A couple of up to dates pics....

From February 17th

Saturday & Sunday We’ve had a quiet week, really. There is a lot happening with Pocket Angels, which is keeping Bruce nice and busy. The weekend was spent staying close to home. There was lots of cleaning and organizing around the house. The weather was really nice so we did some outside work as well. We got some walking in and also bike riding; the colder weather is heading back so we got some exercise in while we could. Spent Saturday afternoon at the park with Paula and the boys. Sunday was just chillin. So the weekend was a nice quiet one, recharging the batteries. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Unfortunately, there was nothing great to report. The usual start to the week, we all did the school and work thing. The weather has turned a little and by Wednesday the rain and cold weather was here. Thursday Bruce picked Paula up at 5.30am, and dropped her off at the bus to go to the airport; she is off to China. The boys came over and they came to school with us. I did the usual parent helping and then went to work trying to keep the girls in line, just kidding, it’s not too bad considering the boss is away for a week. The usual fires had to be put out; Bruce was busy as per usual. Jamieson had his 100th day of school celebration at school, which is a nice touch as they do 100’s in Math class and make trail mix out of stuff everyone brings. It’s a fun day for the kids, which teaches them math as well so how can you be unhappy about that. Conner has been doing reports and a lot of research on Missions at school and tonight they had their concert. Conner was a ‘Friar’, he did really great and didn’t complain at all, which was a change. Usually he just says, NO, not doing it. It was a good play and they all did a really great job. Friday Lots of organizing at work, we have our new planner starting on the 2nd so there is a lot of stuff to get done before she starts, most of it is done now though. Bruce was in and out today; meetings etc, we are currently organizing some samples for Pocket Angels, lots to do. We came home from work and school and tidied up the house and get some dinner. The Charles arrived after dinner at around 6.30. We just chatted and the kids all went out and played in the garage until it was time for them to go. So that was really nice, all we had to worry about was bubba Cooper getting into the DVD player and PS2. He was great though, he’s at that great age now where he’s getting around and thinks he’s great cause he can. They left at around 9.30 and the boys went off to bed. Bruce and I chilled out for a little while and went off to bed around 10.30. Another busy week, but not a lot to tell at the moment. Things are in the pipeline and will be divulged when the T’s are crossed and I’s are dotted, so to speak. I hope you all had a great week, getting ready for the basketball and footy seasons to start.

From 10th February

Saturday We woke up this morning and it was still raining. Bruce went and got the boys from Paula’s at around 10.00. Jamieson had a birthday party to go to. Bruce dropped Jamieson off and came home. Paula took Conner to the Train Museum. Then, Bruce drove Jamieson in to have a look after the party was over. While this was all happening, I made lasagna for potluck dinner at Karen’s tonight. They got home in the afternoon and Paula was having a blah day so she and I went out to do a little bargain shopping at around 3.30. We stayed a little longer than we should have. We got home and had a quick shower, threw the hair up and we were out of the house at 6.30. It was a nice evening, about 5 families, we all had some dinner and drank and ate and talked. The kids all played really well, we hardly heard them, it was great. Everyone left around 11.00, but Paula and I stayed until 12.00, just chatting trying to figure out what the hell happened with the Dinner Dance. The reason that we were all there was because the dinner dance was cancelled was because of the lack of numbers. People here are just weird, they didn’t want to go out to dinner without their kids and have a nice dinner and dancing. See! Weird! Sunday Today was a nice quiet day at home. I spent the morning cleaning out the cupboards. Then I had the joy of spending 45 mins scrubbing (not kidding) the shower to try and get the calcium off. The water here is got lots of calcium in it, that’s why we drink water out of the bottle. The boys just hung out in their PJ’s playing. We had some lunch and Bruce took the boys over to Mark’s place for a couple of hours in the afternoon while I finished cleaning the rest of the house. Not a very exciting day, but I think the house actually felt clean for 10 mins or so. The boys got home and we had some dinner. Bruce and I watched a movie and went off to bed to get a good night sleep before the week starts. Monday, Tuesday Well, it’s been another usual start to the week. School, work, the typical, bet you’re all not jealous anymore. It’s just like home but everyone talks different. Monday the kids had off school for Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, Bruce was home for the morning so I went to work until lunchtime. Bruce went off to a