Conference, Conference, Conference

So, I had a conference in what other place....Las Vegas. Viva las Vegas! Well, the conference itself was good. But we were sooo busy with the conference, the only thing we enjoyed was Mama Mia on Saturday night. Not only that, but I was nodding off a couple times right after the intermission. It was a good show though.

There is nothing like knowing how bad California education really is. We were talking with a counselor of a 7-12 school in New York and he was complaining about their class sizes moving from 25 to 28 to 1 next year.

We said, "Are you kidding me! We would welcome 28. 30 even!"

How could we place such a low value on education? I don't care who you are, you want the best education for your children. You can't expect the best unless you are willing to pay for the best! I think moving to another state is Kayla's best bet for success!

Oh by the way, this picture is of the masks that had fallen after landing above OUR seats. I guess all our hot air must have triggered it!

Its time for Dodger Baseball!

Well, its that time of year again!

The smell of the freshly cut grass, the weather that can't make up it's mind, I know its time for baseball season to begin. And of course the fact that Mike tells me everyday "The Game is on in 10 minutes" on his commute home. I do have fun watching the games as long as the teams are scoring and I am rooting for some team. Although, give me a Laker game any day!

But this year, we've started to take Kayla to the games with us. She went to the infamous "Coliseum Game" and fell asleep shortly after the first pitch. Then, we just recently went to the Dodgers vs. Padres and it was Kayla's first game where she really knew what was going on. She had a great time...although I'm not sure if I can say I did since I had to take her to the bathroom 6 times and she didn't pee once. I think she's afraid of the bathrooms at Dodger Stadium. I don't blame her, if I was two and half I might be afraid too. But other than that we all had a good time and I got a chance to share some knowledge with some Australians who had no idea what this whole baseball thing is all about.

Education? Expendable!

As you all know, California is scrambling to handle the possible budget cuts our way. There have several reports that every school district is going to lay off hundreds of teachers. This is a possibility. In my school district alone, 100 teachers were told they might not have a job next year. How is this all calculated? The answer is seniority. Hired last, fired first. Luckily I was saved from this round of layoffs, but who is to say that I will always be safe? How can the governator take so much money away from education? How can he sit in his pretty little chair and take money away from the children? I find it difficult to trust this man who was all about education before he became governor. But now that he needs to reduce the state spending, he decides to take money away from our future.

How can this be a good a idea? Isn't there a better way? There has to be. How can we compete with the rest of the world if we won't invest in it? The state of this country makes me worry everyday for Kayla. Why can't we fix the things that are wrong in our country before we begin to butt into the affairs of other countries. Why don't we spend defense money to defend our borders? Why don't we focus on saving the US first? I wouldn't mind paying a couple extra dollars in taxes if it meant good teachers would keep their jobs. Maybe they should find a way to weed out bad teachers before they layoff good teachers because they were hired last. If you have the time, write to your representative and tell them that this is a travesty. Let them know how you feel about it all.

Is the ability to be accident prone hereditary?

It has been sooo long since I have written a blog, that I felt it was time. A couple weeks ago, Kayla broke her arm. She fell out of the booth at the Lazy Dog Cafe in Huntington Beach. This just goes to show you that even a small fall can cause a lot of pain. We took her to the emergency room and found she had a small fracture in her arm. She had to have a cast placed on her arm. Three weeks later I took her back to the doctor where he took off the cast but the arm was still broken. So, she is currently in a shorter cast for another week and a half.

Meanwhile, two weeks after Kayla broke her arm my mom and stepfather took Kayla to the park. My mom took Kayla down the slide where she began to tip over. To brace her fall, she put her foot into the ground. Needless to say, her foot did stick but the rest of her leg kept moving. My stepfather had to walk Kayla back to the house while my mom sat on the ground in pain. He got the car took her the ER where they took xrays that showed my mom had broken both bones in her leg above her ankle.

This would cause my mother to have surgery on her leg. The break was so major it took a metal plate and eight screws to put it all back together. She just went to the doctor yesterday to get a permanent cast. She took pictures, gruesome. The incision had to be about a foot long on each side of her ankle. I could not believe the sight of it in the pictures. The doctor placed another cast on her foot and told her she had to stay off of it for another month. He even told her she wouldn't be putting any weight on it for four months. I cannot believe that my mom goes from chasing Kayla around the house to sitting in a chair and getting up only to pee.

Now, if you know anything about me or my brother you know how we have the craziest injuries to ourselves as well as the people around us. ME: both ACLs torn, broken jaw, knocked out a tooth and cracked the two next to it, broken collarbone, several sprained ankles. ERIC: broken collarbone (twice), hyperextended arm, several stitches, several sprained ankles. Could all this be hereditary? Is is possible Kayla is destined to be accident prone? Let's all hope and pray she isn't. This is all I handle at the moment.

Potty Training

This is for all the mothers out there. We've been semi-potty training Kayla for the past couple months. We've had a lot of advice, looked at a lot of websites, and read some books. We tried taking her every hour, potty chart, asking her when she needed to go, rewards, but in the end it was all her. It was like a light turned on in her head and she suddenly told my mom, "I have to go potty." And since then, only one accident in the car and we are officially potty-trained. Well, I say official with the exception of nights. Although, no pee in the diaper the last two days at night. But, personally she could take forever for that, I can handle one diaper a day. But I am relieved for her to be using both the public restrooms and the potties at home.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2304657

This travel potty chair is genius. Before we bought this chair Kayla did not want anything to do with the public restroom. But now, no problem! Yes, the reviews are correct it doesn't fit perfectly, but it lays on top, it doesn't move and it doesn't fall in. It's genius I tell you!

Potty training down...next step...dressing herself!

Exhausted!

Have you ever been so tired that you fall asleep and wake up not knowing when or how you fell asleep? Of course you have! Well, this has been happening to me at least once a week, during the work week. I get home from work and feel tired. But right after dinner I am so exhausted that I can't stand up. I lie down, usually with Kayla, and I almost instantly fall asleep. Then, I wake up to Kayla crying because her favorite show is over, and I put her to sleep. The next thing I know I'm waking up at around 2am in the morning with my contacts still on my eyes. I can't believe how exhausting this year has been! I need to get more sleep. Hello end of the semester next week. Two minimum days, no students next Friday. Ah!

Week 1 of the new year

As week one come to a close...I can't help but beam with pride. I just finished grading my kids first quiz and I am proud to say that the class averages have been around a 75%. Now some of you are reading that and can't believe I'm proud of that statistic, but I am. Lately, my kids have been pulling D and even F averages. Now, maybe I'm a bad teacher...maybe my tests are too hard...but I have a feeling that's not the case. But I have vowed that I will get through this year and my kids will be successful. I'm implementing new things that hopefully will make my life easier and them more successful. Well, we'll see the true test will be the benchmark they will take at the end of this month. Let's all pray for the kids.

No more ranting and raving. Its the weekend...rest.