November ....

Hey Everyone, it’s now the middle of December and so much has happened this month, November seems so long ago, but here goes anyway.

We started the month of with what can only be described as an Angels weekend. Bruce unwrapped and I stickered over the course of the weekend about 4500 angels. We had the little sweatshop going, he was on the dining room table and I set up camp by bringing the small kitchen table in a sitting in front of the TV with all my stickers…. Conner decided that he wanted to retire from Angels, so that didn’t help, he will come out of retirement when he wants to buy something.

The first week of the month was a kind of exciting one for everyone here, we had US Election day and got to be a part of watching the country elect their first black president. It was nice that the campaign was over, but the man can deliver a speech. It was a good night, we were at Paula’s and we all sat in front of the TV and watched his speech. It’s just another once in a lifetime experience for our little family on our US adventure. We finished out the week with Conner finishing up his school football team party and Jamieson had a field trip at school. A couple of weeks later Jamieson’s teacher would give him a good citizen award. Apparently there was one of the special needs kids on the field trip that he sat with while he had his lunch and made sure he was sitting along beside him until he was fine. We were really proud of him and so was Mrs Sack, as was Jamieson who got to stand up at assembly in front of the whole school.

Our weekend was a busy one. It was Peter’s 1 year anniversary on Saturday so we kept him (Bruce) nice and busy. We had photos for basketball around lunchtime, then mid afternoon Conner’s team had a practice match to give the referee’s at the center assessment time. They (CJ’s team)did far too well, the game ended early as they were 30 points up…Conner enjoyed himself naturally, everyone loves to win. We finished up at the basketball and went over to the Rivera’s for a catch up and to meet (finally) their friends (The Thompson’s) from Sydney. They are the parents of one of the Andrews who were over visiting last year. Graham and Kathy, great people and it was nice, as always to hear the accent. The boys spent a quiet Sunday at home and I went out with Paula and her mum (Doris) who was over visiting from Ohio. We went over to the Mall, had a nice lunch just us girls and did a little shopping, which was fun; Paula and I always find some good bargains especially at Macy’s. We made our way home and all the boys were at the house and had some dinner and caught up with Doris and Pat. It was a nice night and good to see them again.

The month continues on, work for me is still cleaning up after the other employees, which is never fun, especially when you keep finding things…. Paula and I did a little strategic planning which always clears the head a little. Angels are still ticking along, we are in the process of translation into Spanish for the new range of Angels which will be sold across California and Texas mainly. The boys are doing fine at school, I’m in the classrooms each week, which helps with the teacher relationships and have apparently become known for how quick I am on the tasks. I suppose I should take that as a compliment or it means that other mothers so just really slow!!

On the weekend, we finally finished the angels orders (Our first 12 Border’s bookstores and some UPS stores around the country), thank goodness!!! The boys had their first basketball games. Jamieson’s team lost by 3 which was a bummer, but they are still getting used to each other, I think they will probably 4-4 this season. Conner’s team, well, they won by goodness knows how many! We spent Sunday cleaning, baking and gardening. Conner went off to a birthday party, when Bruce came to get him he got upset because he didn’t want to go, always a sign of a good time. I rang home to say Happy Birthday to mum. She was the big 60, I called on Saturday, but she was out enjoying her day. I got the bonus of talking to mum and the Godmother ‘Tracey’ which was really cool. I got the home goss and an hour and a half later hung up the phone.

Our next week consisted of Conner having try outs for the school basketball team every afternoon after school, as the weather is getting colder and darker early Bruce or I had to be at school around 5.30 to pick him up, which makes it tricky considering that usually when we are heading home from my office, but we made it work, a little adjustment here and there. Jamieson had some play dates, so there was a couple of you go that way and I’ll go that way, which I suppose we should start getting used to. Conner made the team, which wasn’t a surprise to him he said, not sure how I feel about that…is it confidence or cockiness??? We’ll see!!

I had a busy week at work, we had a big deadline, long days. We had a lot of sickness through the office in November, which didn’t help with the deadlines we had. Our General Plan, Draft EIR were due. I did a couple long nights, but it’s deadlines. Friday was a long day, but I got it all done, thank goodness.

We had a huge basketball weekend…it started on the Saturday morning; we had the pleasure of going to watch Julian play a CYBL game. (CYBL is another league other than Jnr NBA, which Conner has been asking to play and we have heard no good reports about) Let’s just say, it’s a different breed of parent….and leave it to your imagination. Well, the rest of the story will let you know. It was the end of the game and Julian’s team were up by 3, the referee made a call that could have gone either way and off they went. One parent was ejected, another was asked to get off the court, (yes you heard me) then they were just about to get back to the game and the other coach lost the plot and told all his kids to get off the court and leave!! Yep, we couldn’t believe what we were witnessing; I’ve never seen anything like it. To their credit, some of the parents bought their kids back into the stadium to shake hands. The good thing that came from it was, Conner looked at me while all this was going on “I don’t want to play here’, thank goodness!!

Bruce got a call from an old teammate, Dale Ryan who was staying up in Moraga with David Patrick (St Mary’s assistant coach) and we organized to go and see their game for Sunday and have an Aussie dinner after, which was going to be fun.

Jamieson went off to have an early Thanksgiving Lunch with Julian, Greg and Ruthy. Conner, Bruce and I got into the car, and went home for a little bit, then up to the stadium to watch Justin and Jeremy’s basketball, then watched Jordan’s team and Jamieson’ arrived for his game and finished up the day with Conner’s game. By the time that was all finished it was late, so we got some American fish n chips, which the boys had been asking for, so that made them happy. What a day!!!

