Thursday, May 31, 2012

Amazing the way it all works out..

So as I have been posting on here, the search for a public (aka free) school for Amanda this year has been a long and arduous journey.  But finally this week, I can say it's OVER!  We finally have a school!

To recap, starting last November, we applied to a magnet school (you can only apply to one), then we toured the local schools in March, followed by applying to two local charter schools, and a school for advanced studies (last minute find thanks to the librarian at our local library).  As of the end of March, I was super frustrated and believed:
  1. Magnet schools were impossible to get into, with nearly 1,000 applicants for only 80 spots, a complicated points/lottery system, and limited campuses.
  2. Charter schools were impossible to get into, with lots of applicants (they couldn't tell me exactly how many) and a complicated lottery system that was supposedly random, but still gave priority to certain people.
  3. GATE and SAS programs were impossible to get into because it's hard to identify a child as 'gifted' in Kindergarten, so most schools don't even offer it until 2nd grade (so why even try?).
  4. Getting a permit OUT of LAUSD is impossible, especially since we don't work anywhere near the school districts we were considering, and we don't qualify for any of the other reasons.
  5. Getting a permit to go anywhere but our local school is impossible, as we don't qualify for any of the applicable reasons.
Yet, as of last week, we were accepted at a magnet school, a charter school, a local school not our own, AND an SAS program.  I also discovered Mike works within another (good) school district I didn't even know existed (Culver City), so we could have viably applied to get out of LAUSD if we really wanted to.

I love choices :)

In the end, we chose Playa del Rey Elementary School School for Advanced Studies (SAS) for lots of good reasons I hope we'll be happy with.  I spent yesterday calling the rest of the schools to decline their invitations to attend, which felt both scary and relieving at the same time.  I guess we'll never know for SURE if we made the right decision, but I hope we don't end up regretting it.  I am super happy to have made that decision and have it behind us though.

In other news, the same time we were getting acceptance calls, I got a call from preschool on Thursday that they had to call 911 on Kevin.  He apparently was riding those 'flinstone' like cars and ran it headlong into another kid.  It threw him from the car, did a flip and landed on his head.  Luckily I was home that day (getting our house checked so we can get solar panels installed), so I drove over and rode in the ambulance with him.  Talk about scary!  But he was fine in the end.  ER doc gave us the all clear and told me what to watch for that night.  I leave you with a picture of him strapped to the pappoosa just after we arrived at the ER.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

New Look!

As many of you know, I had been growing my hair out for the last several years.  I was doing so with the intent of donating to Locks of Love, a wonderful charity that makes wigs for children with cancer and other diseases that prevent them from growing their own hair.  Well, last week I realized my hair was just not growing any more, and I was getting sick of the upkeep the long hair required.  So on Saturday I headed to the salon.  I don't have a regular hair person, so I just went down to Fantastic Sam's.  I told the lady what I wanted to do, and where I wanted to cut it (basically only my longest layer was going to be the required 10 inches, and the rest was just going to have to go), but she started brushing out my hair and convinced me we could get a full 10 inches out of the whole thing.  So she started chopping.  And chopping she did.

The pic to the left is how I came back.  SUPER short, like even shorter than I have ever had before.  Amazing!  Mike hates it (he likes long hair), but I assured him I intend to grow it out again.  I was super self-conscious about it for several days, but I am slowly getting used to it now.


On Sunday, we headed out to the beach for a bike ride.  Here's the only pic I took of the kids when we stopped for ice cream:

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Big weekend for us!

We had a big weekend for everyone this weekend!

1st- Amanda gave up her nap.  I'm pretty sure she was ready to give up her nap a while ago, but I was being stubborn (I need the down time too!).  Also, they still make them lay down at preschool so I felt like if I didn't continue that on the weekends, it would throw her whole schedule off.  Ironically, I picked her up from school yesterday and she told me they weren't required to take a nap because they found mice droppings on their cots.  So they had to wash the bedding and the kids just got to watch tv instead.  This won't happen every day, but it was funny that it happened on the Monday after she went a whole weekend without naps!  She did pretty well.  Still had a bit of a meltdown on Monday night.  But she goes to sleep better (no more coming out of her room every 5 minutes for an hour!), and sleeps later (at least until Kevin woke her up), so that's nice.

2nd- Kevin started potty training.  We've been encouraging him for a while, but he was never really interested.  Lately though he has started wanting a diaper change at every pee-pee, so last Thursday I put him in some BUZZ! underwear, which he promptly soaked.  By Friday, he started to get it and after a few accidents, he went on his new froggy potty (won in a silent auction at preschool).  Saturday and Sunday were huge wins, and at school on Monday they said he did really good too!  Yay for Kevin!

We are trying a new cleaning lady this week as well.  The old lady has apparently dissappeared.  She was supposed to come on Good Friday, but called the night before to cancel.  Then she didn't show up for the next two weeks.  My neighbor, and her sister both tried to get ahold of her, but she has apparently moved out of her house and cancelled her phones.  So my neighbor knew someone else who we are trying today.  We shall see how this one goes!