Marine Corps Ball

I probably would have had a great time if
a. Larry was not the only Navy officer there and (in his glowing white choker white uniform among the sea of Dark Blue Marine Dress uniforms) wasn't quite so conspicuous.
b. I was 22 and liked getting drunk and dancing.
c. If Larry liked dancing
d. Knew someone there besides Larry

As it was, it was OK. Over an hour of pomp and ceremony, lots of talk, lots of Ooh Rah- Go Marines. They have the Ball to celebrate the Marine Corps Birthday, so of course it's all about the Corp. Still scratching my head as to why we had to be there. But the entire BAS was there, so I got to meet the people Larry is in charge of. .
The picture of the other guys in white are the guys in his BAS. They were the only guys wearing white in a room of 1000+ Marines.

And today is Halloween. Hurrah.
The kids have been up since the crack of dawn excited for candy later today.
Sheesh.
you'd think it was Christmas morning or something.
I remember the happy days before they knew what Halloween was..

This just in..

about the house-

The VA appraisal is lower than what we are financing.

It's not a dead deal, yet. Apparently there are things that real estate people do when this happens.

getting myself some more Maalox
And crossing real estate off my list of occupations I think I would try some day.

Larry's home

From his 2 week all expenses paid trip to the desert.

His uniforms could literally stand on their own from the dirt.
None of the guys showered the entire time they were there- over 2 weeks- in mostly 90+ degree heat.
go ahead- say it with me- "ewwwwww!"

Tomorrow we go to the Marine Corps ball. Ooh Rah.
Alot of these balls are held at fancy places. Not ours- it's being held at the SNCO club here on base.
At least arranging a babysitter won't be hard.

I have 2 dresses. Once of which I needed to loose some weight to fit into, the other that fits. I have been spending some quality time with the treadmill and tomorrow I'll figure out which one fits.

We're still waiting on the house closing. I've re-submitted nearly everything twice- taxes, W2's and a quatrillion letters explaining stuff. Even a letter as to why the Navy issued him 2 w-2's. Really? you think I speak for the Navy or the DOD?? You think for a micro-second that I could tell you why they do 90% of what they do?
Really????

Anyway..
I need to get offline, but in case my mom and dad were worried- we're ok- even if I'm not blogging. It's just life is getting the better of my time.

Please pass the Maalox

Because that's one or two of my current food groups.
The other big portion of my food intake is caffeine.
Yes, it's a fantastic combination.

It's never been quite so nerve wracking and unnerving as to apply for a home loan.
I have new appreciation for paying for stuff with cash now.
Too bad I don't have that much sitting under the mattress that we could buy a house with cash.

As it is, I priced out an Ikea kitchen and I'm thinking.. 'hey, ya know.. maybe we can work with the cabinets that are there?'

And then other thoughts go to selling our stuff and moving into a mobile home. Or two.

Someone shoot me now

Last night I grabbed 2 of the same box of diapers and missed the ONE I needed the most.

ARGH
ARGH
ARGH

I'm going to email the garage owner and see if they can't print a fedex label on it and I'll have fedex go pick it up. At this point, I think it'd be money well spent.

And in other news- it's Saturday.
I think there are cartoons on and I'm thinking I'll turn them on and get the house cleaned.

OK. no. Really shoot me.
I found the box I needed. It was in the garage the entire time.

ARGH
ARGH
ARGH

Going back to bed to start the day over

The End to the Week

Of course Friday is pretty much the same as Monday, Tues, Wed, etc.. around here.

oh what to say?

Life's just been marching on here. Funny how time does that.

We did manage to get to the kids' school apt to prove they've learned something. Sonia repeated nearly entire chapters out of the science books she's been reading (because that's her preferred reading, not because I decided we were going to study what she picked from the library..) And Joey really demonstrated how he's turned into a reader.

And after that visit, I'm overhauling what we're studying. Because the school's curriculum (which we aren't using.. but..) and emphasis is on chronological order of time. So.. from the earliest people to the Egyptians, the early writing, Babylon, the Greeks..
It sounded like a good idea- I mean, I didn't learn the stuff in chronological order, maybe that would help?
No. I don't believe it does. I think it's like reading the entire bible and starting at Genesis. The first time you attempt to read it.

So.. starting immediately we're going to jump ahead to medieval times. Because that's when real princesses lived.
And because Joey wants to slay his brother the purple dragon with his lightsaber sword.
And because Robin Hood is a cool book.

