Is it Thursday already?

Where did the week go? Whew, I am tired.... thank goodness tomorrow is Friday. What happened this week? Hmmm, let's see....Xander still is having problems with his Achilles Tendinitis plus he had a good case of migraines this week. Hannah is Ms. Artsy Fartsy and I am positive will some day do something in the arts, be it fashion, painting, drawing, who knows, she is very much whatever side of the brain the arts come from, that's her, lol! Christian is doing great in school and no longer "needs" me to stay, he walks in and barely says goodbye before heading off to play with his friends. He of course, still has mommy-itis and needs me every other waking moment of the day (and night, I slept with him last night just because), he is sooo pitiful, wink!

Let's see, I have decided that my new mission in life besides harnessing my own personal, creative side with my new biz, is to take on the state of CA school board. Why? Because I tried to get Xander into the Individual P.E. exemption program since he plays water polo no less than 9 1/2 hours per week but usually an avg week is 12-14 hours of actual pool and play time and into a Spanish class. For those of you not familiar with h2o polo, it is a combo of soccer, basketball, wrestling and a converted swimming process. It is rigorous, tough and really has helped his heart, lung capacity and muscular tone overall. It is not a sport for the weak and weary. This combined with the physical fitness requirements that he has to earn for Eagle Scout which are pretty strict, are measured over vast amounts of time and must be improved upon to advance, I think that he certainly gets in his PE time.

He accidentally got placed in Spanish the first week of school because I forgot to turn in the slip that would have placed him in advanced band. After we got that all straightened out and he started band, he decided that he also wanted to take Spanish as well. I thought, hey great, I'll go to the school and see what I can do. It is at the same time as PE, he has all A.P. (adv. placement) classes so why wouldn't they let him switch? Well, oh my goodness, I have never in my life been so appalled at our school system and how we blatantly discriminate against children that want to learn.

You see, in CA, P.E. is the ONLY class that is required and if you do not take P.E. you are kept from participating in other electives EVEN IF YOU ARE PLACED IN THE IPE PROGRAM based on a physical disability, doctors note or whtever. Here, beginning in 7th grade, you can take zero period, which begins BEFORE the school even opens for class. Zero period P.E. is for those students in 7th & 8th grade that want to take two electives, this is not offered for 6th grade as it is not in the budget. And once you get to H.S., you never have to take P.E. ever again if you choose not to. However, if you do not take zero period P.E., you can NOT take those 2 electives, you are only allowed to take one even if you are on an I.P.E. (Ind. P.E. plan) that exempts you from the class. IPE is also not allowed for you if you are on a team sport, only individual sports where times can be measured, ie swimming, diving, ballerina, gymnastics, etc.. They (the school board) feels that unless you can measure their individual time then you cannot measure if the child is really doing anything while on the "team". While I understand some of that reasoning, I also understand that for a sport like h20 polo which also goes to the JO's just like swimming does, that there should be exemptions to every rule. I was told that if I would like to put my child on a swim team as most water polo players are required to be as they get older, that I was certainly welcome to reapply after he has individual times.

I was like, "excuse me"? Have you lost your mind? You want me to put my son in another sport when he is already over extending himself in the one he is in to get JO (junior olympic) times? Okay, so when does he get to be a kid and run in the street playing with his friends? When does he get downtime?

The fact that they set the bar so high for these kids and yet ask them to participate in more sports to be exempt from them at school, is absolutely ridiculous to me. You have child wanting, asking to learn and I have the school district saying, we're sorry, we can't accomodate you. He can take Spanish along with band in 7th grade AS LONG AS HE ADDS ONE MORE CLASS (ON TOP OF THE ADDED SPANISH) TO TAKE ZERO PERIOD P.E.! You see band students have their hands tied because if you are in band, band is your only choice unless you are willing to jump through hoops, add zero period p.e. and be willing to add extra school time to your day. I am APPALLED!!! I am so upset that the public school systems have their hands tied because of the No Child Left Behind and teach to the slowest learner in the class so that they won't miss anything. Even though Xander is in AP classes, he is afforded no more benefits than the regular student. He is merely placed in a class with other like students and has to probably jump through even more hoops to be able to learn what he wants. Trust me, I grew up in the public school system, however I also went to private school. Xander has been in private school and public school as well. I can tell you right now that if I could afford it, all three of my kids would be in private in a skinny minute. The differences are wide and vast. No all public schools are created equal but the one's set up as European Immersion schools (like the one that Xander attended in Oregon or the other one's I have visited even here in CA) are phenomenal and the public school system could really learn something from them.

