Wall of Fame

Over Labor Day weekend Dave started a new art project - the first since he sketched Drew 2 days after he was born.  This one was on a much larger scale - a wall mural - for some friends of ours.  The mural is in their boys' bedroom and takes up a good chunk of one of the walls.

I got to see it about 2 weeks later when we stopped over at Brian and Stephanie's after our Parents Night Out.  Dave had to show me that he really was working all those hours he spent over there while I was home slaving away at Drew's birthday cake attempts.

For the record Dave free-handed the design and began the painting process... Brian finished it.  I'm sure they wanted the project completed faster than Dave could have gotten there to finish it.  It really does look amazing!

Party Like It's 1599

It was that time of year again that we travel back in time to the Renaissance period and join our friends Mel and Chris for some debauchery. 

That picture was taken at the end of the day.  Dave actually came through the gates with a sword, but within the time it took to walk maybe 50 yards to get from the front gates to the beer stand he lost the sheath.  So he had to take his exposed sword back to the trailer.  He was rather bitter about it.

So to try and make him feel better we attended a few "new to us" shows - preferring the NC17 version kind of things since we didn't bring any of the kids.

Here's a video sample of their hit song... a bit of a warning, they have an NC17 rating for a reason. I don't advise listening to it while at the office and in earshot of your co-workers...



Dave had the hots for the redhead.

We then headed over to the joust and met up with Melody's sister and her boyfriend.  After the show we were amazed to find someone taller than Chris.

That man is a giant next to my 5'10" husband.

 After lunch we went back to another joust, thinking the Queen would be back.. no such luck.

Here's the gang.... starting in the 2nd row:
L-R: Eric, me
L-R: Megan, Mel, Chris

It was all about shows this time - we hit up another one, the Dirty Laundry Women (again on the "naughty" stage).  They asked for volunteers and my ever so "bashful" husband volunteered...

To earn a flower for his lady he had to make an ass of himself by wearing a feather boa...

... walking to the back of the  arena...

... and shouting about how much he loves himself and then proceed to hug himself.  He got off easy compared to the other guys.

My flower :)

Notice where I put it?  Another great afternoon, and thankfully the weather was perfect!  It's normally scorching hot, but this year was beautiful. 

Showering the Bride-to-Be

I'm going to be getting a new sister-in-law in a little less than two months, and two weeks ago she had her Bridal Shower.  I postponed posting this thinking she would post pictures on Facebook... I didn't want to steal her thunder.  But nearly 2 weeks later... Rana, we have family itching to see the pictures.  :)

The shower was held at her Matron of Honor's house in Oakley and she did it in the colors that Rana will be using for the wedding...

The favors were bottles of wine and personalized M&Ms with the wedding date on it.

The cake was absolutely beautiful... and better yet it tasted great too!

 I was in charge of doing the games, and we did... the Price is Right (honeymoon style), the Almost Newlywed Game (I asked Matt questions then asked Rana the same ones), and name that bride (celebrities).

Here are the ladies from my family...

L-R: My Sister Lisa, Me, Rana (the bride) and my Mom Kathie
Apparently Rana didn't get the memo about which color to wear....

And here's her bridal party....
L-R: Lisa, Me, Rana, Denise (the Matron of Honor)

I think the prerequisite for making the "cut" into the bridal party was blonde hair and blueish color shirts - HA!

It was a great afternoon and I think she scored BIG time with some generous family and friends.  Now figuring out what to get them as a wedding gift will be tough!

Go Go Grammy

As I mentioned yesterday I did my first 10K, but Grammy too did her first "race" the Delta Harvest Family Run/Walk.  Rather than bore you with duplicate details from yesterday I'll share the two photos I received this morning in my email courtesy the race photographer - Rick Felix Photography.

Yep, that's Grammy at her first "race" pushing her little Drew Bear who went "running" too.  He even got a ribbon.

Here's my official crossing the finish line photo...

Race to the Finish

Sunday was my first 10K of the year... ok my only 10K of the year.  For those who aren't familiar with racing distances, a 10K is 6.2 miles.  This year I had the privilege of doing it suffering from a sudden slaughtering of allergies and sinus troubles - gotta love the far East Bay foliage and fires.

This was my second ever race of this kind, the first being last year when I had to walk some of it because I stopped for water and didn't know how to "do that" yet without suffering from side aches.  So this year I really wanted to run the entire distance - which I can easily do in my 1/2 marathon training.  But the stupid hereditary sinus cavities had another agenda.

One of my usual cheerleaders had a better offer so Dave wasn't there to root for me.  Instead it was Grammy and Drew, who were going to do the Family fun walk/run around the Streets of Brentwood while I spent the next hour or so running through the town.

Once I hit the road I managed to run a 10 minute mile through 4.35miles - which is actually pretty fast for me. It was at that point I lost my breathing routine and ended up walking off and on for the next mile or so.  I came into the Streets of Brentwood aiming to run to the end, and had to walk off and on a bit more.  My final official time 1:17:46 - almost 2 minutes slower than last year's 10K. 

I'll chalk it up to the sinus troubles and now I'm even more motivated to finish a 10K without walking.  I know I'm perfectly capable of doing it.

Beer, Friends and Bowling

What's better than a night with friends, booze and bowling?  That's how we spent our past Parent's Night Out (PNO) or as Drew lovingly calls it - his preschool PJ Party.  We met up with fellow couples, Stephanie and Brian, and Jonelle and Travis.

We started the night enjoying the all-you-can-eat shrimp deal at Red Lobster (where Dave and I met).  We randomly ran into an old mutual co-worker who is now managing the Fremont store.  It had been 10-12 years since we last saw her... and in a weird twist I was Facebooking with another mutual co-worker from the same Red Lobster (and who we're getting together with this weekend).

