Tuesday, October 2, 2012

My Boy

Justin is one amazing little guy, Ok he's 10 now so not very little anymore but still. Anyways Justin has never really found that "thing" he's in too. He played baseball for a few years and loved it but then started to lose interest. He then joined Karate and that lasted about a year before he got board with that. Justin is perfectly fine staying home playing video games, but after a wile that gets boring for him too.

Its so hard to find something this kid can get in to. Skyla is the complete opposite, she loves the Drama and being on stage, she loves dance and singing. So plays and dancing is just the thing for her. Now that Sky and I are both in A Christmas Carol, I feel bad leaving Justin home with Mick every night............

SO............................

........................I got an idea :)

Justin should audition and just try it.

The second I brought it up to him he snapped "NO MOM, I'm not going to be on stage!!! I don't like it!!"
Justin you have never done it how do you know you don't like it? Just try and see.

The poor kid was standing his ground, he flat out refused to do it. When Mick got home I brought it up to him to see what he thought, He agreed it would be a good experience for him and it would give him something to do. So mick and I literaly forced Justin to do something he didn't want to do. We told him he didn't have a choice, we didn't care if he was going to cry about it, he was going.

All 3 of us got in the car, and the whole way there I was giving Justin tips on what to expect and what they would want to see from him. When we got there he relaxed a bit and I introduced him to the Producer and she introduced him to the Director. They had him jump in with all of us with the music and as we started to learn some songs I could see Justin opening up and he was really enjoying it.

We got a small brake about 8:30pm and that was when they pulled Justin aside and had him read for them. He was in there about 10 min, when he finally came out. As soon as he saw me and HUGE smile came across his face and he ran over to tell me.....
"The asked if I wanted a part in the show"
ME: "What did you say?"
JUSTIN: "Yes of course, IM in the play mom!!!"
ME: "are you excited?"
JUSTIN: "YES very! thanks for bringing me mom, this is so fun."
ME: "Congrats baby, I'm so proud of you"

This morning Justin got ready for school as fast as I have every seen him, and was instantly reading his script, and working on some of the song we learned last night. Tonight is our next rehearsal and he cant wait. I'm so over joyed to be doing something I love with BOTH of my kids, and to see them enjoying it just as much as I do.

Who says forcing your kids to do things is a bad thing :)

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

What have we been up to?

Everything! That's the best word to describe it, that and FUN!!

We have been all over the place but it has been a blast. So here is a bit of an update (cause I'M so bad at keeping this blog up to date).

Mick: This poor guy has been working like crazy. One of the guys at work just had a baby and took 10 weeks family leave. We are excited for them and happy the dad gets to stay home with his new baby, but man is Mick getting the brunt of all the work. There are only 5 people that work a Micks branch, then this guy is gone so now that makes 4. The company let them hire a temp for a few months and it has helped, but Mick is still working 11 hour days. O and did I mention he is on salary so he is only paid for 8 of the 11? Yeah nice right. He's a trouper though and his company has realized they cant do this with out him, so at least he has some major job security now. Besides that he has just been enjoying his weekends with us. We always have somewhere new to go lately. Like last Sat Mick had us go to this doughnut shop he was told about.......It was so worth it (Rudys doughnuts, castro valley). He loves finding little gems like this, so our weekends have been full of exploring new place.

Justin: School has started and Justin is off to an amazing start (complete 1-80 from last year) He is still taking his meds on school days and it really has helped. 5th grade is so much harder and his teacher is determined to make sure her kids are ready for JR. High next year (Yes my baby boy is off to JR. High next year). Justin LOVES his teacher, she is very sweet and very patient, but she expects alot out of them and Justin is more then willing to please her. He makes sure to always do his best and take his time because he doesn't want to let her down. Its so nice to know he is worried about what she will think of his work. I'm really excited to cause Justin has found a love of reading. He has read all the Bone graphic novels, and is halfway though Inkheart. He even got me to read Inkheart (its really good). He has read all this in just the last month, this kid always has a book on hand or in his face it seems.
He has also gotten really tall, when I say tall I mean about 6 inchs shorter then me. He is wearing the same size shoe as me, still has his braces and looks so stinking cute with them. He has about 4-5 more months with them, then they will come off and the second set will get put on when he is about 12-13.

