What I did this weekend

I have been bugging my sister since before she got married to let me take some "Trash the Dress" photos of her after her wedding. She was very hesitant prior to the wedding -- "I love my dress, I don't want to trash it!"

My solution was to take some post-wedding photos that just gave her and Chris a change of scenery in their photo album. (Really, more than anything, this was a chance for me to practice taking portraits). She agreed to the post-wedding session, but due to an unforseen problem with her wedding dress, she had to wear mine, which has been in the closet since August 4, 2002. It worked though. Here's a teaser. Click on my SmugMug link to the left for more.

(I also shot a family of five at Lagoon Valley Park on Sunday, so check out my SmugMug to see their beautiful faces as well. Thanks so much to the Capoot Family for letting me spend an hour with you!)

Fun game..Tag you're it!

(I saw this on my friend Amy's blog and thought it was cute.)
Come out, come out, wherever you are! Let's reminisce!
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.
It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. Have fun! Make it a good one and not an embarassing one, please!

Without further ado..Camp Gramma V

I asked Gramma V to write a short recap of Camp Gramma V for everyone to read about and I got a novel. What I got back as well was Camp Gramma V from Diana's perspective. Enjoy!
When I was told by my parentals that I was going to go to attend Camp Granma V for three nights from July 18 – July 21, I had no idea what they were talking about. I was a bit worried about not being with them for three nights, but I figured that if it had the name “Granma” in it, it had to be okay.


I got up at the crack of dawn on Friday and found myself at Granma V’s house in Fairfield. This was okay. I knew about this place. But, boy was I surprised when I went into what used to be my playroom. It was now a Cinderella bedroom complete with a canopy bed, toy box, bench with pictures of all my favorite princesses on it, my playhouse and my own CD player. Camp Granma V – V for short - was off to a great start.

After V showed me around, I tested out my new bed – very cool because I could get in and out whenever I wanted! I learned how to work the CD player after V showed me just once. I seem to have a knack for those electronic types of things.

After reviewing the list of activities for the Camp, we were off for our first adventure – story time at the Fairfield library with a picnic lunch at Civic Center Park afterwards. It was fun listening to the stories and I even got to play with some toys afterwards. Before lunch, we fed the ducks at the pond. V insisted that we feed them from the bridge because they’re pretty big and tend to peck at little people. When I threw the bread in the water, the ducks came swimming over from everywhere. I was glad that we were on the bridge.

When the bread was all gone, we were ready to eat. I had carried our very own picnic basket that included a blue-checkered tablecloth and napkins. V told me that her mom – Nanny – always thought that cloth napkins made eating more fun. The PBJ sandwich, grapes and blueberries were yummy. I figured we’d go back to V’s after, but there was more! Off to Train Town in Sonoma we went. V suggested that I close my eyes and rest for a while in the car seat so that I could have fun when we got to the trains. Though I never think that I need to take a nap, I decided to give it a try, and when I finally woke up, we were parked in the shade at Train Town. V told me that I’d been sleeping over an hour. Wow, I guess this camp stuff can be exhausting.


Train Town was cool. I mostly liked to watch the bigger kids go on the rides, but V and I had a fun train trip and even got to feed some goats. I got a cool t-shirt and train book before we left. On the way home, we stopped at a fruit stand and got some water and strawberries – yum!

We had a fun dinner and used these weird plates that had 9 sections. We laughed about eating strawberries, raspberries and grapeberries!

I got to take a bath in this huge bathtub. It was almost like a swimming pool. I only had V read me two books before bed, because I was eager to sleep in my Cinderella bed. I turned off the light and put on my spa CD – all by myself – and climbed into bed. I guess I liked the bed, because I didn’t get up until 8:45 Saturday and 10:50 Sunday!

On Saturday, I helped make blueberry pancakes for breakfast and spent time coloring, painting and reading. I painted on these paint-by-number cards, but there were no numbers on them. V said that she bought them at K-Mart so it wasn’t surprising that they were not right. We went swimming at an outdoor pool, which was way cool. I could stand up on the big steps and did a bunch of bubbles with V. I even got to use a Nemo kickboard like the big kids. I was really tired that night and was ready to get into bed after just one story. Day two of camp was the bomb.



Because I got up so late on Sunday, we had brunch instead of breakfast. I helped make French Toast and had some more of those grapeberries! We went into V’s work for about 30 minutes because of some budget problem. I always like to go to her office because she has cool things to play with in her drawers. When we got back, I got to go golfing – putting that is - at Paradise Valley Golf course. I did really good. I watched three men who were putting, and I think that I could take them any day. After golfing, we went back to V’s and changed into our swimsuits. We walked a little bit to another club –this one had an indoor pool. I got to practice my swimming again and I’m doing pretty good. I’m getting more confident, and I think that I’m ready to make a breakthrough next time. Right now spinning on my tummy is my favorite thing, but that being thrown up in the air is pretty neat too.

When we got back to V’s, Au Bob was at the house. Hurrah, I always love to see Au Bob! We got to be like a marching band with a whole bunch of instruments. I liked to use the tambourine and beat it like a drum as we marched back and forth on the deck. Au Bob left and V and I had dinner. We decided to play band again and marched around the house before bed when I had an accident. I bumped my head on the counter, but because I’m a tough girl, I only cried for a little bit and V cleaned off my hair before my bath. We read some stories and off to sleep I went. I knew that the next day I was going back to school so I needed some good sleep.




Morning came before I knew it and I got ready for school. V and I sang some silly songs on the way to school.

Well, I’ll have to say that Camp Granma V was quite exciting, but as everyone always says, "it’s nice to get home." After all, I have these great parental types - Mommy and Daddy - that I really missed. But come December I’ll be ready for the winter session of Camp Granma V. Maybe I’ll learn how to ski!

A full day of Mommy

Matt was in Stockton all day today at a basketball jamboree so Diana and I had the full day together. It was so nice because we haven't had time like this together since I started working at Copart. When I was a sports writer and had Tuesdays and Thursdays off, we would make a full day of our time together doing different activities and having a great time. Our Saturday started with an hour and a half of painting in the backyard. Gramma V got Diana an easel for Christmas and while she's put the thing to plenty of use indoors, we haven't taken it outside and used the tempura paints that came with it. That changed today.

Diana ended up painting 10 pictures for us. I have to find somewhere to hang them up. They are awesome. I love them!
We came inside and played Candy Land, we colored and then made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. Diana helped me put the butter on the bread and rinsed her blueberries. We had lunch, played a little more and then she took a nap.
Gramma V came over and we all went swimming together. We were out there for an hour, it was great fun. It was a little breezy out which made it really perfect weather. by the time we got back home, it was dinner time. We made tortellini (Diana's fave), strawberries and garlic bread. We played a little more and then went to bed about an hour later.
It was such a fun day. I think we will rest a little tomorrow though. Unless I can come up with some more activities to do! :)

P.S. Diana helped Daddy water the flowers in the backyard on Friday night. She was very good! Here's the proof!

Camp Gramma V

Diana spent three days last weekend with my mom at what she affectionately called "Camp Gramma V." I am hoping that it's the first of what will be an annual thing. Diana had a ton of fun swimming, playing marching band around my mom's house, cooking, doing dishes, cleaning and just playing, playing, playing.
After the first day when my mom took Diana to Train Town in Sonoma, attended Story Time at the Fairfield Library and fed the ducks at the community center, they decided to scale down the amount of activities and stayed inside the rest of the weekend. Diana actually fell asleep on the way TO Train Town on Friday afternoon which just goes to show you what a weekend with Gramma V is like.
I am going to have Gramma V do a guest blog when she gets back from her vacation and post some of the photos that she took. There are many other details that I would rather have her tell.

