Spring Spruce Up

I was inspired today by a variety of things to get back on track with our blog. I added a new template, updated my playlist (hope you like it, TT!) and added some other fun features. Blogging is a temporary addiction for me. I love looking at friends of friends sites through their links and have gotten some good inspiration and love to read other people's stories. I am just around the corner from being able to resume my obsession with Facebook, but I don't regret for a second giving it up for Lent. First and foremost, because it was genuinely a sacrifice. I literally itch sometimes just to log in and catch up and it's a good and soulful reminder to me of the sacrifices that God has made for all of us. Surely I can give up my social networking for 60 days.

March is an unbelievable month for us and I couldn't be happier that it's over. Ed and I both have our annual BIG events for our companies and they are literally back to back. I like to think that I am not married to my career, but that only means that I have a very demanding lover in the month of March.

Prudential Real Estate finished their Annual Sales Convention just on Wednesday and our little team of meeting planners pulled off the impossible one more time. This year marked the 6th time I have had the opportunity to work on this meeting for Pru and every year is a little easier in some ways, and much harder in others. The past 8 days especially bittersweet for me. When the company had layoffs during Christmas I knew that we would lose half of our team. Their last day was today. Less than 48 hours after they worked a 90 hour week with me. I admire them all so much for sticking it out and giving it their all, literally until the last moment. Saying goodbye this afternoon was not easy for me.

But in happier news, I am on Spring Break!!!!! Well, Max is on Spring Break and I am joining him. His sister is also on a little break and his Nana arrives on Tuesday to join in the fun. We have no hard and fast plans but for me to be on vacation for the next 10 ten days leaves me with an incredible feeling of contentment. I'm sure we'll go to Disneyland, have some ice cream, try to sleep late . . . I truly don't care. Just the prospect of the "unplannedness" of it all makes me giddy.

We are hosting the Montoya/Abrams/Pratt/McCarthy/Dabalack/Anderson gangs for Easter Sunday next weekend and I am looking forward to having everyone together. My mom has some fantastic ideas for centerpieces and table decor, I love to have an excuse to plant new flowers and just love more than anything for everyone to be in the same place at the same time.

I hope Spring is bringing for you a sense of renewal and hope. I am superficially praying for warm, sunny weather and a few quiet moments to give Thanks for all I love. The hustle of the last week only makes me more grateful for the peace and love I have to come home to.

"LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."
Psalm 16:5-8

Flashback Fridays

This is a cute idea from my good friend, and extra special cousin-in-law, Summer. My flashback is in honor of how much I love her and her family and everytime I see our sweet kidlets together, I smile.

This is December 2004 from left to right ~ Max, almost 3, Aaron almost 1, Isabella just turned 3 and Sophia 6 monthes. It's much harder to get them all in the same place at the same time now, but they are just as cute!!

“A baby is God’s way of telling us the world goes on”

Our friends, Greg & Cathy Risling, used that quote on their son Nolan’s baby announcement last year and I loved it! I will always remember that because it is exactly why I love babies. I love the idea of babies and all the good things they represent. I love their sweet little smiles, and tiny toes and little tiny clothes. The idea of a baby is the sweetest thing in the world to me. I have three colleagues with babies due in the next couple of months and it is such a sentimental reminder of the specialness of that time. Lucky us with two perfect people already! I can just celebrate with my friends!

More importantly though, Ed and I are very excited to welcome a niece in August. Stacy and Eric just found out yesterday that their healthy bundle will be a sweet baby girl. I am thrilled. A baby girl close enough to spoil and buy hair bows for, but one that I get to send home when she hasn’t slept for hours. Fantastic!

And in other special baby news – our friends Jose & Kristin Rios are the proud parents of their second son, Jake Ryan Rios. He is a little earlier than expected and only weighs 3 lbs 5 oz, but he has just the sweetest face. He still has some growing to do before he is a big Texas boy like his Dad and older brothers but for now he is perfect just the way he is. Please pray for his continued progress and for his family.

Jake Ryan Rios ~ March 2, 2009

I can't wait to see what other exciting news Spring brings with it next week!

Late, but Great

We have been so super busy in the last few weeks. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good, but never really bad. Max and I are home sick this week and that's not so good, but it does give me a little time to update our blog.

Max's birthday celebrations were very good! The day OF Max's birthday was a Thursday and I very uncharacteristically let him play hooky and we all went to Disneyland. He had SUCH a good time and it was a special memory for all of us.

Sophia saw her very first Disney princess while Max was taking on Space Mountain with his Dad and his Gregfather. I think she had the better time in this one instance, but his day overall was, in his words, "just amazing". He got to fight Darth Maul in Jedi training and that was a very big deal. Max Montoya is obsessed with Star Wars vehicles and action figures. To fight the real bad guy may have been the highlight of his life so far.

We sent him off to school on Friday and his party was at 4 PM that day. His little friends were waiting in the parking lot of school to come down right at 4 and we were not quite prepared for them. The good news is that 6 & 7 year old boys don't care. They played with sticks and balls and whatever they could get their hands on. That was the idea, but as a Planner I was a little panicked.

