November...

Well as you can imagine, this month’s blog (monthly is all I can get to at the moment, sorry) is not going to be a big one as November 08 will always be a crappy one.

Technically the month started off with the School Movie nights which I have to admit was a high, we raised several hundred dollars for the school PTA. The weekend was a tense one and Bruce got the phone call to come home on Sunday. I didn’t work on the Monday and put Angels orders together all day for Bruce to organize before we dropped him off at the airport in San Fran on Monday night. It was my first time driving home from the airport, let alone in the dark. So it wasn’t a fun trip, but we made it home late, around 12.30.

I worked the next day; the kids of course went to school. I worked the day then was home for the kids when they got home from school. Bruce called from Sydney, then periodically from the hospital etc.

The boys and I went through the usual weekly routine, Bruce calling when he could, he was out at the hospital etc and the calls were fragmented. He was doing well considering. On Wednesday I decided that wither way we would get on a plane on the weekend and join him. We couldn’t get a flight out until Saturday night, so when the phone call came on Thursday morning, I just had to wait. The boys wouldn’t be told until after the school week had ended.

Thursday for me was one of the longest days of my life. Paula turned up in her robe, (she’d been in Ohio with her boys seeing her step dad who has come out of remission, it’s definitely the year, I can tell you) she stayed for a little while the persuaded me to just get out and do some shopping, somewhere where people had no idea. I went out for the morning and finished the Christmas shopping to take home with me on Saturday.

The rest of the week is a bit of a blur. Friday night I had to tell the boys, Jamieson’s teacher told him that we were going home, so of course they wanted to know why. Promised myself that I wouldn’t lie to them. Bruce and I had talked about not saying anything until Saturday so they wouldn’t have to go to sleep. They took it as well as expected, as a shocking mother who had the guilt. I let them stay up until 11.00pm so they fell into bed and didn’t have any problems going to sleep. I packed and Conner didn’t leave the house for the day until it was time to go to the airport.

We arrived safe and sound and the spent the next couple of days at Tracey’s with her and kids. Bruce was up and down the highway organizing some stuff for the funeral. We got through Wednesday JUST!! The boys did worse than I expected, I think seeing Bruce that upset didn’t help them either. The 4 of us got through it together, literally!!! I was really proud of all of us.

We spent the next couple of days catching up with my family and some friends and stayed our last night with Maureen before getting into the car and off to the airport. I remember everything of those 10 days, but sometimes I wish I didn’t.

We got home and got back into the swing of things pretty quickly. The boys had to go to school for another half a day before going on holidays. Bruce hit the ground running and I dropped into work to catch up with the girls, but didn’t start back at work until Monday.

We had thanksgiving at the Rivera’s, which was a lot of fun. I spent the morning doing some cooking for dinner, and we arrived at the Rivera’s at around 2.00pm. We were in and out of the kitchen doing stuff for dinner and sat down to eat at around 4.30. The meal was very traditional, even with an adult’s table and a kid’s table. After dinner we rugged up and went through the back fence to sit around the backyard fire with the neighbors. We got home around 10.30 (frozen) It was a great day, a beautiful meal with great friends, we all had a wonderful thanksgiving (our 2^nd we are old hat at it now)

The last week of the month was pretty full on for me, I went off to work and Bruce stayed home with the kids. They did some catch up homework everyday. We started basketball practice this week, so it was a hectic week. Bruce and I got a treat on Thursday night; Paula and Steve took us out to a function called the best of Sacramento, features all the best service businesses of Sacramento. Paula arranged for the Rivera’s to have the boys and we all got dressed up and had an adult’s night out. I think the last time Bruce and I did that was his birthday last year. So we had a fantastic time, a couple of drinks, lots of dancing and laughing, it was a fantastic night. It wasn’t a late night, work the next day, we got home at a very reasonable 11.00, which was late enough.

I was out the door to work at 8.00am the next morning. We had a busy weekend, understatement. Friday night I went out and did some Christmas shopping, then Saturday up and out to the grocery store at 7.30, back before breakfast, then Paula dropped off a voucher that was expiring so I went out and bought myself one of those LARGE clocks, which looks great here, but will look fabulous in the Highton house stairwell.

