A fully licensed driver in the house???

So hard to believe yet it's not.  Exactly 6 months to the day that he took his written test and earned his Driving Permit, he took his behind the wheel test and passed with flying colors.  This is a first for us and a huge step for him as well.

Now how to put him to good use to account for the huge hit my bank account is going to take with the increase in insurance premiums???  LOL

Field Trip - Exploratorium

Our friends choose to have a meet-up at the Exploratorium today for their little guy's birthday.  We are always up for going there and add in cupcakes and it's pretty much a no brainer.  Mark and I have only been to the new location once and the boys hadn't been at all so looking at the cost of everything, we grabbed the mega-family pass and headed off.

It was fabulous and even being there for several hours there is still a ton of stuff I didn't get to do but hey, that's why we have passes.  I can't tell you what any of my kids did while they were there as the oldest three all took off on their own and I managed to hand Nick off to daddy so I could go off with my friend.  This NEVER happens so I took complete advantage of it to go enjoy what I wanted to do.  The nice thing is that with the pass, Mark can go there during his lunch time since it's not far from his work and even bring friends with him so he'll have time to explore and next time I go, I know I'll be on Nick duty again.  One of these days tho, I really want to go into the tactile dome.  It looks so cool and all the kids are now old enough to go into it so it's actually a possibility.

Ok, and seriously, how cool is this?!  A vending machine with stuff to tinker with rather than junk food.  Small LEDs, wires, clips, etc.  I think every school should have vending machines like this. 

Nick on piano

Nick has now been playing piano for over a year.  He's not sure he wants to do an actual recital but I did manage to convince him to let me video a few of his pieces today.

Star Wars Main Theme is one of his favorite pieces.  Unfortunately, he usually plays it at lightspeed so I feel really lucky that here I was able to convince him to slow down to something close to tempo:




This is a piece called The Cuckoo Clock where there is a slight shift in hand position which you can see as he pauses briefly to get set:

Happy 8th Birthday, Nick!

Happy Birthday Nicholas!

It's so hard to believe that you are 8 years old today!  8 years ago, I held you for the first time and my life has never been the same.   You are my wild and crazy child one minute and then my snugglebunny the next.

 This morning you started with the snuggles and then when I wanted a picture of my birthday boy, you grabbed my phone and started taking selfies which ended up with you cracking yourself up to no end.  Your laugh is so infectious that you soon had everyone in the room joining in.

You have grown so much this year and learned how to do so many things.  It's hard to remember when you couldn't do things those things. When you decide you want to do something, you don't let anything stop you. I hope that is something that you never lose.

 Your relationship with your brothers has a lot of ups and downs, especially with Jon but Matthew continues to be your brother of choice.  You love hugging him and whatever he likes to play, you enthusiastically take up as well just so you can play with him.  You annoy him and flatter him all at the same time and while I know it seems like he tells you to go away all the time, there are a lot of moments like this when the two of you start goofing off and the sound of your laughter fills the house.

 It's not often that we catch you being still because you are almost always in motion but we appreciate the small bits of time when you do slow down.  More often, we are yet again after you to stop running in the house so you don't get hurt.  Is it any surprise you love playing sports like soccer and hockey?  Or that while your piano teacher is constantly working with Matthew to come up to tempo, she and I are both constantly trying to get you to slow down and play at the right speed?  I love your enthusiasm and the way you are always racing to get the most of out of life but there are times when I really hope you will some day learn how to slow down and enjoy things those things that only happen when you are still and quiet.

School is something that you alternately love and hate.  You like learning new stuff, especially in math and science, but trying to get you to do any of the paper stuff is a mixed bag.  You have really gotten into reading this past year and will easily spend an hour just curled up reading.  You love to declare that it's "reading party time!" where we should all curl up on the couch or in my bed with a book and just read.  Pretty awesome idea and one I'm always happy to oblige you with.

