Aliya’s school held a poetry night this week. At first she wasn’t sure she could write a poem but we talked about it and she ended up writing a poem about things she loved. Then she wasn’t sure she wanted to read it in front of people since it was very personal and “people might think it was dumb”. Since her poem was in Spanish I suggested that she show it to her teacher so she could advise her on grammar. I had Aliya’s parent-teacher conference that day and her teacher loved the poem. She told Aliya that she would come to poetry night JUST for Aliya (there were only 3 kindergarteners who participated and Aliya was the only one from her class). During the day, the principal saw Aliya in line with her poem and she asked her about it. Aliya told her that she was going to recite it at poetry night, and the principal took her into the office to recite it for the secretaries, a couple of teachers, and the nurse. Before we left home to go to poetry night, Aliya said that it was ok if people thought her poem was dumb, there were at least 8 people who liked it. She did a great job!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5eni1lVGDc]

Me Encanta (I Love)
By: Aliya

Me encanta mi familia (I love my family)
Me encanta nadar (I love swimming)
Me encanta colorear (I love coloring)
Me encanta cantar (I love singing)
Me encanta rosada (I love pink)
Me encanta leer (I love to read)
Me encanta mis maestras (I love my teachers)
Me encanta escribir (I love to write)
Me encanta mi nuevo dormitorio (I love my new bedroom)
Me encanta chiclit (I love gum)
Me encanta mis amigas (I love my friends)
Me encanta las frutas (I love fruit)
Que le encanta tu? (What do you love?)
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Seriously…where does the time go?? I’m aware that it’s Friday, because that’s the night Ben takes the kids upstairs for movie night and I have “a night off” a.k.a. catch up on laundry, write blog entries, maybe read a few chapters and hopefully go to bed (alone!!) at a decent hour. I recognize Sunday because that’s when I get everything ready for Monday…work/emails, backpacks, lunch money, etc. Everything else is a blur until Thursday, when I have Adlani and Norah home and I basically start work at naptime and work into the wee hours. TIME FLIES!!! I feel the urgent need to slow it down before time runs out.
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We’ve been doing lots of fun stuff…I’ll start with the most recent and work backward.
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Last weekend we went to the Big Apple Circus. If you haven’t gone, GO!!! I have gone every year for about 12 years. It’s fabulous! It’s different every year and I’ve never been disappointed. It’s a wonderful charity and I join every year, which gives us access to great seats at a discount, plus the annual member party where we get free food and drinks, entertainment, face painting, and a lovely parting gift for the kids (lunch bags this year). Adlani even overcame his fear of clowns at the member party. During the show, I was asked to participate by raising an umbrella before a clown spit a mouthful of water on me. The kids were so surprised and excited. It was a blast.
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The first weekend of the month we “dropped into art” at the Danforth Museum. The girls made sculptures of animals which took so long that we didn’t get to see any of the art! We’ll be back next month…it was a lot of fun – and FREE!
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Before that, we had a date with Zineb at Chuck E Cheez (one of my least favorite places). If you don’t know Zineb, she is our niece and she lived with us for about a year when she was a junior in high school. I hadn’t seen her in a while and I’m so proud of what a beautiful woman she has grown up to be. She works at Tufts Dental School and is engaged! The kids are in love with her and we had a great time getting reacquainted.
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Easter weekend was a crazy whirlwind. We had 2 egg hunts, Lindsey’s birthday party, a swimming lesson, and Easter dinner. It was chaotic, but fun. We still have about 5 pounds of jelly beans and we all need emergency visits to the dentist. I actually just went through a dental ordeal…a toothache, a filling and a cleaning, another toothache (same tooth), antibiotics and Tylenol with Codeine, a root canal, a post, a temporary crown, and a permanent crown. I spent 8 HOURS in the dentist’s chair. At least I was able to track down my favorite dentist who changed practices after her maternity leave.
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Here are some pics from Easter weekend:
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In case my earlier post didn’t inspire you to visit this site (http://www.nuttynuttynews.com/), maybe these current headlines will:

~ Parents Replace Kids With Monkeys
~ Phone Book Typo Leads Customers to Phone Sex Line
~ Man Lost Life Savings After Termites Infesting His Bank’s Safe
…Deposit Boxes Ate Them
~ And the Worst Bad Name Is…Charman Toilette? Chastity Beltz?
~ Police Swarm Day Care Over Blanket Dispute
~ Woman Crashed Golf Cart While Drunk – Had Six Kids Aboard

And one that I’ve pasted here because the last line cracks me up:

~ Girl Gets Her Belly Button Ring Stuck in Her Nose

If you make it to the older posts, you may run across one that has been in the back of my mind for a week: Man Facing Charges for Having Sex with a Picnic Table.
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One morning this week I was having a particularly hard time getting the kids out the door, and I had asked Adlani to put his coat on at least 12 times. On the 13th time I said, “Adlani! Put on your frickin coat!!” With a big grin on his face, he yelled, “Hey Aliya! Mommy said the double-E word!” That kid has GOT to learn his letters. It’s an F-Word! Not THE F-Word…more like an F-Minor.

This morning at the bus stop…

Aliya: “Mommy, have you ever been in jail?”
Me: “No.”
Aliya: “Well, Daddy said you were.”
Me: “WHAT???”
Aliya: “Daddy told me yesterday that you were in jail.”
Me: “And what was I in jail for?”
Aliya: “For hitting and scratching Daddy. You were in jail for 18 days, 4 hours, and you kept begging him to let you out, and then you said you’d give him all the ice cream and he let you out.”
Me to Ben via cell phone: “Would you please refrain from telling people that I’ve done jail time?”
Ben: “Oh, I was just kidding around. Hahahaha.”

WTF?!?! The kids think that any piece of news they happen to hear is worth sharing with everyone they know. I’m sure all of Barbieri thinks I’m an ex-con. For the record, I have not been in jail yet. That could change when I get my hands on Ben.
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