Christmas 2008

Christmas day went off without a hitch. My kids are not early risers so I woke them up about 9:00 am, opened some presents and had a nice brunch. Seems as though everyone got what they wanted. Ian a much need new snowboard, Evan a Ipod Nano (I washed his shuffle), Wayne a gift certificate for a massage and I some beautiful earrings. After a very relaxing morning, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house about 1:30 and didn't even start opening presents there until about 3:00. It's sort of nice that the kids are older and it's not all about the opening gifts. We enjoyed each others company , as we usually do. Ate so many appetizers that we opted not to eat dinner and played games the rest of the night. The hit presents was the Wii fit a gift from uncle Mike to everyone. (Last year he bought the Wii) Seeing everyone Hula Hoop! You had to be there. I'd like to point out my Wii age is 36! Not too bad. :)
New Years Eve is also Grandmas birthday and everyone will be coming over here to celebrate! Party hats and all.
Here's wishing you all a new year filled with peace, hope and love. We're all in this together!

Christmas EveTradition

It's become a Christmas tradition for us to have Crab Chippino on Christmas Eve. Evan took these pictures this morning at the harbor while buying the crab from the fisherman. Later we'll take them to grandma's house and she'll work her magic to come up with the best dinner, Chippino and sour dough bread. Yum. Happy Christmas Eve!

Hamburger Virgin

How ever stupid the commercial is, the conversation that perused between 10 year old E--- and me was hilarious. If you haven't seen the commercial it basically portraits a "person" who supposedly has never eaten a hamburger before. A "hamburger virgin". He/she tries a Whopper from BK and than a McSomething and then chooses the Whopper as the best tasting hamburger. Whatever!
So here is the conversation:

E: Oh, I thought that (a virgin) was someone who didn't eat meat?

Me: No.....That's a vegetarian.

E: Oh, Than its the kind of person that doesn't eat any type of animal at all?

Me: No.....That's a Vegan.

E: Huh, Than whats a virgin?

Me: A person who's never tried a hamburger?

Crazy Cat

This is our Puddin'. Otherwise known as Puddin' head, Puddin' tater, Puddin' cake, Puddin' Puddin', Sweet pea,Sweet potato, Sweet puddin'. Her collar says "kitten". And just as you would expect form a cat, she answers to none of them.

Cruise Quotes & Highlights

Quote from Evan, "I don't think I'll go on another cruise"
Quote from Ian,"When are we going on another cruise?"
Quote from Jill, " I'm not planning on going on another cruise"
Quote from Wayne, "Ian and I will go again"

Highlights from the trip include:
2 for 1 Margarita's
Good friends
Kids running crazy (sometimes all night)
Laughing, a lot

Lucky Wayne

I know your thinking...Huh, I don't see Wayne in the picture anywhere. So what makes him so lucky? It's an inside joke with all of his friends, they call him the luckiest person they know. It's hard to deny after all he has me and I haven't killed him yet. That's pretty lucky! He also has two fantastic boys, friends and family that would do anything for him, a beautilful house, And a collection of cars that even Jay Leno would envy. Anyway, he's been on a roll lately winning concert tickets from KFOG our favorite station, earlier this year he won Bruce Springsteen tickets and a cd collection. Some lucky friend of Wayne's went to see him as we didn't want to go. He also just won Loudon Wainwright tickets for this January at the Great American Music Hall SF (we're going to that one) and of course the Alanis Morrestte tickets that My sister and I just enjoyed. So I guess I'm pretty lucky too. I did once win a Disneyland trip. But the Alanis story is pretty funny. See Wayne didn't win the meet and greet tickets, just regular seats. But when we came in the beautiful Oakland Paramount theater we saw the KFOG table set up and I went up to say HI and thank them for the tickets. She asked me If I was there for the meet and greet and I said....No:( but she looked at the list and one couple hadn't come yet. So after sometime, I think an hour, the Warner Bros. guys came out gave some really lame rules "don't do this" "don't say that" Then he started passing out the back stage passes and there you have it. So whether you call it luck or Persistence, I think we both have it. Keep dialing babe!

November

Yes, November.......it's been a relatively busy month despite my neglectful blogging. I'm having somewhat of a mental block or should I say mental breakdown this month. See we're scheduled to go on a cruise a week from today. And I'm hyper focused on it. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get Noro virus (cruis ship virus) or sea sick or hate the food or feel trapped. I know! I'm completely NUTS! I'll probably have a great time. The best part of the trip is we're going to have a visit with our friends the Scarboroughs who moved to San Jose Del Cabo a couple of years ago. I can't wait to see them.
I'll post the picture we gave to them when they were moving. Did I mention how excited I am to see them? Maybe I can stay with them and catch the ship on the way back.

