Drew is a Daddy!

Guess what - Drew's a Dad!

I introduce you to Cool Dude (left) and Awesome Guy (right).

We "adopted" them from my coworker. 
The good news - we've had them for a month now and they're still alive! (that would be a new record for me and fish).

St. Paddy's Day - 2014

We couldn't make the annual St. Patrick's Day parade this year, due to an early morning baseball game.  But after the 9:00 start we rushed over to the local festival so we could get into the action before the crowds hit - and we made great time!

We managed to hit all the rides for Drew first thing.  And that's key - to get there before the ride longs are as painful for the adults as they are for the kids.

And we got serenaded by someone playing bagpipes!

After the rides we did our walk through the booths, hit up the library and grabbed a bite to eat.  And we were home by 1pm.  Score!

Hang Gliding

I love Drew's imagination at the age of 6.   You take away the electronics and he comes up with awesome ideas to entertain himself.

Here he is... Hang Gliding....





... Get it? Hang gliding?

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Angry Bird Star Wars Ultimate Battle

For about two and a half years Drew has been obsessed with Angry Birds, and then last Fall Angry Bird Star Wars came out.  That has taken his obsession to an all new level.  With much of his Birthday money this year, Drew has collected various Angry Bird Star Wars figures and games - it is his personal mission to beat out Evan from EvanTubeHD for the most characters.  For those that didn't know there is now an Angry Birds Star Wars II app, in which you can "teleport" your characters into the app.  He loves it!

So feeling guilty for neglecting Drew during baseball playoffs generous, Dave assembled every single Angry Bird set for Drew to knock down the pieces.  I'm talking maybe 10 sets!

Drew of course had to line up the correct figures that should knock down each "building".  While it no doubt took about an hour to build all of it, Drew smashed through them within 15 minutes.

He loved it though!  He is forever asking Dave to do it again. 

Looking Forward to His First Loss

I will catch up on my blogging one of these days.  I have a ton of pictures and posts to update, but the problem is finding time...

But we have big news I had to share immediately - for those that didn't already hear on Facebook.  Drew discovered his first loose tooth yesterday!  He's been so so anxious to lose his first tooth that he'd break down crying at the most random times, upset he didn't even have a loose tooth.

Well his bottom right tooth was slightly wiggly when he went to school yesterday, and nearly halfway out by the time he got home from school.  He woke up this morning and first thing he said - "Well it's still in there".  I anticipate we'll have our first Tooth Fairy visit sometime this weekend at the rate he's wiggling it!

What Ethnicity Box Does He Check?

Dave's often asked what nationality he is - answer, Spanish and Native American.  Well this weekend we received word Drew is now officially registered with the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) as a member of the Chippewa Tribe.  (He also has Nez Perce bloodline from Chief Joseph, but not enough to register.)

Thanks to the hard work by Grandma figuring out all the blood lines, making the calls, filling in the forms and being persistent with Dave in getting her what she needed - Drew is now a member of the tribe. I'm pretty sure though the bloodline is not that much so any of his kids will not qualify, unless he marries someone from that tribe.

Drew's response when Dave told him?  As he looks at his arm "Yeah I'm not that white, I'm a little bit tan".

Now we can officially make that check mark on the Native American Check box!

(Picture from Little League Day at the A's Game yesterday.  The kids and coaches got to walk the "chalk line")

Reliving My College Days

At the end of December it was a bit like re-living my college days when Dave and I went to the Hunger Bowl game at AT&T Park where my Alma Mater ASU played Navy.  One thing I learned from this experience... I can't hang like I did in my "youth".

After getting of BART/Muni, we tried to find the ASU hangout, and we ended up at MoMo's across the street from the park.  There I proceeded to slam about 3 beers before going into the stadium (mind you Dave also had 3 beers).  We also met up with my college friend Mark who was also going to the game.  It was awesome being in the sea of Maroon and Gold at the bar.  Oh and boy was it packed with Sun Devils!

Our seats were awesome!   We paid for middle of the road seats - not the cheapest, and not the most expensive.  It worked out since there was an ever so slight chance of rain, that we would've been covered.

 

And then it was time for some Football! 

Sparky our mascot was ready for the action.... and there was plenty of it by ASU, not so much from Navy.  The Devils took the ball to the end zone on their first two drives (I know it was their first drive, and I think it was their 2nd drive as well - I'm too lazy to double check my facts).

