Twelve Twelve Twelve

12-12-12.  I just like to look at it.   And not just because it won't happen again for a thousand years, but because it's pretty.

I am thrilled about this picture. Most of our Sunday mornings are chaotic and stressful. I wanted to get my family out after mass for a picture. It's been a year since we took a family photo [unless Las Vegas counts]. Nothing like last year when I made it my project to get at least one family photo  each month. That was so much fun by the way and not a lot of work for something that was pretty great.

Last Sunday it was impossible to organize it so that we could be ready right after mass so I just knew it wouldn't happen.  Fast forward to our post mass - Wyatt's first Sunday as an altar server - celebration at Panera. He served with Sarah and one other girl. He did so good. The week before he stood up with the cantor and sang his little heart out, though he is still a bit timid and doesn't project all that well, my heart busts up with pride to see him give it a shot.

So at Panera while we all sat in bagel bliss, I lamented the loss of my December - possible Christmas card worthy - family photo idea. To my surprise everybody was up for it, gosh they do love me.

Back at home we scrambled get out of our mismatched clothes and to find something black white or grey to wear which sounds easy but wasn't really.  Tony ran errands while I made a better attempt at fixing the girls' hair than we did for mass.  Mass gets the shaft when it comes to our hair because it's at 9am.  I don't even think Eva's was brushed that morning until we were picture prepping.

We ran over to meet Tony at my pre-planned spot, I was going for a particular idea and I found just the right color/texture I wanted for a background.  Because of all of this we made Wyatt late for a birthday party so we only had his attention for about three minutes, but we got it done in that little bit of time, thanks to my best photo friend the tripod.

And here's how Wyatt let us know that our time was up.

Just Like That.

Two days of December already done. I am going to try to do a lot less scheduling this year and try to have more down time. We are already locked in to regular things; sports, dance, scouts and such. This year I'm going to try to add as little as possible to our December schedule. It just gets too crazy and all I want this month is peace and harmony. Right right, too much to hope for, but a girl's got to hope for something.

We did the most wonderful thing last weekend. After years and years of talking about it we finally painted our bedroom. Tony and I knocked it out last weekend after Thanksgiving and I put some finishing touches on it today. It is glorious! I still need to take the after photo, so I will be sharing that soon. This is my color, it's name is gray timber wolf.

This makes me so happy! The only problem is that I want to spend all my time in there now. Eventually though, someone needs me or I get hungry. My family is going to keep that in check for me I suppose. The bathroom is still on the list but I am motivated now and I think I have a plan so hopefully that won't be long in coming.

We put our tree up this evening and will light it up and decorate her tonight too. Tony dropped Emily off at mass tonight because we left her blank at home this morning so we could get there on time. Sort of a tough love thing I guess. I don't know if it will have it's intended effect, but again, having hope here.

So when they get home, the rest of us will get out of my bed and we'll go do the cheerful holiday tree decorating tradition, and it will be so sweet.

November 2012

I found lots of reasons to be thankful in November 2012. Thankfully so because truthfully, things aren't super sparkling around here. I have issues dulling me. Ones that have a way of rubbing me like sandpaper or making me vomit a little when I briefly forget they exist, then remember. Things that make my heart take a dive off a high sucky cliff when that sandpaper starts hurting me again. I've gone for long periods of time, years even, without the sandpaper. I want to be there again.

So here's my short, possibly therapeutic list of gratitude for now:

my four sweet, smart, wonderful, bratty, beautiful kids

my love and my best friend Tony

mine and Tony's family, blessed to belong to them both

good friends

and

a comfortable home, which reminds me of a graphic someone posted on facebook this week. I'd be happy with two but I think everybody knows I only have one!

That Pink Balloon.

As Eva was eating dinner tonight, Wyatt went into the kitchen with her balloon and popped it with a steak knife. She had that balloon for about two weeks and it was one of her current treasures. So I told him he couldn't watch tonight's special Redbox presentation of Madagascar 3 with us.