Stay tuned!

Dirt, dirt and more dirt

We've learned that Diana loves preschool A. This is not a news flash. There are better toys, more learning, more structure, less chaos.
When her class plays outside during the day, they play on the other side of the school from the twos class that she used to be in. There is play structure like parks have and Diana just loves it. It's not the cleanest play structure in the world, but hey, what's a little dirt, right?
Today, when we went to pick her up from school, they had just come back inside from playing outside (I should preface this by saying that I put Diana in an all-white t-shirt this morning). Diana was playing with some other little kids and her back was to me when I walked in the class. When I finally got her attention, she ran over to me and I noticed that the front of her shirt, right down the middle was soaking wet and a little discolored. It looked like this:

My first thought was that she had thrown up. Then the teacher saw the look of panic on my face and immediately said that the kids were playing in the water fountain right before they came inside. I guess the dirt was from the play structure and the water just made a big old mess!
I gave Diana a bath tonight and for the first time, had to drain the tub while Diana was in it, rinse the dirt off and refill it. I essentially gave her two baths tonight...that's how dirty she was. The last couple nights that I have given her a bath, she's left a ring of dirt around the tub and actual dirt still in the tub when the water drained out. I knew she was dirty just by looking at her, but had NO IDEA that she was THAT dirty.
I've even had to scrub dirt that was stuck to her scalp. Gross.
I guess it's good that she's having fun at school. But I am literally scrubbing this girl from head to toe every night in her bath to get the dirt off. It's pretty nasty.
Despite all that, her bath tub is now one of the cleanest in the world. We deep clean that thing every night!

New fun birthday pics

My blogger friend Amy posted photos of her 3-year-old daughter's birthday party from the weekend so I decided to get off my butt tonight and work on the photos that I took from the last couple parties we had for Diana and Matt's birthdays.
Click on my SmugMug link on the left side of the page over there and find the folder called "Borchert Birthday Parties."

It was a couple of fun birthdays and I hope you enjoy the photos!

New Best Friends

Ryan and Megan arrived last Saturday for their yearly week-long visit. They come at the same time as basketball camp so Megan is showing off her camp skills this week while Ryan is helping Matt with all the logistal stuff.
Diana is really enjoying her cousins. She's ready to get outta bed in the morning and even asks "Where's Ryan and Megan?"
When she sees them as she's coming down the stairs in the morning, she gets that shy little smile on her face. She's so excited to start her day by seeing them.
On our way home from school, all she can talk about is getting home so that she can play with them. When we walk in the door, she doesn't even take the time to put down her art or take her shoes off. She runs into the house and heads over to play with them.

On Tuesday, Diana told me "Mommy, I took a nap today." I replied with "Diana, that's great. Now you'll have more energy to stay up and play with Megan tonight."
"And Ryan, Mommy," she said in a very matter-of-fact 3-year-old tone.
She plays with them in her playroom until we pull her away to get ready for bed. They play trains, they play with her basketball hoop, they play with her easel. And Diana laughs and laughs. She was so hysterical Monday night I thought she was going to get a cramp in her stomach from laughing so hard.
She pays no mind to Matt and me. But, honestly, we have so much fun watching her play with them that we really don't mind.
It's a trip to watch Diana play with teenagers. We don't get to see her interact with kids her own age at school so to watch her play with Ryan and Megan is a lot of fun.

Thanks, Bonnie and Tony, for letting us borrow your kids!

Like being in a foreign country

Celebrating the Fourth of July in Solano County meant driving somewhere to watch fireworks. For most of my childhood, that meant getting in the car and driving out to Walters Rd., parking near the Cloud Nine bar, eating licorice and watching the fireworks that the Air Base people put on. It was fun because I love licorice (both flavors, but the red ones were the ones we got).
You couldn't buy fireworks in Solano County because they were illegal so I never experienced all the dangers (and fun, I guess) of setting them off in your front yard.
On Friday, we went to Sacramento because my cousin got married. We left her house around 9:15 p.m., just as cities were beginning their own fireworks displays. My mom had patriotic music playing in her car so it made for a good background to what we would see along the way.
In my cousin's neighborhood, every other house had families in the driveways sitting in their lawn chairs as they set their own fireworks off in the middle of the street. In fact, my cousin's neighbors were setting them off and all the kids from my cousin's party set up blankets across the street on the lawn to watch. Diana was freaking out and so were my sister and I. That's not something we grew up with...why was it cool?
As we drove home, we continued to see fireworks go off all over the place. So strange, I told Matt. In Monterey County, where he grew up, fireworks weren't illegal so that was the norm. They did sparklers themselves on the Fourth. We didn't even do that.
The idea of setting off fireworks right in front of your house was a foreign concept to me. I knew that people did that, but I didn't realize HOW many people did it. I felt like I was in a foreign country...experiencing someone else's culture. You just didn't see that in Solano County growing up.
The cool thing was driving home on Interstate 80 and seeing fireworks go off up ahead in the cities approaching - Davis, Winters, Dixon, Woodland...We saw them all until about 9:45 p.m. and then they all kinda stopped at the same time.
That was an awesome way to celebrate the Fourth. It's kinda chaotic (and scary) to go down to Suisun City or downtown Vacaville on the Fourth with a little one. It's noisy, there's a lot of people, etc. So to watch fireworks from the car where she can still see them and appreciate them a little was pretty special. I don't know that we will make that trek on purpose every year, but it was fun this year!

Countdown to Oct. 26

I don't write much about myself on this blog. It's not that there isn't much going on in my life...I just think that Matt and Diana's lives are a lot more interesting.
But today, I decide to write about me and a goal that I have set. Actually, it's a goal that I set with my sister, Michelle.
We have decided to run a half marathon in October in Folsom. She ran it last year and though she looked like she wanted to die afterwards, said it was an awesome accomplishment. I agree with her. Having watched my crazy dad do the Ironman over and over and over again, I have to admit feeling a little admiration and curiousity for different competitions he did. I did the triathlon thing (three times) before getting preggers with Diana so I have fulfilled that curiousity. I did some 5Ks, a 10K and Bay to Breakers. I don't think I could ever train for a half marathon on my own though. I mean, I never thought of doing one before, at least.
But when my sister said she was going to do it again, I thought, why not? We did a 5K in Vacaville a while back and it was fun. We have very different running strategies so we hardly ran together but it will be fun to push each other for the next four months (albeit from several cities apart).
I have to run 3 miles, three days a week during July to get into long distance running shape. Then on Aug. 5 I start training for the big race. I downloaded a running trainer program from Hal Higdon's web site and it's pretty awesome. I highly recommend (well, wait, I will recommend after the race)...
I am pretty excited about it now, but we'll see where I stand at the end of this week. :)

