At the zoo...looking at the bear fountain :)
Our wagon ride...
Going down the coaster....
McKenzie and her friend, Sydnie Jane :)
Isn't this why we have kids? :)
Monday, April 27, 2009
More April Pics
At the zoo...looking at the bear fountain :) Our wagon ride... Going down the coaster.... McKenzie and her friend, Sydnie Jane :) Isn't this why we have kids? :)
Time Keeps On Ticking Away...
Mama and the birthday girl...
Blowing out the candle...
"Most" of the friends...it's hard to get kids to line up! :)
Hugging her friend Kali
THE Land Before Time Cake :)What a great month we have had! We had so much to celebrate this month and so much family time. It was GREAT!!! As you know, McKenzie turned 3 and we celebrated I think a total of 5 times :) What kid wouldn't love to have a birthday 5 times? :) Time moved on so quickly. It's hard to recap and find out what we did.
It was so nice to see Spring is slowly coming back :) We visited the zoo twice!! We have started to play outside (and I've started to be able to jog outside!). We visited family in both Ohio and Jackson. We had a great month! :) May will continue to be busy. We have house projects galore and so much more to do!
Rob's work has been going really well and we are grateful to still be employed...and even more grateful that God had his hand on him in 1996 to lead him to this company. I feel horribly that so much junk is going on with the other automakers and suppliers. I wish I could take it all away.....We know we are blessed.
So...here are some pictures from the month!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Can't Sleep
Sooo....this online job thing is wonderful except when it's time for sleep. I have to admit, it is so hard to turn off my brain. I've technically been done for nearly an hour, but I have so much in my head, it's hard to turn it off.
Things are going really well. As many of you know, I have been stressing a bit over the current situation in our school district. I am a teacher. I love my girls more than anything, and like any parent, I want the best I can realistically provide for them. But, I have to admit, unless you're a teacher, you don't really understand. I think there is a certain pressure you put on yourself to give your kids that much more to their educational experience. Brandon (the school district we live in) has had a recent influx of students from Pontiac. Pontiac is like Detroit is like Flint. It's bad. Now, I am not stupid enough to think that all students are bad that choose to come to Brandon for schools of choice. If I had to guess, I would say 75-80% are there for the right reasons. I just have TONS of apprehensions because the numbers of Pontiac students keep going up and up. And I have some insight.......I teach at Sylvan (as you know) and 90% of our clientele are Pontiac students. I know what these kids are coming from and I don't want to expose my children to this. Brandon is not putting a cap on students from Pontiac AND next year, 5 elementaries and 1 high school are closing in Pontiac...leaving not much room/place for them to go. Brandon will accept them. Our neighbor's daughter and I had an indepth conversation tonight. She's a senior at Brandon. She says that the influence is becoming much worse and "gang like" activity is prevalent at the high school level. THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANT FOR MY KIDS. So......I've been praying. Who am I kidding? I've been praying since they were born about school. We would love private education, but around here, the cost is 5K - 8K/year/kid. That's not going to happen with the Cliftons. So...we rely on a public education system that is allowing so much worse to enter our system with so little control.
I started researching. I called the next district over (Oxford) and I found what I was looking for! The programs are spectacular and include: required foreign language in K-12, no "pay to play" for sports, a tremendous amount of AP classes, and yes, schools of choice!!!! So, please be in prayer that God will orchestrate this over the next 2 years when McKenzie starts kindergarten. Pray that they will still have schools of choice; that they will "accept" us, and that they will accept Kylie. Please also pray (though not as likely at this point) that they will not allow Pontiac to overtake their schools. It is 25 minutes further east from Brandon, so I am assuming any kid from Pontaic willing to drive 40-50 minutes to go to a school like Oxford, really wants to go there. So, I am thrilled. And...........relieved.
On another note, please also be praying for McKenzie's 3rd birthday party. We are attempting to have it at a local park and we need good weather! It's April 18th....so.........be praying! :) The girls are doing great. Kylie is walking everywhere and got her 7th tooth today. McKenzie is just oh so super cute and has learned how to write "o's"!!! Yeah!!! :) My life is blessed. I am soooo very blessed.
Things are going really well. As many of you know, I have been stressing a bit over the current situation in our school district. I am a teacher. I love my girls more than anything, and like any parent, I want the best I can realistically provide for them. But, I have to admit, unless you're a teacher, you don't really understand. I think there is a certain pressure you put on yourself to give your kids that much more to their educational experience. Brandon (the school district we live in) has had a recent influx of students from Pontiac. Pontiac is like Detroit is like Flint. It's bad. Now, I am not stupid enough to think that all students are bad that choose to come to Brandon for schools of choice. If I had to guess, I would say 75-80% are there for the right reasons. I just have TONS of apprehensions because the numbers of Pontiac students keep going up and up. And I have some insight.......I teach at Sylvan (as you know) and 90% of our clientele are Pontiac students. I know what these kids are coming from and I don't want to expose my children to this. Brandon is not putting a cap on students from Pontiac AND next year, 5 elementaries and 1 high school are closing in Pontiac...leaving not much room/place for them to go. Brandon will accept them. Our neighbor's daughter and I had an indepth conversation tonight. She's a senior at Brandon. She says that the influence is becoming much worse and "gang like" activity is prevalent at the high school level. THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANT FOR MY KIDS. So......I've been praying. Who am I kidding? I've been praying since they were born about school. We would love private education, but around here, the cost is 5K - 8K/year/kid. That's not going to happen with the Cliftons. So...we rely on a public education system that is allowing so much worse to enter our system with so little control.
I started researching. I called the next district over (Oxford) and I found what I was looking for! The programs are spectacular and include: required foreign language in K-12, no "pay to play" for sports, a tremendous amount of AP classes, and yes, schools of choice!!!! So, please be in prayer that God will orchestrate this over the next 2 years when McKenzie starts kindergarten. Pray that they will still have schools of choice; that they will "accept" us, and that they will accept Kylie. Please also pray (though not as likely at this point) that they will not allow Pontiac to overtake their schools. It is 25 minutes further east from Brandon, so I am assuming any kid from Pontaic willing to drive 40-50 minutes to go to a school like Oxford, really wants to go there. So, I am thrilled. And...........relieved.
On another note, please also be praying for McKenzie's 3rd birthday party. We are attempting to have it at a local park and we need good weather! It's April 18th....so.........be praying! :) The girls are doing great. Kylie is walking everywhere and got her 7th tooth today. McKenzie is just oh so super cute and has learned how to write "o's"!!! Yeah!!! :) My life is blessed. I am soooo very blessed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
