Sunshine

Gabriella brought home a piece of her artwork from school that she painted this week.

This is her version of a ray of sunshine.....

And this is mine....
I love your painting Gabby! And I love you!

Happy Friday everyone! :-)

Go enjoy your sunshine!

The O'Butticci's

St. Patricks' Day this year was different. Sure, the children ate their Lucky Charms for breakfast and donned their green attire, but most of the day was spent in school. So, after school and work, we went over to Grandma and Papa's house for some corned beef, cabbage, green livations, dessert, and family.

There was Guiness, green wine, green Sprite, and green gin and tonic to start. Next came the corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, and rolls. Finally, dessert was a choice of green jello and whipped cream with green sprinkles, brownies, cookies, green ice cream, or a mixture of all of the above.

All of it made for a great night of O'family (Jenni and Lucas are in from WA/Randy on Skype from Japan), O'food (yummy), O'conversation (some of it Blarney), some O'laughs, and pretty good O'pictures!

Steve and Carol having cocktails....
Jeffrey and Grandma Rose enjoying their green drinks.....

Jeffrey and I before dinner.....

The cousins playing before dinner time.....

The kids enjoying their dinner.....

Isabella's chance

Conversation this morning...

I: Mom, did you know that Johnny Appleseed's home is the whole world?
M: Yes I did. Are you learning about that in school?
I: Uh huh. I wish my home could be the whole world.
M: Your home is the whole world. That's why you help take care of it.
I: I wish I had a chance to live with Grandma Cheyann. (what you and I think is left field, she can reason out. My guess is that, to her, Grandma Cheyann lives on the other side of the world.)
M: Well, let's call her and ask her.

I picked up the phone to call Mom at work and told her that Isabella needed to speak to her. Isabella told Grandma Cheyann that she wanted a chance to live with her.

My Mom: Isabella, I think that is wonderful. Is your Mom ok with that??
I: (holds the phone away from her ear and whispers) Mom, are you ok with that?
Me: Yes, I'm ok with that.
I: BEAMS from ear to ear. :-)
My Mom: You and your mom discuss it and let me know when I'm supposed to pick you up at the airport.
I: OK! Here's my mom!

Isabella runs away to finish playing outside with Nicholas before we have to leave for school while Mom and I just laugh on the phone. This child is a crack up!
Now, it's time to help her pack!!!
(jk)

My crazy, imaginative, creative, funny, sweet little girl......

One of my favorite pictures of us. (Taken by another parent who reminded me that I need to get in the pictures too. I tend to forget that part!) :-)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

It's almost 8:15, everyone should be ready for school and dressed in green, backpacks ready and by the door, waiting for the signal from me (usually a slightly louder than normal "let's go") to head out the door and get in the car. This morning, one was still brushing her teeth while the other 2 were outside riding bikes and playing tetherball.

I finally manage to gather them together to try to take a picture. There is complaining and running away because a fight insued about who was going to be in the middle. I promised to take a series of pictures with each child in the middle. (Little do they know that it worked to my benefit because I got to snap more photos. BUT I played their game without ratting myself out.)


Nicholas leprechan in the middle....
Isabella leprechan in the middle....

And lastly, Gabriella leprechan in the middle...

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone from our happy little leprechans to yours!!!

Nicholas's team picture

Nicholas's basketball picture has finally arrived! Wished I could've posted his and Isabella's together but his was MIA for a while.
He had a wonderful season this year. Fabulous coaches, great teammates, and although he's definitely not the next Michael Jordan, he did great. He had games where he shot and couldn't miss, other games where he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, and games that were in between. Most importantly, he had a great time!!
Next year, we move up to the next level where they actually keep score. For the competitiveness in this child, it could be a good thing or a bad thing. Guess we'll just have to wait and see!! :-)

Shamrock Half Marathon

We did it! Year 2 of the Shamrock N Half Marathon!!! Yeah us!!!

Jeff, the kids and I left Saturday afternoon, grabbed lunch, and headed to Sacramento. The weather there was downright COLD, I had worries about the daylight savings time since I was the first runner of our relay, but everything went better than planned. Race day, the weather was chilly to begin but warmed up to be a beautiful day.

The kids had fun at dinner with their friends, watched a movie before bed, woke up early for breakfast and braved the cold to be a great cheering section.

My cheerleaders bright and early on Sunday morning!!

Jeffrey and I pre-race. So happy Jeffrey came with me this year! Maybe next year he'll run!!!
(doubtful but maybe) :-)

My relay partner, Julie! Out of 183 all female relay teams, she and I came in 135th. Great race for us! Well, this race really is one of my favorites. Great scenery, great friends, the kids always have fun, and it's so nice to get away although it seems to go by so quickly. Our official time for 13.1 miles was 2:37.32. I completed my 7 mile leg in 1:20. Pretty good for me! I'll take it! Yeah us!

Busy Weekend

Tonight after all of the daycare children go home and the family (ours and extended) have finished our dinner, the children will head off to sleep and I will be busy organizing and packing for our weekend. Some weekends seem to slip by without a single thing planned and other weekends seem to have so much packed in them that I wonder how it will all get done. This will be a busy one for us.

Saturday will start with a short workout for me and then rushing to make Isabella's last cheerleading event for the season. Her game starts at 9:00 with Nicholas's last basketball game starting at 10:00. Both of them have enjoyed playing and cheerleading so much. With 2 children in 2 different events and sometimes at 2 different venues, Saturday mornnings have been pretty full. Although the season seemed so long, now that it has come down to the last games, I'm sad to see it end, as are the children.

After cheering on the kids one last time, it's home to have lunch and pack the car for our 2 hour drive to Sacramento. Sunday morning I'm running in the Shamrock N Half Marathon. :-) Last year I competed as the second part of a relay team, running 6 somewhat hilly miles and this year I'm the starting leg, 7 miles hopefully flat. This is one of my most favorite races of the year. A group of friends make the drive, check into our hotel, enjoy a great family dinner Sat night, and run early Sunday morning. The children cheer us on donning their Shamrock shirts, shamrock tattoos, (this year I bought Shamrock headbands) and the adults compete. This year all of the adults will complete the full half marathon...13.1 miles...except for Julie and I who are doing it is a relay. I'm already so excited!!!

Immediately after the race, it's back to the hotel to shower, then back to the finish line to cheer on my friends. Around noon, it's back in the car to head home because the children have an awards ceremony at 2:30 for the end-of-the-year Upward Basketball and Cheerleading.

I'm tired already and I haven't even begun to pack. Busy busy weekend!!! I can't wait to update with photos!!

I don't have Nicholas's Upward picture but here's my Cheerific Cheerleader....

Dear Blog

Dear Blog,

So many times I have thought about you. I want to write to you, write on you, tell you funny stories, and post pictures but time just gets away from me. :-(

I reread you today and realized how nice it is having you in my life to remind me of things that I would have otherwise forgotten. You will someday be something that I can look back on and something that my children can turn to for memories. For that reason alone, I am going to REALLY TRY to visit you more often and post something, no matter how trivial or silly.

Now, that being said, I know that I have said it before but I would like to recommit myself to you. I value you and the memories you hold. Those from the past and those that are yet to be created.

Let's start today!!!

This is our family at Lake Tahoe, CA. We decided to take a trip over President's Week while the kids were out of school. The most recent picture of all of us together. :-)
(Thank you Chris for taking it)!!!