On Sunday we made our way down the freeway towards San Fran and just before Vallejo, turned left and down towards San Jose then off to Moraga. It’s a gorgeous little place in the hills. We were driving on these narrow roads in the hills saying, ‘There’s no way there’s a school in these hills’, then there it was, smaller than I thought, but a gorgeous school, beautiful white buildings. We arrived and Dale was there already, I met David while he was darting around before the game, nice guy. We took our really cool front row seats and watched the game. St Mary’s has 5 Australian guys, including Patrick Mills, what a great player to watch play. Adam Quick, one of Bruce’s guys that he used to coach ITC (individual & Elite coaching) with was there with his wife, they live in San Jose now, so it was a real Australian day. After game we met a couple of the guys, Conner got his picture taken with Patrick and he ended up coming out to dinner with us, which made Conner’s night.

We ended up at a little restaurant in Lafayette, talked a lot of Australian basketball, what we are doing here etc, etc, but mostly Australian basketball. It was a good night and the boys had a fun time, especially the big boy. He enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting the young guys. It was a late trip home, but it was worth it, we all had a great day.

Thanksgiving week was upon us, which means the boys are about to go off track until January, that’s the long holiday. I did double duty at parent helping for both teachers, cause they were going off track and needed some help before they finished up.

The boys went off track on Tuesday; the rest of the school went off for the Thanksgiving break. Paula and her boys went to Daytona for the week, Bruce dropped them off at the airport on Monday morning and they are coming back on the weekend. We had a few loose ends from the General Plan/ EIR to finish up, which we got done and we were out of the office at lunchtime on Wednesday, yeay!!!

We spent our Thanksgiving Day at the Rivera’s, Kristie and Carlos made a beautiful meal and we all sat together and had a great afternoon and evening. We went over to the park and the kids ran around and played and the parents froze their butts off. The boys ended up staying at Jeff’s (Rivera’s friends) with the other kids, so they all left and Kristie, Carlos and Bruce and I had a cup of tea watched a movie, then Bruce and I went home to an empty house…so weird!! The only catch was, the car didn’t start, cause we didn’t want to deal with it at 11.00pm at night; we drove the Rivera’s car home. Bummed about the car!

Bruce didn’t go the Black Friday sales this year, nothing we wanted was on big sale, so we decided to sleep. Bruce picked the boys up the next morning and we had a quiet day at home, I did a little tidying up and relaxing. I went out to the sales for a little bit, nothing that I wanted. We ended up going back to the Rivera’s for Turkey pit pie dinner with Carlos, Graham (Australia), Jeff and another friend from United that stays at the Graham’s place in Sydney sometimes too. We called Lizzy for her belated birthday call, sorry Liz! Bloody deadlines will do that!!, that’s my excuse anyway.

Bruce spent the next few days with the mechanic, which was very interesting…. turns out that it was just the fact that there wasn’t a fuse where there should’ve been, go figure. What a crappy way to finish the month and also didn’t help the stress levels, praying it’ll be fixed to drive the San Fran airport for our trip to New York, thank goodness it was.

Hope you all had a great November. Happy Birthday Mum and Liz. It’s getting cold here, all the boots and coats are out.

Thanksgiving at the park...

October Happenings....