Back to the house and very quickly out the door to watch the end of Jeremy’s basketball game then Jamieson and Justin’s game was after that. They played really well and won. Jamieson played well, he has great athletic ability, but we just have to work on the lay up’s. He gets on the fast breaks but is having trouble finishing off. We left their game and dropped the kids off, had a quick something to eat then off to Paula’s to help her move in her new house. It was last minute thing, so it was just the 4 of us; she just wanted to get the big stuff moved. We helped from 3-6pm then picked up the boys and back for Conner’s game. What a game, they played so well, for a team of kids that played their 2^nd game they have jelled really well. They won and were SOO happy about it, we played against, and let’s just say a very intense, not so nice coach. He teaches his kids lovely things like yelling in the other kids faces to put them off and how to foul without getting caught. Anyway we got home, had a quick dinner the kids got into the jammies and back to Paula’s to get some more done. We got home around 11.30, all exhausted!!!! So we all slept really well.

That was November for the Hultgren’s. Lots happened but not a lot to talk about. I hope everyone is well and gearing up for Christmas. We are heading up to Seattle for Christmas with Bruce’s friend Rich and his family, then back to Elk Grove for New Years party at Paula’s new house. So December is going to be a busy month for us, at least the last half of the month anyway.

ENJOY THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR, and as they say here....HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

October ......

Sorry it’s been so long since my last blog, I’m going to cheat to get up to date and make this blog for the whole of October.

It’s been a busy month since we’ve been back. The boys got back into school after a day off to recover from the flight. To their credit, especially Conner, he took all the work on and has just about caught up. He is still a little behind on his learning about all the US States, they are doing around 6 each week so he is only about 6 behind as of this week. Jamieson has not taken well into getting back into school, he has had some real problems settling back in, but he will get there I’m sure.

The week we got back Jamieson had a year level play on the Thursday night, which he was happy about doing until he got there and was told he had to wear make up on his cheeks (red circles) not happy Jan!! The play was cute, Jamieson wasn’t happy. It took us all a little bit to get back into the swing of things, the usual limbo for a week or so. Catching up with everyone again and getting back into day to day helps but the boys and I lost nearly 3 weeks of work and school, so we came back and were behind the eight ball a little. Add the feeling in between places and it takes away your mojo for a while.

I got back and was asked to chair the movie night for school PTO, so we got into gear, flyers etc notification through school. That was an intense couple of days while we were figuring out if we had enough time, we only had 2.5 weeks to do it. We organized to get Ratatouille from Hollywood Video before it was due to be released, so that was a bonus.

Going to the office everyday and processing ticket sales, making sure A track got their tickets etc before they went on holidays, I felt like I lived in the PTO office at school for a little bit, I know all the office staff really well now so that can only be a good thing.

The week after we got back Bruce headed off to Chicago for a few days, the boys and I were back into the swing of school and work by then, so things were really back to normal. Parent helping and trying to catch-up at work, the great thing is that the girls are great and if there is anything they either contact me on email or get it done, so we are heading to be pretty turn key as a business which is the end goal. I had to finish co-coordinating our October fest function for work. Andrea did the invitations for me, we delivered them to our neighbors in the office complex and Andrea and I did the shopping for it. It turned out to be a better turn out than we thought. We really didn’t expect many if any to come over, we got people from about 4 of the offices, which was really fun. We bbq some Bratwurst sausages, had nibbles and just hung out in front of the office and drank and were merry, it was fun. I do have to add, that the PMD girls had a chair race from one end of the car park to the other and I am the champion, thank you, thank you.

Bruce’s trip was a good one to Chicago and central Illinois; he met Nicole our Angels Military Lady and also headed south to set up another Billy Bounce program. It was a successful trip, lots of driving for Bruce to get to where he had to go but well worth it.

The weather has been just gorgeous, the leaves are falling from the trees and the sun is still out, we had some cold and rainy days after we got back but the last couple of weeks have been mid 20’s, got love the FALL season.

Bruce was off to Atlanta and Missouri for a week towards the end of the month, which means not a lot of sleep for him, but a pretty exciting trip. He was heading to meetings at Coca Cola head office in Atlanta and then off to Missouri to set up some more BillyBounce stuff. The trip was a fantastic one for BillyBounce, but again lots of traveling, planes and cars to get where he needed to go. While he was gone the boys and I did the usual, we had 1^st training session for the new basketball season, which was 1.30 & 5.30 sessions so there goes my Saturday. It was a quiet week at home, which was very much needed.