meeting in the afternoon and the boys and I just hung out at the house. Tuesday afternoon, the kids did their homework and Bruce did the usual driving the computer all day. We’ve had a couple of ordinary days with not a lot to report. Wednesday Happy Valentines Day Happy Birthday to Lisa Cheatley…. hope you had a great day. You have no idea about Valentines Day until you are in the US for Valentines Day. Everyone gives anyone something on Valentines Day. The boys even got a flyer sent home from school asking them to (if they wanted) bring in Valentines for everyone in the class. You can imagine Conner, NO WAY Mum, Bruce was sitting in the room saying, good boy. You can get little cards everywhere for this reason, Jamieson got Spiderman ones. I bought Conner Bart Simpson ones. He was having nothing of it. I had been told; apparently it’s all about the candy. So I just sent Conner to school with a bag on lollypops to give everyone one. It’s a huge day, I got a box of chocolates from Millie, and Jenny (doing some Billy Bounce work with us) gave Bruce and I a little box of chocolates. So we learnt a lot today. Bruce picked me up from work and gave me, as he put it. “For the first time in 15 years”, (check out the number, that’s just weird) I got a cool pink mug with a love heart on it and a new pink travel mug from Starbucks. The boys came home from school with literally a paper bag filled with lollies. Which thrilled us to no end, as you can imagine. We had a real romantic dinner; hamburgers and then Bruce went over to Paula’s for business coaching. I chatted to Rhys on messenger, got emails from Ross. They are both coming over in June. Yeay!!! That should be lots of fun. We are looking forward to that. So our Valentines Day was another GBA day, learning more about celebrating another holiday, they just don’t do anything low key over here. Thursday It’s another gorgeous sunny day today and I walked the kids to school and did parent helping for Conner’s class. I got to work at 10.00 and Bruce went home to meet the water guy. I worked for a few hours then went to pick the kids up from school. We got home and the kids just chilled out for the afternoon finishing off the week’s homework. Jeremy had his Presidents day concert at school and we met Paula and the kids at school at 6.00. The concert was really good, lots of songs and great costumes. Some of them were dressed up as Presidents and the rest had their flag necks scarves. After that they dropped in for a quick play before going home. I made some chicken and avocado pasta for dinner, which turned out really nice, my husband was happy. So I can add that to the menu. I watched another FABULOUS episode of Grey’s Anatomy; you guys are in for a great new season. We were in bed at around 10.30. Friday We woke up to such a gorgeous morning, the sun was out and it was still fresh but just gorgeous. Bruce left early for meetings. I let the boys walk to school this morning. We have been gradually backing off, Bruce had been walking them to the corner and watching them cross the road (really busy intersection, but most of the cars are fine because they are school parents.) I packed the bag and jumped on the bike and road to work. It was nice, even if the bag weighs about 20 pounds. That’s something we have to figure out considering my back isn’t in the best condition. It’s better for the back than walking and it takes less time so it’s a good option. Having the extra 15 mins in the morning makes a big difference: the beds get made. I worked until around 1.30 and jumped on the bike and rode home. Bruce called to check in, and was home not long after. His meetings went very well. There are a couple of opportunities for Billy B and Pocket Angels coming up, so that should be great. I picked the kids up from school and Conner proudly gave me his end of week assessment sheet, saying, ‘my lowest mark this week was a B- mum”. I think we have turned a corner, (touch wood) we are now working on his English to bring his grade up from a C average to a B, that’s our goal. Maybe not for this part of the year: but by the end of the year. We got home and the kids had their snacks and chatted with Bruce about their day. They chilled out for a while, and I went out to grab a couple of things, and time by myself. I got back in time for us to change and we made out way to Miss Paula’s for dinner. One thing I have learnt from Paula was no matter what when she makes a meal she has every food group covered. It’s actually very clever, if there are no veggies she will make sure there is a few pieces of fruit on the bench. We had, sausages, eggs, pancakes, hash browns, strawberries, bananas, it was so yummy and we were all full. I think that’s something we will start doing; the boys thought it was great. The kids settled in and Bruce put the projector on the wall and they watched Tom and Jerry (classics). They don’t make them like that anymore. We were home and the kids in bed by 10.00. It was a good week, the weather this week has been really beautiful, the sun has been out and we even his 73F on Wednesday. It’s due to rain again next week, so we are making the most of it till then. I hope everyone had a great week, have a great weekend.