On a roll now

There's no need for fancy words: Diana is potty-trained!
The weekend before her birthday we stayed home all weekend, put her in big girl underwear and told her not to potty on Dora, Cinderella, etc. She didn't. She went No. 2 a couple times. But we heard that it was no big deal because it takes all kids a while to get the courage to go No. 2 on the toilet.
So, this was the second weekend of underwear. She wears them to school exclusively (they even told us not to put her in pullups at school because she then thinks it's OK to go pee in them). She hasn't had a No. 1 accident, just No. 2. She tells the teachers at school when she needs to go and tells us at home. She's doing great.
This weekend we went to Miss Renia's graduation party and Diana and I must have made eight trips to the potty in the four hours we were there. Granted, six of those trips, just a little tiny tinkle tinkle came out, but as Matt said, "Better than in her underwear!" Yeah, yeah, you weren't the one carrying her up the hardwood stairs every five minutes! :)
Today, Miss Yoshi was going to take Diana over to the 3s class because she's officially potty-trained and can go over there now. Wow! Big step. We talked about it last night before we went to bed and she seemed excited to go to a new classroom with new toys, new friends and a new teacher. We are really going to miss her teachers (Miss Yoshi, Miss Monica and Miss Michelle). I don't know who's going to fix her hair now or teach her Spanish. What a whirlwind nine months it's been since she started at KinderCare.
Matt and I are both hoping for a little less chaos in the 3s class though. We went to pick her up last week and toys were all over the place in 2s, kids were running around screaming and it was utter chaos. There's really no other word for it. Diana's music teacher, Miss Celia, said that the lack of chaos is the first thing she noticed when her daughter moved to the 3s class a few months back. We'll see. It's another change, that's for sure!

Happy Birthday Diana!

Today was Diana's third birthday. Time flies.
We had a small party at the house for her after school and work. Me, Matt, Gramma V, Au Bob and Uncle Chris. Grandpa D is on vacation. We are having a dual bday party for Matt and Diana in a couple weeks so she can get even more spoiled then.
We had her favorite things--Dora decorations everywhere, KFC for dinner and cake, of course!
We played pin the braclet on Dora, Dora Candy Land and took lots of pictures. It was a really good time. As of this posting, Diana went to bed about 15 minutes ago and Matt and Gramma V are still in the backyard putting together her "plaything."
Birthdays are nothing without the families that we celebrate them with.

What doing, Mommy?

When people ask me how old Diana is, I say "Almost three."
They then ask if she's into the "Why?" stage. No, I respond.
Here's the stage she's in: "What doing, Mommy?"
Diana loves to be in the know. She's a busy body like me. Even though half the time she knows exactly what I am doing, she asks anyway. She never asks "Why?" At least she hasn't yet. I prefer the "What doing, Mommy?" stage because I can make her tell me what I am doing.
For instance, this weekend, we bought Diana some new PJs. I was putting them all away tonight after Diana woke up from her nap. As she's sitting in her crib, she asks "Mommy, what doing?"
"Diana. What does it look like I am doing?"
I know...I am losing patience a little, but I don't want the girl to not be able to figure things out for herself the rest of her life.
She responds with "Putting PJs away."
There are times when she really doesn't know what I am doing, so I tell her. I don't want you to think that I am totally losing my patience.
When a kid asks "Why?" you have to tell them because they literally don't know. I am sure Diana will get to the "Why?" phase someday, but for now, I can handle "What doing Mommy?"

A Walking Oxymoron

When I want ice cream, there's not much anyone can do to stop me from fulfilling that need. The only person really that has control over that is me--"I'm really too lazy to get off the couch to go to the store and get some" is the usual response but every now and then, I will throw in "I really shouldn't because I haven't run all week."
So, last night, I decided I would take advantage of the warm evening, some new songs on my iPod and the fact that I was already dressed for exercise. I laced up my sneaks, grabbed a $10 bill from the "chapel" (you have to have been to my house to know what that means) and headed out the door.
It's not a long walk to Baskin-Robbins, about a half mile--maybe less. So I walked with a rapid pace to get my heart rate up. I got there, got my two-for-$8 pints and headed back with the ice cream in a bag. Why is it so strange to see someone walking down the street with a Baskin-Robbins bag in their hand?
Does it defeat the purpose of exercising if I am carrying ice cream in my hand? Maybe. It's obvious though that I am fit. Sure, I am no Carrie Underwood, but I am not Rosie O'Donnell either.
I am walking down the street, headed back home, listening to my iPod, minding my own business, but I do notice that people in their cars are looking at me a little strange. It's not like I care. I am the last person who cares what other people think when it comes to me and ice cream, but c'mon! This is a free country. This is why America is great! I can walk down the street and get ice cream anytime I want! There are people in Iraq fighting for my right to do this. I love this place!
Stare at me all you want, but you just drove your car to Baskin-Robbins when you could've walked and at least gotten some exercise out of it!

Awesome wedding

My sister is officially Michelle Daggett! Wow. It was a great wedding and reception. What an awesome party. I took a ton of photos, 61 of which are posted on my Smugmug. Just click on the link on the side of the blog and you can see them. Diana did great at the wedding. She took a minor short cut to the front where the bridesmaids were but Daddy came to the rescue and steered her in the right direction. She walked down by herself though, stood right next to me for about five minutes, then sat quietly with Gramma V the rest of the time. At the reception, we took her dress off and she hit the dance floor.
She started out just jumping up and down, but then it turned in to a full on booty shake. There was a little 6-year-old girl who was teaching her how to dance and Diana picked up on it like a star! She's Britney in the making! I don't know how I feel about that.
Well, she danced till 10 p.m.! She stole the show! Before I gave my speech to Michelle and Chris, she looked up at me and said "Mommy, Dance!" I said "Ok in a little bit." She took a cake break later in the night and while she was eating cake, she looked on the dance floor and said "Whoa, Mommy, Look at all those people." I think "Jump Around" was playing or something. She finished the cake and got right back out there. It was hilarious! I hope that this doesn't mean she's going to be some party girl.
Tonight, before we went to bed, I put some music on the television and said "Diana, you want to dance?" Her eyes got all big and we danced in the living room to Chris Brown's "Run It." She cried when we had to stop. I don't think I can keep up with her if she's gonna keep dancing like this.

M&Ms really work

I am not going to write a detailed report about this, but let's just say that Diana made a major turning point in potty training last night.
She went (actually went pee-pee, not just sitting there) twice at school on Wednesday (and was rewarded with stickers) and then twice at home yesterday. She is being rewarded for sitting on the toilet (one M&M) and going (five M&Ms).
Right before her bath last night, she was holding her "area" and said "Mommy, change diaper." Well, since she was completely naked, I thought "Oh man, she has to go." I picked her up and sat her on the toilet. She was extremely quiet (very unusual for her when she sits on the toilet) and then all of a sudden, "tinkle, tinkle." I looked down and she was peeing in the toilet. "Mommy, I go pee-pee!" I screamed down to Matt, "Daddy! Tinkle, Tinkle!" He replied with "Tickle tickle? or Tinkle Tinkle?" I said "NO, Tinkle Tinkle!" He came up with five M&Ms and Diana ate them while she sat on the toilet. I know, real sanitary, huh? Matt said we were having a potty party!
Hopefully, this wasn't just a case of one-hit wonder. I know we still have a long way to go, but it was pretty awesome.

The ride home

The ride home from work and school lately has been extremely enjoyable so I thought I would take the time to give a play-by-play of our experience starting when I pick her up. This is from Monday's trip home.

