Happy Holidays!

The holidays are here!  Well, I guess they have been here if you consider that they started in October (and I DO...Halloween is a favorite!).  We've had a busy and really great Fall-- I got to go HOME to Richmond, Virginia for the first time in FOUR YEARS.  I can't believe it had been that long.  I want to say I'm not sure how that happened...how did I let 4 years go by without going home...but I know how that happened...I had 4 kids in 4 years.  Life was busy.  Flying 6 people to the east coast is expensive.  It has been 6 years since Myke and I have traveled back east together (the last time we went Owen and Eli were not even 6 months old).  Fall is definitely the BEST time to visit the east coast.  It was just amazing and beautiful the entire visit...including a downpour of rain where we sat out on my parent's screened-in porch and just listened to the intensity of it all.  Not something we often get here in San Diego.  The trip was amazing.  An entire 2 weeks in Virginia and D.C. gave us time to really enjoy and soak it up instead of being hurried from place to place and person to person in an attempt to get-it-all-in.  We even spent Halloween here and trick-or-treated in the neighborhood I grew up in (from age 8 on) and where my parents still live.  It was SO AWESOME to do that--I saw so many neighbors from my past...such a trip down memory lane.  My heart is absolutely split between the east and west coast.  No doubt. I miss home.  I was able to see Richmond in a different light this visit.  So much has changed in the 20 years I've been away.  

 Pre-White Water Rafting Experience on the James River

A long weekend up in Northern VA and D.C.

These are my girls from my freshman Monroe first-floor dorm 

20 years ago we started college!!

The bales of hay on Karmin's farm

Jumping in leaves at Gramma & Grandpa's house

Grits...and other yummy foods..haha!! Waffle House

Night out with our college friends

D.C. Visit 

Me & Dad! 

Hiking James River trails

My best friend since age 8

We returned back to California from that trip in early November and a few weeks later we headed on another trip--this time by car!   We went to Yosemite National Park- it was stunning to say the least!  Much-needed time with the kids and a nice trip into nature...away from the hustle-bustle.  I wish we could have stayed longer and done more of Yosemite...but it wet the pallet, so we'll go with that!

Thanksgiving dinner at our AirBnB

Ella & our neighbor Trevor at SoccerKids

Gymnastics

Ella and her buddy

Christmas Tree Brownies

The DAY after we returned from Virginia I ran a 15K I'd been training for

Sisters

So that's about it.  We are back in California for a couple weeks and then off to Flagstaff, Arizona for Christmas with Myke's parents for 6 days.  The entire trip was planned around Maureen's (Myke's mom) idea of taking the kids on the Polar Express train experience in Campbell, AZ that she'd heard of.  We figured if we're driving that far for an hour train ride we may as well stay a few days and see the Grand Canyon (maybe), try out the local ski resort, maybe Sedona?  It's all up in the air.  I haven't really had the time to think about that trip yet.  Myke is leaving first thing tomorrow for a 5 day work trip so I'm in day-by-day survival mode this week.  Just getting the kids to and from school, to basketball practice (Chloë-two nights a week), multi-sport class (the boys), acting class (Chloë), gymnastics class (Ella), piano (Chloë and Eli).  The boys just finished up soccer at the YMCA on Sunday so that's one less thing on the list.  Phew!  

Getting late and time to head to bed!

:)

Fall

Hello from Encinitas!

We are full-throttle into the first semester of the school year and are definitely into a routine at this point.  Myke is out seeing a movie with some friends tonight and I'm lounging on the couch with a hot cup of Yogi bedtime tea and my Kindle.  Ahhhh.  Peace and quiet.  Had to do a quick blog break....it has (again) been too long.  The kids were a little extra energetic at bedtime, as they tend to be when it's me flying solo.  They like to test the limits of the single parent...well, the single mom, anyways.  And I'm mainly speaking of the boys-- they were giggling and switching beds and then sleeping together in the same bed, then running down the hall chasing each other, back into beds, then wrestling on the floor and so on....all the while just laughing and laughing.  I couldn't be too upset about it- I do love to hear them laughing together (MUCH better than arguing!).  Now that they are in separate classes for the FIRST TIME ever they seems to enjoy each other's company a lot more.  Not so much overkill?

I think they miss each other during the school day?!

Eli lost his 3rd tooth (first top one to go!)

Eli & Owen are "Padres"- doing T-ball

Eli making a rocket in after school science class

My little Ella-Bella!  She's so tall now!

She's just 4 1/2 but towers over many of her brother's 6 year old classmates.

Ella started soccer

Little Lending Library

Myke had the Summer project of building this Free Little Lending Library for our school.

It's up in the garden area and after Fall Break we'll do a "ribbon cutting" of sorts and get things moving!  

Crazy Hair Day at School

Eli at Oktoberfest with the Oktoberfest princesses

Soleil & Ella - BFFs!

