13 years old!

We celebrated Drew's 13th birthday yesterday. And in order for him to get his gift, he had to do the following scavenger hunt:

1. A Package that is wrapped and full of water bottles was given to him with the following message inside:


Thirteen years ago a baby was born whose name was Drew.
His family wished for him to live to be an old Geezer.
Soon he became the Head of a Five Cousins Crew.
Now….13 years later if he wants his birthday gift, he needs to go to the …freezer!

2. He needed to look in the big freezer in the garage – there was a package containing the following message:


Solve this puzzle:

I am dark as night.
I am a little better with peas.
I love my “sister”.
Now once you have it figured out…..go to where I sleep.

3. This led him to Ahi’s crate – there wasl a package with the following message:

Let’s see….
It is not a phone
It is not an air soft gun
It is not a pair of boxers….
What could it be?
If you want your birthday gift come with me….

I took him to the next spot, the kitchen and gave him the following instructions:


I couldn’t find your gift at Toys R Us or Sports Authority, so I had to order it online and have it sent to you. Lucky for you, it came today all wrapped with a bow. Go find it.

The final gift was in the mail box – wrapped with a bow.

The last pic is the look on his face when he realized he got the new voyager phone he has been wanting for months!

PS - He is officially 5 feet 8 inches at 13 years old. Four inches taller than his mother!

Merry Xmas

Merry xmas from Santa and the little elf!

Christmas Cards

This is a heads up that you will not be getting a Christmas card from us this year. The reason is two fold:

1. Christmas has lost much of its meaning for me because it has been reduced to tasks. Get one thing done and there is another waiting on the list.
2. The $200 plus dollars that it costs me to send Christmas cards could be used for much better things this season.

So, I am using the extra time that I have that is not spent on doing Christmas cards to play baseball with the kids, to take the kids to the park, to bake cookies, to take the dogs for a walk, to read a book...

The money I save is going to be given to the Second Harvest Food Bank. This is what $200 buys:

20 4-person dinners: a whole chicken, mixed vegetables, stuffing, cranberry sauce
90 1 lb loaves of bread

Please know that we wish you a very happy holiday season and all the best that the new year has to offer. And we hope that next years Christmas season is more hopeful for the world economy.

Happy Holidays!

With All Our Love,
Jim, Chris, Drew, Gracie, Daisy Mae and Ahi Wasabi

It's a dogs life....

I am hoping and praying I come back in my next life as the dog of one of my descendants.....

The Middle Place

This couple minute video clip is worth the time to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4qwVLqt9Q

I have ordered the book. I willlet you know how it is.

Life

I have been pondering a lot about the meaning of life. I know that sounds deep and it really is.

The state of the world is what has me contemplating what is important in life and how to spend more time on the important things and less time on the non-meaningful, non-fulfilling items. More than ever we are all consumed with worry, tasks and negativity. This is all easy to say and easy to ponder about but it is not so easy to do.

I had a moment last nite that was a perfect illustration of the meaning of life.

Last nite was the end of the season party for Drew's soccer team. It was at a local pizza place and was low key. At the end of the evening, Drew's coach, Andy, got up and said something about each of the players.

And what he said was meaningful. REALLY meaningful.

It meaningful to each player because it showed that this coach cared about them and that he noticed when he did things well and not just the things you would think(ie making goals and winning games) - he noticed things like being a good leader, being supportive of team mates, and doing your personal best.

It was meaningful to each parent because it illustrated to each of us that our hard work in raising and guiding these boys is working. And because we realize that in this coach, we have been blessed with an amazing ally in our endeavor of raising our sons.

To this coach this was a season of guiding a team full of boys on their road to being young men. NOT a season of winning games. I thanked him when we left and told him that he has no idea how influential he has been in these boys lives.

Unfortunately, Drew was not at the dinner as he was sick. But the rest of us went and when it was Coach Andy's turn to talk about Drew, he asked Gracie to come up and stand in Drew's place.

Andy then proceeded to talk about what great natural athlete Drew was and how he "makes good decisions, consistently good decisions for a kid his age", and that he knows the game of soccer almost as much as Andy himself. Then he talked about how Drew grew as a leader during the season. Andy spoke of how at the beginning of the season Drew was named the team captain and that he had been hesitant to take that role. He spoke about talking with Drew each game about what to work on in that role for that particular game and that he was proud of the growth Drew had made.