If you made it to the bottom, great. If you fell asleep, I apologize. I feel better now that I got that off my chest. Maybe I can have a civil conversation with the school district. If you have any ideas, suggestions or opinions, I am all ears.

So, that was my week so far. I got new pictures posted on the AHC Photoworks http://www.ahcphotoworks.blogspot.com/ of some of the things I made for customers this past week. The 4 coasters I made as a thank you gift for our friends in Costa Rica. There is a week to 10 day turn around time for custom items, if you want something, let me know, email me a picture or art work or whatever, I'll email you a price list and we'll go from there!

Take care.
All my love,
Kimberly

YAPTA, YAPTA, YAPTA

If you travel and you don't YAPTA then you are tossing that money of yours right out the window!!! What is YAPTA? It is Your Amazing Personal Travel Assistant and it is the best travel website. Here's the deal:

Everyone knows we went to Costa Rica right? We purchased our tickets on June 9th at $523.40 per ticket. The same day I decided to log in to Yapta.com per someone’s suggestion. It was free and easy with very minimal personal info, yada, yada, yada. The site asks for your ticket confirmation or for destinations that you are interested in and tracks the prices letting you know when the costs goes up or down. If you already have purchased your tickets, it also tells you whether you are eligible for a refund or airline vouchers.

So… needless to say, we get an email telling us that our ticket prices went down and we are eligible for $30 vouchers. Of course, I tell Bob to call the airlines, what does he do? Nothing… Again, I get another email telling us that the prices have gone down and we are eligible for vouchers and what does he do? Again, NOTHING!!! Okay, so now I am frustrated because we paid more for tickets than they are selling for now and I am calculating in my feeble mind how I could be spending that money on vacation….. So, we get ANOTHER email from Yapta saying the prices have gone down again and we are now due for $60.00 vouchers for each ticket purchased. This time I implore my handsome, darling husband to please, please, please call American Airlines. Okay honey, whatever you say is what I get on the other end. Finally, he calls AA and immediately the person on the other end says okay Mr. Grove, well now the price is down to $303. per ticket and we will be happy to issue you a REFUND back to the same credit card that you purchased the tickets with.

In a span of 3 weeks worth of emails and 3 seconds on a phone call, we got over $1200.00 back in a refund, not vouchers, because of Yapta.com. So friends, as I end this infomercial for my favorite travel website (next to Travelzoo), I encourage each and every one of you to remember this website the next time you plan to travel. We had extra vacation money in our pockets because of them!!! You could too!

http://www.yapta.com/

Busy, busy, busy

Good morning,
I am feeling so much better this morning. After a good vent and a good nights sleep, I am ready for the day. This weekend will be a busy one. Xander starts us off with water polo this morning and Hannah has a soccer game this afternoon. When Xander gets out of water polo he will head to Churches Campout with the boy scouts for an overnighter. Then he will get up and have to be packed out by about 7:30 Sunday morning so that he can get to his 9:30 water polo game. While he is not playing in the game due to an injury, he will be there to support and cheer on his team, dressed out in uniform. They have 3 games tomorrow however he will only be at the first one since daddy is surprising him with tickets to Street Scene down in San Diego (a belated b-day present). That starts at 1pm so they will head down after the game with Xander's friend Katin to enjoy about 50 bands on 2-3 stages. The Killers, Social Distortion, Modest Mouse, etc. will be there. Xander (like his father) both love punk, blues and good old fashioned rock and roll. I am sure Xander will be in heaven.