Chloë in the pool at the Y skatepark

Post-skating frozen yogurt 

Life is busy, as always, but definitely a lot of fun when I keep things from getting too crazy (this is all relative).  Chloë does softball, tennis, piano, acting club and just tried out for a basketball winter league.  She's 8 1/2 going on 13 and loves to read graphic novels.  

Eli is doing T-ball, an after school soccer class, after school science class, piano,  and is staring Arena Soccer through the YMCA this Saturday morning.  Owen is doing all of those same things except piano. He also wants to take a hip-hop dance class so he can learn to dance like a robot.  Both of them seems to love the science class the most of all their activiites.

Ella is in soccer on Saturdays.  She is PAINFULLY shy (no joke) until she knows someone REALLY week so I wasn't even able to go with her the first couple weeks of soccer (because they always act worse for Momma).  Myke said it was TERRIBLE.  She stood out on the field just looking back at him with the saddest face, tears streaming, and her hand reaching out to Myke for help.  He just had to sit and watch it.  By week 3 she loved it.  Now she asks when soccer will be.  Still each time she gets there she is nervous to go out on the field and needs the extra push.  It's the sam when she gets dropped off at preschool.  EVERY single time she is mute and nervous when the teachers say hello to her.  She's been at that school for over a year!!  

Okay, back to my book.  Sometimes I feel like I update this so infrequently that, when I do, it sounds more like one of those Christmas letters that people send...updating people on the mundane details of their lives.  Which is what just happened in this post....but no one forced you to read it, right? :)

Back To School

Guess I was busy over the Summer.  Not one post.  Makes me wonder how it could have flown by that fast...?!?  I blinked and it was over.  They had 8 full weeks of summer vacation.  Overall, they did less camps than last summer.  I didn't want to feel like I was running around / being a taxi driver all summer long...and I didn't...for the most.  The older 3 started back to school last week and Ella started today for her pre-K year.  I've been VERY ready for a few hours of time to myself that I've been nearly salivating as I've waited for today to arrive...and then, when it did, I felt much more emotional than I thought I would as I dropped Ella off for her first day.  She was ready and happy to go, ready to be back with her friends and back to the school routine.  I walked her in instead of just hug and kiss her at the gate, but she didn't even need that.  She gave me a gentle push back towards the gate..."get outta here, mom!" (she didn't actually say that...but she may as well have!).  With that, I was FREE.  Too bad I didn't do anything too exciting.  Worked out.  Picked up toilet paper at Walmart, and then came home and cleaned out our bathroom drawers and cabinets.  As in, pull EVERYTHING out, clean out the drawers, line them with drawer liner, put the essentials back in, etc.  It took close to two hours.  I through out an entire 13 gallon trash bag full of things-we-don't-need.  So that was a success, right?

Next week I'll do something more exciting.  :)

Summer Break IS Here: Day One-Survival!

Moonlight Beach

Here we are.  It's Summer Break!  We get out so much later than most schools that we are just starting our break and it's Fourth of July just one week later.  Wahhh??  How did that happen?  Today was BUSY and I'm BEAT...but I don't think (hope) it will be the norm.  Chloë and Ella started right off into camps already.  I had really wanted to wait a week or two before doing camps but they are both signed up with a friend and this is the week their friend could do one.  So here we are.  Chloë is doing Beach Volleyball at Moonlight Beach and Ella is in "Super Silly Art Camp" for 4 year olds in Carlsbad.  Both are only 3 hours long so they are both done by lunchtime.  

Chloë and Avery after day one of beach volleyball camp

I won't bore you with the details, but other than camp drop-offs and pick-ups (which included spending over 20 MINUTES driving around with the boys in the car looking for a parking spot by the beach for Chloë's 11:30am pickup.  Doesn't help that it's amazing and perfect beach weather right now.  Everyone and their mom was at Moonlight Beach today) we also had a haircut appointment, a piano lesson and a vet appointment.  We were on the move from 7:45am until nearly 6pm with NO break or downtime.  Luckily, I'm married to the best hubby ever and he had dinner cooked and waiting when we rolled in the door around 5:45 after a VERY long vet appointment with Kyla (just to get her new heartworm medication...$300 later!!).  

Eli and Owen with their new haircuts 

We are going to TRY to avoid overload of screen time (iPads, tv, etc) this Summer...and to keep the kids on top of their reading and writing on the break...so I'm (nervously) implementing the below Summer Rules for our house:   

(stolen off Pinterest)

We sat down and had a family meeting of sorts over the weekend to give them the head's up.  This way they'll know what's expected of them and they can be in charge of themselves to earn tv or iPad time...and I won't have to CONSTANTLY say "no" and have them begging.  Have you finished your chart?  No?  Okay, then you need to do this this and this... or Yes?  Okay, feel free to watch a show.  Most of my concern is with the reading and the writing of Owen and Eli.  They need assistance for both..and someone there to monitor it all, unfortunately.  They aren't quite independent and they don't WANT to read OR write, to be honest!  Chloë is at a much more independent age and she's keeping a daily journal (in Spanish).  I told them I would be keeping their summer work and showing it to their new teacher.  So they're either motivated by fear or the hope to impress these new maestras (teachers) that they'll meet in August.  So each of the 4 will have their own laminated chart that they can check off the boxes on.  We will probably be pretty slack with Ella's, but she'll want a chart with the others so it can't hurt, right?  

