Zachary's first t-ball game

Today was the first day of the fall t-ball season for Zachary. He was waiting for this day for such a long time. When we got to the field he met his coach, and got his hat and jersey. He went right with the coach and started practicing. They practice for an hour and then play a 3-inning game. Each team has 6 kids. Each inning, every child gets to bat. There is no score keeping, as the games are just for fun. It was funny watching the kids play because they really had no idea what they were doing. By the end of the game, they were starting to understand the concept of the game.

 Ready to play!

 Walking out to the field:) #45

 Hitting the ball:)

 Playing first base:)

Shaking hands after the game:)

The coach gave out a medal for good listening:) Each week a player gets a medal for sportsmanship. Zachary didn't get the medal today, but he did clap and yell "yay Justin" for the little boy who did get it.

Pumpkin Patch Birthday

Today Kailani's game was at our home field again. The girls seemed a little tired, but still did a great job. The boys won again, 46-0. I actually don't think another team has scored against them yet. We're 5 and 0 so far so it's looking like we may be going to the play offs. Three more games to go. Zachary enjoys cheering the team on!

 Tonight we went to a birthday party for a little boy whose mom I know from Stroller Strides and Body Back. The party was at the pumpkin patch. We got to roam around and go through the hay maze, slide down the cotton seed hill, take a hay ride, and pick a pumpkin.

San Clemente Pier

This morning we drove up to San Clemente to meet the White family for breakfast. They stopped in CA on their way from Hawaii to Rhode Island. We saw Kristin and the girls last summer, but the guys haven't seen each other since June 2009.
We had a very nice breakfast at Fisherman's Restaurant right on the pier. Afterwards we walked to the end of the pier. The kids really enjoyed playing together. Maybe one day we'll live close to their family again.

Winning Streak

We're on a winning streak! This morning we had our very first home game...ever. All season last year we didn't have one home game. The high school put in a brand new field this year and it is beautiful. Once again, the boys won. This time, 56-0!

We started the responsibility chart with the kids on Sunday. Kailani has been doing really well with it. She always wants to move her chore over to the "completed" side as soon as she completes it. Zachary is another story...he doesn't care. I knew he was too young, but I knew he would want a chart if Kailani had one.
We decided to give Kailani fake money for her allowance once per week that she could trade in for things we buy at the store. We went to the store to buy fake money and ended up buying a few other things to help teach Kailani about money. She sat down tonight and did about 20 pages in a workbook about counting money. She used the play coins to count. She learned a lot! As I was reading through the things her teacher wants her to do over the fall break, I noticed money is one of those things. Kailani had gotten a great head start on that.

Kailani got her report card on Friday. She is doing very well. She is meeting the standards in the areas they've covered this quarter.

Little Black Dress Dinner

Tonight we went out to celebrate the end of our 8-week Body Back session. We ended up having a 4-hour dinner. We realized that although we had been working out together over the last 8 weeks, we didn't know much of anything about each other:)

Biggest Loser!

Zachary came down with a fever last night so I wasn't able to attend the last Body Back class tonight. I took Zachary to the doctor and she saw lots of white spots on his right tonsil. I can't even image repeating the strep cycle we had a while back! The rapid strep test came back negative, but the doctor is sending the culture to the lab. Since we won't get results back until possibly Monday, she wanted to start him on the antibiotic anyway. If the results come back negative again, he will stop the antibiotic. I'll probably keep him home from daycare again tomorrow.
Before the doctor appointment, I received a phone call from the Body Back instructor. She wanted to talk to me before class to congratulate me on being the biggest loser of the session! She used a formula to calculate the percent change in my body over the last 8 weeks. Here is her Facebook post with the details:

And the winner is....... Kristie Williamson Remaly!!!!! Yay!!! Congrats Kristie!!!!

Kristie had a 421% overall change. She lost 12lbs, 10 inches off her body, more then doubled her plank, had an 88% change on her push ups (going from 2 to 16), 100% change on her sit ups (going from 0 to 12), a 44% change on her squats (going from 28 to 50) and dropped 1:32 seconds off her run. Wow Kristie!!! Just awesome!!!! We are all so proud of you!!!!  

The exciting part is that I get 1/2 off the next session! The not-so-exciting part is that I am going to have to miss some of the next session. Jason will be in and out over the next few weeks and Kailani's cheer schedule is changing. I can't do it all on my own! Cheer conflicts with everything. Body Back is Tuesday and Thursday from 6:15-7:15 and Kailani's cheer is Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 5:30-7. There is a conflict for pick up on Thursdays. Next week, there is a parent meeting for Zachary's t-ball league on Wednesday night from 6:30-8:30. Again...a conflict with cheer. Why can't I be in 3 places at once?!

Body Back Comes to an End

Tonight was the last official Body Back class. We still have class on Wednesday, but it will be a fun class. We did our assessments to see how far we've come since week 1 back in July. I can't remember everything, but I did improve in all areas. The next session starts on Tuesday!
Mile run (actually .75 mile) - 7:48 to 6:02
Sit ups - 0 to 12 in 1 minute
Push ups - 2 to 15 in 1 minute
Bicep curls - 18 to 27 in 1 minute
Squats - ? to 50 in 1 minute
Plank - 1:23 to 3:07
Side Plank - .48 to 1:27
Weight loss - 11.8 pounds
Inches lost - *still waiting on the final numbers for this, but way more than I expected! 2 inches off of my thighs..definitely the thing I notice the most.

