On to Soccer

Diana started Just for Kicks soccer class today. It's an eight-week class for a half hour each that teaches the fundamentals. They do some kicking drills and just work on kicking. They did a lot of that. It was great. Diana was awesome. I was most proud of Diana during ballet on the days when she really listened to her teacher and followed instruction and didn't get influenced by the other girls who were off running around and doing her own thing. She's in a soccer class now with 3-4 year olds, boys and girls. While it is a Mommy, Daddy and Me class, Matt and I stayed behind for the most part and just let her do her soccer thing. She listened, she kicked the heck out of the soccer ball, she got a great workout and most important, she had fun! She had a huge smile on her face after we left...and that was even when she realized that she had some fans there - Grandpa D recorded the whole thing on video (in addition to my standard picture taking), and Gramma V and her friend Linda stopped by on a covert mission to spy on the little one in her class. It was a great way to start the morning!
Here's some photos from the class...Enjoy!

This is Matt putting her cleats on.


This is Matt and Diana warming up.


More warming up.


Diana scoring on an open-netter. :)


I think I need one more barrette next time, Mommy.


Is there anything better than seeing your kid smile so big?

Gramma V, the rock star

I have preached over and over how awesome my mom (aka Gramma V) is. She helps us out with Diana at the drop of a hat and supports my sister and I and our families 100 percent. She's just awesome. I could go on and on, but she truly is the best lady in the world.
Today, I am not the only one to believe that. My mom was named California Adult Education Adminstrator of the Year today. I don't know the name of the organization that named her that because when her secretary called me this afternoon, I was in tears and didn't hear. I will update this when I find out for sure.
The Fairfield-Suisun Adult School is such a special place to my mom. She's been there for a very long time and it's a very dear place in her heart. She works extremely hard and this award comes as no surprise to me. She's the bomb! It's nice to know that someone gets rewarded for working hard and truly caring and being passionate about something.
I hope my mom gets recognized by the school district, the local community and other organizations for this honor because it's truly deserving. The number of people she's touched in her time at the adult school is humongous and the list will keep growing!

Congrats, Gramma V! We are so proud of you!

THE project

The baby that's cooking in the oven has inspired me to get down to work and do some home improvements. No. 1 task is the office, which the baby will share after it's grown out of the bassinet which will be in our room for the first couple months of its life. Eventually, we would like Diana and the baby to share a room, but that's not going to happen until the baby is sleeping through the night. There's no need to deprive Miss D of a good night's sleep.
Anyway, I am going to shame myself by posting a picture after day one of work in the office. This was taken Monday night, but it was mostly after work that was done Sunday night (for all of 1 hour and a half). I know, it's not a lot. But this task is monumental. I am a) a pack rat; b) a slob; c) suck at putting stuff (i.e. paid bills) away. Go ahead, judge me! I pay for it later...like now.
I have months of bills to sort through and file away not to mention all the scrapbooking stuff that has to be organized. I have to disassemble the big table that used to be my scrapbooking table and bring that into the garage (OK, Matt will bring it into the garage). But this is my project. Until I am done, he's not allowed in here. Mostly because I know he would have a heart attack if he sees the mess I am making in here.
I also have to clean out the closet and make room for stuff that matters. For instance, we have team photos from when Matt coached at Hartnell and DeAnza in the early 1990s. Do the math. They have been in some type of storage space since 2001 when we moved in to this house. They have never been put up on the walls. When I asked Matt what he wanted to do with them tonight...he actually suggested we keep them in the frames because he would like to hang them up eventually.
"Uh, sorry, hon...no." This is the baby's room now. Team photos from the 1990s with the scary hair-dos are not going to give my kids nightmares for the rest of their lives. That's what yearbooks are for!
So, here I go. About an hour to an hour and a half every night and I hope to have this project done in two weeks. I will post pics on the progress.

In the meantime, I have to find time to run. I want to do the Run For Good 5K in Fairfield on April 18 with some girls from work so I have to make sure I can still run 3.1 miles without having a heart attack.

Leprechauns Attack!

The leprechauns invaded our house on Monday night...well, I think it was Tuesday morning because the house was perfectly fine when we all went to bed on Monday night. The rascals, one of which was named Angus, left the house in shambles.
They got into Diana's cookies and Cheerios, tore all the blankets and pillows off the couches and played with her dolls and turned the toilet water in all three toilets green.
I have a feeling this is just the start of it all and we are going to be seeing a lot more of Angus and his little friends every year. We will have to be prepared....

Pay it Forward

How it works:The FIRST THREE people to leave a comment on this post will receive a free photo session from me to be used by the end of this year as a gift from me. UPDATE: Please keep in mind that this gift covers the sitting fee only. I will offer all the photos from our shoot to you on a CD for a small fee.
The CATCH is that YOU MUST PLAY TOO! Before you leave your comment here, write a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going (you can cut and paste these instructions).
Then come back and let me know that you are going to play. Then sit back and wait to see if you are one of the lucky winners. I can't wait to see who I am going to be taking photos of!
It's THAT easy!
Remember, only the FIRST THREE comments will qualify.

Good luck!

