We started working through the 'Preach my Gospel' manual for FHE. It was fun to see the kids have questions about missionary preparation and the schedule that they keep. It should be a good practice to continue as we work through the book one Monday a month.
We had a scaled-down Valentines day. I did sneak in a bouquet of flowers that I had sent to LeAnn at school. I think she was quite surprised with that one. Otherwise, we stopped going out to dinner a number of years ago as it proved to be too much of a hassle with the crazy busy restaurants out there.
Tipped over on my bike this week. One of those moments you hope no one was watching, then see a whole busload of folks looking on. I put my bike on the rack in front of the bus each day. I recently purchased a fender for the back tire so I dont get slop spinning up my backside when riding after it has rained. When on the front rack of the bus, this fender, which is adjustable, gets blown by the wind until it is perpendicular to my bike seat. I will usually get my bike off the rack, push the fender back down to its original position. On Tuesday I forgot to do this. I put my gym bag over the handlebars, put my left foot on the pedal and went to swing my right leg over the seat. I hit the raised up fender and tried to balance back on the left pedal while trying to push the fender down with my hand. This motion, combined with the 30 pound gym bag, threw off my balance and I crashed down on top of the bike. With the bike not really moving and all, it still banged me up pretty good. 215 pounds of man coming down on top of the bike caused me to scrape up my knee and left about 6 little blood blisters on my right hand. The ol hip took a pretty good hit too. Pathetic.
Wednesday brought Austin's first basketball game with his new team. They are quite strong, and Austin had a great game as well. He has improved his shooting, and his quickness is enabling him to get a bunch of steals. Here is his stat line: 8 points, 6 rebounds, 5 steals and 1 assist. Not too shabby! They won 38-17. Here is a facebook post from one of the mothers. (Austin plays soccer with one of the boys on his team- Dominic, so they are very familiar with how each other operate)
"I just love how Austin and Dominic play together. Amy (doug's wife) came up to me after the game and said Austin and Dominic feed off each other on the court. Then I told her they play soccer together and you were dominic's soccer coach and she it all makes sense now there awesome!!"
Friday, February 18, 2011
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Blowing Kisses
About a week ago, I was in the office at about 11:00 at night doing some family history research. Then, from behind me, I heard this soft noise like someone blowing a kiss at me. Surprised, I turned around expecting to see LeAnn or one of the kids messing with me. There was no one there! I shouted out to LeAnn to see if she was still in the vicinity. She was nowhere to be found. I stood up and looked around. Nothing. I started getting the goosebumps. Was I going crazy, or being pranked - or was it some kind of ghostly experience? I HAD been working on Family history- maybe someone was thanking me?
When I went into bed a bit later and confided in LeAnn what had happened (wouldnt talk about it to anyone else because they would likely question my sanity- LeAnn already knows I am a bit kooky! :)), it creeped her out a bit as well.
Fast forward to this past Monday. I was again in the office helping Austin with his Algebra. Autumn was on the other computer working on something when I heard almost the exact same 'blowing kisses' noise. I turned around abruptly and asked Autumn if she had done that. I figured she must have been the one pranking me last week. She told me then that that was the noise that the computer made when she received a Facebook email!
As I animatedly exclaimed to her that I had heard the mysterious 'blowing kisses' sound last week and thought it might have been a ghost, she got quite a kick out of it. She is probably still laughing about it at this very moment!
When I went into bed a bit later and confided in LeAnn what had happened (wouldnt talk about it to anyone else because they would likely question my sanity- LeAnn already knows I am a bit kooky! :)), it creeped her out a bit as well.
Fast forward to this past Monday. I was again in the office helping Austin with his Algebra. Autumn was on the other computer working on something when I heard almost the exact same 'blowing kisses' noise. I turned around abruptly and asked Autumn if she had done that. I figured she must have been the one pranking me last week. She told me then that that was the noise that the computer made when she received a Facebook email!
As I animatedly exclaimed to her that I had heard the mysterious 'blowing kisses' sound last week and thought it might have been a ghost, she got quite a kick out of it. She is probably still laughing about it at this very moment!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Austin selected
Austin went to Federal Way select tryouts again this year. The league was a bit devious in getting everyone of the U-11 age to come out. They said that ALL boys needed to come to the tryouts as this coming year they would be separated into teams based on skill level. This would give some of the less-skilled players better opportunities if they were playing against players of like abilities. There was much concern among the parents of the Pirates team that I have been coaching that they would be breaking up our team which has been together for 5 years.