Kuk Sool Won Tournament

On Saturday we all went to Oakland for Evan's very first competition in Kuk Sool Won. Even Grandma Di and Bert came (see picture). There is alot I could say about the 12+ hours that we spent in a crowded collage gymnasium but I think I'll just keep it positive and mention that Evan did very good. Despite his having to wait 2 1/4 hours for his turn to compete, he got a silver medal in techniques, a signature from The Grand Master and got to see some of the best in his sport do a demonstration. And made a new friend as well. Truth be told, Evan held up better than I did!

4-H Halloween Party

Where else would you find this costume
but at a 4-H Halloween party ! LOL!
That is Evan in the background.

Christmas Lists

You know all those times throughout the year when your kids come up to you saying "That's cool, I wish I had that" or "Oh, I'd like one of those" my standard response is always "put it on your Christmas list" or if it's close to a birthday than.... well, you get it. So my little angles came up with these the other night. Ian's is ALL motorcycle and snowboarding related stuff. Evan's is really cute, If you can't read it. It says: Soda Machine, Phone, Ipod Dock, Shark Tooth, Watch, Axe (that smelly drug store stuff), Slot Machine and A Surprise. On the bottom it says Thank You. Be careful what you wish for. :)
In other news, Sometimes I feel like the last one to find things out. I was watching the news this morning and they were talking about how prescriptions prices can very from pharmacy to pharmacy. Who knew! (Obviously the guy on the news who wrote the book about it) Anyway, I just paid $184.75 for a 60 tabs of a generic Rx at Longs Drugs only to look online at Costco and find out its $164.00 for 100 tabs. Knowledge is power!! And $20.00 is $20.00!

88 Days

This morning during the hustle and bustle of making breakfast, packing lunches, finding homework and shoes, Evan yells to me from upstairs "Only 88 days until..." Well naturally I thought he was going to say Christmas since he spent the morning looking at the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog that arrived at our house via our friends Mike and Lynn (thanks guys) until I heard him say "Bush is out of office" He was referring to the Bush countdown clock that he got for his birthday back in March. Something I had completely forgotten about. Way to make your mom laugh in the morning, Thanks Evan!

Pumpkin Festival and Friends

Pumpkin Festival in all it's glory brought sun, fun, food and friends and ended with cold and exhaustion. I loved it all.

Card Sharks

This has become a nightly affair, playing Blackjack. I don't know who likes it more Wayne or the boys. It probably depends on who's winning. :)
I didn't feel like cooking tonight so Evan had left overs and Ian, Wayne and I split a $6.00 chicken burrito from down the street. Usually Ian will eat a whole burrito himself but they were at Grandma and Grandpa's after school today and grandpa always makes them ramen noodles so neither of them were very hungry. Tomorrow.....turkey meatloaf.

And the winner is........

Thad Starr of Pleasant Hill, Oregon. His pumpkin was 1528 lbs. as you can see from the above picture with Ian and Evan, It's BIG! Thad also won last year his pumpkin weighed 1524lbs. The picture of the pumpkin with Ian and Evan is a couple of posts back"Pumpkin time in HMB". I think he has it down to a science.
It's another beautiful day here in Half Moon Bay. Of course this is our Indian summer. People were walking on the path today in tank tops and shorts. I think my car said it was 68 degrees when I picked up the boys from school.
Still waiting on Ian's historical figure grade and he's now working on science fair. I'm not thrilled with his choice of projects, something about motorcycles and engines. Sounds like dad will be helping with this one!

Ian as Ben

On Tuesday Ian spent the whole school day dressed as Ben Franklin. He had to do an interactive oral presentation for his class. I haven't seen his grade yet but his presentation was highly critiqued during dinner with the family. Advice was flowing as freely as the wine. LOL Ian's comment about his look was "Hey! I look like uncle David!"

The first Cunha school dance is tonight. As part of Ian's leadership class, he is responsible for choosing the theme and decorating for the dance. I think it's "Fright Night" tonight. Ohooooo Evan is spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Pumpkin time in HMB

Anyone who lives in Half Moon Bay or has ever lived here knows that October is crazy with orange. Pumpkins, lots and lots of pumpkins. We (who live here)become hostages to all of the pumpkin patches, hay and corn mazes. Traffic on the weekends becomes unbearable and yet the whole thing is contagious. October is fun! It brings in the end of summer and the beginning of fall, my favorite time of year. At the Pumpkin festival this year we'll be selling 4-H pumpkin rolls and riding on floats in the parade and eating dinner with our good, good friends. What could be better!