Chef Pregnant Lady

It's not a news flash that Matt is the chef in the family. He's older than me, grew up in a family where the dad did the cooking, Mom did the baking and just has a knack for it, I guess.
He does the cooking, I clean up afterwards. No biggie.
Well, in the last year, I have been experimenting more with recipes and cooking. Tonight was the big one...a recipe I got off the San Francisco Chronicle Website last week...Penne pasta with meat and sausage. No biggie, right? Wrong. The recipe called for something I think was called cremini mushrooms (I was lucky to find them at Raley's), Brandy (though I didn't use it), marjoram and other spices that I had either never heard of or never used in cooking before and Gruyere cheese (which Raley's also had, luckily).
Preparation took forever and mostly because I grated the fresh parmesean and Gruyere. It took about an hour and a half from start to finish, including 15 minutes in the oven to bake. It was delicious.
I found some plain noodles in the dish to give to Diana for dinner and though she just had a couple, she told me that it was very good. Huge compliment.
This is only a dish I will be making on the weekend, because it was way too involved. And now, being pregnant, I can't see myself standing on my two feet for that long period of time in the kitchen. It made a large dish though so we have enough probably for the rest of the week. Yummy! Yay Angela...you goo girl! :)

What's that smell?

I know what happens to my body when I am pregnant..funny things. I ate and ate and ate some more today. I just never lost that hungry feeling...it was horrible and good at the same time. I ran out of snacks and had to resort to eating the Saltines that my boss gave me a couple weeks ago when I told her that I was pregnant (super nice gesture by the way).
The smell thing started soon after I found out I was pregnant. I was walking over to get tea with a co-worker and as we walked into the common area, there were a ton of people getting coffee, etc. Right as we walked in, I stopped and said "someone has eggs." I am not a big fan of the smell of hard boiled eggs anyway, but this was the strongest hard-boiled egg smell I had ever smelled.
I looked around and sure enough on the counter was a tiny thing of Tupperware with hard-boiled eggs in it. It was closed up so it wasn't like the smell was lurking all over the place. Now, that's some pregnancy nose for ya!
It happened again tonight when I picked Diana up from preschool. KinderCare just has this smell to it. My mom has always noticed it more than I have...though I have noticed it and just grown accustomed to it. I noticed it immediately today when I picked her up this afternoon. There were some other kids in the way so I couldn't really bend down and hug her right away, but I got close enough to get a whiff of the KinderCare smell. I wish I could've rushed her home and tossed her in the bath tub and scrubbed her clean right there and then, but we had dance class. It wasn't until 2 hours later that I had the chance to get that stench off her. And trust me...when she got done, I smelled the clean smell for a while.

Playoffs

Breaking News: Solano plays at Chabot of Hayward on Wednesday at 7 p.m. We lost to Chabot in the semifinals of the Solano Showdown back in December so hopefully we have better luck this time.

Wish good things for Matt and his players!

Conference champs

It's always nice to end the regular season with a win, especially when it's of the 53-point variety. We really didn't know if Matt's team would qualify for the playoffs so to possibly end the season on with a win is something that's never happened in Matt's time at Solano. Sophomore Night was awesome as usual...very classy and professional and the three sophomores had a great time.
About 20 minutes after the win, the girls got the message that Yuba beat Contra Costa, giving us a share of the conference title. Back-to-back champs for the first time since 1998. Awesome! It was a little surreal and bittersweet because there was a very subdued celebration but champs are champs! Matt has done a great job with this team and we can't wait to hear what the playoffs hold for us next week.

Feeling Pregnant

When I was pregnant with Diana, I was really lucky. I didn't have to be to work until 2:30 at the latest so I just sat in bed all morning until the last possible minute when I had to get in the shower and start getting ready for work...which was about noon. I munched on crackers and swore I was going to die from nausea.
I am a lot tougher now (mentally that is)..being a mom will do that to you. I don't have nausea when I get up in the morning, but once I get up and get going it starts. Then, when my eyes see food, it's over. From the time I force down some breakfast until about 10 a.m., it's all nausea all the time. I found a solution this morning...I went to Safeway on my way into work and bought some caffeine free Ginger tea. There must have been 500 boxes of tea and only three of them were Ginger flavored. Of those three, just one was caffeine free. I had two cups of Ginger tea this morning and a couple handfuls of pretzels. By 10 a.m., I was feeling much better. Let's hope this remedy works every day. At least I am feeling pregnant now. I also found out this week that Matt's aunt's birthday is on my due date. That's kinda cool. She's hoping for an on-time baby of course. What are the odds of that, about 1 in 365, right?
In other news: Matt's season gets over on Friday. Well, that is, if they don't share the conference title. It's been a fun season. This team has grown so much and made so much improvement that I am a little sad to see it end. What a great group this has been. I covered two of the three sophomores in high school for several years so it's gonna be sad to see them leave, but happy to see them move on. It's been great to have them as a part of our family for the past two years.
We have been introducing more and more the idea of Diana being a big sister. I bought her a "I'm a Big Sister" book which we read every day. She loves it. I asked her if she wants to have a girl or a boy. She said a girl because "Me and you are girls, Mommy." I said "But if we have a boy, then Daddy will have someone to play tackle football with." She got really quiet. That was not a good thing to say because tackle football is Diana's favorite thing to play with Matt right now. I quickly, and I do mean quickly, changed the subject. I really don't want to find out what sex the baby is, but Matt, Au Bob and just about everyone I know says that I have to find out. Why? I love surprises. We have names ready for both...but I'll never tell. Not for seven more months! :)

Miss Diana lately

Here's our wonderful Diana in pictures...

