The Miracle

It's been a rough year for Parker's baseball team in 2009. Prior to yesterday, they had 1 win and 19 losses. Even the one win would have turned into a loss, except they were saved by darkness and the score reverted back to the previous inning.

So, if you had predicted what happened yesterday, then I would be interested in getting some financial advice from you. Parker's team had a double-header (game at 9:00 followed by another game at 12:00). Game 1 was against the first place team (which, ironically, is the only team they had already beaten this year). After falling behind 7-2, they came back to tie the game at 7 and went to extra innings. Being the home team, they needed just one run to win. See what happens in the clip below... (You may want to turn your sound down ... Jen screams pretty loud!)



Everybody was so excited -- they beat the first place team and this time, nobody could blame it on darkness! So imagine our surprise when, after falling behind 10-2 in the 2nd game, they stormed back to get within 11-9 in the 5th inning. Then, they scored 8 runs in the 6th inning to go up 17-11 and held the other team scoreless in the bottom of the 6th inning.

Two wins in one day?? After winning one game all year?? The kids and their families were on cloud nine all day. Strangely, despite all the losses, the kids have had great attitudes and I'm pretty confident all they will remember from this season is May 30th. Unless, of course, they win the end of year tournament. Don't tell them they can't do it, because they believe...

(Jen here ... Travis is getting all choked up typing this ... we won't call it crying, OK? I love my husband!!)

Jen's 5K

No, Jen didn't just find $5,000 or anything, but she did just finish her first 5K run yesterday. She's been running 3 days a week for the past 3 months and has really started to enjoy running.
Here's Jen and Calissa posing before the race began (Calissa actually looks pretty happy for getting up at 6:15 in the morning -- of course, she wasn't quite so happy later on that day). Jen's mom also came with so they could wait for her at the finish line. The boys and I were busy at the baseball field that morning so we couldn't cheer her on.

The race was held along the waterfront in Alameda -- a beautiful, flat course for running.

Here's Calissa, near the finish line, waiting for Mom. Jen's the one in the aqua top.

Here's Jen trying to smile for the camera while keeping her game face on (race face?).

And here's Calissa congratulating Mom on her accomplishment. They all received champagne glasses with chocolate bars inside. The slogan for the race was "I run for chocolate and champagne." There was free champagne for the finishers, but Jen didn't indulge for obvious reasons. However, she did succumb to peer pressure along with 15 other women from the Stake and got the "See Jane Run" tattoo on her leg. It is a temporary tattoo, of course, but it didn't come off after 2 showers, so she sported it during church today. I'm a little worried, but she swears she didn't have any champagne.

Jen's goals were to finish in less than 30 minutes and to run the whole time (i.e., no walking). She accomplished both and finished with a time of 29:16. She was 119th out of about 750 racers and was 20th in her age group. Now, she's talking about her next challenge -- maybe a 10K or mini-triathlon? We may have created a monster...

Posted by Trav (we had already downloaded the pictures under Jen's name).

Calissa is 7!!

I can't believe that Calissa, my baby girl is 7 years old already! Time has flown by so fast. She is so much fun to be around (when she is in a good mood). She loves to play, but I think her favorite thing to do is make messes. We started off celebrating her birthday on Sunday night with one of her favorite dinners (beef stroganoff ... made lovingly by mom who had been throwing up the night before). Then she had some yummy birthday cupcakes that Parker made for her and all three kids frosted and decorated. And let me tell you ... they were decorated really good!!Monday morning she woke up and opened her presents. She got a new outfit.
A new bike and helmet (it seemed so big when I bought it).

She also got Disney's Sing It. Calissa was in heaven and very good at it.

(Only mom can beat her!)

She requested pancakes for breakfast. She was excited when we opened up her helmet for her and decided to wear it to breakfast!

After breakfast and a little yard work we went to see Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian. We enjoyed that and then met Grandma and Grandpa Romer at Elephant Bar for dinner. Calissa loves the attention of people singing to her (OK, she loves any and all attention showered her way). I think she had a great day ... I know the rest of us did! Her friend birthday party will be in a couple of weeks at her gymnastics place. What fun to have her birthday spread over two weeks. Lucky, lucky girl!!

I love you Calissa!

Kid Fest

Saturday, May 23rd we took the kids to Kid Fest at Todos Santos Park in Concord. Every year there are kid friendly activities, food and lots of free stuff. The kids enjoy going and it's become a tradition each year over Memorial Day Weekend for us to attend. Here is Parker and Calissa inside a military vehicle.