Austin shined in the tryouts (played over 3 days -Fri, Sat, Sun- except we wouldnt go to the Sunday tryout) He ended up getting put into the top-performers scrimmage along with two other kids from our team. He scored a couple and impressed the coach enough that he pulled him aside. I saw Austin over there talking to him- Austin told me that the coach told him he was a great player and wanted to make sure that he would be there on Saturday. Austin said he would, but that he would not on Sunday. We got a call from the coach on Sunday afternoon offering a spot on the top-level select team to Austin. I told the coach our concerns about Sunday games and he said that could be worked around. He said they only played a few games on Sunday over the course of the year. (Hard to believe if they were doing tournaments) We also discussed our concerns with the 2,000 yearly fee. We dont have that kind of disposable income. He said they would waive the registration fee- $225, and that they do a bunch of fundraisers as well. Still a bit much for us. I told him I would talk to Austin and LeAnn about it. I was almost to the point of trying to pull it off, but LeAnn was the voice of reason. I think Austin would have really liked to played with the select team, but he was quite understanding about the money part of it. I had LeAnn call the coach back as I figured I might break if he tried to further convince me when I called back. LeAnn ended up talking to the coach for a good 20 minutes, but we ended up sticking to our guns. I know Austin would excel in that environment, but we still see plenty of growth opportunities for him over the coming years. He continues to improve in the league that he is in, and we have been putting him in some clinics as well. He is one amazing kid!
Austin shined in the tryouts (played over 3 days -Fri, Sat, Sun- except we wouldnt go to the Sunday tryout) He ended up getting put into the top-performers scrimmage along with two other kids from our team. He scored a couple and impressed the coach enough that he pulled him aside. I saw Austin over there talking to him- Austin told me that the coach told him he was a great player and wanted to make sure that he would be there on Saturday. Austin said he would, but that he would not on Sunday. We got a call from the coach on Sunday afternoon offering a spot on the top-level select team to Austin. I told the coach our concerns about Sunday games and he said that could be worked around. He said they only played a few games on Sunday over the course of the year. (Hard to believe if they were doing tournaments) We also discussed our concerns with the 2,000 yearly fee. We dont have that kind of disposable income. He said they would waive the registration fee- $225, and that they do a bunch of fundraisers as well. Still a bit much for us. I told him I would talk to Austin and LeAnn about it. I was almost to the point of trying to pull it off, but LeAnn was the voice of reason. I think Austin would have really liked to played with the select team, but he was quite understanding about the money part of it. I had LeAnn call the coach back as I figured I might break if he tried to further convince me when I called back. LeAnn ended up talking to the coach for a good 20 minutes, but we ended up sticking to our guns. I know Austin would excel in that environment, but we still see plenty of growth opportunities for him over the coming years. He continues to improve in the league that he is in, and we have been putting him in some clinics as well. He is one amazing kid!
Monday, April 05, 2010
Duped
Jaylin (7 YO) came up to me yesterday afternoon and asked me to show her how I write a capital K on a notebook. I wrote it down for her. 'Hmm.' she said. 'That looks exactly how the easter bunny writes his K!' She totally tricked me. The easter bunny had written the kids initials in pen on the cardboard box of a chocolate bunny in each of their baskets. (so they would know whose basket was whose). I think she is onto me!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Rough Ride
The new and old bad knees held up pretty well. The worst part was my whiney heiney. Had to stand up a number of times to relieve its protestations. Overall was a good first ride of the year. I will be ramping up to ride the RSVP again in August. I had checked for tickets, but they were already sold out as of a few weeks ago. So, we will be going solo. I have talked with Austin and Autumn about training for this and riding along with me. We will see how that develops.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Bribed
Recently, I told Austin if he completed the requirements for two more activity badges - Artist and Geologist, that I would take him to the 'Percy Jackson and the Olympians' movie- both he and I have read and enjoyed the book. I also told him he needed to finish his 'art collage' project for the Artist badge before we could play Halo3 together again. It was quite effective. I will be employing similar tactics with Autumn and her Personal Progress projects.
LeAnn started playing into the bribery Ive been dealing out on the kids. A couple of days ago, after I told her the doctor wanted me doing 100 leg lifts a day to rehab my knee, she used my own tactics on me. She said if I do them for a week, that she will take me to see Avatar. Ive been trying to get her to go with me since it came out. Jaylin ended up making me a chart and even has stickers that I get to apply when I have completed my task. :)
LeAnn started playing into the bribery Ive been dealing out on the kids. A couple of days ago, after I told her the doctor wanted me doing 100 leg lifts a day to rehab my knee, she used my own tactics on me. She said if I do them for a week, that she will take me to see Avatar. Ive been trying to get her to go with me since it came out. Jaylin ended up making me a chart and even has stickers that I get to apply when I have completed my task. :)
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Beautiful Princess
Highlight from my surgery last week. When I was taken into get the Anesthesia, I found that the anesthesiologist was Japanese. I asked her if I could practice my Japanese on her. She said I could, but she likely wouldnt catch very much of it. (Must be second generation :)) So I threw out the following: "Kyou wa tottemo tanoshimii ni shite imasu!" or "I am really looking forward to today! After she heard that, she said: "So you are feeling like a beautiful fairy princess!"? Thank you Dr. Watanabe for lightening up the mood of a not-so-fun situation. :)
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