weekend wins and losses

we are in the thick of craziness when it comes to weekends.  most of them include a friday night football game, a band review, a softball game and a swim meet.  that is the starting point.  then we add birthday parties and special events and we are maxxed out of time. but we always manage and we always try to have fun.

this weekend the fun started with a dodger game on thursday afternoon.

win: getting last minute tickets to the final game of the nlds playoffs at dodger stadium and making it a date night.  with the series tied at 2-2 and the game being played at home, we were hoping to celebrate a victory with the sold out crowd.  dodger games have become our thing.  something fun that we like to do together and somehow we were lucky enough to get seats for what turned out to be the final game of their season. win or lose, we love la.

loss:  well, the dodgers lost.  what was so painful was that they were ahead for most of the game.  the electricity in the crowd was overwhelming at times.  everyone swinging their rally towels in excitement as the mets went down inning after inning.  and then, just like that, things changed.  it was heartbreaking and frustrating.

bonus win:  getting out of the stadium before the last out, getting out of the parking lot before the traffic jam and getting to notre dame with 10 minutes to spare before jordan got out.

win: going to the homecoming game on friday night.  the halftime show was a tribute to willy wonka and the chocolate factory.  the band wore colorful shirts instead of their usual football uniforms and played songs from the movie.  only one more home game and then their season is over.

loss: well, they lost.  and it was another tough one to witness.  they were ahead for most of the game and made some incredible passes and touchdowns but it just wasn't enough.

loss: bobby and jordan having to get up early on saturday to get on the bus and drive the truck to riverside for a parade.  parade season can be hard on these kids, especially after a late game the night before.  everyone is exhausted and yet they have to perform and be judged.  somehow they always manage to pull it off.

win: they won 2nd place in their category.  the drum major won 1st place overall.  and it wasn't 102 degrees like it was at the previous parade.

win: another fun, emotional, and happy bat mitzvah to celebrate.  andrew's friends are all turning 13 and bar/bat mitzvahs have been on our schedule since the summer.  what a great party this was with a carnival theme.  there were game booths, a candy station, photo booth, and lots of dancing.

loss: not having my dancing partner with me.  both the parade and the mitzvah were at the same time so we had to divide and conquer.  he was missed.

win: taking sofia to see annie at the pantages theater.  i had never seen a professional production of it so this was a first for me as well.  we went with her girl friends from school who were all excited to see it together.

loss: finding out that the actress who plays annie was not doing the show that night.  we saw the understudy, angelina, instead.

bonus win: finding out that she was having dinner at the table next to us before the show. she came over to the table to say hello and got them excited to see the play.  after the show we went to the stage door to get her autograph and picture.  this girl was incredible in the part.  and what a doll. she spoke with such poise and confidence to the girls. she's the same age as sofia and looks like she would fit right in, doesn't she?

win: getting to spend some time with my friend from high school when she came to visit from seattle.  she has been a dear friend to both my sister and i and always has been a part of our family.  we had so much to catch up on but it was wonderful to just have her near and share stories of our time together.

loss: having to say goodbye. it was too short of a visit and with all of the other things going on this weekend i missed out on spending all of my time with her. also this photo is missing two boys; one is in spain the other was in bed resting after a tough swim meet.

bonus win: we are making plans to go to seattle next year.  we'll just have to find a weekend that isn't so busy.

weekend highlights and weekly menu #41

caramel cream pie recipe from shugarysweets.com

weekend highlights

getting to see elizabeth gilbert talk about her new book big magic.  she read the first few pages outloud which was awesome.  then she talked about her creative process, troubles and doubts.  she also did a q&a giving some insight into what she believes about creativity, fear and the need to make something.

we each got a book that she pre-signed.  her explanation for why she was not doing a signing line and photos was also inspiring.  the power of setting boundaries for your own good.

celebrating this night with my sister.

saturday was for swim meets and pie baking.  jordan and bobby were at a swim meet early in the morning.  it was a two day meet with jordan swimming in 6 events. this gave jordan entry times for future meets since he's new to club swimming and gave him a good idea of how he compares to other swimmers.  may have been too early after a football game but he pulled through.

i stayed home and finished some work and got started on our pies.  this one is bobby's cha apple pie.  he made this all on his own and is getting to be quite the pie maker.  he's looking forward to thanksgiving.

the pie above was my entry to the pie contest.  it looked so pretty.

before it got smashed in the fridge at the headmaster's house. i'm to blame for this.  but guess what? i won second place.  guess they judged on taste and not appearance.  loved this pie and will be making it again for the holidays.

our school held a first annual all parents social with a country theme.  there was line dancing, square dancing, bbq and pie, lots of pie.  we had a blast with everyone.  already looking forward to next year's event.

sunday morning bobby and jordan were back at the pool for day 2 of the meet while i took sofia to urgent care to have her hand x-rayed.  she fell off her scooter on friday and her fingers were swollen.  a quick check revealed no broken bones but a possible hairline fracture.  yay and boo.  she's in a sling for a little while until we know for sure that it's ok.

and a true highlight was getting to Skype with my nephew at my brother's birthday dinner on sunday night.  he's in spain for his freshman year of college and stayed up until 4am so he could say hello.  tough to not have him here but he's having the time of his life.