And after that we'll be learning about the Gold Rush. And go pan for Gold.
And the Revolution and and and...

So.. while I was in the library I picked up a book. It was about Old Sturbridge Village. Literally. And it made my eyes mist. I wish I could give my kids all the cool experiences I had as a kid AND all the cool stuff I can give them now.
humph. Guess I'll have to go visit. And I'll tell the kids 'hey, I've been there' and they'll think 'oh, boring' but if I tell them 'hey, Sonia and Joey- you were here when you were babies- they get super excited and they compete with their "memories" of that time.

Also doing a study on False/implanted memories here. I completely believe my kids would be susceptible to that, so please don't suggest anything bad to them. Of course I play into that as needed.. hey, do you remember when we were here? Well- THAT place was significant because of.. (xyz) works really well if I can produce pictures of the kids in front of XYZ. Even if they were 6 months old, it still produces a "hey I remember that time" statement from someone. Especially funny is the 4 year old pipping up that she remembers it from when she "was in mommy's tummy"

But of course future pictures will require a new camera. Sadly my little Cannon has groaned it's last breath. If you are going to buy a camera, do not buy a cannon point and shoot. The second you get sand anywhere near it, it won't work. If you bang the snot out of it, it will begin working again.. only until you get sand in it again and bang the snot out of it again and then it fails to work in many other ways.

So.. I'm back in the wishful thinking market for a point and shoot camera that is alittle more indestructible than the Cannon. or at least have less of a sand Achilles heal since we like to frequent the beach. In the mean time you might find me lugging around my old SLR Cannon. They certainly don't make them like they used to.

So the camera breathed it's last breath at the Zoo today. I didn't realize that the backpack I tossed it, my wallet and our water bottles into had sand at the bottom of it. So the Camera gave me the 'lens error' message again and I thought 'oh. I know how to handle this, I googled it last time, Larry banged it and it worked'
No. it didn't work for me. Instead of giving me a groan and grind and 'lens error' message it give me nothing. I think I killed it.

The zoo was ok. It's free kid month so all the schools in Mexico send their schools to the zoo this month so it's a bit crowded with swarms of identically dressed kids speaking spanish. The identically dressed would be the difference from normal San Diego. Their uniforms there are different than the standard uniform in a US school- really cheesy gym suits mostly are worn- track pants, polo shirt and the matching gym jacket or sweater.

But the zoo was really a diversion for the real reason we went south which was to get fill the truck again with more diapers since we were out and the diapers we needed are in our friend's garage and the other reason was Ikea.
Because
a. kids eat free this week, so I didn't have to cook dinner or shell out $ for fast food if I didn't cook and
b. free babysitting for an hour
c. They have kitchens that are alluringly cheap with cool features which Consumer reports rated fairly highly, so I decided to go look at them with a more critical eye.
and
d. did I mention free dinner and babysitting??

I really wish other places adopted the feed your kid free and watch them for an hour. Like, say, the Commissary.
maybe I'll suggest that to them.

Mama said they'll be days like this

What she didn't say was to sit down with a glass of wine and blog about it.

But I think it might help.

It seemed to be a constant barrage of assault of life today- cranky kids who fought more than usual, made worse by the lone surviving lightsaber and the boys' intense desire to practice their Jedi Warrior talents on each other and the dog. And since it's Halloween coming up soon, we have new costumes for play and Batman was flying down the stairs sliding across the floor and attacking his little brother to save the princess.

While he was supposed to be doing his school work.

The looming appointment tomorrow to prove to the school that I have indeed taught my kids something this month and realizing I'm coming up short on something to actually hand in in 2 subjects. And wondering where this month has gone..

The aggravation of dealing with chronic health issues, medical appointments, arranging daycare or babysitting for said appointments, and sitting on hold for forever.

The realization that I forgot the bag of wet bathing suits and towels in the back of the van. From a week ago.

The realization that the noxious smell in the truck was someone's lunch from heaven-knows-when.

The fun of chasing a toddler to wipe his nose, re-clothe him after he's stripped his clothes off, and tolerating his desire to be in purple dragon costume all day.

The urgent run for pull-ups since we were out.
2 days ago.
And the need to do 2 nights worth of laundry.

And while buying pull ups, the kids keep sitting on the floor to play games picking up lord-knows-what germs.

