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Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
TIny Prints
I am sure that you have noticed the Tiny Prints banner over on the left. No, I have not started allowing advertising on my site to help pay for anything, like google ads, etc.
Tiny Prints is a company I am affiliated with through my photography business. They have beautiful hip, classy and modern cards to offer at competitive prices for the high end card market. I get a small percentage of each sale which is why I decided to place the banner on my site, to let my friends and family know that this is a service I offer. I also have access to other vendors if you are looking for cards/stationary in other price ranges. Just let me know.
Be sure to check it out, it's quick and simple to make your own custom cards!
Kimberly
Sunday, November 18, 2007
This crazy life of mine...
Wow, I can't believe that it has been over 2 weeks since we last posted. Let's see, where do I start? Halloween? I posted pics of Hannah, don't know if I have one of the moose or Xander, I'll have to look around for those. Ah, I know....water polo! Let's see. Xander had his last game/tournament of the season the Nov 3rd/4th weekend. They went undefeated and brought home the gold (again)! This is the 4th year in a row that his 12 and under team has won this tournament! Woo Hoo, go OC Water Polo Club!! Well, all was great until Xander comes hobbling around the corner after the final game. Of course, I am wondering, how in the world do you injure a knee in the pool? Mom, he says, it didn't happen in the pool. Okay, where then? It is so much funnier when he tells it however, I will do my best.
You know when you are young, you are taught that you just don't run with scissors right? Were you also taught that you don't run on wet tile floors, especially when you are in the boys locker room and another teammate is chasing you trying to snap you with a wet speedo? Do not try this at home! Somehow when trying to avoid being snapped with a wet speedo he managed to slip, fall and twist his knee. We leave the game and straight to the ER we go. 3 1/2 hours later we are told that he has fluid on his knee, a sprained knee and that we should see an orthopedist! Great! Come Monday, we see said doc and he gives Xander a fancy knee/leg brace and beautiful crutches that we get to add to our arsenal of bodily injury apparatuses! Bob has decided that he is going to be an accident victim next year for Halloween to make use of all our ER goodies! Anyway, not sure if he has a hairline fracture in the growth plate as that doesn't show up on x-ray however if he is still in pain after Thanksgiving, they will do an MRI to investigate further.
Today, 2 weeks after the event, he is walking without crutches and I encouraged him to take the brace off as he has not moved his knee in 2 solid weeks, it is starting to atrophy and get stiff. Boy did it hurt when he took off the brace but after a few hours he realized that his leg was still hurting from no movement and that it is starting to feel more comfortable after getting some motion back in it. You see, I looked at the x-rays with the orthopedist doc and we were both in agreement that we just thought it was a sprain. So, the former wannabe physical therapist in me remembered some of the things I learned in college and think that my son will be back to new in a couple of weeks. He still has to stay off of it for the most part and no water polo until about mid December.
With that said, we went to church on Wednesday night 2 weeks ago because we had not been in forever midweek but with the injury, it was a perfect time to go. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason because while we were there Xander was asked by an old friend of mine (and upon recommendation from some other church people) to audition for a play being put on in our local San Clemente theater downtown, the Cabrillo Playhouse. Of course, before they could even get the question out, he was already responding yes. They could have told him that they wanted him to be Dorothy in the Wiz, he had no idea what he was saying yes too! However, the role if for Luther/Tiny Tim in the play Inspecting Carol. He had to audition and won the role. He is in two of the four acts, we are very proud of him. Had he not been at church that night, this opportunity would have never presented itself. So, starting Nov. 28 and running every Fri, Sat and Sun until Dec 16th, our ever so dramatic son will be performing in out local community playhouse. He is having the time of his life and doing a fantastic job!
