Another list item

We got Diana some Play-Doh a while back and she loves it. She rolls it out with her little rolling pin and cuts "cookies" with the canisters. It's messy, but she loves it. She does need some Play-Doh accessories though if you want to add that her already long Christmas list!

Diana's Christmas List

Is it too early? I started my Christmas shopping last weekend and we are getting bombarded with catalogs in the mail, so it's kinda hard to avoid. Here's the lowdown on shopping for Diana for Christmas--she doesn't need any toys, plus with all the lead in toys and toys being recalled at a rapid pace, we are even more hesitant.

There are some things that she needs, besides clothes, which are always always welcome. She's into a 3T or 4T by now. She won't wear jeans. For the most part, she wears sweats and cotton shorts. Also, she likes to take her diaper off at night so we have resorted to putting her in onesies as PJs. So, if you can find onesies that are 24 mos. and older, buy them...PLEASE!

She needs some busier bath toys. A lot of the ones she has right now are from when she was little and she gets a little bored of pouring, pouring, pouring for the 15 minutes she is in the tub. There are some in the Lillian Vernon catalog that are cute. Anything really is fine. Just stuff that keeps her busy.I have been looking for the bath crayons but haven't had any luck. I think she would like those.

She's also really into the Disney Princesses (Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Snow White and Jasmine). Anytime she sees them (which is everywhere nowadays) she goes crazy. She also likes Hello Kitty (we met her at the outlets the other day) and Sesame Street. Books are fine too. She also loves cars and her new train set.

Matt and I are probably going to buy the soccer goal set for her that's in the Lillian Vernon catalog. She loves to kick her soccer ball and is quite good at it. She loves playing outdoors and has quite an outdoor collection. Of course, she also loves basketball, so keep that in mind.

Some other things that I liked and would actually help her with school: there's an easel that comes with paint in the Lillian Vernon catalog. She's really afraid to use the paint at school because she doesn't want to get messy. We bought her some Play-Doh (which she loves loves) and that's made her a little more outgoing during art time at school. I think the easel would get her more involved.

Hopefully, I have helped, but not been too pushy. Everyone always asks what to get Diana for Christmas so hopefully this will be good to refer back to. Also, get in touch with family members and exhange lists. I know several of you have done that in the past.

Side note/Different topic:We are really looking forward to the season starting on Friday! Can't wait to see the girls in action!

Great Halloween

I posted some photos on SmugMug of Diana's third Halloween, but to put it in writing...she had so much fun. She doesn't eat candy so it makes the night so much better for us, we can just cruise around to a couple houses and head back home. Several of Matt's players came over to the house so we had a packed abode...it made it really fun. Matt ordered pizza (eight of them) so we had plenty of food for all the hungry mouths. We didn't have that many trick or treaters in our neighborhood, but I don't think that many kids trick or treat anymore. It's kinda sad really.
Back to Diana...She loved going up to people's doors, ringing the doorbell and getting some candy. She even started to pick out her own candy at one lady's house. We visited the house where Diana spit up on the lady's front porch three years ago and she totally remembered Diana. It was pretty funny. At one point, Aunt MIchelle took over and brought her up to the front doors. Then, Diana would literally pull Michelle up the street to go to the next house. Poor Michelle, dressed in that prom outfit with heels on had a hard time keeping up with D.

Matt's first game is next Friday at Mt.SAC. It's going to be fun. We are looking forward to it. Diana, Grand V and I are leaving Friday afternoon. We will miss the first game but be there for Saturday and Sundays games. Go Solano!

Photo of Diana from one of the patches

Things are going very well

I haven't blogged in one month. Sorry about that.
Before I catch everyone up, I would like to say that I am glad that my in laws to the South are doing well and that they escaped those horrible fires without any damage to themselves or their home. Our thoughts were with you everyday. Sorry, Ryan and Megan, time to go back to school! :)

OK...Where to begin. Working at Copart is great! It's such a great atmosphere, everyone is very helpful and since my boss and other co-worker in Communications are a little less busy these days, it's fun to get to know everyone and be more social while also getting more work done.

