School

We have been busy with school activities and lucky enough to be part of a school that does some pretty cool stuff! They had science night awhile ago where the kids got to do some experiments and learn about the stars in an astronomy dome. We met Reggie's science teacher and she expressed that she wished every student was like Reggie :o).  Ainsley will get to enjoy science next year.  Sandia Labratories was there taking heat pictures and you can see from the 2 kids that Ainsley has a very cold nose like her mother! 

Rancho has a theatre series that the kids get to go to and Reggie and Ainsley have been going on the same days this year, so the first play I chaperoned a couple kids from each class which was a bit challenging.  So, the last play, Jack and the Beanstalk, I took a group from Reggies class.  It was a fabulous play and the kids really enjoyed it.  I am not much into the arts, so it is good they are getting this exposure through school.

Reggie with his friend Joey:

Last week was open house at Rancho which is an evening where the kids get to showcase their hard work for the year.  Ainsley was so excited and showed us all her books, journals and artwork.  Every spring the kindergarten classes hatch chickens, wait for tadpoles to turn into frogs and watch the caterpillars caccoon into butterflies.  It is so much fun for the kids to watch life happen right in front of them.  Ainsley told us all about how they let the chicks wander around on the rug and the kids sat super close together in a circle so they couldn't escape, but they pooped on the rug!  You can imagine what a big deal this is for a Kindergartner. 

                                                                  Ainsley's journals have come a long way this year.  There wasn't much in the beginning and at the end she was sounding out words and writing sentences.  She wrote this on our white board a few months ago:

 Ainsley with her teacher, Mrs. Gomes

Reggie with his teacher Mrs. Melendez:

I had seen a lot of Reggie's stuff because of helping out in the class, but he had done quite a bit more work on his comic book. He has been reading the Wimpy Kid series and asked me the other day how to get his book published. Oh, to be a kid and think everything is so simple :o).

You can see from the picture that Reggie is wearing his scouts uniform.  He LOVES scouts and is really excited to go to day camp this year.  They had their last pack meeting last night and he became a Bear.  He kept saying how big his new scout book was...guess there will be lots of activities and things to do this year!  It really has been a great thing for Reggie, trying lots of new things: presenting to the group, building cars/boats/rockets, volunteering, etc.

Reggie has started a Bey Blade (spinning metal tops) craze at school. They all meet at the slides and "battle". He is such a quiet leader and if he steps away to do something else, the group dismantles. It is an interesting thing to watch. He's even got Ainsley's classmates on board. Sometimes there's as many as 10 battling on 2 slides. There was rumor that they weren't going to be allowed at school and Reggie was a bit panicked, but since they just do it after school, I think they let it slide.

Ainsley had her Kindergarten picnic at the park near our house on Wed.  It was so fun for them to just play the entire time and not have any school.  They had hot dogs, fruit and chips and no surprise she wolfed it all down.  She had a playdate with another Kindergarten friend awhile ago and the mom talked to me after school and was blown away by how much Ainsley can eat.  Both Reggie and Ainsley sure started out as slow eaters, but they can out eat Ryan and me sometimes.  I am going to have to go back to work in a few years to help pay for the grocery bill!  Hanging out with her good friends Daniella and Naomi:

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!!! 

New Job!

Well it seems that we just did this update not even a year ago which is true.  Yes you all heard and or read about my employment snafu a few weeks ago and the outlook was initially very grim and stressful!  God brought me to my knees for a couple of days as the hopeless feeling of the unknown was lurking.  But after praying, and thinking ALOT I got back up on my feet and started to network.  There were several opportunities that presented themselves and God continued to open and close doors as they days went by.  After the first two weeks I probably had 10 different interviews between 5 different companies so life was crazy and very draining.  After the smoke cleared my search was narrowed down to two companies, Avago Technologies and Dyson.  Both jobs were completely different and after thinking through each one and having the TIMING factor play in I decided to sign on with Dyson.  I will be the Western Regional Sales Manager for their commercial division managing the entire West Coast sales team and overseeing the sales activities for the Dyson Airblade (commercial hand dryers).  It's exciting to think that I will be entering into an entirely new industry with new faces and new products that are way outside the norm.  Another great perk is that my office is now my home.  I don't have to make the commute and the flexibility of my schedule will be great.  I thank all of you for your prayers and thank God for his gracious heart and looking out for me and my family.  If any of you want Dyson vacuums or fans just let me know and I can get you a deal.  RW

Rain, rain, go away!!!

We were hoping the rain would go away for the grandparents visit, but no luck.  They left Portland in the snow and then came here to the rain.  I guess that is some improvement!  We did have a few nice days and they took advantage whenever the sun peeked out.

