Play Ball

Ethan first played T-ball when he was 5, sometimes he took to taking naps in the outfield.  We waited  2 years and now that he's older and wiser at 7, he's playing ball once more.  It started out slow but all the kids on his team are getting better & better every game. 

I wasn't too keen on baseball growing up because between all my brothers and my dad there was a baseball, football, or basketball game on at any given time and that meant no Brady Bunch for me.

But now that I get to watch Ethan I love it!!!  If the girls don't have play practice they come to the games, along with Glenn, my dad & Brutus.  Brutus wouldn't miss it!

Ethan's team 'The Padres'.  Ethan is bottom left.

After watching Ethan play in the morning we decided we needed to take him to a real game.  It was 'Little League' night at the 'Storm' game (The Storms feed into the San Diego Padres) so off we went.

 All the Little League players got to parade around the field before the game began.  Ethan's waving to all of his fans.

 This went on for about 10 minutes, there were hundreds of little ballplayers there, it was really fun to see Ethan out on the field.

Lila, Emry and Emry's friend Lauren.  They mostly enjoyed getting food & running back and forth to the grass area (above).  One of the highlights of the game was when a batter cracked his bat in half, they thought that was very cool.  Oh and the best part I almost forgot was when a gorilla came out and danced to LMFAO's 'I am sexy and I know it' and ripped off his overalls and proceeded to dance in underwear.  I couldn't make this stuff up.  All the kids were dying they loved it so much.

The gang.  (top row) Glenn, Lila, Emry (bottom row) Ethan, me, mom ,dad (not pictured) my nephew Nathan and the photographer Lauren

I spy Emry, Lauren & Lila at the top of the hill.  Kids were running up and down this hill all night.

I am erasing from my mind how much money was spent on food, just not even gonna think about it.

Such a fun night.  As much as I don't like televised sports I LOVE being there in person to take in all the action and energy.  The Storms won 4-1, with a few balls being hit out of the park.

Hopefully Ethan got a few pointers :)

Grandma Mitchell

My Grandma is here visiting again and I made sure to take a picture this time for posterity's sake.  This is my dad's mom, my only Grandparent I have left.

I never knew my mom's dad, he had a heart attack before I was even born.  He was a Farmer and his wife, my Grandma Nettie, I was very close to & even lived with for a few months (another post).  She was always smiling, so warm and loving.  Her kitchen oven had a roast, bread or cookies coming out at any given time.  She passed away while I was living in Hawaii 17 years ago.

So my Grandma Mitchell at 88 years old is the sole survivor.  Her husband Tom passed away about 2 years ago, he was 94.  My Grandma lives on the bottom floor of my Aunt Dawn Marie's home in Utah.  My Aunt Dawn works and travels a lot, her kids are grown, and since my Grandpa died Grandma is often alone.

She may be old, slow and have poor vision but she makes the effort to come visit, she says it's too quiet at her house.

This is funny because growing up she got after us a lot for doing what kids do, make noise.  Now she can't get enough of the noise and thinks all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren are just wonderful.

My Grandparents used to own a camper and would drive out to California every year to come visit.  Us kids loved climbing into the camper, playing cards, having a treat or just pretending to drive.  My Grandparents were not Mormon and drank coffee every morning.  I loved that smell.  I still do.

My Grandma has come to visit often lately and cries every time she leaves, wondering if it might be her last visit.

I wasn't always close to my Grandma Mitchell.  I still remember some of the cutting remarks she made to me through the years.  I can only assume she didn't have a warm, nurturing relationship with her own parents.  Her father was a heavy drinker but she says her mother was an angel.  My Grandmother's name is Jeannette & had one sister Marie, just like my sister and I are named.   Now she lavishes praise on me about my cooking, parenting & what great kids I have.  I'll take it.

She has also found God somewhat.  She let's the ladies from the LDS church where she lives visit her and goes to church with us every time she's here.

Her body may be breaking down but her mind is sharp and she is constantly apologizing for being  a burden.

It is work, and you definitely have to slow down to a snails pace when walking with her but it's nice to be loved, and she does that extremely well.

Carnival

The kids school had their yearly Spring Carnival yesterday.  Since I am the Room Parent (by default, I called the coordinator back to say 'no thanks, I did it last year' but when she sounded so grateful and said I was the only one to call her back, I of course said I was 'so happy' to do it) I got to man a booth for 5 hours.  It actually worked out well to sit in the shade while the kids ran around like maniacs.

