I'M AN AUNTIE!! POSSIBLY TWICE OVER....?

This BEAUTIFUL little baby, JULIET RYAN, was born yesterday morning at 4:07am (pst). She was 7 lbs, 15 oz; 21 inches long! She is Bennett & Jennifer's newest addition! Isn't she delicious!!!

Her middle name, Ryan, is after my sister in laws brother who recently passed away from cancer. I think that's awesome! So special! Jen was scheduled for a c-section today, but her original due date was 6/9. Looks like Juliet had other plans. I was thinking at tennis yesterday morning, I wonder "why" Juliet decided to come so soon! Well.....

Yesterday evening, I get a text from my sister LILA!!!

Here is a direct post from her blog: OUR BABY GIRL! Yes you read it right. We got a call this evening from a friend in Sacramento that someone she knows had a baby girl this morning & has decided to place her for adoption. So she called US! We just talked to the birthmom Cindy (please pray for her and her family) on the phone & it went great. We are still awaiting many details of how long we will be there & how soon we need to leave but we may be in california tomorrow to get our daughter!!!! Crazy! And, incase you didn't notice, my brother had a daughter today too & our sons are only a month apart. :) soooOoOO excited. So UNprepared! Oh well, off to talk to the sacramento caseworker... Did I mention we are in shock? Ok, just checking. :)

WHAT!!!!!! TWO BABY GIRLS IN ONE DAY!!!! Some might call it irony, some fate. I call it AMAZINGLY AWESOME!!!! So exciting!

To keep up to date on the progress of my other very special niece, here is a link to Lila's blog: http://michaelandlila.blogspot.com/

and, in case you don't still believe in fate - here is a PICTURE of Lila's little girl - they could be TWINS! :-)

HAPPY JUNE BIRTHDAYS

Can't believe I've got such a big birthday coming up! HOW DID I GET SO OLD?!?

We had a nice Memorial day weekend with hubby's sister and daughter. My sister-in-laws birthday is today, so we took her to Farrell's while she was here. The kids had their FIRST pig trough! LOL We couldn't finish it, but they still go the ribbon, the drum, etc. So much fun! Always a good time, and SIL got to experience the magic that is Farrell's that we all remember from our childhood.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

TENNIS, TENNIS, AND MORE TENNIS :-)

My friend took some pictures at our recent USTA match of the team playing tennis. Here are the ones she took of me:

I learned a few things.

1) I can never wear that outfit again - it's not as cute as I thought...
2) I need to go on a diet :-) hehe
3) I make funny faces when I serve
4) My feet do weird things when I play ;-)

AND, let me explain why I look like a "seniors" player - I have on like 5 braces! ha! One brace, is to continue to support my calf which I tore really bad last August, the ankle brace is because I ignored a pinch in my neck about a month ago, which gravitated to my right shoulder, which gravitated to my lower back - specifically my left sciatic area, which gravitated down my leg and settled in my right ankle and achilles! Not only did it settle there, it SLAM DUNKED there the weekend of the aforementioned club Doubles Championship (which is why I played so horribly - I was a cripple!). After two weeks of frequent visits to the chiropractor, I'm feeling much better and am brace free :-)

These pictures have grown on me over the last week, and I no longer care about the 4 lessons I learned :-) hehe

The pictures at the beginning of the post are all serves. I have a great serve if I do say so myself :-) Thanks to my parents for the 6 lessons with Bernardo back in '88 - he DEFINITELY gave me a great start to a serve, and it turns out, teaching me the continental grip helped me learn to volley and backhand better 20 years later! :-)

These next five pics are mostly of my backhand shots. Big THANK YOU to my mom for my amazing slice backhand :-) It makes people CRAZY!






The next few are of my forehand and one is when I was a little "jammed" :-)



These last ones are split steps, and running for a wide shot to my forehand.

TENNIS

So, anyone who knows me, knows that I'm a tennis addict :-) Last year was a rough year and my tennis was hit hard.

