September 27

Tournament and dinner. Much better day.

We had our first TaeKwonDo Tournament for the season yesterday in Marysville (about 15 minutes away) and we all did fairly well. Robee got 3rd in Sparring; Thomas got 1st in both Forms and Sparring; Felix got 3rd in both Forms and Sparring; I got 2nd in Sparring and 3rd in Forms. I also got a lovely knot on my shin from some crazy woman who came at me with an ax-kick and hit my leg. Bonus points if you end up with injuries at tournaments. :)

Then we went to dinner with the kids (the ones that live here-Angie, Jen, Ben) and Kathy and Bob, who are Steve's parents. They are living with Angie and Steve until their new home in Bellingham closes next month. Great people! We've been lucky to acquire such nice sons-in-laws and their parents.

I got a great iPod deck for my listening enjoyment (Thanks Kids!) and Thomas gave me a camera. Of course, it couldn't be that I've been hinting for one since July when I dropped my camera and broke it during the Kiddie Day Parade.

It's a great to have a camera again. It's orange. I've never seen one that color before. Which is why Thomas bought it; different.

So life is better after the birthday.

Pictures with new camera:

Thomas talking .... I think.

I do not know what Felix is doing but Ben looks scary.

Angie and Kathy

Felix and I

Jen (under paper) and Owen

September 26

Well, it was my birthday but I've had better days. Broken car, dead pigeon, hit a kid on a skate board (he's fine but scared the soul out of me), only my sister called, and other stuff made it less than fun.
Luckily, tomorrow is another day.

I WAS THERE

We ended up being about 20 minutes late due to an emergency room visit for Ben (he's fine now; just bad reaction to eye drops). We had to pay a ridiculous amount to park the car. I was wearing JEANS and my hiking boots. I wasn't sure if he would care. Then it took an hour and a half just to get out of Seattle.

BUT we were 15 dang, freeking rows away from Neil. It was the most fan-damn-tastic concert ever. He was as good as ever. I was actually jumping (and those of you who have seen me in TaeKwonDo, know that my species doesn't jump) all the way to our seats.

He was sooooooooo good. I can't even express how great it was. I'm gushing. But it was really good.

And the picture I got:


I'm VERY excited so this is a rather scary looking picture but I was VERY excited (did I mention I was VERY excited?)

And this one: :-(


Yeah. I know it sucks. I know it's blurry. I know that unless you knew it was Neil Diamond, it doesn't look like Neil Diamond, but it is. I tried but this is the best I could get on a cell phone. Besides, we had isle seats and one of the bouncers for the Key Arena sat so close I could see her nose hair so I didn't dare take too many pics. Sigh. But at least you can see how close we were to him.

Happy Birthday Greg!

As I mentioned in a previous blog, we have A LOT of birthdays to celebrate in September. And here is yet, another one - Greg.


Ummmmm .......! Chocolate!!
He's 33 in case you can't see the other candle. But from this vantage point, it looks as though he's ..... EE. Hmmm.

Tonight, tonight ... Won't be just any Night

Yes Folks! It's Neil Diamond Night!



Tonight's the night I get to see Neil Diamond in person at the Key Arena in Seattle (even though, I lost my tickets for about two weeks and recently due to chaos and several circumstances and events in my life, totally forgot I even had a concert to attend).



Regardless, I am still VERY obnoxiously excited. I am sneaking in my cell phone - in case my little children need their mother - so maybe I can get a pic of him when he sees my face in the crowd and asks me to come on stage with him to sing, knowing, somehow that I've been a fan since the young age of 8 (which was only 25 years ago) and have always wanted to meet him in person.



In case some of you haven't had the opportunity to see him in concert, below is a small offering of Neil through Time.