With school, work, parent helping, Bruce being away and movie night which was turning out to be really successful (300+ people), they usually only get around 200, so then I had to organize feeding and watering them, volunteers. Aahhh, the joys of volunteering. My house was suffering a little, it needed some love and cleaning…you can imagine how that was messing with my head.

The boys got their reports middle of the month, A’s & B’s, which is fantastic, we met with their teachers and they are really happy with them, the only concern is Jamieson’s concentration, he seems not to be very interested at the moment. So we are looking for new ways to try and stimulate him. The other is he is having a little trouble with his regrouping when subtracting so he and I are doing extra work on that at home. Hopefully, we will get that to click soon for him. We have holidays coming up, the boys go off track Thanksgiving, 21^st November until January 3^rd. So I have asked the teachers to put off track packets together for me, so they are not doing anything for that long period of time. They have had enough time off already.

News from home was not good as you can imagine. Bruce’s dad is worsening, so Bruce has spent time on the phone to home a lot and is doing as well as can be expected. We’ve decided not to tell the boys how bad it is, last time we did that Conner got really upset and he’s doing so well and really focusing on his school at the moment, I don’t want him to lose momentum. He knows what is happening next time we go home, he doesn’t need to know anymore than that. We have been keeping their teachers informed so they can keep an eye on them and if something happens quickly then they are at least half prepared.

Last week was hugely busy week, Paula’s birthday on Tuesday. She had a great day, all of us girls from work took her out for lunch which is always fun. Then we went out to Chevy’s (Chevy Chases restaurants) for dinner with her, her boys and her new man Steve. (He’s really nice and makes her really happy and the boys like him which is fantastic) He even had a backup pressie (as did I in my bag) as their dad didn’t organize a present for the boys to give her. We had a really fun time and she even got to keep her Happy birthday (Sombrero) hat, which all the kids enjoyed putting on (see pics). Then we all headed to our place for singing and cake….it was a great birthday for her.

We had Halloween on Wednesday, which is always a fun time. The boys of course were really excited because you get candy…what kid wouldn’t. The boys carved their pumpkins themselves on Monday night, (see pics) and they did a great job. We were trick or treating with Paula, Steve and the boys over at their old neighborhood (where they live with their dad) We walked around the neighborhood for about an hour and all the kids got literally a bucket full, then headed back to our place and the kids ate a little candy the adults chatted on the couch while Bruce sat at the front door giving out candy to kids coming to our place. It was a fun night and was over and the kids were in the bed by 9.00, which wasn’t too bad considering.

Thursday rolled around and it was time for Movie Night. I was at school in the morning, then again after school until about 3.00 then back at 4.30 for set up and doors opened at 5.30pm. My boys got a life changing experience, which they will always remember. Bruce was heading down to a place called Tiger Bar sports, a facility that a friend of ours built for athletes of orphan sports, predominately. They have a world class coach and Bruce was asked to help them do some marketing and has been going down to get treatment from their doctor for his shoulder (from his fall playing chasey with the boys ages ago)

HI Everyone, Bruce here.

I wanted to tell you a little more about Tiger Bar – the orphan sports Belinda mentioned are sports like Pole Vault, Discuss, High Jump etc – the one’s you only see every 4 years at the Olympics. The head coach is Mr. Dan Pfaff – a brilliant mind and heaps of history in the field – has been a coach to over 40 Olympians – he is very old school in methods but with a new school mind – totally amazing. Was telling Conner things like – they have over 1200 stretches to choose from and each athlete has to complete 20 – 30 twice a day as part of their training.

Conner was also blown away at the strength of the athletes, both male and female. CJ has the dream of running the 10k in the Olympics – so he got some training tips as well.

We went to school the next day and CJ did a presentation and asked me to do it with him – he was king of the kids – and not only in his class – apparently word got out and heaps of kids were trying to be his friend so they could visit the venue as well – funny.

These kinds of experiences you simply can’t buy and it will be amazing to see these athletes in competition next year in Beijing – we can watch with personal attachments to them!

OK – back to you honey! Bye everyone! J

Meanwhile, the first movie night was a hit, we got 125 people, usually got around 50. Poor Paula had to make 3 trips to get more pizzas, but it was a successful night all round I think. I got home and sat down and actually had a cup of tea and chat with my husband, which for this week was a rarity.

