"The Supervisor"

As I watched the boys slaving away tonight putting rock on our BBQ Island, I thought to myself - when did I become "The Supervisor"?

I have actually done plenty of hard manual labor in my life. I re-roofed my parents house when I was in elementary school (you will have to ask my parents what they were thinking letting 3 grade school kids cruise around on a roof with hammers in toe). I have done plenty of painting, installing baseboard and lots of tile work. I am quite good at the tile saw - or at least I was:). So, when did I go from grunt laborer to supervisor status?

Actually, I remember the day quite well. Jason and I were painting our family room red (very red - we loved the bold colors in our last house). In the middle of the second coat, I started bleeding and we rushed to the hospital to discover I was in pre-term labor. I was 20 weeks pregnant with Dawson. The rest of the pregnancy was spent on bed rest, mostly sitting in that family room while Jason painted all around me. Thus, the supervisor role began.

My sister and I stepped up the supervisor role to another level while Jason painted this wall in our old house. We decided our talents were best utilized by sitting on the floor eating popcorn and telling Jason "a little more dark grey to the left..." as he was suspended on a ladder over a piece of plywood swooping multiple rags across the wall.

In honor of our original popcorn supervising party, we supervised again tonight with popcorn :)

16 mirror DIY Project

We just completed a 16 mirror DIY project. Yes, that's a lot of mirrors! My dad laughed at me when I bought these because he does not have one mirror in his entire house. I guess I have a lot of mirrors, since I have 4 large mirrors in my home in addition to these. Does that mean I am vain?

We have a rounded entrance to our bedroom that I really like.

In the model home, they had these 4 mirrors by Uttermost - 2 on each side. I liked these mirrors so much, I took them off the wall in the model home to see who the manufacturer was. Unfortunately, these designer mirrors totaled over $850 for all four of them. Ouch!

So, I decided I could mimic the look by finding 16 mirrors and hanging them together. I looked for months and finally found these black mirrors that I love at a good price. We bought 1" wood balls from the craft store, spray painted them pewter and then Jason drilled them into the mirror frames. Then, we hung four in a row touching, so it looks like it is one mirror. I love how it turned out and it was 1/4 of the price. Yeah!

Our Day Today

Holden was ecstatic playing the piano for the first time. He would bang away and squeal with glee. I think this will be his new favorite pastime. I have never seen him smile so big and squeal so loud with excitement.

During lunch, my mom was telling my kids about my colorguard captain days in high school. They had a blast when I brought out my old flag and started spinning and tossing it. They each had a turn and actually made it look easy :)

More progress on the BBQ Island. I was very impressed with the boys today. They got the backer board complete, working electricity, running water...it's ready for rock sides and a granite top!

My mom and I worked on an organization project all day. We went through all the kids school stuff and all the other memorabilia I have gathered over the years and re-organized it into bins - one per child and a bin for cards and letters. Now I have to get everything into memory books. That's a project for a different day. We had an entire black bag of trash - I love organizing. Thanks Mom!

School's Out!

School's out...time to shed some hair for summer. Dawson and his best buddy Kyle have been begging to buzz their heads for weeks. So, their dads agreed to buzz their head after their last day of school. They were so excited! I guess with two bald dads, these boys are bound to have bald aspirations. So, their mothers entertain it...for the summer, that is.

Showing off their interim mohawks

Twins!

Two happy boys!

Dawson's Kindergarten Graduation

The whole family celebrated Dawson's big day graduating from Kindergarten.

Waiting for the graduates...

Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Jesi all came for the big day.

Dawson looking so cute in his graduation cap.

They sang a couple songs for their performance. "What a Wonderful World" made me cry.

"I hear babies cry...... I watch them grow
They'll learn much more.....than I'll never know
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world"

I don't know if I was overly emotional that day, but I was on the verge of tears a couple times. My baby boy is growing up and I am happy and sad all at the same time.


It's official, Dawson is a first grader!
They sang the cutest song to the tune of "New York, New York"

"Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today
I want to be a part of it - First Grade, First Grade!"

He ate cake with his picture on it - he thought that was too cool!

Dawson and his teacher, Mrs. Locsin

Congratulations Dawson. We are so proud of the boy you are becoming.

One Busy Saturday

The weather wasn't good enough for boating on Saturday, so we made a last minute change of plans and started building our BBQ Island. It was a hectic Friday trying to choose a refrigerator, access door, sink, etc so we could finalize the plan and dimensions. It was worth it though since my Dad, Jason and my brother-in-law Will were able to complete the framing on Saturday. Looking Good!

My dad is a HUGE Apple fan and since he was stuck building our BBQ Island, he convinced my mom and I to go to the Apple store grand opening in the mall for him. My mom was reluctant, but I figured I better go since he was working so hard for me. So, we headed out to wait in a very long line at the mall to hopefully be one of the first 1,000 people so we could score my Dad a free Apple Roseville t-shirt. Yes, it is very silly to stand in line for an hour for a free t-shirt - but not too my dad.

Here we are standing in a very long line that wrapped outside the mall. I did a quick head count and figured there were about 500-600 people ahead of us....so, we waited. The Apple store employees were fun and would run through the line screaming pumping everyone up. Taya, hated it as seen here covering her ears since everyone was screaming too loud for her.

Look at all the employees that lined the store just to give you a high 5 when you walked in

Here is the crazy couple that got engaged outside the Apple store. As they were let into the store, he dropped to one knee, opened the ring box and proposed. Crazy. We saw the whole thing. They must either be huge geeks or they met at an Apple store...

And, we not only got my Dad a t-shirt, but we got 4 t-shirts (Mom, Taya, Holden and I). Although, I am sure Holden will not fit in the "one size fits all" XL shirts!

Lastly, we went to an end of season t-ball party for the Sidewinders. It was a great event. One of the team families hosted it at their home, which was awesome. They probably have an acre yard, fully landscaped. Tons of space with a playground, bike track, huge lawn and plenty of room for tables and chairs for all. It was a great evening and a great t-ball season.

Going to the Zoo

I took the day off and was a chaperon at Dawson's kindergarten zoo field trip. Dawson had been counting down the days to this field trip and was so excited to ride the bus. He wanted to make sure we were not late.

The minute he saw the snake, he was dying to touch it. I was impressed how brave he was.

Dawson and the boys. They found a jaguar (their school mascot) and were so excited to take a picture with their jaguar claws!

The essential zoo picture

Family Laua

Dawson's school had an end of school celebration with a family laua. Hawaiian shirts, leis, shaved ice and hula - the kids loved it.

Go Sidewinders!

Dawson improved so much in his first season in t-ball. He went from running to third base after he hit the ball to actually understanding the basic concepts of the game. His hitting and throwing improved so much, it was fun to watch him play his last game.

Go Sidewinders!

Someone recently asked Dawson what his favorite position was, when he didn't understand "position", we said - what's your favorite part, he said "the hot dog". Yes, his favorite part of t-ball is indeed the snack. He loves Mahany Park where they have a snack bar with hot dogs. Practices were not his favorite, since there is no snack! Men and their food, it starts young...

Cute pictures on a very cold day, hence the red nose.