Of course, you have made it abundantly clear that you have your own way you think things should be done and it's not easy to convince you otherwise.  Is it chilly in the house?  Then we can be sure to find you behind my chair and next to the heater doing your schoolwork.  Don't want to do your schoolwork?  Just hide it under the sideboard because of course we won't look there even when it's where you always put it.   We are still trying to find a balance with you of giving you ways to assert your independence without completely ruling the house or driving us out of our minds.  Some days we think we have found it and the next day you make sure to prove just how silly we were to ever think that.

We took you to see snow for the first time this year and you couldn't get enough of it.  You would go outside until you were frozen and then come in just long enough to thaw out and then want to go back outside again.  Snowballs, skiing, sledding, snow angels....you wanted all of it and all the time.  

In short, you are nothing but an amazing, silly, smart, wild, reckless, caring, thoughtful, crazy, goofball child.  You are a bundle of contradictions and keep us on our toes at all times and as crazy as you drive me on a daily basis, I wouldn't change you for the world.

  I love you to infinity and beyond!

Drawback of the new house...

It's funny the things you don't even think about when you are looking at potential homes or how you view them when you are looking at them and then how you view them later in life.  

Like living here, we are walking distance to the Sheriff's substation and the only ER on the coast and the fire department isn't too far away either.  Normally this seems like a good thing since you know that any emergency service you will ever need can get to you quickly.

Until the day your child is going out for his first ever driving lesson and it's raining so of course there are accidents happening and you get to keep hearing the sirens of emergency vehicles going off on a regular basis and every time you heart stops because what if it's your baby???

Hard to see with the glare and rain on the window but that's Matthew behind the wheel of a car for the first time ever sticking his tongue out at me because, well, it's Matt.  He did fine.  Instructor never had to use his emergency brake and no vehicles, people, or other property was damaged during the lesson.  He even did so well that the instructor had him drive over Devil's Slide to the Taco Bell and then practice over in that area for a while before letting him drive back over Devil's Slide to get home.  I didn't even drive that road until I'd had my license for a few years!  Well done kiddo!

But no, I'm still not ready to get into the car with you behind the wheel.

Matthew jamming

It's pretty rare that Matthew lets me film him messing around on his guitar but I was allowed to last night after he and I spent some time talking about not only the songs he has been working on in his lessons but the different techniques that he has to learn for those songs.  He decided to mess around for a bit and show me a bunch of different things with some of his favorite chords and actually allow me the privilege of recording it to share with others.  Enjoy!

It just had to happen....

Matthew's first mugshot

Ok, maybe not an actual "mugshot" but it certainly looks like it should be one but really, what can you expect from the DMV when it seems like whoever is trained to take photos is also trained on how to make you look as horrid as possible.

Oh, yeah, did I mention, this is on his Learner's Permit?  Yeah, that's right, the state of CA and the DMV have given him permission to get behind the wheel of a vehicle provided he has a licensed driver over the age of 25 with him.  Seriously?  Without one of those fancy driving school, emergency brake things I'm pretty sure that's not actually safe for anyone.

Of course, he can't actually drive yet but his first lesson with the driving school will be on Friday so anyone living in HMB, this is my official apology and also, my warning to you to stay inside and off the sidewalks that day.

Gorillas, tigers, and komodo dragons....oh my!

The kids have been asking when we could go to the zoo and see the new komodo dragon there as well as check out the new playground.  Not truly thinking things through, I thought today would be a great day to do that since we had no school, no therapy, and would only need to skip out on swim team.  We went with some friends but so did everyone else and their cousin as we ended up parking on the sand across the street and our friends parked in Timbuktu.

 Even with everyone being there we were still able to see the animals we really wanted to see like the 6mo old gorilla baby, Kabibe, and the 2.5yr old komodo dragon:

And of course no trip to the zoo would ever be complete with oohing and ahhing over the beautiful peacocks, especially since they are Nick's favorite animal:

And really, who can blame him?  They are just gorgeous!  It's also completely necessary to go see the tiger cub, Jillian:

 The best thing about having the membership is we were able to go and enjoy seeing the couple of animals we wanted and spend as long as we liked admiring them without trying to see everything and then having a nice liesurely lunch before hitting the playground for a bit.  The new playground is wonderful and the younger boys definitely gave it two thumbs up.