From February 3rd

Saturday Didn’t do a lot. Cleaned up the house, Bruce bought me a bike; we went for a bike ride. It was a gorgeous, mild day. Bruce went off to Ikea to buy another desk and some book shelves and I asked him to hit a couple of garage sales on the way. He got a lawnmower, which we really needed. $15 and said the people were really nice. Conner swept out the front, Bruce worked. Finished the blog. Nice quiet afternoon, then just bits and pieces for dinner and the boys went off to bed. We all sat down to watch ‘Click’. We watched the stupidest movie, ever; I didn’t watch all of it. It was CRAP. Sunday Slept in, and chilled out in bed the usual washing and tidying etc. Bruce did Billy Bounce and got home around 10.30. The Boys played the play station for a while. Bruce bought home the movie I had wanted the night before but was gone, so I watched ‘The Lake house’. A very big chick flick, but a good movie, I really enjoyed it. We had showers and got ready for our first Super Bowl. We were out of the house and went to Mark and Renee’s for Super Bowl Sunday. It was fun afternoon; they have a gorgeous home. Mark is a gadget freak and has everything and more. I didn’t really watch the game, the boys did and I just chatted with their family and friends, nice people. We got home around 8.00. The boys went off to bed after a big afternoon. Bruce and I had a quiet night, Bruce was in bed early and I wasn’t too far behind him. Monday Happy Birthday Bubba Felix!!! Another week started, the usual the boys and I were out the door for school and Bruce dropped me off at work. Nothing exciting happening at work, back in the holding pattern again, waiting for some direction to tie up some loose ends that are driving me crazy. I picked up the kids from school and we went home and did homework. I tidied up as usual and started on dinner. Bruce went out to a meeting; Jenny was here doing some Billy bounce stuff so she had some dinner with us, which was nice. She is going to be sitting with the boys on Saturday night while Bruce and I go to he Stone Lake dinner dance, which should be fun. I finally chatted with Rael’s and the boys. You should see how much they have grown it’s amazing. Especially Bubba, he’s so tall, Bruce took one look and went Hello Jamieson, oh my they are so alike. We chatted for over an hour, which was great and had a really good catch-up and Oscar got to talk to the boys, which they all really loved. The only bad thing it makes Conner want to come home more. Then straight onto Rhys, (you guys better get a microphone soon) we do webcam but they don’t have a mic so they can here me but I can’t hear them, it’ just not the same. Huge news, Rhys may be coming over in June when Ross comes over for his conference, YEAY!!! He has some more saving to do but fingers crossed, the boys are very excited. Tuesday, Wednesday The rain came last night; it was nice and refreshing. The grass was actually looking yellow from the frost. It’s rained for the past couple of days not a lot but enough to green everything up, it’s also a little warmer when it’s raining, something about the clouds being lower. It has been a usual (kind of couple of days). Work, school, parent helping, homework, cleaning, tidying. I went and did a bit of shopping (Wed) night; a department store was having a huge sale, all winter clothes were $2, $4 or $6. Alex and the little boys scored the most, and I got some nice stuff as well. Thursday It was another usual day today in Northern California today, the rain continues falling, sporadically. Nothing out of the ordinary, I did parent helping and cut out hearts for Valentines Day stuff again, just like Tuesday’s parent helping. I have to go out and buy valentines for both classes this weekend for the kids to take on Tuesday. It’s a whole big American candy thing, that’s what the kids do it for, the candy I’m told. Which, now I can understand, before it was a little weird. I picked the kids up from school and we did the homework, Bruce was out at a meeting and got back around dinnertime. Nothing exciting, just bits and pieces, a low-key dinner. The boys were off to bed and Bruce did some work, I was on messenger with Mitch (Jolly) for a nice catch up then briefly with Elise. After that, the world stopped