He begged and begged and tried to bargain.  He even tried his usual ploy which is to offer me his ten dollars. That never works. I never take his ten dollars. He should know that by now.

Movie time approached and after more begging, I told him that it was Eva's decision and that the two of them should go discuss it in private.  She followed him to his room and I spied on them.

He asked her gently and she thought about it for five seconds and said to him:

"It's a yes.
ya don't need a balloon to live.
ya need food and water.
and a heart.
but ya don't need a balloon.
so it's a yes."

I was astounded.  They came into the living room. My girl smiled.  My boy beamed.

I told Wyatt he was super lucky to have a sister like her and I told her I was so proud of her for forgiving her brother.

So my little ad hoc plan to put them together and give her the power worked, it was a really great parental moment for me.

It could have backfired if he had tried to bully her but he didn't. He just quietly appealed to her with sympathy and a little remorse and she bypassed any revengy feelings and told him straight up.

Yes my darling Eva, ya need a heart. You got a good one sweet baby.

Appreciating.

Right now these are the things I am most appreciating:

Tony's strength to bear more than I wish he had to

Wyatt cooking breakfast for us. Mmmm mmmm

Getting invited to dance parties

Celebrating birthdays with amazing friends who have dance parties

October sunsets

Pumpkins and fall and cooler days, finally

Eva's singing in the shower.  Eva's singing outside the shower

How it is so easy to make Eva laugh and all of her seven year old sweetnesss

Sarah's supreme thoughtfulness

Bunny. I'm going to write about her soon

Pandora radio, all day every day

Watching Emily play volleyball. She is a freshman who was on JV for 2/3 of the season and has now been pulled up to varsity. I am so proud of her, she works so hard. Watching her play is definitely the highlight of my week. So much fun.

Tomatoes from my garden!  And not having to buy the ones that aren't tasty for five whole months!

The best friends anyone can hope for, Happy 40th to Nena and Victor!

Lazy Gardeners.

 

We just harvested these tomatoes two days ago.  It felt like 20 pounds.  They are the best tasting tomatoes you could ever find.  There are still a lot of green ones on the vine but our 90 degree weather just ended abruptly yesterday so I don't know if we will harvest another bowlful like this.one. This year we had enormous quantities of zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes.  I feel so lazy about it because there is no effort involved, these things just grow without any help from me.  They have automatic drip sprinklers and it's way too easy.  We also planted corn, which is a waste of space because you make such a giant plant and get so little in return.  The worms got more than we did.  I almost forgot about the carrots, which turned out to be a blessing for our rabbit, Bunny.  The carrots themselves are so small and tasteless that we don't use them but Bunny has been loving  her carrot tops every day since she arrived, and there is still a good supply in the ground.

Tony built a beauty of a shed out there this summer. It is so tall! Whenever we look at it we say, "it is so tall!" My husband is such a go-getter. It took him a month of Sunday's but he got the job done. So the garden looks grubby but the tomatoes don't care. The small planter in front is strawberries. We don't really know what is going to happen to them over the winter but they sure look healthy now. We didn't compost this year, not sure what happened with that. Lazy gardeners we are. Oh but the tomatoes!

September Girls.

Sarah and Eva both have September birthdays. Four years apart. We celebrated Sarah's 11th birthday with some of her girlfriends on Labor Day.

We did pizza and a movie. Fun was had by all and ParaNorman wasn't that bad. Sometimes I feel bad about making the kids pose with the direct light of the sun their eyes.

On her actual birthday we invited some neighbor friends over to have cake with us. We were running late that night, it was a school night too, so after showers when we were all hitting our wall and falling apart (me, that would be me) I decided to give her the small gifts I had for her the next day.

