NOTHING SAYS RELAXING...

...like a little BBQ on a Friday night, a nice glass of Gnarly Head Old Vine Zin...voted BEST red wine at Steph's Wine Tasting Party by the way.....like a four year old swallowing a FREAKIN MAGNETIX BALL!!! Yeah, that would be Joshy! Just finished dinner, poured a 2nd glass for myself to sit and watch the kids play Big Brain Academy on Wii when the freakout happened!!! It was the weirdest moment....Joshy had this freaked out panicked look on his face and was hysterical crying.....the ball obviously had gone down but he was freaking out that the Dr. would have to "cut his throat with a knife and he was going to die". Thanks goodness for Justin for getting him to calm down while I was on the phone with the Advice Nurse & Poison Control. And, bless Jake's heart he was trying to console Joshy but was more concerned with "how this would affect our trip to Lake Almanor" Oh brotherly love! Anyways, Posion Control said it should pass in 2-4 days, so lucky us, we get to play with poop while on vacation! Fun stuff I tell ya! So, as long as he doesn't have any stomach pains or throwing up he should be fine and it will just pass...thru poop....ick! Those who know Josh though know how OCD he is and I must say how pathetically sad it is hearing him ask me every 2 seconds "I'm not going to die, rigbt, Mommy"?? Poor little buddy!! Hopefully he will learn from this because JOshy is ALWAYS putting things in his mouth....

Stay tuned for all the details of the passing....

And, by the way, did you know that kids HAVE died from swallowing TWO magnetix items....they attach together inside the stomach and can pinch off your intestines and blood flow. The Posion Control guy told me that after he asked me about 25 times if I was absolutely positive he did not swallow two.....maybe these should be recalled?!?!?!

WEST COAST AAU Jr. OLYMPICS

It's been a Basketball weekend! This weekend and the next few days are the West Coast AAU Jr. Olympics. It's been a cool event with many different sporting venues...did you know jump rope was an AAU sport?!?! Double Dutch jump roping event! The boys had three games this weekend and have had a pretty rough start. But, I must say that the teams they are playing have been playing together for a long time, years even and come from big cities where the competition is much more. We shall see what these next two days of games brings them....they are going to have to turn it up a notch!

Justin & Wolfie, Pregame #1 Justin at the freethrow during the first game...
Okay, my camera DOES NOT take good indoor pictures and it's so frustrating! The majority of my pictures these days seem to be indoor! Steph, new camera??

BATTLE OF THE BIG HAIR....IT'S ON!

...HOLY HAIR (and blue eyeshadow) BATMAN!!!....

Steph has inspired me! LOL! I was actually cleaning out closets and came across these pics from 1988 in the closet...

good for a laugh for ya'all today!!

Senior Ball May 1988 ~ Suzie, Trina & Lisa Graduation Day June 1988 ~ Trina, Suzie, Lisa
Hawaii 1988 Graduation Trip ~ Trina & Suzie
Hawaii 1988 with a group of friends

NOW & THEN

Early 2003...the kids going for a ride on Papa's tractor wagon.....
Christian, Jake, Justin, Gunnar, Brittany & Josh in front June 2007...4 1/2 years later.....

NC COUSIN FUN!

As you know from my post a couple days ago my sister Rhonda's kids are here from NC for the summer. The boyus and I took off to my parents for a few days for a little fun with their cousins. Sadly, they don't get to see each other very often but have lots of fun when they do!! Actually, the few days we were there they were all kinda couch potatoes!! They did manage to have some outside fun though!!

Water gun fight....
Brittany, Christian, Gunnar, Justin, Josh & Jake Tree house fun! LOVE the new roof Papa & the kiddos put up (with help from Uncle Pooh & Antonio). The kids love to eat their meals up there!
The Papa & Momo with their grandkids.....

Silliness... And, what do you feed 6 stavings kids?!?! Homemade donuts! My kids FAVORITE "treat"....50 will do....

FATHER'S DAY!