And of course, no zoo trip would be complete without Matthew ending up with a new penguin.  Meet Edgar!

Playing hooky!

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here and while yes, I realize that it's not a good thing and we are looking at drought conditions for the year from the lack of rain, still, it's January and it's in the 70s and we live near the beach that is always cold and fogged over during the summer.

I've decided that this means it's time to play hooky and head to beach with my boys and just enjoy the peace of the waves lapping up and the warmth of the sunshine while my kids boogie board and play in the ocean and sand.

This is exactly what I needed right now.  This week has been insane and it's so easy to lose myself in doing what I feel HAS to be done but then I miss out on the great opportunities to just enjoy life and my children.  I'm working hard to change that and to be open to them when they come up.  This one was a compromise where they wanted to go a few days ago but with a combination of already scheduled appointments, I cringed at it but I told them we would check the weather reports and today looked equally nice with the bonus of not having a lot going on so sneaking away for a few hours worked just fine.  

You would think I'd learn by now

But no.  I don't stop and think about how crazy the first couple of weeks back to school are after any prolonged break and somehow this time, I managed to schedule even more craziness for myself in the first two weeks coming back from winter break this time than ever before.

Orthodontist appointment in San Mateo on the only free day in the first week?
Sure!

Oh, hey, while we are there and they tell me that he needs to have several of his brackets moved and that needs to be done ASAP and we have an appointment next Tuesday which is the same day as your chiropractic appointment, another kid has a swim lesson and then a dental cleaning in Pacifica, and same kid for ortho work has acting that evening?

Of course!

AYSO Board meeting while we are getting things set up for the Spring Season on Monday?
Check!

IEP meeting for Nick on Wednesday now that I finally got them to agree to an OT evaluation?
No problem!

Don't forget to throw in an ES meeting on Friday to round things off!
Absolutely!

It's at times like this tho that I'm thankful for my friends.  Jon's swim team has switched times around so that he will get out at the same time Nick gets out of his advanced swim class.  Thankfully his best friend is there at the same time and they live next to Nick's class so they can pick him up and bring him back to their house and he can walk over to meet me.

I also got the very rude shock that SamTrans has changed all the bus routes and times that my older two were depending on to get them to and from their college classes this semester since neither of them drive and that this was going to wreck all kinds of havoc on our schedules but thankfully one of their friends will be there at the times they will really need a ride.

So yeah, life is super crazy but we can all get by with a little help from our friends.

It's Never Easy...

 Going back to school after the winter break.  Two weeks just isn't quite long enough, especially with all the visiting and parties and presents and general holiday craziness that takes over that two weeks.  You just barely are coming down off that when you get thrown back into the craziness of the school schedule but now you don't have that big break coming any time soon.  It's months with the occasional day off here and there and it just seems a grind at this point.

Yeah, can you tell I'm no more excited than the kids?  Maybe it's the nasty cough keeping me awake half the night so I'm not sleeping but man, I really want another week or even two of not dealing with all the craziness.  But since I'm not getting that, I decided to do some science experiments with Nick today to try and get him back into the swing of things so we did an experiment to see how much salt we would have to add to this glass of water to make the egg float (the answer was it started floating at 5tsp but was awesome at 6-7) and now the same egg is sitting in an identical glass filled with vinegar to have it's shell eaten away so we can study the parts of it while it's still in raw in the membrane.

(for the record, it didn't work, he was a total pitb about working most of the day but at least we had a few good moments)

But at the end of the day, we were able to chill and have fun and then the kids decided to all pile on mom's lap (well, except the oldest who had already vanished back up to his boy cave) and I guess that's what's really important

Well, that and breathing which I was able to do once they all vacated my lap.  LOL

2014?! How did that happen?!