As a parent, I could not have asked for more from a coach - he recognized Drew's natural ability, identified areas of growth opportunity and focused on developing those growth areas. He made a difference in the self esteem, confidence and ability in Drew.

And, as a parent, I could not have been more proud.

So....while I ponder, I am taking the time to recognize these meaningful moments in life and hold onto them for as long as possible. And to feel blessed for those people who come into our life and make a difference.

Dead guy?

Yesterday morning I went out to take the dogs for a quick run before I went to the gym. I decided to take them over to the school and let them run off leash a bit. I sloshed thru the wet grass and headed to the blacktop area. It was darker than dark and I couldn't see very well.

When approaching the building, I looked up and saw Ahi heading over to a form on the ground. I looked closer and it looked like a guy laying in a sheet - on the ground, up against the school building. It was so dark I could not tell if he was alive or dead! But I knew it was not a good situation either way.

I quietly called the dogs and beat it out of there speedy quick!

I went home and called the police to report the situation. I gave them all the details and then went upstairs to tell Jim. While telling the story the police called back and were having trouble locating the guy. I gave them detailed directions, to which they responded - "We got him"!

When I drove by the school about 10 minutes later, no one was there....so he must not have been dead!

It never ends....

Jim came home to a flood in the kitchen last nite! He worked on it for hours and it is still not fixed. We may need to get a whole new faucet.

Reward

A couple weeks ago, my brand new shoes got stolen from the gym! I had only worn them a few times! Boy was I mad. So I went out the next weekend and bought another pair exactly like them. So within 2 weeks I spent $250 on running shoes. I can only hope that the person who stole them needs them really bad.

Bah Humbug

Heads up that I have a bad case of the "Bah Humbugs"! I wouldbe happy if we could fast forward to Dec 26. I hate all the work that xmas entails for ME! Shopping, cooking, planning, wrapping, decorating, etc. I would much rather be out on a bike ride or a hike.

Thankfully my folks gave us a hand me down fake xmas tree that the kids put up one day while I was at work! Then we decorated it yesterday morning and I think it might put me in the xmas spirit a little bit! I really like the fake tree - no needles and no worrying about it drying out. Plus I got a tree scent thingy that goes in the electrical socket from Bath and Body and it smells great in the room!

YUM!

These are my favorite xmas cookies. They are called butterhorns and my family has made them every xmas for as long as I can remember. The dough is made with sour cream, sugar, flour and egg yolk. You roll the dough out like pizza and then sprinkle with a cinnamon, sugar, walnut mixture. Next you cut like a pizza and roll them up like crescent rolls. YUM!

Bedtime

Ahi was looking to go to bed (in our bed) at 6:30 tonite. It had been a long dog day. But no one was going to bed, so she settled for the next best thing....snuggling up to Daisy Mae who was taking a snooze in the family room.

Mystery solved

My keys came up missing while we were at

the cabin this weekend. We searched high and low: under the couch, in the boat, in the garage, etc. We even called the local grocery store and restaurant to see if we had left them here. They did not show up anywhere.

One of our late theories was that they got left on the bumper of the truck when we were packing up and we drove away with them there. Thinking that this was a potential option, we called the front gate to see if anyone had turned in a set of keys. Imagine our surprise when they said "yes - someone turned in a set of Chevy keys!".

We all hopped in the truck to run down and see if they were mine. The pics are what we found. My keys had been run over multiple times! Some of the keys were completely bent in half and some were just mangled.

Mystery solved. Scooby Doo could not have done it better.

Hike

These were the views during our hike in the bear country. Beautiful day in the Sierra's!

Cabin Trip

This weekend was Ahi's first trip to the cabin. She did well on the way up here. We stopped a couple times and she stayed in her crate in the truck.

We have taken her boating, hiking and swimming. She can swim but does not seem to like it. It might be because of the temperature of the water. This pic is after she had gone for a walk in the morning and then a long hike at lunchtime. She looked DEAD! All four legs straight up in the air.

We took her to an area that had a lot of bear activity. We saw a hunter who said she was the perfect bear hunting dog as she could dart in and out of the brush looking for bears! HA! Who would have ever thought the frightened dog we adopted 6 weeks ago could be a "bear dog"!

