Almost forgot...

Last weekend, I signed us up for a Serve the City project through our church.  We headed over to Pleasanton to work in an elderly ladies yard.  She had received a notice from the city that she needed to clean up her place, but she hadn't even been outside in 3 years.  It was a mess!  There were probably 10 volunteers and we all kept busy for 4 1/2 hours.  It was really amazing what was accomplished.  There was not a single place to walk in the backyard, not to mention the overhwelming smell of dog poop.  By the end of it, she had a normal yard.  It took 8 dump runs to get it to a manageable place.  The kids were troopers!  They loaded up the truck, helped bag weeds and brought loads of junk from the backyard to the front yard.  I brought books and the dvd player, but they didn't know it and I never even thought about getting it out.  They did awesome and we had a little celebratory dinner at Red Robin :o).

Sports

Reggie has come alive!  They try a lot of new activities in Scouts and one week they played basketball and since then, all he wants to do is shoot hoop and play PIG.  It has been lots of fun and he says he wants to play next year, so we will see.  The following week at Scouts, they tried tennis.  Our den leader was waving Ryan to come over and watch Reggie.  He was serving like a pro and she recommended we get him in some lessons.  Yeah, that isn't going to happen.  There's just not enough time....he has been swimming twice a week and loving it.  The practice is set up like swim team, so he does laps and is moving much of the 45 minutes.  He has improved SO much.  Here's a video:

It has been a very busy few weeks for Ainsley.  She continues to do gymnastics 2 days a week and is still doing very well.  I need to take some pictures, but they don't turn out well at the gym.  She has been wanting to learn the level 4 routines, so I got on-line and we started working on the beam routine.  After the last practice, I saw her approach her coach and they were talking for a minute and then she showed her what she knew of the routine.  This was a HUGE deal for Ainsley.  She does not approach adults and hardly ever even talks to them, so my mind was spinning, wondering what she was doing!!??  Good for her :o).  I'm glad she was so excited about learning part of the routine. 
She also has swimming 2 days a week and has improved by leaps and bounds.  I don't even know who that child is in the water!  Here's a video of her:

Way behind....

In looking through my pictures, I realized how behind I am on my updates and with the end of the year coming, there will be a lot more to update.  Knowing how far behind I am has made it that much harder to get motivated.  So, here goes....

Ryan has been getting a lot of mail from Dyson which means lots of boxes and with the creative minds of these two, they made a rocket ship and were pushing each other around the house for a few days (notice the mess!).  One morning I also woke up to them playing in the garage.  They had made a chalk race track and were playing cars.  The patio had the same design a few days ago, so I think it was a hit.  They have been having so much fun together lately and will play for large blocks of time without needing anything from us :o).  I'm glad they would rather play than turn on the t.v.!



 Family hike to Brushy peak.

 Wanting to get close to the wild cows...they were making me a little nervous!

We went to the kite festival in San Ramon last weekend and it was so much fun!  The kids made kites and tried to fly them, but it didn't go so well.  I was fun to watch the team flyers do their kite routines; who knew that was such a big thing!  There were lots of booths, rides and dance/music entertainment which we enjoyed a lot.  We met up with a couple families, so we enjoyed the company too :o).

 Playing in the sandbox.

 Moon sand....definitely an outdoor activity.  They have been really into this lately.

 This was fun to watch!  And even more fun to hear Ainsley coaching him on watching the ball.  She kept saying don't look at me, keep your eye on the ball (I wonder where she's heard that?).

 Reading to K...he had just woken up from his nap.  I'm hoping she will do this more often because it has been a bit of a challenge to get her to read lately.  What a switch.  We can't seem to get Reggie's face out of his books, especially when he gets a new one.  Who knew all we had to do was get the Wimpy Kid series!

Life...

I remember thinking in late March, "Wow, my Christmas card wish came true, an amazingly quiet start to the year.  What am I going to write next year on our update."  My how things change!!!
First curve ball was Ryan's job.  Praise God that was figured out quickly and it should be a good change for him and our family (plus we got a new Dyson vacuum out of the deal!).  Not having a commute is huge for us!  Mainly for Ryan who can wake up at a normal time now...not before the sun!  I have already seen his energy level go up and he is taking better care of himself.  I hope that continues :o).
This year has been really enjoyable for me, having the ability to get chores and work-outs in while the kids are at school.  I still am rushing around like crazy to get everything in my few precious hours and still volunteer in their classrooms.  It has been an awesome year, but I have been thinking a lot about next year and how to fill my time since they will both be gone all day.  Lots of things have come to mind, but nothing stuck.  I have been praying a lot about it and you know what they say.....be careful what you pray for.  Curve ball #2....K's social worker called me about 2 weeks ago asking if we could be considered for permanent placement for him as it wasn't going to work long-term with his aunt.  I immediately got a pit in my stomach, no, no, no, this wasn't supposed to happen!  I talked with his aunt, hoping that if I offered to help out more she might change her mind, but it was clear her decision was made.  Life with 3 children is a lot and going back there wasn't really something we wanted to do, but God really worked on both of us to change our minds and hearts to be open to having him back.  Given all he's been through, we couldn't stomach the though of him having to start over again.
The meeting to determine his fate was this afternoon and the facilitator started the meeting by saying we had to agree unanimously on this decision or the social worker/court would make the final ruling.  Now, you have to understand there were a lot of parties involved, one being a paternal grandmother who was willing to take him, so this would be no easy task.  Usually family always gets preference, but we were being considered because of the relationship we have with him and how we have continued to be part of his life.  After an hour and a half, everyone agreed it was best for him to return to our home.  This was a miracle!  I think the social worker is still scratching his head, wondering how that happened as the personalities in this case have been a huge challenge for him.  We know exactly how it happened...God was in it and this was His plan.  Will it be easy for us, no way, but it will be better for us.  So, my days will be filled next year and after our Washington trip, K will settle back in with us.
I stand in awe thinking about the ways God has held us in his hands over the years...dealing with very difficult infants, moving to CA, healing my back, providing a better job for Ryan and seeing this strange sequence of events come full cirlce.  We have had some HARD times, but I wouldn't trade any of it because I have seen through it all His amazing power.....He's got our back and it is awesome!!!

