March....

Hey everyone, well it’s March and half over. It has been and will continue to be a busy month for us here in Elk Grove. It started off just that way, but hey that makes life interesting when you’ve got just too much to do.

Jamieson had his first official baseball practice, he and Bruce went off at 8.30 and I cleaned until around 10.00, Bruce came back and picked us up, then we over for a look. The team is looking good; they still have a lot to learn, so time will tell. Half the team was from last year and there are a couple of new kids that we already knew, one of them is a school friend of Jamieson’s from school so he is really enjoying that. Anyway, Jamieson’s practice finished and I called Darcy (planner from work) to arrange where to meet for our shopping afternoon.

Bruce and the boys drove me down to Stockton (20mins) where Darcy is living at the moment and we spent to afternoon doing some bargain shopping. She’s a shopper like me so we had lots of fun, she’s also a cool chick, so we always have lots of fun together.

The boys went over to Paula’s to play with her boys and were still there when Darcy and I came home so we went over there. Darcy stayed for a drink before her dinner date and then took off. We stayed at Paula’s for dinner and a fun evening at the party house, or at least it will be over summer. The boys ended up staying at Paula’s with Justin and Jeremy and Paula was going to drop them off early before church in the morning.

What a quiet night we had, the boys were home around 8.00 in the morning. I spent most of the day cleaning the house, which isn’t easy to do when there are 3 people, 2 of them being kids. You don’t feel like to can see where you’ve been, it’s nice to see it all clean even if it’s only for 10 mins, that’s my frustration at the moment. While that was happening, Bruce went out and got himself a baseball glove, which he’s been talking about getting since last season.

I spend some time later in the afternoon reading a book that Paula gave me called ‘Five Wishes”, it was a great easy read. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to open his or her mind. A quiet night of reading and chilling out rounded out the week.

The week started on a positive note, Bruce was able to get our Visa appointment with the US Embassy in Vancouver, on the day that he wanted which was fantastic, as we thought we had to go all the way over to Toronto and were planning on it. We had the usual work/school during the day, nothing too much out of the ordinary. We had a new employee start at work, a boy, which is a first for our girly company. Then later in the day Bruce got an unexpected phone call from an old friend he emailed on the weekend.

Mr. Terry Dozier (import player), who Bruce played with at Geelong Supercats called and they had a good chat and catch up, you can image the nice mood that Bruce was in for the rest of the day. It’s always catching up an old friend and I’m sure they will continue the chatting even if it’s over the net. I’m sure they will catch up in person if Bruce is ever in the Carolina area. As you can see, the blossom is out and looking gorgeous!! Yes, the husband too!!

Happy Birthday to my girl Nic Griffin, I’m glad you had a great birthday.

Tuesday was a big day at Stonelake Elementary, they are up for an award and the Validation team was going through the school. Conner’s teacher was the teacher that put the presentation together with the principle so the team was visiting their room. Conner was very excited, she had told them that whoever got the answer to questions right gets a free pass on homework, so Conner was ready to go. I emailed to give my good wishes and Mrs. Kopecky emailed me back later saying he was a star. The school did really well and had a great chance of winning. *** THEY WON!!! Tuesday we had a birthday lunch for Miss Kelly (who’s birthday was last week, but we were all too busy to take the time), which was nice, although Andrea did give Johnathan (new guy) the third degree in the car on the way to the restaurant, it was pretty funny. Jamieson had baseball practice, so Bruce and him went off around 5.00 and got back around 7.00pm, a quick dinner and a quiet night.

Pretty quiet next couple of days, work and school, nothing out of the ordinary, Millie and Lexie came over for their weekly visit which is always fun. The boys got their report cards, they did really well, Jamieson A’s & B’s and Conner got a C, which he isn’t too happy about and said will not get again. Bruce went over to the Rivera’s on Friday night for a beer with Carlos.

On Saturday, Jamieson was supposed to have baseball camp in the morning, but was changed to the afternoon. Bruce went out in the morning, gorgeous day, and did some trimming and yard work. Although he sneezed while trimming and put a whole in the hedge, very funny and yes I do have photographic evidence. Jamieson went off to camp, from what I saw, he wasn’t really interested, he kept looking around to anywhere but where the coach was talking, very frustrating for me to watch.

We got home and he went off to a birthday party at the jump house place for Cameron and boy in his class. The rest of us non-sociable people stayed a home and waited to go and pick him up. Oooo, we are so lucky!!!