and I watched Grey’s Anatomy. Great episode, you Grey’s lovers are not going to be disappointed in the new season that’s for sure. Friday We woke up to the rain today, and it looked like it was here for a while. Apparently January is usually the rainy month, but now they are saying it’s going to be February. You can imagine how exciting that sounds to me, not. We got up and did the usual, I was about to walk the kids to school when Miss Paula (taxi driver) stopped by and dropped the kids off to school for me. Bruce dropped me off at work, and went home to put his head down. Lots to do before the Final Four as well as other stuff on top of that. Paula was actually in today for the morning so I got some I’s dotted and t’s crossed which was a great thing for my task list. It’s looking very free and easy at the moment, which is always a good thing. Paula went off to parent helping and the girls and I plodded along for the afternoon. I did lose track of time and nearly forgot to leave to get the kids from school. I had enough time to drop my bag and walk over to get them, still in the rain. It has been raining all day and I think it’s here for a long while. I saw Paula with Jeremy at school and he wasn’t happy, headache he said. So I told her to go and grab Justin from CDI (after school care) and drop around with us for the afternoon so she could get back to work. So we had a couple extras for the afternoon, which was fun for the boys, Paula dropped by around 5.30 and took the two younger ones to her place while the older ones stayed to watch the basketball. Paula doesn’t have cable. The boys are going over there for a sleepover tonight, so Bruce dropped them over around 6.30. Bruce and I got changed and went out to dinner. I think it was the first time we got to do that since we’ve been here. We went out to BJ’s a really nice place, and we had a really nice dinner. Caught up on some stuff and just spent some time together. It was a nice night for the adults. Well it’s been a good week for the Hultgren’s, lots of things going on but not a lot to talk about, if that makes sense. The rain has started so I guess that’s the next faze of winter and Spring is on the way.

From 27th January.....

Saturday Woke up to another nice sunny, but very cold and brisk Saturday morning. I went off to be supermarket to get some stuff for dessert for dinner. We were out of the house off to Jamieson’s last game of basketball at 10.00am. They played well for their last game, and ended with the season with a win. We all went out to lunch at Brayden’s grandma’s shop. We got home around 2.00. We did the usual tidying up and I baked a cake for out dinner at the Hawkins tonight. We were back at the stadium at 4.00 for Conner’s game. They played so well, and really deserved to win, they were up until around 2 mins to go, it was the closest they came to winning for most of the season. So they were bummed at the end of the game. We did trophies and hurried home to change and literally run out the door to the Hawkins up the road. We arrived and pretty much had dinner straight away. It was really nice to sit down and learn about new friends. The kids are all about the same age so our boys and their boys played beautifully. They have lots of fun together. We were home around 10.30 and in bed not long after that. It’s been a long day and was actually a great day, just really tiring. Sunday We woke up to what would be another long day. Bruce went off to Billy Bounce and I did the usual in the morning as did the boys, watching TV and chilling out. Bruce got home at around 10.00 and vacuumed for me. We had a snack and were back at the stadium at 12.00 to do some Billy Bounce filming for a couple of hours for a training video. It was a long time considering all the kids had already done their Billy Bounce session that morning. We were home relaxing around 3.00 and I finished cleaning the house. Paula and the boys came over at around and had some dinner with us. They left around 7.30 and the boys went off to bed. Bruce and I watched a movie together and went off to bed. