I'm baaack...and convention is over!

Woo hoo :-) Can you hear the excitement in my "voice"? For the past 8 days I've been attending and working my annual convention and expo....and putting in some ridiculous long days! I am so not a morning person, but during this past week I had to be up and functioning at 5:15 a.m. - it about killed me :-) he he

The view from my Marriott suite

On the bright side, we were in sunny San Diego where the weather was amazing. Blue skies, sunny and 75-80 degrees daily. It's just beautiful there. I wish I had found more time to be outside and enjoy the city, but duty called all week.

The gorgeous pools I never got to use!

I took an extra day for myself with Karen & Toby, but we were so tired we could barely move! We managed to find a sports bar for the Redskins game on Sunday and then a short trip to Coronado where we got to dip our toes in the Pacific Ocean - good grief it was freeezing!

Coronado beach

Overall it was a great week, but I'm so happy to be home. There's nothing sweeter than hearing your kids squeal "mommmmy" with delight followed by super squeezy hugs!

Reviewing the rules of the game

And no, I don't mean football games - don't even get me started after the Redskins game yesterday. These rules are related to playing board games with elementary aged children! Let me explain...

Last year during my week at convention, David emailed me the rules of the game that he learned while playing Monopoly Jr., Sorry and Candyland with the kids while I was gone. With my departure for this year's convention just a few days away, I thought I'd take a look back in time at what he learned last year and wonder what he might learn from our little angels this year...I mean they are a year older now :-)

So the rules of board games according to Alyssa & McKenna (age 6 at the time) and Brennan (age 4 at the time):

1. You are not allowed to win. No matter what the circumstances are.

2. Your children are allowed to cheat and in fact it is encouraged amongst them.

3. You are not allowed to cheat. Exception to this is you are allowed to cheat if it benefits one of them.

4. In Monopoly you are not allowed to be the banker. You are the bank everyday its their turn.

5. In the game Sorry it's really what they think of you.

6. Any rule can be changed on the fly at their discretion. Altering rules is completely legal as long as it's not you changing them. That is prohibited.

7. Did I mention you are not allowed to win?

8. You are not allowed to quit. They can quit whenever they want.

9. You are not allowed to go first.

10. In Monopoly Jr. the horse game piece is off limits. Don't even ask! (anyone who knows our kids gets this rule right away!)

I laughed so hard when he sent this to me last year - it was the comic relief I needed during an incredibly crazy week. I hope this year while I'm gone he has just as much fun (haha)...I'm so thankful I have him....I don't worry at all when I'm gone. Of course I know they probably won't be dressed the way I want them to, but I"ve learned to just accept that they're dressed and he's doing it all by himself so that's good enough for me!

So the next time you sit down to play board games with your kids remember the rules above...and have fun :-)

"IN THEIR HOUSE"

It's another week of celebrating for REDSKIN fans :-) WOO HOO!!!! We went to "their house" as the Philadelphia Eagles like to call it and WE WON!!

Final score:

Redskins 23
Eagles 17

No one gives us credit and they can keep on dissin' us....we will just have to keep proving all the critics wrong.

HAIL TO THE REDSKINS

Softball Diva

Tonight Alyssa played her 2nd softball game - I missed the 1st one because I was attending soccer games - but it was fun to be there tonight. Each week she continues to improve and although she never scored a run, she did make good contact with the ball. The best part is that she's enjoying it and having fun...that's the key right now :-) Here are a a few pics from her game tonight.

How about those Skins???!!!

OH MY GOSH....OH MY GOSH!!!! I never thought we'd beat the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas, but folks, WE DID IT :-) WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

To quote my son "the Cowboys suck!" - oh boy do they ever :-) To all of our critics out there, look at us now. Man, no one, including myself, gave us a chance to win and all of us were wrong. My dad called when it was over and I answered the phone with a cheer...his question/comment to me...."I guess after all these years, it still feels good to beat the Cowboys??" You bet it does!

Of course we have a long ways to go before the season ends...up next, the Eagles in their house, no easy task. But each week we get better and better....congrats Redskins....you deserved the win!

HAIL TO THE REDSKINS :-)
Redskins 26 - Dallas 24

And she SCORES...

Yesterday we got up early to get ready for Brennan's 9 a.m. soccer game, Alyssa's 10 a.m. softball game and McKenna's 12:45 p.m. soccer game...only to find out at 8:35 a.m. that Brennan & Alyssa's games had both been cancelled due to wet fields. So I called our sitter for the afternoon and asked her to come an hour earlier assuming that McKenna's game would be cancelled too. David's mom called at 12:15 to confirm it was cancelled- I quickly replied yes - and we hung up. At that point David realized 'wait a second - her coach never called to say it was cancelled - we better confirm'...and confirm we did....that she DID have a game and we had 25 minutes to get ready and get there....it's a good 15 minutes from our house :-)

So we arrived with 4 minutes to spare shielded by our umbrellas because at this point it's POURING! We slush our way out to the field and about 5 minutes into her game the sky cleared, the rain stopped and the humidity went waaaaay up!!! But let me just say how happy I am that we made the game...McKenna scored her 1st goal of the season AND THEY WON!!!!!! They've played 3 games including yesterday and they are 1-2 so far....it felt so good to see them win. She was ecstatic of course - the coach tends to put her on defense, but I think she proved yesterday that she deserves a chance to play offense too. She may be littler than most, but she's not afraid to go in after the ball! Unfortunately, because it was raining when we got there, I didn't have my camera with me so no pics to share of their victory. Congrats Purple Dragons!

After the game David & I enjoyed a little adult time playing golf (I shot a 107 - very happy about that!) and then dinner. All in all it was a great day...and when we arrived home we found our kids had been replaced with a tiger, a bear and a white tiger...see below :-)

Our babysitter Molly painted their faces and they turned out really good...she's so good with them. They painted pictures, played cards, read books, had popcorn & ice cream...all within a matter of 5 hours. It's nice to know they're in good hands when we're gone!

Let the games begin

Brennan, McKenna and Alyssa kicked off the fall sports season last Saturday with their first game. Brennan & McKenna are playing soccer and Alyssa is playing softball. Since they're at separate fields, I took M & B and David took Alyssa....hence the reason I only have pics of M & B.

Team Hot Shots - #4

I will make sure to get some of Alyssa at her next game. She's doing really great with softball and for the most part, enjoys it! She's also taking dance - tap & jazz - and is really enjoying that so we may have found her "thing" in life...for now.

Brennan's team played first and he was SO EXCITED!!! He likes practice, but he LOVES playing a "real game" - that's what he calls it! I know he's my son, but let me tell ya - he's fast.

Getting ready for the corner kick

He did a great job at his first game- didn't score any goals - but he sure did block a few. He had a really good time and at this age, that's really all that matters.

McKenna's team went 2nd and while they lost 3-1, they played a great game. They really played together well as a team and did a good job of staying in position. For her age group, that's what they work on the most and considering she's got a very "young" team, they're doing good.

Team Purple Dragons #3

The only downfall to the entire day was the incredible heat. Ugh - I'm not sure how those kids played :-) More games tomorrow - Alyssa has a bye - so I'll share some updates later on how they did.