Skyla: This girl is living on stage at the moment and she couldn't be happier. She is doing good in school too and loves 2nd grade and her teacher. She just got glasses, we started to notice she was having some problems with her reading, so one day I was holding the book having her read and started to notice she did better when I held it really close. We took her in and sure enough she need glasses. School work, reading and homework are much smoother now that she can see it :). I don't have a pic of her with them but I'll post one soon. Dance is taking off right now our dance recital is on the 13th so Sky is at the studio all the time right now. She also auditioned for A Christmas Carol with Stage1 the same company she did OZ with over the summer........She got a part :) She had a call back on sat and we got the call that she got the part Monday night. She will be playing Lucy Cratchit. She is super excited, and a bit nerves cause this is an adult production, so its totally different then the summer time. Not to mention its going to be LONG rehearsal nights on school nights. She loves doing it though and I think she will be ok swinging both. The play opens Nov 30th.

Christal: So I am a crazy dance the theater girl right now too. This year for dance my wonderful teacher has thrown me in to a bunch of dance I never thought I would be doing. I am dancing with the young adults/teens now and the Adult classes I was doing. This year for our recital I'm in 9 numbers, 3 of which are back to back and I have to change costumes in the wings :), I can pull this off right? Sure, ether way its fun for me. Thursday evening are spent at the dance studio for me. I get there at 4pm and am home by 8:15pm, then I have a class from 4-5 on fri too.
If you caught I added "Theater" in there too, its not a typo. So far with my weight loss I have lost 68.6 lbs. I weight 186.4 which is what I weighed in high school and when I was 18 and met Mick. With this weight loss I have found major confidence, and decided I wanted to get back in to the things I love. One of which is dance, the other acting and singing. I auditioned for A Christmas Carol with Stage1 too and also got a call back. Sat was fun, sky was with me for about 2 hour then got to go home wile they kept me another 3. It was a long day but was so much fun. I loved reading with the other adults there, and the director is so funny, he had me cracking up the whole time. In the end I was offered a part :) they were still doing some Male auditions and cast so I wasn't told what part/parts I have yet. They said they will call thur to let me know, but I'm in the show :). O the pic of me was my head shot for my audition.....Mick took it for me :). On top of all of this I'm also in week 4 of my Half Marathon training. I'm running the Tinkerbell Half Marathon is Disneyland in Jan, 13.1 miles baby. Yes we are making a week long trip out of this. I mean if I'm going to run why not run in the place I love, and since we will all ready be there might as well make a vacation out of it right? :) there is always a method to my madness hehehe.





Mick and I: On August 24th 2002 Mick and I said our "I Do's". Its crazy to think just last month we celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. Over that weekend my sister and b-i-l took the kids over night for us. We dropped them off early in the morning and headed down to Santa Cruz. We got a great package from Costco on unlimited ride wrist bands and attractions. First we played mini golf  we were so competitive we had the people behind us cracking up. It was so much fun. After golf we then got lunch, then headed over to the Mystery Spot.


 
 
 









 Its up in the hills so the grounds where really pretty. NOTE: I don't get motion sickness ever or vertigo, but here once I got in the house, the distorted look and feel made me sick to my stomach. I mean really sic as in I ran out cause I almost threw up in the house. So just be for warned if you ever go (Once I got outside and stared at the trees I was fine).

After that we check in to our hotel room which had a hot tub.....O yeah it was that awesome.