4:24 p.m....I sign Diana out in her classroom, pick up her art project from the day and her daily activity sheet. This paper tells us what she ate, whether or not she tried to go potty and if she took a nap or not. Sidebar: We have started rewarding Diana with M&Ms if she tries to go potty. She gets one if she tries and if she actually "makes pee-pee," as Matt calls it, she gets five. This is gonna be TMI, but if she goes No. 2, she gets 10. Two days in and she's all about the M&Ms...she tries, but doesn't "make" anything yet.

4:28...I go into the "backyard" at KinderCare where Diana is playing with the rest of her classmates. I look around for her and notice she's playing in the dirt and grass with some other little girls. I watch her for a couple minutes before she notices me. she runs over full steam ahead and embraces me with a hug. it's the best part of the day!

4:30...we head down the hallway, grab some crackers from the basket and talk about the day on the way to the car.

4:35...once we get out on the street in the car, Diana asks for her music, "Di-Ana music, Mommy." I push play on the Splash CD that she gets from her ABC Music and Me class and we are all set for the 20 minute ride home.

4:36-5:00...So many things happen on the ride home today...none that are really out of the ordinary from any other day, but this day was a little more animated than others. We usually sing and dance to certain songs on the CD, but today was a little more emphasized. Diana would request a song and if I didn't guess it right, "no, Mommy, no." So, I would skip through the CD trying to guess which one she wanted. when I finally got it right, she gasped and screamed "YES!" then we danced.
By the way, I am totally a safe driver. when i say I am dancing, it is the lowest form of dancing you can imagine. It's more Diana dancing than mommy.
On this particular day, Diana noticed something on the freeway and pursued to tell me, in her most excited voice. I had no idea what she was trying to tell me after several guesses. Then, I looked ahead on the freeway and saw it...A Target truck.
"Mommy, Target Truck!" Target is Diana's favorite store. She freakin' loves that place. She noticed during the Indy 500 the driver's who had Target as their sponsors.
Seeing the Target truck was the equivilant of a teenager getting first row tickets to that Hannah Montana concert.
the second I exit the freeway, diana notices another favorite. "Mommy, KFC!" I look in the rear-view mirror and she's raising up out of her car seat looking out the window trying to get a better view of the restaurant. She continues to yell "KFC" until we pass and then she says "Bye-bye KFC!"
It's seven more minutes until home and we are pretty much on cruise control after here. KFC is pretty much the peak.

The drive home is extremely fun. it's a great way to catch up (we do that too..I didn't mention that) on our days. when I ask Diana how her day was she usually says "It's fine." that's exactly the way I feel!

Happy Birthday to my Mommy!

What a great three-day weekend! I haven't had one in a while here at the new job, so it was really nice to have an extra day to take care of some things around the house. I put up a bunch of frames around the house that have been collecting dust for a few months now. Our house really feels like a home even more now because of all the family pics I put up. It's awesome.

Thanks to my family, especially Matt, for putting together a great party last night with my family. It was nice to have everyone over and laugh and have good times.

The best part came later that night when I was setting up my new laptop (thanks, Mom!)and Matt and I heard Diana making some noise on the monitor. We turned the television down and turned the monitor up so we could hear what she was saying. After all, it was over an hour since I put her to bed. She was singing.

"Happy Birthday to My Mommy! Happy Birthday to My Mommy!
Happy Birthday to My Mommmmeeeee. Happy Birthday to My Mommmmeeee!"

I just sat there on the floor with my jaw to the ground and my hand over my mouth. The girl was singing exactly like we had sung two hours earlier when we had cake. I know they have birthdays at school, but I don't know if they sing (they probably do). But it was amazing! The girl shocks me every day, but to full on just start singing was hilarious!Matt and I were still laughing about it this morning.

There could have been no greater end to my pre-birthday celebration! Now, for Shopping at Target (thanks, Dad!)

Our favorite things

To say it was hot this weekend would be an understatement. It was well over 100 degrees and all of us were in desperate need of cooling off. After Au Bob's bridal shower on Saturday, we took naps, and enjoyed the return of a few of our favorite things - mommy's camera and Diana's water table.(I will post a photo later tonight).
Diana played in the water table for about an hour. I didn't even realize that long had gone by because I was busy snapping away pictures of the happy girl. She's so funny because she's very business like when she's playing with the water table. It's not all about splashing...it's about organization, making sure everything gets played with and making sure water gets poured on the ground at least once.
It was the first time Diana got to wear her Princess bathing suit. It's been hanging in her room for about a month now and it fits her perfectly. She'll be able to have it all summer.

Then....on Sunday, we went for a bike ride a couple hours before bed time. Diana rode her tricycle, which she is getting very good at, up to the park and we went on the swings. All was fine until Diana lost her balance running down a small hill and smacked her face into the sidewalk. Needless to say, I will not be posting a photo from that. She's OK. She had some swelling and looked like she was involved in a heavyweight fight, but no black eyes today thank goodness! She's a trouper because after it happened, we walked back home to clean her up and the whole time, she is saying "bike, Daddy, bike!" She wanted to get back on her bike. So after we changed clothes and got her all cleaned up, we went back to the park to go down the slide. She keeps it all in perspective for us!

Oh, Mandy!

Well, we got back from Vegas yesterday afternoon and it's back to work today. Vegas was good. We ate out at a couple nice restaurants, one of which is a hot spot for a ton of A-list celebs that stop in to town. I was very proud to suggest that one to Matt. While he was getting a massage and I was getting a pedicure, I asked some of the locals where to go before our concert at the Hilton and they said "Piero's, definitely!" So we went and it was awesome. Italian food, of course. Great atmosphere and really not bad priced either.

The Barry Manilow experience was interesting for me. Having not grown up around his music, I was mostly there to provide support for Matt. It was a good show. The guy didn't so much as take a sip of water for the 1 1/2 hours that he performed. He was non-stop the whole time. It was funny to see the 40-year-old women all dressed up and swooning over Manilow though. You would swear that they were at Thunder Down Under (a male revue show in Vegas) not Barry Manilow!

The basketball clinic was good too. We saw Jay Wright from Villanova, but only stayed for a little bit because he wasn't that good. He really liked to hear himself talk. We also saw Geno Auriemmo from UConn. That's mostly who we went to see. Matt didn't even bring his notebook to write anything down (not that he needs to because he's seen all the guys videos and runs his offenses). Geno was hilarious! Just as funny as in his coaching videos. He threw a Tennessee jab in there, which is what I was expecting. Awesome! One of his former players was in attendance, Shea Ralph, and he kept asking her "This is what we ran, right Shea?" And she would answer "Yup!" It was interesting.

Diana had a little separation anxiety after being with Gramma V for three nights. They picked us up at the airport and took us back to Michelle's apt. to get our car and Diana refused to drive back home with us. She wanted to stay with Gramma V. So she drove back with Gramma V and was fine once she got home.

I can't believe how much more Diana is talking. We were only away from her for a few days. It's crazy!

All Better!

Diana seems to be all better!
She went to school on Wednesday with a big smile on her face and seems to be so glad to be feeling better. I got off work early to go pick her up and when we finally got home after running an errand, she came up to me and said "Mommy, eat." So glad that she finally has her appetite back. We are taking it slow still with the food she eats but she's got her energy back that's for sure.

