Tribute to Mark - the Best Big Brother!

Mark made this star description of himself in school last year. It is so fitting and such a perfect description of him that I wanted to record it.

Top point: Mark blue eyes, white skin, brown hair

Right point: Play games, Play football

Lower points: I'm nice, funny and athletic. I want to be a CEO. I like the fact that I'm the oldest in my family

Left point: Nice, thoughtful brother


Everyone of those phrases describes our sweet 11 year-old Mark. He is the kindest, sweetest, most gracious son a parent could ever hope for, and he is loving and generous with his brothers and sisters (which is not easy to do all the time because they can be much more demanding than him). We love our dear, treasured son Mark with all our hearts and are so grateful he came to our family to be the leader and the Best Big Brother on earth!

Danny, Josh and Bumblee's Fabulous Visit

Danny and Josh arrived in style last night cruising the L.A. area in Brent's favorite Transformer car -- Bumblebee! (AKA yellow Camaro)



After enjoying a 3 hour "Total Experience" tour of the I-5 freeway, compliments of Friday L.A. Traffic, Danny and Josh shared with us their photos of the $Million luxury cars they had lusted after and test driven (or at least posed like they were test-driving them!) and the video of their real-life attempts at free-fall flight in the Universal Walk Wind Tunnel.

The kids enjoyed every inch of the Camaro and tried to stow-away when Danny and Josh left for their hotel!






Brent at the wheel of his favorite car...



Jocelyn manning the wheel of Bumblebee...




Blake and Brent had a great time wrestling with Josh and jumping on the trampoline with Uncle Danny. Brent even said this morning, "Wow! Uncle Danny was so much fun!!" That's quite a compliment coming from the King of Fun himself!

Josh and Uncle Danny with Blake, Brent and Jocelyn



Jocelyn, Mark, Uncle Danny and Josh...



Here are Blake, Brent and Jocelyn bouncing on the trampoline with Uncle Danny. Danny was impressed by how daring Brent was, but we told him that is typical for our high-energy, fearless 5 year-old.





Next time we'd love to see Josh pull up in a Lamborghini!!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Blake & Brent!

Welcome to the most Sincere Pumpkin Patch in all of West Irvine!

Boyd decided to plant a jack-0-lantern pumpkin seed in June thinking it would take 4 months to grow an adequate pumpkin. Well, obviously pumpkins grow a lot faster than we planned! Blake and Brent have been devoted Great Pumpkin Watchers all summer and check on the pumpkin's progress daily.

Now we're hoping this thing grows legs, designates our little pumpkin patch as "the most sincere" and rises up with lots of toys and surprises for our Peanuts Gang!

Last Swim Meet vs. Quail Hill

Mark and Jocelyn swam in their final swim meet for the season on the last Saturday of July. We swam at Quail Hill's competition pool. Wendy worked at the Ready Bench and was more than worn out by the end of the meet since the Quail Hill team lacked support at the Bench and younger children follow Einstein's Law of Constant Motion, especially when you want them to line up or stay seated in one place.



Mark ready for the 50 backstroke competition....


Mark swimming the 200 IM (Individual Medley)...



Jocelyn finishing the 50 backstroke...



And the season is over!!! Now we can sleep in again on Saturdays...at least until September when soccer and football games consume us and leave our lawn in disrepair.

Homemade Mini Pizzas

Today for lunch the children and I made homemade pizza dough and personal pizzas. The dough turned out very yummy! Here Jocelyn (wearing the all-important baking apron!) and Blake tried to spin their dough into round crusts, but it did not quite work out.

Michael Jackson Hill was very meticulous in spreading his dough into a perfect circle and then carefully spreading the pizza sauce.

Michael Jackson Hill also meticulously placed each piece of mozzarella cheese on his pizza (picture not taken). He definitely had the best looking pizza, but Jocelyn's Combo-pizza was the tastiest as she added mushrooms and pepperonis.


Yummy!!

Football Season Starts!

Irvine Chargers football season started on Monday. Mark is on the Junior PeeWee team this year. Here is the team's first roll call...


Mark is on the Irvine Chargers Junior PeeWee team this season. His head coach is Steve Morini, his same head coach from the 2009 season. There is a mix of both returning players and new football players on his squad. It will be an interesting training season as these boys all learn the fundamentals of football together.

Here Coach Morini is going through his teamwork principles with the boys.

This week the boys are wearing t-shirts and shorts because it is pure conditioning work all week. Mark is in terrific physical condition, so these workouts should go well for him!

Despite three hours of basketball camp, one hour of swim team practice and two hours of football conditioning each day, Mark is not the least bit worn-out. No surprise to his parents who survived his baby and toddler years when the words NAP and BEDTIME were not in his vocabulary. As a baby and toddler, he only slept 6 hours each day! We knew it would take a lot of activities to use up his seemingly endless energy!

Boyd's 50th Birthday

On Friday, July 23, Boyd turned 50. The kids planned a fun celebration for their daddy. Jocelyn conducted a Birthday Card-making Seminar for her brothers. Each child presented their Daddy with a custom birthday card that expressed their love and appreciation for all their Daddy does for them.

We celebrated by taking the family to dinner at the Laguna Beach Montage resort, using a gift card Boyd had been given 7 years ago by a client. We finally had a fun event to celebrate and the kids were old enough to not completely embarass us while eating in public.


Brent being a well-behaved dinner guest at the Montage. He was so excited to eat at a fancy restaurant for the first time in his life!




Brent's birthday card for Boyd.....

Brent gave his Daddy the oversized $1 bill Boyd has had on his desk for years and 5 shiny pennies he found in my change box. He was so thrilled to give his Daddy MONEY!>



Blake happy because the waiter gave him a full glass of chocolate milk before even taking our food orders!



Blake's birthday card for his Daddy...dinosaurs everywhere! That is a dinosaur claw-print on the back cover of the card.


Mark made an Apple card for his Daddy and called it the "Apple MacBook Nothing" because it was not a real MacBook.


Jocelyn drew a fun birthday card for her Daddy...



Now on to the yummy dinner.....

Jocelyn ordered the delicious duck. It was sweet and tender. We all enjoyed it immensely. Jocelyn is our most adventurous eater and is always eager to try new foods.

Mark ordered the grilled chicken and gourmet macaroni-and-cheese....

Boyd ordered the salmon...
(Notice the pretty sunset in the view windows behind Boyd)
Now for dessert!

Jocelyn ordered the S'mores plate! It came with custom chocolate delicacy, fire-roasted marshmallows, lots of chocolate cream, and crushed graham cracker crumbs.



This is a photo of the beautiful night view of the Montage beach-side pool with the waves crashing below (in the upper part of the photo).



This is also a perfect example of why I need a DSLR camera so I can take night shots that capture all the beauty of the evening skies and ocean waves.

Happy Birthday Boyd! The hardest part is behind you! Now you just have to keep up with your kids for the next 50 years! We love you!