Okay, let's see, what else is happening in the Grove family? I have had quite a few photo shoots, I'll post some of the pictures for you to see, I got my braces off! I feel like an adult again with beautiful, straight teeth! I am so glad I had them put on again, it was worth every moment of having to wear them. Oh, oh, Hannah was in a Thanksgiving production at school. They sang about 6-7 songs for the parents and then we had pie and coffee. She did a fabulous job and we are very proud of her. She also had her very last soccer game this past Saturday. It was a fun season and there team won all their games except for two (not that we are keeping score for the 6U teams, ;-))!
Last but definitely not least, the kids and I attended the memorial for Evan Cousineau this past Wednesday. He died just hours before he and his twin sister were to have celebrated their 10th birthday. He passed away from ALD, you can google it to learn more. It was a devastating disease and he had to endure a Bone Marrow Transplant, which was successful however he come down with the Adenovirus which ultimately caused his death. Before I tell you about the memorial, I encourage each and every one of you to sign up on the Bone Marrow Registry, you could possibly save someones life. The other thing is, please if you know of someone who is pregnant, please encourage them to donate their cord blood if they are not planning to store it themselves. The cord blood is vital to bone marrow patients (Evan received his transplant from TWO cord donors). If you do not designate that you are donating it, then it just gets thrown away and discarded. Donating it can save a life, friends do not let friends throw away precious cord blood, this is very important!
The memorial was absolutely unlike anything I have attended. It was beautiful and such a celebration. Here is a link to the Orange County Register's article, it is well written and the pictures speak volumes! http://www.ocregister.com/news/evan-cousineau-family-1922870-people-beach (video and slide show from Evan's Celebration) http://www.youtube.com/ search: evan cousineau(a little bit of Evan before ALD) (I will post a link to our local town paper when our own article is written as I was there that day in not only a personal capacity but also in a professional one. I was asked to photograph the event for the San Clemente Times paper. I was honored to accept the assignment. Here are a few of the pictures I took)
You know when you are young, you are taught that you just don't run with scissors right? Were you also taught that you don't run on wet tile floors, especially when you are in the boys locker room and another teammate is chasing you trying to snap you with a wet speedo? Do not try this at home! Somehow when trying to avoid being snapped with a wet speedo he managed to slip, fall and twist his knee. We leave the game and straight to the ER we go. 3 1/2 hours later we are told that he has fluid on his knee, a sprained knee and that we should see an orthopedist! Great! Come Monday, we see said doc and he gives Xander a fancy knee/leg brace and beautiful crutches that we get to add to our arsenal of bodily injury apparatuses! Bob has decided that he is going to be an accident victim next year for Halloween to make use of all our ER goodies! Anyway, not sure if he has a hairline fracture in the growth plate as that doesn't show up on x-ray however if he is still in pain after Thanksgiving, they will do an MRI to investigate further.
Today, 2 weeks after the event, he is walking without crutches and I encouraged him to take the brace off as he has not moved his knee in 2 solid weeks, it is starting to atrophy and get stiff. Boy did it hurt when he took off the brace but after a few hours he realized that his leg was still hurting from no movement and that it is starting to feel more comfortable after getting some motion back in it. You see, I looked at the x-rays with the orthopedist doc and we were both in agreement that we just thought it was a sprain. So, the former wannabe physical therapist in me remembered some of the things I learned in college and think that my son will be back to new in a couple of weeks. He still has to stay off of it for the most part and no water polo until about mid December.
With that said, we went to church on Wednesday night 2 weeks ago because we had not been in forever midweek but with the injury, it was a perfect time to go. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason because while we were there Xander was asked by an old friend of mine (and upon recommendation from some other church people) to audition for a play being put on in our local San Clemente theater downtown, the Cabrillo Playhouse. Of course, before they could even get the question out, he was already responding yes. They could have told him that they wanted him to be Dorothy in the Wiz, he had no idea what he was saying yes too! However, the role if for Luther/Tiny Tim in the play Inspecting Carol. He had to audition and won the role. He is in two of the four acts, we are very proud of him. Had he not been at church that night, this opportunity would have never presented itself. So, starting Nov. 28 and running every Fri, Sat and Sun until Dec 16th, our ever so dramatic son will be performing in out local community playhouse. He is having the time of his life and doing a fantastic job!