Looking back on on 2013 I realize that I pretty much fell off the map in a lot of ways.  Getting settled took a lot of work and then trying to get us through the rest of the school year was more.  By the time we hit summer, I was cooked/fried/toasted/you name it.  I went on a ton of field trips with the kids and got them to their activities but other than that, I pretty much vegged and let my brain become a vegetable.  After the previous two years of going non-stop with the remodel, buying a new home, moving, and then finally selling our old home I think I was due.  As we got ready to enter the new school year, I was hopeful about getting onto a better schedule and setting time aside for things like blogging and getting back to doing the things that refresh my mind when I was hit with the news that one of my brothers had chosen to take his own life.  While we weren't particularly close, the news was still a shock and is something that I've had a hard time wrapping my head around.  I sank into myself and pretty much did only what needed doing for several months as I dealt with the emotional turmoil.  It was sometime in November that I started working to come back to the real world but of course, that meant dealing with the holidays and all that entails plus trying to deal with the backlog of stuff that wasn't being dealt with during my break from reality.  I still have a lot of stuff that needs dealing with but I'm slowly working my way through it all.

As for how I did with my goals last year, well, I'm sure anyone reading this can pretty much guess that I didn't do much with any of them.  Ok, I lie.  I did pretty good with my reading goal and finding peace within myself.  I call that a win.  Something I had no idea was going to happen was a resurgence of something resembling a social life.  I joined my friend's book club which gets me out of the house once a month for some adult time, I've ended up on the AYSO board again, and this month some friends have decided to start up a craft club which I'm part of.  I've also just been getting out with friends.

This year, is going to be about more self-care.  I really do want to eat better as I do feel sluggish and am not having as much energy as I would like.  I also want to get back to working out, again because I feel better doing it and I do want to finally complete a half-marathon.  It didn't happen last year due to injuries but this year I'm more hopeful.  The black belt is on hold for now due to finances and Jon's swim team schedule but I hope to one day complete it and I will continue to practice on my own until I can get back to class.

My photography is something I want to do in combination with getting outside more.  I'm also really hoping that this year we can do more work in the yard and maybe even get the vegetable garden going and I can start playing in the dirt with some flowers too but it's been a really dry year so I'm not sure if that will happen or not.

While I've gotten a ton of unpacking done, there are still boxes to sort through and areas to reorganize.  I don't know that it will all get done this year but I do want to continue making progress with it although I don't know if Mark will ever be able to park a car in the garage.  His beer making stuff is kind of taking over that space.  Well, that and the kids fooseball table.   Why else have a garage tho?  LOL

While last year ended with a month where I was barely home, this year is starting off much quieter and I've only left the house one day so far.  It won't last but I'm enjoying the quiet time while I can, working on dealing with stuff to try and make the start of the next semester go smoothly.  We'll see how it works out.

The one thing I do really want to work on is blogging more and if nothing else, I want to make that a priority.  The kids are growing up so fast and there are so many fun things that they do or say that I know I won't remember years from now and I want to be able to capture at least some of it.

And now for a word from the wise...

I wish I had through to get some video of Chris this morning.  The dentist gave him valium to take last night for his extraction today and oh man was that child loopy!!!  LOL   Every thing was HILARIOUS to him and he was falling down laughing constantly.  And then the extraction actually took place...

Yeah, Chris isn't looking too thrilled with life.  Apparently the happy drugs wore off.  He got the wisdom teeth on the left side extracted because the lower one was impacted and as a result the top one was growing down too far and impacting his bite.  So out they came.  At least school doesn't start til Monday honey...

Swelling Faces, Insurance Woes, and Tether Ball...Oh My!

 Life is just never dull around here.  There are days when I try to have a down day to see what it might be like and then I wake up and find that my kid's right cheek and neck are swollen and we have no idea why and neither do the advice nurse or doctor she talks to at Kaiser and they insist we come in.

That was yesterday morning.

We got there right on time for his appointment to be told that it was $135 to be seen because he was no longer covered.