Learning Disability Simulation

On Monday nite Jim and I went to a learning disability simulation seminar. The purpose is to have the attendees have an experience of what it feels like to have a learning disability of the following kind:

* dyslexia
* hearing
* small motor skills
* attention
* tracking

We did things like:

Trying to read a story that was written with symbols instead of words, trying to write numbers and trace pictures while looking in a mirror, taking spelling tests when you could barely hear the guy saying the words and there was noise in the background, reading a story that was written backwards, so you could not distinguish a "b", from a "d" or "p" from "q" and "g". While you are doing all these exercises there are "teachers" walking around the room talking and saying things like:

* You need to hurry up
* Sound it out
* Don't forget to put your name on the paper
* If you can't get this you will have to stay in at recess
* The bluebird group is moving much faster than your group
* Looks like you need extra help
* Your brother caught onto this way quicker than you

After each exercise we debriefed the experience. Everyone used words like: stressed, overwhelmed, sad, defeated, tense... And after each exercise we felt exhausted and each exercise was only 8 minutes!

Imagine being a kid who has a learning disability and experiencing this ALL DAY in school. It has got to be exhausting.

Gracie came with us and watched the whole event - which was very powerful for her.

We were the only parents in the class -- There was about 40 students from the local colleges that were teaching students and counselling students.

At the end of the session, one of the professors asked Gracie if she would be willing to say a few words about how she has accommodated for the troubles she has. And GOD BLESS her, it was one of my proudest moments as a mom, she spoke loud and clear and told all these people about what she does to deal with dyslexia. It had to be so empowering for her. And I was so proud!!!!

Both Jim and I came away with a better feeling of what she deals with everyday. Although I admitted to her that although it gives me a much better feeling of how she feels, there is no way I will ever know exactly what it is like for her.

She is an amazing kid and part of what makes her amazing is her dyslexia.

Once Upon a Time

The title of this story is.....You Can't Lose a Good Chiweenie

Once a upon a time a Queen went out for her morning run. Since she had a new Chiweenie, she ran laps around the school so that the Chiweenie could be off leash during the exercise session and the Queen could get in a good workout. (Young Chiweenies shouldn't run for 4 miles on a leash). So the queen is running laps, in the dark (its 5:30 am). The Queen's trusty Labrador is by her side the whole run. The Chiweenie was darting in and out of the run. The Queen finished the run and did some lunges and squats. (Note: this is not one of those stories where the queen is a big fat out of shape queen.)

This is when the Queen noticed that the Chiweenie was no longer darting about. In fact, there was NO Chiweenie anywhere to be found!!!

The Queen swore like a sailor.

Then the Queen did laps around the school looking for the Chiweenie and whistling.

No Chiweenie! (Note: The trusty Labrador was secretly doing a happy dance!)

So the Queen decides to run the route she normal takes home from the school hoping the Chiweenie was smart enough to head home. (Note: the Queen quietly notes that the Chiweenie's brain is the size of a pea and it is unlikely that she could find her way out of a paper bag. But there is always hope).

So the Queen and the trusty Labrador run home, whistling the whole way. (Note: not whistling like the 7 Dwarfs, whistling like calling a Chiweenie).

When the Queen got back to her castle, there was NO Chiweenie and the King was in the front window looking out and clearly wondering where his Chiweenie was. When the Queen entered the castle, the King jokingly asked, "Dd you lose my Chiweenie?" To which, the Queen replied, "Yes - she is gone." At first the King could not believe the words of the Queen.

But when the Queen got the keys to her rig and headed out the door to search for the Chiweenie, the King new it was true. The King, being a trusty and helpful King, started to get his bicycle while the Queen jumped in her rig. As the Queen was backing out the rig, the King declared, "There is the Chiweenie!!!"

Across the foggy street, came the Chiweenie, running like a boogie man was chasing her!

The Queen had doubted the Chiweenie could find her way home -- But as a wise man once said, "You can't lose a good Chiweenie"!

OK....the wise man was actually Grandpa Roy and he said, you can't lose a good dog but the morale of the story sounds better as..."You can't lose a good Chiweenie!"

Mothers Day Tea

We went out for our annual mothers day tea today. I know it is a little late, but it is the first time we could all get together. Plus we had the great fortune of my Auntie Potty (AKA Aunt Pat) being in town from Kentucky - so she could attend to! I just love going to tea. It is such a relaxing way to spend a couple hours. And I love being with all the ladies in our family.