Well, here I am again, another month has gone and it’s that time again. (Yes Rich, I got your email but I was going to do it anyway, I promise!) Our month started off with Conner losing his football game, which according to Bruce was the coaches fault and not the kids. Apparently no adjustments were made and the ones he did make were the wrong ones…I didn’t get to that game, I had to work, but it was dad’s turn to turn up!!! Then we ended the week with a Friday night visit to the Charles’ which is always fun. Those boys are growing so much especially little (well not so little anymore) Cooper. He’s talking now which is just sooo weird considering he was born the day before we arrived in the US. Anyway, seeing them was a great way to finish the week and start the month. Our Saturday was fairly normal and boring as we cleaned the house as usual and also wrote last months blog….pretty early hey!!! Sunday was our big day; we got up and headed up to Napa for our lunch at Dawn Marie’s. (Dawn Marie is one of those lovely United airlines attendants’ that helps us get home when she can) anyway, her daughter is currently living in Sydney and she was home for the first time. Her parents were down from Portland so we got to meet all the family at once. Anyway, the ride up was nice, the boys did well and Jamieson didn’t get sick which was a first…. We had a great lunch and Dawn Marie has a great family and some cool friends, parents and Alicia is a really great girl. It was a gorgeous day so we all sat outside and talked and drank and ate and talked. Her friends were mostly ladies that she fly’s with, and by watching them it looks like they have HUGE fun working together. We also met a real rocket scientist, which was really cool!!! Dawn Marie is currently trying to figure out if she is going to move to Australia; at the moment she spends half her time there. The Australia leg is all she does so she’s in Sydney 3-4 days of the week. With her daughter living and working there now, it’s kind of a one sided decision, it’s just red tape. The boys were amazing, charmed the pants off everyone and behaved fantastic! We had a fantastic day. The next week rolls around and I geared up for a big couple of weeks ahead. Conner had a verbal presentation for his Mt Everest report that he’d done and got and A+. I did up the movie night flyer, we settled on Nim’s Island (with Jodie Foster), that’s really all there was which was a bummer. I was hoping to get Kung Fu Panda, but couldn’t get the multipurpose room for the nights we wanted. Conner had a football game, which they won, and Conner got a catch/ touch down, so he was happy. Work was kind of quiet, sickness started to settle in with a couple of the people and a couple also had time off so the office was quiet, which is sometimes a bonus cause you can get stuff done, but if you need some help it’s a bit of a pain. I’m enjoying my Tuesday’s off, parent helping is as usual, but the teachers enjoy the help. Our weekend rolled around and Bruce started his Saturday up and out of the house early to a funeral home in Napa for an angel delivery. The boys and I stayed at home and I cleaned the house a little, in the afternoon once Bruce got back, I went out and got some groceries and brownie stuff to take to our dinner at Andrea’s. Funnily enough there is something that I did want to share which I realized when I was at the store. While I was there I got a little peckish; as you do; and picked myself up a Kit Kat… for 49c!!! Yes, no typo.. 49c. I’m guessing at home at the moment you’re probably paying $1.50?? Let me know how close I am. For some reason it just occurred to me that day at that time. I drove home and had to put it on my calendar so I wouldn’t forget to share it with everyone. The boys got haircuts, much to their disgust, while I cooked some brownies. We got to Andrea’s around 5.00. Roberts parents and sister were over from Denver and let’s just say, they’d been there for a couple of days 24-7 and they really enjoyed the semi break and attention obviously being on the friends that sound different and seem kind of interesting. Robert’s family were lovely people and his sister was celebrating her 50th birthday, so we had dinner and cake and they had a few drinks and before we knew it; it was 11.00 and the kids were laying on the floor, very tired!!! It was a nice night, good food and good company as always, I think Andrea and Robert also enjoy the company seeing as how it’s just he two of them. Kids definitely spark up the life!!! Sunday turned into a quiet day, I went out in the afternoon and grabbed a couple of presents that I had coming up and had a look around for some Christmas presents. Bruce and the boys chilled out at home, Sunday football, come to think of it, Saturday football…so weekends are pretty much football if the TV is on. Bruce did speak to Al on the phone for their usual I think bi weekly phone call. I had a headache coming on and later in the day (it was getting cold) Bruce and Jamieson went out to see Trevor’s baseball final for a couple of hours and Conner and I chilled out and I tried to get rid of the head ache. Another Monday rolls around, Movie night around the corner, CJ football finals coming up, they keep winning. Our Oktoberfest invites went out for Friday night, (which was this weeks social event that I was in charge of) Conner’s had his football game, which they won, he played ok, disappointed he didn’t get to play as much as he wanted to. Conner was actually home sick on Wednesday, headache sick, I think it was actually tired, Bruce said he slept all morning and half the afternoon and after that he was just fine. Conner had another game on Thursday; they had to win to make the play offs, which they did. I did get some pictures, and we tried to get video footage, but 10 second plays a few times looks just pitiful. Thursday was the day I received an email with a really special attachment, and I can tell everyone now, I got permission. BACK STORY - Last month I got my usual email from my girl Miss Kristy (Orange) I was reading as per usual and then to my absolute bliss I read the words “I’m having a baby”!! and Mick too, sorry mate. Yes, I screamed out to Bruce and had that big JOKER grin, ear to ear. She has without a doubt been put on this earth to be; apart from a lot of other things, firstly A MOTHER!! She took special care of my boys at crèche while they were there, which is how we met and why we are friends to this day and forever. Anyway, it’s happening and I could not be more happy!!! Bonus for me, I get to go and look at little baby clothes again. OOOO Osh Kosh, Calvin, Polo, Levi’s and the Belinda & Bruce staple present – baby’s first pair of Nike’s. YEAY!!!! I just wish the Aus$$ didn’t take a dive, it just means I have to buy more pressies. Back to the start of the paragraph, the October special email I received was baby’s first picture…sooo cute and clear!!! Don’t you love Technology? Friday rolled around, work was usual, Paula and I did a Costco run for our Office Oktoberfest, while we were there, we did Movie Night and Halloween party shopping too. Our lunch ended up being a little strategic session, trying to figure out the best way to deal with the work downturn etc, the same problems that all businesses are having. Some decisions had to be made. We arrived back at the office with all the goodies, after stopping at the house to drop off movie night stuff. I was in and out of that office all afternoon getting stuff ready and picking up stuff, not overly productive work wise for me, the joys of being social director I suppose. Anyway it ended up being a fun night. We had a few people from the other offices come in for a drink, which was cool, and all of us stayed until around 8.00pm, it was nice just to all sit down and chat. Another weekend rolls around, it was the weekend basketball was starting so here we go again. Bruce had a delivery to make in a place called Grass Valley, so Conner went with him for some company. Jamieson went to a Food Festival with Mario and his family so I had the house to myself. What do you do when you have the house to yourself, Clean of course!! Sad I know!!! I called home and talked to Mum and Dad, I must be getting older, talking to my father about the economy, interest rates, politics, I’m a grown up!!! Bruce told me to put that – he isn’t a grown up, so I’m not allowed to be either. Nothing has changed as you can tell; I still have 3 children!! We finished our weekend on Sunday with Bruce heading up to Citrus Heights (Other side of Sacramento) for an angels delivery then a little family shopping trip to see if Jamieson could spend some more of this birthday money. Which he did, with a new fish tank for his room, and I got inspired and bought a couple of Christmas presents. We got home and later in the day Jamieson and I walked up to the Tennis courts for a hit. I have to say, he’s got some skills. He can really hit the ball, I was really surprised at how good he was considering he’s never played before really, not since we’ve been here at least. I tried to teach him to top spin a little to stop all the lobs but he concentrated so hard on doing it, it stuffed him up, so I told him to forget it. He’ll get it!!! As you’ve probably noticed with Bruce doing all the deliveries, Angels is going really well. We are now in Raley’s supermarkets around California, starting to get into UPS Stores around the country and the funerals are doing ok and growing as well. It’s keeping him really busy. The next week was the doosey that I had been spending a lot of time planning for. Work continues on, same clients (pains at times, but who isn’t). One big change at work was we let 2 people go on Monday morning, ah the economy