Moin Pen Tournament

The final the Moin Pen tournament at Kuk Sool Won was yesterday. Evan's team competed against 4 other teams and came in second. Again. (It was a different team before)He really wanted to win. I'm not into competition and sometimes have a hard time relating to sports and why people do them, but I really got this. Evan took it very seriously and really worked hard and actually won his portion of the event. But it's scored on an over all basis. So over all his team came in second. There's alot of stratagy that goes along with Moin Pen and team work. It also renforces what they've been learning in Kuk Sool Won. All of the forms, kicking, breaking and most of all respect and self-control. Yea Evan! I can't wait for the next time you do Moin Pen.

LPGA in HMB

What? That's right. The LPGA's top female golfers are playing the Ocean Course at the Half Moon Bay golf links. I tried to volunteer through the sponsor Samsung. Mostly because I'm always up for something different and the perks were pretty good. Of course you had to pay $40.00 and commit to 3 days. LOL But it sounded fun and it came w/ a 5 day guess pass which my dad(pictured above) could have used. By the time I called, all of the positions were filled except one. That was to work directly with NBC news by walking all 18 holes, all 5 days with a reporter and confirm the player, strokes, the hole etc. When I heard that I asked the lady if she though it would be helpful to know anything about golf or the golfers. There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. Need less to say, I'm not volunteering at the Samsung LPGA golf tournament this week.
In other news, It's a good thing (note the sarcasm)that I filled up yesterday at $4.37 per gl. because today it was only $3.79! What up with that? I always try to get gas in the beginning or the middle of the week because it seems like by Thursday/ Friday the prices are higher. Just goes to show, you can't count on anything right now. I feel like I want to take a 2 year vacation. Or at least fast forward to November 5th. I hate all this political stuff. I'm skeptical at best about both party's and both candidates.
Pictures: May 3, 2006
Ray (my dad) and David(my Brother) playing the Ocean Course

Walking with a purpose

Today I did my first breast cancer walk. I choose this one because it seems pretty low key. I know the woman who puts it on and it was just a one day 12 mile walk in a area that I haven't been to before and wanted to go. It had a small registration fee and you could ask for donations or not. I had W.Impink Builders donate (a no brainer). Anyway, I knew there weren't going to be very many people because the organizer told me that, but I'm pretty sure Cheryl and I were the only ones to walk! We set out ahead of everyone on the advise of "the orginizer" and although we didn't expect to have anyone pass us going out, we certainly expected to pass some of them on the trail coming back. We didn't see a sole. Not only that but when we got back to the starting area there was no one in sight! No congratulations you finished, No Thanks for coming out to support us, No balance bars or water. Nothing, nata, nilch Nothing Nobody. But I didn't matter one bit. We had a great time, a great walk and ended with a good feeling of accomplishment anyway.

Big day yesterday

Yesterday was a big day for Ian. He got his braces off! I was looking at the before and after pictures of him, not so much of his teeth, but of how much he's changed in just a year and a half . When he got the braces on he was 11 1/2 years old and he's now 13 1/4. A big 8th grader. People tell you all the time how fast they grow up, but you don't really understand it until it happens to you. A little plug for my office www.bracesbystasun.com
Ian Pictures:
Jan. 07
Sept 08
Sept 08 post braces & haircut

My beautiful backyard

I love it rain or shine, windy, or hot anyway it wants to be. I love it so much.

Off and running

Back to school night Hatch (Evan's school)
Picture day Ian
Picture day Evan and Back to school night at Cunha (Ian's school)
2 hour long PTA meeting Cunha
Email out to school dance volunteers
2 kids home sick this week
Make excel spread sheet of volunteers
Kuk Sool Won, Kuk Sool Won, Kuk Sool Won
Work, clean house, cook dinner, trim up garden
Walk on beach
Enjoy my family
Love life :)
Just a little reminder to myself.