Okay, let's see, what else is happening in the Grove family? I have had quite a few photo shoots, I'll post some of the pictures for you to see, I got my braces off! I feel like an adult again with beautiful, straight teeth! I am so glad I had them put on again, it was worth every moment of having to wear them. Oh, oh, Hannah was in a Thanksgiving production at school. They sang about 6-7 songs for the parents and then we had pie and coffee. She did a fabulous job and we are very proud of her. She also had her very last soccer game this past Saturday. It was a fun season and there team won all their games except for two (not that we are keeping score for the 6U teams, ;-))!
Last but definitely not least, the kids and I attended the memorial for Evan Cousineau this past Wednesday. He died just hours before he and his twin sister were to have celebrated their 10th birthday. He passed away from ALD, you can google it to learn more. It was a devastating disease and he had to endure a Bone Marrow Transplant, which was successful however he come down with the Adenovirus which ultimately caused his death. Before I tell you about the memorial, I encourage each and every one of you to sign up on the Bone Marrow Registry, you could possibly save someones life. The other thing is, please if you know of someone who is pregnant, please encourage them to donate their cord blood if they are not planning to store it themselves. The cord blood is vital to bone marrow patients (Evan received his transplant from TWO cord donors). If you do not designate that you are donating it, then it just gets thrown away and discarded. Donating it can save a life, friends do not let friends throw away precious cord blood, this is very important!
The memorial was absolutely unlike anything I have attended. It was beautiful and such a celebration. Here is a link to the Orange County Register's article, it is well written and the pictures speak volumes! http://www.ocregister.com/news/evan-cousineau-family-1922870-people-beach (video and slide show from Evan's Celebration) http://www.youtube.com/ search: evan cousineau(a little bit of Evan before ALD) (I will post a link to our local town paper when our own article is written as I was there that day in not only a personal capacity but also in a professional one. I was asked to photograph the event for the San Clemente Times paper. I was honored to accept the assignment. Here are a few of the pictures I took)
A picture of Evan a few weeks before he headed to MN for his BMT.
When someone dies that has been a part of the surfing community and they scatter their ashes at sea, all the surfers get together and do what is called a "paddle out". This is what you see above. About 100 surfers, ages very young to very old, all suited up and paddled out beyond the surf break, formed a circle and the father and family members were in the center. They said a prayer and scattered Evan's ashes, at which point they all splash water, say their hoorays and pay respect to their fallen friend. You also see a boat spraying water, that is a Lifeguard Fire Boat. The water they are spraying is like spraying a bottle of champagne, it is celebratory and done in honor of the person that passed away. It is really a beautiful tribute if you ever get to see one.
The entrance to the bridge down to T-Street Beach, just south of the San Clemente Pier. It was his favorite beach!
Everyone received a lei when they entered the beach. These were all fresh orchid lei's flown in from Hawaii the morning of the memorial. They were the most beautiful lei's I have ever seen!
I think that brings us up to date on our very boring lives as of late. Tomorrow, I am meeting my Aunt Amanda at the Long Beach airport to pick her up, have lunch and then take her to the ferry so that she can go to Catalina Island to spend turkey day with her daughter. She is flying in from New Hampshire so it will be good to see her. I last saw her in February. She is the only family that I have seen in the past year!!! Hmmmm???? Guess I either need to get back East or all you East Coast family need to get out here!!!
I should close for now before this becomes a novel.
Good night,
Kimberly
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Friday, November 2, 2007
A friend's passing..
Please include the Cousineau family in your prayers. They lost their youngest son, a twin, tonight just a couple of hours before his 10th birthday. Just 7 months ago, they lived a very normal life like the rest of us, then they found out he had ALD, and their life spiraled down from there. Please take a moment to remember them and to embrace your children and all the precious gifts that are in your lives.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Beach Photo Shoot Pics
I would love your feedback! There were a lot more but these were the "fun" shots.
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