Happy Mother's Day Trina!!

My wife is the best mother in the world.  I know I'm a little or a lot biased but I'm sticking to it.  We had a great Mother's Day and had a special treat in having Khalif in our home for the weekend.  The kids were super excited to take care of their mom all day and give pamper her.  We started out by making her breakfast in bed.  2 over medium eggs, bacon, toast, and some freshly cut strawberries with freshly squeezed lemonade to boot.  Take a look at Ainsley helping daddy prepare Mommy's breakfast plate Mother's Day morning.

The kids kept wanting to go into the bedroom and surprise her with her gifts and wish her a Happy Mother's Day but we had to let mommy get her beauty rest!  After it took me 3-4 times of trying to flip the eggs without breaking them I finally got them on the plate with everything else and the kids and I presented the lovely meal and her presents to Trina.  Take a look at how happy mommy was!

Reggie was so excited about his beautiful picture that he created for mom he could hardly wait to give it to her.  Check it out.  Good job Reggie!

We ended up getting mommy a humming bird feeder (that's been installed for a week and no humming birds have touched it - I guess they like real flowers that bloom here in CA) and some running socks.  I love my wife and the kids love their mommy.  These are the things I think about when I think about mommy:
1. A Godly woman that strives to do things in the name of Jesus
2. Selfless person that will sacrifice herself
3. Wonderful role model for our children - Our kids are soooooo lucky!!
4. Honest with everyone
5. Leader not a follower
6. Follows her heart and doesn't let the worldly things get in the way
7. Loves to volunteer and help people
8. Strong willed
9. Very Humble
10. Smokin Hot!!!
We Love you honey, thanks for showing us what it looks like to be a strong Christian Woman!

Grandma Peggy's visit:
Wow how so much time has past already.  Grandma Peggy came down to visit us in California and we left her with the kids as Trina and I took a trip to Vegas for 3 solid days....

I had to make sure all of the activities, and places to eat were programmed into the GPS as my mother can't find her way out of a wet paper bag :).  She arrived on a Sunday afternoon and we jumped on our plane Monday afternoon to head out and didn't return until Thursday evening.  We don't really know what happened during our time away but we do know that the kids had fun and ended up talking Grandma into buying them stuff.  Oh, Reggie did say they played alot of slot machine games on the internet :).  I'm sure they watched their fair share of T.V. and had lots of treats.  They love their Grandma.  We returned and got to enjoy a couple more days with mom until she flew out Saturday afternoon.  During her visit the kids and Grandma played lots of shuffle board as that was a hit.  Take a look at Grandma's form!

 The weather was great and there was a lot of outside time that Grandma got to enjoy vs. the rain she's use to up in Seattle.  Take a look at the kids and Grandma taking apart this fossil in the hot sun!

The last night before Grandma left we decided to treat her to Uncle Yu's Chinese restaurant.  We got the usual sweet and sour chicken, chow mein, and fried rice.  Every body enjoyed it and Grandma especially loved it!!  We then hit the Nestle Toll House cookie store and got cookies and ice cream.  It was a great night to be out in downtown Livermore.

Today was race day at Rancho.  The 2nd graders had to run under an 8 minute mile to qualify and there were about 4-6 students per class.  Kindergarteners and 1st graders qualified by how many miles they have run so far this year.  Both Reggie and Ainsley qualified.  We biked to school for a quick warm up and they were ready to go.  There were about 40-50 kids that took off sprinting and Reggie was way in the back, trying to pass people and manuever.  At one point, he almost tripped and fell, but recovered.  He pulled ahead at the end of the second lap and when his friends realized he was in the lead, there was a pack of 15 kids running from one side of the track to the other, chanting, "Reggie, Reggie, Reggie".  He looked like a pro, glancing back every now and then to make sure no one was catching him and no one did!  It was so fun to see his competitive side come out....he doesn't really like sports, so we don't get to see it that often.  It was clear he had a plan and he was going to win!  It is so outside his character and many parents were coming up to me shocked by his performance.  He hardly seemed winded, just acted like no big deal, I just ran a 6 minute 39 second mile :o).  I know he was jumping for joy inside!  We were jumping for joy too....we are very proud of our guy!  He's got some work cut out for him next year as he will be racing with the 3rd-5th graders and the winning time was 5:51. 

Ainsley did an awesome job too!  I'm not sure her time since they only record the top 4, but she was motoring.  Reggie lapped her and she ran with him for a little bit, but couldn't keep up with him.  The best part was Ryan got back from Chicago late last night and was able to come watch.  This was one of those days where its super fun to be a parent!!!