Thankfully, this year has been much better, and I'm back in the swing of things! In February, I made a decision that I was definitely finding a partner for next years tennis season, and began to work to improve my consistency and game in general. I started making better matches, and playing with people I would WANT to partner with.

One rainy day, I was talking to my friend on the couch in the clubhouse. She had been my team's captain my first year here, and I adore and respect her. I had volunteered to captain my team for the upcoming year, and was bouncing ideas off her, and talking about what I was trying to do with the team, and my partnership quest. She is a couple levels above me, and I asked her what SHE was planning to do next year. She blew me away by saying she was interested in partnering with ME!!! I was floored!

As luck would have it (and trust me, I'm LUCKY!) after a few weeks of figuring out logistics, we officially decided to partner up. I feel like it's Christmas morning every time we play. I can't WAIT to see what next year brings us, and am having possibly, the best time I've ever had playing tennis. :-)

The following is a picture of three other girls on my next years team. My partner is on my right. We participated in a Doubles Championship the club recently held. We won our first match and moved on to the finals. Unfortunately, it wasn't our best tennis day at the finals, and we lost. BUT, we get the title of 4.0 Finalists and our picture on the wall for the next year! :-) WOOHOO! So, here is a picture of the picture :-)

DARN!

So, I was able to upload stuff from my phone by just emailing it MONDAY, but everything I've sent SINCE then won't upload, or comes over as a stupid sprint email - which I'll have to delete since it contains "real" information, and I don't really need "the enemy" getting it :(

Such a bummer!

If anybody knows how to make this function work again, PLEASE call me and enlighten me. *sigh*

CAST TODAY

TIME TO WASH THAT GRAY RIGHT OUT OF MY HAIR

Hope you enjoyed my updated blog...now time to wash my gray away and look like a 30 something year old woman again... :-)

JANUARY 2010 in PICTURES!

What's new with us? Well, here are some pictures from January - in chronological order :-)

First, baby girl broke her THUMB in her martial arts class. She did it doing a move she's done a THOUSAND times! Hallelujah the 4 weeks are almost over and the cast comes off THURSDAY but DARN she missed the whole round of Jiu Jitsu - HER FAVORITE! :-) At least two more weeks for physical therapy I guess...? First broken bone!

Little man becomes a CUB SCOUT! He couldn't be prouder!

Here he is on crazy hat day - sporting his MONEY hat :-) He's wearing his cub scout hat underneath too! :-) He couldn't decide what hat to wear.

Pretend there is a picture here of little lady on HIPPIE day :-) She wore the same AWESOME dress from July 4th! It was POURING rain, so we kinda missed the picture moment...

Second place in the PINEWOOD DERBY! He joined JUST IN TIME! :-)

TOYS

This is a toy hubby brought home. Too bad the sound doesn't work :-( I'll some day figure out how to upload these correctly :-( Any help is welcome :-)

MONSTER JAM

Grave diggers final crash!!

HALLOWEEN bounce house

???

We just happened upon this bounce house in a local parking lot. I'm trying to figure out how to send video's from my phone... :-)

NOT RUPTURED, BUT GRADE 2 :-(

First of all, PLEASE DON'T CALL :-) I AM FINE AND RECOVERING WELL. WALKING AROUND, ETC. But my healing will completely stop if I get phone calls because it will make me cranky :-)

***** ********** ********** ********** ********** *****

HERE'S AN UPDATE TO MY LEG WITH PICTURES (taken today). THIS IS AN INTERNET DESCRIPTION OF THE INJURY. I DID hear a pop and felt the tear, but the muscle didn't spasm to the point that I would say in "contracted forcefully" and I wouldn't say the toes "pointed down". All the rest definitely fits my injury.


A calf strain is similar to an Achilles tendon tear or rupture, but occurs higher up in the back of the leg. A sign of a calf strain is similar to that of an Achilles tendon rupture - you may think you've just been hit in the leg and hear a "pop." There is sudden pain at the back of the leg, pain, swelling or bruising in the calf muscle, and you have difficulty standing on the toes.