2/3 of encore reunited. he is missed for sure.

a busy week ahead with a fundraiser, a little girl's birthday (to be celebrated at least 4 times this week), and jordan's first band review of the season.

weekly menu
did a good job sticking with the menu last week.  it felt good to be cooking again.

weekend eats
saturday: bbq at the cha parent social
sunday: enchiladas and rice to celebrate my brother's birthday

making this week
monday:  skateland fundraiser event
tuesday: gnocchi soup, bread
wednesday: sofia's 10th birthday - burrito/taco bar
thursday: steak, baked potatoes and salad
friday: surprise birthday celebration for sofia

our weekend in photos

let's start with friday. the kids had their student showcase at school. cha is currently a candidate school for the international baccalaureate program. for the last six weeks they have been studying units of inquiry and on friday they presented their findings to the parents and other school mates.

andrew did a presentation on redesigning one of the classrooms to function as an idea lab for the middle school. they had to meet with the head of middle school and the head master to determine the needs and budget of the space.  then the group researched learning environments, furniture, technology and ergonomics to come up with their proposals. they created the space using minecraft.

he also did a presentation on the renaissance period, which i heard was amazing and a music presentation where they asked the question, is there any bad music?

sofia's class created a mini society. they came up with a pledge of allegiance, their own currency, laws and jobs for each member of the society.  sofia was elected mayor of the society and had to govern and take a leadership role - she loved it.

then they stimulated their economy by opening the market where each student "sold" a good or service.

sofia taught yoga lessons. she came up with her concept, had business cards made and gave out mint brownies to her customers.

i love the ib concept and appreciate that this was student driven, takes a lot of the pressure off the parents. i'm looking forward to attending the graduation next week. the 8th grade students got to design the graduation themselves.

and of course on friday we went to tgifridays.

and had queso dip.

saturday bobby took andrew and sofia to the school camp out. they went to castaic with other families from school and had fun climbing trees, playing with bottle rockets and roasting s'mores.

jordan and i slept in our comfy beds and celebrated my brother's birthday. on sunday we went to breakfast and church with my parents.

andrew had a game in the afternoon while jordan and i went to his swim banquet. so much good food.

and these gorgeous cupcakes.

they handed out awards to the league winners, academic athletes and individual awards to some students.

jordan won the most inspirational swimmer award for the boys' jv team. the coach talked about how he always came to practice ready to work and with a good attitude. he wanted to train with the varsity boys to push himself. he did well in the races and was always looking for ways to improve his time. and even after the season was over he continued to come to the pool with his friend eddie who was training for cif finals. eddie won most inspirational swimmer for the boys' varsity team. he is an outstanding young man and has been a good mentor and friend to jordan. and he's almost 7 feet tall!

jordan with the coaches and one of our friends - she won the coach's award for the girls' varsity team.

sunday night we settled into bed to watch game of thrones, o.m.g! what an episode. no spoilers here but there is one scene that i can't stop thinking about.

it was a great end to a really good month.

5 things this weekend

1.  i watched some of the graduation ceremony on line yesterday. we know a few of the graduates so it made the ceremony more meaningful.  i love the community that we have at nd and i can't believe we are halfway through jordan's time there.
2. bobby took andrew and sofia to the cha family campout. they were in castaic which is close to home. they played with bottle rockets, had s'mores and spent a nice night under the stars. thanks to the pto for an awesome event.
3. we had breakfast with my family this morning. it's nice to spend time with them and always nice to go to brent's. lots of great food, lots of good memories.
4. tonight jordan and i are going to his swim team awards ceremony. this will be the last school event for him this school year. 
5. so thankful that i made it 31 days. i am grateful to every person that read my blog posts this month. i'm hoping to stay on track monday through friday, at least 3 times a week. 

this was a peaceful weekend for us as we get closer to summer.

our weekend in photos

is there anything better than a 3 day weekend? how about a bucket full of beautifully pink peonies from trader joe's? i grabbed a bunch to start off our weekend.

then i met up with my sister and our friend jen for some mimosas at market city caffe.

when bobby and i lived in burbank we would have dinner here all the time.  it was within walking distance of our apartment and yes, we came for the breadsticks, but their food was tasty too.  i didn't know they had brunch on the weekends, and unlimited mimosas.

they ordered crab cakes, bagel and smoked salmon.

i got the avocado and egg toast.

we spent the morning talking and enjoying some girl time. it was also a little bit of creative time. we are all writers and we want to encourage each other to write, create and take some chances.