change, gotta love it. Tim took it really well; he met with me and gave me an update on where all his projects were at before he left. Kelly, didn’t take it well, which was understandable, she started with the company not long after me. She was upset, but grabbed her stuff and left, which is pretty much what we expected. So that was a day, which just sucked…so now my job was to move their stuff, go through computers, emails etc to pass onto the planners that inherit their projects. NOT FUN!!! It felt really weird, like I was snooping. I spend half the day at school doing parent helping and then processing all the Movie Night tickets. It’s not the biggest we’ve had by the numbers but that is to be expected when there is no really great movie out to play. Justin and Jeremy came over as per usual, Lexie and Millie came over for our weekly coffee. I left work early on Wednesday to finish the ticket processing and went home to the four boys and finished a lot of the organizing of volunteers, shopping list for concession stand etc; all the fun function stuff that has to be done. Thursday afternoon was going to be a squeeze, Conner had his football semi final football game, luckily for us it was at Stone Lake. The game was awesome; they were behind 6 and with 2 mins to go they caught it in the end zone; all tied up. The parents went NUTS!!!!! OT started with me looking at my watch, they went into the rest of the game with each team having a possession. Jordan (quarter back) ran it through for the touch down and the other team had their possession and didn’t convert, WE WIN!!! We ran home, and I picked up all the stuff and I ran back to school to set up. It doesn’t take long anymore, I’ve done it so many times and I know the janitorial staff it’s all done in 15 mins. Paula arrived with the pizzas, the concession stand opened and everyone started coming in. Overall, the night was a success, and we were even home at a reasonable hour. Friday was a busy one; I worked until around 4.00pm, headed home. Bruce did a Costco run for me to get some more stock for the concession stand. Conner came over to the school with me and helped set up, Bruce and Conner followed not long after in the car with the drinks, Paula arrived with all the pizzas and my volunteers were there (I got some new ones, one was a pain in the butt!!!) 100 + people 14 pizzas drinks, lots of candy and popcorn later the movie was playing and it was nearly over again for another 6 months. Overall it was a successful event, everyone had a good family night out, there were some funny parts of the movie which got some laughs and there were no grade 6er incidents like last time. We packed up and was out of there not too late at all, thinking about the next day. (Paula’s Halloween party) Bruce and I fell into bed after a busy and emotional week and slept like a log!! We were up and out to Paula’s around 10am in the morning. They had been up and out to the supermarket early, half the food was done; the kids did some of the gross food, peeled grapes etc for the haunted house. Bruce and Conner started putting the black walls up in the garage while Paula and I finished the food prep, once that was done, we joined him in the garage and continued with the maze. Paula took off to Justin’s soccer game and Bruce and I finished up the maze and put the skeletons etc out, 3 hours later we were ready to go. We went home to shower and get ready for the rest of the day, Bruce and Jamieson dropped us back at Paula’s and took off for Jamieson’s basketball practice, Conner and I pottered around and Paula got ready for the party (costume). The kids (36) arrived at 4.00pm on the dot, which was a bit of a pain because we still had some stuff to do. The kids started their crafts Halloween door knob which gave us a chance to set up a little more. It was a nice day so having it in the court was fantastic. They went through the games in the court, mummy wrapping (Yes I got wrapped up in toilet paper) pumpkin bowling, stuff the pumpkin (relay race pouring a cup of popcorn into a hollowed out pumpkin until it was full) and pumpkin throwing. Half way through the party, Bruce dropped Jamieson off and picked Conner up and off they went to basketball practice. Still all those kids, and oh my girls…I’m glad I had boys some of those girls (it was like they were 13 with the whispering and the talking about each other) I’m glad I’ve got boys, although it looks like their mothers have no idea. The other interesting thing was the mothers, the couple that stayed just stood around talking to each other, no help AT ALL, not even an offer. Astounding!!!! They were all gone by 6.15pm, (who knew 2 hours could feel so long) and Paula and I did a quick clean up and we sat down with a drink and just relaxed and chatted about our week. Bruce and Conner arrived from basketball and we had some spaghetti for dinner while the kids had some more pizza. Steve arrived home from his football game, we had a quick chat and took off around 9.30pm, all exhausted. It was all over and now it was time to take a breath and move onto the next thing, Halloween and Paula’s birthday next week. Woke up to a nice Sunday morning and so what did I do for my relaxing day off, cleaned the house!! Pretty boring, but I can’t relax when I know it hasn’t been done, much to Bruce’s disgust. We cleaned but had a quiet day, it was nice to be home and not have anything to organize. The last week of November came and went busy as usual. Bruce is really busy with the angels, getting lots of people excited about it and seeing all the possibilities. Not sure if I mentioned it before we are turning the angels into a Mexican version, so there is translation to get done and the angel will be changed to their virgin saint ‘Guadalupe” and it’s expected to be big, but we have a bit of work to do before they come out, but I just wanted to let you know that it’s in the works. It will definitely rock in Mexifornia (California) and Mexas (Texas) – 44% of all 41 million US Hispanics live in these two states (yes – that’s more than the population of Canada or Australia!). We had a great week to end the month. On Monday Bruce and I booked our tickets for the New York trip, great deal on the plane tickets, so that’s all done and we are going Dec 2-9 whooosshhh!!! We will be spending our 10th Wedding anniversary at New York City, what a cool story that will be. We carved pumpkins (or the boys did) they had a really fun time and did it all themselves, they did a really great job. Tuesday Conner had his Football final for school, it was at Stone Lake so not far to go. They started slow and found themselves behind, but they dug in and came back got the win!! The boys were so happy, it was a great experience for Conner to be involved in and he had a great time. The parents were a little out of control, it was known that the Ref from the other school, I think I’ve spoken about him before was going to be there so everyone was a bit worried. To his credit, Mr G stepped up and didn’t let him get away with any of that crap. There was one incident where the principal had to get involved and I think got a little upset with his parents telling them to calm down….we moved on and the boys won. My work was getting frustrating, going through filing that hadn’t been filed, and finding things that hadn’t been done, I gave Jonathan a couple of laughs with my little tantrums every now and then. Isn’t always the way, when people leave is when you find out what they are really about. Thursday was Paula (and Aflie’s birthday) Bruce called Aflie and had a birthday chat, they are all doing well and the boys are growing) Paula I think had a great day. She got some flowers from the guys at work, we took her out for lunch and Steve took her out for dinner then they came over to our place for a brownie cake and a birthday drink. I think she had a great birthday, just a great day all about her, which is all you want when you get to certain age I think. Happy Halloween! (RAINING ALL DAY) We ended the week and the month with our Master Mind group meeting at Denny’s and make some structure changes, which should help us get more out of it. It was a good constructive meeting and everyone left feeling positive about the new direction. Work was work, still sifting through stuff, moving people into offices etc, it’s getting boring, I need something to liven up the workload. I got home around 5.00, we had something to eat and the boys got into their costumes and around 7.00 Mario was dropped off at the house and we started to walk around the neighborhood in the partial rain. The boys had a great time, rain or not, Conner’s mask got HOT so he had it on for some of the trip and just had the hood on for the rest. An hour later we arrived back home, Jamieson grabbed and bag and went off for a sleep over at Mario’s. The sad thing was, that usually we get some trick or treaters after we get home, but I think because of the rain but the time we walked home, there wasn’t really anyone left on the street at all, only a few knocks on our door for treats this year. It was a nice way to spend the night, walking around the neighborhood seeing people you don’t usually see and watching kids just running around is just a fun thing to do and see. Well, that’s what happened for the Hultgren’s in October this year, it was a busy month, which always makes the days, go quickly and you sit down at the end thinking where did those 30 days go??? I hope everyone is well and getting ready for the Christmas season, here we have Thanksgiving coming up before the Christmas stuff so that’s something to look forward to for November. Have a great month, you know we will whatever we do, it’s always a good time at the Hultgren House!!

