Soccer picture

Well, the fall sports are wrapping up! Here's D's soccer picture. We are pretty happy with it. You would never know that it was in the 30's that morning!

Donovan's First Reception

Hi All,

As you can tell by the videos, we have enjoyed our sports season! Hope all is well with each one of you. 

Nothing else new here. We all have just been trudging along. Can't believe that the holiday season is almost here! This year has flown by! Update on the kids.....D likes school, he is really into Star Wars legos and hanging out with his buddies. He is also super ready for Halloween! Nick says he likes school too and has just started playing basketball for his junior high school. He said they made him a point guard. Love you all, Tamiko

E is for effort

Guess who is getting the ball?

Video of soccer goal!

Hi all,

We have been pretty busy with school and sports. We've definitely been keeping Donovan active. He has an after school activity almost everyday!

Below is Donovan's first soccer goal of the new season! I apologize for it being so far away, was too excited watching to remember to zoom in. My favorite part is how cool he was after the goal. He just walked away, like no big deal. :)

I promise to update more frequently and post new pics soon. We love you all, Tamiko

Fundraising!

I corrected the race website. Its nbhopefunrun.com (not .org)!

Hi all,

I've been quiet on the blogging front because I've been pretty busy. In about a month and a half, we will be hosting a 5K fun run/walk in our community to raise money for the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation.

We are fortunate that Donovan had a great outcome with the disease, but so many kids do not, and I just wanted to help raise funds for research for these kids. So far, the planning for the race is going well. Check out the website at www.nbhopefunrun.com

I did create a Team Donovan page to raise fun if you'd like to donate to the cause. ttp://www.active.com/donate/nbhopefunrun/teamdonovan. For some reason, I can't get the darn welcome message to show, so all you will see is Donovan's picture and a box to enter a donation amount.

Anyway, outside of the race, not much else is going on! The kids are doing well. I'll update with pictures and stories soon. The poor kitten was just spayed and declawed, so she's forced to rest for a few days.....and she's not happy about it.

We love you all, Tamiko

"Can I have a cat?"

Hello everyone,

I hope that the mother's reading this blog had a great Mother's Day! I enjoyed a great breakfast at IHOP and then some afternoon alone time (the boys entertained themselves). It was a nice day.

I have a funny story. Donovan was speaking to Gramps last night and asked for a cat. This has been a request that has been made often to Santa (in his Christmas list last year), me, his Dad, Grandaddy, Nana, and anyone else who will listen. He even got his brother to agree that we should get a cat (and this was unexpected). I've consistently and firmly told him no whenever I am in earshot of him asking. Last night, I even said that I hope Gramps told him no.

But.....

things have changed! Our neighbor who is 9 months pregnant (delivery is scheduled on Thursday) found this little kitten in her attic. There was only two of us around when she was sharing the story. The other lady could not take on a kitten so of course I volunteered to house her! It was the neighborly thing to do! I posted her info on the community boards, but I don't anticipate that anyone will claim her. We will tell Donovan (he's not home from school yet) that we are just babysitting her until her owner's come get her. However, I am absolutely positive that we will not be believed and Gramps will get the credit for this one! :)

We love you all, Tamiko

Flag football Picture

Updated April pics

Hi all,

I updated the pictures in the April slideshow with recent ones. Sneak peak at two of the pices is below.

Today was Fancy Nancy day. Couldn't talk D into wearing a button-down shirt and tie, but at least he wore the suit!

And this is a picture of D on the way to soccer practice. Thanks Grandpa Freddie for the outfit! He looks like a real soccer star now!

Soccer video

This video is on youtube, but figured that I'd upload it here too. Christopher has discovered iMovie on his Macbook and has been spending lots of time perfecting his editing skills. I am the videographer though, so I apologize in advance for the shaking! :)

SIX YEARS OLD!

Donovan is 6 now! He had a great birthday....it actually seemed like we celebrated for over a week. He celebrated at home, at school and at Chuck E Cheese! He's pretty excited about being 6 as he is now old enough to go to science camp (this summer).

Nickolas had a good time while he was here for his Spring Break. He didn't seem to mind partying along with Donovan. I actually think it was a tie as to who had more fun at Chuck E Cheese.

Nickolas was able to spend alot of time with his Dad during the week. They went to the gym, went to Christopher's classes (two of the days) and just generally just hung out together. Nickolas seemed to really enjoy helping Christopher coach Donovan's sports teams. The 5 and 6 year-olds certainly enjoyed chasing after Nickolas as well!

