Thanksgiving 2007

Theresa and Marco took us out for ice cream in Modesto.

Rachel on Thanksgiving Day.

Match-y pals!

Rachel helping Grandma make the pumpkin pies.

Rachel's first school picture

Halloween 2007

My day yesterday:

6:42am: Wake up an hour later than usual, because I forgot to set the alarm.
11am: Leave work to drop George off at his friend's.
1pm: George is still waiting for friend, so I take off to pick up Rachel from school.
2pm: Pick up Rachel, meet George, and we have lunch
3:30pm: I get back to work.
5pm: Rachel takes a nap.
6pm: I leave work.
6:05pm: My car doesn't start.
6:15pm: I pay for my lapsed AAA membership.
6:30pm: I call for a tow truck
7pm: Tow truck arrives. It barely fits in the parking structure. My battery must really be dead, because the tow truck cannot jump it. We wait for another truck to bring the portable charger. Works like a charm.
7:30pm: Finally leave work.
8pm: Go out to eat with starving family.
11pm: Finally put well-rested child to bed. Mom promptly falls alseep.
11:30pm: Well-rested child says she's hungry, send her to Dad.
Midnight: Now cranky child starts crying that she misses the purple coat she sold at the yard sale two weeks ago. Crying child falls asleep in mother's arms. Mother thinks she fell alseep 2 seconds later.

Confessions of a Public School Parent

It's probably no secret that public school was not our first choice for Rachel. Don't get me wrong, before 5 years ago, I was very pro-public school. If we all abandon public schools what will be left? However, with this No Child Left Behind (NCLB) crapola, things are going from bad to worse. AND when I got laid off, I joined a group of homeschoolers and discovered they are really cool people. Shocker. :-) But we thought long and hard and decided that we couldn't afford private school and even entertained the thought of starting our own school. However, the best thing for our family was for Rachel to go to public school.

And I have been pleasantly surprised. Yes, Rachel has already learned that she is rewarded for being quiet. Sigh. But her teacher has been an angel as the transition has been a bit rocky. Mrs. J lets Rachel hang out with her at recess and lets Rachel draw when she is feeling sad. Rachel's reading has just exploded. She wants to write all the time and tries to sound out everything. It really is wonderful to watch.

Purging

So we are in the middle of a purge. A house purge, that is. George and I went from two households to one and never really sorted and threw out stuff. Well, 7 years later, that's what we're doing. When we moved from the condo to this house, the movers must've thought, 'piece of cake'. But when they showed up we had 100 boxes and probably enough furniture for a 4 bedroom house. Needless to say, we were able to furnish each room in our new home. Well, the place is getting cluttered. Actually, it's been cluttered forever. My office is just a storage area and the back room is not much better.

George decided we needed to have a yard sale. Well, I just gave 5 bags of clothes to the veteran's group, I didn't have anything left to sell. Ummm...I was wrong. I've been going through each room and I'm shocked with how much is stored and NEVER used. Out it goes! Our sale is this Saturday. I need to do more purging! :-)

I know I'm a Mom...

I wrote my first "sick" note last week. :D "Dear Mrs. J, Rachel was absent from school on Monday because she had a fever. Mrs. C."

First Day of School

My baby has started Kindergarten! There were a few tears. We had it all planned out where I wouldn't take her on the first day. Ummm...we should have stuck to the plan. We got there and Rachel jumped into line, but I didn't feel comfortable leaving right then, because there were still a ton of parents milling around. And Rachel started crying again. We ended up ushering her last into the classroom and the teacher took her by the hand. George and I jetted out of there and tried to figure how we could homeschool. :) Although, Rachel didn't say she *loved* school, she did say she liked it. Yeah!

The Getty

We went to the Getty on Saturday. They had a children's concert (Justin Roberts), but Rachel would have none of that. We said we were going to a museum and she wanted to see art, dammit! :D We finally left at 8pm, but Rachel didn't want to leave until we promised we'd be back.

Growing up

More and more I feel Rachel is growing up. She is expressing her interests and we're taking them into consideration! Before, she'd just go wherever we thought she'd like. Now, she is making suggestions. She wanted to see the "Underdog" movie. It didn't get good reviews, but it was sweet enough. And for Rachel, an hour and a half watching a dog on the screen is pure heaven! And then we took her to see "Go Diego Go". We can, like, go to the theatre and stuff. Still, it's a kids' show, but it got us out of the house and functioning like normal people, haha.

Schools, schools, schools

Public school starts in one month and we still are not sure where Rachel is going. Sigh. Yes, we are working on a private school, but we started so late getting this up and running for the fall, I'm not sure it will open in September. And if Rachel doesn't have anywhere to go on September 5th, she is going to the local public school. I really hate all this uncertainty, but that's just the way it turned out. I'm just glad we have a space for her. So I gotta get her uniforms in order and get her some shoes. Oh and some school supplies. She'll love that. :)

Rachel's 5th Birthday!

