Blogging the final quarter of '09

With only hours to go before the decade draws to a close, I'm going to try to post pictures from some of the highlights of the last quarter of 2009. My poor blog has missed out on some fun times!

Blog silence

The lack of posts around here has nothing to do with not doing anything. Actually, quite the opposite has been true. Between preparing to move, welcoming Baby Kyle and (now also the Rosas' Baby Leo!), actually moving, and starting a new part-time job, things have simply been crazy busy! I'm back, though, and will do my best to get on top and stay on top of reporting on our little family's life.

MONSTER TRUCK jam

On Saturday, January 10th, Larry and I went to an event that even two years ago I would have thought would never interest me: The Monster Truck Jam. I suppose as much as anything or anyone I have my precious nephew Ryan to thank for my interest. He LOVES monster trucks, so just the idea of seeing his enthusiasm made me want to go. Turns out it's a very fun time!



This night was made all the more special because Tante Carla and Onkel Alex watched Sara for us, and she spent the night over there! (This was her second night away from home. My parents watched her when we went to a USC game back in November.) Carla reported that Sara slept from about 7:45 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. I guess she didn't miss us too much!

Of course, the weekend after we went, a boy up in Washington was killed at a similar event. :( Sitting in the crowd did not seem remotely dangerous to me, but if we go to another event, I'll make sure we sit up high again.

Something I've dreaded

On Sunday I received a text message from a former student informing me that one of my other former students, Andrew Martinez, had been killed in a car accident Saturday night. Finding out was like being punched in the stomach, to be honest. This was an inevitability that I had always feared from the moment I began teaching. (Ironically enough, my student Christopher Murray committed double homicide a couple of years ago. That one it had never occurred to me to dread.)

About two weeks ago, Andrew found me on Facebook, a social networking tool that I spend too much time on these days. Prior to that, I hadn't spoken to him in probably four years. He graduated in 2001. I would have remembered him regardless, but to have spoken with him so recently has given his passing an extra little pinch of sadness.

Andrew was the kind of kid I have always enjoyed teaching. He was outspoken, witty, intelligent, and respectful. He wasn't necessarily the most conscientious student in the room, but he had a lot to offer in class and interesting ideas. Andrew's biggest passion was music. I remember seeing the chorus to Incubus's "Pardon Me" scrawled across the front of his binder, and it reminded me of my own teenage angst, so I kind of liked it.

When I ran into Andrew a few years ago at the Brea Mall, he was getting ready to tour with his band, Up Syndrome. He even gave me a copy of his CD. He was so excited to be pursuing his dream--something he continued to do up until his passing on early Sunday morning.



Andrew, I'm so sorry that your life was so short. I'm very proud of and inspired by the passion with which you lived your life. Thank you for sharing that lesson with everyone who knew you.

Road trip

This past weekend we went out to Lake Havasu with Tanja, Eric, and Ryan. The weather was beautiful, and we really enjoyed the Christmas boat parade.

I only took a few pictures on the drive up, so here they are. :)

Gratitude

When I was teaching, I used to have my students make a list of five things for which they were grateful on the day before Thanksgiving break. After they had made their lists, they would choose three from their list to share with the rest of the class. It was always a nice little exercise in remembering just how blessed we all are.

I decided to go ahead and make a list this year for the blog and to have Larry make one, too. Here they are:

Larry is grateful for...

1. Wife and Kid

2. Still having a job

3. Health (even people my age are suffering from joint issues, back problems, knee problems. I’m glad I don’t have any of that.)

4. Friends and Family

5. Caffeine

I am grateful for...

1. My happy marriage to a wonderful husband and father

2. My friends and family

3. God

4. Food, shelter, and the relative abundance with which we live compared to much of the rest of the world--and the ability to stay home with our daughter.

5. Of course, our sweet Sara Jo

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Tagged!

I was tagged by my friend Jenny. I'm supposed to post the fourth picture from the fourth folder in my photos and tell about it. I actually have photos in a couple of different spots, but I'm going to pick one of the spots and go by fours (fourth folder, fourth subfolder, fourth photo).

Ha! Well, I might try a different location, 'cause this one is pretty lame.


This is a cheapie digital camera that I sold on ebay a few years ago. As you can see from the picture, it offers a whopping 1.3 megapixels. I also seem to recall that it had no LCD screen. Awesome.

And a different location:



Aww... This was a couple of days after Christmas last year at my parents' house. Sara was just a few days shy of two months old, and Ryan was just shy of two years old. I like how he still looks like a baby here. Tanja was in heaven with her arms full of babies. :)

I'm supposed to tag four people, so I'm tagging Elizabeth, Anna, Dawn, and Lisa.

Well baby visit, books, and a recipe

Sara had her one year well-baby visit today, and the doctor said she looks good! Her head circumference is now "only" in the 90th percentile, her length (29.5 inches) is in about the 60th or 65th percentile, and her weight (22 pounds, 10 oz) is in the 75th percentile. Dr. G asked me a few times about her belly and whether I feed her healthy foods. I promise I do!