Friday was gearing up for the last movie night, work and school for the day first. After that I had to go to Costco and grab some more sodas and back to school to make sure the projector etc was set up before heading home for an hour and a cuppa then back with the kids to school for set up at 4.30. Bruce bought the drinks a little later, Paula and the boys arrived and not long after the Charles’ arrived from the other side of town to see that movie and catch up. So that was great, the boys have grown so much especially little bubba Cooper. I was telling Steve while he was my popcorn man that Cooper is testament to how long we’ve been here and boy is he growing. Friday night was a success as well, we had around 200 people, and they had a great time, as did we. It was like friends of old with the Hultgren’s, Charles’ and Daneluk’s all together which is always a fun time even if we were all working, even the big boys. Bruce was my doorman to make sure all the people with chairs were at the back, Alfie was our pizza deliveryman and Steve was our popcorn man.

We got home at around 9.00pm, I dropped over to Paula’s to say a proper good bye, she is taking her boys to Iowa to see her mum and step dad who is having more treatment for his cancer. Steve was dropping them off at 4am the next morning, so a quick goodbye - so she could go and pack and back home to tie up the accounting for the Movie night, then off to bed…aaahhhh sleep.

How sad is this, I got up 6.00am on Saturday morning, looking forward to cleaning the house, I know it’s sad but it’s something that needed to be done for my own peace of mind. I’d been thinking about doing it all week, as well as grocery shopping…that got left by the way side too, lucky my fridge and pantry was kind of stocked even though there were a couple of days that we had bits and pieces for dinner. Our Geelong Grand Final DVD arrived in the mail on Friday so I sat on the couch early Saturday morning and watched my boys win again. I emailed the Footy club a week or so ago about the rumor that the cats were playing and exhibition game in LA. It looks like if it happens that there are going to be a big group of us heading down the Interstate 5, to see them live!!

That should be a fun weekend away for sure. At the moment it looks like it may about around 4 families, always fun!!!!

I spent the day yesterday cleaning the house; I went out at around 7.30 to the grocery store and Bruce and the boys were in and out of the house at basketball practice. Jamieson spent the afternoon and night at Julian’s place. (The other basketball coach’s son) I made chicken and vegetables for dinner aaahhhh!!

After dinner, my body didn’t want to work anymore; Bruce and Conner went over to Greg’s to take Jamieson a bag of stuff and I lay down on the couch and didn’t move, and that was our day.

It’s now hitting dinnertime on Sunday night and I have just finished assembling the Lasagna and put it in the oven. I spent the afternoon out and about, starting the Christmas shopping, sounds a little organized but I have to be organized to send that stuff home. I’m nearly there; just a few more and then I can get started on pressies for here. Bruce spent the usual Sunday afternoon watching football as all men here do….

The boys are showering and in their pj’s and Bruce is working on the laptop.

We are going to have a really quiet evening, Jamieson had a really late night last night at his friend Julian’s place so he’s having dinner and off to bed. Daylight savings has finished here this weekend so the split with home is now 5 hours, so communicating will be a little easier.

I hope everyone is doing well and being good. The school year is winding up so that should make the kids happy. I spoke to Rhys on messenger last night; they have about 5-6 weeks left, then off for around 6 weeks. Christmas is just around the corner, we have Thanksgiving coming up which we are planning on spending at the Rivera’s, which should be big fun.

It’s time for me to go and fix up dinner, enjoy the week and everyone be good until we chat next….

Pictures from October....

JAMIESON'S PLAY

Jamieson - with his makeup (not impressed)

Our Trip Home...

Here’s a quick recap of our trip back home. The boys went off to school for the day; which gave Bruce and I chance to get ready for the trip. The boys came home with huge homework packets and all the bags were packed. Paula came over and drove us to the airport. We got on the plane and because we have fantastic friends that work for the airline they bumped us to business class. Woo Hoo..

We got onto the plane and settled in, Jamieson and I on one side of the isle and Bruce and Conner on the other. By the time we took off it must have been past 11.30. Jamieson and I didn’t see the food come out. The trip home was a nice one, we got off the plane in Sydney and went to the red carpet club, and we had some breakfast, which was soooo yummy, Australian breakfast food. We got into Melbourne and grabbed the hire car and off to see Maureen and Peter.