Um, excuse me?!?!?!  I just paid a good chunk of money to our COBRA company for all of us to be covered and my older two boys just got shots last week and this was not mentioned so what are you talking about?

Cue hysterics on my part and total freak out.

Ok, calming down....slightly.

They do a lot of checking and basically it comes back that the rest of us are covered but Jon was terminated 10/1/12...or in other words, his COBRA coverage never went through.  I had Mark call COBRA and they said that they are showing that he is covered so there is some screw-up between the systems which they are supposed to sort out but which will inevitably require several phone calls, faxes, and emails on my part to make sure it is actually taken care of properly.  In the meantime, the poor office lady who is dealing with me agrees to bill the $135 so hopefully things will be sorted out before we get that bill and it will just be for our co-pay.

Now we can actually go see the doctor.

He examines Jon and thinks there is either a small calcium stone blocking the saliva duct or an infection in the saliva gland itself.  Either way, antibiotics and he should suck on sour citrus candy to increase saliva production.  He's pretty happy with this news.  I'm not when we go to the pharmacy and find out that since he is currently listed as not being covered it's $153 for his antibiotics but once we get things straightened out, I can go through a huge hassle to try and get refunded.

Gee thanks.


At this point, I just want to get out of there and get on with my day which includes a shopping trip at Costco and then a run into Safeway (I know, exciting right?).  It is worth mentioning that you should never, ever, EVER go shopping at either of these places when tired, stressed, and cranky.  You spend waaaaaay more than you have budgeted.

But you also get your kids a tether ball and become the world's best mommy when you set it up the next day so I suppose it's all worth it in the end.

Summer already????

It's really hard to believe that we are basically done with the school year.  Ocean Grove finished up last Friday and the community colleges finish up this week.  Chris's finals are actually done at this point so he is free until mid-June when his online summer courses start up.  Matthew's college final is tonight but he is still working on his finals for all his regular high school classes but those should be all done by the middle of next week.  I'm looking at a calendar that seems remarkable empty given what looks like during the school year.  It's nice tho because it gives us time to do things like check out museums and play more.  You know, see things like this:

The Terra Cotta Warriors that guarded the First Emperor of China's tomb  (AMAZING!!!)

With that being said tho, it was a really great school year and I'm already full of plans to make next year even better although trying to top Gadget-Gadget and Hrog the Dragon Archer will be hard since I'm pretty sure that was the highlight for Jon and Nick.

 But even with all my plans for field trips and cleaning and organizing the house, I'm going to make sure to spend plenty of time relaxing and enjoying what I have today.

And find time to do some gardening too!

Matthew got his braces off today!

 So it's a big day for Matthew.  He was supposed to have them on for 15-18mos and it's been just barely 12mos and his braces are off.  Here you can see his last picture with his braces on and then his beautiful new smile!

For contrast the top picture here was take today and shows his new straight teeth, the bottom was taken just before treatment began.  I looked back through a few years worth of photos and could not find any good ones of him smiling before the braces.  He smiled more with them on than he did before because his smile bothered him because of his teeth sticking out at all sorts of wacky angles including one tooth that jutted out at an almost 90 degree angle from the rest.

Thank you Alborzi Orthodontics for letting us show Matthew's wonderful smile to the world!

Jon's First Swim Meet

I know I need to work on updating here more but things have definitely been crazy since the move.  However, Jon just participating in his first ever swim meet last Sunday and a friend was kind enough to video some of his races.  He was competing against others who had not competed in that particular event.  He did the 100 IM, 50 Freestyle, 50 Breaststroke, and 50 Butterfly.  I had to work on taxes that day so was only able to see (and photograph which will be being added soon to this post) the 100 IM and the 50 Butterfly.  He placed 2nd of 3 in the IM, 4th of 5 in Butterfly, 5th of 5 in Breaststroke, and 1st of 5 in Freestyle.  Watching him do his first race was amazing.  He has worked so hard and I'm so proud of him.  That first race, he really had no idea what to expect or how things went.  He got up there and was looking around figuring it all out.  The race started and he just went all out.  He was neck and neck with the first place boy for the first two laps (butterfly and backstroke) but then really slowed down during the third lap which was breaststroke (his hardest stroke).  The third place boy was able to overtake him during that and started his freestyle (final lap) ahead of him but Jon did a great flipturn and put on the jets and finished a few seconds ahead to take 2nd place.  He came out with the biggest smile on his face and had so much more confidence the rest of the day.  He had a great time and it was a truly wonderful experience for all of us.