In other news, I haven't written about my readings in quite some time. Right now I'm reading my way through the Little House series, which I'm really enjoying. After that, I'll be moving on to a couple of parenting books I've purchased of late to prepare me for the toddler years. After that, maybe I'll finally get around to Atonement but I can feel more Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum titles calling my name...

I haven't posted any recipes in ages, which doesn't mean I haven't made anything new. My most recent new favorite has been pumpkin risotto with prosciutto. Yum!

Really? You don't see it?

Most people think Sara looks like me. Most people, that is, EXCEPT MY PARENTS. What the heck? So here, just for my good ol' mama and papa, is some proof. How can you look at these pictures of ME and not see Sara Jo?





Postscript: After looking at this blog entry, my mom tells me that she can see a little resemblance in the last picture, but that's it. Sigh...

Busy days!

Today the three sisters (Tanja, Susi and I) took the five kids to Chuck E. Cheese. The kids went absolutely wild, except for Sara. She bumped her head on a ride (my fault) in the first few minutes and had NO INTEREST after that.

Yesterday I went to visit one of my former students, Sophia, and her new daughter Payten. She's so small, and I just can't believe Sara was ever that tiny. :(




In the afternoon I took the Wiant kids to SweetLife, the yummy company where Carla works. We got to take the factory tour and everyone had some sweet treats. Good times!





Susi and the kids go home Sunday. :( We have had a wonderful extended visit. The kids are crazy about their cousins and it has been such a treat to spend lots of time with them!

Precious photos

As I mentioned in my previous post, all of my siblings are in town right now with their spouses and children. Since Susanne lives overseas, that doesn't happen very often. As best I recall, we were all last together in 2002 for my parents' fortieth wedding anniversary.

We decided it would be a good idea to hire a photographer to come out and take some pictures of the family and kids together, and I am so glad we did! Not all the pictures are in yet, but look at how great these turned out! Click on the image to get a closer look at how wonderful it is!

All the cousins together:


The whole family:


My sweet Sara Jo:


I highly recommend Janean's Giggle Moon Photography! :)

Wii!...and my Sajo

Larry and I got a Wii yesterday! It's my belated birthday present that I chose instead of a new cell phone. Oh my, we have been having so much fun with it! It's kind of funny, actually, because we've been laughing our heads off at these silly games that are very reminiscent of Atari or the first Nintendo. I guess that's the kind I like, though. Laser hockey rocks!

In other news, Sara has been saying "mama" like crazy the past couple of days, and I think she's starting to understand that that means me! Aside from staring at me as she said it, Larry was asking her tonight, "Where's Mama?" and she kept turning and looking at me!

These are exciting days!

Just because I love this look

As much as I love the sprout, I think pigtails might be even cuter!

Reason #534,298 why I love this man

Have you heard of Colony Collapse Disorder? If you take a look around, you might notice more bee carcasses than you used to, and that is bad news for agriculture. Larry learned all about this (and more!) while watching Sixty Minutes.

Anyway, so when a bee found itself trapped in our humble abode on Thursday, my darling husband naturally took it upon himself to do his part to prevent CCD. Come hell or high water, he was going to SAVE THAT BEE!

Methods of "encouragement" used to try to coax the bee away from our skylight:

• Turning on and off lights to try to attract the bee to some other light source
• Trying to get the bee to climb onto a broom
  
• Trying to get it to climb onto a bright piece of fabric
  
• Putting marmalade on the end of the broomstick
• Blowing air from a hair dryer at the bee

In the end, what finally worked was exhaustion. The bee hid somewhere for the night and was too pooped on Friday morning to put up much of a fight. Larry offered the bee the broomstick, the bee climbed on, and Larry released him back into the wild where he belonged.

To paraphrase from the starfish story, it made a difference to that one!

Happy Father's Day!

Larry is a really, really wonderful dad to our Baby Girl. He is attentive, loving, and very involved. He is very much my partner in parenting her: He knows when she pooped last, or what makes her laugh, or what her latest "party tricks" are. Perhaps consequently, Sara adores her daddy!

We celebrated yesterday by attending our Parent & Me swim "class" and then barbecuing over at Larry Sr.'s. Sara made her daddy a t-shirt to commemorate the occasion, and I made Larry a certain coffee cake that he has been begging for for over a month. (I would post the recipe, but it's kind of long and I'm too lazy to type it all. It's from the Taste of the Month 2008 calendar, compliments of realtors Artt and Renee.) It was a lovely day!

























Larry Sr. has a shirt with Larry and John's hands from 1984. We added Sara to the back of his.

