How many years?

Happy 12th anniversary Glenn! I can't believe that you and I have been married that long. (Together 14; married June 29,2006 in Redwood Valley, CA at Rancho Mariposa among a grove of redwood trees.) My how time has gone by. You and I have changed so much over the years. I have moved 2 times for you; away from my home to follow you to Northern CA to Ukiah, then from there to here in TX in 2003. Where do we go from here? I know we will make a change again, there is so much to see in the world. You are my best friend and my love and I am so proud of the healthy, open, and supportive relationship we have. We work well together and know how to play well together,too. We have great children, and are living a good life. Here is to another 12+ years more together. What we have is only getting better with age, like a fine wine. I love you, honey!
The photo of us is from Feb. 08' when we actually went out on date night with friends and did mini golf., bowling, and played video games. We all posed silly with the astronaut.

My little Man is 7!

It is hard to believe that my 1st born is now 7 years old. Where did the time go? What...am I the mother of a 2nd grader?
We are having his Harry Potter b-day party next weekend (July 5th) but the family took him out for Chinese food, opened gifts from his sisters, sang "Happy Birthday" and ate cupcakes. He was very happy, and he even put on his Birthday hat that he got at the end of the school year at Gilmore. Since his b-day is in the summer he got to be acknowledged the last week of school. He currently loves anything Star Wars, Harry Potter, playing on Webkinz world, enjoys biology/learning about animals and how things work. He is currently determined to become a commercial pilot and is eager to be 14 so he can start to take flying lessons. He is very tolerant of his sisters and is looking forward to the family reunion trip to IN and going to CA with Papa Clyde for 2 weeks, (he asks me almost every other day when we are leaving for the trip). I love my little man, and am loving the person he is growing into...he is really a fun and good kid to be around!

Dancing Diva

I wanted to share these two photos of my Zhivanna beauty in her dance costumes from the recital in May. She photographed well. Now she can use these two outfits as dress-me-up/ play clothes. They were $100 for both and I'd like to get my moneys worth out of them, using them for just one event seems silly. She loves her dance camp this week, as well as her hip hop class on Fridays. She did tell me the other day."... Mommy I'm not going to be a dancer anymore when I grow up, but I'm going to be a hunter instead...I'm going to be the one who hunts down and kills the animals for food." Well so much for my dancing diva and animal lover!

My toe, update

Just a quick note. It looks like my toe may have a small fracture in the top joint area. The podiatrist is calling it a bad contusion for now, since we did not see a break in it when she did the x-rays and she did not think a $700 detailed x-ray was necessary. So I get to keep it wrapped with it's sister 2nd toe and wear this nice brown orthopedic shoe for a while (really stylish, yea!). I have been doing Taebo without shoes lately and am now able to push it more with my kicks, (no high jumps yet), but I can still get my exercise rush. The skin color looks more normal and if I could just keep all the kids from stepping on it in the pool I am sure it would heal faster. I sure do miss my soccer ball and teams right now, off to ice and elevate it for a bit. What I really want is a pedicure...love those toes!

Catching up

So here are few things kids and family have been up to:
Zhivanna-had her recital on May 31st and felt like a princess all dressed up with makeup and dancing on the big stage. She also loved receiving flowers from the family, she felt very, very, special. Is excited about gymnastics starting up this week and is loving the pool being open. I expect her to grow gills by the end of summer, such a little fish. (pic. is of her in splish splash dance)
Merlova-VERY "2" right now! Push and pull mommy all over the place. Loves to use the arm floaties in the pool to "go swimming self", and is eager to take gymnastics and dance classes this month. Loves the time she can sneak away with daddy on her own, and loves all the friends that we are having over for play times...even if they all run away from her and make her the 'monster'. (pic. hugging sister after dance recital)
Akorren- Started private piano lessons this week, it is a good challenge for him, using more left & right handed music now. Had fun at space camp today, will get to do 'Jedi Training ' camp on his b-day the 26th of the month. Keeps asking when were are going to IN for the Johnson family reunion trip and his 2 week trip to CA with Papa Clyde and Grandma Dani, he will go sans family, a big deal. He is already packing for that trip. (pic. reading at the school poetry cafe, poem Dolphins)
Glenn- Off to FL for some work on new space toilet, dealing with the juggling of trainings needed to be done for missions, meetings to go to for new toilet and the overwhelming amounts of work emails to read, answer, and delete. Enjoying the summer activities with the kids at the pool and weekend time. Glad that Melissa will have to slow down since her toe thing. (pic. in Lloyds' Hawaiian shirt)
Papa Herman-At the YMCA all the time, line dancing at several senior centers, making new friends and keeping himself busy. Health is well and aways adjusting and checking in with doctors on medicines and such for diabetes. Will be in CA for a few weeks starting on the 18th. (No Pic. always the man behind the camera)
Me- Toe getting better, modifying exercise program. Did Taebo barefoot on Tuesday, have apt. with foot doctor Friday. Not playing soccer for at least 6 weeks. Busy with kid play dates and activities. Could use a date night out with hubby, soon. Almost caught up with the 3 kids scrapbooks, yay! (pic. with my girls after dance recital)