Do you know that she did not once ask me about any presents? Not once, all day. I woke her up the next day and gave them to her with as much fanfare as I could muster on a school morning. She was so grateful and sweet. She is such a wonderful kid. I am such a grateful mom with a heart that is filled again and again. Sometimes I wonder how much I can hold. Don't get me wrong, we are mostly a train wreck around here, but that doesn't take anything away from the continuous one way flow of my heart filling up. That blessed thing only goes one way.

Eva's birthday is still three weeks away and then she'll be 7. That makes my kiddos 14, 11, 9, and 7. Once again easy to rattle off to people who ask, which is almost a daily occurrence.

Summer Notes 2012.

Eva learned how to ride her bike this summer without training wheels. A few weeks later she rode in the 4th of July parade downtown. Here she is with her secret service bodyguard.

She was looking for me in the crowd, aren't they cute?

Wyatt made a patriotic appearance as well.

Eva reminded us of when Sarah learned to ride one day and Wyatt the next. Sarah was so mad because Wyatt was riding her bike. She chased him down the street saying, "I'm better that you! I can do it better than you!" We have it on video, it's the funniest thing ever. Eva is riding the same little bike and having a blast!

They are all swimming like fishes, some days they are in the pool all day with short breaks for food. They are playing with old and new neighborhood friends. Out in the neighborhood for big chunks of the day. Reminds me of my own childhood days running around with friends until and sometimes beyond dark. My kids have a much smaller radius than I did, but it's a good radius.

Happy Birthday Emily!

Emily is 14 today, or as Eva would have you know, "Emily turned my favorite number today!" Eva has been infatuated with the number 14 since she was three years old, half her life. She used to write the number fourteen on tiny post-it notes and put them around the house, proudly asserting that it was her favorite.

To the mass of people who have said me over the years, "oh, they grow up so fast," I have this to say:

OK FINE. YOU ARE RIGHT. IT IS TRUE DANGIT!

She's my first baby. Sob. As in cry, not the other one.  Yesterday a song came on the radio that was popular for several months of 1998 that followed her birth.  I remember laying with her on more than one night listening to these words and feeling overwhelmed with emotion as I thought of this most precious gift I had ever received.  Every line felt like it was written for that moment of my life, looking at her, loving her. My sweet baby girl. 

I could stay awake just to hear you breathing
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
While you're far away and dreaming
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender
I could stay lost in this moment forever
Where every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure

Don't wanna close my eyes, I don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you baby and I don't wanna miss a thing
'Cause even when I dream of you the sweetest dream would never do
I'd still miss you baby and I don't want to miss a thing

Lying close to you feeling your heart beating
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming
Wondering if it's me you're seeing
Then I kiss your eyes and thank God we're together
I just wanna stay with you in this moment forever, forever and ever

I don't wanna miss one smile, I don't wanna miss one kiss
I just wanna be with you, right here with you, just like this
I just want to hold you close, feel your heart so close to mine
And just stay here in this moment for all the rest of time

I'm nearly certain that the woman that wrote that song wrote it about her baby!  I knew it was about me and my baby anyway. Don't think about Steven Tyler, that just messes with my imagery.

Happy 14th Birthday Emily! You are such a lucky kid that your awesomeness exceeds your pain-in-the-buttness. I love you girl. Even though you won't let me hug or kiss you anymore, maybe I'll steal a hug, or at least give you the 14 spankings for your birthday that you deserve.

Road Tripping.

May 2012 gave us a good thrashing. So glad to have lived it and survived, but so glad it's behind us. It's like a race to the finish line. The finish line being the last day of school. It's so much like December, only the finish line is Christmas day. So many things are crammed into these two months. Especially if you have a kid, or four.

We ditched our plans to camp in Pinecrest last week because again this year the temps were lower than we were prepared to bear. Lucky we did too because it got cold, and it rained, and it snowed! We're tent campers and I'm not ready to go there. We wanted to get out of town anyway since we had already allotted the time to be away. Tony and I were almost giddy with our prospects. Anywhere in California we thought. The whole state our playground for five days.