And she's talking more than ever too! I was packing last night for our trip to Vegas and she said "Di-Ana Borchert come?" I also taught her to say "Dos Vedanya" (I hope I spelled that right) thanks to Grandpa D, who wants to teach her Russian on top of the English and Spanish she's already learning. She said it pretty good.

Anyway, we are very glad to be back to a healthy family. Thanks for all your support!

Being sick is the absolute worst

Diana has been sick since Wednesday. Throwing up, coughing, diarrhea (though that hasn't been that bad). She hasn't been herself, which is not fun to watch. She's fallen asleep on the floor, on the chair, on the couch, on us. She hasn't eaten much and really doesn't like the taste of Gatorade or PediaLyte. We have taken her to the doctor twice, including a trip to Kaiser in Vallejo on Sunday afternoon. They said she has an ear infection (which she probably got two weeks ago when the cough started), which turned in to a sinus infection which caused her to get a minor case of pink eye. She's on two antibiotics. I feel so helpless. What's a mom to do but give TLC?

While she's been sick, her lips have gotten super chapped, but she won't let us put Chapstick or anything on them. Well, last night, I pulled the Cinderella card. I told her that the Burt's Bees came directly from Cinderella and Snow White because I called them and asked them what they used on their lips to keep them shiny and healthy. A couple minutes of that worked like a charm. She let me put it on her without a whimper!

I thought it would be good to end this post on a happy note. :)

Loving School...and KFC

I remember a time when Diana used to run over to me when I went to pick her up from school. She doesn't really do that anymore.
The other day, she was playing at one of the tables with the rest of her class. They were making pretend food with play-doh. She held her flat piece up to her teacher and said, "monica, tortilla." She knew I was standing there watching her. I'm glad she likes school though...if she didn't life would be so much harder for Matt and me.

On another note: Diana's favorite restaurant is by far KFC. This is the first place that she started going with V a long, long time ago. It's still their place and she went there with Matt a couple weeks ago. We pass by it on our way to work and on our way home everyday and Diana points it out to us: "Hi, K-F-C! Bye, K-F-C!" It's that quick because usually we are driving by it. A couple minutes later, when we are well passed it, she says in a sad, sad voice "Mommy, K-F-C." I always have to tell her, "Not tonight, buddy." She understands.

Three is approaching

We are only two months away from having a 3-year-old. And I am reminded of it everyday. The tantrums have stopped for the most part. I think Matt and I did a good job of ignoring them and not letting them control our lives.
The talking is non-stop. We REALLY Have to watch what we say around Diana because she says everything! Grand V asked Diana the other day "What's up?" And now, Diana says "What's up?" all day. Matt turned the Giants game on the other day while Diana and I were eating dinner, they were losing and he said "Oooooh Maaaaaan!" Now, Diana says "Oooooooh Maaaaaan" all the time. You can ask her to say something and she tries her best to say it. She constantly refers to herself as "Di-Ana Borchert." As long as she doesn't call herself "Anna Borchert" anymore, I am happy.
The other night when we were getting ready to go to bed, Diana grabbed "Choo-Choo Guy" which is a stuffed teddy bear dressed like a train conductor, and she gave him a big hug and said "nigh nigh, choo-choo guy." Then, she grabbed his hand and had him wave good-bye to me. "Nigh nigh mommy." She's just the dearest sweetest little thing sometimes. That far outweighs all the trouble she gives us with potty training.
That's a topic I am not going to get into right now. The girl can't be bribed. If she can't have her letter cookies because she won't go pee, then it's "Eh, Ok. No biggie."
Hopefully, by the time she goes to Stanford, she'll be potty trained.

A goal

I signed up to run a 5K in Vacaville. It's on May 3, a couple Saturdays from now. My sister is going to run it too though I know she's going to kick my butt. I hope we can run together because that would be fun and I really don't want her to go ahead and run ahead of me and try to beat me. She would, she's in much better shape than I am.
I haven't run on the treadmill in about a week because I was sick for a few days last week and then this weekend. I'm better now and Matt has a home visit tonight (the last one. Yay!) so I don't have an excuse not to run. I have to increase my mileage though because I am used to only running two miles. I have to get up to three over the next couple weeks.
On another note: I got my hair cut and colored this weekend. It makes me look about seven years younger. Seven? Yea, I think it's more than five but less than 10. It's a fun little cut that I am starting to get used to.

I, E, O, O, B

For the most part, Diana can sing the alphabet. It's very fun to sing it with her because at the end, when you say "next time won't you sing with me" we get very loud with our "me" and we say "me, ME, MEEEEEEEE!" It's a riot.

She's not succeeding so much with her numbers. She knows how to hold up 1-5 on her fingers, but counting in English has not been a success.

When she counts, she says "I, E,O,O,B." She's done it for a while now and we can't convince her to say "1,2,3,4,5."

The other night, I was taking her barettes out of her hair and said, "Oh, you have two black barettes today, huh?" She responded with, "Yeah, I,E" as in "1,2."
This girl definitely has her own way of doing things.

On a side note: When I went to pick her up from school yesterday, they were just getting ready to go play outside. Diana ran over to me and buried her head in my lap after I leaned down to say hi. She seemed very sad. I asked Miss Monica if Diana had a good day and she said oh yeah, very good.

I asked Diana what was wrong, but nothing. Then Miss Monica said "Well, we were about to go outside, so maybe she's upset that she can't play outside." OH, Duh!

"Diana," I said, "Do you want to play outside?"

"Yes," she said...still very sad.

"Well, we can go play outside at home if you want," I said.

"No home, Mommy."

"You want to play outside here for 10 minutes and then I will come back and get you?"

"yeah," she said and then took her jacket out of my hand and went and hung it back up on the hanger. I took the hint, waited out in the lobby for 10 minutes and then went and got her. She was happy to see me this time.

From the sports world: So sad about Stanford. Not a great way to end a wonderful season. Hopefully some of the girls get in better shape and are ready to go and make another run next year.

Better Spanish than English?

Matt just called me at work on his way to take Diana to school and he said "Did you know that Diana can count to five in Spanish?"
Uh, no.
Sure enough, he holds the phone up to her and says..."Uno" She replies, "Dos." Matt: "Tres...Cuatro." Diana: "Cinco."
I love KinderCare! Diana blows me away everyday. She's also now saying the last half of the alphabet. So when you sing A-K, she can get the tones right for L-Z. And sometimes, when she is totally immersed in her kitchen or trains, you can hear her singing it to herself.
I have heard people that go on shows like American Idol and other competitions say they have been singing since they were 2. I always thought, "Wow. They were really singing words to songs at that age? That's amazing!"
Now I know what that means. Not actual words for the most part, but humming and trying to sing. Diana does this on a daily basis. Our child will be on American Idol one day...just watch!
On top of all that, she won a coloring contest at a local bank yesterday. Granted, there were only like four entries and we don't know exactly what the word "won" means, but they want to take her picture for their newsletter so we are going to pick up her prize this afternoon!
On another note...
Go Stanford!!!! What a great game last night. An inspired performance that brought tears to my eyes. There isn't a player more deserving of going to a Final Four than Candice Wiggins. Maybe now Stanford will get the respect it deserves. I am really looking forward to this weekend's games!