 

Facebook is a great thing... I found out one of Dave's friends from the Santa Rosa area (where he went to college) was also at the game with her Dad.  During halftime we ran into Nicole while walking around trying to stay warm.

Afterward we replenished our drinks and settled back into our seats to watch the rest of the game.

And yet another touchdown!!

Needless to say Sparky did a ton of push-ups that day.  He does one for every point we get when ASU scores.   The final was ASU 62, Navy 28.

 My friend Mark joined us for the end of the game, and then we headed toward the field for the trophy presentations and fanfare.

Yep, I'm wearing gloves in San Francisco... it was quite cold!

Of course Dave wanted to have a picture of himself for the Sun Devil post-game festivities.  He's a wanna be Devil.

Afterward we left the park and Mark caught Muni, and Dave and I had this "brilliant" idea to grab another beer before going back and fighting the crowds. 

While it looks good in our final picture, it ended up not so good rather quickly.  It turns out I "forgot" to drink water all day and had beer instead.  Luckily I did eat some football foods at the game, but on the BART ride home I almost hand an "incident" where I'd have been quite embarrassed.  And I left my "mark" at the parking garage.

I was in bed that night by 8pm.  Um, yeah I can't hang out like I did in my college days....

Olympics - My Little Patriot

I have to admit, normally Sports 24-7 in the house would drive me bonkers, but with the Olympics this year it's different.  First it's pretty cool - minus the fact Dave is sucking up all the memory in the DVR with round the clock recording.  Second, now that Drew can read he enthusiastically cheers for Team USA - or if they're not in the sport we're watching whatever flag/letters he likes.

Now that he reads so well, he knows what the teams are if their uniform says the full country - and he's starting to get used to the 3-letter abbreviations like ESP for Spain.  And if they have a race bib - he reads their last name and really belts out his cheers.

We seriously have a patriot!

I think I might actually miss the Olympics when it concludes this weekend.  It really is awesome to see just how into it Drew is.  He likes to "practice" in the living room as well.

His favorite sports: Synchronized Diving (because they do flips), Gymnastics (because they do flips), Wrestling, White Water Canoeing...

I leave you with a "funny" from yesterday.  On our way to school here was the conversation we had:

Drew: Mommy, if armpit farting were an Olympic event, Lucas and I would win gold.
Me: (knowing something or someone was behind this convo) Who told you that?
Drew: Mrs. Jonelle (one of the preschool teachers)

Big Damn Bug

Some people have fish stories... we have a bug story.  To get a full appreciation for our bug story I need to start at the beginning - unfortunately making a longer story. 

About 6 years ago after we power washed the backyard, I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  Now I don't have to turn on the bathroom light when I go since we have a hurricane light from our neighbors which puts off enough light for me to do my business without having to hurt myself.  As I was doing my thing I saw the shadow of this thing scurrying across the floor.  I screamed waking up Dave.

I have no idea what it was other than it was the size of a mouse.  It ended up scurrying under our bathroom sink out of our reach.  We TP'd the heck out of the bottom so we could get some sleep.  Yeah right.  A few minutes later you can hear it clawing trying to get out... then a bit later you hear a "thud" as something falls from the top of the counter hitting our garbage can.

Armed with a shoe, Dave goes in (I'm right at his back, but protected by my strong, burly, shoe-armed husband).  Then we saw the biggest, ugliest critter ever.  After Google searches the next day we discovered it was a Jerusalem Cricket.  Needless to say that dude didn't live to see our Google searches.

Fast forward to Thursday night this past week.... I'm sound asleep and Dave shakes me awake "Are you awake?"  Um, no I was just laying there peacefully for my health at 11:45pm.  He proceeds to tell me that he found another Jerusalem Cricket and he's trying to catch it.  Knowing how little sleep I had after the incident 6 years earlier... I decided I preferred not dealing with it until the morning.

Then I woke up and walked into the kitchen and saw this...
 

Repeat after me... ewwwww!! It's also apparently known as a potato bug (which I always thought were Rolly Pollys)

That's when Dave proceeds to tell me his war story with this damn bug - which Drew named Cooky.  Dave said in his wrestling to avoid the crunch that would come... Cooky played 'possum and when he was flipped over just stayed still until Dave moved out of it's field of vision. 

The reason Dave saved the damn bug, he thought it would be fun for Drew to bring to school for share day yesterday.