we also got together to see pitch perfect 2.

love that the bathrooms have movie quotes on the mirrors.  this is one of my favorites.

i thought the movie was good but not as funny as the first one. great music and some laughs so it is worth seeing.

sunday we went to our cousins' baby's first birthday party. they had decorated in a farm theme and had so many sweet details. i remember when i used to throw birthday parties like this. now we order some pizza and take kids to the movies.

the cake was adorable.

i think he liked it.

it's wonderful to see the cousins growing up, getting married and having families of their own.

monday we hung out around the house while sofia had a playdate. then we went to my sister and brother in law's for burgers

and a movie.  we wanted to show the kids the three amigos. we quote it all the time around here and knew they would love it.  i was in charge of the snacks. i made popcorn and filled buckets with our favorite candy. i tried making kettle corn too but i need a little more practice to get it right.

i feel like this weekend had everything; family time, girl time, movie time, happy time and real good food time.

5 things this weekend

1. having crepes with nutella for breakfast is how we like to start our sundays.
2. bobby and the kids did some clearing out yesterday.  i came home to boxes and bags to haul off to goodwill and some new space in the house. thanks guys.
3. andrew had friends over yesterday to celebrate his birthday. 5 teenagers at the movies, playing board games, eating pizza and being nerdy. he had the best time.
4. i met my sister and friend for brunch, unlimited mimosas and pitch perfect 2. we talked and laughed and made some plans.   
5. today we are celebrating our little cousins first birthday. looking forward to seeing our family and loving on the little one all day.

hope you are having a nice weekend.

5 things this week end

1. quiet - this weekend was the first time in a long time without a schedule. no softball games, no running group, no events or play dates. we slept in and stayed up late. we got starbucks and breakfast burritos. we took naps and folded laundry.
2. we watched college softball on espn yesterday and thought about going to ucla to see the csun vs. san diego game but it was too cozy in bed.
3. we celebrated my nephew's 21st birthday last night; the cake, the poker game and the buffalo dip were all memorable.
4. catching up on mad men today. we are way behind but interested in seeing the finale tonight.
5. today we'll go to andrew's game, watch the basketball game, play cards, and watch game of thrones. and be thankful for this weekend

our weekend in photos

art from banana republic.

i am so frustrated right now. in order to write this post i had to upload my photos. in order to upload my photos i had to delete files on my computer, "disk is full." in order to delete files i had to move files to the external hard drive. and even after doing all of that. i still didn't have enough room to upload all of my photos. it was taking too long so i just uploaded what i could.  pulling my hair out!!

here's what i was able to get.

friday night was dodger night with the northridge softball league.

the three of us had fun at the all-you-can-eat buffet, doing the wave in the bleachers and almost (not really) catching the grand slam ball that came into our area.

she had fun hanging out with her teammates and cheering on the dodgers.

after the dodger win, we all went down to the field to watch the friday night fireworks.

saturday morning i had my last training run of the season. i was so excited to find out we were only doing 5.5 miles. it was still hard but it was over quick.  then we collected our team shirts, a banana and the schedule for this week.  the next time we get together will be at the race.

our team shirts.

i took jordan to his concert at forest lawn while bobby had a meeting at school and then took sofia to her softball game.  the concert was great. i especially loved the song "a day at the zoo" that the concert band played and "how to train your dragon" played by the symphonic band.

after the concert, awards are given out to students for different achievements. it's wonderful to see that hard work, talent and dedication to this program is recognized.

this year jordan earned his letter for being in band for two years. he was also awarded the silver knight band award for his service to the band and outstanding musicianship.

saturday night, the 7th grade class parents got together for a social. these usually happen at the beginning of the year but there was so much going on and the year just seemed to get away from all of us. so may seemed like the perfect time to get together.

the theme was fiesta.  we had tacos, rice, beans, chips, salsa and a margarita bar.  this is an amazing group of parents that i am happy to call my friends.  we have lots of fun together.

like the piñata. bobby took the first turn at it and with one whack of the bat he broke the thing wide open. there was candy of course, but also gift cards and movie tickets.  we got lucky and scored some goodies.

then we all hung out by the fire and laughed and talked. it was such a fun night.

on sunday bobby took andrew to his baseball game and i took sofia to the mother's luncheon. it was great to have this event hosted at a venue rather than on campus with the testy weather. the room looked amazing with all of the table decorations and lovely girls and moms all dressed up.

the girls had a blast on the dance floor. then we had lunch, played some games, did some shopping and had an opportunity drawing. we left a little unhappy about not winning the american girl doll but we were glad everyone had a good time.

we were home for just an hour and then we went to sofia's softball game.

it was a close game but we managed another victory. yay. now on to playoffs.

lots of fun and some rest in between. our weekends are looking better every week. that's great cause i'll need lots of time to clean out my computer. ugh!