recap

i know it's been a while. i have been wanting to post many times over the last few weeks but there has always been a reason not to. the biggest one being i have no energy. here's what we've been up to:


-starting our fourth week of school. andrew is really enjoying it. it's been fun seeing the work come home. i have to say i am a little surprised by how much he knows. and he is so happy to share his day with me. he loves music and spanish. he also talks about social studies and math. last week he came home with a puppet of johnny appleseed and explained the story of who he was. did you know his real name was john chapman? andrew did. he's making friends and loves his teacher. i have gotten so many comments about how cute he is. glad to see that others feel the same way. he is happy. i am happy.


-jord is doing great too. really likes his teacher, she is wonderful. he is enjoying math, reading three books at the same time; one for a book report, one for silent reading at school and one for fun. he's also been doing well in swimming. he has a meet tomorrow and he's a little anxious about it but we know he will do well. he's having a hard time thinking of a halloween costume. i'd like to cross that off my list soon.


-sofia is going to be 2 in a week. i can't believe it. she already acts like she's five. she loves school also. especially the songs and playing out on the yard. yesterday i took the boys to get their haircut and she jumped on the chair to got her bangs cut. she sat so still. so claudine, the hairdresser curled her hair with a curling iron. cuteness. sofia loved it. she's been talking beyond what i remember with the boys. i mean you can have a full on ceonversation with her. her favorite words right now are "sofia do it.' and she knows the words to most of the high school musical 2 songs. she picks out her own clothes and shoes and hates to wear anything in her hair. she loves playing with her doll and with legos, of course. we're not planning a birthday party this year. just having the family over after andrew's t-ball game. everyone is welcome if you are around.

-bobby is working hard like always. if you get a chance to catch michael douglas' new movie, please do. it's called KING OF CALIFORNIA and it's playing very limited. but it's a great little movie with a lot of heart. bobby is so proud of it. click here to view the trailer.

we went to a screening of it at our university. bobby set the whole thing up with the director as the guest speaker. i love watching bobby in his element. talking to students about the business. talking to the director about the craft. he really is amazing. last night he took the boys up to kerniville. they are racking the wine today, not sure what that is, but he's there doing it. softball season started again and he's giving it all he's got.


-i'm home today with sofia. we're decorating for halloween, my favorite time. i just wish my house was bigger so that i had more places to put things. i have been designated the room mom for jordan's class. at first i was hesitant of the responsibility, but i know that i can do it. we're working on our halloween booth for the carnival and costumes for a christopher columbus play. still working in the cafe and volunteering in jord and andrew's classes with art projects. but all of my creative energy lately was spent on invitations i made for my nieces quinceanera. designed (really copied), handcut, handmade flowers, ribbons, response cards, and personally addressed 66 cards. really time consuming but they came out so nice. the celebration is November 3. my next task is to get a dress and help make the party favors. in my "free" time, ha ha, i have been working on some scrapbooking projects. cathcing up on layouts for the year, making a recap of sofia's 2nd year and taking classes here and there.

-so now do you see why i haven't posted in a while? busy, busy, busy. which is why i decided to rename this blog five busy bees. it just seems to fit right now.

hope everyone is doing well. please leave a comment and let me know how you are.

exhausted and very proud

we survived our first week of school. everyone is getting adjusted to being in school all day. by friday i was barely hanging on. lots to keep track of, but this coming week will be better.

it's official. we are a sports family. we have resisted and stayed away from competitive sports for 8 years. but that ended today, and now we're in it full force. we knew it would be tough, but we were ready for it. first there was jordan . . .