Right now Xander is writing his own music and will record a CD next week for the Reflections Art Program which is sponsored nationally by the PTA. This year's theme is "I can make a difference by...". Being that he is our tree hugging, I am going to save the world child, he has decided that he is entering in 3 categories: photography, literature and music. He intends to depict in the 3 various entries how he can make a difference by cleaning up the beaches and protecting our marine environments. I'll post pictures and let you know how he does once he is finished with it. So he has to work on that this next week as well.

Finally, I have lots to do to get my biz off the ground. For those of you that don't know, I am a shutterbug and after much encouragement and insistence from our friends, I am opening my own photography business. I am not a studio type girl so I will be doing everything completely on location and candid. I am not a "say cheese" girl either, I like to capture the raw beauty and essence of each person's personality. In addition to that, my creative side has reared it head again and I am offering a complete line of custom art creations made with either their own photos or one's I have taken. I will post pictures soon of some of my creations. Everything I make can also be made with any of your children's art work that you want to preserve. I can put it on canvas, tumbled tile coasters, wood blocks etc all without harming the original artwork. It's actually pretty cool and makes great gifts! However, between the photo shoots and the custom art orders, I am super busy.

Speaking of which, children are calling in the background, the dryer bell is ringing and I need to jump in the shower so off I go, I'll update more later.....

XOXOXO
Kimberly

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birth-daaayyyy dear Dad

Happy Birthday to you!

I hope you had a wonderful day.

(These are pictures of my dad, stepmom Cathy, grandfather, Daniel's wife and 2 daughters at his Marine Flight Training School "Winging" ceremony. Please pray for him as he is a pilot in Iraq at this time and we want him to come home safely to all of us! We are proud of him!)

We love and miss you~

Kimberly, Bob, Xander, Hannah & Christian

Friday...ahhhh

I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am that it is Friday. The last 3 weeks since school started have been like rush week for a new sorority/fraternity in college.....it's been hell on one hand and good on the other! Man oh man, between Bob working late almost every night for one reason or another, the kids being back in school for their first few weeks and my working to get my relatively new biz off the ground, I am exhausted, exhilarated, excited, extremely ready for it to all calm down.

Xander has been complaining about his ankle hurting for almost a month now. Well, he is also the boy who cries wolf every time he wants to get out of his chores or some other mundane task that we ask or require him to participate in around the house. So, I have just basically chalked his hurt ankle up to growing pains or "wolfitis". He finally told me the other day that I "needed" to make him an appt with our pediatrician. He hates our pediatrician because he calls a spade a spade and doesn't provide a lot of fluff and filler. So I knew he really must be in pain to have asked for an appt. We go and the Dr. tells me that he has a fairly good case of Achilles tendinitis. Oh great, so all this time he really wasn't faking it....hmmm, I was feeling kind of small at this point however, I will not accept all the blame because if he didn't have "wolfitis" (boy who cried wolf syndrome) then I might have actually believed him. Now he is sporting a heel cup and has to stay off of it for 10 days, ice it and take lots of Advil to ease the pain. That's his drama for the month, he's used his quota....

Hannah has been doing great in school and I have just started volunteering in her classroom. I am really enjoying it. I never really got to volunteer in Xander's classes when he was little because I was working full time so this is new for me. I have been class mom for his room however as they get older, the classrooms are more independent and the teachers don't want or need you hanging out in there. I will NOT be volunteering to be class mom for Hannah this year and probably not next. I have way too much on my plate plus the fact that there are a few really gung ho moms in there that have a first child going through kindergarten and really want to take on the job. Great, go for it, I am good with just participating and not organizing for once.... Working in the classroom has been great and they even allow me to bring Christian with me on occasion since he is so well behaved and participates instead of whines and cries. They almost don't even know he is not part of the class, it's been fun and he's learning too. It made me feel like it was all worth it today when Hannah leaned over to me while she was working on a project and said, "mom, thank you for helping out in my class, I like you being in here". I almost cried and it was a gentle reminder as to why I do what I do and why I was there! Thank you Hannah, I love you too!!