The frustration of cooking 2 meals - lunch and dinner and having them stick their noses up in the air and refuse to eat. Stuff they requested.

And the helpful advice from an older lady tonight that one day they'll be grown up and I won't remember their being little except for pictures.
I doubt that. I'm pretty sure I'll remember this.
And if I don't, I have a blog to go back to read about it.


And for the record:
No wine was consumed in the making of this blog post or any time thereafter. Or any other alcohol. This is the random ramblings of a sober mind.
Just in case you're going to wonder about such things and think I'm heading towards alcoholism.
My "drug" of choice is M&M's.
And yes. M&M's were consumed in the making of this blog post.

You have GOT to listen to this one-

http://www.northcoastchurch.com/sermons/sermon_archive/2009_sermons/corinth/how_free_is_free/

I love our church

If you prefer the video I think it'll be up tomorrow at searchablesermons.com

Birthday marathon

Forget those marathons where you run. If you want to find those with REAL fortitude. Try marathon kid birthday parties.

Somehow this was THE weekend for kid birthdays. We were invited to 3. We made it to two. And it is certainly in contention for one of the longest days of my life.

We started just before lunch at 5 year old twin birthdays. The theme was pirates and aliens and the kids were too busy having fun to be bothered with eating. I tried crammed pizza into them, but not much. And then they filled themselves with pinata candy and cake and ice cream.

The highlight was the party favors- foam light sabers that make noise and light up.
The kids spent close to an hour banging each other with these light sabers towards the end of the party. The boys were opening their presents in the middle of a scene from the outtakes in Star Wars. Some of the kids were doing Jedi-Knight ninja moves and the little kids were collateral damage.

Joey of course thought it was AWESOME.

So into the car we go with 2 broken lightsabers and head to the second birthday party.

This was for a 6 year old girl and Sonia's "best friend" so you know we had to go. The theme there was candy. Pure candy with a little disney princess mixed in there.
There was a "candy bar" aka a table with jars of candy which the kids could help themselves. They were welcomed with cotton candy and a popcorn machine, too.

By the time hotdogs and hamburgers were cooked none of the kids had any appetite for them. None. There were also nachos which the kids also passed up for candy. Of course, right?

THIS party had a DJ there playing music, karaoke and some unique games. Joey of course is MR. Competitive and won every single game. The birthday girl was in tears when she was the first one "out" in nearly all the games. And Sonia decided she'd had enough loosing at competition and decided to sit out most of the games after she won (with Joey and another kid) at simon says.

And the party went on f-o-r-e-v-e-r. 4 hours into the party they brought out the pinata. And not like the pinatas you typically find, this one was a special order from Mexico and about the size of Rhode Island. Seriously. They put 25 lbs of candy into it and it still had room in it. There were only about 25 kids there. This in addition to the candy bar the kids had been visiting throughout the afternoon.

So.. What I've learned from both pinatas is.. the ones from Mexico are not made from paper mache anymore. Nope. Cardboard. Taped shut and then decorated.
Cardboard is far more durable than paper mache. I don't care how many layers of paper mache you put in there, it will never be as durable as the double walled corrugated cardboard. Both those pinata made it through the starting line up more than 1 time. Pinata #1 was then re-taped shut and re-filled for the second inning. The kids were too busy picking up the candy from Pinata #2 for the better part of 20 minutes that they weren't terribly interested in a second inning.

So.. after 5 hours at the second party my kids were higher than a kite. They each had a lunch bag filled with candy to the point where the paper was ripping. And everytime I looked they were helping themselves to it. John Michael devoured 5 lollipops in the time it took me to take Sonia to the bathroom. He started looking green around the gills but screamed like I was killing him when I confiscated his bag.

So.. after today, the kids had eaten little food that qualified as anything remotely food-like were somewhere in orbit around Venus from the sugar and toward the end, the birthday girl asks if Sonia can spend the night. And her mom confirms that indeed there are 5 other girls spending the night.

Well, now... you sugar up my kid that does.not.sleep. and you want to keep her overnight???
well.. ok. If you insist. I'll be right back with her PJ's and sleeping bag.

Of course the other 3 were off the walls as we left and I felt kinda bad that Kayla wanted to stay but I didn't think it was a good idea with her sleep walking tendencies. And the fact that she was oh.so.tired and a tired Kayla is a very whiny monster.