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Another week starting again, everyone back to their usual routine. School and work, the usual stuff, the day to day boring not very exciting for being on the other side of the world usual stuff. If my calculations are correct, my gorgeous Alex is having her 1st day of school. I am waiting for a photo, which I know is coming. I hope she had a great day and hopefully will get to chat later in the week. On Tuesday Millie and Lexie came over for their weekly visit and catch up. After dinner, Bruce went over to Paula’s, he is doing some business coaching with her, which is helping her clarity a lot. On Wednesday, the fog rolled in, people had talked about it and there it was. We couldn’t see the other side of the oval as we were walking to school. Conner said, “freaky mum”. After school Nolan (Hawkins) came over to our place to play, then Conner ended up going over to their place to play with Matthew. He rode over on the bike then, we rode over there to take Nolan home and pick Conner up. Weird being on a bike again, it’s been a while. We had some dinner and the boys went off to bed. I chatted with Elise on messenger and tried to schedule some time to chat with Rael’s on computer. Our schedules are opposites at the moment. Thursday The fog is still here, and here for a little while I think. We walked over to school and I did parent helping for Conner this morning, I was at work by 10.00. A usual day at work, lots to do but nothing out of the ordinary. The one thing I learnt this week was how to fold maps correctly, sounds funny but there is a certain way to do it. We got all our project deadline stuff done and then, ordered a pizza and all sat down and chatted over lunch. It was a nice change; it’s very rare that we all can sit down together. I picked the boys up from school and Conner had his last Math club lesson today, which he was VERY happy about. We had a nice dinner together then sat down with Conner and went through his Missions project for school which was due Friday. He did a really good job, and he was really proud of the job that he did. Bruce did a bit on the computer and I went to be to read. I am reading the Brad Gilbert book, which is a good read. Friday A minimum day at school today, it’s only an hour or so less work for me but it feels like I’m leaving after not being here for long. Bruce was making a toasted sandwich for Jamieson for breakfast, with the fry pan that isn’t really working. Let’s just say, a lot of the sandwich ended up on the fry pan. Looks like I’m going out later. Big deadline, very intense this morning. As the great team that we are, it was all done and she was out of the office at 1.00 speeding down the freeway to submit it in time. We both left at the same time, Bruce picked the kids up from school then came and got me from work. He went back to work and the boys just spent the afternoon playing and I did some cleaning and a little reading to relax. I went out for a little while, picked up (fluked) a robe for Conner, it’s a little long (to the ground) but he loves it and now we all have one, and we need them. I grabbed some snacks for out games night and then drove home. Paula arrived with the kids and some dinner stuff at around 6.00, we all combined our dinner stuff and were just finishing up when the Charles’ arrived at around 7.00. The kids all caught up and played and watched a movie while the adults caught up. Then, let the rematch begin……Kids one, adults none. Deal or no Deal!!! I made the mistake of putting some Oreo’s and animal crackers out for everyone and the kids ate them all. So you can imagine what happened, kids running everywhere!!! Even not so little Cooper, he had grown from a baby to a little toddler nearly. He’s a little boy, bye bye baby. The adults came out victorious, YEAY!!!!! Everyone was gone by 10.00. The boys went off to bed and Bruce and I cleaned up and were in bed by 10.30. It’s been a big week. A quiet weekend ahead, no basketball YEAY!!!! There is Super bowl on Sunday, we are going to a Super bowl party at Mark and Renee’s (Jamieson’s team parents), which should be an experience. YOU know that you can buy special everything for Super bowl, plates, decorations the works. Looking forward to the experience not the game, the good thing is that the weather is supposed to hit a high of 65F, which the warmest it’s been in a while, no coats maybe. Wooo Hooo!!! Have a great week, and we’ll catch up next week.