Copart is a growing company and we have two test markets going on right now that are going to be huge for the company's expansion. I am actually going to be put in charge of one from a communications standpoint so I am really excited about that because I think the idea is genius.

I don't know if anyone has been watching the stock market, in particular Copart stock, but it's one of the most talked about stocks on the NASDAQ today. I would highly advise getting in touch with a stockbroker and buying some of this stock before it gets more expensive. We have an employee stock purchase program through work that I will be eligible for in three months, but won't be able to sign up until June. I have already talked with a stockbroker and am looking into buying some stock before then. It's a great company and only going to get better.

Diana...What can I say? She's great. She hasn't cried yet at KinderCare and loves every minute of it. The teachers love her because she follows directions, stays clean and doesn't seem to be nearly as sick as some of those other kids in her class. She does artwork everyday (it's hanging up framed in our house), eats healthy meals and plays with the other kids. She also loves her teachers. There is a Halloween party on Tuesday so I will post some pictures next week so everyone can see what her school looks like. She's having a blast!

Matt's team has its first game in two weeks. I am really excited about this season. Not only because there are some talented girls on his team, but because I get to go to more games. It's going to be a blast! I am going to be posting pictures of his players on my SmugMug account, so make sure to check it out when you get a chance.

Time goes by too fast

I have two days of work left. I have what seems like a million things to do between now and Friday. One interview just fell through because the guy called me at work and I am at home. I am POSITIVE that I told him to call me at home. Now, the guy has to go to class and I most likely won't be able to do the interview this week. Another guy that I was supposed to interview Monday morning didn't have his cell turned on. I called and called and left two messages but he never got in touch with me. It's an interview and a story I really want to do but it's not looking good.

These seem like signs to me. It's like God is telling me, "Angela, you are leaving. Just enjoy the last few days and don't take on anything new. Cruise out of here and move on."

Maybe I should listen. One more interview try this afternoon and hopefully I can get one story done before Friday.

Fun Family Farm Days

We made a trip out to Suisun Valley which hosted the second annual Fun Family Farm Days. Various farms, wineries and businesses opened their shops and had different activities going on to draw attention to the valley. It was a ton of fun and Matt was able to get some more fruits and vegetables at Larry's Produce.

You can visit SmugMug to see more pictures from the day.

Vacation almost over

Today is Angela's last day of vacation. What a bummer. It was great...11 days of not thinking about work, not reading the newspaper and just relaxing with friends and family.

Lake Tahoe was great. Despite the fact that Angela and Grand V fell out of the kayak and Matt and Angela ate a spectacular dinner instead of seeing Bonds hit No. 756, it was wonderful!

You can see some pictures from Lake Tahoe on the SmugMug Web site. Enjoy!

Me and My Shadow

Diana has two new best friends. With 2-year-olds, this seems to change everyday...Pink Doggy is her best friend for a couple days and then her baby and this week, it's Ryan and Megan.
Diana has all but forgotten about Pink Doggy, sometimes Baby, but mostly Mom and Dad. Her two new best friends, who she follows around the house all day long are her cousins. Ever since they arrived, she has to know where they are at all times. They color together, play kitchen, do puzzles. All the stuff that mom and dad did with her before, it's now Ryan and Megan's turn.
And they politely play. Good thing the toys that Diana has now are enjoyable for an 11 year old and 13 year old. Otherwise, we would be out of luck.
Mom and Dad just love to watch Diana play with Ryan and Megan. This evening, while we were cooking dinner, Diana sat on the couch and played BrainQuest with Ryan. Ryan quizzed her on different items. It was adorable!
We are hoping that the transition once Ryan and Megan go back home will be OK...We aren't thinking about that yet though, we are just enjoying the fun D is having right now!

New Web site

Angela started a new photo sharing web site today. It's only a 14-day free trial, but will be making it permanent when the trial ends. You can visit www.borchertmr.smugmug.com to see the one photo that's on there now.

