2007

When you're too cheap to buy a jersey for the Super Bowl,
you make one out of a blue shirt and masking tape.
(When #18 next was in a Super Bowl,
one of my favorite people bought me a real one.)

Two cute members of the 2nd place Yellow Team at the AWANA Games

John's 11th Birthday

The last time that we dyed Easter eggs.  They're growing up!

All that for a broken toe.  I'm still not sure why it was necessary.
The toes are exposed!  The break was in a growth plate at the base of the big toe, though. 
Maybe they just wanted to keep him from abusing it while it healed.

Andy's one and only season coaching baseball.  Go Yankees!

This was a pretty fantastic group of friends.  Unfortunately, they had to say goodbye.
This was their last night together...they haven't all been in the same room since.
I miss them.

When your team goes 26 and 1combined for the
regular season and the tournament,
receiving a major award from the best coach
ever is pretty great. 

Andy traveled to Green Bay multiple times for work,and he got to tour Lambeau. 
They ate at some fancy restaurant in there and got to go play down on the field. 
I was extremely envious.

Summer just isn't summer without spending a week playing Pool Football.

He turned 10 and he wanted to go to Laughlin to eat at the breakfast buffet.
Lucky charms, pancakes, bacon, donuts and Mountain Dew.
Man, it's good to be 10.

Andy and I visited Chicago.  I actually don't mind this photo of me.

First time at White Castle!  Had to see what the hubbub was all about.
Unfortunately, it wasn't my last time at a White Castle. 
(Shudder.)

R2-D2 mailbox, best deep dish ever, Soldier Field (of course I took a picture of that)
and the view from the top of the Sears Tower (after I stopped crying and in between hits of my inhaler.)
Good times. 

Nate's Butt Farm!  (Sorry.)
And another broken bone for Matthew; an arm this time.
He also broke a thumb over the summer,
but I didn't manage to get a picture of that cast. 

Disneyland with my boys and parentals.  The best memories.

Love.

Our neighborhood was hit hard by fires; hundreds of homes were lost.
We were fortunate; many friends weren't so lucky.

I loved those boots.
But they weren't mine.  I think I need to buy some boots.
(Getting ready for a piano recital.)

Can there ever be too much Disneyland?  I say no.

Putting up Christmas trees, no matter which room they're in,
is one of my favorite things to do!

This was the last year that they slept "under the Christmas tree."
The next year, if memory serves, they decided that their beds
really are more comfortable than the floor.

Finishing the year right!
A spontaneous, day-after-Christmas trip back up to Monterey
to spend the last week of the year with our favorite people!

Not Your Typical Tuesday

Yesterday didn't quite unfold as I had planned. It seemed simple enough - drop the kids off at school and then run to Staples. Easy! I had no idea that I would be rear-ended and find myself at the hospital with a concussion.

My initial thought is to complain. I hate to say it, but that's how my brain works. Because let's face it, when you get in an accident, there are lots of things that are negative: the vehicle and the hassle repairing it, the completely irritating and inconsiderate staff at Sharp Memorial (that could be a whole blog by itself!), the state of my body today....I could go on for a while!

However, last night as I was reflecting on how I'd write it all, it struck me that there are actually more things to be thankful for. So, while I do ask for prayer in this next day or two, because I really do feel terrible, I decided that my blog today should be about thankfulness. God's provision and protection were evident all day long; that is what I should be focused on. So here you go...some Wednesday thankfulness for you....

I Drive a Beast
My Sequoia did it's job; it handled the brunt of the collision with only bumper damage. The other guy's van, not so much. I'm so thankful that I don't have a crumpled up car right now.

No One Was Coming
When the guy hit me, he knocked me forward into an intersection. Thankfully, there was a lull in traffic and no one was coming; if there had been, I could have easily taken a direct hit to where I was sitting.

Delayed Symptoms
While I felt pain in my head immediately, I didn't lose consciousness at all. In fact, although I was hurting and was very shaky, I was able to speak clearly and handle all of the "info swapping" with the other people, pull off to a safe parking lot and call my insurance company. It was only after completing all of that, about 15 minutes, that the full effects of the concussion set in and I realized that I needed help. It made things so much easier that I was able to function and get that taken care of.

Not Only Help, But Perfect Help
Obviously my first calls for help went out to my mister; but unfortunately, he was unavailable. I then called my bestie and found out that two certain someones (with a super cute, sleeping baby in the back seat) were about five minutes away and able to come and get me. Never have I been so relieved to see their wonderful faces! I'm so thankful that they just happened to be in town (on vacation from New Mexico) at that moment and that they were right where I needed them to be. God's timing, to be sure. They packed me up and drove me to Urgent Care, where Andy met us.

Andy Is Fabulous and So Are His Bosses
Andy had taken some time off on Monday, so I felt terrible calling him away from work yesterday. In between, well, let's just call them "concussion symptoms," I kept apologizing to him for inconveniencing him. He, of course, was a rock and was all kinds of wonderful. He even received a text from his boss telling him that "..family is much more important than anything going on here...stay with your wife." I am so appreciative of that.

My CAT Was Scanned
After spending several hours at Urgent Care with continued "concussion symptoms," I was sent to the hospital for a CAT Scan. I'm so thankful that they did that. While it was a pain in the rear and the staff there wasn't great, as Andy said, "I don't want you to go all Natasha Richardson on me." We were both very relieved to know that everything looks good on the inside.

