So.. I am sitting here watching out the window...

waiting for my eldest to come home! Steven is at his first paying job! He is babysitting tonight! He was mostly excited, but disappointed to be gone during the Camp Rock sing-a-long. We are tivo-ing it watch when he gets home. He is babysitting for my friend, her son is 6. Her daughter is out of town with her grandparents... so just the one kiddo... I can hardly believe my baby is old enough to babysit?


Edit by Steven:
I had a great time babysitting. Jacob and I played Lego Indiana Jones on the Wii. Another awesome thing is I got $20. WOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love babysitting

Sleepovers...

Well it's Thursday again! My mom & I had book club tonight and then she came and took the boys home with her.
Logan decided to join in the fun and he was dropped off a bit earlier tonight. I wanted to capture this image of them, backpacks
on, ready to go... don't they look excited? If not, it's because I was taking a picture, not because of the sleepover I am sure.

Well I am off to finish my homework for my Healthy Ways class ... gotta be there bright & early in the morning........

Frozen pizza just isn't worth it....Update

Steven was making frozen pizza for he & Jack for lunch. When it was time to take it out -they tried each grabbing one side with a potholder. Their co-ordinated effort failed and Steven got burnt trying to stop the cookie sheet from falling. It is right in between his fingers and looks like it hurts ! So he is soaking it in water right now to stop the pain and then we'll wrap it. Jack is trying to help him...clearing his plate, getting his water bowl downstairs and getting a stool to put the bowl on while he lays on the couch. He feels bad that Steven is hurt and is really doing his best to be helpful.

That's it for now --I have to go watch The Mole with them now.

So Steven had read and approved this message.. He wanted to add that it hurt REALLY, REALLY bad for about 2 hours... but now it's ok. Still hurts to touch, but not intense pain like before. He also wanted me to add this close up......

Smoke......

So I posted this morning that we had to stay inside yesterday -today was another day of it. We actually had ash blowing in our air for a while this morning.... Steven's baseball practice was cancelled for tonight (which is good since I wouldn't have let him go)....still no pool or outside activities for us. Today the boys went to the movies with Grandma & Papa to see Shrek 3... then home and they played video games together most of the day. They like playing MVP Baseball on the Playstation and making their seasons against each other. Jack took a few breaks to read and play quietly upstairs....then he went to play at a friends for a while. Of course now he & Mikey (the friend) are back over here for a sleepover....and they are all playing the video game now.

So I thought I would go outside and see if I could get the smoke to show up in a picture. The first picture is from my driveway with the sun behind me --so it is still somewhat "bright" looking. The next is looking up without the sun behind me -more a true picture of what the sky looks like --white.-gray.. no blue, just gray-white as far as the eyes can see.

Here's hoping for better air tomorrow!


Here is what the local paper said:
Smoke from a large wildfire northwest of Fairfield and other blazes around Northern California continued to choke the skies around Sacramento on Monday, leading authorities to remind those with asthma and other respiratory problems to avoid the outdoors if possible.
The smoke was the result of scores of separate wildfires -- more than 800 as of Monday -- that flared over the weekend across the heart of wine country and remote forests. Many of the blazes were sparked by lightning.

Family Movie Night...The Karate Kid

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So last night we had family movie night. I couldn't resist the urge to snap this photo as the movie was starting. We watched The Karate Kid with Ralph Macchio.... I forgot how much I laughed during that movie! It was truly funny when he had him washing the car, painting the fence, painting the house, sanding the floor -the kids wondered (out loud) over and over again what that had to do with Karate?

It was a nice way to end the day... we had to stay inside due to the smoke in the air from all the fires.... so no pool, no basketball, no bike rides.. nothing for us. Jack did go to karate and he is doing well with his kata. We picked up a new gi as his has gotten so small....

I guess that's really all for now! Have a happy day!

Wht a difference 5 years makes... where did the time go?

Boys 8-2003

3-2003

3-2008


I was looking back at pictures today and came upon these... I can't believe how much they've grown and changed. Not just physically, but individually and as brothers. After 2003 there was quite a while where their interests just didn't match. Jack wanted to do everything his big brother did... Steven wanted Jack to just back off. Now we are back to where we were --they play together almost all the time, they choose to spend time together (most of the time) they have similar interests.... I see now it is a big circle and we've come around... for now. I am sure we are about to hit another trip around .. but for now I will just enjoy it.

I also was struck by how much I liked having ALL my photo's from those years right here. Of course they are backed up in case of computer malfunction.. but I am spoiled now by digital camera technology. I wish all my photo's from before 2002 were there too -but they are still in negative format in boxes... so happy for the move forward in technology!