After eating our weight in shrimp, we decided to work it off by bowling.  Unfortunately many of my pictures didn't come out great because the trailer trash very competitive bowlers about 7 lanes over said the flash was distracting them.  Here's what I could salvage.... (most of which included the flash after the 'professionals' left).

Needless to say we're not professionals by any means, but we had a blast anyway!

4 Year Check-up

Another year and another normal child. Drew got his well check and clean bill of health at the doctor's office.

Weight: 33.6lbs
Height: 42 inches

Some new additions to his check-up this year included a hearing test and sight check.





Despite the fact he regularly doesn't hear me - his ears are fine. And the fact he rarely finds what he's looking for on his own - his sight is perfect.





The downside of this visit were a few vaccines: MMR, Chicken Pox, and Flu shot.

He was quite ticked at the nurse and announced to me with tears streaming down his cheeks, "I don't ever, never want to come back here".

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Look Out David Beckham

Look out David Beckham because here comes Drew!!

We stopped doing the swimming lessons because he was plateauing if not regressing.  When I listed a series of activities he could switch to: karate, basketball, soccer... he first said baseball, but settled on soccer.  (out here baseball is for 5 year olds at least in the competitive leagues like Dave demands).

On Saturday Drew had his first soccer "practice" - I say "practice" because it's more of a class where they learn fundamentals... such as listening to your coach.

Drew surprised us immediately - he's a natural when it comes to soccer!

Warming up with Daddy.  Dave explained what "dribbling" was with a soccer ball in the parking lot, and Drew did it immediately inside.

Practicing his coordination with placing his feet on the ball.

Practicing "carrying" the ball down the field.

After the class Daddy and Drew went to the bathroom and Dave asked him what he thought about soccer.  Drew's response...

"I love soccer!  But what about baseball?"

Dave told Drew that it was ok to love more than one sport.  Silly kid.  Needless to say we absolutely made the right decision moving to soccer.  He cannot wait for Saturdays now.

Wanna Have a Catch?

Last night Dave and Drew managed to get outside to play some catch and practice pitching.  Daddy told Drew they had one year to get into "baseball shape".

After I went back inside I started hearing this little voice proudly announcing "I caught my first pop-up!"  I didn't get any pictures of that to the dismay of Drew, but here is a video of the two of them practicing pitching and catching grounders.

Birthday Bear

Drew's preschool class has put up a website to share pictures and events online, and this morning I finally got a chance to peek at it.  Here's a cute picture from his birthday eating his cupcakes...

Looks like a happy 4 year old!

Riding into the Sunset and a Funny

For those who aren't on Facebook, for whatever reason aren't friends with me, or perhaps you've since blocked from seeing my posts.... here's a funny from Drew at Sunday School which resumed this weekend.

Teacher 1: Jacob and Esau are twins.  Do any of you know what twins are?
Drew: (very enthusiastically) They're a baseball team.  From Minnesota!
Teacher 1: (trying hard not to laugh) Well yeah that's one kind of twin...
Teacher 2: (trying hard not to laugh) You are your father's son aren't you.

In other news, Drew is a riding machine right now.  He's had 2 bikes and a scooter since he was just over two years old but refused to ride them growing very frustrated at his skills.  He had trouble staying on the sidewalk and getting the pedaling thing down.

I went to pick him up from school last week and he said all he wants to do is ride his bike.  He surprised us by doing the pedaling (as long as it wasn't uphill) and then on Sunday I pulled out the scooter for him to ride around our complex.

He loved it!  After about 30 minutes he announced his legs were tired and we went back inside to bake the birthday cupcakes for school the next morning. 

I love the new found independence and confidence being four has brought!

Drew IV

Our little Rocky Balboa is FOUR today!  On Saturday we held his birthday party at the local park and what other theme could we have but Rocky!

Yep that's the invitation I made!!

The star of the day... our own Drew Rocky Balboa.

The cake I slaved HOURS on (of course some of the "seam" fell off in the transfer from home to the park)

L-R: Elijah, Heather, Steve

Thankfully the weather was fantastic (thunderstorms the night before) so the kids could play in the splash park.
L-R: Naomi, Charlize, Drew, Jayce

  Drew getting water from the "fountain"

Cousin Kady and Drew

 Drew showing his Rocky muscles

Drew and his "Adrians" showing muscles.
L-R: Drew, Zionna, Naomi

Time to sing Happy Birthday to the star of the show....
L-R: Elijah, Drew, Zionna and Mason

The fake candle blow-out.  The wind kicked up just then so we couldn't get a single candle lit.

Someone is going for the sneak attack....

And it's all caught on camera!

For background music Dave had a playlist of Rocky theme songs from various soundtracks.  When the "training song" came on, Drew decided to do some "training"

 At one point he even had all the kids running after him, just like the kids did in Rocky II.

Then it was time to open presents....

L-R: Adrina, Rana (my brother Matt's fiance), Naomi

 It cracked me up how all the kids hovered around Drew to open gifts.  They even handed their own gifts to Drew to open up.
L-R: Zionna, Elijah, Troy, Naomi (hidden a bit), Riley, Drew in the chair.

Josh and Rhiannon looking on

And saving the best for last... Uncle Doug, Aunt Connie, Grammy and GrampC behind the camera

There were a few other classmates and friends we didn't apparently get pictures of.  The park is pretty big so it was hard for us to be in all places.  For lunch we served pizza for the kids and of course Philly Cheesesteaks for the adults. 

We thank all of our family and Drew's friends who came to make it such a special day for him.  He really felt pretty good about it - as did Mom and Dad.