So.. mommy guilt added with the fact that they had eaten barely anything that qualified as food despite my efforts.. we stopped at Mc Donalds on the way home. They had a play scape and the kids were willing to leave the party without throwing a fit if I'd take them there. Scary to think that today Mc Donalds was nutrition in comparison to the rest of the day.

Well.. we closed the place down and at 9 we were told that they were closed.
And now it's 10pm. We've been home for an hour and the house is finally quiet. And I'm chuckling to myself thinking that I don't have to send Sonia back to bed some 500 times.

But on a funny side note- The first party my kids looked just like the other kids. The second party they were the only white kids. They didn't notice it at all as far as I could tell. I, however, thought it was funny. Mostly because I wonder how hard you had to work to get that ratio.. because we have met so few African American kids here. And I think they were all at the party - with a few Hispanic kids and a Chinese boy mixed in to round out the races.

So I kinda hope that Sonia will get some hair care tips from the other girls with hair less manageable than hers. But if not, I'm happy thinking that *I* will get to sleep at a somewhat reasonable hour and her host family will be the ones up anyway with 7 very hyper 6 year old girls.

chuckling myself to sleep at the thought..

Summer is still here.

From time to time I get nostalgic for seasons..
And then the memories of winter come back and I get over it.

This week we had 2 cooler almost fall-like days and I thought 'hey, this is awesome!'

well, Awesome has left the building and in it's place left 'ugh will summer END already'

So it was hot and we went to the beach. Because we could, of course.

I had bought the kids each a mini boogie board (or kickboard for all I know) a few weeks ago. We were buying birthday presents for the 3 kid birthday parties marathon we will be attending Sat and passed the isle holding clearance swimming stuff. And since we go through goggles like no ones business by forgetting them, loosing them or them becoming the latest dog chew toy.. I took the opportunity to clean them out of .49 goggles.
And with all the money I saved I bought 4 of the .79 boogie/kick board things. Moment of weakness, I guess.

Anyway. back to the beach..
We went and took those boards and the kids...USED THEM!!! as they were intended for. how cool is that? They are getting over their fear of the water.

I on the other hand have not gotten over my fear and was out there making sure they didn't drown or get washed out to sea.

all except JM who doesn't care for the water at all. He spent the time burying himself and another kid in sand.

The kid didn't seem to care and neither did his mother.
And it was preferable than him chasing the sea gulls down the beach where I had to run to catch him. With the kids trailing me whining 'but we want to surf why do we have to get out of the water...'

I need 2 of me. Maybe 3 of me.
No- 4- yes 4 would be good.

Seriously nothing to say

Stunning, I know.
But I really haven't had a whole lot to say these days.

Or rather, I haven't had a whole lot to say online. I've had plenty to say in person.
To the kids about not acting like wild monkeys
To the school and everyone around it about canceling stuff and not telling anyone it was canceled
To my new friend who is also a parent in the school about my frustrations with the school
To the dog about how I want to send her to a new home
To the computer that it is wrecking my night by crashing every 5 minutes because I updated something that isn't compatible with everything else.
To the kids about cleaning up after themselves
To the empty space over my kids' head about listening
To the mirror that I can.not.possibly.  look like that.

 We are up to our necks in paperwork on the house. You would not believe what you need to produce to get a loan these days. I remember getting a mortgage on our good name and a signature when we bought the Christiansburg house. We had zero income, no jobs,  and were borrowing the money for the down payment from family AND we still had a mortgage on a Mansfield house to pay.
Nope, no problem there- sign here and we'll cut a check for the closing.

NOW.. oh help you should you need a mortgage.
You need...
3 months of bank statements with itemized statements of where all the money in the accounts came from
2 years of W2's
2 years of tax returns and they're also going to get a copy from the IRS itself incase you didn't really pay your taxes
1 years worth of canceled rent checks
Name, Rank, phone and address of Larry's commanding officer
A letter from someone with authority stating that Larry will indeed be employed by the Navy for the next 3 years (seriously- how could a civilian produce such a letter??!!)
Form DD214 from 1996
1 letter from your (non-existent) CPA that the bank account that has your name and the business name actually belongs to you and that you have access to the money in it. seriously.
A letter explaining EVERYTHING on your credit report- including all the credit checks that happened with everytime we had to 'prequalify' with a bank to bid on a bank owned house (which would have been alot of times)
And a letter explaining that there are 2 student loans for every semester we took out loans- one subsided, one non-subsidized- so, yes- not a mistake that there is two loans for the same dates in similar amounts. And that yes, We know it looks like each loan is a "maxed out credit card" on our credit report. It's not. We know maxing out credit cards is a bad idea.
A letter explaining loan deferment
A letter from the loan company stating the above loan deferment applies to our loans