Needless to say I refused to take Drew to school.

Ewww!!

While Mommy Is Away....

So while Mommy is away, the boys will play....

...or get trapped in a net.

That was Drew at soccer on Saturday morning.  Dave assures me they were playing a game and no children were harmed in the taking of this picture.

And clearly keeping up with Daddy all weekend is tough stuff...

I guess they had an especially busy day (I think they said this was Sunday) and Drew was out cold before I could talk to him that night after work.

While it was nice to get a full night sleep without interruption in a King sized bed I didn't have to share with anyone... it sure was wonderful to come home.  It's so funny how much you notice little changes in your kids even after being gone only 4 days. 

Treat for a Trooper

Sometimes good intentions don't turn out the way you expected.  Case in point, last month when we intended to hit up the Stockton Asparagus Festival one Saturday afternoon, promising a certain 4 1/2 year old some rides.

Because we were headed to Stockton we decided to hit up one of our favorite wineries - Macchia outside of Lodi.  While Mommy and Daddy had wine Drew played with our phones under a table

We rejoined that winery - woohoo!

But the bad news about leaving this winery, Drew's eye became irritated presumably resting on the carpet either by dust or dog dander (they have a pooch running through the winery).  So we needed to hunt down a drug store for some Benedryl since his eye was swelling shut rather quickly and we  promised him a trip to the Asparagus Festival.

We finally found a Walgreens and  dosed him with some "drugs" and headed off to Stockton.  Well we found the Asparagus Festival and holy crap - it was packed!  Dave and I didn't want to battle the crowds to get to the rides.

Thankfully on our way up we spotted a little carnival in Tracy at the mall.  We decided Drew wouldn't care whether he was at the Asparagus festival or the mall - he just wanted rides.

We were right!  We told him he could go on four rides (carnivals are such a rip off).  He picked the kiddie airplane ride...

Kiddie Roller Coaster

Swings...

And the slide

We got roped into a carnival game too - the carnie promised him 1 free dart to throw at the balloons.  He missed and they gave him a dart.  Ten Dollars later Drew got a prize.  Of course they don't tell you the cost until you're already roped in and it's too late.

Well Drew won "Freddy" his new pal.  I apparently didn't get a picture of him that day with Freddy, so I'll have to have a special post dedicated to Dodger Dog's best friend.  The three of them are inseparable now at bedtime.  So I guess it was money well spent. (we think Drew was so proud of himself for winning "Freddy" by himself that he has taken to him the way he has)

So while it wasn't the day we intended, it ended up being a great afternoon after all.

Real Birthday Party for Imaginary Friend

Someday when Drew is in therapy as a result of our parenting, hopefully he remembers this one cool thing Dave did. (I can't take credit for it - I just snapped the picture).

 Let me give you a little background... Drew has an imaginary pet fly named Fido.  Some of you parents may recognize Fido from Nick Jr.'s The Upside Down Show.  I'm not sure that it's on anymore since the station has redone it's line-up within the past month or so.

But anyway, for about a year now Drew has talked about his pal Fido. Most kids blame their younger siblings for doing something they themselves did wrong.  The downside of being an only child there isn't really anyone to blame - well unless you have an imaginary pet fly named Fido.  Drew farts - and you give him the "look" to say excuse me - he says "Fido did it".  I therefore need to ask Fido to say "excuse me".

You walk into your bedroom to find your bed naked - sheets, comforter and pillows on the floor - Fido did it.

You ask who made a mess of all the toys?  Fido.

You want Drew to sleep in his own room, but he's scared - you ask him to have Fido protect him.  Drew tells you Fido is sleeping in the hole of our bedroom doorknob (the key hole) and cannot be disturbed.

Yes, this is Fido.

Well on our way home from School on Monday Drew announced it was Fido's Birthday on April 6th.  So when I mentioned that that was last week - he quickly asked what today was and I said April 9th.  He said "Oh yeah today, April nine, is Fido's Birthday".

Fast forward that night as Drew is supposed to get ready for bed, he wanted to tell Daddy that it was Fido's Birthday.  So Dave said, "Well let's get him some cake and sing Happy Birthday".  The way Dave tells it (I was getting things ready for Drew to go to bed) was Drew didn't really think there was cake. But we had some leftover bunny cake from Easter.  Then Dave pulled out a candle.  Dave said at this point Drew couldn't believe we were really going to have a little party for Fido the imaginary pet fly.