Father's Day ended up being the "best" ever for Joe....he got to relive his youth (ha!) jamming with his "band" with his honey watching, along with his boys! We had a great night hanging out at Greg & Kristine's and meeting the guys and their families! Greg & Kristine were THE hosts with the mosts!! FABULOUS food! I can't even begin to tell you everything Greg made....yeah I know, it's Father's Day what is he doing cooking but he INSISTED!!!...and Krstine made the yummiest apricot desert bites I've ever had! It was a great night and it was fun to meet the other guys ( and their wives and kids) who Joe plays with each week. Huge thanks to G & K for everything!! And, a bonus, we got to see our friends Wendy & Brad, who we have not seen in awhile.

Joe on the Bass and Chris the singer. Chris is a singer for another band who actually records in the studio and plays gigs all over....
Joe and Kyle the Guitar player.... And, the host, chef, fellow landscaper and Drum player Greg.....
And, of course, here's Joshy giving shout out to our hometown....show stealer....
(check out my youtube for a video I took of him, not the best (but you can hear the guys jammin) and unfortunately by the time I got the video going I missed the funniest part) EDIT: THIS IS NOT THE GUYS JAMMIN IN THE BACKGROUND...IT'S JUSTIN PLAYING BASS AND NICK PLAYING DRUMS! WAY TO GO KIDDOS!
The kids playing in the trampoline. The Bass & Guitar player have younger kids but G&K have older kids our kids age....

AND YES, JOE SHAVED OFF HIS GOATEE :-(( ...HE APPARENTLY DID NOT GET THE MEMO FROM THE OTHER COACHES AT JAKE'S LAST BASEBALL GAME SO HE'S MAKING UP FOR IT NOW. AND YES, HE'S GROWING IT BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RELAY FOR LIFE

It was our little towns 3rd annual Relay for Life last night and for the 2nd year in a row we went out in honor of friends and family who have lost their lives to Cancer and the Cancer Survivors. As you may remember from last year Jake tagged along with me and loved it so much that he has been looking forward to it again this year. This year Joshy wanted to go too and after trying for two hours while we were wlaking to explain what we were doing and why I gave up...as most of you can imagine....The boys did awesome and after 1 hour and 50 minutes of NO complaints from Joshy and constant walking he just so non chalantly said he was done and went and sat down! The boys did great and in the end Joshy had 18 paperclips, which translates to 18 laps around the track which equals 4 and 1/2 miles!! What a trooper! Jake & I finished off 2 more laps to make it an even 5 miles. Thanks Alisa for asking us to participate again with the Powerful Pink People! It is such an awesome experience and I love to be a part of it every year!!!

ICE SKATING!

Jake's little friend had his birthday party at the ice rink yesterday and what a hoot it was! Most of the kiddos had never been ice skating and it was so funny watching them out there! Jake loved it and can't wait to go back! Towards the end the boys were getting the hang of it and doing pretty good!

Look Mom, no hands!!
Jake & Jay hanging on for dear life.... Even when he was down, which was quite a bit ;-)), he was smiling and having fun!!!
And, he's down again.....

SLEEPYHEAD JOSH

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Happy Father's Day all you Dads out there!

Happy Father's Day first of all to my three boys Dad, who they think he is THE BEST Dad ever! Joe is an awesome Dad, and other than a lack of patience at times, he is a great Dad! He is always very involved in what the kids are doing and does everything he can to not miss any school functions, games or whatever it may be. He loves to take them doing "guy" stuff and now that they boys are getting older they have so much fun doing just that...guy stuff...golfing, fishing, camping, playing guitar, you name it! So, from all of us HAPPY FATHER'S DAY Dadoooo...

Happy Father's Day to my Dad David and Joe's Dad Jerry. We hope you both have a great day and we will see you both soon!

And, of course all of our Brothers, Brothers-in-Law, Uncles, Cousins and all of our friends...Happy Father's Day to you too and hope you all are doing exactly what you want to be doing today!!

