Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!! We had Jango-Fett and Hannah Montana hanging out at our house today!! We also had the Fork and her friend the Spoon (pictures later)

Lot's of candy and to many parties!!! What a great day.

Gone Baby Gone

Just a note to say goodbye to the our beloved Porsche 911 Turbo. It was lots of fun and illegally fast. We sold it this week. It was not very practical for carpooling children around or fitting cellos into when it was Phil's turn to drive. I am sure some of his clients thought they were paying him too much as well. So we will be a little more practical and get something a little more respectable next time (maybe). Goodbye baby!!

Sports, Sports and More Sports

Whitney has been busy playing soccer for the Mustangs. She scored three goals on her last game. Defeating her opponents 5-0. She practices twice a week and has a game every Saturday. It is a lot of fun to watch her team play.


Alex plays for the Butterflies. Not a name that strikes fear in her opponent but they sure are cute. Alex scored four goals at her last game. We were surprised that she is actually a pretty good player for her first season. It must be all of those years hanging out at everyone else games has rubbed off.

Mitchell has been having a great Cross Country season so far he won one junior varsity race and is now running varsity at his school. He has continued to do extremely well over the past few races taking 19th in one and helping his team take 6th out of 37 teams at another.

Keith is having a great time playing baseball. He has been doing very well and has been working hard. He has hit several triples and a home run or two.

Kevin has had a fun time playing tackle football. He has long practices four days a week and a game every Saturday. It is a tough sport and his Mom cringes whenever he gets hit. His team is 2-2 for the season. He is having a great time.


Everyone's season ends the end of October and then I can breathe a sigh of relief.

Party of 13

Last night we had a slumber party with 13 ten year old girls for my daughter Whitney's birthday. Call me crazy but we had a lot of fun. We had a "Spa Night". I hired two teenage girls to come and give pedicures to all of the girls. We had areas to do facials, manicures, hand waxing, and make bracelets. Everyone was busy the entire time. They did become a little obsessed with the hand wax and by the end of the night I was scrapping it off the floor. They stayed up half the night watching a movie and eating a ton of junk food. They were all a little groggy this morning but were happy.

BolderBoulder

In an effort to to get back in shape today I ran/walked the BolderBoulder. The BolderBoulder is the second largest 10k in the country. My daughter, Whitney and I went together and it took us about an hour and forty minutes. I know not Olympic time trials by any measure but we did it and had a great time. It was a lot of fun. There were bands set up along the route and it was quite a party atmosphere. My sons Mitchell and Kevin also ran it. Mitch in 51 minutes and Kevin in 66 minutes.
My husband, Phillip, didn't run in it because he tore all of the tendons in his knee a month ago playing "church basketball" and will be having knee surgery at the end of next month. He ended up hanging out at the stadium waiting with Keith and Alexandria. This ended up being lucky for us because he has a handicapped parking pass that allowed him to park at the entrance to the stadium were the race ended. It was nice not having to walk with other 53,000 people back to our vehicle. It was a a great day although we are a little sore this evening.
The best part of today is knowing that I can do this!

Farewell to my brother Chris!

My brother Chris died this past week.

He was only 47 years old. He has had heart problems and scoliosis his entire life. Never has he ever complained about it. When I would ask how he was feeling he would always say "Oh, okay, I just have to pace my self."

He was never able to run when he was younger and when he was older he had to have oxygen all of the time. He never let this stop him. He had a huge network of friends, he loved to bowl, he had a perfect shot at the basketball hoop, He was active in church and worked in a before and after school program for kids. His wife died last year. He has two grown children that he dearly loved.

Tomorrow, I have to speak at his funeral. When I think that I will not see him in this life again it makes me very sad. But I want to be like him. Never complaining about his problems, pacing himself, havinglots of friends and never giving up.

So here is to Chris, the world will miss him, but heaven is glad he is there.

A matter of Interpretation

My 4 year old daughter and her friend were sitting in the back seat on the way to preschool this morning.

We drove under the freeway my daughter said she like tunnels. Her friend said that her dad has lots of tunnels were he works.

She then said "he doesn't work there anymore because the mean people are mean to him and then they threw fire at him" My daughter was a little troubled and so I said " no they fired him" Her friend said "Ya , they fired at him!"

Ben, the miracle dog!

Our dog, Ben, is a black cocker spaniel who is extremely mellow and very calm. He is the opposite of his sister Carmela, who is more outgoing and much braver. Both are sweet and great with our kids.

Back to Ben. A few week agos we went to take the dogs for a walk. When we went to get them out of the sunroom, aka, the dog room, Ben was laying there. When we tried to get him to move we realized that he was paralyzed from the waist on back.  He literally could not move his legs and had no control over his bowels.  

We took him to the Vet. She was as perplexed as us. We were given a few choses. Very expensive MRI and surgery, or a regiment of steriods or put him to sleep.  We could not afford surgery and we didn't want to put him to sleep so we decided to try the steriods, even the the Vet said she would shocked if it worked.

We took Ben home, started him on his steriods and some pain medication, which fortunately knocked him out for a few days. 

It took a week and a half, lots of prayers, sleep and medication but Ben is doing great. He can walk with a small limp and even jump up and run up stairs. We think it is a bit of a miracle and so does are Vet. She was so excited to see him this afternoon. She could not believe how well he responded to treatment. 

Our family is so excited to still have Ben the miracle dog.

Lean Cuisine?????

Today, when I stopped in the grocery store to pick up a few items I noticed that the Lean Cuisines were on sale. 

Being that it is January and my traditional New Years resolution is to lose weight I bought a lot of them.  

When I went through the check out the clerk asked "did you get your ice cream?" I looked at her puzzled and asked "Ice Cream?" She said" Yes, if you buy twelve or more lean cuisines you get two half gallon containers of Dreyer's ice cream for free."  I said " Doesn't that defeat the purpose of eating Lean Cuisine?"

 I think I know how Lean Cuisine stays in business and why I am losing the dieting war. 

 Of course, I got Vanilla Bean and Mint Chocolate Chip for my, after Lean Cuisine dinner, dessert.

Holiday Vacation

We took our five kids, yes, five kids to Disneyland the day after Christmas. Everything was decorated for Christmas and Santa and his reindeer were hanging out for a little post holiday R&R in Frontierland.

We were eating lunch in the picnic area when Santa came up and starting asking us how our holidays were. As we chatted I said "Santa, thanks for all of the great presents this year. The kids really liked what they got."

With that my 4 year old "Princess" in her meanest little voice says "You didn't bring me what I wanted. I wanted a barbie bike and a barbie"

News to us and Santa who gave us the "Good luck with her look." Fortunately, our six year old saved us with "Thanks Santa, I got what I wanted"

That's why he is our favorite at the moment!