Every time I turned around my kids were stuffing their face with some form of sugar.

All together now.  Emry, Ethan & Lila.

Ethan was so proud he won this on his first try at the ring toss.

I cannot believe how tall Emry is, she's 11!  I am wearing clog type shoes, so really she is almost as tall as me.  She is only 2 years older than Lila but seems much older.  Lila is 2 1/2 years older than Ethan but I am sure he will outgrow her any day now.

This picture almost didn't happen.  I asked a teenage boy to take it, and he couldn't seem to find the button.  My kids dispersed thinking the pic was done.  When I realized no picture was taken I asked my dad later to take one of us all.  Since he is half blind (maybe it was the sun) he cut us off.  Finally on about the 10the take we got one.  Family pictures are not an easy thing to do.  At the carnival  even worse because the kids are just chomping at the bit to go play.

My sister Jeannette showed up with her 2 kids.  Nathan is is 2nd grade and Kiera will start Kindergarten in the fall.  Her 14 yr. old Kylee was with friends.

My parents.  My mom spoiled the kids with tickets.  I bought $20 worth of tickets for my 3 and after they had run out I told them to just wait until Grandma & Grandpa arrived, surely no Grandparents in their right mind could say no to 3 kids whining & begging for carnival tickets.

Lunch Hoarder in the house.

Too cute right?  I shouldn't even talk about Ethan because I am way too in love with the kid.   But about 4 hours after this picture was taken his dad wanted to strangle him.  To preface - sleep over the night before staying up way too late with Nathan, up early for maximum play time, carnival fun in the sun for 3 hours, lots of sugar. 

Glenn left the carnival early to watch the best little baseball player in the world do his thing.  Well, his thing as it turned out included laying down in the outfield, letting balls go right by him, being crabby, moody, tired and unreasonable.  Glenn came home extremely embarrassed and unhappy.  Kids are not for the faint of heart that's for sure.

My kids like to rub it in my face when they have soda.  Emry comes sauntering over just daring me to say anything.  Naughty girl.

Glenn and Ryan.  A match made in surfing, texting & grabbing a burrito heaven.

Kiera climbing the rock wall in her princess dress.  Jeannette was so proud because a few of our friends kids were climbing the same time as her and they (boys) didn't even make it halfway up.  Kiera gets strapped in and scales that wall all princified like it was nothing.

Oh, she's drinking water, hallelujah!

Apples and sunflower butter.  Heaven forbid I have some nachos or something.

These are my friend Rachel's 3 (out of 4) boys.  As much as I cringe at mass sugar consumption, there is just something so cute about kids and cotton candy.

Our Spin-N-Win booth.  So nice to leave the girls in charge when my friends stopped by to chat.

Normal kids could just be happy with the fun day.  Wallwork kids like to bring some of the carnival back home.

Have fun while it last kids.  I am not sure how many days I can stand looking at this fabulosity.

May I have your attention?

Emry was born a natural learner.  Ethan is so in love with school that he literally can't wait to go every morning.  Lila likes wearing cute clothes and seeing her friends & packing cookies in her lunch, but as far as school work goes, it's a little trying.

I wanted Emry to know how proud we were of all her 100% papers so I put some on the fridge.  I think Lila was feeling a bit left out because a few days ago I came into the kitchen to find about a half dozen papers all stuck on the fridge.  I think one was 100% and the rest were -1 or -2.

Lila was proud and she should be.  She tried her best.   

My heart swelled a little as I thought of my girl who struggles.  Who cries over homework.  Who gets frustrated and spends more time doing homework than her siblings.

I see you Lila.  I love you.  I know you are putting forth effort and your dad & I are proud of you.  You're my full time job & I take it very seriously.  You will not fail.

Plus you're so darn cute.  That's gotta count for something.

Food Pushers

Living in Argentina Glenn had many dinners where food was thrust upon him like it was his last meal.  Those Latin women aren't satisfied until you have to be rolled away from the table.  Be it meat that still had hair on it or gnocchi's covered with bottled ketchup, he ate it all.  After all, these people were dirt poor (their floors were literally dirt) so passing up their generous offering of food was not an option.

Glenn is hilarious when telling about the gnocchi dinner.  He says he finally managed to get a plate down only to have the host come fill it up again.  As he was trying to get through the second plate he was sweating profusely on the verge of vomiting.  But the trooper he is he got it down.

He's never had gnocchi's since.

