myself since I always had my sister in the same room, then a roomate in college in a tiny dorm-room! There are plenty of other opportunities to "learn" independence when you're 5 years old. For now, I am just going to enjoy my little cuddle bug, and know only too well that time passes quickly, children grow up, and grow "out of" so much of what we worried about along the way, and didn't need to! So, without further adou...I present to you...the Fairy/Princess Room...

In the picture below, the fairies, and the printed phrase that says: "Magic is Where You Least Expect It", all GLOWS IN THE DARK!!! It's AWESOME at night!

Below is the picture I took in the dark...

I still need to hang a few photos of Kayli with the fairies, from DisneyWorld, like...

and...

and...

and probably one of my favorite "castle pics"...

and probably a few princess pics...

Ohhhh yeah, these pictures are making me yearn for that next trip to DisneyWorld, where we had soooooo much fun!!! Is it time for Spring Break yet?

Yes, The Children Are Listening!

So, we all know that everyone has their favorite phrases they use to express frustration with other drivers, right? And, chances are, some of those phrases have been passed down from generation to generation, like one of my favorites passed down from my dad…”What are you waiting for, Christmas?” So, the other day, Kayli and I are on our way to school, with only minutes to spare, when we get behind someone who is at the stop sign, and letting car after car take a turn, and still showing no sign of an attempt to move forward, I let out an exhasperated “C’mon Already!” And, before I can say anything else, My “backseat driver”, Kayli, pipes in “Yeah, you missed your turn at the stop sign and NOW we have to wait until Christmas!!!” Made me laugh out loud!