This week....

Ok, this post is picture less... but I still wanted to share.

We have had the most beautiful weather the past couple of days. The boys & I went out tonight to watch their friends Josh & Justin play baseball. It was the perfect night for it!

This week has been a big one for us. Our company lost our biggest client to a merger and that created some stress. We were worried about the loss of the client and what that would do to our finances.. We have known about the merger for 9 months and I have apparently been stressed out the entire time by it -even though I didn't think so. Well the big day has come and went. They had to pay off our contract, which in the end is the best thing that could have happened to us. Yes, we lose the income monthly .. but I gain back time. I was spending aobut 42 hours a week on that account, now I am down to a manageable 10 hours a week for the other clients we have. I am looking forward to the scaled back scheduled and realize now it is for the best....

Steven starts baseball games on Friday --can't wait! I will have pictures of that! Jackson is still loving karate. Both boys are saying they want to quit Scouts..I am hoping they change their minds.....We are in full fundraising mode... Steven has magazines for school, popcorn for scouts and Jack has a catalog fundraiser --all concurrently! Yikes... don't they plan this stuff out?

Oh well, guess I have to go.. but I hope you are having a great week!

Karate

Today was Jackson's second karate class. He is a student of Japanese karate. Here are some pictures from his class today. He was focused and worked very hard to get the right movements at the right times. It is something he seems passionate about -he was excited to go and got dressed in his Gi right away. There was no cries of "I'm tired" or "I want to stay home" which we hear with many sports he has tried. I am excited to watch his progression and love of karate grow.

He has already learned to bow when entering and leaving the dojo. He learned blocks and punches. I had to leave to go to a meeting .. so I am anxious to hear how the end of class was for him. Grandma brought him home and has taken his Gi to sew the patch on and shorten the pants...

Next class... Wednesday.

Friends, Baseball and Fun

Jonathan took Steven and his best friend Josh to a Giants game Saturday. It was partly for Steven's birthday and it was fun for them to
go together. They had a good time, even though the Giants lost. We are Giants fan's but Josh is a Dodger fan... and the Dodger's won. Notice that Josh is not wearing any Dodger apparel --it was part of the deal. The rivalry between the 2 teams is BIG
and we didn't want any trouble. Better safe than sorry, you know. Anyway they were in the bleachers and didn't get any foul balls . This was taken before they left.. see Steven's new glove --super exciting.

Cousins......and SPEAKERPHONE???

I love that Jack & Logan are close friends. They have fun playing almost everything together still... at age 8.


I looked over on Saturday and Jack was on the laptop -but he was talking.. I said "what?" he said "no Mom, I am talking to Logan" then I heard Logan --see the phone sitting there? They were playing a online computer game on speakerphone --for an hour and 2 minutes. It cracked me up. In fact, I didn't even know my phone did speakerphone, Jack figured it out!





This picture was taken the other day when Logan was over --they were just hanging out ... and having a great time.

15 years.....

Sometimes it is hard to remember I have been married for 15 years! I wake up still feeling like a kid, but wait -15 years have gone by. Jackson took this picture before we went out to dinner... I was off-loading his pictures and found it so I wanted to share. Looking at this picture I am in awe of how much I love my husband. More.now.than.ever. There were many who said we got married too quick, too young... but for us it worked. Only 5 more years and I will have been married half my life! I couldn't ask for more.

Family Dinner for Steven's Birthday

Well he's almost 11. We had dinner to celebrate his upcoming birthday last night. In attendance were the Begley's (Brian, Cyn, Ciera and Logan), Grandma and Papa, Aunt Marisa and Iain and Grandma Pat. Steven was happy to have everyone over, even if he had to help clean up the house beforehand....

We had a dinner of Steven's choosing: hot dogs with buns, mac & cheese and a Sam's Club veggie tray. Everyone seemed happy with his choice. For desert we made our own ice cream sandwiches from brownies or chocolate chip cookies and vanilla caramel or cookies and cream ice cream. If you haven't heard of it --Pampered Chef makes a great ice cream sandwich maker -- http://pamperedchef.com/our_products/catalog/product.jsp?productId=10441&categoryCode=BK.

He got a bunch of great presents .. a new baseball glove, cash, movie tickets, a game for his ds, high school musical 2 board game, and an action replay for his ds. After opening the action replay --he immediately grabbed Logan for a hug (see blurry picture) which I was lucky enough to catch on film --the joy comes thru! He really wanted that!

Steven has grown up so much in the last few months... it is hard to believe he is 11.

Weird Al --the boys first concert ever - at the State Fair!

Our day at the fair didn't end until late in the night. We left at 10 p.m. after 12 long hours. It was well worth it. We saw Weird Al in concert from 7:30-10.. the show rocked! Lots of songs we knew. Some songs we didn't know. The boys first live music concert. They loved it! It was dark so the pictures aren't great -but I wanted to share the looks on their faces --priceless to me.

Pictures from our day at the Fair!

Oh.. the difference in their personalities shines thru...

Should we, or shouldn't we???? that is the question...

waiting in line in the hot afternoon sun....

holding the chinchilla ! Steven waited in line almost 20 minutes for the opportunity to pet this one. He was excited when the worker saw me taking the photo and said "hold on, let's pose them" Big smiles for that one...

California State Fair 2007!

On Labor Day we went to the Fair! We spent the whole day there... arriving right after opening at 10:11 a.m. It was set to be a cooler day then earlier in the week --only in the high 90's! (but hey, that is better than 105).

As we were getting out of the car a gentleman approached and gave us 2 tickets to get in --saying he wasn't going to use them! That was $24 in savings!! Since I procrastinated and didn't order the Poppy Pack (where you get parking, 4 tickets, food coupons and monorail passes all for $25) tickets were $6 for the kids and $12 for adults. So the savings was great and unexpected after the $8 parking fee.


We got the kids unlimited wristbands for rides ... so we spent the first 2 hours riding rides... then off to see the animals, exhibits and things at the fair. By mid day we sat down by the fountain to dip our feet in the water... ahhhh, heavenly! Then back to the rides again.

We spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find the Alhambra water booth. We went into a Rainforest display and out a different exit than we came in.. so we missed the water booth. Imagine, a booth full of cold water coolers--where they let you re-fill your water bottles on a hot, hot, humid day... we needed to find the booth -and we finally did! Free water ... what could be better.

The fair was amazing --we were all together all day, talking, laughing and having a great time. If I could have one wish -it would be for more days like that.