Thanksgiving vacation

It's been a wonderful week off with plenty of pie and downtime.  Reading, playing games, eating, watching movies, a couple of family day trips, and so much cuddling and coziness. My favorites.  This has been especially enjoyable because we have a big adventure planned for Christmas break.  After 21 years away, I'm returning to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, accompanied this time by my family!

On August 25, 1991, I first headed south with the Rotary exchange program, spending an amazing ten months living with the Sandoval family, parents Pedro and Gladys, sisters Pili (Claudia), Mily (Rita), and Sily (Cecelia). Youngest sister Tila (Isabel) was on exchange herself in my home state of Ohio.  I was welcomed immediately into the fold, with my name printed on their Silver wedding anniversary party invites as Peggy "la quinta" (the fifth daughter).  Dad visited during that first year. Mom returned with me for a month in 1994 during my college winter break sophomore year. My last return visit was over spring break in 1997, when there were a few more nieces (Valeria, Fabiana, and Camila).  Now there is a new generation of grandchildren,and it's time to introduce my own children to my second family.  Visiting Bolivia will be a new level of adventure for my kids. Though they have been to Canada (Niagara Falls) and even three times to Costa Rica, this will be different and exciting.  We've been trying to figure out a trip there for several years, especially since my host parents 50th anniversary two years ago.  My host father Pedro passed away earlier this year, followed by his sister and recently one of my host mother's sisters (Tia Norma) unexpectedly had a fatal car accident.  So after being discouraged by long travel itineraries of 24-30 hours at high ticket prices, we finally determined it would work better to travel first to Miami for a couple day layover, and on to South America.  We haven't been back to Miami for six years, so we are also excited about that part of the trip.  I am excited to see my cousins and meet their children as well.

CA History

When I moved to California in July 2005 I found a teaching job in South LA at a charter school. They gave me the option of Kindergarten or 4th grade. I had never taught either.  On the one hand, I thought, teaching 4th grade would give me a quick education in California history, which could be interesting and helpful as a new resident.  On the other hand, fourth grade math.  ( ha ha). So I went with Kindergarten.  Now that I have a fourth grader, I have a new opportunity to educate myself about California history.

Birthday!

What a lovely birthday it has been this year.  With Derek traveling from Shanghai to Hong Kong and yesterday on to Singapore we weren't sure what to expect for birthday fun. As most of you already know, we share a birthday (month, day and year!) and we are not twins! (smile) We made sure to double check before getting married 12 years ago. D. is smack in the middle of his first trip to Asia this year so the kids and I are holding down the fort with the help of my parents, our 16 year old cat, and many friends, colleagues and neighbors.  This morning the kids woke up early and I heard many giggles as they set up their surprise (with grandma's help yesterday).  They came up to get me and giggled even more as they brought me down to a table filled with a lovely fruit salad. (swoon) Derek called from Singapore and said it looks a lot like Miami. I decided home coffee would not do and we left super early to stop at the 7-11 that brews my favorite blueberry coffee. (Kids got donuts. rising 46 year olds did not.) There were so many fb greetings and when I got to school many also greeted me in person! One of my students had brought a lovely plant for me and colleagues surprised me with cards, balloons, a bamboo plant, notepaper, and candy! I also received lovely flowers from another student at pickup.  The class sang to me and somehow many students knew too around school and greeted me. (floating hearts) A few friends I hadn't heard from in months texted and I got to see Delaney perform with her class at the monthly PTA Association meeting. My new rug arrived in the mail and tonight I have NO MEETINGS or Scouts or soccer or anything! (Amazing!) The kids and I are planning to eat pasta and garlic bread and watch The Greatest Showman. We came home at 4 and I had a hot shower then got in my pj's at 4:30. My idea of a great birthday! Thanks for all the birthday love this year.

A Day in the Life-The Middle

Sitting right here in the middle of life.

It's pretty much just like I pictured it.

12 years of marriage to a fantastic guy. 2 elementary aged kids. a cat. a townhouse in a nice suburb of a large Metropolitan area (which happens to be Los Angeles). my parents nearby in the sweetest home. 23 years in my career. A minivan.

Here is a list of my current roles in life:

full time wife and mother
full time teacher of 24  four and five year olds
Girl Scout Leader
PTA teacher liaison
PTA Reflections Chairperson
School Site Council Member
New teacher Induction Support Mentor
swim mom
choir mom
band mom
scout mom (Girl and Boy)
soccer mom

tired yet?