Unfortunately for those who like to right click photos of Diana, you can't do it from here. Angela signed up for the account that doesn't allow visitors to right click. This was so that once basketball season starts, we can protect the photos from theft when we post them.

If you see a photo you want, just let us know and we will make a copy and mail it to you!

Trip to the Zoo

Aunt Michelle, Diana and Ang went to the Sacramento Zoo today. What fun! There are some incredible animals at the zoo. We saw flamingos which were absolutely beautiful, screaming monkeys (hilarious), giraffes (another beauty), ducks (love em), orangatanes (sp)which are just about the slowest creature alive and much more.

Diana seemed to like the flamingos because they were pink. She loved the ducks of course and tried to talk to them. Most of the animals seemed to be boycotting because of the heat and just stayed in the shade most of the morning that we were there. It was as if they were saying, "You can see me from there."

We didn't stay long, about 2 hours. They had a playground and Diana got to play for a little bit. That might have been her favorite part actually. Another mom commented that she thought the zoo was supposed to be for the kids, but it was more for the adults. Totally true. Ang and Michelle got more enjoyment out of the screaming monkeys, giraffes and flamingos than Diana. OH well.

You can visit twopeas to see some photos Ang took at the zoo. There's a link at the bottom of the blog. Enjoy!

At the County Fair

Diana, mom, dad and Grand V went to the County Fair in Vallejo on Friday. The weather was perfect!

Diana had a great time. She rode the ponies, watched the Splash Dogs competition, saw some crazy high divers, colored, had lunch and then went to the horse races. It was a busy four hours!

Her favorite had to be the pony rides and petting zoo. She was having a great time saying hi to all the goats in the petting zoo until one of them got mad at another and the two goats started head butting one another while Diana was darn near in the middle of them. We got out of there with the quickness.

She was so brave to get up on the pony and ride him around for a couple minutes. Well worth the five bucks.

Oh, and we watched Cook's Racing Pigs. What a riot! Grand V and momma's pigs won so we got a blue ribbon and Grand V won the overall prize so she got a t-shirt that said "My Pig Won.!" Hilarious!

Here's the photo

I decided to post the photo here to see what it looks like. I put the watermark on it for TwoPeas, but it's probably safe to use it here too so no one can steal it.Enjoy!

Trip to Calistoga

Wow! What a great (and exhausting) day we had. It all started at 10:45 when we left the house to pick up Grand V and off we went to Calistoga. Jenn (Ang's best friend since the fourth grade)was in Lakeport visiting her parents so we met her and her family (kids and parents) at a restaurant in Calistoga. We had lunch and then walked around and did some shopping. We met at 12:30 and didn't leave till 3. It was great to see Jenn, the boys and her parents. We shared some really nice conversations.

On the way home we made a couple stops just to enjoy being out of town for a day. We did some more shopping at the Napa outlets. I bought Diana some t-shirts at Gymboree off the clearance racks because for some reason, that's the only place where the discounts are at outlets.
Isn't the purpose of outlets supposed to be that they have discounted prices on everything? Not so much the case at the Napa outlets. It seems like they have some stuff on sale at most of the outlets, but they bring in the regular seasonal stuff to put on their shelves so they can boost sales. It's ridiculous really.

Anyway...Had a great day. I posted a picture of Diana in Calistoga on Two Peas if you want to check it out. It's called "Cutie On Duty"

Happy Fourth!

Wow...Once again, I am a slacker and haven't posted for months and months. I am not even going to try to catchup (chances are, we've talked since I last posted). I am going to start posting photos here though.

Fourth of July was good. Angela had to work, but we all went as a family (plus Debbie, yay!) to the parade in Fairfield. You can visit TwoPeas to see some parade photos that Angela took and also some photos she took of fireworks that night from the top of her office building! :)

Diana got her first hair trim this morning. We went to the lady who has cut Angela's hair since she was a pre-teen and Diana did wonderful. She sat in the chair and it only took 10 minutes. I think once we told her that she was getting her hair cut so she wouldn't have to shoo it out of her face with her hands anymore, she totally understood that she wanted to have her hair cut! :)

I will post some more as the summer goes on. It's too hot to go outside (100-plus today) so I will be on the computer a lot!