We had a really nice lunch and it was good to see everyone. Peter’s sister Jill was over from New Zealand and Ali come over for lunch too. We caught up and had a really nice afternoon with everyone, and then we hit the road and made our way to Geelong.

We dropped by the say Hi to Trace at work then headed to Trudy’s to catch up with Mum, twins and the kids. The boys had a ball seeing their cousins and it was nice to see them all too. We dropped into to see Elise and Rhys on the way to the Bells for dinner and hitting the pillow for the night.

We spent the next week staying at Tracey and Liz & Al’s and headed up to Eltham to see Maureen and Peter every other day, which was really nice and enough for Peter as he was in pain and needed his naps.

On Friday Bruce dropped Conner and I off at the bus stop where we met mum and Raels and went to the Geelong v Collingwood preliminary Final. The game was AWFUL, but it was great to be at the ‘G’, it was the first time since the renovations that I’d seen it full, wow what a rush. It took a lot of willing, but they made it over the line and Conner and I slept the whole way home on the bus. We got back to mum’s around 1am and hit the pillow, which I don’t really remember.

On the Sunday night we managed to get a dinner together with some friends, which was a fantastic night, the security guard kicked us out after the pub closed, which is always a sign of the great night. We had Tracey’s birthday on the Monday, so I cooked dinner for all of us and the Lynch clan came over, which is always a good time. We went to visit Maureen and Peter on Tuesday night so Bruce could say good-bye then stayed with Kristy for the night. Took Bruce to the airport on Wednesday morning and headed back to Ocean Grove to get some more homework done. Jamieson pushed on it everyday, it was a chore to say the least getting him to complete all the stuff, fun and games.

We spent the next week staying in between Mum’s, Tracy’s and Liz’s. We visited Maureen and Peter every other day. Meanwhile, Geelong was pumping with excitement being in the Grand Final.) We all went to their last practice on Thursday, then stayed at Tracy’s that night for Rhys’ birthday. The Lynch clan came over gain and we all had a bbq dinner. We ate and chatted and all the boys wrestled in the back yard, the boys had a great time and yes, I got some cool photos.

On Friday I was going to take all the kids (Elise and Rhys as well) to the Parade, but the weather was blah so we just went to visit Maureen and Peter then went home. I got the kids home in time for Ross to pick them up. Conner went for a sleep over, Jamieson had to come home with me because he didn’t get his homework done that morning. Life’s hard…so he and I headed down to Mum’s, for homework and a quiet night….to which I have to say he did for the first time without any complaining.

Grand Final day, it was a little weird. We got up and made our way into Geelong. I picked Conner up from Liz’s, where Ross dropped him off and we went out and did some errands. I grabbed some snacks for the afternoon, Liz closed the shop and we all sat down and watched the game, oh what a game. Bruce was texting me through the whole thing, they were getting the same feed from channel 10 that we were seeing. He was at Andrea’s with some of our friends, watching a great spectacle.

The game finished and Liz made the boys some dinner, then we headed home to meet Mum and Auntie Gwen off the footy bus. I dropped the kids off and picked the girls up and drove into Auntie Nordy’s for some dinner and talking about that fantastic day that was. We of course, ended up watching the game, got to the start of the 4^th quarter and I was nearly asleep, so we got into the car and drove home at around 1am.

The next couple of days were catching up with the twins and the kids and up to Maureen and Peters to have some lunch and say good byes. Mum dropped us off at the airport and we got onto the plane and headed for Sydney. Finally, a few hours later we were on the plane and heading back home.

Bruce picked us up from the airport, which was a little late, only because we had to wait for a plane to get out of our spot. I called Paula and you could hear her excitement from the other side of the car, which was nice for me. We got home and were surprisingly awake. Bruce had a coaching session and had to take off, he left and we chilled out and I unpacked and showered etc.

Our wonderful friend Carlos dropped a pizza in for us to have for dinner, which a gorgeous family they are. When things settle down and we come home, Carlos, Kristie and the kids will be common visitors. Especially Carlos and Kristie, they fly to Sydney once a month.

The boys had a day off school, we all slept until lunchtime the next day. The boys went off to school after that. I either had a really bad cold or the flu, I was in bed, and couldn’t get up for the next couple of days. As you can imagine that weekend was a quiet one.