Casual Friday

Casual Friday is not something that should be practiced at all offices around the country. For instance, where I work. Our CEO and Founder doesn't allow us to wear denim to work. NEVER. I totally understand that and have never argued that. We are a professional workplace, a major company, and we should look professional. You never know who is going to get a tour of this place and we should always look nice.
I had a doctor appointment today and when the nurse called my name, I looked up and almost stopped in my tracks.
She was wearing tight jeans, white tennies and a white hooded sweatshirt that she got on a recent vacation (I can't remember the tourist destination that was printed across the front). How am I supposed to know that she's a nurse? If I saw her walking around the office building, I would never know that she was a nurse. She was dressed exactly like the woman who was cleaning the garbages around the same office. Oh, wait. That woman was wearing a red hooded sweatshirt.
So, because she was at least wearing white to work, I am supposed to assume that she is a nurse. How do I know that jeans, tennies and a hooded sweatshirt isn't the attire for the people who clean the garbages? The "nurse" could've been a garbage cleaner and was filling in for my nurse who went to the bathroom or something.
I allowed her to take my BP and all that other stuff, but I was leary. She then proceded to sit me in an empty room.
"Wait here until an exam room opens up. I didn't want to leave you in the waiting room and make you think we forgot about you."
I swear, those were her exact words.
So, she thinks that the nurses would forget about me in a WAITING ROOM? There were dozens of people sitting in there after she called my name. Are they still sitting there waiting for their appointment or did they get called back eventually? The whole process was weird.
I am thinking about changing my doctor so I never have to go to that office building again.

The greatest little family

I am a lucky lady. I know everyone thinks they are lucky to have their family whether it be a husband, kids, parents. But this week, I feel especially lucky to have my family.
Diana is a constant source of humor for Matt and I. I know that lately I have been somewhat of a downer because the so-called terrible threes are approaching and she's been a bit of a challenging kid lately. But she's a great kid!
She picks up a lot of bad habits at school. It's inevitable. Everyone told us when she started school that she would learn how to hit and bite, etc. And sure, she's picked up some things that I have to teach her not to do at home. But there are a ton of good things that she does that are definitely a blessing.
Like talking. She's learned to talk a lot more because it's a survival technique at school. She's learned how to sit on the toilet and have some patience while waiting to see if she has to pee. The biggest thing though has been her music class.
Diana's teacher is so proud of her because of the incredible strides she's made in music class once a week. She's really come out of her shell and started to participate more. We listen to her music CD in the car ALL THE TIME. And I actually like it. There's some fun songs on there.
But this morning was probably the most classic. I don't know if Diana was dreaming about music class or what, but she greeted Matt this morning with "Hi Daddy. Wiggle Waggle."
All morning it was "Wiggle Waggle, Wiggle Waggle."
I asked her, "Diana, did you learn Wiggle Waggle at school?"
She said yes and then made the gesture that she makes when referring to her music class.
"Oh," I said. "You learned that in Music class?"
She said an emphatic yes and said "Wiggle Waggle."
So, all the way to school this morning, we said wiggle waggle. Who knew that saying wiggle waggle would be so much fun to say in the morning? I suggest trying it!

Also, I do have the greatest husband. I am so very proud of him for doing our taxes all by himself this weekend. He's never done that and while I sense that it was a source of great stress, he did it with flying colors!
He's got the week off school and when I got home on Monday, the house was clean and the plumbing situation was getting resolved. And, while I worked out, he cooked dinner and fed Diana. I definitely don't take for granted that he's a great Dad and husband. I am very appreciative of everything he does around the house and in life to take care of us!

Bras

I put that title up there as a fair warning to anyone who doesn't want to read a post about bras. Don't read any further if this is TMI.
I made a much overdue trip to Victoria's Secret yesterday (I had the day off work) with the simple mission of buying at least three bras. The ones I had were stretched out, uncomfortable and in desperate need of being thrown in the trash. A bad bra throws me off. I am fidgety all day, long for a sports bra and can't wait to get home and get out of it. That's how I have been for a few weeks now.
When a coupon advertisting VS's new Bio Fit bra came in the mail, I took it as a sign. It said that I could go to VS for a free panty and $10 off any bra. Sweet!
Luckily, one of Matt's former players was working there and she's just awesome. She sized me and then had me go into a fitting room and gave me the samples of all seven bras that VS has now. I tried each one on to see which style I liked the best. What an amazing concept, I thought. Trying on a sample before you buy. The whole process was actually kind of fun. Once I got done, I knew which bras I wanted. J-Lo (that was the player's nickname when she played for Matt) then brought me over to the display, got my sizes for me and we headed to the check out counter. I ended up buying the Bio Fit bra and I highly recommend it. It really does feel like it's custom made.
Anyhow, I spent an obscene amount of money at VS, but I plan on having these bras for years. I think that's why VS charges so much money for their bras. They are great quality and you will be able to have them for a while. If that's not the case, I am screwed.
I am extremely comfortable today. I think today will be my most productive day at work in months.
In other news...
Why does everyone, including broadcasters, refer to the NCAA Tournament as March Madness? That's what the uneducated, non-sports fan is supposed to refer to it as. It's not March Madness! Let's call it what it is!

Diana was very upset (OK, I was too) that the Stanford men's game wasn't on TV yesterday when we got home at around 3:30. Some genius decided that it wasn't important I guess. They show every other game but they decide the Stanford game is no good. I know that the Stanford men aren't going to go very far, but at least let me see a game!

Diana's new words of the week: Hello and Hi, Buddy. It's hilarious!

Welcome Back, Daddy

Matt is back home. After five days of an all-girl house, we were glad that he returned home from the state tournament last night. Upon his return, Matt noticed that Diana is talking a lot more (she says "Pasta" now) and even more active than ever before.
She also said "I Love You" for the first time. Of course it was to V, but when I put her to bed last night, she said it to me too...along with the nightly ritual of blowing kisses.
All is going well in the Borchert household and the weather is wonderful! What more could we ask for?

'Um, that's not Cinderella, mister'

We took Diana to the doctor yesterday. She has an ear infection, prescribed her some medicine and it was all good. He was very impressed with her immune system and the fact that we haven't brought her in during the winter time.
Diana was a little scared going to the doctor. She's never had a bad experience there but when the nurse called her name, she froze up and started crying. We reassured her that nothing bad has ever happened to her at the doctor and that she'd be fine.
She had to get on the scale and even though there was a Dora sticker on the scale that she LOVED and a poster of kids with their heads in sunflowers that she thought was funny, she didn't want to do it. So, Mom got on, the nurse wrote down my weight, and then Mom and Diana got on. Poor Nurse had to do some math, but she got what she needed.
Diana did fine while we were in the exam room. She let the doctor look at her eyes and her ears. She put her shoes back on all by herself while he was doing that, as if to say 'OK, we can go now' but she didn't get upset until he asked her to open her mouth so he could look at her tongue.
I told Diana on Tuesday that the doctor was going to have to look at her tongue and that she would get stickers if she did everything she needed to do at the doctor. I told her that he would have Cinderella and Snow White stickers for her.
The doctor was able to look at her tongue while she was crying, made his prognosis and that was it. No big deal.
As we were getting ready to leave, he asked Diana if she would like to pick out a sticker. She leaped off my lap and practically chased the poor man down the hallway. Mom and Dad were an afterthought.
The doctor handed Diana a basket with various stickers in it. He leafed through trying to help her decide. She didn't see what she wanted.
"Eee-yah, no-white," she said.
I explained to the doctor that I told her he would have Cinderella and Snow White, but that if he didn't that was OK, we would make do.
"OH, no let's see what we can find," he said.
He opened another drawer with about 500 stickers in it and Diana followed him over there, got on her tip toes and looked into the drawer. He found some girly stickers with imposter princesses on it and told her to choose her Princess.
She just stared at the stickers.
"Eee-yah, no-white," she said.
I quickly noticed that what he was trying to give her were imposter Princesses and tried to convince her that it was Cinderella and Snow White. It didn't work.
She threw herself on the ground and started crying. I took the stickers from the doctor, thanked him, apologized to him, picked Diana up and we left.
We had our first lesson with Diana about being grateful.
This morning, we found out that there is a confirmed case of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease in her classroom at School. Wonderful.