So where did we end up? You'll never believe it. Las Vegas. Really.

We didn't make reservations until the morning we left town. Crazy right? And thrilling if you really want to know the truth. Tony and I have never been there together but have each been there once, or twice, I can't quite remember. And the four impressionable young children that we love and cherish? What an adventure is all I can say!

In my imaginings, I seem to remember some news about Vegas becoming more kid friendly over the years. I didn't do any research on this before we left so I was surprised to find that this is completely untrue. Who knew?

I actually sat in our hotel room and googled the marketing history of Las Vegas on Emily's laptop and read this:

"...in the 1990s, Las Vegas worked hard to become a family destination. Hotels built elaborate theme parks and stage shows offered kid-friendly fare. Television and print campaigns touted this Nevada city as the ideal place for a family vacation. For all intents and purposes, the campaign failed."

Haahaahaahaa! How dumb are we?

Despite that realization, we did have a really good time. Our hotel had an amazing wave pool and lazy river where we spent the majority of our afternoons.





We ate donuts for breakfast. We did lots of tram riding and fun dining, and Vegas style Eiffel tower/Statue of Liberty/Pyramid sightseeing while dodging timeshare sellers (successfully) and hundreds, if not thousands of smokers (unsuccessfully) along the way. We actually found lots of healthy fodder for educational conversations if you can believe that. People, places, history, modern architecture, ancient pyramids, you name it. The kids decided that if we ever go back we have to stay at the Luxor. We'll see.



We visited Hoover dam, briefly stepped into Arizona, and marveled at the new bypass bridge that spans an unbelievably large (but not grand) canyon. Wyatt had never visited another state until this trip. He didn't want to leave California. Then he didn't want to leave Nevada, refusing to walk across the border on the second half of the dam. We coaxed him over and congratulated him on his second new state.



We drove almost eight hours each way. The majority of those hours were through the Mojave desert. Sounds boring, but it was amazing. Our family has never been on such a long road trip, so we marveled at everything we saw. We also laughed. A lot.

We talked about Joshua trees, otherworldly terrain, looked for desert mountains, and wondered about all the abandoned properties and homes. Who lived there? Why? When did they leave? Where did they go? Have you ever waited hours to stop for dinner and missed your one and only exit in the middle of the desert with no u-turn available for dozens of miles? We did that, and rather than let the hunger grouch in us take over, we found it hilarious and just kept snacking in the car. We came into the big city a little before 10 p.m. No one had fallen asleep through the desert and and it was fun coming up on it with all the pretty lights after a couple hundred miles of slight civilization.

Did we gamble? Yes, Tony tripled his money and made exactly $15.

Glad we went? Yes.

Would we go back with our kids? No.

Would Tony and I go back on a plane and stay a night or two, see a show or a concert with friends? Definitely.

Pool Party!

Wyatt's party yesterday was the first pool party of the year. The kids had a ball! Wyatt enjoyed his party very much. Last night when I tucked him in he told me that he couldn't believe that everyone came just for him. So sweet!

They splashed for hours and then they splashed for a few more hours.

And there was also this cool kid named Lucas, who got a little wet but did not want to splash.

And I don't want to forget these two fellas who came to enjoy the pool early yesterday morning. First time we've seen ducks in the pool, pretty cool. Too bad they couldn't stay for the party, but it's just as well because Eva was worried that they would duck poop the pool.

Summer is closing in on us, four more weeks of school and hopefully many more pool parties this year!

Celebrating Wyatt.

Last Saturday Wyatt did this in the morning:

And he did this in the afternoon:

Yesterday we had friends and family over to celebrate Wyatt's first communion and his 9th birthday too. His actual birthday was in March and Mom & Jim came down that day to make his day sweeter.

Victor, Wyatt's Godfather for baptism was Wyatt's sponsor for this sacrament as well. We are so blessed to have Victor and his wife Nena [and both of their awesome kiddos] in our lives. No one makes me laugh like Nena does.