And THEN.. the grandfather of the paperwork:
107 pages of signed acknowledgment
That the property is in a high wild fire zone, but not a very high fire hazard zone,
In an earth quake (excuse me- seismic activity) zone, but is not in a flood zone, and not on an earthquake fault.
That they don't know if said house is in a landslide or land liquefaction zone
That you acknowledge that floods are bad should you have a flood and you should have gotten flood insurance
That you acknowledge you have 17 days to determine if you can even get homeowners insurance on said house.
That they don't know if there has been a violent crime or death in the house,
That you should have Radon testing,
That you realize that asbestos is bad
So is lead paint and toxic mold
That the area is affected by an airport
That you house may be subject to special taxes at will of the government due to some act passed in 1915.
That said house may also be subject to a supplemental property tax bill
That you have to have energy efficient heating/air installed,
That you need something special to do with the water heater,
That the property is not located within a California Tiger Salimander habitat sensitive area (!!!!!!!!!).
That if the property has been used for a methamphetemine lab they will take the property from you,
That you can check megan's law website,
That the property is is 'as is',

That we have a right to a home inspection- anything we bid on can be used against us. We have a right to have a the home inspection report and real estate agent present at closing and that if we cannot afford a home inspector (you shouldn't be buying a house) your fairy godmother will step in and provide one for you. Do you have any questions?

Why.. yes...
yes. I have a big question.
Which is...
What have I gotten myself into???

Larry of course is out for "Steel night" or whatever they call it- playing war in the desert. Ooh Rah.

But before he left- we had to get a stove installed in the house for it to pass inspection. Getting a VA loan says you need to have a stove and sink for it to be acceptable to own/live in.  Never mind that MRE's are the fare of choice for Larry right now.. we needed to get and install a stove.

Cheap. Especially since it isn't really our house yet.

So.. to Craigslist we go..
And find one. There were several free ones. Of course the people listing those didn't return email or phone calls.
Some California hillbilly (yes, they appear to exist) had one he was selling from a home re-model/flip he was attempting.

We get there- The stove is outside and appeared to have stuff living in it.
Pick it up and get oh so gross grease on your hands.

Brought it and plugged it in.. and I'll be. It worked.
Cross that off the list.

But in the process of browsing the land of Craigslist, we came across ads- one in particular- 'high end kitchen for sale' you needed to come dis-assemble it.

uh..huh??

So.. in case you were wondering what happened to the kitchens in 2/3 of the houses we looked at and bid on.. it appears this is what happens-

People being foreclosed on get mad and part out their houses.Like you would part out a stolen car.  Put up ads and people come and pay and take it away.  For real.

So this one lady had her $55K kitchen for sale for $5K.. uh.. hmm.. what is to loose? Well.. besides integrity- because I have funny feelings about enabling someone to do that.. but nonetheless..

Larry contacted her and made arrangements to see it and tentatively take the cabinets.
I went with him to a. help and b. make sure what he was getting was something I'd want to live with.

And the house was trashed. She's parted out the baseboards, light fixtures, had done something to the garage door that it wasn't closed and at a odd angle and all the windows in it were broken..

But the kitchen was hideous. Ornate, ostentatious, and.. had few usable cabinets for our needs.
I mean really-- are we going to display our chipped and faded 10-20 year old corning ware dishes in those fancy dish displayer things? And glass doors? oh, heck no. have you seen my organization abilities??? I'm happy if stuff doesn't fall out and you want to display it???

And unbelievably this lady was  moving around the corner to a different house in the same gated community with ocean views and a guard who was not at all interested in letting us get into the development. Goes back to that saying about dressing up a pig..

So..
should we still get this house we're trying to get after faxing no fewer than 250 pages of stuff to real estate agents and the bank/mortgage ladies.. we still need a kitchen.
And someone who wants a cheap stove to come take the old one away

Please Vote for Kayla

http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/mamatolittlelions/48894594/

I entered her in a contest. I have yet to take a picture of kids 1,2 and 4 that didn't have a scowl, snarl or super goofy face and act in it to enter them.

