In nursery, Annie has been learning the Baby Bumblebee song.  It was no surprise when she was digging through the closet and found Hudson’s old bee costume.  She thinks its great and she walks around in it all the time.  Here are her attempts at the song.

The teacher in me snuck out for a brief moment the other day…at least long enough to hang a 100s chart in Hudson’s closet.  So many of my students while I was teaching struggled with number sense.  They had difficulty figuring out how numbers were related and what patterns could be found.  The teacher in me thought that this 100s chart would be perfect for Hudson.  He filled the whole thing in by himself.  I was so excited.  So if you have a random 9 sq ft of wall you don’t know what to do with, I highly recommend an hundreds chart:)

So I might go as far to liken our home during the day to that of a B-rated Kung Fu Movie.  Hudson and I very much enjoy engaging in fake Kung Fu fighting.  Of course I have to sing the song as we play.  I wonder what the flies on the wall are thinking…crazy humans!

Over Christmas we gave Hudson, Kung Fu Panda and that has just turned our fun into slight obsession.  Now it is not uncommon to have Hudson ambush me with his sweet Kung Fu moves…visitors beware.  Adding more fuel to the fire, I downloaded the song and have it as my ringer.  I couldn’t help it.  It is just too funny to see my kids jump up from wherever they are when my phone rings and start singing and dancing.  Free feel to call me anytime.  It is quite entertaining to me.  Technically, our house is more of a 24/7 Kung Fu Musical…wrap your brain around that one.  We have so much fun!

Every year when January 1st comes busting in the back door, I always try to hide.  I think I am terrified of New Year’s Resolutions.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love setting goals.  They feel fabulous once they have been accomplished.  Usually, I have goals running all year long and when January hits the last thing I want to do is pile myself high with more goals for the sake of goal setting.  When that happens, I don’t last a month before the goals are gone with the wind.  Honestly, I hate failure.  Sometimes it can be a little tough to swallow, although it seems to visit me enough to keep me in check.  Dark secret, many years of my life, I haven’t set New Year’s resolutions.

I was mostly on the ball this year…well…until Christmas knocked me off.  Then I was just rolling down the hill with it – metaphorically speaking.  I kind of felt like those cartoon guys who fall when their skiing and end up rolling down a slope way too fast and end up at the bottom with just the head and apendages sticking out.  I guess in the end I went from being on the ball to being rolled over by the ball to being the ball itself…hmmmmm.

This is year, I feel like I am ready to take on a few goals.  It actually feels like good timing this time around.  As a result here are some goals I’m thinking about.

1.  Spend more QUALITY time with my kids…cleaning my house while they follow me tugging at my shirt begging for candy doesn’t count as quality time.

2.  Organize my house.  I don’t have a whole lotta space so I have to make what I have count!

3.  Round out the food storage.  This goal partially hinges on goal #2.  Has anyone seen, The RM?  I guess I could always sell my bed and sleep on boxes of pinto beans and potatoe pearls if I’m really pushed for space.

I know there is so much more I need to fix in my life.  I am so far from perfect it is ridiculous, but I know where I am headed and that’s what counts.  There is no use in trying to swallow my “elephant” whole.  I am guaranteed to choke everytime.  I’m just going to nibble at the toenails.  Here’s to little nibbles.

Recently, I read, The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  It was a really fun fast read.  It is an upper grade children’s book, maybe 4th grade reading level.  Anyway, I digress.  On originality, the book takes the cake.  It is written partly as a movie script/narrative, part book and part film strip.  The book was inspired after the author learned about automatons and the roles they played in aiding magicians at the turn of the century.  Made with intricate clock work automatons were created to wow audiences by having human like capabilities.  Some were made to dance, others to write, etc.  Some automata could do several different tasks.  Honestly, before this book I had no idea what an automaton was.  I don’t want to give too much away in case you decide to read the book.   But I found a fun website that shows an automaton demonstration…very cool!