Yesterday Nena was trying to explain our relationship to one of my sisters-in-law and I said something like, "it's because we are both dorks!" And she said, "she being the dorkier of the two of us." Which is completely true and made me laugh super hard and then say "yeah, and we both have dorky husbands too!" Then she said, "mine being the dorkier of the two of them." Baaaahaaaaa! True again.

Enough about indisputably dorky me. My son is one of the greatest gifts of my life. He can be a little snot sometimes, but mostly he is this sweet, compassionate, loving, smart, strong, beautiful little boy.

And I am mostly so stinking proud of him.

100 Years.

April 14, 2012

Just opened a bottle of wine, It's called Twisted Spur and it's made by Niner Winery in Paso Robles. My sister Alicia also happens to work there. Tonight I have lasagna in the oven, garlic cheese pizza bread in the queue, and homemade chocolate cookies ready for later.  We are going to dine and then watch Titanic. At home, on VHS because that is what I have. I haven't fired it up in a while so I hope my VCR still works. I remember being mildly annoyed in the fall of 2000, when I bought my first DVD player. I just wasn't ready for VHS to end and why do we have to have this new DVD thing anyway? Emily was just two at the time and we had a happy little collection of preschool VHS tapes that I have only recently parted with.

When I was pregnant with Emily 14 years ago in the fall of 1997, Tony and I went to see Titanic and I remember it being a really big deal. I remember one of my first  pregnancy discomfort moments in that theater. It was a long movie for a pregnant lady to sit through!

Tony's grandpa who is known in my house as Abuelito Pepe passed away five years ago.  The family always gave him big birthday parties and he was dearly loved.  When he was alive we would answer questions about his age by saying, "he was born in 1910, two years before the Titanic sinking." Abuelito Pepe would be 102 if he were alive today. Tony sure did love him.

My favorite line from the movie is Thomas Andrews to Rose: "I'm sorry that I didn't build you a stronger ship, young Rose."

100 years is a long time! The song by Five for Fighting sometimes makes me cry. Speaking of music, I have the best Pandora playlist. It's so good that I am on it almost all day, even at work, and sometimes in the night when I can't sleep.

This seems like a very scattered post but I'm going to hit publish and get over to my lasagna and my family and then that old VCR.

Bump.

A month or so ago I was driving myself to work alone and also eating a bagel. Very close to my home I lightly rear-ended a pick-up truck. I freaked out a little bit. It's been a really, really long time since I have bumped anyone. When Tony and I were in Guadalajara once where aggressive driving seemed to be the norm, we were riding with one of his cousins and she lightly bumped another car as she was parking. She exclaimed sweetly, "un besito," a little kiss. I thought it was awfully cute at the time that bumping into another car was such a casual and romantic affair.

What happened to me after I bumped into that pick-up was the best possible thing that can happen in that situation.  The driver paused after I hit him for a period of time that was uncomfortable to me, but gave me more than enough time to hide my bagel and swallow what was already in my mouth. I guess I was expecting him to fly out of his vehicle, slam his door and rage all over me. Perhaps he was collecting his thoughts or summoning his calm? In any case, an adorable 20 something man gracefully exited his truck, glanced at me still sitting in my car, and quickly surveyed the back of his car. I was worried, but calm. Then he came up to my window and said to me in a gentle forviving voice "it's all good." He was so casual and kind. I told him I was very sorry and he was gone and I was on my way.

My faith in humanity was somewhat renewed and the feeling stayed with me for a bit.

Not a big deal. Not really worth mentioning. I probably would have forgotten about my little besito already, except the very same evening I found this on my kitchen counter:



I asked Wyatt what inspired him to create it. He said, "I don't know."

Hmmm.

Five Years.

You're not going to believe this, but I wrote my first lame post in January of 2007! Five years! I did something for five years. Something I'm kind of proud of.  Whoop whoop!