The moose FINALLY had a great day at school. When I dropped him off on Thursday he was about to be clingy until Emily, a girl in his class, invited him to play with all the safari animals (his favorites). He was enjoying the hippo when they brought out the real mouse and the live fish (class pets) and that made him squeal with delight. He was busy interacting and playing that he didn't want to give me a kiss or say good-bye, so while that was bittersweet and a change from the last few days, I was very proud of him and comforted by the fact that he is finding his space and learning to like it. I think part of the reason why he did so well was because we scheduled a play date with our good friends the Gilman's at the park on Tuesday (the pictures are in a Smilebox scrapbook in a post below). Hannah and Faith were in pre-K together and Christian and Aubrey are in pre-K together now. They all really enjoy playing together and I really enjoy the mom's company, Wendy is a great person and we get along wonderfully!

So, why was it hell you ask? Three kids, three different schools, 1 week of car pool duty for my 3 kids in 3 schools plus 3 more kids in Xander's middle school. Sounds easy enough then factor in those darned "back to school nights" and early release days and late start days that the wonderful state of CA allows the schools to factor into the schedules and you end up with kids in schools for very few hours plus moms struggling to get all the kids from the said schools all at the same exact time. It's hard to be in 3 places at once. Now add in homework, sports (incl all weekend), Boy Scouts, music lessons and down time so that kids can just be kids, no dad around because he is working late, mom running a new biz plus an old one, laundry, breakfast, lunch and dinner and everything else that needs to be accomplished......well, it's been......hell! I will be glad when Bob is back on a more normal schedule and can actually help out around here some more. I am not really complaining even though it sounds as I am or am I being a martyr as I knew what I was getting in to when it came time to sign up for all this however, I am stating facts right now, that it all sucks and I am ready for a break, albeit even a small one, I am ready for a break. I love my kids, I love what they do and I am sure tomorrow I will feel differently however, tonight it is late and I am venting, I am getting this off my chest. We all have days like this (at least that's what I tell myself) and today is my day!

Okay, just when I get done whining and venting I go in and read about Evan Cousineau and realize that I should be thankful and feel so blessed for all the small inconveniences in my life. Evan is an amazing young man and someday when I grow up, I hope to be as strong as he is. You can click on the Caring for Evan link on the left to learn more about him. His family is from here in San Clemente and he and his brother both play on our arch nemesis water polo team, SET. He is beautiful, his family is probably the strongest family I have ever come across and I learn something new from him each day.

http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/inputSiteName.do?method=search&siteName=EvanCousineau

So now, I will "suck up", stop complaining and be grateful for my children, my life and my family. I am blessed, we are all blessed. I wouldn't change my life one bit. Thank you God!I should get off the soap box now and go to bed, it's probably best for everyone......wink!XOXOXOKimberly

My all time favorite jam!

Here is a recipe from my beloved grandmother who passed away almost a year ago. I miss her dearly and this is one of my many favorite recipes of hers!

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Another afternoon playdate....

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Can you hear that?

Shhhh......can you hear the sounds? That''s the sound of quite, the sound of all three of our kids in school all at the same time for the first time ever! It's is almost eerily quiet here. I have lots to do in the few hours I have alone so this will be rather short.

Xander and Hannah have always been very independent children and when left to their own choice, they just pick up and go without hardly a good-bye. Both have been to slumber parties since they were toddlers and have never needed the comfort of mom or dad to get them through anything no matter how big or small, they just did it, what ever "it" was. I always wished that they would "need" me just once.......well, be careful of what you wish for, lol! Christian comes along and he is like velcro. In the last month, he has all of a sudden "needed" his mommy more than anything else. Okay, I come in right behind "the stinky, smelly blanket that he calls his "boppy" and that I have to steal from him when he's not looking to get it in the wash and back in it's former place before he ever notices". So now, I have what I always longed for and I am thinking, I wanted this why? Don't get me wrong, I am soaking up every minute of the cuddles, the kisses, the reading time, the beauty of it all however, when it comes to dropping him off at school and he is attached to your leg like the piece of t.p. that gets stuck to the bottom of your shoe, it's a little tiresome. I felt horrible having to leaving him in a crying, heap of a mess at school today but he needs the social interaction and I need the 3 hours of freedom so that I can wash the boppy and get a few things done that keep piling up.

