September 28 - I was trying to take a nice photo of Kayla just because she looked so cute, but she either gave me fake smiles...
...or was being extra silly.
At least Chloe gave me a nice pose. Haha.
Thursday, March 1, 2018
Fall Ball game - 9/24
September 24 - He got hits each time he was at bat, but unfortunately they were also towards first base, so he got out.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Troll hat & drawing
September 18 - Kayla changed her mind a couple times about what she wanted to be for Halloween, but she ended up deciding to be Princess Poppy from the movie Trolls. When I was looking for costumes, I saw some adorable crocheted hats and I decided to try to teach myself to crochet just so I could make one for Kayla. Crazy idea, yes, but it turned out so cute and I discovered a new hobby to enjoy. I had one failed attempt making a beanie, but succeeded on my second attempt here.
This was a drawing Kayla did that day. Pretty good for a three-year-old, right?
JACL
September 17 - Right after Luke's baseball game, we headed out to Manning Park for the JACL picnic. Got there just in time to eat and put raffle tickets in for prizes.
We made it out of there with quite a few raffle prizes, including a See's gift certificate, a box of See's candy, a bag of rice, and a decorate-your-own jewelry box kit for Kayla. She started painting it at the picnic and finished it later that afternoon at home.
Took the annual pictures of the kids on the bench there.
We made it out of there with quite a few raffle prizes, including a See's gift certificate, a box of See's candy, a bag of rice, and a decorate-your-own jewelry box kit for Kayla. She started painting it at the picnic and finished it later that afternoon at home.
Monday, February 26, 2018
Fall Ball game - 9/17
September 17 - This was Luke's second Fall Ball game. I was in Texas when he had his first game.
We had learned that the Goleta Valley South Little League offered Fall Ball and it was open to everyone outside the league's boundaries, so we decided to give it a try. It was good for Luke to keep up and learn more baseball skills in between DPLL's spring baseball seasons. His team was the Pirates and his coach was Garrett, who was one of the assistant coaches from his Mud Cats team.
This was his first time pitching. He did pretty well, striking out a couple kids. He had some wild pitches at times, and he might have hit one batter, but overall I'd say he did a good job.
We had learned that the Goleta Valley South Little League offered Fall Ball and it was open to everyone outside the league's boundaries, so we decided to give it a try. It was good for Luke to keep up and learn more baseball skills in between DPLL's spring baseball seasons. His team was the Pirates and his coach was Garrett, who was one of the assistant coaches from his Mud Cats team.
I was so focused on hoping he'd run faster that I didn't notice his first hit was a foul.
This was his first time pitching. He did pretty well, striking out a couple kids. He had some wild pitches at times, and he might have hit one batter, but overall I'd say he did a good job.
Need to get that boy to run faster! Haha
Josh & trip to Austin, TX
On September 3rd I received the sad news that Vicki's husband, Josh, had passed away. He battled an extremely aggressive form of cancer for five months. When I had first heard the awful news of his diagnosis in April, I was just in shock. They sounded hopeful with his treatment plan and I never imagined that this was going to be the outcome. It felt like we had just seen them get married. It had been two years since we were at their wedding, which really hadn't been that long ago. In part of a very eloquent Facebook post that Vicki worked up the courage to write, she said, "Two years of marriage wasn't enough time." It really wasn't. And it's heartbreaking to see a best friend have to experience the pain she has had to endure. It is truly unfair.
After the funeral date was set, I booked a flight to go to Austin, TX. I was out there from September 8-13, and while I missed my family terribly, I'm glad I was able to be there for Vicki and for Josh's funeral. My parents and Mark's parents all helped with watching the kids and getting them to school and their activities while Mark had to work.
It was actually my first time flying by myself also. My start at the SB airport wasn't the greatest, as I was pulled aside for extra security screening and my flight was delayed at least an hour. The security guy was scrutinizing my carry-on as it went through the x-ray machine, then they pulled it saying they needed to open it to examine the contents. They took my wedge shoes from my suitcase, swabbed them, and said it set off an alarm, so then they had to pat me down. Very annoying and slightly embarrassing. The rest of my trip went smoothly, though, thankfully. I stayed at Vicki's house, along with her parents and her childhood friend, Kailey (who I knew in high school through Vicki).