Big time wrestling

All in a day at our house! Daisy always wins but Ahi puts up a good fight.

What could have been.

Conversation between Gracie and I:

Grace: "Mom, come here."

Me: "What?"

Grace: "You gotta see this."

I follow her and she points out what I see in these pics.

Grace: "Look at Ahi. She is livin' the dream...."

Sure enough, Ahi is living the Chiweenie dream! I leaned down and told Ahi, "I told you that you had won the doggie jackpot when you came home with us.....if it weren't for us, you'd be deader than a doorknob".

Lucky for Ahi, she doesn't understand what I am saying or it would have ruined her moment of "livin' the dream"!

Trapped!

This happened last week and I almost forgot to blog about it:

I ran out to get a newspaper at about 6:45 am. Ahi heard me grab my keys and came running to go with me. We jump in the truck and off we go. I pull up right in front of the grocery store, hop out of the truck and get a newspaper from the machine. I walk back to the truck - which is running - and try to open the door. Ahi is inside and has pressed the lock button locking herself in the running truck in the emergency lane outside the grocery store!! And my phone is in the truck with her.

Luckily the grocery store was open and I borrowed their phone. Here is the call I made:

Jim: Hello
Chris: Hi! Would you care to run up to the store with my extra set of keys and rescue a very worried chiweenie who has locked herself in my truck that is running????
Jim: ha ha ha ha ha ha.....I will be right there!

That chiweenie cracks us up!

Turkey Trot

I have always wanted to do a "turkey trot", only because the name makes me giggle! Well, I finally got my opportunity. I did the turkey trot yesterday at work and was lucky enough to come in first place. And it was a real win because most of the folks took a short cut and I did the whole route! Lots of drama about the shortcut! The best part is I won a pair of shoes from a local running store.

Girls weekend - Cabin

I went on a girls weekend with 6 girlfriends this last weekend. It was our book club meeting for this month. We covered the book in about 5 minutes while eating lunch on our way up to the cabin. Then it was just all rest and relaxation.

It had to be the best girls weekend of all time. Not because it was wild and crazy but because it was totally restful. I literally did everything I love to do to relax:

* read a whole book (The Honeymoon by James Patterson)
* played games
* hiked
* kayaked
* walked my dog
* ate yummy mexican food

I did not bring Ahi with me. I am sure she was distraught at first but she got over it. When I got home, she was pretty happy to see me. But while I was holding her, she looked down at Daisy Mae and got all fired up! She was even happier to see Daisy!!!

Presidential Dog?

This is one of the dogs that is being hailed as a possible hypo allergenic first dog for the Obama family. It is a Peruvian Hairless Dog. This is exactly what Ahi would look like without hair! She is such a trend setter!

Tug -O- War

The two dogs are getting along well. This weekend they played a rousing game of tug-o-war! Ahi was flung all over the room!

Thank You!

As most of you know, Tina and Marty were our day care providers for 12 years. They recently closed up their daycare business to start a new catering and personal chef business. A few of the families they provided care for started talking about how to thank them....we decided to do a surprise party which occured on Saturday nite. Sixty eight people came - one family came from Colorado - to honor and thank the people who helped raise our kids. This picture shows the kids who came to the party. These kids are lucky to have such wonderful adults in their lives!

Thank you Tina and Marty for helping us raise our kids! We could not have done it without you!

Play by Play

Here are the text messages I got from Jim on Saturday nite while he was watching Gracie's very 1st hockey game. Gracie played goalie on an all girls team and they played against an all boys team. I was at a party.

6:06 - 3 to 3
6:13 - 4 to 3 girls
6:14 - start of 3rd period
6:18 - woo hoo 6 to 3 girls
6:26 - grace making save after save
6:27 - 4 min left
6:27 - Doh 6 to 4
6:30 - shit 6 to 5
6:30 - aaaagh 6 to 6
6:31 - Doh 7 to 6 boys
6:32 - stupid boys

Soccer

We had 6 soccer games and 2 hockey games this weekend! Talk about being overscheduled!

These are some pics from Drew's game this weekend. They played at a local high school on a turf field which is a cool experience for them.

Drew made the only score for his team in this game....and he made it off his face -- not his head -- his face! It rebounded off the goalie and another player then hit him in the face and went in the goal. Way to be in the right spot!!!!