Hope you are all having a relaxing weekend... we are.
S

Family thoughts

Today we went to see Ciera play softball. It is so different than baseball and I am still
learning the nuances of the game. I love to watch her play. She is so full of energy and
focus, with a touch of her father's nervous energy thrown in. You can see her love of the
game in every throw of the ball.... her heart is really into it...and it shows.


So I wanted to write about family and that was the perfect lead in. You don't get to choose them. You get what you get... right? Some of us just get lucky. I am amazed sometimes is the pull I feel towards both her and Logan. They tend to be shy at first and warms up over longer periods of time. Unfortunately we don't get to spend those long periods of time together very often ... not like when the kids were young. Now all 4 of them have their own friends, sports, school... lot's of things to keep them busy. It's just not as easy as it was and I miss that.

I miss the days of weekly family dinners. Just hanging out, being a part of each other's lives. I enjoyed that feeling of closeness and knowing that I would see everybody that day and relief of the pressure of "keeping in touch."

Keeping in touch......How do you know how close is too close? How do you know how often to call or even what to say? Knowing everyone has things to do and not alot of time... what is the right amount of contact? Where does it cross the line into "being nosy" to ask questions. How much should you volunteer and what do you wait to be asked.

Growing up we lived a long away from our families... most of the relatives being in the North East and us in Germany, the South and eventually California. It was a unique bond (I think) we formed with our aunts, uncles and cousins... one based on almost yearly visits ...yet when we were together -you knew everyone and felt comfortable. It was a relaxed, joyful time when we were together (speaking from a kids perspective). There were updates when we were apart ...Mom would tell me what she heard from Gram or her siblings... but I didn't speak to my cousins between visits.. yet I always felt welcomed and part of the group when I got there. It is a tradition that carries into today, only now my Mom is the source... and although I try to be better with contact (and blog posts) nowadays. Our web with each other was drawn thru Gram ... our mothers told her, she told them and everyone knew what was going on. Now my mom keeps my kids filled in on what she knows of the cousins their age.... a cycle that doesn't seem to end.

I guess that colored my way of thinking. I see family as an absolute. Always there. Happy to see you when they see you... aware of you when they don't. Loving you either way. I take that into my life as an adult. I feel that connection with some friends and family.

Jonathan's sisters and their families are in Colorado and we haven't seen them in 2 years. We miss them. We think about them. We talk about them. We wonder what happens in their daily and weekly lives -how are their days different from ours? Are they playing sports? Do they have a hobby they are passionate about? Do they know we think about them and we care as much as we do. The answer, sadly, is probably not. We need to do more to keep the contact going...

Not everyone has the same view of family and connections that I do. It makes me sad to think that they may not know how much we care. That not every family functions the way mine did. See that is what I didn't realize until recently --there are lots of people out there who feel let down by their families and don't communicate it -they just let it go and eventually there is no communication at all. Then what do you do? No one wants to make the first move --so time passes. As time passes, people grow apart, they no longer feel that connection and then what? Where do you go from there? Before you know it -nobody knows anything about anyone and is afraid to ask.

I wonder how my life and iteractions would be different if we had email growing up? Myspace and Facebook? All those friends from summer camp -might still know them. Friends from different bases... could still be in contact. The kids from Lowell -I have found a few and a few have found me. It's a start. The world has changed so much in such a short span of time.. my kids have so many options for "keeping in touch" and I hope that I can encourage them to put that technology to good use. We can now send letters, thank you's and thoughts with the touch of a button -yet our communication with other's seems to be at an all time low.

So I have set another goal..... I am going to make an effort to email someone every week that I haven't talked to in a while. To stay in touch...I may even have to use the telephone..there's a thought....

As promised... green smoothies.

Our new favorite treat ... green smoothies. The boys LOVE them. They want one everyday and with 2 servings of fruit and 2 servings of veggies in the 15 oz size .. why not incorporate the health with a milkshake taste. Ours are actually healthy -or so my dietician says! I got the recipe from a friend online and we gave it a try...

the recipe....

1/2 cup ice
1/2 cup water
1/4 OJ (we use pine-orange-banana juice)
1/2 banana
2 cups spinach
any other serving of fruit you want

Blend on liquify. You can also add protein powder or flaxseed and you won't taste it.

The smoothies above is the recipe doubled -feeds all 3 of us! Todays smoothie was peach (with skins on) banana. Jack's favorite smoothie is peach bannana blueberry and Steven's is strawberry bannana.

Steven says (and I quote) "they look really gross, but the look isn't the same as the flavor. they rock!"
Jackson says (also a direct quote) "they're good. They look disgusting, but are very, very, very yummy."

So try one and let us know what you think!