xander's baseball tryouts

the rec association xander plays ball with holds tryouts or assessments for their spring season. each player gets out on the field by themselves while a "coach" runs him through some exercises and plays and the other coaches sit in the outfield and take notes, so he can be "recruited" for a team.
todd went with him and said he did his best and performed well, even if he didn't catch everything. xander was so excited despite the 30 degree temperatures. todd managed to take 50+ pictures during xander's 5 minute time on the field. here are just a few of our ball player.

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my new favorite pictures

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so this has been cassidy for the last three days. not a happy girl. not sick enough to totally slow her down, but just sick enough that she has been whiny and quick to cry at everything! (when she is older she is going to hate me for posting these pictures.)

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stayed home from school with the kids today, which was great because my plane had been delayed a few hours and i didn't get home until 1am. so, although i had to swear to my assistant teacher that i didn't plan it that way :P it was great to sleep in a little and spend the day with the kids. i had missed their little antics, their conversations, the sweet hugs and even the tantrums.



cassidy was feeling better, not great, not totally up to her normal self, but well enough to help make egg in a window (which she didn't eat).

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poor sick baby girl. when i talked to todd in the a.m. he was just picking up cassidy from school because she was running a fever and throwing up. i was unable to help at all, being on the other side of the country, and felt terrible that she was feeling miserable. but he was able to get off work and spend the afternoon with her, which she spent mostly sleeping. "i'm coming home baby! see you in a few hours!"

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so, while my family was missing me in georgia, i was missing them in california - but i was oh so busy. here are pictures from cha - the tombow booth, joanna working hard, me posing - not working at all, and a picture of our project. my "job" for four days is to do make-n-takes with show attendees, to expose them to as many tombow marker and adhesive products as possible. we figured that 250-275 ladies (yes, all ladies) came through our booth and did the project with us, which was a set of tags put together with a book ring. it really is so much fun to be there. there is so much creativity all around, color and excitement, people are busy but happy to be there. i love my little stint with tombow. looking forward to orlando in july (yes, even in july!)

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hanging with grandma and grandad.

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i have absolutely no idea, but the pictures are too good to pass up. i'll have to question xander about this when he wakes up.

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already posted for today, but found this one as i was searching for pictures for the 25th. couldn't resist.

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happy birthday lindsay!




it's lindsay's birthday party at mcdonald's. todd is the one behind the camera. i was off on an airplane to california via arizona. stopped off to visit karen and the kids and see their production of fiddler on the roof. but i don't think x & c missed me very much during the party. they had a great time with their friends and told me all about it when i talked to them on the phone later that night.

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i leave in the morning. i'm heading to california for cha with tombow. i'm so excited, but i hate saying goodbye to my babies! but we had a great afternoon outside playing with the neighbors and enjoying the slightly warmer temperature.

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at church the relief society organized a swap...a swap of clothes, toys, home decor, furniture, etc. i knew i wouldn't have time to go by during the day when it was open for the actual swapping, so i volunteered to help set it up.
i admit, i hold onto things way too long and have a hard time throwing or giving things away. unfortunately so does todd, so our closets were way too full. i took this opportunity to go through my closet more aggressively than before to get rid of those things that i was holding onto until it came back into style, until i had the right event to wear it to, or until i lost those few extra pounds and it fit like it used to. what surprised me was todd sorted through his clothes too. it started with just a few shirts, and ended up being a pile as big as mine!
every year it seems that i set a goal to get our lives and our home a little less cluttered. thank you to the relief society of suwanee ward for getting me started (and todd too!) so, when's the next swap?

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we love chinese food - stir-fry, take out, the food court at the mall. and we love eating it with chop sticks. when todd and i were first married we went out to eat at a restaurant and the place settings included plates and forks. when we asked for chop sticks the waitress (the only caucasin that worked there) admitted that all the chefs and waiters ate their food out of bowls with chop sticks. why wouldn't they serve it that way too? well, once we got a tutorial from chad when he returned from his mission in hong kong we insist on eating it that way too. this was cassidy's first attempt. gotta love the "starter" chop sticks.

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today should be something political because of the historic nature of the day....a new president, the first black president....but it's not, cause that's just not me.
today was school as usual, dinner as usual, life as usual.

keeping the late hours

what the heck am i doing? it is 4am! i truly am an idiot...but i've posted days 6-13. i was awake, so i just kept going. that, i was doing my lesson plans for this week. always something to keep me working late. but i accomplished something, and i'm keeping up with my goal. that feels good no matter how much sleep i manage to get tonight. (right now it is looking like 1 1/2 hours). will catch up on the other 6 days another time. i'll give in to sleep now.

this will never happen again

wii bowling tournament. i was so impressed with myself. i have never bowled so many strikes, nor do i think i ever will again. because of that i determined it must be documented.

happy birthday todd

today is my "fat boy's" birthday. now before anyone thinks that i'm calling my husband fat, it was a joke in college because we really enjoyed eating the "fat boy" ice cream sandwiches. now years later those ice cream sandwiches may be sticking to us a little more than they used to, but i am not calling him fat!
anyhooo, today is his birthday and we celebrated lazy style. sleeping in, big breakfast at his parent's house (which really turned into big breakfast for lunch), a wii bowling tournament, naps at home, ordered some take-out food, opened presents and ate cake.
x was so wanting to do a surprise for him. but he didn't pose the idea until yesterday afternoon after church. not enough time to get people to come over, especially on a holiday (mlk day) when everyone is out of school and being lazy themselves (or maybe that was my cop out...) but when todd went out to pick up the "to go" food we scattered balloons around the living room and put his wrapped gifts in the middle. we waited for him to pull into the driveway, quickly turned off all the lights downstairs, and waited behind the couch to jump out and yell "SURPRISE". x seemed pleased. c was freaked that we turned out all the lights, and i was wishing i had done more.
i'll get him good for his 40th. plan something really big. so put it on your calendars. cause in a couple of years it's gonna be a big one...maybe a trip, a cruise, or perhaps another lazy day spent with family - cause i know he really enjoys the simple pleasure of having "his only friends" around (x's words when i didn't invite anyone over for a party.)

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we all have our own ways of expressing our wishes for a happy happy birthday to this guy

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found these at target, on sale.
sleeping bags for spend the night at grandmas and pj movies at home.

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"thank you cousin olivia for my christmas present."
it was a tough decision - a new baby doll, a stroller or the princess cd player. she loves music!

bowling with ethan

ethan the birthday boy with joanna his assistant and mommy best friend

lorali the cute little sister
xander the life-long friend -
seriously, they've known each other since ethan was a year and xander was 5 months

todd the assistant bowler (sorry i didn't get a picture of him bowling)

cassidy the other cute little sister

sarah the best bowler around...yeah right....but really i'm the mommy best friend

cassidy enjoying BLUE icing from the birthday cake (i think that is all she ate)

xander thinking he had better start working out to be able to use a ball that big
enjoying a night out with friends, loving being together

oh yes, cassidy showing off her bowling shoes. it was her first time...