This injury happens during acceleration or changes in direction. The torn calf muscle may spasm, and contract forcefully. The toes will point down. Bruises show up in the foot and ankle due to pooling of blood from internal bleeding.

Calf strains may be minor or very severe and physician grade the injury according:

•Grade 1 Calf Strain : The muscle is stretched causing some small micro tears in the muscle fibers. Full recovery takes approximately two weeks.
•Grade 2 Calf Strain : There is partial tearing of muscle fibers. Full recovery takes approximately 5-8 weeks.
•Grade 3 Calf Strain : This is the most severe calf strain with a complete tearing or rupture of muscle fibers in the lower leg. Full recovery can take 3-4 months and, in some instances, surgery may be needed.

HERE'S SOME MORE PICS. IT'S HARD TO GET BRUISES TO SHOW UP ON PICS...

WORST LUCK!!!

I was soooo excited today, because it's my first day back to tennis! I couldn't sleep all night, and couldn't wait to get out of bed. I was so happy to be back at the club with all my friends, and everyone was happy to have me back.

Start out playing, and while I'm definitely rusty, it's coming along, and we're having fun. About an hour into the team clinic, I hear this "pop" and feel something in my calf "detach" for lack of better words. I don't know if I "heard" the pop, or if my brain imagined it with the feeling, but either way, as soon as I tried to walk on it - it was obviously hurt.

@$%*&*!@%$^&*($%^%!!!!!! Such a BUMMER!!!

LUCKILY I think it's not "that bad" and we'll see in a few days exactly how bad it is. I've had it looked at by my chiropractor, cure all doctor and things are DEFINITELY not the worst case scenario. So R.I.C.E. (rest, ice, compressions & elevation) is the name of my life for the next two days.

I did a little googling and found this fantastic article. It seems to be EXACTLY what happened, and I plan to follow these instructions to a "T". Hopefully I'll be back on the court in "no time".

*sigh*

Good thing little lady bought CRUTCHES at the garage sales the other week. Perfect timing!


http://www.itftennis.com/shared/medialibrary/pdf/original/IO_2705_original.PDF (in case the link doesn't work...you can look it up yourself ;-)

Hmmmm....technology challenged...

Hi mommy

(I think little lady sent this from her cell phone?!?)

Fab Facebook pics

My friend Christy Kovac posted these pictures and they're FABULOUS! :) Oh the good old days :-) (BTW - DARN, it looks like she left facebook, I went to get more of the pics she posted and can't find her) :-(




Here's another one from a different friend:

"3"

Little lady recently got her OWN phone, and it's awesome! Here are two pictures from her camera over the last week.

School shopping

Little man got a couple things the other day for school and life. I say school & life because the top is a school shirt, and the bottom are pajama pants :-) He got two shirts because that's all he needs, and some new cool underwear and pajama pants.



Here are a couple pics I found that I've been dying to put up! I was going to use them for the first week, but decided to save them. He is soooooo cute!



Little man LOVES to paint, and is a really good artist. Here are two of his masterpieces.

Neighborhood Garage Sale

Our neighborhood had a garage sale over the weekend. I had nothing to sell, or almost nothing. I had soccer shoes from each kid, baseball shoes from little man, heely's that little man JUST outgrew and a few stuffed animals.



Little man has been DYING to have a lemonade stand FOREVER, so we decided to have one at the neighbors GIGANTIC garage sale. They had A TON of clothes!!!!! She probably had 20 years worth of clothes for her 9 yr old daughter, most of it in brand new condition with tags! She also had a TON of toys. Nothing was going for cheap either.



The kids had a lot of fun trying to sell their stuff. They didn't make a lot, but tried hard! LOL



They had fun shopping at other sales. Little lady bought a cute pink bracelet and a pair of crutches (haha!), and little man bought a gallon of bubbles. At the end of the day, they got a bunch of stuff for free from sales that were closing. The neighbor kids found some pretty cool stuff too, and there is a picture of the boys playing with one of their finds.



We hope to use our proceeds to go to a local water park. The kids have been dying to go all summer. Now they can afford it! :-)