weekend

Most of the posts on this blog in recent years have documented the bigger or more interesting events. Here's one from a random (yet busier than normal) weekend.

Let's see...Saturday morning, Anya got a haircut. Not that you can tell, since she wouldn't let the stylist trim her bangs. But the ends damaged from the chlorine at swim lessons (don't get me started on the difficulty that is haircare with her) were at least chopped off. Afterwards, she worked on cleaning her room while Chris and I did our weekend chores. Then, Chris took Anya to a classmate's birthday party for a few hours, where they bounced around on trampolines, etc. Reports are that it was fun. A little while after they got home, we had two families over for dinner - total of 6 adults and 5 kids. I was in the mood to cook big, so we all ate well. The company was good and it made for a loud and festive evening. 

Sunday morning, we did the yearly tradition of heading to the University of Washington to admire the abundance of cherry blossoms at the Quad. Sunday's weather was gorgeous (upper 50's and sunny) and the blossoms were at their peak. Half of Seattle had the same idea, so it was a wee bit crowded. We ooh'ed and aah'ed and Anya did the obligatory tree climbing. We waded through the crowds at the Quad for a very brief time and then took a long stroll through campus. At one point, we wandered over to the Botany Deptartment greenhouse, which, in my opinion, was the highlight of the outing. The greenhouse manager happened to be there. Anya asked him about some caterpillars and he kindly let her feed one to a venus flytrap, then gave us all sorts of info about the carnivorous plants and the greenhouse (like, did you know that pitcher plants make food for tree shrews so they poop into the plants? ). Afterwards, we snacked in the sunshine, walked a fair bit more, and then headed home.

Once home, we let the dogs out then threw on snow gear and headed up to the Summit at Snoqualmie to go tubing. With Spring now here, this weekend was one of the last of the season to play in the snow. The season started really late this year too, so we took the opportunity when we could to go out as a family. As usual, tubing was exhausting fun and one of my favorite things to do every winter. 

After we decided we were done, we drove back to the city, lazed, ate some leftovers, and then Anya went to bed. I think everyone fell asleep quickly and slept soundly last night. 

Anya and Jules in the hugglepod Saturday evening

 cherry blossoms

 feeding a caterpillar to a venus flytrap

tubing parking lot snow

Sticker Stand

About 15 minutes before it was time to leave to catch the school bus this morning, Anya got the idea to set up a sticker stand in the front yard. On a cold, drizzly, blustery morning. She wanted to raise money, specifically quarters, to feed fish at the trout farm.

Unwilling to consider any of my input on this idea, she dragged out the table and stickers, and made a sign. She yelled, "stickers for sale!" to the bicyclists zooming past and the few people on the other side of the street, briskly walking to catch their buses.

Unsurprisingly, the exercise ended in frustration for Anya. The sign got wet from the rain and ripped, while the wind kept blowing the stickers off the table. No one stopped. And then it was time to leave to go to the school bus stop.

On the walk to the bus stop, we talked a bit about what she could change to make it work next time. She might try again on a sunny weekend day (or this afternoon, where it will be decidedly *not* sunny). I admire her "go get 'em" attitude and that she executes on ideas. But, man, is she stubborn. I have no idea where she gets it. Ahem.

The Green Peril

St. Patrick’s Day is in a few days, and Anya is in full-on Leprechaun obsession mode.   It all started a few days ago when she began asking very pointed questions about the exact size of a Leprechaun, trying to work out the best way to entrap them as it turns out. 

Many Wikipedia articles were read and “Leprechaun Trap” searches were executed to help her on her way.

At this point the house is lousy with traps made from coffee cans and laundry baskets and jump ropes.  Coins are strewn about as bait, and I was woken up this morning with Anya yell/informing me that she needed “duct tape!” 

When asked, we never weigh in on the existence of Leprechauns, we just say the WE have never seen them.  That being said, mom has been fueling the kelly green fire.  Whenever we leave the house, she trips the traps and steals the coins.  Today while Anya and dad were at the dog park mom dyed all the water in the house green.  We first noticed this in the down stairs toilet.  “Leprechaun pee!” it was concluded.  Then, an alarmed shout from upstairs “They did it in mom’s water glass too!  Leprechauns are mean little guys!”

It is awfully cute watching her run around and investigate things, and draw the most illogical Leprechaun based conclusions about anything that seems out of place.  “Dad! A leprechaun wrote ‘China A9043C’ on the back of my dry erase board!” was probably my favorite thus far. 

That being said, it is consuming 100% of her attention, and the house is trashed, so I’m looking forward to the little buggers going back to Ireland.

Switching Schools

About a week and a half ago, I turned in Anya's registration for St. Catherine school. She will be starting there in the Fall for first grade.

There are a few reasons for this.

Anya would probably say her Kindergarten experience at Wedgwood Elementary has been great and I would agree with that for the most part. It's a good school, with caring teachers/staff and is run well...especially considering all of the budgetary limitations.

I have major issues Seattle Public Schools (SPS) itself. My introduction to SPS has been a stressful one. Every two weeks or so, there has been some announcement/information that has either been stressful, frustrating or downright angering. This started back in September, not knowing if we were even having school until 8PM the night before the first day, due to possible teachers' strike (totally on the side of the teachers, btw). The latest one from last week is that the central office is cutting all of the schools' budgets. For Wedgwood, that means losing 1.5 teachers plus the head teacher unless our PTA can cover their salaries. This is while the central office gives raises to their staff and has a huge amount of funds in reserves. I don't feel PTAs should ever have to cover basic teacher salaries, but it's what we have to do if we want to keep the teachers. Apparently, this budgetary BS happens every year. It doesn't matter how many levies are passed and how much money comes in from local taxpayers. There's of course the issue of the state not fully funding education either. Since the PTAs cobble what they can together, there doesn't seem to be incentive by SPS or the state to make any changes to the (messed up) system.

I didn't quite intend to turn this into a rant, but there have been so many other issues. Another major one for our family is that SPS let families know to expect school boundaries to be redrawn every year. Unfortunately for us, we are on the border now and *every* time there have been re-draws, we've been moved. I refuse to go through this stress every year. Chances are Anya would have been grandfathered into elementary (although you can't assume anything with SPS), but we'd likely lose bus service at some point. The boundary changes come because SPS is at a capacity crisis. There just isn't enough room for the kids, especially in NE Seattle where we live. They are about 5 years behind on any improvements they make. Our elementary already has several portables. Looking ahead to middle school and high school does not paint a pretty picture.

We only have one child, so are fortunate to have the option of sending her to a private school. St. Catherine seems like a good fit. Our dear friends' daughter, Eloise attends, and they've had so many good things to say about it. While we aren't Catholic, Chris and I were both raised in that religion. Chris (and most of his extended family) attended Blanchet, the nearby Catholic high school. We figured starting Anya in Catholic school early would prepare her well for Blanchet. It might be a difficult transition if we waited until middle school.

Anya spend most of a day at the school in December to get a feel for it. She had a wonderful time, made instant friends, and the teachers said she fit in well. Of course, now that she's been at Wedgwood for most of the year and has made friends, she's attached, and no longer wants to leave. Hopefully it will go alright for her the first few days this fall. We are going to try to join in any summer-related activities the school puts on to make things easier for her, and so we can get to know some families.

For now, Anya will enjoy her last few months at Wedgwood, and I will try to not stress about the next thing SPS throws at us.