HKG052: Unooopana

the kids made a crazy game out of shoving the tire swing into one another.

the bug looking cute. she had to tone it down today and stay off the monkey bars because her tiny little hands have a nasty blister in the middle of her palm from all of the monkey bar practice she's been getting. she was not happy about being grounded ;-p

here, quinn is telling me that he's buzz lightyear. buzz was just about to go down the slide and agreed to stand still for a second so i could get a picture of him :-)

today was a rather difficult day with a couple sides of fun. most of the difficulty was borne of both kids being very, very tired. they both had a rough night last night and are still recovering from a busy weekend and much nap striking. one of the funniest things from today and from recently is quinn's newfound love of imaginative play. he's told us several times recently that he is dash (of the incredibles). he runs up and down the hall saying "i dass!" today, he was buzz lightyear. he even wore his buzz wings to the playground (as seen here). as he was scampering around naked after bath tonight, he came into the kitchen to inform me "i unoopana! heeya!" that translates to "i am kung fu panda! hi-yah!" the kid cracks me up :-)

i think he got the idea from his friend, spencer, who skyped with us this morning in a batman costume. unfortunately, i was only able to skype with our friends for about 30 seconds before i had to leave for a school tour.

today, i was looking at an inter.national.mont.essori school while josh managed the morning mischief. honestly, the tour was NOT worth missing skype time with friends. at all. it lasted about 15 minutes, and all i really got from it is that the wait list is long, the interview process is brutal, priority is given to children who have already attended a montessori program, and the tuition is RIDICULOUS. i am a pretty big fan of the theory and know that both of my children benefit from mixed age classroom/learning situations. i liked the building and setup a lot. i am just really worn down by how difficult it is to get a kid into school here.

though i am sad and mad about the crap that's going on in the texas education system, i am thinking all of that insanity is a dream-come-true compared to this hey-why-don't-you-give-us-a-kidney-and-enough-money-to-feed-a-small-nation-so-we-can-think-about-letting-your-kid-go-to-school-here-mmmkay? system. at this point, we are seriously considering keeping livie in preschool an extra year with some extra homeschooling at home to help her get ready for year 2, and just hope that the ESF system has space for her by september of 2012. another option we've tossed around is my going back to work, but this option is INCREDIBLY complicated because there are so many variable factors...finding work, finding care for quinn, buying a whole new wardrobe (there is no casual friday...or any other day...here), and rebudgeting for much larger travel expenses. at this point, it does not make sense for me to return to work unless i can find something part-time, which is pretty rare in the job culture here.