I am not a food pusher.   I pride myself on being the exact opposite because I don't like food being pushed on me.  I always have plenty of food at gatherings and make sure people know they're welcome to as much as they'd like, but then I leave it at that.

Being a health nut I get plenty of comments on what I eat.  Sometimes I love it, sometimes I feel uncomfortable when I feel like every bite I take is being noted and commented upon.  There's always a weird silence when you're with a group who wants to stop at a fast food joint and you tell them you're just going to run across the street and pick up your lunch at the grocery store, or what happens more often is I have a lunch I just whip out of my purse and then I am just the weirdo food hoarder bag lady 

I  don't want to make anyone feel they've made bad food choices, the truth of the matter is I love food & eating way too much to even have one bad experience.  I want all of my meals to be filled with fresh produce, roasted nuts, legumes, wheatberries, strong cheese, whole grains with some dark chocolate on the side, is that too much to ask?

So in the spirit of being a non food pusher, cupcakes are the perfect dessert.  With cake or pie you as the host have to ask if they'd like a slice and then get all fancy with a plate and fork.  With cupcakes there is zero confrontation.  You serve them up all pretty and if people want one they'll grab it.  No awkward moments when you're trying to ask the server for just a sliver of cake (which always seems rude), really just about 3 bites worth, the amount you would steal off your husbands plate and he in turn would get mad at you because you said you didn't want any.  It may have taken my husband many years but if I say "No thank you" to dessert he is well aware he needs to get a bigger portion.  Glenn's brilliant like that.

So if you're at my house I'll probably offer you freshly ground oatmeal, a smoothie, vegetable soup, sprouted cookies, whole wheat banana bread or homemade granola.  If you say no thanks I will question your dietary choices but I'll also offer you mac & cheese.  Cause guess what, I've got that too.

ilove

 I checked out this book on a whim at the library for Glenn, why would I want to read a whole book centered around technology?  The day came when our books were due, I took our green library bag full of books and packed them in the car along with Lila, Ethan, my niece Kiera and nephew Nathan.

First stop, the Children's Museum in Old Town Temecula.  The kids never tire of this museum, it's a charming little building full of Temecula history and fun for the kids.

While there I started thumbing through the Steve Jobs book and an hour later when it was time to go I was in too deep to return it.  I couldn't renew because it was 'New' so I just threw caution to the wind and brought it home with me.

I don't know a thing about technology, but I could so relate to Jobs quest and lifelong passion for health (he went through periods as a vegan & fruitarian and even tried to heal his cancer through diet), spirituality (he traveled to India to find a guru) and making the world a better place.

I grew up in San Jose as did Glenn.  Naturally Glenn graduated with a degree in Business MIS and went on to work for Cisco Systems for 10 years because that's just what you do in Silicon Valley.   It was interesting to read about all the places in the book that were part of my world as well.

Steve Jobs had a passion that came through every page of the book, at times I myself felt exhausted.  He didn't set out to make people slaves to their ipads, what he wanted was to dream, create and accomplish, he mainly left the tech side of things to "Woz".

When you realize how important simplicity and aesthetics were to him, how he'd personally fly across the country and wait 6 months for the perfect glass for the iphone, you fall under his spell of how driven and focused he was.

Again & again in the book it talks about his "distortion reality", how he saw the world differently and expected from people what others didn't.

Basically he was a genius who cared so much about everything he made and every aspect from the product to packaging to where it was sold, which is why the Apple stores were created.  He was controlling and wanted to be in charge of your whole Apple experience.

He was adopted and never met his biological Father, he never wanted to.  He was strong willed and told the Dean at his college that he wouldn't be paying for classes because he had already spent enough of his parents money, but he would be dropping in on whatever classes intrigued him.  He never did graduate from college, he was much too antsy for that.

Realizing what his plans for the future were I am truly sad.  Sad that he won't continue to change and advance the world.  That his visions may not come to fruition.  Sad for his family.

I may not know anything about technology but I know everything about thinking differently and so did Steve Jobs.  He didn't care that others saw him as crazy or didn't believe in him.  He didn't care when he was told his visions were impossible or couldn't be done.

I am weird.  I've never fit the mold.  I am passionate and my inability to shut up has gotten me in trouble a time or two.  Most people can't relate to my strict religious beliefs, my 'hippie' ways or crazy food. 

So yeah, I can strangely enough relate to Steve Jobs, aside from the genius part I know what it's like to be different.  Fortunately I am Ok with it.


Here’s to the crazy ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.  -Apple