October Pics....

Jamieson's Class Birthday Picture from Mrs. Sack.

Our Day to Dawn Marie's in NAPA

Dawn Marie's Friends & the Lovely Lady Herself...

Conner - Wide Receiver Stonelake Elementary Football 2008

WINNERS ARE GRINNERS!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

September happenings....

WOW, another month has gone and I can’t believe we are heading to another Christmas…. which I have to say I am really looking forward to this year.

I had a first busy week at work, the boys were still off track so Bruce had them at home, they came to work while Bruce was out on the road, which they do really well at. Nothing huge on the books for me, just building up for the next few things that comes our way. I’m still working on our marketing stuff, which has been kind of good, but taking a little long, but that’s what happens when you sub contract out. We are working on our business RFP so coordinating resumes etc and writing company blurbs fills in the day.

Paula and I arranged for a company treat on Friday to say a little Thank you for all the hard work getting our General Plan Document out. I had a massage therapist come out and give everyone a chair massage. Which everyone appreciated, so mission accomplished. The boys had their usual skills practice and basketball practice which gave them something to do while they were off track and not really doing anything exciting.

We had a busy weekend, the boys had their usual basketball which went as per usual, they both won. It turned into a hectic afternoon, we were at the stadium from 3ish to 6ish…. They both played really well, especially Conner his game is really impressive, now all he has to do is grow!!!

We headed over to Andrea and Robert’s for their House Warming Party. We all had a great time; we met some of their friends who are really great people. Andrea’s old friend Laura and her husband Eric are really great and Bruce stayed with them on his trip down to Bakersfield (near LA) the next week. We had a quiet Sunday, (Father’s Day at home) we cleaned around the house, called home and Paula, Steve and the boys came over for an early dinner and we watched the RV trip movie that Bruce finally finished. (4 discs!!)

Conner started flag football practice and had some fun just enjoying a new game; Jamieson is taking some time off until the new basketball season starts in the few weeks. We had Kristie Rivera’s (and Al Bells) Birthday, which she was away for, but we all caught up on Friday night when they got back from Germany. Chilling out at the Rivera’s is always a good way to finish the week. Jeff and Carlos came over to watch the football on Friday night. The boys had the last Skills session and then they went out to Pizza after which was fun for them all. We had to put a RFQ together for a new project, which put me in the office on my day off, but you do what needs to be done. We spent on quiet Sunday cleaning the house and yard and Paula bought Justin and Jeremy over for a playing the afternoon.

By mid month, just as summer officially finished the weather cooled down, which was nice after the sun being out for SOOOOOOO long. The kids went back to school and the new schedule for me really started, Justin and Jeremy are now over on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s. Bruce went down to Fresno for Angels work for a couple of days. Conner had his first football game, which he did really well. He didn’t enjoy the stopping all the time, but hey that’s the game. He scored one touch down, which could have been two if he was a few inches taller. He enjoyed the game, and I think learnt a lot from just playing. Thursday night, Raels called for our monthly chat, which is always great. Friday Bruce flew back from Orange County and we had a family dinner & then sat down and watched the Cats V Dogs! Crappy game, but hey you do what you have to; to win, but a great start to the weekend.

Saturday, we had the last games of basketball, which was good and bad at the same time. It was nice to not have be at the stadium for most of the afternoon for a while, but sad because we had 2 great teams with great kids and good families. It was by far the best season collectively we’ve had so far, and it showed on the boys; ALL THREE OF THEM!! Bruce had such a great time coaching both teams, Jamieson’s team was a great group of kids (8-0) and families and Conner’s team also had great kids but I think he really enjoys coaching Conner and watching him develop. “He’s very coachable”, he say’s with a HUGE smile on his face. I think he’s really looking forward to seeing how far he can go with his basketball. We are just all waiting for him to grow! Saturday night after Conner’s game, the team all went out (with families) for Pizza. It was really nice to spend some time with them, some don’t always make it to the games so it was nice to spend some time and realize they were really good families.

Sunday, we had Jamieson’s team break up bbq at a local park for lunch. The kids all had a great time DER! And the adults just chilled out, it was fun time. The only issue we have now is that everyone wants to be on Bruce and Greg’s team next season, which can’t happen DRAFT!! SO that is going to be a sticky situation. Apparently, there is a waiting list to be on Bruce’s teams (Yes, I’m allowed to brag!!) I also found out that some parents have said that unless the kids are on his team, they aren’t playing; also that this has happened before. So that’s nice for him to have that recognition from parents.