The kids had school, so we didn’t get to go and do a bunch of fun stuff, but grandma and grandpa did get to see the Reggie do piano, swimming and Ainsley gymnastics.  We also visited the library where the Ainsley read to service dogs and later in the week, we enjoyed watching the egg drop at Rancho (every year the 3^rd graders build a contraption to keep an egg from breaking when thrown off the top of the school building).

We spent lots of time getting Ainsley's hat ready for the hat parade.  Grandma made flowers out of kleenex and we made bugs out of various craft supplies.  This wind caught it just as I took the picture.

Grandma and Ainsley working on pie crust..

 Relaxing with Grandpa

 Reggie got a lesson on checkers (the real rules) and was not so happy with grandpa.  When grandpa was a kid, he used to play all the time and it is his game!  Reggie has gotten a lot more competitive and frustrated when he doesn’t win, so it was a learning experience for him.  The Shuffleboard table was also a huge hit.  The grandparents played the kids a lot and the adults finally played and it was quite obvious that grandpa needed a bit more practice!

When grandpa wasn’t chatting with the locals and buying donuts, he was busy in the yard and made a huge improvement trimming the trees. It feels so much brighter and bigger and the sun shines in the window in the afternoon and it is awesome! I’m very glad he didn’t hurt himself or knock over the fragile fence.

We celebrated my birthday while mom and dad were here, so that was a nice treat. Apple pie and stew/pork. We had a bit of trouble deciding on meat, so she cooked two and the beef won out! It was delicious :o). Ryan and I had bought tickets to Ray Ramono and Kevin James and it happened to be that weekend, so we had a date night with the Williams. It is always fun to laugh!! The neighbor even remembered my birthday and brought over some tempura vegetables and whole fish. The kids eyes were as big as golf balls. Ainsley wanted to see the fish head, so mom tore it off and then dissected it to show them the eye ball. I’m thinking they won’t be eating any whole fish in the near future.

Painting pottery at Cafe Art when we played hookey from school!

Getting ready to eat pie :o)!!

Did she really bite the head off the fish?

Sorry for the crazy format....blogger changed everything and I didn't take the time to figure out how to make it work for me....maybe next time

Spring break

Ryan and I are sitting in the Vegas airport, waiting yet again for our flight. I think this might be our last Allegiant flight ever! We arrived at the Stockton Airport for our 1 o'clock flight on Monday and boarded the plane, but noticed we were sitting for quite awhile. They announced that something was hanging from the wing and we had to deboard. Stockton is a tiny airport, so there are no extra planes and not really anyone to fix them. So, 5 hours later, we finally got a new plane! That really changed our Monday plans and was a total bummer. We didn't get to our hotel until 8:30. So much for laying out in the sun! Thankfully, the trip got much better and we spent lots of time relaxing by the pool and floating around the lazy river, playing ping pong and eating. We also saw the Hunger Games and went bowling on Tues. and then made a trip to the strip on Wed. to walk around, go to Pawn Stars and see Cirque Du Soleil's "O". We even ran into our old high school Washington State History teacher! It was a nice break from reality and we definitely relaxed a whole lot :o).

First time seeing the water show from the inside....very cool (too bad the one drink cost $18!):

The new Cosmopolitan Hotel:

One conversation....

will change our lives forever. Ryan has been courted by a company for about 5 months and they finally gave the green light to hire him. They came to an agreement on salary, start date, stock options, etc., but they wanted him to resign first due to politics between his current company and the new one. He felt confident they would come through, so he did it and they backed out. His current company was very upset with him, so, as it stands now, Ryan will be unemployed on April 11th. He is trying to get that date extended, so he can scramble to find another job.

We've had a lot of emotions in our house the last few days and we are settling into the unkown and feeling much better about it, but unemployment is a scary thought. We've been praying a lot and I know God has a plan for us and it is better than the plan we have for ourselves, so we just have to trust that he'll provide. Lots of lessons learned and probably more to learn and right now we are just trying to focus on the positive. Ryan has a lot of contacts and already has an interview tomorrow and we'll just take it day by day. I have also looked at the job market, but there's not much in human resources and with a gap of 8 years, I've realized I might not be that employable.