Conner didn't want to have anything to do with going inside of it.
Calissa showing off her pitching skills.
Me, showing off my camera skills ... see the ball?

Parker and Conner playing a shoot out game. Once you make a basket the ball goes to the other side. Once you have no more balls you win. Parker and Conner played forever since they kept making shots! (Travis and Parker got kicked off earlier because they couldn't miss and a line was forming behind them.)

Happy kids at the end of the day. Notice the lovely faces!

Hit, Pitch and Run

Several weeks ago the boys tried out for the Hit, Pitch and Run competition sponsored by MLB. We had already been at the ballpark for 6 or 7 hours that day and decided to stay one more to let the boys show off their skills! Conner and Parker both qualified for the sectional competition. Parker qualified for Running and Pitching and Conner qualified for Pitching. Unfortunately the sectionals were on a Sunday so they didn't participate, but we were very proud of their accomplishments and showed that they know their stuff!!

Mother of the Year

Thought this was really funny! Happy Mother's Day everyone!

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=oeiv0aTqif1fAGeVv_409zM2OTMxNw--&referred_by=15989161-fTaqfbx

I'd like to accept this award on behalf of ... Who am I kidding? I'm glad I'm a mom and glad my kids and husband love me and accept me for all the mistakes I make along the way! Wish I was better than I am, but I guess we just do our best to continue to do better each and every day! I had a great Mother's Day today, hope all you mothers had a great day too! It's nice to be pampered every once in a while.

"The Catch"

Some of you may have heard about "the catch." For those of you who have and those who have not, we now have pictures of "the catch." It was significant enough that it needs quotation marks! Travis is in charge of a coed softball team from Kaiser each Spring. He enjoys playing softball and it is fun to get the employees together outside of work. The kids and I went to one of his games a few weeks ago. (We only go to the 6:30 games). I had gone to check on the kids and as I was walking back I was behind the backstop as I saw this play unfolding.

Travis is running for the line drive.

He dives into the air and catches the ball.Then he knocks the wind out of himself and injures his knee and wrist.
The scorekeepers for this game (several teenage boys) were behind the backstop with me. They were so impressed with his catch. They were saying, "did you see that catch ... that was so dope." I said, "that was my husband and it was stupid!" "No, no, no," they said, "that was the most amazing catch we've ever seen!"

It took Travis a while to get off the ground. I told him after the game that he was not so smart (OK, I may have said stupid). He said it was only stupid if you don't catch the ball. He hurt his wrist (which is better now) and his knee (which grew to several times the normal size). He went in and got that drained this week. He didn't dive for any balls this week, or slide (at least that's what he said)!

It really was an amazing catch. He is an incredible athlete!

Smith Family Farm

I got to go with Calissa's class to the Smith Family Farm for a field trip yesterday. It was my 4th or 5th visit to the farm, but it is always a fun and easy trip!

The kids got to hold and pet a bunny - so soft and cute!
They also got to hold and pet a chick.This is such a great picture of Calissa - one of my favorites!!
Calissa's 1st grade class being crazy!

Here is Calissa and her good friend, Kyrsten.

We had a really fun day. The kids got to go into the barn for a music sing-a-long, plants some plants to take home, look for worms and talk about good bugs, go on a hay ride, and feed the animals.

I was able to go on 3 of Calissa's field trips this year (Travis went on one too). I also got to go on one of Conner's (Travis got to go on one too). We've had a fun year! I'm sad it's drawing to a close!

Fantastic Teacher, Fabulous Kid! - Take 2

This last Wednesday was Open House for Parker at Sequoia Middle School. Baseball was postponed so he was able to attend.

Here is Parker with one of his favorite teachers, Mr. Dodson. Parker was so lucky to get him this year as his CORE teacher. As I went to Back to School night in the Fall, I was grateful that Parker got to have him for 3 periods in his schedule! What a fun and wonderful teacher!

The kids write business letters to companies, teams, colleges, etc. to ask for free things for their classroom. Then they post their things on the walls once they get things back. What a fun way to learn about writing business letters!Parker has gotten back things from about 4 places this year. It's always fun to see what they send you!

Parker wanted me to talk to each of his 5 teachers at Open House. Once we had our turn he turned really quiet and shy. They had lots of fabulous things to say about Parker. Mr. Dodson said that Parker is the best boy reader he's had in all his years of teaching. What a great compliment!

Can't believe that the first year of Middle School is almost over. It's been a pretty easy year for Parker. We're looking forward to 7th grade!