An overdue update

I haven't blogged since September 25th, which blogger promintely dispalyed on my login page, as if to shame me from being away for so long.

In my defense, work has been insane. Which is my fault - 100% - because I agreed to take on an additional class, which means I have no prep period, which means I have 5 academic classes plus Journalism (yearbook and the magazine) AND I was crazy and signed up to advise a few clubs (um, 5).

So I brought this craziness all on myself, and it's kept me busy. Really busy. In fact this weekend I finally finished grading essays that I had the kids turn in October 15th. Eep! I still have a giant stack of grading, but I feel good that at least those essays are done.

Finals are in two weeks. Le Sigh. I will enjoy Winter Break.

The good thing is that all of my students this year are wonderful. I really do mean this. Yeah, some of them are obnoxious at times, but they're teenagers. I do love being a teacher, even if the job is the most stressful job I have ever had.

The real reason of this post wasn't to talk about work, although that happens a lot with me lately. I can't seem to shut up about work... the point of this post was to chronicle what has happened in the lives of the kids since I took my unintentional blog hiatus.

Let's start with the youngest.

Griffin goes to school 3x a week and started to like it mid-September. His behavioral reports are always good and his report card for the 1st trimester (which I think is hilarous and adorable) was exemplary. He does well, he behaves well, he's energetic. Pretty much sums up the moster.

He's lost most of his lisp/stutter and talks up a STORM. Between the two of them it's a miracle B or I ever get to talk. Our dog, Harley-Quinn, is his very best friend, but I'm not 100% sure if she feels the same way.

The tantrums one normally expects of a 3 1/2 year old are becoming less frequent - which is awesome. Looking back, the Terrible Twos and Terrorist Threes were pretty tame compared to the stories I've heard of these ages. Insisting that he use his words to express his frusrtrations has started to bear fruit and he's much better and talking about why he's upset instead of just disolving into tears.

He's grown a lot. In 5T and some of his 5T clothes are starting to get a little short. Which is insane because we just bought him clothes. He's not quite as tall as Sissy, but on occasion people will ask if they're twins.

He's still a big snuggler and asks for snuggles all the time. And while he does spend a few nights a week in his own bed, most nights he crawls in with us anywhere from 3-6am.

Penelope

She is growing up too fast. She'll be 5 on Thursday. She lost one tooth in October and another two are loose. She's in size 7. She reads. READS.

We had her parent-teacher conference a few weeks ago and she knows 34 of the 100 1st grade sight words - the words 1st graders are supposed to know at the end of 1st grade. Thirty four.

She'll sound out words and read signs, books, and my text messages. She would still prefer to sit upstairs and read (or color) rather than go outside and run around. She is defintely my daughter.

Her teacher also said that Penelope is a very enthusiastic learner: "Sometimes very bright children will get bored, but Penelope is always so excited for whatever it is we are doing in class, she loves to learn."

And she's really social - she knows the names of her friend's parents and will greet them when she gets to school or on the way out. She loves everyone, they're all friends she hasn't met yet. And her memory is crazy - she remembers what she wore to Griffin's brithday party in April. She remembers playing with friends she hasn't seen in over a year. She remembers things I promised and forgot (which, boo).

I am planning on having her do the 20 birthday questions - last years are here.

In other news, I ran my first 5K and didn't die. I didn't walk or throw up either. Woot! My time was something like 39 minutes, so I ran the slowest 5K in the history of 5Ks. My next scheduled 5K is in March, running it with my Journalism kids.

The back tattoo is in progress. I have the outline and a little over 1/4 of color done. It hurts, a lot, but I love it.

And I think that's it. I'm sure I'm missing a ton of things, but I should probably get to all of that grading I have. The pile is staring at me accusingly right now.

An Audition, a Play, and Kinder

This has been an eventful week for Miss Sissy.

On Monday she auditioned for the Missoula Children's Theater's production of "The Secret Garden" and got a part as a plant in the garden. She has no lines, but the garden has a special song and is on stage during parts of the play. She was really, really, really excited about auditioning and it was pretty hilarious to watch.

It was a group audition, so all kids were onstage at one time. The directors had the kids act out lines in chorus, and then individually. Pen was really animated for the group portions, but less animated when it came to saying her line on her own. I was not surprised by this at all, especially since this is her first foray into theater. She was plenty dramatic when socializing with her new friends though, and as I told my mother, when she's a teen and is super dramatic, I will only have myself to blame.

Since she is my daughter, she's caught on to the songs rather quickly. This means that evenings post-rehearsal are filled with her sweet and yet slightly off key voice. She's off key in the way all pre-schoolers are off key (i.e. they're almost always flat), and I actually think that she'll have a really lovely voice when she's older.

The kids rehearse for one week and then they perform, so the shows will be this Saturday at 1 & 3:30. I'm not allowed to take pictures of the performance, but they will have pics taken, so those will be posted as soon as possible. If I can, I'll take video of her performance (not the whole thing, because - um, I don't care about the performances of the kids who aren't mine).

I think this will be great practice for her drama camp, which starts the 2nd week of June. There will be a performance for that as well, and then after her birthday she can start to audition for the full length productions our local children's theater puts on. She also wants to sign up for basketball next season, so we're going to have a full plate of extra curriculuar activties (also, she has a summer dance recital and probably a winter recital as well).

Speaking of curricular, we found out yesterday that our district transfer agreement has been approved and we can enroll her in KinderBloom (i.e. transitional kindergarten) for the 2013/2014 school year. She is, of course, SUPER excited about going to school and is already talking about all the new friends she's going to make.

We'll see after this year where we put her for Kinder, but the new district (Spreckles) has full day Kinder, while our local district does not. So odds are we'll keep her at that school as long as she's in Elementary or as long as we're still living in this area.

The 4-5 age is pretty exciting, yes?

Poor G-Man is still a little too young for all of these activities. We will try to sign him up for soccer and T-Ball, but he's 2 years away from Kinder (and he will not be eligible for transitional kinder due to his birthday, unless we hold him back a year -  but we'll probably just enroll him in full time kinder the school year after his 5th birthday). Oh yes, and probably swim lessons this summer if I ever get my act together.

Thinking about my kids in elementary school is bittersweet. I really do love this age - even though some people think 3 is the worst, I haven't found it to be anymore challenging than the ages before it. It has different challenges than 2 or 1 or the baby stage, but then a lot of the previous challenges resolve themselves. So I can be thankful that we don't have to deal with teething, and that potty training is over (although G does still wear a night diaper) - even while we deal with occasional tantrums (which are 90% predictable and thus can be anticipated/avoided/quickly dealt with).

And so I'll end this with some of the things the kids have said lately that I don't want to forget.

Penelope (as she's watching me clean the bathroom): Mommy, you are so good at cleaning the toilet. And you are so beautiful. I am SO proud of you.

Griffin (as he's falling asleep): *sigh* I love you bunches mama.

Penelope (watching me make dinner): Oh mommy, you are so good at cooking. I love the food you make.

Griffin (while we're all play wrestling): No mama, no tickles. Only snuggles.
(because apparently mama is made for snuggling and daddy is made for wrestling)

Penelope (to Bryan): You are my best daddy.

Griffin (at bedtime): You give me 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 more kisses and then nigh-night, ok?