After dropping off our stuff we went to this really awesome place called the Crows Nest for dinner, then went and closed out the Boardwalk. The next morn we went to breakfast then headed to my sisters to get the kids. Its was such a fun trip, and I'm so happy to have married the man of my dreams. I love you baby, Happy 10 years!!!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Wizard of OZ

So if you didn't know Skyla is in a play "The Wizard of OZ" its a children's summer play and super cute. The kids were encouraged to go "all out" for their make up, check out my girly (I'm quite proud of my make up skills) :)



The play is super cute too by the way you can still see it, buy your tix at www.stage1theater.com the last 3 shows are this Fri and Sat the 17th and 18th at 8pm and Sunday the 19th at 2:30pm.

After this she is auditioning for "A Christmas Carol" she was actually invited to audition by the producer of the play. She pulled me aside after the last Sunday showing of Wiz of OZ and said Sky has an amazing stage presents and feels she would be amazing for this part in "A Christmas Carol". I'M so excited, the way the lady talked was as if Sky all ready had the part :)

Who knows maybe my girl will have future on the stage or in the theater world. That would be one amazing career especially since she is so in love with it now.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

My bakery is now open!!

My best friend and I decided to go in to business together and started a small at home bakery. You can check out or cakes and goodies at the  Home Sweet Home Cakery blog, and even place orders with us at Home Sweet Home e-mail, Please feel free to pass our info on to any and all. :)

Thanks,
Star and Christal

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Braces

Justin has had his first phase of braces on for 15 months now. When he got them first put on he was told it would be for 18 months. Due to the fact some teeth he lost in Dec 2010 taking their sweet time to come in (Dec of 2011, yep one full year) the time of his treatment has to be extended.

One big part of the braces is things called "forces" this appliance is to help widen his jaw (to help create room for his adult teeth) and it is also to help fix his really bad over bite. The orthodontist said its similar to old school head gear kids used to have to sleep in, its just now all in their mouth so it works 24 hours a day, thus shorting the time it needs to be worn. Bad news Justin was told he has to have them for about 6 months, which means thinking he would be brace free in 3 months flew out the window.

I have NEVER seen so much metal put in someones mouth at one time. I was teasing him a bit saying he might set off the metal detectors in stores now hehehe. He's pretty sore and having a hard time eating, just cause there is so much he feels he cant chew right. He is very excited though that in 6 months he will be done with phase and the braces and all will come off. He will only have to wear retainers till its time to start phase two at 12/13 years of age.

His goal the day they come off...... To eat his fave candy "Air Heads", that he hasn't been able to eat this whole time, till he is sick. I think I might just let him :)

Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Wizard of OZ

So like I said in the last post Sky got to audition for The Wizard of OZ and guess what.............

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SHE GOT A PART!!!!!! She's a Munchkin!!!! She will be singing and dancing :) She is so excited to be in her first play. For fun here is the video of her audtion. Im so proud of her she did awesome, and I cant wait too see her in her first play :)

Monday, April 16, 2012

Update (kinda)

Yes we are still alive!!!!

We have been so busy and I have been giving my other BLOG a little more TLC, that this one has just pretty much been put on the back burner. We are good though like I said busy......

Mick: Is awesome!!! Work has become a bit easier for him. He has been give major work overload but they just told him he gets to start interviewing people to hire. He is so excited cause working 7am-6pm everyday is starting to wear thin. He is also so proud of himself that he is getting a raise, and he has decided that we need Disneyland passes again (I love my hubby). So we are planning our next trip and excited to have year passes again. We plan on going alot and getting the most out of those bad boys hehe.

Justin: This kid has had alot of changes over the last few month. Some we kinda expected some totally caught me off guard. First of all, when I posted back in OCT that he was having a hard time in school, things got worse before they started to get better. To make a long story short his tutor (his teacher wife) said we should take him to his Doc and talk with her about whats been going on. So I called the kids Doc and Justin and I went in for a visit. After explaining to her what I have seen, Justin telling her how he fells she came up with ADD. She felt he might have it, very mild, but still there and that's why he is having such issues in school. Good/ bad part is he doesn't have the behavior problems (great!!!) but that's also why ADD has never been a thought to Justin's struggling problem's. We fill out all the paperwork and sure enough he had ADD.

