The beginning of the end...of Kindergarten

Tonight was the Kindergarten Music Program. This kicks off the beginning of the end of the school year. There are officially 15 school days left in the year. All 6 of the kinder classes got together and sang songs they have learned throughout the year. It was hot and crowded and full of crazy parents. But most of all it was very, very cute! Vi did a very good job. I took some video on my camera. It was the first time I have used my camera for video and it was very hard to get good shots around all the other parents so you will have to excuse my abilities.

Here they are singing brown bear. They all did a great job with the sign language also.

Now here is where I start my rant...at the end of the program they pulled all the aides on stage to give them flowers and say goodbye. Yes, that is right, they were laid off due to budget cuts. One of the aides had been there since 1995! AHH...it makes me so angry! Why must they cut education?!!? And at the same time I am so grateful...I am grateful that Vi made it in to kindergarten this year. I am grateful that I got pregnant right way because if I would have gotten pregnant just 1 month later she wouldn't have made it in this year. Next year there will be more kids per class and no aides to help the teachers, and you know who suffers, the kids!!

Ok, enough of that, back to the fun stuff...there is a lot of fun stuff packed into the next 15 days with a "Celebration of Learning" to close it off on May 21st.

After that is Summer Camp and then on to First Grade. I can not believe that my baby is completing her first year of school. She has done such an amazing job and has learned so much (how to read, addition, subtraction, counting to 100 by 1s 5s and 10s and that is only the short list). We love you Vi...Mom and Dad are very, very proud of you!!

Egg Coloring 2009

Last Sunday we colored eggs. Vi and I went to Safeway (my favorite grocery store) to get all the essentials. If you can believe it they did not have the infamous PAAS egg dye. We must have walked around the store for an hour (and because of this I kept putting more and more food into the cart...hmmm, conspiracy?!). Finally I thought maybe we should jsut use food coloring. So we went to the baking aisle (I needed a map as I never go down the baking aisle) and added food coloring and vinegar to the cart. We got home and strted teh process...hard boiling the eggs and then letting them cool. The neat thing about the food coloring is that on the back they give directions on how to make a ton of colors (6 drops of this and 2 drops of that). Well, I must say they were the coolest eggs ever! I will forever dye eggs using the old fashioned food coloring. The eggs were so vibrant.

When I grow up...

Lately Vi has been talking about when she grows up...here are a couple of funny stories...

A couple of weeks ago Vi asked if she had to have a kid when she grew up. I told her no, she can if she wants to but she doesn't have to. She said good because she doesn't want any kids. She went on to ask how you don't have kids (um...yeah...i'm not quite ready for the sex talk)...since I am so quick on my toes I said you can go to the doctor and ask for special medicine (thank you to whoever invented the birth control pill, you have helped me out yet again). She seemed to be happy with that answer but then moved on to getting married. Do I have to get married? she asked. I said no, you don't have to. She said good, she doesn't want to get married either. So apparently at the ripe ol' age of 5 she has decided that she is not getting married or having any kids. Only time will tell...hopefully a lot of time!

Tuesday on the way home Vi and I were talking about school. She said she doesn't like it and doesn't want to go back because she doesn't like doing jobs (everyday they have to complete 3 jobs which are usually worksheets or projects). I said just wait until you grow up and have to go to work. She proceeded to tell me she will not have to work because she is not going to have any kids so she won't need any money. She said she was going to be a teacher. Wow, I thought, that is really nice. She then went on to say she wanted to be a teacher so she can make other kids do boring jobs. Yes, that is right...if she has to do boring jobs she is going to make sure others will suffer too...

A Visit from Grandpa Sam and Aunt Tina

This past week Sam and Tina came down and stayed with us. We had so much fun! We ate at one of Tina's fav places in AZ, Oreganos.






We went to the new World Wildlife Aquarium. They have a couple of Touch Tanks. We got to touch Starfish, Crabs, Sea Urchins and Sting Rays. It was very cool!!






Here is a pic of Eddie, Tina and Vi from when we were at the zoo. Vi loves her Aunt Tina!







We went to a Cubs Spring Training game. We sat right on the 3rd base line. It was Sam, Tina, Eddie and I. Vi was in school. It was a beautiful day. Very sunny but breeezy so it wasn't too hot.







We are very happy that Sam and Tina came out to visit. Hopefully they can come back real soon!

Artist

Vi is getting so good at writing and drawing. She came home from school last week and showed me the attached picture. She did it all by herself. When I asked her what her teacher thought of the pic she said, oh i didn't show her this picture. Well at least I didnt get a note home from the teacher!