And then the two of them sang Happy Birthday - yes to Fido.

Since Fido was so little and couldn't blow the candle out - Drew had to help.

Since it was bedtime Drew wasn't allowed to eat sugar that would just keep him up, so Daddy "sacrificed" himself to do it.  (Mind you this was no sacrifice since he gave up sweets for Lent).  And there you have it - why we had a real birthday party for an imaginary friend.

This and That

Here's just a mish-mash of things I've discovered on my phone and details about Drew....

Several weeks ago - probably like a month or even two ago, Drew made this picture and it was posted at school.  It was likely based on a book they read that week.

The descriptions left to right (you can click on the picture to enlarge it a bit more):
Me caught in a trap doing pull-ups...
They are all watching me do pull-ups: "a one-eyed man", Grandma, Mom, Dad, & Grandpa

I had forgotten I'd even taken that photo!

Drew is still loving soccer on Saturday mornings.  It's more of a clinic at this age, teaching them how to listen, dribble and basic soccer skills.  Two or 3 weeks ago,  it was the final class of that session so they allowed parents on the field so Dave went (I was dressed up to attend a baby shower immediately after practice).

That's a shot of Drew trying to kick the ball at Dave who I believe was an alien in a spaceship (great casting if you ask me).

The other day I saw an interesting questionnaire come into my in-box courtesy BabyCenter (a website for parents and parents-to-be).  Dave's always going on about how he hopes Drew gets his vertical attributes from my side of the family - being as he has big aspirations of our son playing MLB.  So when I saw something that offered predictions of how tall Drew would be at age 18 I caved and entered the information.

The requirements were to enter his age/weight/sex.  Then the height of both Dave & I.  The prediction...

Your boy will likely be 6 ft. 0 in. at age 18.

Young men often continue to grow a little past 18 until they reach 21, but their height at age 18 is very close to their final adult height. This prediction is a "best guess" but it's still just that -- a guess. Based on the formula we used* there is a 50 percent chance that your boy's full-grown height will be within 0.8 inches (above or below) of this prediction, and a 90 percent chance that it will be within 2.1 inches.

That ought to please Dave - his son will likely be 2-3 inches taller than him, in fact taking after my side of the family.

And then this final bit of randomness comes from Drew earlier this week (no pictures, just a funny little story).  So on the way home from school Drew - who mind you never tells me what he did at school that day - comes out to tell me the following:

Drew: Roberto said I can go to his house and we can do wrestling.  It will be DrewPro versus Roberto. Then it will be Roberto's Mommy against Drew's Mommy.  And then it will be Roberto's Daddy against Drew's Daddy.  (and extra excitedly)  Roberto's Daddy has tattoos!


Really a tattoo announcement?  And the most bizarre thing, is 30 minutes later he repeated the same story - exactly - for Dave.  Clearly Drew thinks that tattoos make you extra hard to beat.

Feeling Green

Sorry for the sporadic posts, I've been out of town for work. But I do have some pictures on my phone of our St. Patrick's Day fun.

We skipped the parade this year because it conflicted with soccer - Drew wanted to play soccer rather than the parade. Afterward we braved the chilly temps and chance of rain and went to the Dublin Festival.









Drew braved the slide alone (he is afraid of heights and fast slides).

Drew loved this one too! He's on the far right.





Drew had some time for reflecting...

And then we headed to Burger King for some free fries. Dave French Kissed a leprechaun.




Ok so it was the after effects of the green ketchup.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Work Graffiti

There's some graffiti on our walls at work - well our white board to be specific. It was left by a certain four year old tagger....



That would be Drew's favorite term for himself - courtesy wii Sports. The green face is a drawing of my coworker Cathy.



This would be Drew's self portrait.

Drew came with me to work last Thursday because of a Staff Development day at his preschool.  He loves "working" with me.  Believe it or not I did get some work done, and we got our for our daily walk - I even brought the jogger for Drew and we made a pit stop at McD's for his lunch.  

Who Has More Muscle?

Within the past few weeks Drew found out that "Rocky" is also "Rambo" - although he sees Rambo and calls him Rocky.

Anyway, after watching Rambo 2 this past weekend and the conversation that "Rocky" made other movies too including one about arm wrestling.  Of course Drew asked what arm wrestling was.

So Dave showed him...

Any guesses who won?