I unknowingly started a tradition with him last year of making him a themed, homemade cake. I thought I was off the hook this year since we were camping and he prefers s'mores, but no such luck. He really wanted a camping cake, and I delivered. I am NO good at baking cakes, but the beauty of a themed cake is that there's always something available to cover up the mistakes. Max didn't even eat the cake, but he was thrilled with the concept and was very proud.

His party was a "Campout" and he had 19 friends at Doheny for hot dogs, s'mores and wild, boy fun. Only a handful of boys spent the night, but the ones that stayed loved it. Ed and I were so tired and SORE from sleeping in the back of our 4Runner with Sophia in the middle, but we'd do it all over again in a minute. With an air mattress and less boys.

Since Max's birthday we have finished our basketball season, and started our baseball season. Our basketball team (who I have blogged about before) was NOT an All-Star Team. The League rules state they have to be 6 OR 7 years old to play. Of our 10 kids, all but 2 of them were 6 and it showed. We didn't win our first game until the very end of the season and then went all the way to the championship game for our division and lost by one point. Unbelievable! The pressure for Ed as a coach was ridiculous and as a very competitive parent it is hard to watch. The boys played very hard and left proud - that's all we could ask for.

We missed our first baseball game last weekend because of basketball and Max will miss practice this week because he's sick. The good news is the season is reeeeeaallly long and we have games through June. We will all get our fill of baseball and we are looking forward to it. Max is playing machine pitch baseball for the Padres this year - woo hoo! We have that gear - good news!!

Last, but certainly not least, we're looking for some spring activities for Sophia. The challenge we have for her is that everything offered for 4 year old girls is between 10 AM and 3 PM on weekdays. Not so convenient for a working family. We are doing lots of research on cheerleading, dancing and/or gymnastics. We'll find something and I'll be sure to keep you posted!

Sending Love

Make a Smilebox greeting

Monarchs all the way!

Ed and I are reminded constantly why we chose to send our kids to private school and we are so happy that St. Edward's is the community that we belong to. Ed is wrapping up his coaching stint with his middle school team this week and we will all be a little sad not to see "his boys" so often in the coming months. They really are such a sweet group of kids and it's been a good, if hectic, experience for our family. Max is their token little man and is well on his way to being the coolest first grader around!! The big boys always make a point to say hi when they see him on campus and he walks a little taller after his secret handshake with a sixth grader.

Sophia dropped in today for some Kindergarten screening. I prayed about it a lot, because on any given day she can decide that she simply is not interested in what is happening. My greatest fear was that she would decide not to answer any of the counselor's questions and refuse to participate. I am thrilled that she proved me wrong. She was an angel!! She left energized and excited about her "new school" and I was one relieved Mama. We have a meeting with the school at the end of the month to review the results of her appointment and confirm (please, oh please) that she has a spot in Kindergarten in September. She is a gift in that she reminds us not to take for granted that things will just happen!

I was looking for a form this morning that is due to the office tomorrow and came across the website for computer lab. Max talks a lot about the computer lab and the work he brings home blows me away sometimes. He brought home a family tree recently that he made in Power Point. He is 6! The link below will take you to the site and you can see Max giving you his version of a tornado. Once the link opens there is a video screen midway down the page on the left side with a golden cyclone graphic. Click the play arrow and Max is the first student talking.

http://www.stedward.com/school/jmildrew/Site/First.html

Sweet Memories

The current business climate makes work a lot less fun for me than it used to be. I know that I am not alone in this sentiment and often have to remember that I am fortunate to have a job and for all of our bills to be paid. It doesn't mean, though, that I don't need to give myself a little pick me up every now and then. My mom shares my malaise sometimes and a good photo of

the kids always works to give us both a little lift.

My online album from Christmas of 2005 made both of us smile today. Pia was 18 months old and got her first baby doll. Look at that angelic little face.

The photo of Max is less adorable, but equally charming. The best part about this one is the story that my Mom reminded me of when I brought the memory of that holiday back to her. Max was just about to turn 3 and she gave him a tent that fit on his bed and was shaped like a space shuttle. Here's her note back to me when I sent her a picture today.

I remember when Max and I had the flashlight and I was in his tent bed with him.

"What do you see out there in space Captain???"

"We aren't in space Nana, we are still in my bedroom."

If you feel like you've got no reason to smile this week, first of all, I sympathize. But maybe, just maybe, you have a photo somewhere that will bring back a great memory.

Max's Biggest Fan

We'll overlook the fact that Sophia's entire reason for going to Max's basketball games every weekend is to load up on blush, lipstick and gum from her Grandma and her Aunt Linda :)

She's twice been willingto get all decked out in Max's team colors and practices cheering for him at home. If our family's support and enthusiasm could help them win a game, we'd be champions!!! The Rockets biggest fan is Max's little sis, Sophia Grace.