The fact is I couldn't do it without my village. My husband, parents, neighbors, friends, colleagues and so many who help me do all this.  Just today:

5 AM wake up before alarm to put in some laundry, prep breakfast and lunch, tidy, coffee/fb check, shower
6:30 kids wake up
7 AM husband attempts to facetime from China after his arrival only 6 hours earlier
7:10 we attempt skype when facetime doesn't work but have to reset password and just don't have a branch for that on my time management tree
7:30 head to school
7:50 kids assemble three bears cottage for me before first bell at 8:20(thank you!! see they are in my village too!)
8:20-12:35 teach TK
12:40-2:10 teach K (I do an ELD(English Language Development)group) and teach ELA(English Language Arts) to 10 K's that are in a split class
2:45-3:45 meet with new teacher induction partner
4:00-5:30 Mentor teacher meeting at Castaic Union school district 15 minutes across town
5:30 stop at Michael's to pick up poster making supplies for son's Student Council campaign posters (due Friday)
6:00 drive 15 minutes in opposite direction to North Park Elementary for Girl Scout Leader Meeting
6:40 to 6:50 multiple phone calls from North Park office phone to parents' cells to check on kids since I forgot my phone at school
7-8:30 Girl Scout Leader Meeting
8:50 arrive home (gas tank of said minivan just lit up on empty) to sweep kids up in my arms and brief my dedicated parents on tomorrow's afterschool schedule and dinner plan (art class, soccer practice, School Site council meeting for mom)
9:00 tuck kids in and grab glass of New Zealand Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
9:08 sit down just in time for Modern Family (which i NEVER get to watch at its actual time)
9:10 begin this blog post
Next I will work on creating invitations for the Reflections Awards Ceremony, sending permission slips to troop consultant for approval for next week's campfire event, and sending leader meeting notes to other troop leaders, plus planning for Sunday's Girl Scout meeting and emailing Reflections judges.
phew!! if you've read this far you might need a glass of wine too! Thanks for reading my slice of life!

quizlet

I decided to create a quiz just for fun. would love to see you copy and paste your answers in the comments!

Genre (lit): dystopian

Genre (film): documentary, sci/fi/fantasy,

Architectural style: Arts and Crafts, Victorian

Time period: Victorian

Plants: succulents

Coffee: chocolate raspberry

Beer: Peanut Butter Chocolate Stout

Favorite countries visited: Bolivia, Costa Rica, Italy, Switzerland

Countries on "to visit" list: Belgium, Chile, Denmark, Finland, Norway

Favorite Cities: Barcelona, St. Augustine

Book Series: Anne of Green Gables, Little House, Pippi Longstocking, Divergent, The Giver

What I wanted to be when I grew up:

age 7 fascinated by sewage systems

age 10 architect

age 12-17 bed and breakfast/hospitality

age 17-18 physical therapist

age 19-20 international studies

age 21+ elementary teacher/author

age 28-33 kids' yoga teacher

TVshows: 3%, Humans, Black Mirror, Electric Dreams

instruments studied: piano, violin, percussion

End of spring break update

It's a quiet Saturday afternoon here on Holly Beach Dr.  The littles have been playing outside since first thing this morning.  I am so grateful for this for so many reasons.  Yes,  they choose free play outside with the neighborhood friends over screens.  The weather is cooperating.  Cool and breezy, with pops of hot sun here and there.  They ride bikes, strategize and plan epic nerf battles, play family, school, and most recently a game called "principal".  They draw with chalk, they snack and talk, it is wonderful.  We've had a lovely two week spring break, beginning with Kim, Anthony, and Katie's lovely visit March 24-29.  It was A and K's first plane trip, first trip out of state, and first time meeting the ocean.  I say "meeting the ocean" because like her mother, Katie and the ocean are kindred spirits. We spent the first and last nights on Holly Beach, and the three nights in between at a suites hotel in Carlsbad, visiting beaches, Legoland, and the Flower Fields which were in bloom.  We enjoyed a late dinner on the patio at Wood Ranch the last evening, and I'm sure all of six of us spent the next couple of days recuperating from so much fun! 

During week two we celebrated Easter, spent a day hiking with daddy, enjoyed some pool and biking time, along with plenty of free time.  The kids still had art and karate class, and Owen had a school biography report to finish up along with a couple of Cub Scout projects.  Yesterday morning we drove daddy to the Flyaway airport shuttle in Van Nuys and bid him farewell on his nearly two week European business trip! He is currently sleeping after nearly two days of travel in Milan and heads on to Frankfurt Wednesday.  Tomorrow Delaney's Girl Scout troop is heading to Olvera St. in Los Angeles via Metrolink train ride, and then we gear up for the last 9 weeks of school!!

That is not to say that those last 9 weeks will not be very busy! Owen has decided to join band next Fall, so Wednesday night we head to the parent info meeting for that.  His four instruments in order of choice, include, in order, trombone, violin, cello, and clarinet.  He will be finishing his first year of cub scouts as a Bear Scout and moving to Webelos 1.  Delaney will bridge from Daisy scouts to Brownie scouts. Also, open house is early this year on May 10, so there is really only one month to prepare my classroom! The other thing that will make the 9 weeks fly by is that we are planning a trip to visit Gramp in Costa Rica at the end of July! Both kids will go to Scout day camp July 9-13 and we will hopefully head to CR around July 20 for about two weeks! I have started looking at possible side trips from Grecia where we are very excited to see Gramp's new home he moved to in December.  We cannot believe Owen will be turning 9 in June and moving to the "upper grade" side of school in the Fall.  He is looking forward to celebrating with either a Nerf them party or Lasertag.