Justin has been on very low dose of meds for 2 months now and is thriving in school like I have never seen. Best part this stuff only last a few hours and he only takes it on full school days (short or minimum day, weekends and breaks he doesn't take it). The best part for me is he is finally proud of himself, he still has to work hard, but the focusing isn't a big issue anymore, homework isn't taking 3 hours anymore. He is doing so good and I couldn't be prouder.

I know alot of people don't like medicating kids and for the most part I agree. We did try alot of different things before we started this and what really made us try it was Justin. Justin was the one who decided we give meds a try, we are letting him call the shots on this because he is the one who in the end has to deal with it all.

On another note the surprising thing we found out about Justin is he can be really aggressive, and boy can he take a punch!! Yep you read that right the kid can take a hit like I would have NEVER thought. Justin is still in karate and LOVES it. He is now on a sparing team and loves being able to fight. I went to get him the other day and they were just finishing up. Till 4 days ago I have never seen Justin full out, no holding back, fight. It was kinda cool but scary. He was up against a 13 year old kid who is one belt higher then him, this kid nailed Justin right in the face then kicked him in the side by his waste. That was when Justin's aggressive side came out. Justin was punching and kicking this poor kid like crazy, then swooped his feet out from under him and slammed him to the ground. That was when they called it hehehe. He had the biggest grin on his face (and a bloody nose). Like I said scary but I'm pretty proud my skinny little 10 year old can hold his own :)

Skyla: This girly is doing awesome!! She loves school and is just thriving like crazy, its pretty nice having my 6 year old read me bedtime stories now. She loves to write and makes up the best stories, they have whats call writers workshop in class every day and Sky has been put on a paper limit heheh. She writes 2 full pages everyday of a new story she makes up. She is still in to art as well, back in March they turned in tier posters for the ORO LOMA waste management contest (the one she won a $100 last year from) they announce the winner 4/22. She is so excited to see if she won again, this time since she is in 1st grade, 1st prize is $700!!!! Keep your fingers crossed for her :)

She is getting ready for dance season, June is her first show and she cant wait. She loves being on stage!! Her love has even spilled over to plays :D..... Yep today at 6pm Sky has her first audition for a play, she is audition for The Wizard of OZ. She really wants the roll of Lullaby League Munchkin (the 3 little ballerina girls that come out and sing and dance welcoming Dorthy to munchkin land). Yep that's the roll she wants, so for the past 2 weeks, every chance she gets, she has been stretching, and flipping, and practicing her audition song over and over. Before school today she picked out her outfit she is wearing tonight and reminded me to not forget to staple her head shot to her resume (yeah she has a resume) hehehe. If she gets a part its going to be long summer nights around here. I'm so proud of her for going after what she really wants though. She is nervous and a bit scared but she isn't letting it stop her from trying. I know she will do great :)

Me: I'm good busy getting everyone to and from where they need/want to go. Working the Apartments and at school and doing all my PTA stuff. On top of all of that check out my other blog!!! For those who don't know I have been doing Weight Watchers since Sept and so far have lost 44lbs :). No I haven't posted any pics of me recently anywhere but I will soon. Also I have found a love for running and run 4 days a week now on top of Zumba and dance class. I love running it feels so good and who knew I would find a exercise I crave :). Right now I'm doing a half marathon training and this past sat ran 7 miles. I couldn't be prouder of myself, that was a BIG set for me. Makes me even more excited to run in the Tinkerbell half marathon in Jan at Disneyland!! Cant wait to go, I wish they would put registration up all ready that way once I pay I know I have to go hehehe. I'm doing really good though, I'm happy, healthy and my family is thriving in all the best ways.

SO here are some pics I got of the kids (we were taking Skys head shot, but having some fun too) in the Japanese garden close by.....


One of my fave pics of Sky....



My fave of the 2 of them....

My big 10 year old (ain't he handsome)!!!....




Nothing like a Ninja battle....

Skys head shot for her audition....

OOOOOO check out this cake I made for Mick Birthday!!! Thanks Pintrest for the idea :)