I wrote about blogging once before, way back in '09 for you young'ns.  I just reread it and I do love it.

In honor of my blogiversary, and because this blog may be lacking honor,  I am going to post something here once a week [or more] for the rest of the year.  That's a present to myself because I let too much of my life slide by without giving it the treatment it deserves.

And some other seemingly random, but in truth nonrandom things that I am going to gift myself  here [as inspired here by the brilliant Kris Scott as a tribute to her friend Karen] so that it will hopefully give me the extra push push I need to make them real.  I am not going to try to do these things, I am going to do them.

Get strong.  I am going to walk, run, and do other frequent challenging body movements that don't involve housework. Starting today.  There I said it.  Last fall, before I stopped the pretty great routine that I had going, I called myself a runner. To myself.  Maybe someday I can call myself that and someone else can hear it too.

Get smart. I will more fervently practice the greater awareness that I know I have the capacity for.   And slightly related: I am going to continue to read books at the same or greater level and pace than I have been doing for almost two years. I am a reader, and I just said it outloud.

Get thick.  My skin is never thick enough for all the ridiculous things that try their evil penetrations on me.  How to do this best? Not sure.  IMHO, worrying about things that don't even matter is the biggest waste of time that a liver of life can let happen.  I let, because the elusive and greatly desired awareness slips.

Get rollerblading.    It's actually a substitute for something I used to want to do.  I always used to want to sky dive and I really don't want to do that anymore.  I'm going to Rollerblade instead.

Get better at these other important things:

Keeping my cool.  Yes people, I lose it more than I want to tell you.  It's embarrassing.  Awareness.

Dinner. Always dinner. And food in general.  Proper planning would do me some wonders.

Getting there on time.  It's a sickness, I've never been on time for anything. Proper planning...

Compassionate  mothering.  I too often react harshly instead of lovingly.  I noticed that the more compassion and understanding I show my four little people, the more really good days they have.  What also happens when we all have good days is that I give them more me, the good me that I am proud of.  I just have to relax the perverse human instincts that make me put too much importance on things that really don't matter and take me away from being present. Easy. Awareness.

So I think that's enough for now.  I'll track my progress here, I am posting once a week after all.  If you want to shoot me a note or something to inspire or harass me or whatever about how I am doing, feel free.  It actually might help.

Marathon Man!

Two years ago, Tony was registered to run a full marathon in the first ever Modesto Marathon. He was many months into his training when he got injured and stopped running altogether for over a year. I wrote about it here and here. 

Fast forward two years and last Sunday, he completed his first half marathon. He gradually started running again and began training for it last fall.

Tony's Stats:

Half marathon = 13.1 miles

Division Place 145

Gender Place 118

Age Place 19

Start Time 07:03:12.041

Elapsed 01:47:39.490

Do you see that he placed #19 in his [40-44] age group? Isn't that super amazing? I am so, so proud of him! Here he is at the end of it. He doesn't even look tired! He is so proud of his medal.

I had to be in Salinas at 7:45 that morning for another volleyball tournament, so he made the trip to Modesto solo. I wish we could have been there to cheer him on. Next time. Or, maybe next time I will run the 5K! Did I really just write that? Oh.

Go Tony! You are my love and my inspiration.

3.4.2012

Having a late morning meal with my smallest sweetie. Panera won't let me look at facebook or google reader, so for the first time, I'm a mobile blogger!

Eva is playing DS while her broccoli soup cools, and in between easily coaxed smiles and playful conversations (the only kind she knows), I'm enjoying a tasty strawberry parfait with my yummy coffee. This is one heavenly Sunday morning. Yesterday was one of the most exhausting days I have ever known and today I am blissfully high on recovery. That dreamy space somewhere between pain, and relief, and rest.

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est, and peace and love. Amen.

Notes added moments later...

Note to self #1: If you are going to continue to use the date as a title to a blog post and you don't know what day it is, look it up before you hit publish.