remember back when? when i couldn't even get him in the pool? when we cried and fought and debated over whether this was the right thing for him? well, it was all worth it. he had his first swim meet this morning. we were up early and in the pool by 8 am. the whole event was crazy. kids everywhere, parents running around, lots of yelling, horns, cheering. he was nervous, so the coach gave him a pep talk. his first event was backstroke. it was confusing figuring out the event number, heat number and lane number. but i got him to the right spot at the right time. and he did awesome. he was ahead for most of the race but as he was approaching the wall he slowed down and veered off course. he came in second for his heat and 9th overall for his age group, that's out of 25 swimmers! he was so happy and proud of himself and having fun. then he swam freestyle. he did great. he came in 11th overall out of 25 swimmers. and finally he was the anchor in the kids freestyle relay for 7-8 year olds. he swam his heart out and they did awesome. i didn't get their standing but he was pretty happy with himself. what an accomplishment, for both of us. to feel so unsure at the beginning, to want to give up but to persist and get to this meet and do pretty well. no ribbons, but that's ok. we were just looking for him to give this a try and do the best that he can. and he did. i am truly jumping up and down for joy!



we went straight from there to the baseball field. andrew is playing t-ball for the first time. he was the one that brought it up, honestly because he wants a trophy (but whatever gets him out there, right?) it's non-competitive fall ball. time for the kids to learn and get the experience of playing on a team. then if they want they can play in the spring. andrew is on the ASH team because of the color of his t-shirt and he plays with his cousin, Michael. he gets really shy when he plays, but he did great. the second inning they put him in as the catcher. they have this tiny catcher's gear, andrew called it his armor. he got to stand behind the plate and put the ball on the t. he told me before that he didn't want to tag people out because that is mean and not a nice thing to do. so when he had to tag a runner out at home plate, he "accidentaly" dropped the ball. everyone laughed. he hit the ball off the t both times at bat. and he got to run around the bases all the way home. there are no outs, they don't keep score, everyone bats and everyone plays every position. there are ten games in the season, so we'll see how it goes. they all look so cute in their uniforms and make the funniest plays, not paying attention as the ball comes right at them, running to 3rd instead of 1st, sometimes not running at all. gotta love baseball.



and i didn't get to post pictures of sofia's "first day of school". it's our mommy and me class on tuesday at the preshool. she had the best time. she loved circle time where we sang songs. she is so independent and loved discovering the classroom and of course, eating snack. we adore the teacher, mrs. casey. we had her for two years with andrew and she is the boys' swim teacher over the summer. i already see differences in what sofia likes to do and what the boys did. she loves the art table and the pretend area where they have dolls and a small kitchen.



feeling really good right now. thankful for getting through this week and this weekend with some sanity, even if it's just a little. but i could really use a nap right now, so good night.

first day

well, we survived. what a day. we got up at 6:40 am, had breakfast, got dressed, took some obligatory pictures and got to school early for the assembly. first we dropped jordan off in his 3rd grade class with no tears or long goodbyes. then we took andrew up to the kindergarten area where there were tears and long goodbyes, and he was upset too. he started saying that he changed his mind and that he didn't want to go to school afterall. to which i said, "great, let's go home." but bobby was there to convince us both that everything would be alright and that he, unfortunately had to start school today. andrew cried and wanted to stay with me. i walked with them to the bathroom. thank god they MAKE them go potty, otherwise i think andrew would hold it until pick-up. then we all walked down to the assembly where he sat with his class. he looks so small even though he is in the right age group. after the assembly, which was actually very fun and exciting for the kids we said our final goodbye. he cried, i cried but then he bravely walked with his friends back to his class.

he did great. we picked him up at 2:30 and he was running around playing with the other kids and getting dirty. he was so talkative and excited about sharing his day with us. and i was so relieved. we waited until 3 to pick up jordan and then we came home to brownies and milk in celebration of the first day of school. lots of things to go through. jordan has a fun project that is due on friday. and andrew had his first spanish class today. there are a lot of new faces in the faculty and we are feeling really positive that this is going to be an exciting year for the boys at CHA. oh and they already gave us the packets for the magazine drive. anyone interested?

so happy to see that the day went well. tomorrow sofia and i start our hand in hand class at the preschool. looking forward to seeing her interact with other kids and make friends. and also to spend some special time with her.