First of many

Evan is home from school today with a cold. The first of many I'm sure. I've been feeling run down for about week so I'm not surprised that Evan feels bad. Luckily its a minimum day for him at school today. He was going to drag himself to school this morning until I figured out it was because he wants to go to Kuk Sool Won today. I told him if he felt better this afternoon he could go. :)

A worried mother

Actually, a relieved mother this morning. You see my cat "Puddin" (yea I know, but trust me you don't want to know all of her other names) was gone for a day and 1/2. I have no idea where she was she just showed up this morning. A little freaked out, but in good shape. My friend said to me she couldn't believe my cat would go off and leave, she's the most spoiled cat she knows! She's pretty spoiled.

Benjamin Franklin?

Sadly, so much is lost on the youth. I remember learning about Benjamin Franklin in school. Founding father, scientist, statesman blah, blah, blah. So, the other day,I'm helping Ian find some information on ol' Ben for an essay he's writing for school and in the process learned soooooo much more about Mr. Franklin than I remember. As I'm ooohing and ahhhhing over the amazing accomplishments of this incredible historical figure. Ian is basically rolling his eye's! I'm sure I did the exact same thing to my mom (Sorry Mom). LOL
In other news, Evan is excited that his table group (at school) choose to study the Indian's of the Southeast. The best part according to him is that in this particular region the Indians (not sure the tribe yet) used.....Drum roll please........ Poison darts! What 5th grade boy wouldn't think that was totally cool! His class is also going to plant a colonial garden. Not sure what that is yet, but apparently I'm helping :0
Picture day is tomorrow at Evan's school. This is only significant because I'm in charge of getting all of the 500+ kids to have their pictures taken. Me and my trusty volunteers spend our morning wiping faces and noses, combing hair and working on big smiles. I only do this because of the kindergartners. LOL Their like deer in headlights,all dressed up, wide eyed and I'm sure feeling like cattle as we herd them through to one of 3 photographers set up in the school's multi-use room. It's pretty hilarious.

Above: First day of school picture taken Aug. 25th 2008 .

In Loving Memory

In loving memory . William Yamane died September 6th 2008 in Denver Colorado. We will miss him tremendously. He was a loving father,husband,brother, uncle and grandfather . Thankfully his spirit lives on in his family. God bless you Uncle, we love you.
Picture:Jennifer and Willie at Jennifer's wedding 9/25/2004

Aren't they beautiful

The cupcakes were a hit! And with flavors like Smores, Red Velvet and my personal fave cardamom with cream cheese frosting I'm sure it won't be long before we sample more of these delectable delights at Vanilla Moon Bakery in San Carlos, CA. The menu is quite extensive, but apparently they do not make all of them daily. An excuse to sample them all I guess. Lets not forget the reason for the treats, our friend Mike's b-day. We enjoyed pizza and good company.Tonight its back to school, we'll visit Evan's classroom and find out what Ms. Moriarty has in store for him. All good things I'm sure.

Do you think he'll notice?

I've been waiting all summer to do this. I usually do this a couple of times a year and its crazy but they NEVER ask about where their stuff went. Go figure. My theory is if they don't miss it, they didn't need it in the first place. Oh, and just in case you were wondering, this is Evan's room. Ian is on to me now and he will generally put anything he values away. Which makes me think they do occasionally miss their stuff. Wayne and I differ on this issue, he generally thinks their rooms should be off limits to us (he means me) and they should be able to have it anyway they like. You can see who won this battle. LOL
In other news, HMB has been experiencing unusually warm and pleasant weather. We had my mom and dad, my sister and her husband Mike and Mike's dad and his wife for dinner over the weekend. We bar-b-qued oysters and veggies, chicken and had some yummy salads. We had a nice time catching up. Having an extra day (labor day) off from school was awesome too. Ian went swimming with a friend and Evan spent the day at the beach with his bff. Tonight we're off to help a friend celebrate his birthday with what he and his wife describe as the best looking cupcakes they've ever seen. Lets hope they taste as good! I'll let you know more about that tomorrow.

Day Two?

Well, technically I wrote the first post last night, but couldn't figure out how to post it until this morning. So yes, this is my second post. Lots of new things for me right now. I have a Facebook account now, not sure why, but my sis said I needed one :) I actually have like 9 friends. Go figure. I'm just hoping my a-- doesn't get much bigger with all this computer time!

From this day forth

From this day forth I will attempt to blog. LOL! This is actually my second attempt at blogging. I love reading other people's blogs. They always seem to have something interesting to say or a special talent. I especially love the cooking ones :) I guess I'm somewhat of a voyeur. That must explain my fascination with reality tv too. I'm sure it won't be near as fun or interesting for me to actually blog myself, But I'll give it my best. It most likely it won't be about me at all, probably just these two.