He is the closest one in blue in the pic with the refs, the one on the left in the pic going full speed towards the goal and the one trapping the ball in the last pic.

Soccer Jamboree

Gracie's team had their soccer Jamboree this weekend. Her team game in second place against the very big, very fast, very strong Sharks. They played great and should be very proud.

Dollhouse

Gracie donated her giant wood dollhouse to Amelia and Amelia LOVES it. Here she is putting all her princesses to bed. She particulary likes the benk bed which travels with her most of the places she goes.

She was quite alarmed with the Dad that came with the dollhouse as he only had one arm! Daisy Mae chewed the other arm off! So now the dollhouse only houses princesses.

Pilates

I have been taking Pilates at lunchtime on Wednesdays for about 6 weeks now. I really like it as an addition to my workout. I feel a lot stronger and more toned. Although there are some regulars, most people seem to come and go in the class. I assume that folks don't come back because it is hard work and if you are not in, at least, decent shape, you could be really miserable.

Today there was a lady next to me that I am pretty sure won't be coming back....ever! She moaned thru the whole class! Like she was having a baby! It was so ridiculous that I was almost giggling! She was completely out of her element!

Love...

After spending all day on Sunday with his cousins, Drew proclaimed, out of the blue: "I love Sam and Jack!". Gotta love a teenage boy who can express his emotions.

Pile of cousins....

Sam and Jack were over this weekend and there was a big wrestling match! That is all 4 cousins in that pile! Mimi was home with mommy and daddy.

Assume the position....

Ahi has gotten right into the habit of laying in the window in the sun! Great views of the action in the neighborhood.

Beauty Queen?

Drew said the funniest thing the other day. It made me laugh so hard that I had to share.

He was all in a tizzy about something ridiculous and was starting to take his frustrations out on Grace. He walked by her and pretended to elbow her while she was sitting at the counter peacefully eating her breakfast. I was sitting right across from her, saw it and told him that it was unacceptable and not necessary to do that.

He walked away and denied he had done anything and then started ranting and raving about how we treat Gracie better then him and that we treat her "like a beauty queen"! I almost spit out my breakfast laughing so hard. Gracie started giggling too! Beauty queen?????? Gracie????? Has he never looked at her before????

I looked at Gracie and said, "you could look like a beauty queen if you wanted to but most of the time, we are lucky if you hair is combed and your face is clean!" She laughed and agreed!"

That has got to be the most off base thing Drew has ever come up with.....we treat Gracie like a beauty queen? Yep....that is what we are doing when we tell her not to beat up her brother, knock down her soccer opponents, wrestle with her brothers friends or fall out of trees!

Ahi Baby

Gracie loves having a little dog to carry around. Not sure Ahi likes it so much!

Honestly, I can't believe this is the same dog that would not come out of her crate 2 1/2 weeks ago. She is a lively little bugger who is acting more and more like a puppy.

Carving

The kids carved their pumpkins last nite... They turned out cute!

Friends?

The dogs are getting along well....

The only thing is that Daisy wants to play too rough and it freaks Ahi out!

Cousin Time

Gracie went to the pumpkin patch with her cousins this weekend. Great pics!

Mystery Solved

I went out to the kitchen to warm up tea and I found this....it is Ahi's food bag pulled out of the pantry and ravaged.

Then I looked further and found this....Daisy Mae with a BIG FAT belly ache!

Bad dog!

A day in the front yard

Ahi and Betty had a nice time hanging around in the front yard. Daisy was next door waiting for Toby to come out and play.

A wedding at the Ritz

We went to Jim's cousin's wedding at the Ritz Carlton this weekend. You can put the dorks at the fanciest hotel around.....but you can't make them act like adults!

Asiago Dip

This is a great dip!

1 cup light mayo
½ cup thinly sliced onions (I do not use onions)
1/3 cup grated asiago cheese (can use parmesan but I don’t think it is as good)
¼ cup sliced mushrooms
¼ cup sun dried tomatoes chopped (I use the kind in oil)
1 8-ounce carton of lowfat sour cream

Mix all ingredients. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of asiago over the top and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
Serve with French or sourdough bread squares or crostini.

Is she adjusting?

Here is what the dogs looked like at dinner tonite. Ahi is still adjusting but so far, so good.