Thursday, February 28, 2008

Roll Call

I finally added a blogroll of my fave blogs on the left. If I missed your blog and you want to be added please leave me a comment. If you want to be removed, please let me know that as well...although I will be sad and want to know why LOL! I added it because I am sick of having to find other blogrolls to link and update on everyone's blogs :-) I also like to read blogs about other types of adoption or just bio-kidz to so if you read my blog and you want to be linked and you are not a Guatemomma that's great too.

D

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Weekend Update



Thanks for listening to me b*tch the other day. Feeling a lot better now. I ended up talking with the principal, school secretary and T's teacher. Apparently the state is now requiring these letters and it's more protocol then anything else. They bang out a whole batch of these letters a few times a year and out they go. I am still pissed the principal didn't say anything to me at our meeting. She could have phoned or email me too. Just didn't like that at all. They have had soo many parents upset over this so I can imagine they don't like sending them out very much either. I think it's crazy that the policy is so narrow and not meant for pupils with serious delinquency issues. I found out that one of the teachers at the school put in for vacation and notified the school(where her child also attended) that they would be on vacation for a week. Guess what! They got one too (rolling eyes). It's so ridiculous. Ok, moving on...Thanks for all of your kind words and appreciate the moral support.

We went to Lake Tahoe last weekend with some friends of ours and their daughter over the weekend. The guys went snowboarding and we got massages :-) Had fun with the kiddos playing in the snow and hanging out. We got about 2 feet of new snow while we were up there and it was just gorgeous. I didn't get a chance to take any pics of the lake itself but it's amazing. I found some pics online so you can get the idea. I LOVE Tahoe and the beauty of the lake and mountains takes my breath every time I go there. It's about a 4 hour drive from here and I wish we went more often. I will post pics of trip tomorrow night. They are still loading on my computer and it takes foorrevverr.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

TRUANT

tru·ant : one who shirks duty; especially : one who stays out of school without permission

Today when I arrived home there was a sealed manila envelope on the table. It was addressed to us from the school. Curious, I opened the envelope and found the following:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. R:

Many studies have shown that regular attendance is essential for a pupil to gain the most from his/her educational opportunity. On the other hand truancy has the potential of diminishing a student's chances of meeting their goals and graduating.

It is my responsibility to inform you that, according to our attendance records, Tyler is a truant from school......

etc etc etc

etc etc and so on and so on

A copy of this letter is being sent to the district's Child Welfare and Attendance Liason as a notice of this serious problem.

Sincerely,

Principal _____


WHAT ?????????

Did I mention our son is in the 4th Grade???? Did I mention we take him to school every day? Did I mention that he goes to school except when he has thrown up or has a fever? Did I mention he reports to extracuricular homework club every day after school. Or how about the fact...here is the kicker folks, I was in a meeting with the principal, his teacher, the district psychologist, the resource specialist and my husband on Feb. 14 2008 and NOOOO mention was ever made of this little issue? Tyler was recently diagnosed as having ADD (another extrememly long post as it's been an ongoing battle with the school)and we had a meeting last week where the school finally acknowledged that he should qualify for special services. THE EXACT same day that the principal then signed and mailes us this very letter. SAY WHAT???!!!!

Upon further investigation it appears that my son is a truant because in October he missed three days of school for an extended weekend trip to Houston to visit his elderly Great Grandparents and all extended family. While in Houston we visited the Museum of Natural History, The Butterfly Gardens and several bookstores. He saw the dinosaur exhibit, a mummy exhibit and an IMAX film about ancient Egypt. He saw an insect exhibit and learned about Lucy's Legacy and the History of Ethiopia. Probably far more educational than what he picks up on a day to day basis. Apparantly this trip which we notified the school about and his teacher (that no one ever made mention of as being a problem), got my son labeled as a truant.

Can you tell I am a little mad? I will be at the school bright and early tomorrow. My friend was kind enough to investigate this for me with her friend who is a Vice Principal at another public school in our district. Apparently this is protocol for our state now (don't you love CA, the most expensive state to live in and some of the worst schools in the country). They have to send these letters out if a child has more than three non-medical absences. This still makes me livid and I think the principal might have mentioned it in one of our many recent meetings. I am hoping Tyler never catches wind of any of this as I don't like the idea of labeling a child for something they had no control over.

Unfortunately after coming home to this we then caught Tyler in a whopper of a lie and needless to say he is going to be grounded for quite awhile, then my husband and I managed to take the whole thing out on each other and got in a whopper of an argument. So...my day SUCKED!

Thanks for listening.
D

Monday, February 11, 2008

Somewhere in Texas a Village is Missing its Idiot

HAHA! My favorite bumper sticker about Texas. We just got back from a great visit in Texas. My family mostly lives in Houston and we try to go a few times a year. It was great seeing my Grandparents and cousins. I actually love it there and would consider moving there later in life. I would prefer if they had a few more liberals and mountains but you can't have it all right. It would be nice to sell our tiny box of a house and buy a beautiful house there for 1/3 of the price!

Here are some pics of Dani at the Museum of Natural Science. We love their butterfly exhibit and visit everytime we are in town.


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My Grandpa Len


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A visit to Herman Park


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This one might need a little explanation. My grandparents next door neighbor own two chickens which live with them in their yard and also in their house. Weird??? kinda, but quirky. I like quirky.


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Here is my girl showing off her new backpack. Tyler has a similar full size model (not a tiger I might add) Dani loves to steal it from his room and drag it around the house. We found this perfect mini model at the Oakland Airport. It's hysterical she drags it around everywhere. We turned a lot of heads with her wheeling her own luggage through the airport. She cracked us up.


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I paid over $130 last week to get my hair done. How come it never looks like this! WTF???!!! I am so jealous.


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Dani hiding in the cat tunnel at Auntie Marjorie's house


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My Grandma Lisel


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Auntie Marjorie, Penny the dog, Milo the kitty and Dani

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Milo "hiding"


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Not the best pic but how can you resist 4 generations :-)


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My cousin Cary, Tanya and baby Emmy


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Auntie Marla and Dani with Chancey


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Playing with Uncle Kennard


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If you are from Cali this is always a surprise when you go to feed the ducks. Steve saw the pics tonight from our trip and said "Why did you let her get so close to the water. She looks like a snack to an alligator!" Marjie assured me they have never actually seen an alligator in her neighborhood.

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