I forget what she'd win, but she's pretty lucky like that so she often wins. We'll see how her luck works in this contest.

And in other news-
It might rain today.
RAIN

I think I've forgotten what rain is.
Is it that the wet stuff that falls from the sky?

Minor updates

"Our future house" is off the market so unless something horrific happens or shows up on inspection, it will be ours.  We have the code to get into it so I'll be there this friday for the inspection and take a zillion pictures.

Friday is our anniversary.. and oh so fitting that I'd be spending the better part of the day at a home inspection. I mean really- in 10 years we've been through a whole lot of house repairs and remodeling.  But we were talking to a couple in our small group and it took them 10 years to complete their first house and much like us, it was the week we put it on the market because we had to sell it to move. Sheesh. Don't think I could have handled 10 years of that. 5 and I was ready to throw in the trowel into the mud bucket and throw the entire thing at Larry especially every time he said "all we have to do is move this wall"

Other than that, I have very little idea what to get him for our anniversary. I know other people have big parties or re-saying their vows or something.. I'm thinking I'll hit sears or home depot, get him a new chop saw and give myself the night off in the kitchen with some take out pizza or maybe chick fil a.

Yesterday was the first full day of "labs" through the school. Last week they canceled swimming lessons without telling anyone about canceling them. Or rather.. they send an email to people who weren't actually signed up for swim lessons that it was canceled. 

So yesterday was the first cold day here. And yeah, I know cold here is late spring or even summer in New England.. but it is an outdoor pool. And our poor kids were swimming in 60-something degree weather. I think the water was warmer. But it was pretty insane watching the parents in parkas and snow boots sitting pool side watching their kids in swim suits, not looking terribly cold.
(But please someone tell me why they wear boots designed for snow somewhere it never snows. I've seen them worn in summer even. Weird fashion sense here. I blame our proximity to Hollywood. And yes, when the weather hits somewhere in the 60's you'll see people dressed like Eskimos)

Then it was get them dressed in dry clothes, feed them lunch in the car on our way to Karate, change them into Karate uniforms (since they had run out last week, we had to wait til this week to get them). At which point I realize my son still didn't understand what 'pack sweatpants' means since he packed jeans. Jeans for gymnastics. So I race home, realize partway there that I was going to run out of gas because the thing had been beeping at me since yesterday and I'd been in too much of a hurry in the am to get gas on the way to swim. Of course there is zero gas stations on the route I take between karate and home.. go 2 miles out of our way to get to a gas station..Race back and get there just in time to see the end of class and get the kids changed into sweats for Joey and Leotard for Sonia and back to the Ymca for gymnastics.

Since parents aren't welcome in the room and JM and Kayla are pretty much done being patient waiting about 1/2 way through the first class of the day.. we went outside ran around (or they did, I brought a book) and went in to get them at the end of class.

Now at this point, I was exhausted. I know I wasn't the one swimming, doing Karate, or gymnastics, nor was I the one playing the throw-sticks at each other and run like lunatics game.
Got home in time to make dinner and desert to bring to small group feed the kids, greet babysitter and run out to small group as Larry walked in the door.

I question my sanity.

However.. after this am, I'm thinking I'll skip this school orchestrated chaos (really- 45 5-7 year old kids who aren't used to listening to adults in a classroom setting...it's sheer pandemonium with the mom of the kid of the minute yelling their kid's name. So it's almost like listening to a bidding war..

Sensei says "ok, we're going to [fill in the blank]"
(at this point, I imagine the auction begins- 'so who really thinks their kid needs to learn respect that karate is said to teach?)
Mom a yells "grayson!!" 
Mom b yells "caleb!!"
Mom c yells "Nick!"
Mom d yells "Tommy!"
Mom a is yelling "grayson" again
mom e calls "Hayden"
Mom b is calling "CALEB!!"
and it goes on for an hour.
(If your kid is in the class with my kids and I used your kid's name, and you're reading this blog somehow, please don't be offended.)

Believe it or not.. Sonia is not in the top 20% or worst behaved kids. She makes top 25% for kids spinning in a circle on their square instead of paying attention, but she at least stays on her square and doesn't "karate" the kid next to them, run around or away..climb to the top of the tower thing they're supposed to kick..

So right now I'll try sticking it out until it ends for winter break in December. Maybe by then we'll be moved and enrolling in public school. Or I'll research options that the school didn't have anything to do with. And an indoor pool.

It's Blue Angel time again