Potato Cheese Soup
After a total of seven hours with "concussion symptoms," things finally settled down enough for me to handle Gatorade. Then, when Andy went to pick up the Sequoia from the parking lot that I'd left it in, he went to Marie Calendar's and picked up some soup for me. I wolfed it down, hoping for good results. Seriously, a bowl of soup has never tasted so good! So thankful that Andy got it for me, and that my body cooperated!

I'm sure that I could work up some more things to be thankful for, but you get the idea: I was loved and cared for all day long. I need to rest today, perhaps for a couple of days, but my body should recover soon.

Like Bing said, I've got plenty to be thankful for.

This is the End, Part 1

He did it...

...he made it...

...it was quite an accomplishment...

...he finished freshman football!

Having never played before, I don't think Matt really understood what he was getting himself into when he signed up last June. It rocked his world. This was bound to be an adjustment even without football - he was making the switch from home schooling to public school. Adding football just made his days insane.

He left at 7:30am each morning and he got home 7pm each evening. He ate quickly and then had at least several hours of homework. After a quick night's sleep, he woke up and started all over. Every single day. It was a gruelling schedule, even for someone who loves the sport. For someone like him, who isn't quite sure that football is the thing for him and being a kid who really needs down time, it has been a difficult few months.

But he made it.

He was a starting defensive end all season and he saw a few plays as the back-up fullback. He played so well, his coaches love him....I couldn't be more proud!

Thankfully, he didn't get any injuries that are too serious. He jacked up his thumb pretty bad in practice before the season started so that continues to bother him. The trainer has been taping it every day, all season long, to give it stability. Hopefully now it'll finally get a chance to heal. He's been fighting a sore shoulder and a sore quad; both should settle down now. Considering how bad football can get, I'm very thankful.

#43
2011 Del Norte High School
Freshman Football
Finished 7 and 3

Go Nighthawks!

How Not To

He's a three-time All Star.
His stats are phenomenal.
I've yet to see anyone run the bases faster than he does.
He has trophies galore.
He is clearly a gifted athlete.

Unfortunately, even with all of the amazing-ness, some lessons are still hard to learn. I had really hoped he'd learned this one last year.

Alas, no such luck.
We still need to work on one important fundamental...

Not Using Your Face to Stop the Ball.

"...so it took a bad hop. I got him out anyway; that's all that matters."

Sigh.

Never A Dull Moment

In mid-July, we had quite the adventure. While I was in Reno for the weekend taking in excellent films at the cinema and filling my body with o-so-healthy food and drink (ha!), my youngest son was playing in a baseball tournament in Menifee, California.

Andy and I kept in touch via phone calls and texts; I was apprised of the scores of the various games and exactly how Matt was doing at each at bat, etc. When my phone rang at 4pm, just as I was getting ready to drive up to Lake Tahoe for dinner with my buddies, I assumed that it was another update. Well, an update it was, but not the kind a mom wants to get.

He was calling to report that Matt had "just had several of his teeth knocked out." I was sure he was kidding, I'd just talked to him about 15 minutes before. He wasn't. After they got some of the blood out of the way and could take a look (ewwww), the teeth were there but they'd been pushed way back, dropped all the way down and were dangling by their roots.

Not knowing what was ahead for Matt, I hopped on a plane and flew home. Andy received some instruction on how to "hold" the teeth in there in transit and they made the hour-long drive back to San Diego to see the orthodontist. It was very cool of our orthodontist to meet them at 6pm on a Saturday night.

Thanks to Andy's brilliant prepping, our orthodontist's great care and a whole bunch of prayers answered; I'm happy to report that as of yesterday we've gone from this...

(Yes, those are the seams from the baseball imprinted on his upper lip.)


(The thought was to shove the teeth back into place, put braces on them and try to hold them in while the bones fused around them and locked the teeth back in.)

...to this!

We still have to wait a while; they said that if the teeth are going to die it could take up to a year for that to happen. But for now they are strong enough to be brace-free while we wait!

Yay!!! Love that smile!

Using His Head

This is my son, Matthew.

Instead of going to the gym with me at 0-dark-thirty like he usually does, he spent the morning laying around in his jammies, reading.

He did this not because he's tired, nor was he being lazy. He stayed home today because last night at baseball practice, he received a concussion.

Yes, folks, a concussion.

Here's what happened. Matthew was playing first (base), and he was watching a batted ball (you know, the play that was actually happening) in center field. The short stop thought that right then would be a good time to unload a spare ball that he'd been holding in his glove. Of course it was the kid on the team with the strongest arm...he threw a bullet to Matt, who never saw it coming.

It hit him right between the eyebrows and took him off his feet. He doesn't think he blacked out, but there are a few seconds that he might have. He was quite loopy so we went in and had him checked out, just to be sure.

We're very lucky. It missed his eyes. It would surely have broken his nose if it would have hit there. Any lower than it was, we'd have been looking at sinus and nasal cavities. The mouth would have been real bad. God was good. It hit him in the safest part of his head possible.

He actually looks great today...a little swelling, but nothing much. Just a bad headache! We're very fortunate.

His favorite part? When the doc last night told him that he couldn't go to bed until 10:30pm because she wanted me to keep an eye on him.

MY favorite part? The goofy look on his face when his Aunt Beth asked him if he felt concussed.