The month continued on as per usual, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRACEY & RHYS… Bruce was in Dallas with the Angels newest rep, Conner had another football game, which they won. On the work front Paula and Darcy were at a conference, which was clear when I got a phone call from LA with a couple of giggling girls on the other end, so the office was quieter with 2 less people there. The end of the week bought the inevitable quiet day anniversary of our Janet! I can’t believe it’s been 9 years, but I just look at Jamieson and that’s how long it’s been. It did bring up some issues for me. Paula and Steve are planning on getting married next year in Hawaii so we’ll see if Bruce is up for that. I just can’t imagine going there for such a happy occasion and not just feel complete grief, so I’m not sure how Bruce will do it. We’ll see!!!

I had to organize Bruce’s pressies, organize homework etc. Bruce’s trip went really well and the boys were doing great at school. Friday night football was Grand Final day. The Riveras came over, we had a BBQ, dressed up the house and Conner and I put whiskers on, oh what a bummer!!! Our weekend was nice and quiet after the usual basketball Saturday’s and of course Friday nights downer. We got some end of summer cleaning done, did a little shopping at Costco and since we were there had some dinner. On the way home, picked up a couple of movies and had a quiet night in….aarrrhhhh!!!! Sunday continued on a little that way with the exception of cooking prep for Bruce’s birthday (can’t cook when you are at work all day) wrapped up the pressies and was ready to go. Went over to Paula’s for dinner and catch up and home for a quiet night.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRUCE!!!!

I was up as per usual and Paula and I went out for our walk, when I got back and the boys woke up, we did some presents and got ready for the day. (He got a guitar, Puffy vest and a learn to speak Spanish cd/dvd set, nothing surprising but everything he wanted) Bruce was off to school with the boys to do basketball with Conner’s class (his teacher asked to do a 6 session block for her) I had the usual day at work, Bruce had a nice quiet day at his desk and the boys did the usual school thing. I got home from work and Bruce (being typical) bought in the guitar and what he called serenaded me while I cooked. (As you can imagine, VERY BADLY!!! Which he knew and thought was pretty funny.) The boys went out and threw the football around, had a yummy dinner and Paula dropped in for a little bit, had a quiet night. I think Bruce had a really nice birthday.

Conner had 2 football games one won and one loss, I missed the loss, I was at work, Bruce said it was all the coach….. poor kids, apparently it was a team they should have won against but lost by 2, Conner was not happy; and frustrated. I’m sorry to say and it’s kind of a generalization but American kids can’t catch! Conner is the best catch on the team and he’s not getting the ball. It’s a learning experience for him and I think a good lesson, he’s used to being in the thick of it.

SO, that was our September, not a lot of new stuff. Conner’s football is something different which I am enjoying both watching him play something else and also sitting with new school families. Bruce’s has had a really busy month and Angels both retail and definitely Funeral is really going well. We had a few birthdays and hopefully didn’t miss anyone.

Some Pics....

Conner's Nuggets Team

Jamieson's Bulls Team

Bulls Break up BBQ

Bruce and Greg

Conner - Stone Lake Flag Football Team

2008 GF - GO Cats (What a bummer)

Carlos and Kristie

Happy Birthday Bruce

August

We started our month with a semi quiet weekend. We cleaned the house and had basketball. We went home for dinner and then headed over to Andrea and Robert’s place to see it all put together. Sunday was a quiet one; I finished the July blog and the kids just chilled out as did Bruce.

Our first week in August was a quiet one, I had my first mid weekday off in I don’t know how long. Paula and I started walking every morning, which took a little getting used to, but it’s cool when you get used to it. I went into Conner’s class and did my usual copying magic for Mrs. Kopecky. Then spent the rest of the day tidying up and took a walk to the supermarket. I called in for our usual Tuesday staff meeting, which will take some getting used to, by the time that was done, the kids were home from school. It was nice to sit down with jamieson (as hard as it can be sometimes) and get his homework done. He has been having a few issues at school. (Same as his brother did, but we aren’t going to tell him that.) He’s decided to be the class clown, which isn’t going down to well with his teacher or parents. Hopefully that will get nipped in the budd sooner rather than later.

The rest of the week consisted of the usual boys with skills and basketball practice, homework and walking. It’s a new schedule and it will take some getting used to. Not sure how I feel about not being home in the afternoon when the kids go home from school but we’ll see how it goes.

Our weekend was pretty much just the kids basketball on Saturday afternoon then after that Bruce went over to the Rivera’s and got the kids to stay at our place while Kristie and Carlos were flying. IT was a usual night with 3 extra kids, lots of noise, but the kids have some fun. They were all in bed (the boys in with the boys and the girls on the fold out) the house was quiet around 10.30 which was good and Bruce and I weren’t far behind. We woke up at a reasonable hour and all had some breakfast kind of quickly before Trevor had to be at the park for baseball practice. I threw a pancake at him as he and Bruce walked out the door. The rest of us had a big pancake breakfast and chilled out. Their grandma picked them up around 11.30 and we spent the rest of the day tidying up and getting ready for the week.

Our week was a fairly usual one, deadlines at work, homework, Bruce and the boys doing the usual school, basketball practice, skills and work. The boys came to work with me a couple of the days while Bruce was out on the road, otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. Well, accept for my birthday night family dinner which Bruce was going to cook himself (kind of) turned into a ‘SURPRISE’ birthday party/BBQ with our wonderful friends. Which I must say Bruce was pretty pleased with himself for pulling off.

I finished work a little early; the kids went off track as well so that made for another schedule change. Bruce took them out to run errands (get cake). Andrea took me out to get a pedicure and Paula came too, which was nice and relaxing or as Maureen said when she called, ‘you will float out of there’, which I did. I came home and the boys had put up some pretty girlie decorations for me and for some reason our Australian Flag at the front of the house. The house looked so cute, balloons everywhere for the kids to play and streamers it was very cool. Bruce told me that the Charles’ were coming over for my dinner, which I was looking forward to then all our other friends just showed up!!! I was actually surprised, for the second time in 17 years (how old does that make me feel).