Conflicting Reports

Diana has been sick - again - for the last week or so. Just a bad cough...her spirits are the same as usual. Her mood has never really been affected by being sick. She just goes about her day and coughs when she needs to.
But she's had a cough for a little over a week and yesterday at school her temperature got over 100 degrees. I didn't have to pick her up or anything, but we called Kaiser to get their opinion on the matter. They said not to worry.
We have never liked to give Diana any medication because I believe it weakens your immune system. I don't take medicine when I am sick, I just drink a lot of water and green tea. Seems to do the trick.
Then these reports came out a while back saying that you shouldn't give your kid under 8 cold medicine because it doesn't really work and there could be side effects anyway. Well, that did it for me. No more medicine.
But then Diana develops these two white patches on her tongue the other day. Now, I am a little concerned. I am taking her to the doctor today. What started out as a regular cold could now be strep. So, do I freak out and assume it's strep everytime she gets a cough? I don't want to be freak-out parent, but I do want a healthy child. I realize her going to Kindercare is going to produce more colds, but strep? That's a whole new story.
I will keep you updated.

All good things must come to an end...

The season is over. And though Solano lost on Saturday to Siskiyous and there were parts of the game that were frustrating and sad, I thought the girls played really well. I was extremely proud of their effort the entire game and they were very pumped up before and during the game. Even at the end, the girls on the bench were chanting "Defense" and cheering for the sophomores who finished the game off.
Before the game started, it started snowing so it was really fun to see the girls get to experience snow for the first time and get to play in it if only for three seconds during a water break. :)
We had a pretty good amount of fans that made the drive to see the game: My dad, Jan and Carl, Leilanie's family, Brandi's dad and Natalie's family. It was awesome to have that support even though we played the farthest away we could have possibly played. The Siskiyous crowd was good too. It seemed like the whole town of Weed was there!
I am really excited to see where the sophomores end up going to school next year and to have these freshmen come back next year. I think recruiting is going well too so it should be fun also to see who decides to join the Solano family.
I have a short week this week because I am headed to Phoenix for the Town Hall meeting on Friday and Saturday. I am really excited about it. It should be a ton of fun!

Weed, AI, Texting

No, I am not writing about drugs, the movie Artifical Intelligence or Allen Iverson.
Solano found out its playoff opponent on Monday - we are headed back to Weed on Saturday. We played Siskiyous earlier this season and lost, but the girls are pretty fired up about Saturday's game. I am excited because I get to drive up to the game with the team. I will take a lot of pictures and post them sometime next week so everyone can see the fun road trip. If memory serves, the gym there has really good lighting so I am hoping to also get some good photos of the game.
American Idol...it was better last night. I was glad to see that Chikezie stepped it up. What a turnaround from last week! But by far the best was David Archuleta. I wasn't surprised that Paula Abdul cried because that version of "Imagine" by John Lennon was impressive. He sang it flawlessly...I am downloading it on iTunes tonight. My favorite, David Cook, was awesome as well. I am still not voting though.
I have decided that I would prefer not to get text messages anymore. My cell phone is a piece of junk (to use a family-friendly word) and keeps flashing "memory full" on the screen. I have cleared out all the old messages in the sent and inbox, but it still is "screaming" at me in its own little way. Matt texts enough for the both of us anyway. :)
If you need to get a hold of me, just call, I would love to hear your voice!!

Back to work...

Not that I took any time off of work, but what a busy weekend we had. It was very hard to get up this morning (I ate very poorly this weekend and haven't run on the treadmill since Wednesday...YUK!).
Diana developed a cough this weekend so I am hoping I don't get a call from Kindercare today saying she has a fever. Coughs are always worse when she is lying down so I am hoping that she doesn't cough much today while she is running around playing and stuff.
I was so glad that Debbie came down this weekend...what a treat. She was quite the Oscars hostess. She brought prizes for our little Oscars predicition test and of course, she won! That's OK, she has much more time on her hands to get out and see movies. It was good to have her expert opinion on what movies Matt and I should watch once they come out on OnDemand! :)
Matt finds out about the playoffs today (we finished the season undefeated on Friday...it was great!). The phones were ringing off the hook yesterday. Since Matt is the president of the association and thus in charge of the meetings today, he had to field calls from all these coaches about how the system works and how he thinks the bracket is going to be filled out.
I am so proud of the girls, but I am also proud of Matt, the Coach of the Year. I thought this year was his best coaching year. He made great decisions on the sideline and I thought was much more confident in his decision-making abilities. It's been so much fun to watch him grow as a coach these past eight years. It's funny to say that because you never think that someone who has been coaching for half his life has to grow. He's become a truly great coach and I can't wait for the playoffs this weekend.
Go Solano!

Idol, hoops and rain

It's raining here today. I hope it stops because I am supposed to take some pictures of a co-worker's daughter playing soccer this afternoon. I am really looking forward to it because I never get to take pictures of outdoor sports. The clouds would make for some really good lighting, but I can't do the rain because I will have Diana with me.
The University of Tennessee announced this morning that Candace Parker will participate in senior night festivities at the end of the month. As a huge UT fan, I am sad to see her go, but know that great things await her in the future. If she ends up playing for the LA Sparks in the WNBA, there will be plenty of chances to see her play against the Monarchs...that will be a ton of fun!
Once again, American Idol last night was just 'eh.' There were a couple of girls who really came to perform - Asia'h most specifically. But the others were just blah and played it safe. I am still not voting, but hope the right girls stay on for another week.

American Idol...eh

I thought the boys did an OK job last night. Wait, I am calling them boys..they are men (well most of them at least).
My favorites were David Cook, David Archuleta (he's so adorable!) and the dread locks guy that I can't remember his name right now. They were original, creative and comfortable on stage. The other guys sang the exact song they chose that was recorded 40 years ago.
I am learning to side with Randy, Paula and Simon more when they get frustrated with the singers who sing the song exactly as it was recorded. This competition is about being creative and showing you deserve to be a recording artist. Show some spunk for crying out loud!
The excuse, "The song is a 60s song!" is so old. Make it your own! Haven't these contestants watched the show for the past eight years? Don't they hear what the judges preach year after year, contestant after contestant?
I hope the girls do a better job tonight. There are a ton of guys that should be voted off Thursday night but unfortunately only two will go.
I have decided that I am not voting until the Round of 12 starts.

We are the champions!

For the second time in three years, Solano won the BVC title. It's awesome. What would be even more awesome is to win these last two conference games and go undefeated. These girls are so fired up and it would be so fun for them to go undefeated. Playoffs start either on the 29 or March 1.

