Supercalifragilisticexpialidociousdum-deedle-eddle-eddle-dum-diddle-eye!

Holy flying Nannies Batman, we got tickets to see the show! Thanks to a nifty gift of theatre tickets from Nana & Papa last Christmas we were able to get four tickets to see the original Super Nanny in action! Okay...am I more excited than my children? yep.

Piper asked "will Jane and Michael Banks be there?"

Super Star!

At the beginning of Summer Piper was placed two levels higher in gymnastics...and today, she was raised once again to Super Star level. Amazing! She would probably be the very youngest in this catagory and would be with girls up to three years older. She's also the very smallest one. I'm happy for her but I might look at a Super Star class to make sure she wont be to overwhelmed. Until then, she is stoked that she was offered a spot.

The $$$ of Education

Everyone wants their children to receive a good education...don't they? I'm not talking about fancy private schools either. I'm talking about a good quality PUBLIC education. Yep...that's what we want for our girls and we are LUCKY! We live in a State with EXCELLENT schools, we are even lucky enough to live in a county with some of the best in the NATION! Wow!

BUT...yep, there's a but...and it has to do with half day vs. full day school. I've posted about this before, but since deciding we want to send Piper to the local PUBLIC Chinese Immersion program we have found out several things that just don't make sense to me.

1. even though most PUBLIC schools offer full day programs, they only have half day curriculum, the second part of the day is actually considered 'after care' or glorified daycare.

2. Half Day programs are free, of course, but you have to pay for full day, but in first grade onward it's completely free.

3. Some schools are starting to offer full day curriculum, but still charge for the second part of the day because it's not yet State mandated that full day Kindergarten is covered, so if you want your child to get 100% of an education in his/her first year of school then you have to pay for it...otherwise you are SOL, or you suck it up and wait until your kid is near SEVEN YEARS OLD before they pull a full day of school!

4. The district that we are registering Piper for Chinese Immersion offers FULL day curriculum in Chinese, but because the State only covers for half day we have to pay $4000 to receive 100% of what is taught,..actually, that's what last year was, it'll probably be $4200-4400 by the time Piper enters Kindergarten in Fall 2010. It makes no sense to have her attend a half day and miss out on valuable learning, so we will have to find a way to save for school fees for 2010.

5. 2010 will also be the year that Paisley enters pre-school...which means another $1500.

6. 4200 + 1500 = $5700

7. $5700 is about what it costs for tickets to New Zealand.

Sigh.

Don't even get me started on Healthcare...if I see or hear one more person compare Obama to Hitler I'm going to lose my shit!

Call 911my kid is burning up the dancefloor!

I mean the girl is ON FIRE!

This summer has been fantastic for Piper, we signed her up for a few little day camps, just an hour a day here and there. This week she had a camp called 'Phunky Super Star' and boy did she love it! I don't know what it is about this child but she GLOWS when she is in front of people singingI think she wants to be a rock star when she grows up! Sometimes I actually think she might just do that! She has this amazing memory for lyrics, singers, and lines from movies...almost to the point where it's kinda crazy.too fierce for words...whassup dog!

"Mummy, I need to tell you something...if you don't want us to play with your makeup you need to zip up the bag and put it somewhere we can't see it"

SERIOUSLY!

and how about this one...said with a high degree of perplexity

"Mum, I know how babies come out, but what I can't figure out is how they get in there?"

Little girl lost

This little girl was adopted by an American family in China a week ago. Her parents are being forced to leave her behind because the US Consulate will not issue a VISA or a WAIVER to enter the USA due to the fact she has TB. The parents were never told she had TB, at the physical in Guangzhou they did a TB test and it came back positive. Turns out the Orphanage KNEW and didn't share this fact with the CCAA or the US agency. The little girl Harper has been legally adopted by her new parents and is no longer a ward of the Chinese State...she is in effect a lost child, her birth country no longer bears responsibility for her, and her new parents are not allowed to bring her back to her new home and country. She is NOT CONTAGIOUS! The CDC refuses to issue a waiver to allow her to come home to receive the rest of the treatments she needs.

Lets just get some perspective here...NO ONE other than adopted children are required to take a TB test prior to entrance to the USA...NO ONE! That means that many people come into the USA either with active or inactive Tuberculosis! Why is it that the CDC can't grant a waiver for this child so she can come to the USA and receive the rest of her treatments? She is four years old...the same age as Piper. She is a little girl who finally has a family and the bureaucratic paper pushers at the CDC are utterly and completely at fault for not seeing the damage they are doing to this family. If this new TB screening was part of the pre-adoptive process then this poor child and her new family would have had the knowledge and ability to organize options for her care prior to travel. Makes me so angry.

To those who have commented and judged the family for leaving Harper I am incensed at your inability to have empathy for those families who work many jobs, save for years and mortgage their homes to afford to bring a child home. I know for a fact if it were us, it would have been impossible to stay, we just wouldn't have the financial ability to stay for 4-6 months.

This beautiful child is not just a statistic, she needs her Mommy and Daddy...the first REAL parents she has ever known. You can read about Harper here AND if anyone knows Hillary Clinton please alert her to this story. If Bill can rescue two journalists from North Korea then bringing Harper home will be a cakewalk!

Harper gets her new name from the novel 'To kill a mockingbird' by Harper Lee, her Dad Jay hopes there will be an advocate out there for Harper...she needs an Atticus!

I guess there is something to say about discrimination starts at home.

IMO a child adopted in a foreign country by US citizen/s should not have to 'immigrate'(need entry visas), but should be a full citizen at the swearing in ceremony(Guangzhou)and receive a US passport before travel....I've always asked that question but no one could tell me why it happens that way since the first step on US soil is in fact the Consulate/Embassy.

D.I.V.A.need I say more? she studied under the pro. we are in double trouble! big fat double trouble!

and yes...she is acting...putting on a show, I don't know where she got this pose from, but it is her signature pose complete with rockstar facial expression.