September 10 - Josh's funeral was on September 9th and the sheer amount of people who attended shows what a great guy he was. We went to Josh's grave a couple other times and we would sit on a blanket and talk about him.
In March-November the largest urban bat colony in the world lives under the South Congress Bridge in Austin – about one and a half million bats. It's a huge attraction there, so we went to go see them. Kailey used to live in Austin so she had already seen them before, but it was the first time for me, Vicki's mom, and Vicki's uncle. The bats come out at dusk every night to eat insects, and there sure are plenty of insects flying around there. I came home with at least 40 mosquito bites!
In one department they have this vending machine where employees can get batteries, phone chargers, headphones, etc. for free.
One by one, all of us who had been staying at Vicki's house left, and I was the last one to leave. I was sad leaving her, especially with an empty house. But she has such wonderful friends out there who were helping her and making sure at least someone visited her everyday, so that made me feel better. I just wish my trip out there hadn't needed to happen under those circumstances.
After the funeral date was set, I booked a flight to go to Austin, TX. I was out there from September 8-13, and while I missed my family terribly, I'm glad I was able to be there for Vicki and for Josh's funeral. My parents and Mark's parents all helped with watching the kids and getting them to school and their activities while Mark had to work.
It was actually my first time flying by myself also. My start at the SB airport wasn't the greatest, as I was pulled aside for extra security screening and my flight was delayed at least an hour. The security guy was scrutinizing my carry-on as it went through the x-ray machine, then they pulled it saying they needed to open it to examine the contents. They took my wedge shoes from my suitcase, swabbed them, and said it set off an alarm, so then they had to pat me down. Very annoying and slightly embarrassing. The rest of my trip went smoothly, though, thankfully. I stayed at Vicki's house, along with her parents and her childhood friend, Kailey (who I knew in high school through Vicki).
September 10 - Josh's funeral was on September 9th and the sheer amount of people who attended shows what a great guy he was. We went to Josh's grave a couple other times and we would sit on a blanket and talk about him.
In March-November the largest urban bat colony in the world lives under the South Congress Bridge in Austin – about one and a half million bats. It's a huge attraction there, so we went to go see them. Kailey used to live in Austin so she had already seen them before, but it was the first time for me, Vicki's mom, and Vicki's uncle. The bats come out at dusk every night to eat insects, and there sure are plenty of insects flying around there. I came home with at least 40 mosquito bites!
After seeing the bats Vicki took us on a tour of Facebook, which was nearby.
I signed the Facebook wall there.
We all took turns taking pictures in the Tiny Office they have set up on one of the floors.
In one department they have this vending machine where employees can get batteries, phone chargers, headphones, etc. for free.
Each conference room, lobby area, inlet, etc. were decorated with different themes which were pretty neat.
One by one, all of us who had been staying at Vicki's house left, and I was the last one to leave. I was sad leaving her, especially with an empty house. But she has such wonderful friends out there who were helping her and making sure at least someone visited her everyday, so that made me feel better. I just wish my trip out there hadn't needed to happen under those circumstances.
Monday, January 15, 2018
Signs
September 5 - I had been wanting to hang all of Luke's signs on the wall in his bedroom and finally got around to doing it. I made templates of each of them and played around with various layouts, then when I thought it looked good, I hung all the signs.
We had also put a desk in his room and got new window treatments.
Sunday, January 14, 2018
Chloe in Kayla's bed
August 30 - "Caught" Chloe in Kayla's crib one day. That was her favorite place to sleep for a while, but hasn't done that for a long time now.
My Gym Mighty Mites
August 29 - Kayla's first day of preschool was also her first day in a "big kid" Mighty Mites class at My Gym, which means she moved up a level to the independent classes where I drop her off instead of participating with her. She was a little confused at first, but was fine with me leaving. I remember the first time I tried dropping off Luke for his first independent My Gym class he cried and wanted me to stay with him. Jen, the owner, encourage me to leave and she called me a few minutes later to tell me he stopped crying and was doing just fine.
She didn't quite understand the instructions of touching the various colors, but it was still cute.
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