Never Assume Anything

I have been doing this Mommy thing for a while now - 2 1/2 years. And I think I am pretty good at it. But everyday is a learning experience because there's something new that Diana does everyday. It's all fun and exciting.
Last night, we went out to dinner to my favorite Italian restaurant across the street. It's the perfect little family restaurant with great New York ambiance! Whenever we order pizza, I insist we get it from there because it's New York style and just awesome! We rarely order dinner from there and we don't usually go and sit down. Honestly, whenever we order pizza, Matt buys it so I have no idea how much it costs.
When Diana and I got there, a 15-year-old maitre'd (who may have been the manager because he was dressed in a nice shirt and pants) brought us to our table. He gave us our menus and walked away. He never said one word to us, not even a "Happy Valentine's Day."
When I saw him walk away, I just assumed he was going to get a high-chair for Diana. No such luck. I turned around to see where he was and I couldn't find him. The high-chairs were right behind me so I grabbed one and set it up. Thanks, kid.
As I glanced at the menu to order something for Diana, I noticed that the kid's menu only included pasta (four different varieties of spaghetti with a different sauce). I looked at the price and was floored-$6.95! It didn't include a drink or desert or fruit or a veggie. Just six little ravioli rounds. Are you kidding? I tried to find something on the menu, maybe a small personal pizza that was cheaper but the cheapest pizza was $19.99.
I ordered her the cheese ravioli and sulked. Luckily, she inhaled it. I also ordered her a milk. Did I need to mention to the waitress that a kid's size milk would suffice?
She brought back a red, paper Coke cup that was 16 oz.
"Um,do you have something smaller than this for kids?" I asked.
"No, that's the smallest cup we have," she replied. She sounded surprised that I asked. "I didn't put milk in it all the way though."
Gee, thanks.
I explained to Diana that the big cup was all she was getting and she was going to have to make do. Of course, she was fine.
As I looked around the restaurant I noticed that every single table was filled with families and more than half had a 2-year-old with them.
I have learned a lot because Diana and I go out to eat together quite a bit. There are staples that I guess I need to bring because I shouldn't assume that every kids meal is going to come with a small cup, some veggies and/or fruit and a sensible meal.
Therefore, I vow to always come prepared from now on with: a sippy cup (they make these take and toss ones with Princesses on them. I will make sure to stock up), some fruit (Luckily, we have a stash of those Dole fruit cups in the cubboard), a small fork and spoon (even though Diana does fine with a big one), wipes (Diana goes through paper napkins like diapers) and a desert item suitable for a toddler (a Gerber cookie).These are things that I brought when she was a little kid and nothing they had in the restaurant was good enough for a baby. Now she can pretty much take what they give her at restaurants that cater more to families so I just never thought about having to bring stuff like this.
This will make the dining out experience so much more enjoyable.

Three more to go

Happy Valentine's Day!!
Last night's sophomore night was great! Matt and the assistant coaches did a great job of honoring the five sophomores who were playing their final home game at Solano. There are photos from the celebration on my photo web site. And there will be more added later.
Shockingly enough...The Falcons won. So, that means, with a win on Friday over Mendocino, we clinch our second conference title in three years. Hopefully we can close out the season with three wins and have some momentum going into the playoffs. It's been a great conference season and the girls are really fired up to keep the win streak going.

Monday, Monday

What a beautiful sun shiny weekend!
Once we got done with the filming on Friday around 5 p.m., Diana, V and I went out to dinner. I couldn't imagine going home and standing on my feet for another 30-45 minutes to make dinner...I had been on my feet all day in heels, running around the building and I just couldn't stand any longer.
I even tried to walk on the treadmill after Diana went to bed and my knees started to swell. I had to stop.
So, I watched TV and waited for the phone call from Matt telling about the game. They won 106-55. Ouch. They have no mercy!
On Saturday I did some shopping at the mall with a friend of mine. I got a ton of new clothes (and all of them were on sale) which I needed desperately.
Sunday was the best though. We all went to the driving range and hit balls. I hit pretty good, considering that I hadn't hit balls in forever. Diana enjoyed being Mommy and Daddy's caddy more than she wanted to hit balls. We brought her clubs and she tried to hit the ball a couple times, but when she missed, she picked the ball up and chucked it out into the open. It was funny...even she laughed at herself.
She was very helpful on the putting green while Matt and I putted. Once the ball stopped rolling toward the hole, she would pick it up and throw it back to us. This saved Matt and I more time and allowed us to practice putting. Unfortunately, more people started coming over to the putting green and Diana wasn't able to be the caddy. But she did a great job and had so much fun. When we got home we played in the backyard for about an hour. I am sure that breathing fresh air was a wonderful thing for her.

I have to give a big shout out to Matt because he bought me these fantastic pair of Carlos Santana shoes that I have been wanting for quite a while. They are my Valentine's gift.
Back to work and school today though and the day is moving along. Two more big games this week, including sophomore night on Wednesday.
Go Falcons!

Whoa!

Last night was one of the most unbelieveable games I have ever witnessed-both as a player and a coach's wife.
We beat Napa Valley 101-42. The girls played so well. Everything went right, it seemed. The crowd was stunned, but excited at the same time. Solano started the game on a 23-0 run in which Napa called four timeouts. The girls were so excited everytime the coach called a timeout. They lept off the bench and celebrated with the girls coming out of the game. It was great energy and I was so proud of them.
Matt also got his 150th win at Solano and though he said it wasn't a big deal, the girls did a great job of presenting him with a plaque in front of a large crowd.
I just hope the girls and coaches can keep up this same intensity for five more games. It seems that they are ready to make this final push and win the league title with an undefeated record.

Busy week

This week is going to be a busy one for the Borchert family.
Not only do we have two more big games this week (Napa on Wednesday) but Angela has a busy week culminating with a production company coming to corporate this Friday to film some employees. Copart was named one of the Best Places to Work in the Bay Area and they are basically coming all day Friday to film. It's going to be pretty fun. So, I am helping prepare for that all week. We have to meet with the people that are going to be on camera (different employees here and at our Martinez yard) to go over what they should say. It's all buzz words so we give them the questions and answers prior to the filming.
I love being busy at work, especially when it's for something like this that I have never done. It's interesting to be a part of a filming session like this. I have no idea what to expect.
Anyway, the big game on Wednesday should be a good one. It's our next to last home game and against a team that was talking all kinds of trash before the season. They have three league losses now. :)
Oh and Megan turns 12 this weekend! As Diana would say "Oh boy-yah!

7-0

I hope I am not jinxing anything and I doubt that the family is relying on me to keep this blog up to date anymore, but here goes.
Matt's team is 7-0 in conference. It's amazing. The team is playing really well right now and we hope to keep things going through the rest of the season. We won all our conference games by double digits, though we got a little scare last night. We were down two at half to Contra Costa, our big rivals, but pulled it out with an inspired second half.

Diana reached a big stage in the last week or so (which is the main reason for writing). She is sitting on the potty regularly at school and every so often at home. She actually goes at school, but has yet to go at home. The teachers at her school asked us to bring Pull-ups because it's easier for them and her when they take her potty. Pull-Ups!!! So, Matt and Diana went to the store this morning and got her some Princess Pull-Ups.

I can't believe that what we have been doing with her potty training has worked. It's amazing..our kid is amazing. We didn't force it on her, we just asked her every so often if she needed to go. I know we have a long way to go still, but it's a great start!

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!