The kids were all playing and we were all hanging out in the back yard, the boys were bbq’ing, perfect birthday; us and our family/friends, we ate good food, got the glow sticks out had a little dance party in the lounge room, dancing with my husband is always fun, had birthday cake and sang, then just chilled out for the rest of the evening. Everyone had gone by around 11.30; I wasn’t even allowed to pack up. Which funnily enough, Paula and Kristie said they felt like naughty children being in the kitchen. I still enforce the “stay out of my kitchen” rule for visitors!! It was a great birthday….

We were up in the morning and Jamieson and I went to the park dedication for the park Bruce and I volunteered at, Bruce stayed home with Conner who wasn’t feeling 100%. Jamieson played in the new playground and on the water park and I did a little stint in the free food stand before heading home for lunch then basketball games for the afternoon. The Rivera’s came to watch the boys basketball games and then came over for dinner. I made soup and we had bbq as well. The boys sat down to watch some Aussie Rules, and the girls chilled out!!

We finished off the weekend with some house cleaning, Bruce and Conner went out and did some birthday money shopping and we had a nice quiet family dinner to round out the weekend.

The rest of the month was pretty much business as usual. The boys were off track so they spent some time with me at the office. I started looking after Justin and Jeremy two afternoons a week, and also having Tuesday’s at home, so I was a little back and forth and getting used to the new schedule.

We ended the month with an interesting weekend. We got Chewy (Millie’s dog) on Thursday and drove them to the airport to go to Disneyland for the Labor Day weekend. Saturday, I started the spring-cleaning so to speak and Bruce and Jamieson went out garage saleing and came back with a huge TV!! SO of course that meant changing around 3 rooms in the house, the boys now have a TV in the garage room for their play station and eye toy, a gaming room you could call it. All it needs now is a heater for the winter and some beanbags. We went over to Paula’s for dinner and the boys swimming, Conner was swimming without his goggles and cracked his tooth on the bottom of the pool. We had some dinner and Paula and I went upstairs to transform her into Madonna for their party. We took all 4 boys home and Justin and Jeremy stayed the night. They watched a bit of the movie and they all slept in the lounge room.

Paula and Steve came and got the boys around mid morning, then we dropped the boys off over there and Bruce and I went out for a look around, without kids, shock horror!! We went back to Paula’s for dinner and then took the kids home and we all had a quiet night at home. Our Monday went along the same lines, did some gardening, cleaned the garage a little the usual catching up cleaning from around the house.

So that was another month from 2008 gone!!! I hope you all had a great month.

Happy Birthday to my girls; Sophie, Alex and Uncle Paul.

Big month ahead, the boys are back at school and Bruce is turning a year older! OOO!

Basketball Boys...

July...

It’s July again and I can’t believe that’s its half way through the year already.

July will again be busy for us, no rest for the wicked, so I guess that’s us. The month started for me as busy as June ended, but the 1^st day of July was moving day and the light at the end of the moving tunnel was getting brighter. Just give you the short version, I was out of the house before the kids got up, and made 5 trips back and forth coordinating movers, and printer movers, phone technicians’ etc. So I really didn’t get to the new office more than 5 mins until the movers were done at around 3.00pm. As you can imagine, it was like a bomb had gone off, there was some stuff that didn’t get put in the right place, so they put it in the open area (which I get) I have to say there were 3 of us there and we head down bum off and by the time I left at 6.00pm the Development Impact stuff, Belinda and Andrea section was all set up. I had the copying; printer area set up and all the boxes were at least where they had to be unpacked. There was some sort of order for the next morning, which was my goal. Bruce was picking up the kid slack and the boys were just chilling out enjoying the time not being at school.

I spent the Wednesday making sure everything was unpacked and put where it should be, our computer tech guy spent most of the day at the office so I did have some people who didn’t have a whole lot to do and spent some of the day just goofing off, which was frustrating but hey, you either have work ethic or you don’t. By the end of the day, 95% of our part of the office was done and we were up and running. Paula was still away with her mum so I got all her stuff done as well and hoped she like it. The rest of the week was pretty much as you imagine it, Bruce and the boys were at home, the boys chilling out and playing at the park when it wasn’t too hot and Bruce organizing the Funeral Angels as we’ve started calling them.

We found out their teachers for next year, Conner got Mrs. Kopecky again which is who we wanted!! Jamieson got Mrs. Sack (grade one teacher) again, so we are soooo happy, we didn’t even know she was moving so that was a HUGE surprise and bonus. We all were doing the happy dance. It’s going to be a fantastic school year!!!

July 4^th… Happy Independence Day Bruce and I spent the morning re organizing his office. I got a cheap desk for him and Robert and Bruce went and picked it up Thursday night. So we pulled everything out of his office and I decided where everything should go. There is some stuff that is in archive boxes but a lot went into the trash so you know that made me feel better and he feels better too. Late in the afternoon we went around the corner to the Hikidos for a swim and to get the party started. They had hired a slushy machine so all the kids were having slushy’s and swimming. Around 5.00 we went across the street to Dicks place to drop in on his party and the kids had fun with the magician he had there, both the boys got a chance to be an assistant and had a ball. We made our way back to the Hikido’s around 6.00ish to start organizing the bbq and stuff to go out in the court.

Paula and clan arrived around 6.30 and stayed for a little but left before fireworks, she was tired after the trip. We all congregated out on the court for the blog party bbq and the kids had water balloon fights, we ate and ate then when it got dark we had the fire works. In the end we all put our kid friendly (sparklers) in a pile and the kids came and got them as their other ones ran out, and ran off. Funniest thing was towards the end they were putting them all together on the ground and made a big circle around them. They were like little Indians…very cute.