A Mommy Milestone

Well, I am now officially unemployed. After eight rewarding, enlightening, exhausting, challenging years as a high school teacher and 7.5 months spent on leave, I have resigned. How does it feel? It feels right, actually. Going back to the classroom for the last two weeks was actually a really good thing for me, because it let me remember the things I love about teaching (relationships, creativity, the challenge) and the things I'm ready to leave behind for now (ever-increasing demands, demands, demands!).

I had such a wonderful day with Sara today, and I can appreciate the difference in how I interact with her. Today I enjoyed my daughter. When I was working (yes, those two whopping weeks) it was all about survival. Now, I know she's getting the very best of me. I'm so very grateful that I get to be her full-time mommy.

How do working mothers do it?

Several months ago I decided that I would go back to work for the final two weeks of the school year. My thinking was that this would allow me to earn some money with relatively little stress, say goodbye to students and colleagues, and pack up eight years worth of belongings. Those two weeks of work began on Monday, and phew! I am tired! I'm tired despite getting to work at 7:30 and leaving by 3:10 or 3:15. I'm tired despite having a wonderful babysitter (my friend Stacey) who comes to us, so I don't have to pack up Baby Girl and all her things.

How do working mothers do it?

In case you're wondering, Sara seems to be doing okay with this change. I think it really helps that she's in familiar surroundings. I'm just happy this little experiment won't last too much longer!

We're back!

...and I'm feeling a littler overwhelmed. I feel like I have so much I need to update here, so for now I'll just make a list of what's to come, and then I'll update with posts over the next few days.

Future posts will include:

-Sara's six-month update
-Our Germany trip
-Book and movie reviews
-My birthday
-Mother's Day

I *think* that's all.

Book and movie reviews

I might as well get this one out of the way as it requires no photos.

While on my trip I read The Pact by Jodi Picoult. Hmm. I enjoyed it, but not to the point of recommending it. It's too heavy to be a good mindless read, but not complex enough to be a great read. At the risk of sounding like Randy Jackson, for me it was just kind of okay.

I'm now reading The Shadow of the Wind. I'm really loving it so far, but I'm wondering if its melodrama and/or whimsy are going to start to wear on me after a while.

Movies... On the plane to Germany I saw August Rush. This was a very sweet little movie. It's not realistic, but it's not supposed to be. I liked it. On the way home I watched Grace is Gone with John Cusack. It was a very well-acted, slow-paced movie. It's depressing and not quite entertaining, but at the same time I'm glad I watched it. It's about a father finding out his wife has died in Iraq and how he deals with the first few days after. I also watched 27 Dresses. It was entertaining, but I'd say at best it's a rental. My life would have been just fine if I'd never seen this movie. :)

Tagged!

Stacey tagged me.

I am supposed to list 7 random facts about myself...

Here's how it works:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and leave a comment on their blog, so that their readers can visit yours.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share 7 Random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 random people at the bottom of your post, linking to their blog. Let each person know by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 random things you probably don't really care to know but I'm telling you anyway.
1. When I was little, I imagined that I would have a daughter someday, and her name would be Mary Lou (1984 Olympics, anyone?) or Hillary (from All My Children--blame my sisters).
2. I have very rarely, if ever, understood what people mean when they say a food is "too rich."
3. Lately I have been in love with my Real Simple magazines.
4. I don't like sour stuff as much as I did before and during pregnancy.
5. I loved season one of Dexter and can't wait for season two to come out on DVD.
6. I love cute, comfortable pajamas.
7. Larry told me this morning that last night I kept kicking him in my sleep.

I tag April, Melissa, Jen, and Dawn!

So much to update!

Happy Easter!

I have much to write about, but let's start with the big stuff.

Today was Sara's first Easter. We took her to church this morning, and she loved the music from the contemporary service, although her daddy prefers the more traditional organ to the guitar and drums. After that we went to Tanja and Eric's for a barbecue. It was a lovely day, though Baby Girl was quite fussy--and not because of the bunny ears! She was showered with gifts by family and the Easter bunny. She is a very blessed little girl!


I got a haircut. I know there's kind of a stereotype about becoming a mommy and cutting your hair, but the truth is that it is still falling out like crazy thanks to the postpartum hormonal crash. Larry said he was okay with me cutting it as long as I didn't get a "mom" haircut. I think he meant something like this:


I vowed not to get the "mom" cut, so Larry gave me his blessing. It looks pretty flat from the front here

but here's a side shot that shows more of the cut:


I think I'm going to like it once I get used to it and it gets a little more shaggy.

We've seen a few movies lately.

1. American Gangster. This was a good one. Denzel Washington is always good, and it was an interesting story and very well-made.
2. Superman Returns. It was just okay for me. I am not the intended audience for this genre, but even a comic movie enthusiastic like Larry didn't *love* it. The pace was kind of slow at first, and it didn't really distinguish itself from other movies of its type.
3. Blades of Glory. After a day where Sajo spent more time whining/fussing than anything else, I just wanted to have some mindless laughter, and this movie provided it. It was ridiculously stupid...but in a good way.