Look out for new pictures in the slide show and on the youtube page soon! T

Hottie

Donovan has learned a new vocabulary word. He has introduced the word "Hottie" into his repertoire. I asked him what it meant and he told me "pretty girl"!! Oh Man! :)

Anyway, Big Nick comes in one week. Hopefully, we will be able to fit some fun into his time here although both Christopher and I have our regular teaching/work schedule. And D has school. I know at least one of the evenings we will be celebrating D's 6th birthday! Can you believe he's so old already? I can't.

I am uploading video from today's flag football game as we speak, so check my youtube link to see some of the action.

We love you all, T

D's Science Experiment

So, I was hanging out watching tv and Donovan comes up to me with a sheet of paper with his "science experiment plan". Its for an ocean in his room. I had to turn off the tv and (OF COURSE) share his plan with you all. Neither Christopher or I helped him with it. Just so you can decipher it.....1. is water, 2. is sand, 3. is oil and 4 is a tube. The picture at the bottom shows how it all goes together.

More football pics!

I also put a video of D practicing on my youtube channel (link to the right). T

Sorry!

Hello,

Okay, so I haven't been too good about posting! Sorry about that. Will try to do better. I do have a new camera, so I at least will be able to share good pict

ures again.

The one below is of Donovan after his last flag football game. Its been lots of fun. And also the reason why I have a new camera. D ALMOST scored a TD and we did not have it recorded for prosperity. Christopher got on the computer that day and started the research for my new Canon! I won't be missing the next TD attempt! :)

Anyway, all is good here with us. D, Christopher and me are all suffering from Spring allergies, but are enjoying the warmer weather. It was a cold winter in Texas this year!

We went to Seattle last month and had a blast with the family there. We ate well, saw some sights (Pike Place Market, Pacific Science Center) and just enjoyed hanging out. My conference was good too! :) I'll post the pics that D's "Grandaddy" took in the slideshow.

Last thing, we have a new pet. Its a guinea pig named Hammie! Christopher's been wanting to get D a guinea pig for a long time now, and the other night was the right time I guess. It didn't hurt that we were on our way home from celebrating Christopher's paper being accepted in one of his field's top journals! Nothing like good news putting you in the mood for buying ANOTHER pet, huh? We now have a guinea pig, 2 frogs, many fish, a turtle and a dog ! :)

T

D opening presents Christmas morning!

Christopher enjoying Nickolas' Christmas present--DJ Hero!

Nickolas opening up the video game he had hinted about since Thanksgiving!

They had snow (man-made) in our neighborhood park one day. The kids had fun throwing snow balls!

The boys played in the snow for over 2 hours that day!

Last year, I bought a gingerbread house kit that D and I put together. This year, I was determined to make my own for the boys. It took two tries, but I was successful! This one was decorated by Nickolas!

This house was decorated by Donovan!

More pictures are posted in the slideshow!

Happy New Year!

I know its been about 10 days of 2010, but I figure I can say Happy New Year's for the next month or so!

Nickolas and Donovan had a great Christmas. We got a nice new family computer that I am posting from, but I am not sure if it was a big hit. When asked what they got for Christmas the boys responded video games (Nickolas) and bubblegum (Donovan)! Oh well, I love it! :)

Their Grammy was here for a few days between Christmas and New Year's Eve. I think she had a good time, but it was the quiet time of the break for all of us. We spent the days relaxing and playing the new video games (DJ Hero is awesome). D and I had some friends over and Nickolas was able to go play with several of the neighborhood boys. I think D's highlight of the break was finally getting to see Alvin and the Chipmunks! It was a good movie and all of us (me, D, Nickolas and Grammy) gave it a big thumbs up! D has been rocking out to the soundtrack every day since!

Nickolas left on New Year's day and Christopher started back to work the following Monday. I have one more week before I go back. D started school again last Wed. The first two mornings were rough, but he was back in the groove on Fri. and I expect (and hope for) no problems tomorrow!

Nickolas spent last week at Walker Creek in CA for outdoor education week. All sixth graders at his school participated. He was pretty excited about it before he left. We spoke to him on Friday when he got back and he said that he had fun. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to participate in all of the activities as he injured his leg while hiking on the second day. Sounds like it was painful but he is doing okay now.

I have a conference in Seattle so we just booked tickets for Christopher and D to join me. That will be fun! D has never been to Seattle before to see Christopher's family there. He just saw his Grandaddy last April, but he hasn't seen Nana in a long while and hasn't met his Aunt Kiara and Uncle Jonathan. He's been asking to go on a plane so when I told him the plan, he told me thank you and said that I was a "good Mommy".

He's been telling us that (mainly me) we are good or bad parents lately. It usually depends on if he gets a yes or no in response to his many requests. I think its a pretty normal thing for his age and find it kind of funny. What is curious is that he got it from school (he told us this). I would love to be a fly on the wall and hear what else these kids talk about!

I don't have many pics from the holidays but will post what I have. We love you all! Tamiko