I read somewhere that "the days are long but the years are short" so I try to remember that every day and to enjoy all the little things. While I joke that I wish he were more independent, I know someday he will be and that someday he won't fit so easily in my lap so maybe just maybe, he'll let me sit in his!

Off to work on my photography biz, lots of orders coming in for holiday gifts so I need to get to bizzzzzzy!

~K

Humbled and honored...

My dear friend and neighbor that lives across the street from me, Maureen, discovered over 3 years ago that she had breast cancer. She made the radical decision to remove both breasts and is now in remission and a survivor!

Saturday night, a fundraiser was held in her honor at our other neighbor's home, Debbie, to raise funds and awareness for the Avon 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk that is happening nationwide. You can check out http://www.3day.org/ for more information.

We had many vendors (I was one of them) there to not only promote their businesses but to donate percentages of their sales. We had many generous businesses in San Clemente donate beautiful gifts and items from their stores for our silent auction and raffle baskets. We had almost 80-100 people walk through the doors to tell of their stories, their connections to breast cancer or to just be supportive and donate to the cause.

Maureen and Debbie, along with 4 other women are participating in the 3 day walk in San Diego. That is 20 miles a day. Over $2200 was raised on Saturday night to benefit the walk and the cause.

I cried, I laughed, I was humbled and honored to be in the presence of these women. I have never had a personal connection to anyone with breast cancer (other cancers yes but not breast cancer) so this was a new experience for me. It was uplifting to see my friend be honored in such a way. She is a beautiful person with a heart of gold. May she live on for many more years!

If you have a moment, please go to the website to learn more or to make a donation. It could happen to any of us!

Blessings to all,
Kimberly

p.s. check out the scrapbook below, Maureen is on the front page! Isn't she a doll?

PINK Party 2007

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Busy, exciting and boring weekend!

How can a weekend be busy AND exciting you ask? Well, Saturday, Hannah had her very first soccer game of the season. She plays AYSO on the U6 Purple Pixies team with 7 other girls that are about as cute as they get. Even though we are not supposed to keep score, well, uh um, they came out with a 3-1 victory! They were all very excited and rushed to hug their snacks and drinks. What did you think I was going to say moms? Ha! At the end of the game, the only thing that is important is the snack and playground, everything else is a far second! Of course, being the photog that I am, I went to take pictures, lot of them. Have camera? check. Have lens? check. Have digital memory card to capture the pics? NO! I was horrified that somehow I totally left the memory card at home. So sorry, unless another parent there forwards me pics, I have none of her first game of the season. It happens to all of us, right? At least that is what I am telling myself... Let me wallow in my own misery, :-)!

Sunday morning we awake to Christian and his 3rd day of running a fever holding steady between 103.2 -103.7. I never get worried about high fevers unless they break the 104 mark. Our first pediatrician was 95 if he was young and his 5 fathers before him were all pediatricians so when he spoke, I listened. He gave me great advice about many things but one of them was about how Xander would carry a high fever with no other explanation. As a new mom, I would want to rush to the ER to find out what was wrong with my baby but he told me that all kids are different and a high fever, no matter how much motrin and tylenol you alternated or shoved in him, was his way of fighting off whatever virus he may have picked up. So, I listened and sure enough, he was always right. So, now when Christian has had 3 days worth of fever, I alternate meds, keep a cool rag handy and pump him full of fluids. With him not feeling well, mommy decided that we would do some spring/fall cleaning.

Being in Costa Rica was so cathartic and really put so many things in perspective for me. I live in one of the wealthiest areas of the country, this would be "new money" wealthy for most of the people living here and perspective is not something that many people here have. Being a good ole southern girl, I don't buy into all this "I've got to have" and "he who has the most toys..", etc. type of mentality. We live very modestly but yet afford our children most anything they want when it comes to activities, music, travel or education. These are areas that I don't mind spending a bit more. You are probably saying, get to the point....so here it is... When we were in Costa Rica, we lived for 10 days on very little. We enjoyed the scenery, we ate as locals, we played with ticos and we enjoyed our afternoon naps all without email, phones and very little tv. It was absolute bliss. I need that in my life now. We came home, the computer goes on, the tv's blare in the background, the door bells ring and ah, calgon take me away again comes to mind. A vacation worth of rest and relaxation completely out the window within 24hours.