Cool off

With the really hot weather we've been having, we decided to do something to cool off today. We went to the Sweetwater Spray Park and the kids played for a few hours to keep cool.

Busy Saturday

This morning we started our day off at Salt Creek Park for the Coastal Clean Up event. Kailani signed up through Daisies, but Zachary loves to pick up trash, so we all went. It was very hot, so we didn't stay too long. Afterwards, we went inside the community center, where they had activities going on. Zachary and Kailani had some snacks and did a few art activities. The community centers are celebrating their new hours. Many had to cut back to being open only 2-3 days per week. Most of them are back to being open 6-7 days per week. The community centers offer some great activities for the kids.

 Kailani had a game this afternoon. It was over 100 degrees, so it was very hot. I am actually surprised the game wasn't cancelled. We set up a cover for the girls and they took shade and water breaks in between cheers. Zachary and Jason stayed home because it was just too hot for them to have to sit outside today. Towards the end of the game, the other team's cheerleaders came over to do a group cheer. The game was very close, the Otay Ranch Broncos scored the first and only touchdown with 6 minutes remaining in the game. We won the third game in a row...undefeated so far!

 Tonight we took Zachary for a haircut and Kailani decided she wanted one too. She wanted her hair cut up to her shoulders. I wasn't quite ready for that and didn't want Kailani to regret it, so the stylist cut 6 inches off. We told Kailani she could take a look at the end and could have more cut off if she wanted. She decided that 6 inches was enough. Her hair was so long! I should have taken an "before" picture to compare.

Responsibilities

We've decided that it's time to start a responsibility chart for Kailani. She's been asking for a lot of things lately that cost money and when we talk about it, she doesn't really have a concept of money. She thinks (like every kid does) that money is never-ending. I want her to start learning how to save money and use her own money to buy things she wants. I was able to go to Costco for a shopping trip on my own tonight and happened to see a responsibility chart there. I picked one up for Kailani and for Zachary too (he always wants what Kailani has). We set the charts up to start on Sunday. At the end of the week, they will get one dollar for every day they did all of their jobs without a fit. We're planning to use fake money and when the kids are ready to purchase something, we'll buy it and deduct the amount from their savings. Hopefully this will start to give Kailani a sense of money:)

Otay Ranch Mustangs

Today Kailani had a cheer camp with the Otay Ranch High School cheerleaders. They are the Mustangs, not the Broncos:) She really had a great time and is looking forward to cheering with the girls at their Homecoming game in October.

Broncos Game 2

This morning Zachary and I started our day at stroller strides. I love it when I get my workout done early in the morning!
Before heading to Kailani's game, I took a trip to Urgent Care. Wednesday night I was having bad stomach cramps that continued through Thursday morning. I almost didn't go to work except I had too busy of a schedule to miss work. On Wednesday night, I also noticed what I thought was a mosquito bite on my upper arm. It was really itchy and I had other mosquito bites earlier in the week, so it made sense. Thursday morning I noticed it was really red around the outside (not normal for a mosquito bite). My stomach was still bothering me this morning and the redness around the bug bite had grown to the size of a baseball, so I thought I had better go get checked out. The doctor thinks it could be a Black Widow Spider bite! Apparently Black Widow bites cause gastrointestinal problems, which could explain my stomach issues. The bites don't usually become large red circles, but the doctor said that could mean it's getting infected. He told me that the effects of a spider bite usually resolve themselves, but if I didn't feel better by Monday, I should start taking an antibiotic, which he gave me a prescription for. We'll see how I feel in a few days...
Kailani had her second football game today. She and I headed to the game and Jason took Zachary to a bowling birthday party for a little boy in his class. After the party, they met us at the game. Again, the girls did awesome and the Otay Ranch Broncos won their second game of the season 34-0.

Heritage Funhouse Carnival

Today was Kailani's school carnival. We went last year and the kids had a blast. Jason had the day off, so he picked Zachary up early from school. When I got home, we picked Kailani up and headed straight to the blacktop for the carnival. We picked up our tickets and the kids played game after game after game. Kailani kept wanting to play the same games over and over because she just wanted to get the prizes. The kids were so focused on the games that they didn't even go on the rides.
We hung out for about and hour and a half and then Jason and the kids headed home. As a PTO board member, I had to do a shift at the ticket table. Ticket sales were busy!
I took a break for a while and headed back up to the school at the end of the carnival to help count tickets, money, pay vendors, etc. It was a long night, but the carnival made a lot of money for the school. I am amazed at how much money the PTO at Kailani's school can raise. I've never had the experience of working at a school with this level of parent involvement.

Kailani and Zachary went into the petting zoo. A turkey got a little too close to Zachary and he got scared and wanted to get out. I wasn't able to get any pictures of him before he got out.

Fluffy the worm...beetle

A few weeks ago Kailani came home from school and told me she had a worm. I thought it was an art project, but when I went for her open house, I saw that each student had a mealworm on his/her desk in a small cup. Every few days she would talk about her worm, Fluffy. She told me when they fed it apples. She said they were all waiting for the worm to change. I had to "google" mealworms to see what they change into. I didn't realize there was more to them! They actually turn into beetles. Hers recently turned into a chrysalis and she was anxiously awaiting its transformation.
Today when I picked Kailani up from school, she was very excited to be bringing her beetle home with her. She wanted to keep it for a while, but I convinced her to let it go before we went into the house:)