Ouch My Toe!

I did it! I missed a kick to the ball, trying to take it away from an opposing male player on my over 30's team and I ended up kicking the guy in the ankle and he missed the shot. I knew it hurt when I did it but I had to finish playing the game, it didn't hurt that much at the time, really. Well it looks like, I broke my toe...at least he did not score! I'll keep telling myself that for the next 6 weeks while I let it rest.
Oh, man! I don't know what it is about competitive sports especially soccer for me, but sometimes I just have to give it my all even if it means sacrificing my body for it. I have to preface this with the fact that I also keep forgetting that I am not 26 anymore, nor am I 30 anymore or 35 for that matter. Eeeek! But my old instincts get the best of me. I have a nice set of bruises on my left thigh and a small cut with minor bruising on the bridge of my nose from two other games I played this past week. I stopped a very hard shot in an indoor game (my thigh) and took a ball to the face in this past Saturdays outdoor game, (stopped that one to). Hubby Glenn says, "Honey you are now more bruised then tan...people are going to think that I beat on you or something...(jokingly)...tell them your boyfriend did it!" Due to my lack of ability to control my physical need for pain and taking one, two, or three for the team, I have now taken myself out of playing soccer for at least 6 weeks. Great job, Missy! I am so mad at myself, I am I really that masochistic? I guess it is a good lesson for me. Slow down, do not get so intense. My children sometimes have to learn the hard way... maybe that is where they get it from. I have an appointment with the foot doctor on Friday to look at my toe and will know for sure if it is "broken" but in the mean time I have to figure out how to modify my workouts to maneuver around an injury. Ouch my toe, it hurts!

Dusting off those old dance shoes

This weekend I decided to put on my dancing shoes and auditioned for the Baytown Little Theatre production of the musical Chicago. I was very excited to give the stage stuff a try again, feeling not so out of practice since I have been keeping physically fit. I had my eye on the part of Velma, played by Catherine Zetta Jones in the movie version. I was pleased with how I did (got several compliments from others) and thought a had a chance to get cast for a part, but none the less I was not called back for tomorrow night. Why did I not get cast? Well...for one thing I guess I am not in my 20's anymore now am I? I forget that now and as I still feel like a kid on the inside, and it seems that since this director is young and normally works with high school students I should not find that a surprise. There were a lot of under 30's who auditioned (yes I am still in my 30's). Also with local community theatre, there is always a bit of nepotism that goes on (defined as a showing of favoritism toward relatives and friends, based upon that relationship, rather than on an objective evaluation of ability). It seemed like all the ladies that were asked for call backs were either just in the previous play they did, had done a play at the theater before or were in a production that the director saw. Anyway, I am looking forward to see the production when it opens in July/August. It will be neat to see who was cast for which parts, as I think I have a good idea of who will be in the play. It will be fun to see when it is on the stage. You know that I am going to be singing and dancing in my seat as I watch the play, no one can stop me from doing that. Who knows I may see about getting in with the "in crowd" and do some costume designing for them. Then maybe I'll get a call back for sure. "Isn't good...isn't grand..isn't great..isn't it swell...isn't it....Nowadays!"