The boys went off to the park on Sunday and Bruce was outside mowing etc, I took the opportunity to put on the IPOD and get some serious cleaning done. 4 hours later, with no battery left I finished up, the boys came home for 4 mins to grab bathers to go to Mario’s for quick swim before they went off to Paula’s to go fishing with Bruce, Steve and Paula’s boys.

I made some cupcakes and brownies for after fishing dinner at Paula’s. We got there around 4.00 and the boys all took off and Paula and I cleaned out her closet… I came down 2 hours later, dinner was just about ready and the boys were all back from fishing. Conner actually caught one, which he thought was cool, they did throw it back cause…blah…fish. We had dinner, the boys had a quick play and we went home to bed, school tomorrow.

The next week was a busy one, I think we all had stuff on. Conner had an excursion for school to the museum, which he said was boring because they give them an assignment to do and all he wanted to do was walk around at his own pace and look for himself. I get both sides….

On Tuesday, Paula had a late night meeting that came up at the last minute so I said that I would have the boys for the evening while she was at the meeting. SO after work I picked them up from after school care, and then had to take them to CFF (church school), which was a learning experience for me, something different. Jamieson had baseball practice so I had to leave that and go and get them. Then we all came back to practice and they played with Conner until it was over which was easier for us. We got home and had some dinner, then Paula arrived around 8.00 to pick up the kids.

Thursday night Jamieson was volunteering on the booth at “Wild about learning”, he worked with a couple of classmates and had a ball. 2 hours later we all dragged our butts home for another late dinner, but the boys had a great time doing all the activities. We got home and Carolyn dropped Honey off, she stayed with us for the weekend while the Rivera’s went down to San Diego for Kristie’s sisters wedding. Honey – yeay!!!

Friday night turned out to be a little easier for us, which was a nice way to end the week and help Bruce and I get ready for our Vancouver trip. The boys went off to Youth Group with Mario (Jamieson’s friend) and his family. Poor Mario was really sad that he wasn’t going to see Jamieson for a whole week. So Bruce and I had a couple of hours to us for the evening.

Our Saturday ended up being the start of a busy weekend; jamieson had practice in the morning then that night had a birthday party. So it was a busy day for Jamieson and the rest of us had our hands full for the week ahead. I did end up going out in the afternoon and ended up buying a new white ‘Guess’ handbag for summer.

ON Sunday the boys went over to Paula’s for a play with Justin and Jeremy before we leave and Bruce and I went out to run a couple of errands. We went back and had some lunch with Paula and Steve, and then around 3.30 we left and went home to finish packing. Bruce and I collapsed into bed at around 11.00.

What a week and what a great start to March, and it’s not going to slow down.

See you on the flip side with out Canadian trip and beyond for the rest of the month.

End of February...

Well, February has come to end and this is a little overdue. I left off with a public holiday. As per usual, it was a fairly quiet one, it turned into a nice say. Bruce spent a little time outside in the yard. The boys assumed the position and relaxed in front of the TV for a movie then hit the park for a play in the afternoon.

Conner had (what would be his last game), they won and he played really well. It was a good game, the coach from the other team got a little testy with the ref (Bruce) at the end of the game, but when you don’t supply a ref, then you should shut up. I sat next to and chatted to the school secretary, which was an interesting conversation.

I had a busy week at work, trying to get all the stuff done that I missed with having Monday off. We caught up with Millie and Lexie for a cuppa and play, the weather is getting a little warmer so the kids are spending more time in the garage and outside playing which is nice.

On Wednesday we had an eclipse, which was pretty cool, Bruce got out with the camera and got a couple of shots which was cool, the kids were like, yeah whatever…as expected. Thursday was Millie’s birthday, she had a nice day, which is want you want when it’s someone’s birthday.

Friday was a good day for me, I’d put a lot of hours over the week, but Friday afternoon we all put down tools and had our Monthly social outing; we all went to see the movie, “Definitely Maybe”. Now there is a little back story, which is amusing to me, maybe you should have been there but it made us laugh, so I’m going to share.

Andrea and I had a conversation earlier in the week about her movie habits, she likes to get there early to get an aisle seat, and then she asked me if I was a talker. I said No (which is true) but I do make a comment here or there if I feel like it. So it was established that I would sit down the other end from her and I would take Paula – the talker with me. We got to the movie and all sat down as prearranged, I made a comment about the size of the room compared to the size of the screen, it was a HUGE screen for the room size, the other girls chuckled and I got a SHOOSH from the aisle seat…which made us laugh more.