What now?

Well, basketball season is almost over. Playoffs start next week but it's essentially over for me because I might not see another game this year. This time of year is hard because it gets busier for Matt which means more chaos for me in helping him stay organized. It's hard not to plan on going to the gym a couple nights a week. I just hope he gets all these recruits. Life will be so much more pleasant.

I posted some pictures of Diana on twopeas so check them out. They are fun!

Dah-purrr

We think Diana said her first word today. We were getting ready to change her diaper and she was saying "Dah-purr" as we were walking up the stairs. We didn't think anything of it until we realized it was all she was saying for about a minute. I asked Matt if she was saying diaper and he said he thought she was. We asked her to say "diaper" and she kept saying it. She saw how excited we were and she got excited and just kept saying it. Who knows if she said it anymore today or if she will ever say it again, but it was cool!

The basketball season ends this week. There will probably be playoffs, but the regular season ends on Friday with sophomore night. It's a busy week too because we are trying to get the highlight film closed down and since Matt rejected my song choices, it's back to the drawing board and iTunes this week. :)

I hate losing

We lost to Contra Costa. They were just better, but the girls fought hard and gave it all they had. I was very proud, but I hate losing.

There was a big crowd, all three papers covered it and there were a lot of recruits there. We have four games left now and have to win them all to get a playoff spot. Cross those fingers!

Matt and I are headed to LA this weekend. Oops, I hope Kate doesn't read this. :) Oh well. Surprise!

Oh, in addition to being able to signal for three pointers, Diana can almost get the form down when you ask her to shoot free throws. It's hilarious! Matt taught her the correct shooting form the other night. I am pretty sure he did the same thing with Ryan when he was Diana's age. Look where it got him, he's got a sweet shot! :) Hi Ryan!

One down

Solano won tonight. Whew. They controlled the game and won by 14. My sister went to the game so it was nice for her to see the team and she texted me during the game.

So, the big game with Contra Costa on Friday. It's for first place so hopefully the girls show up and are ready for it. I am excited, but I will probably just stay for the first half and then come back to work. There is a feature on one of Matt's players in my paper on Thursday. I know it's a paid web site, but the story is really good!

A Nervous Week (Wreck)

Solano moved into a tie for first place on Wednesday. So, this week we play Yuba on Wednesday and Contra Costa on Friday. Big week...as big as they come. Think good thoughts for a couple hours (between 5:30-7:30 p.m.) those two days and feel free to call me on my cell to get the score. I will be at work both nights so you can call me at work too. Matt's manager will be texting me with updates.

Matt and the team are really excited about the opportunity to win another BVC title, but I just sit back and let things happen. I don't want to get all excited and then...well, you know.

Let the fun begin!!!!!!!!!

Stack me up!

Big news of the day: Diana stacked eight square blocks today all by herself. She did it on the living room table and just kept going back for more until she couldn't reach the top anymore. She was EXTREMELY proud of herself and we exchanged high fives after six, seven and eight! Then, she celebrated by knocking them down.
I am going to be proud mom and mention that just the other day I was reading in the "What to expect" book that kids her age are supposed to stack four or five blocks! I know it doesn't really matter, but eight!!!! She was reaching way up there! The best part was the pride she had in herself. To see a 19-month-old beam like that was a great feeling for me!

Matt won again tonight. 14-12 and 5-1 in conference. Eagerly awaiting the rematch with Contra Costa but have one more game next week before that one. Go Falcons!

Warming up

Finally, back to good ole California sunshine. Matt, Diana and I had a picnic at the park this afternoon before I went to work. Diana went down the slide (she loves the slide) and walked around on the bark. She likes to pick up the bark and put it in this little crane toy they have at the park. She loves to get dirty!

