California McMillans

Its been a long time blogger.  Thanks to my dear husband, we still have some memories of what is going on. Here is an update on life... Scott.   Scott is such a good boy.  He is a great leader, listener and just such a good son and brother.  He continues to be my emotional boy so I need to remember to be sensitive to his needs.  I pick them up on their bikes and everyone says hi to him; on the street, in their cars, wherever.  I don't know how he knows so many people. I am trying to teach him that he needs to respond.  He just did soccer, which he enjoyed.  He likes being with his friends.  His team this year won 1 game.  They had a lot of kids who were not athletic.  In the past he would have been frustrated of their losses, but while he wanted to win, it didn't bother him.  He simply knew that they weren't that good.   He had fun and always had a smile of his face.  He is also swimming which he enjoys and he can't wait for baseball to start up. Tyler .  For a whil

Saturday was the church's trunk-or-treat at Paul Krey's orchard.  Heather and Jason came and that was fun.  We ate chili, there were carnival-type games, and a spook alley.  Then the kids loaded up on sugar as they made the rounds of the cars' trunks.  Then the sugar withdrawal hit in the morning. Earlier this week, Tyler's class had a pizza party.  I picked up the pizza and helped the class.   After we ate, Tyler and I played on the blacktop.  Their game is called "kick-back," and I still don't know the rules, but while Scott and his friends were kicking it to me and my team, I kicked it real high in the air.  The kids were all going nuts about how high it was and the principal approached and said, "Hey, do me a favor.  Don't kick the ball so high.  See, cuz the kids raise their hands and then they jam their fingers."   So I'm getting in trouble even as a parent.   Heidi spoke in church today and

Soccer season is almost over.  Scott has been playing at Shady Oaks park in Oakley and the other kids like to play on this play structure.  The game this morning was early and the lighting was good so I took some portraits.   Tyler doesn't like having his picture taken sometimes and I have to do more candid ones.  He spends a lot of time with his iPad, which I guess is okay, given his diagnosis. Blakey looks like Scott and me with his squinty eyes.  Heidi's sad that he's no longer a baby, but I'm glad.  Let's get him outta diapers!  Yeah. Not their best smiles, but we don't have many posed pictures of them together.  All this while Scott played soccer. They got smoked.  Scott likes when the ball comes to him but he's not aggressive.  He's good at goalie even though he didn't goal tend today. Derrick has been a patient coach.  I wonder if he gets frustrated when the kids kick the ball the wrong direction or get caught s

The kids wanted to take pictures this morning.  Scott grabbed the original didge and started taking these.  I told him about composition and using the zoom, vs. just moving closer to his subject.  I was pleased with how he took these.  Well, he coulda moved over so Tyler wasn't right in front of the computer, but let's not be too critical.  I had to take several courses before understanding the importance of composition. Unfortunately, this newer ELPH's flash doesn't work. Then Scott wanted to use the ten second timer so we could all be in the picture.  Heidi wasn't feeling well, so she stayed in bed while I did breakfast, church preps, and piano.  Here's the little didge's timer shot. Next, Tyler asked to use the big camera, so we did a timer shot with it too.  I think it looks better, especially when you see it full size.   Here's Tyler trying to compose the big camera on the big tripod.  The kids wanted to do a silly shot,

I've been lazy with my blogging.  I went on facebook twice this week, which is quite a bit more than usual.  I can see why people waste so much time on it.  But I also realize that people's phone pictures, which are often blurry, at least update their followers.  So in a way, you don't have to talk to your friends anymore.  You just check out their fb page.   But I like blogging better, so here is my post about ice cream at Jon's in Brentwood.  The weather is turning cold and we were caught off guard when the sun went down and it got chilly.  Blakey didn't mind wearing Kira's pink jacket.  He was just content to have his ice cream cone. This is my favorite one, right in front of the van.  My dope ride.  The kids had two weeks off from school and spent most of it watching netflix on the TV and computer.  Scott did minecraft and Tyler did iPad while the netflix was streaming.  Media-overdose? You bet.  We got a notice from our lam

I am always the first one up.  I try to do my stretches and shower before anyone else wakes up.  Of the kids, Kira is always the first one up.  Then Tyler.  Here are some photos of them imitating my pilates moves.   I need to film Kira blessing the food.  When Tyler isn't awake to compete with Kira about who's going to pray, Kira says these long prayers.  Notable things mentioned: Bless that we will go to Grandma's. Bless that we will go floating (boating). Bless that we will go play with Roman and Paisley. There's more, I just can't remember.  Kira likes me to put her to bed and she has this fetish in which she likes to rub my ear.  When she gets tired, she whines, "I wanna rub your ear!"  Sometimes she likes to put her face up to my ear and smother me, and I'm not too keen on that.  The other night, she said, "You're my best daddy."  Gosh, Kira, thanks.  I'm your only daddy.  But I'll take it.