Attachment Parenting

Why is this considered out of the mainstream? *sigh* I really can't remember how I happened upon this form of parenting. I do remember a friend telling me he was never spanked as a child. I would say he had a pretty unique personality -- certainly not like anyone I had ever met. He seems to be very generous with his friend -- I don't mean materially, either. Something I had read when I was in high school put me on the AP path, I think. I read a study about altruism. In it, researchers were trying to figure why some people helped Holocaust survivors and some didn't. They looked at nationality, religion, etc. What they found is that those who risked their lives for a total stranger were not spanked as children. That was very profound to me and here I am.

I did want to subscribe the traditional tenets of attachment parenting -- really I did. I wanted to breastfeed, but both Rachel and I had issues, and I just pumped for a month. I wanted to babywear, but Rachel developed reflux and she was put on an apnea monitor. I wanted to co-sleep, but Rachel was perfectly happy in her basinett and, later, crib.

Luckily (?), she caught a cold when she was 7 months old and started to co-sleep. She is still in our room, but this is the year of the big transition. :)

While I would have loved to do all those things, to me, attachment parenting is about being 'present' for your child. We have so many things distracting us during the day. Even if you're a SAHM, you'd like to cook and clean once and awhile. But I believe AP is about balance and sometimes the balance goes towards your child and a messy house.

We've also made financial sacrifices so that one of us would be at home. No longer are we going to Hawaii every year. We didn't eve have a summer vacation this year. But if it means my DH can stay home, then everything is worth it.

My Day in Court with Marilyn Manson

Okay, so Marilyn (aka Brian Warner) did not show up, but his lawyers did. I'm sure he and every other celebrity gets sued every day of the week. In this case, two guys said that Manson's bodyguard accosted them, made one erase his videotape, and took the videotape of the other. It would have been nice if they had some evidence. You know maybe I could believe a security guard grabbed one of them and pushed them back inside the venue. But all they had was Manson's bodyguard saying his name on the audio portion of the tape -- the picture is too dark to discern anything. Doesn't mean he's the guy that did the pushing. And did they bother to bring in the police report? How hard is it to get a copy? Nope, nada. I can understand they didn't file one because they didn't know anyone's name. That is plausible, so why not tell the truth? When you start lying, it's hard to believe everything else. So the case took all of two days and we took all of two hours to decide. I think it took longer for the judge to get the paperwork to us. It was a nice change of pace from work, but, please people, if you want to sue someone, have a shred of evidence.

An exciting venture!

Ummm...we're starting a new school. Yep, with teachers and kids and curriculum and all that jazz. It's actually very exciting. We keep hearing horror stories about public schools and not everyone is comfortable with homeschooling. Sooo...we are coming up with an alternative school. It will only be for 3 days a week. We are really at the beginning stages, but it looks like we are *very* close to getting a site. I think that is probably the biggest hurdle. It would be nice to find someone who'd love to set up a curriculum, but we are okay with just signing up people to do individual classes. So, I gotta learn about private school laws, etc. Did I already say this is all very exciting? I think it's something that is severely needed in our area. It's, also, something we can participate as a family and as a community. It's wonderful to think that we may create something way bigger than ourselves. Yes, very exciting. :)

School uniforms

Ugh. My daughter is starting Kindergarten in September. Public school is more like a last resort for us, but I really didn't think much about uniforms. When the teacher at our new school said the uniform is red, white, and blue, I was imagining jeans with a red and white print shirt. Ummmm...no. We're talking stiff blue slacks or skirts with a white or red polo shirt. I don't think Rachel is gonna be thrilled. The poor girl doesn't want to go to school in the first place and now we're foisting this awful dress code on her. Yeesh! At least the private school had a cute plaid going on and the charter doesn't even have uniforms. I don't have a good feeling about this...

The Colburn School

Shriek! Rachel got into the Colburn School! It is a wonderful performing arts school in downtown Los Angeles. They have classes from toddlers to adults. It is very prestigious, but we just heard about it from friends. Their kids are taking classes there and they recommended it highly. So George called them yesterday to see if they had any openings. Apparently it is very difficult to get into, but this is the summer session and they actually had a couple of slots still available. Yippee! Rachel will be doing Music and Movement. She's at the upper part of the age range, but I think it will be a nice introduction. She's expressed interest in the violin and if she likes the school, we will get priority registration for the fall!

Rachel's Recital!

Rachel did so well! She was nervous at first, but once we started getting her ready, she was fine. I am just so proud of my baby girl!

Here!

I was inspired to start a blog by a friend that's been doing it for a couple of years. I thought it was a great way to look back at how our family has been changing and growing. I used to scrapbook, but, I don't really have time for it anymore. I hardly even take photos, so this would be a great place to put a few from time to time.