Kira's relay meet at Monte Vista

Kira has had a great track season.  She's in 1st place for the 3rd grade girls 100 meter dash with a time of 15.48.  That's pretty good because when I was in 9th grade, the fastest girl in our district ran a 13.0.  She has a 33.xx in the 200, and I think that's good because my best time in 9th grade was 27.5.  I don't mind posting my weak times because I don't care what people think.  I'm pretty sure Kira will be faster than I ever was.  

I think her baton transitions are rough but I don't want to step in and undo what the coaches have taught.  I always hated the baton pass.  If you looked forward, you couldn't see the baton.  If you looked back, you couldn't see where you were going.  Once I ran into some kid and went down.

Kira doesn't seem to get anxious about her events, either.  It's nice because she hears "first call..." and goes to the event.  Kira pretty much succeeds at any athletic endeavor.  The reason track is nice is because the times don't lie.  There's no subjectivity. 

Way to go, Kira!  Okay, bye. 

Easter and Heidi's birthday

On Sunday we invited over a new family in response to an invitation from the visiting general authority at stake conference.  First, though, we had an Easter egg hunt.  

Poor Hanna has had a hard spring.  She hurt her foot somehow and didn't put weight on it for over a week.  Now she seems to be suffering from allergies. 

I had made rolls last week and they were a hit, so I enlisted the kids help to make more.  They were into it. 

And once again, the rolls were a hit. 

Heidi's birthday was yesterday.  The kids and I went to her work with some balloons and had the swimmers and parents sing happy birthday to her.  I wanted to embarrass her, so I brought the bullhorn and said, "Today's Coach Heidi's birthday.  29, again." 

I'm grateful for the effort Heidi puts into home schooling Blake and cleaning up the home, even though she thinks I don't realize how much work it is.  Maybe I don't.  Oh well.  Okay, bye. 

April 2019

A blurry photo of the cute Hanna on the tramp with some serious static hair. 

March birthdays and track and field

 Grammy sent treats for St. Patrick's day

 Kira turned 9 on Wednesday.  She was pleased with her gifts, especially her socks.  She got her ears pierced.

 Blake turned 7 on Thursday and got the iPad repaired for his birthday.

 Parker turned 4 on Thursday and got some squirt guns and was happy.  Er, maybe not.  But this is how he wanted the camera to capture him.

 Kira has really been tearing it up at track and field. 

 This meet was at Ygnacio Valley High.  She did well at the long jump.

Kira took 1st in the 100 meter dash.  I don't know what her time was but it was fast enough.

Mister's still working on his natural smile

 Hanna is as cute as ever

Dual thumb suckers, and lots of times, Parker puts one finger up his nose.

This photo is blurry but a bad photo is better than no photo and this one shows Kira's muscle tone.  Look at that arm definition.  She had just run the 200 and was tired for another 200 relay portion of the medley relay.

Scott was doing track but has some kind of bone disease called Severs disease and is in too much pain to run now.  I can appreciate that because I had stupid Osgoodschlatters disease and my knees got all jacked up.  Also my hips.  Also my feet.  Oh well. 

Okay, bye. 

March 2019

Just when we get the home cleaned on Saturday, we turn our backs for 30 seconds and this happens.  Parker's on youtube, sitting without underwear in a pile of goldfish.  

Nick, Blake and Parker monitor the fire.  This kept them busy for over an hour.

Hanna being cute

Blake can be so charming when he wants to.  Otherwise he's throwing a tantrum about his schoolwork. 

Scott did some kind of pedal kart thing with the student body officers at Adams Middle School. 

Last night Scott brought two of his jazz band friends to the symphony at Temple Hill in Oakland. 

First we ate at Buckhorn Grill in Walnut Creek. 

Then we did some photos of the temple, which has been under renovation for the past year or so. 

The symphony was pretty good.  I was most impressed by the student soloists.  There were two freshman violinists and one freshman pianist.  I even got in a little nap.  We took the GS and she was running real good.  I think Scott and his friends had a good time.

Okay, bye. 

A weekend without Heidi

Heidi went to New Jersey to her uncle Rich's funeral.  She left Thursday afternoon.  Initially I was stressed about having all of the kids, but we had a pretty good time.  On Saturday we got two dozen doughnuts, then went to China Freight, Wal-mart, and dropped off a load at Goodwill.

We ran the RC cars and played outside.  We watched lots of TV.  The kids and I cleaned the home up real good.  I worked on my compressor.  It was fun. 

On Sunday I wanted to prove that I could bathe the kids, dress them, take their picture, and be to church on time.  Well, it was going well until Parker wouldn't cooperate and hit Hanna.  Then Hanna got upset.

A photo of the kids wasn't happening, so I shot this to give a more realistic view of life with six kids.  Kira and Blake were down for portraits. 

Parker was  angry. 

And still angry. 

Hanna didn't know what to think of all the chaos, but she is so stinkin' cute!

And we made it to church on time! 

Later that day we rode bikes to Heritage and ran the RC cars.  It wasn't too cold and we had a good time.  Even Parker was driving his own RC car until the battery went dead.  When we got home, the kids helped me make dinner.  I'd just sharpened my tres claveles knife and I taught the kids how to chop, based on what I'd learned from watching Ratatouille.  They were chopping the vegetables, squeezing the lemons for homemade lemonade, and seasoning the vegetables with olive oil and salt.  Dinner was tasty.  I was pleased that they took pride in making dinner.  I really learned to cook on the mission and I want my kids to know how to cook before they go to college. 

We picked up Heidi from BART at about eight last night.  She had a good trip.  Mostly she just liked seeing her second cousins and chatting with her mom's cousins. 

Scott's 13th birthday

Scott turned 13 on Monday.  He got lots of fun gifts but his favorite were the Apple airpods.  He also got a tech deck set, a schampa, Monopoly speed pack, gum, a 5-in-1 charging station, and other incidentals.  He was in a good mood all day and that was nice.  

For dinner we had Chinese food, Scott's favorite.  

Things he likes:  ideas on how to make money without actually doing the work, Fortnite, Nike shoes, long hair, pancakes, long showers, singing in the church choir, and the Office.  Generally he's a good kid.  Happy birthday, man!