Back to the slide thing. I put her on it last week after our walk and she just kept asking me to put her on it. I sit her at the top and she slides right on down by herself and laughs. Keep in mind that it's a small slide. I am taller than the slide so it's not like she is on it forever. She can't get enough though!

I got my new lens last night. I used it a little this morning, but I can't wait to use it on Matt's games. It's teenie tiny! Small lens, lots of power!

Matt starts school on Monday...No more reading the paper in bed in the morning for him! It's been fun the last month because I go get Diana and bring her in so she can "read" the paper with Daddy in bed for a couple minutes before breakfast. She might be kinda sad about that. Summer will be here before she knows it and she can have her newspaper time again!

Ordered a new lens

I ordered my new lens for my digital camera last night. I have no idea when it is coming, but I am really excited to use it when it does eventually get here. I just hope that it gets here before basketball season is over. Otherwise, it's almost a waste and I will have to wait so very long to get the real purpose of it.

Matt has two games this week. I actually get to go to the game on Wednesday. They play Mendocino...all these games are big games. I just like to see the girls compete, they are good kids.

Diana is busy as ever. The girl is non-stop! I like to think that watching her inspires me to play with her and try to get some exercise keeping her entertained, but she wears me out some days. We will go for our walk tomorrow after lunch. It's only supposed to get up to 50 degrees as the high, but sunny, so we'll go out for 40 minutes, go to the park and then back home for a little TV and then a nap.

We are going to help Matt recruit tomorrow night - Vanden vs. Rodriguez. He needs to get these four girls from Vanden. Two of them are pretty sure they are coming, but the other two are not for sure yet. Cross your fingers, they are really good.

This is not easy!

It's hard keeping up with this blog! I apologize to the family for not keeping you updated on our lives. Matt's season is in full swing (games twice a week, recruiting on the other days), my business is extremely busy and Diana is just busy! Oh yeah, and I am working while Matt is on semester break. How do I get into that community college scene?

Matt's team is 1-1 in conference, 10-12 overall. We lost to Contra Costa tonight. Bummer. It was ugly...Actually, I can't say that because I wasn't there. But Matt didn't offer any quotes to the local newspaper (won't say which one) so we'll never know. :P

Diana did the funniest thing today. We were playing in her playroom waiting for Jill to come and I was sitting on the floor shooting baskets. She went to look for her mini-USF basketball, found it and asked me to shoot with it. (For some reason, she likes me to shoot with the little one rather than the ball the hoop came with. Maybe she thinks I need all the help I can get).

Anyway, I asked her to give the mini basketball to Franny (her Cabbage Patch doll) and let her shoot with it. She looked at me a second, walked over to Franny, picked her by her hair (caveman style), touched the ball to Franny's hand and then walked over to the hoop and tried to shoot it. She did it twice more and I just laughed so hard.

She also knows how to put up one finger when you ask her how old she is. Thanks to Matt's persistance on that one!

The start of conference

Solano opened conference play with a win tonight. 74-44. Pretty good, Matt was pleased with the way his team played. Now, they have a bye on Friday and Contra Costa on Wednesday. It's a big one. I think the girls will get fired up for it...I hope.

New Year's went well. I got off work early and then had the next two days off. It felt like I had three days off because I stayed up so late on Sunday night. It was like having a vacation. I never realized how much I enjoy having two days off in a row.

We went to the San Francisco-Nevada game on Tuesday. What fun. Diana was awesome! She played by herself pretty much the whole game. We sat over in the corner so she had room to move around. She played with her purse (thanks Badillas!) and her books and sat around. After the game, she ran around on the court with her mini-basketball throwing it all over the court and chasing it. She was cracking up. She drew the attention of SO MANY people that were standing around talking to family members. One USF player even chased after the ball for her one time. It was pretty fun. She got to meet Auntie Coach (Kim) for the second time. She met her last year when Nevada played at San Jose State, but she was little. Kim loved her (as well she should). :)

We got to talk to Kim before the game because we got to the gym right as Nevada pulled up to the gym. Perfect timing! It was a great night.