BASEBALL HAS COME TO AND END

Another season of Baseball has come and gone! Jake had his last game last night and party afterwards! We ended off the seadon with the hottest day of the year and cut the game short!! It was a great season and huge THANKS to Jimmy, Dean, Joe, Scott and all the other Dads who helped out this year!!! The kids all had a great time and all improved so much this year!

Jake as catcher...he looks like a natural! Though, he was dripping in sweat from all the gear!!
Dadooo being a goob...
At bat...I was hoping to see him crush it one more time this season but he ended off with 3 line drives between 1st & 2nd....good job Jakey!!

Playing 1st base...can you tell by his body language how HOT he is?!?!?!
One final cheer for the Singel A Cardinals....
Now, onto the good stuff! Free reign at the ice cream counter! For those of you locals who have not been into Sweets you should try it!
Jake receiving his certificate. Trophies will be not be given out until tonight so thanks Vicki for the Certificates for the boys! I think this is the first year Jake didn't get the award for "Most handsome because he resembles the Coach" award. aaawwww...missing Keegan & Adam! Great season boys & thanks again Coaches!!


PARTY CRASHERS.....

AS STEPH WOULD SAY....

....THE APPLES DON'T FALL FAR FROM THE TREE

Joshy LOVES to sleep in Daddy's work shirts (not that he wears this to work...) and of all the shirts in his closet he always wants to wear this one!!! Where the heck did this shirt come from and did someone actually pay money for it?? Papa?!?!? Then he walks around with his little 'tude over and over saying "Beer is Life, Beer is Life, Beer is Life"....strange little child!!!

SLEEPYHEAD BROTHERS!

Brothers are thrashed!!! The kids have been non stop lately and it all caught up with them today! They have both been sacked on the couch for several hours now!! Precious little pumpkins!

Sleepyhead Justin.... Sleepyhead Jake....

SAN FRANCISCO DAYS, SAN FRANCISCO NIGHTS!

SAN FRANCISCO DAYS....

It was a beutiful day in SF, a bit chilly, but a great day overall! We decided to take a ride on the Cable Cars and check out Pier 39 & Fisherman's Wharf. It had been YEARS since we went to SF and just did the touristy thing. Joshy was not thrilled about getting on the Cable Cars, but once he did he loved it. Jake on the other hand freaked out the whole time! He was a nervous wreck, especially on our way back and I had to stand off the side of the car!!

SAN FRANCISCO NIGHTS....

All along the kids thought we were just going with Momo to "an appointment" in San Francisco. They had no idea what we were doing, and even when we got to the Airport they just thought we were picking up Momo's friend. So, after a 2 hour delayed flight and missed connection from Atlanta to Sf they kids FINALLY arrived after 12:30 at night!! My kiddos were actually very good at the Airport, and thank goodness for the AirTrain that we just kept riding around the in circles all night! By midnight they were exhausted and ready to go!

But, it was all worth it when they saw their cousins walking up the runway with Momo!! Finally, they are here to spend the summer with Papa & Momo!! I can't believe how big they have gotten!!

Josh, Justin, Brittany, Christian, Gunnar & Jake

SLEEPYHEAD JOSH

DRAGONS TOURNAMENT

WOW! What a great weekend for Basketball! Justin had a Dragons Tournament this past weekend at Basketball Town. All 3 games were so exciting and the 3rd game was the most exciting and intense yet! The boys did an awesome job and should've taken 1st place but came in 2nd. They actually beat the undefeated team making a tie for 1st but because of the scoring difference they took 2nd int he tournament. But, they are 1st in our book!

Game #1....Dragons 27 / Lazers 30
Game #2...Dragons 53 / Spirit Got Game 18
Game #3...Dragons 33 / Ballers Blue 31

Justin #10 in action....
Justin #10 & Wolfie #35....
Celebrating after Day #1.....great group of boys! Watch out CAJ!!

Getting ready to rumble...Game #3, beating the undefeated Ballers Blue (who the heck named this team?!?!?!)