Next Weekend

I will be having a scrapbooking crop at the Crafty Scrapper in Waxahachie next weekend.  It was formerly my baby shower, but it no longer is (i.e. don't bring baby presents!).  You can come for free (and I hope lots of people come because otherwise I lose my deposit!).  The only thing you have to do is make two pages for Ben Wen's scrapbook.  If you don't know how, no problem.  There will be plenty of people on hand from the store to help.  I can have up to 16 people, and right now I think I might have 12.  Let me know if you are interested!  It's from 4-8 and we will order some sort of food in.  The store will be open from 4-6, and then it will only be open for us from 6-8.  The first 16 to contact me win!  Even if you think I already know you're coming, email or call me anyways.  Also, Bob may be having a Boy Night Out or In that night.  If you have interested boys, let me know.  There will be two youngerish boys, so it will be PG or PG13ish.  

Hope to see you then!

Babymoon

Bob and I went to one of our favorite "resorts" (which we actually call camp, because it resembles a camp more than a resort).  They had a "Babymoon" package, so we got massages and played golf.  The massage made Bob cry.  Hehe.  Here he is playing golf/working while on the course. 

 

Daycare Soapbox

I have to use this space to rant about our experience visiting daycare centers today.  I figure that it's relatively related to Baby Ben.  Before I really get going, though, I need to start out by saying that there was one center which we were really impressed with.  One.  Out of all the ones we went to.  And it costs $205 per week, which would pretty much negate one of our salaries (you can guess whose salary I'm talking about).  

So at the last place we went to, we got a male tour guide.  It was old and smelly (the place, not the tour guide), but actually it was looking pretty high on our list.  The people seemed nice enough, and there were some "cool" factors to it (with the exception of the artwork on one classroom wall--a coloring page of a "DEAD LION".  Seriously.  The kids colored pictures of a murdered lion.  It even had it's tongue hanging out of its mouth.  I'm not making this up.  As a matter of fact, I don't think I could make this up if I tried to.)

Anyways, back to the part where I almost lost it.  So we notice they have this pre-k room that is set up with cute little desks, and Bob asks, "Do your teachers have any sort of certification?"

Our tour guide says, "No, the state doesn't require it, and our company doesn't either."  Now, this is where the dummy should have stopped, but instead he must have seen some doubt in our faces because he obviously felt the need to justify his remark.  

He leans in conspiratorially.  "Honestly, you don't really need to be certified to teach little kids. It doesn't really make a difference in how much they learn."

Ummm.  Are you kidding me?  Then why the crap did we just elect a president whose entire education platform was based on improving early childhood education, including stricter, more rigorous requirements for teachers, particularly in EC?  Why do we even have certification in EC?  We should just get rid of it.  Let any ol' person give these kids their foundation for reading and math and science and socialization.  It doesn't really matter if they're taught to read and write and do math well in the beginning, we'll just catch them up in middle school since we are having so much success with that in the United States right now.  Anyone can screen for learning disabilities in the younger years, that's why we catch them all so early. No need for a trained professional for that. We don't really need teachers to teach, and like I told my husband, we should just get rid of the engineering degree, too, because really, those missiles just build themselves; whether or not an engineer designed them doesn't really make a difference in how well they fly and blow stuff up. And honestly, what is up with all these M.D.'s diagnosing and writing prescriptions?!  I mean c'mon, I've been a hypochondriac for years; I'm pretty sure I could tell you what's wrong with you and how to treat it by now--and I'd charge a lot less!

Now, don't get me wrong--I believe there are probably many non-certified pre-K teachers that are wonderful and marvelous and whom I'd love to teach my child.  But is this really how the average person thinks about EC education?  That it truly doesn't matter if a trained vs. a non-trained professional is in the classroom?  No wonder the United States doesn't even make it in the top ten of education when compared to other developed countries.  No wonder the high schooler down the street can't fill out a check because she doesn't know how to write the number "250" in word form.  No wonder the person at the fast food joint can't tell you if it's a better deal to buy the meal or 3 items off the dollar menu.  No wonder the executives at AIG can't understand a balance sheet.  Did our economic crisis stem from bad lending, or really, did it start back in the '60s, '70s and '80s when some childcare manager convinced our parents that "You don't really need to be certified to teach little kids.  It doesn't really make a difference in how much they learn."  

I really don't think I have to tell you how that conversation ended, but I think it's going to take me quite a while to get over it.  And, in the least, perhaps if he'd had a better teacher when he was young, he would have learned a valuable lesson:  Know your audience before you open your mouth.

Clarification

We've had a lot of questions since our post last night, so we wanted to clarify.  The house above is the one we really, really like.  It's in preauction--a process I don't really understand-- so I don't know what our chances of getting it are.  Our offer was more than $100,000 under the original asking price--crazy!  If you Google "Honeysuckle Estates" you can find out all about the neighborhood scandal that made these houses so cheap.  The neighborhood has about 50 houses, and they are all on just over an acre of land.  

Bob really loves the kitchen.  The appliances still have the wrappers on them-- and Bob wants the double oven.  

We are a little confused by two rooms in this house.  This is the first confusing one.  Dining room?  Study? Formal living?  Who knows.  It has chair rails, which makes me think dining, but it also has a ceiling fan-- are these usually in a dining room?  What do you think?  

I don't have a pic of the second confusing room--the study.  It looks more like a bedroom without a closet.  

Here is the living room.  Nothing too exciting.  We're standing in the kitchen to take this pic.  The one cool thing is that it has the exact same carpet as we already have, and we like it.  

Now, see those stairs back there?  Let me take you to them.  

We're standing right by the front door.  Let's go up. 

As soon as you come upstairs, you enter this big, empty room.  They call it the game room.  I don't know what we'll do here.  See that room off to the left?  It's the media room!  I can definitely see myself napping in that dark room!

That's really all we have for now.  We'll find out more early this week!

Housecapades

We put three offers on houses today. Here are pics from two of them (before the camera died). Ignore the fat pregnant lady.

You might not be able to tell from this picture, but this is actually a garage. It's huge-mongous~

Baby Showers!

Our baby showers officially have a date now! We are having two showers on Sat., April 4, 2009. The first will be from 11ish to 1ish at some restaurant. The second one is a scrapbook party at the Crafty Scrapper in Waxahachie from 4-8 p.m. An invitation/evite will be coming asap! We're having two because we know there are lots of you coming from out of town.

Here's info on the Crafty Scrapper:


http://www.thecraftyscrapper.com/about/

Baby Needs Space

It turns out that our house isn't big enough for the three of us, so we're house hunting! Check out the prospects... Each of these houses are a bit larger than ours and going for a great price. We even get an acre of dirt for the kid to play in, crazy! We'll keep you all posted on the prospects on where we end up.