sofia and daddy at breakfast. she will miss him tomorrow when he goes back to work.

last day of summer vacation

it had to come. the last official day of summer vacation for the boys. wow. it's great to be home today after spending three days in Disney world. no, we didn't go to florida. but we felt like we were living in the world of disney for three days. staying at the grand californian hotel made life so easy. we would spend the day at the park and then walk back to the hotel. no driving, no freeways, everyone happy and cheery, except for the girl working at star tours. someone needed to remind her that she worked at the happiest place on earth. we would listen to the bedtime stories on tv at night and then everyone was asleep at 9, even mommy and daddy.



the other awesome thing was that there were no crowds. we never really waited in line. well, except for the nemo ride. but we only waited 45 minutes, not 2 and a half hours like it has been. we got to see everything. even some things we've never done before. jordan went crazy over the innoventions attraction in tomorrowland. he especially liked the show where they demonstrated ASIMO, the robot created by honda. it can walk and run and climb stairs. he had to see that show twice. andrew is a big fan of pirates of the carribean. but he also went on matterhorn and had his first experience on the rapids ride. not quite sure if he liked it but he got wet. sofia had fun too. she loved fantasyland, especially dumbo and the carousel. she also liked bugs land in california adventure. she always said "more" after getting off the rides. i had my fill of thrills after riding space mountain three times in a row. i'm telling you, no lines is the way to go. we had early admittance into the park yesterday and we did 6 rides in one hour. bobby is the champion of buzz lightyear astroblasters after scoring over 300,000 points. thanks jeff for the hint on the triangles.

we went swimming in the hotel pool and sofia went down the kids water slide over and over. bobby and i had dinner at the napa rose restaurant. wine, scallops, halibut, strawberry sorbet, amazing. the hotel was incredible. it was awesome that we were right in california adventure and could walk down to the park at any time. the kids loved the chocolate coins that they would put on the pillows. overall what a great way to end the summer. we'll definetly be doing that again.


we'll be hanging out at home today. jord has swim practice at 3:30 and then we go to back to school night at 5. that's when we'll find out what classroom they will be in. so excited and a little nervous for andrew. is he really going to kindergarten? what will he think? how will he behave? what will they think? i'm sure he will be reserved for the first few weeks. but then i am hoping that his personality will shine and they will fall in love with him. i know that i will miss him. he's been my buddy for the past five years and now i have to entrust the school with him for the majority of the day. it's bittersweet for me. and i know that sofia will miss her buddies too. but i look forward to spending some one on one time with her. it should be fun.

it's been a great summer and i know it will be a fun school year. i'll post pics from the first day of school on monday. love to all.

inspired

for 13 years you have inspired me.
inspired me to . . .
love unconditionally
laugh hysterically
try new things
try again
be silly
learn how to read a map
create happiness
let it go
be honest
be compassionate
stay strong
have faith that everything will be fine
water ski
get it done
be consistent
work hard
fold the whites (not really but i'm thinking about it)
watch indy movies
be accountable
believe in myself
believe in others
love with a passion that can overwhelm

you are the best partner in my life journey and the most incredible father to our three little creations. no one can compare.
i hope that i have inspired you in some way over the past 13 years.
happy anniversary.
*photo by jordan mitas age 8

engagement

ahh, love is in the air. the very, very warm air. i love it when we have a party to celebrate love. sarah and steve were in town from colorado to celebrate their engagement. it was fun hanging out with the cousins and getting to include steve in the craziness. the godlewski's put on the coolest spread. a mashed potato bar. mashed potatoes served in martini glasses and topped with chili, cheese, onions, sour cream, yummy. what a great idea and one that i know i will repeat at our next gathering. we mingled and ate and laughed and played. it was great to see them and even more exciting that this is just the beginning of the celebrations. hooray to love.

good luck sarah on you half marathon tomorrow. wishing you cool weather!!