Baseball Night in America

I was given great seats at tonight’s Padres v Cardinals game. Donn was so excited to see these two teams play and me & the kids haven’t been to a game in Petco Park.  

The energy was great and Owen was engaged the entire time.  He asked questions and learned stats. What a good time.

San Dimas Rodeo

To say that the start of 5th grade was rough for Owen would be a very big understatement. But I was fortunate to have the support of my parents and a great teacher in Mrs. Garber.  It was important that I had great support because Owen needed every ounce of energy and support that I had so needed someone to hold me up. 

Summer of swimming

Everyone who knows my family knows that swimming at my house has been delayed. When we moved to California over this past summer it was my first goal for Brooklynn to learn to swim.  My secondary goal would be for her to learn to enjoy swimming.  Having grown up in California with a pool in my backyard I remember spending every extra moment in the pool and was hoping my kids would begin to build those same memories.  As luck would have it we live just a few houses down from my dad and he has a pool.  I get the luxury of regular access to a pool without the anxiety of drowning children in my backyard.  My dad LOVED the idea of regular swimmers in his pool and he took full advantage.  One of our first weekends in California I sent the kids over to hang out with Papa Scott while I unpacked and I got a call to come over ASAP.  

These videos show the results made in the few hours dad worked with her.  Loved it.

http://youtu.be/nw73xFet4mc

http://youtu.be/ARU_p1z0ZSs

Back in the saddle

So, I've been on what I guess you can only consider a hiatus for several years.  There is no reason for the lack of posts other then time restrictions but the other day I looked back at the memories that I documented and realized I needed to get back to it, if for no other reason then for me to look back at years from now and appreciate the moments that I had with the great kids I have. 

Here are a few current pics of the family.

To catch you up on the big life changing events: we have moved from Missouri to California. The growing pains were at times severe but I think for the most part we are thru the worst of it. 

We have new pets! Mudkip, a toy Yorkie joined our family in May 2012. We rescued Starley, a Terrier Mix from the pound in October 2013. It is amazing the change that these two little creatures made in our daily lives. 

Sunday dinner conversation

This was the conversation over Sunday dinner last night (Sunday dinner includes the Donaldsons):

B&C: We saw pictures of Jessica’s boyfriend today

A: Oh yeah?

C: He looks light Jack Black

D: No he doesn’t!

Me: Well they were more referring to his hair style in the pictures, I saw the photos I can see where they were coming from.

B: He is a GIANT! He could almost hit is head on our doorway.

Me (to Angel): He is like 6’4-6’5

O: He’s as tall as Abraham.

LONG PAUSE FROM EVERYONE!

Me: Abraham who (My immediate thought was religion figure …. No clue why I went that direction)?

O: Abraham Lincoln!

A: I knew who you meant (She gave him a knowing smile, it was so cute)

D: Is that with or without the hat?

O: (Looked at Donn inquisitively) I don’t know!?

I'm pathetic

Every other Sunday I cook for the next 2 weeks. I’ve been doing this for about 6-8 months and it works well for our family. I spend one full day (with lots of Donn’s help) cooking to have great home cooked meals for the next two weeks. Some are casseroles and are frozen, some are just chopped veggies and seared meats and sauces or broths that are combined into 1 bag then frozen until the day they get put into the crock pot. Whatever the meal is, it totally works for our family. There is no standing around the night of “what do you want for dinner?” We buy meat when it’s on sale and tailor the menu around what we have or what works for the budget that 2 week period. SUPER SYSTEM for our family.

All that said, this Sunday was a “cooking day”. We woke up and I told Owen that he was going to cook with us. He didn’t argue (yeah!) and we got started. He opened seasoning packets and measured out sauces. Then he did some stirring. We were on recipe 3 (out of 12) and I told him that for each recipe that he helped complete I would pay him an allowance. He asked how much and I told him I would tell him at the end of the day. I wanted to keep him motivated but if it wasn’t enough I didn’t want him to quit. I then walked over to Donn and whispered “YES, I’m paying him to hang out with me” I walked to the sink and said “Yeah, I’m pathetic.” Owen heard the ‘I’m pathetic’ comment and loudly said “NO YOU’RE NOT!” It made me very happy that he defended me.

About 30 minutes later a friends mom called and he was invited to have a playdate (second of the weekend – I’m bragging) so I let him off of kitchen duty. He had a great time on his play date and I loved getting to spend the time with him that I did.

Cost per meal:
Ingredients: $10.00 (approximately)
Labor: $1.00 (cost to have it prepped with Owen)
Time spent with family having home cooked meal each night: PRICELESS!

Hair Cut

So Donn gets mad that Brooklynn is a rag-a-muffin. Me, not so much. I was a total rag-a-muffin as a kid and rocked the sloppy look. Some days Brooklynn spends the time to put her hair in a pony tail but some days she halfway combs it and rolls out the door. DONN HATES THIS! She leaves without tangles but because she has a funky little curl in front on both sides she looks sloppy. I have let her keep her hair long because that is what she wanted, but Monday he said he wanted her to get a hair cut and she agreed so I CUT IT!!! YES I (ME) (SARAH) Cut her hair. I think I did a pretty good job. She lost about 9-10 inches.