As I look around my home, I see things that we just don't "need" and I know of many people (one who is our waitress, Susanna, at our favorite Mexican restaurant here in town, El Mariachi) who could benefit from our "wealth". I want a simpler life, one without all the excess so I just dove right in and started emptying out draws, closets, cabinets and more. We ended up with 4 garbage bags of trash, 3 bags of donation items, 2 boxes of documents from the filing cabinet that needed to be shredded and that was only out of one room. I felt a huge sense of relief from that purge and plan to do that in EVERY room. I need so little to truly be happy, my children and my husband are everything to me and the rest is just stuff, granted it's really nice stuff but again it's just stuff! I'll let you know how the rest of the purging goes. I start getting 6+ hours all to myself this week because all the kids will be in their own respective schools so we'll see how much I can toss without them even knowing, tee hee hee!

***Okay, let me clarify and spell it out here because I was called a hypocrite by someone who posted a comment yet didn't dare post who they were. For those that don't know me, I am not an extravagant spender, I do not like to just "shop for stuff I don't need", I spend with a purpose for things we do need. During the above said "purge" we donated a double stoller, multiple bags of clothing, shoes and household items to a family with 5 young girls where the mom works 3 jobs. SHe happens to be our favorite waitress at a local restaurant and we take care of her family as much as we take care of our own just because we can. All 3 of our children donate at holidays and birthday before they ever receive one gift. They are generous and kind. My oldest son raised almost $2000 for the Tsunami victims at the age of 9. We do not live in the "wealth" that surrounds us, that is just ridiculous to me. We have good morales, values and a solid foundation on what's important. As far as the comments about tv's, well this one was funny to me since we still watch the 27" tv that my husband bought in college. We do have other smaller units but this is our biggest tv in the house because that is not a priority for us. So before you want to cast stones and comments that you know nothing about, think about your own personal priorities and self and then come back and let's banter. Until then, these are simply rants, raves and comments from a mom who gives as much as she receives!

So, that's how you can have an exciting and boring weekend. The game was exciting (and so was the purge to me) however to everyone else, Sunday was a very boring day.....minus the football games. Go Panthers! Crying over the GA Bulldog upset. That is a big game in our house as Bob and Xander are Gamecock fans and Hannah and I are Bulldog fans. I can't stand the Gamecocks.......enough said about that, wink!

Anyway, I need to pick Hannah up from Kindergarten and work on my mounds of laundry. At some point Bob and I will update all the events and pics from our trip so stay tuned for more!!!

Locks.....and lots and lots of LOVE....with the newest "Spice Girl"

Well, today was another milestone in our week of milestones. Besides starting kindergarten on Tuesday, today about 16 inches of hair was cut off our daughter!!! I have to say that the new hair cut absolutely matches her personality, it is adorable! Here are a few pix.

She and her friend Kelly decided to both donate their long hair to Locks of Love to help other kids in need of wigs. I am so very proud of her as this was a very grown-up thing to do. She really LOVES her new style, I think she is most happy that she doesn’t have to worry about those dreaded tangles and that mommy will want to “style” her hair again, lol! I just love paying with her long hair and she never wanted me to, she always just wanted it straight and plain. So now we are both happy…. The one of her hair up is the last “style” she would let mommy do before the big cut!

K&B

First Day of School...

Wow, I can't believe that summer is over and that school is back in session. Today is a very bittersweet day for us, Xander, our oldest, is going into Junior High (wow, hard to believe) and Hannah, our middle child, is starting her first day of Kindergarten. Christian will begin his first day of pre-school week from today, next Tuesday! For the first time in years, I will have 2 mornings all to myself with no children, it is going to be a little lonely I think to begin with, I'll keep you posted on how I find to spend my time....

Anyway, Bob and I wanted to share their first day of school moments with you, enjoy!

Hannah and her best friend Sara!

Hannah and her new friend Emma!

K&B

Tinkerbell Tea and Nail Spa Day

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

We are baaaacccckkkkkkk!

Hola!

We are back and we journaled throughout the trip so we will update very soon, keep checking back!

K&B