From the movie "The Jazz Singer"

Calendar cover

Singing

Not sure where or when this was taken

Best Duet ever with Barbara, "You Don't Bring Me Flowers"

This one is not actually Neil through Time. It's a hand-signed statue of Neil. Which I would like for my birthday in two days. Which I'll never get because it costs FREEKING 400 DOLLARS!! Cripes! But it's fun to look at.

Thanks kids for a Great Mother's Day present! I know they were mucho bucks, but I do appreciate it!

I have Screwed up my BLOG

I thought I would be fancy. Change the template. Find something 'different' than what Blogger offered. Look what happens. Complete chaos. Lost my links. Lost my Pictures. LOST NEIL DIAMOND COUNTDOWN. Crap. Someone help me please.

The Family that Kicks together, Sticks Together!

We did it. We actually did it. We passed our extremely nerve-wracking, nail-biting, stroke-inducing Black Belt Test in TaeKwonDo. Seriously, we were stressed about this one.

We went every night for two weeks and practiced everyday in the barn and in the house and in our room and outside -- wherever. I even practiced at the bus stop with Robee; which totally embarrassed him of course. But the beauty of being a Mom and almost *cough* 40-something is that I can embarrass him and not care a whit. Heh Heh.

The day of the test we were all doing the forms at the house first before we left. Then we did the forms again while we were waiting for the test to begin. I was beginning to calm a bit until we were sitting on the sideline, getting ready and I looked over at Thomas and he was ghostly white and POURING sweat on his face. I said "Uh ... why are you sweating? We haven't even started yet." He said, "I think I'm going to have a stroke before this over. If I die during my form, prop me up in the corner and put the Black Belt around my dead body." He's so funny. Like I could even lift him to put him in the corner.

However, as you can see from the photos, he did not stroke and I didn't have to prop his dead body in the corner. Whew.

The happy "Black Belts" now that it's over.

Dad and his little kids.

Mom and Robee and Felix.

Mom, being loved WAY too much by the kids. Seriously, they are the epitome of "Killing with Kindness." This is taken in mid-fall. You can't see the broken ribs poking through my uniform that came with this love hug.

This is a group shot of everyone that tested that day. There were two schools combined. I'm the large marshmallow on the right. Seriously, those uniforms make me look like the "Michelin Man." As if I needed any help. But at least they could use a lovely, slimming black uniform instead of blaring white. Yikes.

Yeah. I totally see the resemblance.

Anyway, thanks to all who have supported us during these past two years. It was a great adventure.

And now on to the next adventure: 2nd Degree Black Belt!

Happy Birthday Jen!

Whooo Hoooo! The BIG 32!! Okay!! Lots of candles!! Lots of cake!! Whew. I'm exhausted from celebrating. Crikey. September has a ****load of birthdays and celebrations: Robee, Jen, Anniversary, Greg, Me -- it's a good thing we combine some of them or we'd be FAT FAT FAT from all the dinners and cake needed to celebrate these days.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBEE!!!

It's your birthday today, sweetie. You are 9 years old! Here are a few pics and I will put up more later. Loveyoulots.

At Island Park Idaho. We floated the river. Daddy bought you a wolf hat. You loved it!
Blowing dandelions.
Our favorite place; Long Beach Washington.
Pretending to be "Dr. O" on Power Rangers: Dino Thunder. We watched that show together, everyday.
You first (and almost last!) day of soccer in Long Beach. You loved the outfit but hated the game. But you played.

Robee, it's your birthday today. You were a whopping 10 pounds and nine ounces at birth. You had a broken collar bone and a strained neck muscle. Even with all that, you were the best baby.

I've loved having you as my son. You and I are best buddies (even though we fight a lot!) and I love hanging out with you. You have your dad's funny sense of humor and the quirkiness of one of your sisters. You are a ham, big time - which I love.

You are the last in the line of Thomas' kids and the last for me too. That's probably why I've bubble-wrapped you a bit longer than I should but I just love you so much that I want to protect you as long as I possibly can.

Have a great day Robee. You are the best boy ever. Love Mom.