We walked home around 11.00pm, the boys chatting about the night and what they did with all the fireworks, it’s always nice to hear them chattering away. It had been a long week with the office moving and all, so my literally hit the pillow and I was asleep, much to my husband’s amusement. Saturday was cleaning the house day, we all did the inside and Bruce did the front, trimming, mowing and blowing. It's 30+ again today and pretty much has been all the time, the only difference at the moment is whether it's windy or not, otherwise it's not a cloud in the sky and 30+. We went off to the Dunn's for a BBQ, (Baseball family) which we have been spending a little time with. SO that should be fun, they have a pool and spa and a son Jamieson's age and a daughter Conner's so they all play. The adults sat around the kids all played in and out of the water then surprisingly at the end of the night they all settled in and watched the TV.

Our Sunday was a quiet one, we ended up over at Paula’s, the kids swam and the adults sat by the pool talking, it was a nice quiet day after a hectic start to the month.

I spent the next week trying to get all my work done before leaving on Thursday. Jamieson went off to the pool with the Rivera’s on Tuesday and Conner came and spent a couple of hours at the office with me. I couldn’t be bothered cooking and had some stuff to get for the trip so we did a Costco dinner. Wednesday both boys came to the office for the morning while Bruce went out to a couple of meetings. They were so great, I hardly saw them, they stayed in the kids room for most of the time, accept when they got hungry and felt a little more comfortable. But they were so well behaved which helped me out a lot, I have to admit I was a little worried. I wrapped up everything I needed to and assigned the stuff that needed doing before I left. I spent the night baking for the trip. Not much more to day accept finish packing. Then we are OFF!!!

I have skipped ahead; the trip blog is separate. Hope you enjoyed it.

We got back from the trip and I went back to work the next day to try and get a sense of what happened while we were gone before starting the next week. We sat down that night and watched the Cats vs Bulldogs game and who was sitting there with the Bulldogs boys – Dylan!! It was nice to see him even if it was on the TV. Our weekend was a busy one. Bruce and the boys had picture day for basketball. Andrea and Robert picked me up around 8.30am and we went off to their new house to paint for the day. Much to everyone’s dismay I find it fun, you get to make a change in someone’s home and you get to spend time with friends, what’s not to enjoy!

Bruce has a Billy Bounce coaching session, so he dropped the boys off at Andreas around 3.30. They helped paint the office (kind of), then got bored and went outside to play & skate. We dropped tools (brushes & rollers) around 7.00pmand met Bruce at McDonalds for some dinner. We were tired as you can imagine, after a busy but productive day, my back was a little sore, I did the top of the walls and Andrea did the bottom (she’s 5’4) it was a good combination and we had a great day.

Our Sunday was a mixed bag, Bruce went up to the local Billy bounce session to make sure the coaches were doing ok, the boys (all 3) had an I Toy championships in the afternoon. Not sure who won, I think it depended on what sport they were playing. Which left me free to go out and get the boys supplies for school. One more sleep!!

We were all up and out of the house walking to school at 8.00am on Monday morning. Bruce went with Conner to say Hi to Mrs Kopecky and I did the same with Jamieson and Mrs. Sack. Both teachers were really excited to be having the boys this year; so that was nice to hear. I went off to work as did Bruce and just like that we were back into the swing of things. We had a not so great night, Conner came home from school, scared, I think you could say would be the best word. As the night went on, the more upset he got about doing Grade 6. (Which here is a really important year, lots of expectations and lots to get through) We calmed him down and he went off to sleep, but the next morning Bruce walked him to school and I emailed his teacher. Turns out she had given them a little speech about how important the year is and Conner freaked out!!! I had a chat to him about the email (when he asked what she said, open communication in our house, especially about this stuff, good or bad) and since then he hasn’t looked back.

We went at Paula’s for dinner on the Tuesday night for Jeremy’s birthday. The boys swam and the adults sat around the pool and chatted. We had ice cream birthday cake and then the sugar hit – Oh my! We were home and the boys were in bed by 9.00pm so it wasn’t too late a night for them.

The rest of the week was pretty much our new schedule with basketball practice and Bruce is also doing and OPEN skills session for whoever wants to turn up so that’s two nights out of the house each week. I went to Andreas after work Wednesday night and helped her do a couple of loads to the new house while the boys were at practice.

Thursday night I went out and did some Jamieson birthday shopping and Bruce did the back to school night. Not a big deal, as we’ve been through it with both teachers, but you turn up as a sign of respect and to say Hi. (You know Bruce loves to do that) To my surprise I got pretty much all of the birthday shopping done, thank goodness!!.

Our weekend was again our new basketball schedule. We spent the morning helping Andrea and Robert move some of their stuff. We left around 12.00 and went home for some lunch. We spent the afternoon at the basketball stadium. Most of the season Jamieson will play then there will be a game in between then Conner will have his game. They both played well, and won, which is all the boys worry about. They are both on good teams so it will be a good season. A quiet night after basketball and the first week back at school. AARRHHH quiet!!

As you can imagine Jamieson woke up not early, but didn’t sleep in. We waited for Conner to wake up and Jamieson waded through the presents, cards etc and had a great time as you can imagine doing it. The rest of the day was a quiet one; he spent the afternoon playing with his new stuff. We had planned on having the Daneluk’s over for birthday dinner but cancelled that as Jamieson and the tantrums keep rolling on, so he had that taken away and had to settle for family dinner. He got some birthday phone calls, which he loved and was in bed not too late. I think he had a good day, definitely low key, but he had fun!!

The rest of the month was a usual week, work and school, the usual stuff. We got back into the routine pretty quick, the boys are doing well in their new grade level and basketball and Bruce is enjoying coaching again. He’s out on the road, going to funeral homes, which means we do have some scheduling to organize to make sure we are home to help with homework, and basketball practice, it’s a process. As everyone knows as long as the kids have everything they need and are happy then the world is a great place.

Well that was our ‘summer holiday’ month of July. As you can see by the last couple of blogs we had a great time and fun family holiday. What else can you ask for.

I hope everyone is well and taking care of each other.

GO CATS!!!! And blues.

Check back in a month.