The rest of the movie, well, it was a comedy, and Paula is a talker and has a VERY LOUD laugh, so between that and the two of us chatting (quietly, as we do) and the girls laughing at us and Paula’s laugh, I don’t think Andrea was too happy when the movie finished. Oh well, we had a fun time she got over it quick. What a relaxing afternoon, the movie, it was a good one, a bit of a girly one, but I’m glad I went and saw it.

I got home and the boys ended up going out to Youth Group at church with their friend’s family. Bruce and I had 2.5 hours without children; we didn’t know what to do…

We ended up going out and having a look around at some stores, which as usual isn’t a good thing financially. We got some presents etc, but still, we have to stop the shopping thing together. It was nice and weird being just the two of us.

The boys got home around 9.00 and off to bed, mum and dad weren’t far behind, it had been a busy and tiring week.

Saturday I finally talked to mum, she is just as busy as us, never home, sometimes I think she has a better social life than us. It was nice to chat with her and dad and catch up on the goings on that we don’t put in the emails, the kids loved talking the grandma and grandpa but getting information out of them (especially Conner) is like pulling teeth. I think it was more about listening to voices, but it was nice. Otherwise our Saturday was a fairly quiet one, for me the usual cleaning, the boys chilling out and Bruce doing a little work not to mention there’s always a basketball game for them all to watch.

Sunday was our busy day, I chatted with Rhys and Jolly on MSN which was nice to get a little home gossip. We found out that Jamieson is a Yankee again, his old coach drafted him 1st round (his father is proud) and he has 4 other Yankees from last season on his team, so it should be a fun spring.

After lunch Jamieson went off to Jenae’s birthday party at a bounce house warehouse place, then later in the day, Conner’s friend David’ came to pick him up and took him down to Some Place fun (kids fun warehouse) for his sister’s birthday. Jamieson got back around 4.00 and Conner arrived around 8.00, it was a fun day for the Hultgren boys, PARTY!!

The last week of February was a really busy one. I did my hours at the end of the week and realized I had nearly worked full time, OOPPSS!! Some of it was because I have been working at night, the good thing about that is that I’m home in the afternoons with the kids most days, then after dinner sitting down and spending some time on the laptop putting marketing literature together. Bruce had lots on; he’s getting our visa stuff done, angel’s orders, and general building of the business, so I think he has less guilt about working at night if I am as well.

The boys are being boys, Conner is enjoying school and playing ball at lunchtime with the grade 6er’s, he’s even starting taking after his mother. He’s starting making lists of things he wants to do, something to make his mother proud, he’s getting his eleven-year-old ducks in a row. He did get upset because he isn’t getting an award this trimester, he got a C, so Bruce and he had a nice talk about doing a little extra work making all the difference, so we’ll see if he was heard.

Jamieson, although he had a crappy week (manners, tantrums and yelling), which makes life at home fun, NOT, is doing well. He doesn’t have a lot of privileges at the moment, which I think has helped him realize that it’s just not going to work, or at least I hope it has. He is having fun with his friends and school is doing fine, I will get a photo of them both, Jamieson had grown again…Conner better get some height pretty quick or Jamieson will be nose to nose. This summer will be an interesting one in the growing race. Jamieson is just all legs…the good thing is that he seems to have gotten used to his size; the clumsiness seems to have stopped.

By the end of the week I had achieved what I wanted to, the company pamphlet is nearly done. We got a crunch on Thursday, (no one had told me, Paula had forgotten to let me know, I found out on Wednesday afternoon) we had to get out our SOQ (which we didn’t have) for a bid package as a part of OLA (office buddy) proposal. So Paula and I sat down and punched it out in about 3 hours, it wasn’t good circumstances, but we do do great work when we have to. It came out really good, I just have to put more project work and add a few things and the document will be done properly. It was push and although it was a nightmare for a couple of hours, it made us just get it done. Now, the pamphlet will be finished in the next week or so, we just have to put the text together and I am coordinating with the website people. Then our Marketing tools will be done (thank goodness)

Add to that we are interviewing for planners, and trying to get all our other stuff done, saying it’s busy is sometimes an understatement.

As you can tell, we are all busy, the boys with their sport and school, with work and the house and trying to keep 3 boys in tact, Bruce is always busy with one thing or another. Life has never and will never be dull…

I hope everyone is well and had a great February.

A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to Pete…… good to hear you had a nice day. See you very soon!! YEAY!!!

Thanks to you all who have kept us in the loop with all the gossip and great news that’s happening, keep up the good work and remember to keep me in the loop.

See you back here in a couple of weeks.

XXXX

February Pics

Here is what we saw "The Eclipse"

Lanky, I mean, Jamieson - baseball tryouts

Conner & the FROZEN bird bath (nice face)

You think Honey felt at home