Our backyard neighbors

 We have some beautiful new neighbors in our backyard although to be fair, I'm not sure if they live there or elsewhere and just hang out here for the cool trees.

 There are a pair of these Jays that I caught a few days ago.  The one above is different from the one to the right.  Yes, they are brazen as you would expect but it's such a treat to watch them zooming around the yard from the dining room.

 I had originally grabbed my camera last week to try and get pictures of the Jays but by the time I got outside, the Jays were gone and this pair of doves were hanging out instead.  To the left is in one of the smaller trees towards the back of our property.

This one to the right is a different dove (I do think they are mates tho) and was taken with my zoom as he is sitting in the branches of a very tall cypress on the west side of the yard.  I was so pleased to get this shot tho.  Thankfully these guys are not nearly as loud as the pair that hung out in the pine trees behind the old house so they are welcome to chill out here any time.

A House Full of Music

My grandparents bought a piano for my mother to learn to play back in 1960.  She eventually had it moved into her house in San Jose after she married and when I was a teenager and taking choir, she gave me a few tips and I started teaching myself to play.

 After my mother no longer had room for it in her house, it went back to my grandmother's where she started taking lessons.  After her strokes, she could no longer play and when she was moved into an assisted living facility before her death, I said I wanted to give the piano a good home.

When we bought this house that dream came true.  It was set up in the dining room with my grandmother's dining set and many pieces of art from her home.  It was tuned in December and last Friday, the fourth generation of our family started taking lessons.  Both Matthew and Nick are currently learning with me listening in and trying to learn proper technique now.

Wednesday will be the death of me

I think it was two years that I was pretty sure Tuesday was out to kill me.  Now I know that Tuesday was really just softening me up for Wednesday's death blow.  I'm not sure how the schedule became as insane as it has and I guess all I can do is be thankful that Jon's swim team time moved so late that it now interferes with YAW so it had to be moved to Thursdays.  So here's the current schedule:

9:15a  Leave for speech
9:30a Speech for Jon and Nick
10:10a    Resource Therapy for Jon (this takes place at a coffee shop near speech speech and I work with Nick)
11:30a   Get home
3:30p    Leave to drop off  Nick at YAW
3:55p    Return home and start working on dinner
4:30p    Leave to pick-up Nick and drop off Jon at YAW
5:30p    Return home after Nick has had playtime with his best friend
5:50p    Leave to go pick up Jon
6:10p    Return home and drop off Jon, pick up Matt and drive him to class at Skyline


Not sure how things are going to go after the drop-off part.  His class technically gets out at 10p but last night was the first one and they were out at 8:30p.  I was running errands so it was no big deal this time but should it be a habit, Mark will end up doing pick-up when he's home and I think I'll be taking kids out to dinner during that time when he's in NY.   It makes zero sense to come home if he'll be out in 90min considering it's a 30min drive each way.  In what little time I'm home and awake I need to keep things running and do school with the other kiddos.  I seriously don't think I've ever had such a crazy schedule and it's certainly not one I would choose but things aligned this way and thankfully it's only for a few months and then we'll get the summer off to try and figure out a better schedule.  Unfortunately Matt will likely still have a class at Skyline because CSM has stopped carrying ASL and he needs two semesters but it's a total pain because the bus system is horrendous to try and get there from here.  I had no idea it was that bad when Matt signed up for the class and had figured he'd be able to at least get himself there.  *sigh*  Oh, well, now we know and after he's done with ASL, I'll definitely be trying to keep classes for non-drivers at CSM.