Funny how our lives have changed in one day and it makes you realize that all you had is all you ever wanted, but you can't get it back. God must have something better in mind....
P.S.  Unfortunately, this is not an April fool's joke :o(

Dad weekend

Well the kids and I were left to fend for ourselves this last weekend as Trina attended the women’s conference for our church in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Friday evening we had to prep for the Pinewood Derby the following day. We weighed our cars (Reggie, Ainsley, and myself all entered a car) to get them ready for the big race. The legal weight is 5oz and because we shaped Reggie’s car the way we did we could only get the car up to 4.5 oz’s. Our cars weighed in right around 5 oz. but we could have weighted the car at 8 oz. each because parents and siblings have different rules. The next morning we got up played a little in the morning and then made our way to the derby. Reggie’s car was in the middle of the pack, holding his own. I truly feel if we found a way to add the half ounce we might have had a shot but still we had fun. We also finished in the middle of the pack and and that was without an extra 3 ounces of weight. Even though we didn’t take home the gold this year (Reggie won the entire thing last year) Reggie did get a trophy. He won 3^rd prize for best design for his Mario Car. Admiring the trophies: Happy to get a trophy:
After we finished we came home and the kids played for a couple of hours while I mowed the lawn in our beautiful weather… Reggie found a couple of scrap pieces of wood outside and decided he wanted to make the American Flag out of them. I gave him a box of nails and my hammer and he did the rest. We did have a meltdown however, during this project. When painting it he ran the colors together on an accident and because of this he absolutely lost it. He’s a perfectionist like his daddy and when things don’t go how he expects them to go he has a hard time, like his daddy. Anyway, we had to take a break from building the flag to head to the movies. We went and saw the Lorax from Dr. Suess. What a great movie! Good message about how important it is to take care of our environment and especially our trees and how we shouldn’t cut
them all down because they help our air quality. The kids managed to eat two full boxes of popcorn each and were asking for more. They must get their appetite from their mother. After the show we headed to Menchies (frozen yogurt) and pounded some treats before heading home for the evening. Back to the flag – Reggie wanted to show Ainsley his beautiful flag. He showed her and then roughly 20 minutes later I heard frantic screaming and crying. When I went to check, Reggie told me that Ainsley had ruined his flay because she rubbed the white stars into the blue backing and smeared it. After asking Ainsley, she told me she had nothing to do with it. Later that night as Reggie was still having a breakdown I began to take off his jacket and noticed that he had white paint smeared all down the front of it. I found the evidence to convict. I took his coat off and showed it to him and asked him who messed up his flag? In a weeping response he admitted to it (I truly don’t think he knew that he did it as his jacket brushed up against it when he was moving it around to show his sister). We learned a lesson that night that he can’t blame his sister for everything that goes wrong and that he has to take responsibility.

Sunday morning we got a late start because of the time change but still managed to make it to the 9AM service. After that we headed home and spent the next hour cleaning, doing laundry, and getting the house straightened up for Mommy’s arrival. We had a lot of fun but missed Trina and were happy to see her Sunday afternoon.

Fun times with the cousins

The countdown was happening on both ends for the arrival of Maggie, Spencer and Liha. We learned a lot about tomorrow vs. this day-not sure why Ainsley couldn’t grasp it. Anyway, the weather was awesome when they arrived, high 70’s! The kids played a bit outside until Ainsley had to go to gymnastics. Maggie tagged along and was giving her thumbs up whenever she could :o). Reggie and Spencer had some good play time. We got out the trains and car track and I think Spencer was in heaven!

Reggie
was a bit bummed because he had to go to school while everyone else got to play. We headed out on our bikes to the park. It was slow going because Ainsley was riding her bike. We finally made it and had a nice time running around. I think Maggie and Spencer were just so excited to be outside! Maggie kept saying how nice and warm it was :o). We didn’t do anything too exciting….I
think everyone was just so happy to be outside. I think Wade and Liha are going to have to invest in a bike trailer and IBert:

Friday
we had a play date that was surprisingly smooth. 3 five year old could have been a disaster,
but they did great. And Spencer had a little buddy to play cars and trains with. Sophia still asks about Spencer…she really had fun too. Later that day I took Maggie on another bike ride. We had a great time while Spencer napped. Poor guy had a nasty cold. He sure is a happy guy, even when he is sick and sleepless.
Sat. we went to the Oakland Zoo. The kids ate the entire time….I think they ate the entire time Maggie and Spencer were here! The highlight was the train for Reggie and Spencer and the gondola for Ainsley and Maggie. We had never done the gondola before, so it was new for all of us and a really cool thing. It has been a couple years since we went and there were some new
exhibits and a baby giraffe :o).

Spencer curled up for a nice nap. No that isn't BO in my arm pit-it is Spencer's drool and snot!Playing at the zoo:

Maggie on the gondola:

The train gang:Merry-go-round at the zoo:

At some point, we put up the bounce house and even Spencer enjoyed that! It has been awhile since we took it out, so they were jumping like crazy! Sat. night we had a cub scout dinner for Reggie. We ended up leaving before the meeting because Reggie thought he was going to die...doubled over because his stomach hurt. We got home and he bounced his tummy on the ball and he was good to go, thankfully it was only gas.

Sunday was our last day for fun. We went to church and then for another bike ride, but the weather really took a turn. It was cold and windy and we were frozen by the time we got back. Amazing what a few degrees can do. I’m pretty sure they left with their vitamin D levels at a much more normal place :o)!