Note to self #2: When Panera does not let you on facebook, or reader, or even let you post to your blog, GET OFF THEIR FREE WIFI BECAUSE IT'S CRAP!

Amen, again.

3.2.2012

I want to say stuff but the words won't come!

Nothing important, and we're all fine, I just can't make words into sentences anymore!

I had two kids home sick from school, but I did get outside today and took a few pics of the things happening in my backyard. I love it that spring so near. Love. Love. Love. And just then I heard John Lennon's voice. Nice, I like it when that happens.

My favorite tree, we planted it about twelve years ago.

My neighbors peach? tree. In a few weeks it will have green leaves.

We started cleaning up the landscape around the pool, it has been a mess and a disaster pretty much for the entire three years since we had the pool put in. Has it been three years? I will have to look in my archives to find out! Isn't that funny, that I can mark time by the memory of something that I wrote and shared right here. So, at first we put in the wrong plants, they were beautiful but they overtook the narrow areas quickly and we had to cut them back. Tony took them out after the first summer and replaced them with some new ideas, but those didn't work out either. So we're starting again, with one of my favorites, bamboo.

Late in January, Tony planted lettuce, peas and potatoes. That's the green that's showing. He also put down some tulip bulbs for me somewhere in there. They haven't shown themselves yet. I hope they come up. Who knows?

We did have a spectacular summer garden last year. Tony built these awesome raised beds for us in our side yard. I didn't do a good job of sharing it like I thought I would. It was a big deal though. We thought we would be working it year round but we pretty much shut it down at about mid-fall. We filled up that compost bin (there at the end with those blocks on it) dozens of times and it just kept shrinking down and nearly disappearing. We had it full to bursting when we shut it down. I am anxious to look in there, a little afraid, but anxious. Will there be anything in there but spiders? Are the worms still in there? If not did they die or slither down into the deep ground? They were so fat, and there were so many.

Six People in 2012.

I'm not planning to continue the family photo every month project this year. This one was just an opportunity I couldn't pass up. My family got together to celebrate my neice, Sydney's 16th birthday with a fun lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and we posed outside afterwards in our matchy-matchy pinks and blues. We planned the pinks, but the blue boys were a happy little coincidence. I'm super glad that I did that project last year, it gave me some fun ideas and new perspective on the family photo that we weren't doing enough of before that. I'll be trying for the six of us more often, just not every single month.

The silly blue boys.

The beautiful birthday girl with her equally beautiful mommy. You will have to look hard to find another sixteen year old girl with as much class as this girl has.

California Kickoff.

Emily's first volleyball tournement was in San Jose Last weekend, it was called the California Kickoff. Just Emily and I went over for the weekend. We left well before the sun came up Saturday and got to the convention center at about 8 am. Trust me, you have never seen this many volleyball courts and teams in one place. It was enormous I tell you! This picture does NOTHING to convey the enormity of the thing, but it's the best I could do standing on a chair.

Someone said there were 40 courts, but when we counted them it seemed closer to 30. 30 courts! That's 60 teams playing at once in a giant building! It was crazy. It was a lot of fun for both of us. I took a few good pics of Em in action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stayed in a hotel Saturday night and it was a nice little adventure for us. We did some shopping and had a dinner and called it a night early. Unfortunately or hotel neighbors were 49er fans and partied late and loud waking us up in the middle of the night. It was extremely rude and selfish of them, not just because it is a HOTEL where people PAY to SLEEP!! but also because we had to be at the venue very early Sunday! At 7 am, we knocked on their door and ran to the elevator as fast as we could. Yep, we really showed them!

After the games and lunch with the team, we went to mass at the cathedral in downtown SJ, it was just a few blocks from the convention center.

 

In the grand scheme of it all, her team finished somewhere in the middle of the rankings. Not bad for their first outing together as a new team. The season goes through May I think, and I'm looking forward to all of it. Volleyball is so much fun. Go Crush!