I'll report back later to update on how this went....


Last week was fun/nuts/busy.  Chloë's teacher wanted to celebrate/thank the room parents from her 2nd grade class (which is comprised of myself and 3 mom-friends.  None of us wanted to take it on by ourselves...and we were an awesome team, I must say..  we even had our own text thread solely for this "job" which we joke should be published into a book...(#badmoms #hilariousthread #manyFbombs #notfrommeofcourse,dad)).  Okay, back to my point.  So, Maestra Ham had a dinner for the 4 of us AT MY HOUSE (as someone had to host since she lives quite a distance from the school she teaches at) where she came over and made amazing food from scratch (shrimp tacos, enchiladas, fresh salsa, guacamole, black beans, Spanish rice, and plenty of vino).  We had an amazing time eating, chatting and laughing until 10pm.  I'll miss this crew!

Room Parent Celebration

Teacher is first one on the left.

'

Last day with Maestra Castillo

We LOVE this teacher! 

Hoping the Ella will get her in 2018

Eli and Owen getting honored at the school's Running Club

end-of-year ceremony for running 25 miles before school over the year.

Second Grade DLI Luau

(Party we set up for end-of-year for the two 2nd grade Spanish immersion classes)

The spread

Photo time!

Chloë and friends

Aloha!

me and my girl :)

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!!!

End Of School...Almost Here!!!

The countdown is ON!  Summer Break is almost here!  I'm in my delusional state (as Myke refers to it) of when I'm excited for the end of school and for Summer vay-cay (wahoo!!!).  I think I've just been trained and conditioned to get giddy and excited this time of year since I was a child.  No more homework!  No more books!  No more teacher's dirty looks!  Yay!!   

Then....two days INto the break the harsh reality will HIT me...like a ton of bricks!!  Wait!!  The kids are now with me.  All day.  EVERY day.  For 8 weeks.  There is ZERO free time.  Zero time to myself.  

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Must. Remain. In. Denial. To. Avoid. Insanity.  (for now!)

I'm scared.  Though I'm way too busy these past weeks to even think about that.  The end of the year is crazy!  I'm hosting happy hours, finishing up garden class with the boys' kinder class, helping run the 2nd grade end-of-the-year luau, getting teacher gifts together, trying to get the boys to read and practice their writing/reading/shapes/numbers (in Spanish...which is NOT my first language, obviously), carting kids to and from swim lessons, piano lessons, after-school activities, and trying to pick and choose between what other school events to volunteer with (Woodworking day, kinder pizza party, kinder park field trip, Chloë's class penpal meet up park playdate, game day, kinder field day, etc...the list goes on).  Basically, I'm a MOM.  

AND we are going camping this weekend.  It will actually be nice...to just sit back and relax a little (although the boys have 2 birthday parties they are going to (one Fri and one Sat) and Chloë has one...and she has a basketball game...so we can't escape from all the busy-ness too much...luckily we are camping at a beach site just a few miles from home).  Father's Day weekend camping and the weather forecast is looking gorgeous!  

On another note, we were just lucky and blessed enough to have ALL FOUR of our parents out here on the west coast at the same time!  So the kids had all sorts of attention and extra playmates and people to hug them.  It was great!   We really are lucky for all they do for us and how involved they keep in ours and the kids' lives.  We don't take that for granted.   The four of them are now all back to their main homes on the east coast...we miss them already! 

Myke's parents and my parents :)

One of the weekends they were all here we took a pontoon boat out on Mission Bay.  It was "June Gloom" weather but that didn't stop us from having a great time!

Four days later:

Sunny weather at the San Diego Fair.

Thom & Maureen (Myke's parents) and I took the kiddos for an afternoon.

Fun and tiring.

The most exciting part of the fair??....the fidget spinner stand.  Go figure.

Fried chicken sandwich.  Krispy Kreme donut buns.  Ice cream in the middle.  Fruity Pebbles cereal on top.  Wow.

ice cream treats!

The crew.

"This one is for Dad!" (his favorite sauce)

Lamest ride ever.  Only cost $3 per child for a 2 minute ride.  

Ha.

So, that's just a bit of the activities that have been going on.  Owen and Eli turned 6 last month!  Chloë and Eli had their first piano recital.  That went well.  I got to have my mom out here for Mother's Day.  That's about it from here for now!