This is in her pre-ballet class through city of Vacaville...


And this is her running at the Davis Stampede last weekend...

One of 'those' girls

There was a girl in my freshman biology class in high school whose sister got pregnant. I think she was a senior.
She claims that she didn't know she was pregnant because her periods were always irregular. Me being the naive 14-year-old that I was I thought that was crazy.
How do you not know you are pregnant? Doesn't your body go through all kinds of changes when you get pregnant? There's a person inside you for crying out loud.
Well, over the next dozen or so years, I heard many of these tales of this so-called "I didn't know I was pregnant" crap-ola.
I recently became one of these girls. Yes, I am pregnant and didn't know it.
Ever since going off birth control in October (after my half marathon) my periods were irregular...OK, you know what, let's skip the details.
That pregnancy test I took in January after I missed my December period was wrong. I was, in fact, pregnant. Today, I am 10 weeks.
Our baby is due Sept. 8, 2009.
It's all a little surreal right now and we're very focused on this very thrilling basketball season.
When I can start shopping for maternity clothes, I think that's when it will sink in. Right now, the baby is making me hungry all the time. I haven't had any nausea so far...which is great. And I am really trying to stick to eating healthy for the next 7 months.
We have a lot of work to do around the house. The new baby is going to share this very office so we have to convert my scrapbook table into a scrapbooking "area" that won't take up a lot of space. It's going to require some trip to Lowe's and some big time help from Grandpa D and Grandma V.
Diana doesn't fully understand that she's gonna be a big sister, but when we asked her tonight what was in Mommy's tummy she said "a baby." That was pretty cool.
I mentioned to her that getting a little brother or sister would mean she would have someone to share her toys with and play with...she wasn't too thrilled of the idea of sharing her toys. I gotta remember to steer clear of that in the next 7 months.

:)

Good times around here

OK...As I sit here watching a rerun of Friends and waiting for American Idol to come on, Diana is upstairs screaming "I don't want to go to bed!" just 10 minutes after she begged me to put her to bed without brushing her teeth. We did brush the teeth, but this is what happens when she doesn't take a nap at school. Utter chaos and tiredness.
On to our lives. Diana is doing really well other than the occasional tantrum. She's having a blast in ballet class, playing games is one of her favorite after school activities and I am trying to teach her how to read. Tonight while I was drying her hair, I was spelling out some common words for her and she would tell me what they spell: Cat, Dog, Chris, Bob, Mom, Dad, Hat, Bat, Sat, Rat. I was struggling to think of more as she was putting the pressure on "Mommy, more!" I just kept repeating the same ones. (My brain is fried too at 7:15 p.m. Remember, I don't take naps during the day either).
Matt's team is doing well. They won their ninth straight game tonight, up at Mendocino. So exciting. The early reports are that they didn't play well, even though they were up by 19 at half. My contact in Ukiah (my dad) said Mendo cut it to four but we pulled out a 17-point win. Glad we don't have to play them again. Five more games to go. They are still hoping to at least tie for the conference championship but will have to win the rest of their games and get some help. His team has improved so much and they are so much fun to watch that all that doesn't really matter to me. The improvement has been amazing.
Work is going well for me. I am constantly making improvements to our intranet site and getting lots of positive feedback about it. I got called into the Senior Vice President's office the other day and I was really nervous that he was going to lay me off. He started asking me about Matt's job and if he was planning on staying there for a while. I don't think I was sweating on the exterior, but I was preparing myself for the worst. Especially since the SVP was rocking back and forth in his chair and very uncomfortable. He said that he just wanted to check in and see how things were going with me because he doesn't often get the chance to see how I am doing. I thought that was really nice of him...especially since he didn't fire me. I am pretty confident that I am not going to become a casuality of the economy as far as my job goes but you just never know and I have to mentally prepare myself for that.
I got back on the treadmill two days in a row this week and am hoping to make it three tonight. Matt, Michelle, Dad and I are running in the Davis Stampede on Sunday...just the 5K. I am really excited for all of us to run together (well, not literally together, but you know what I mean). Michelle and I are planning on doing the Bay to Breakers as well...myself, very reluctantly. That's a blog for after the race.

Honest Scrap

My sister put me down for this Honest Scrap award so I guess I will amuse her and play along. I am supposed to list 10 honest things about myself. Well, it said at least 10 honest things. I am also supposed to link to 7 other blogs. Not gonna do that because I have a list over to the left of my favorite blogs (which I need to clean up by the way because it was for my reference only and I don't even visit those photographer's blogs anymore).

Here are at least 10 honest things about me:
1. I used to have a belly ring. I took it out when I was a couple months pregnant with Miss D.
2. I did my first half-marathon this October with my sister and sister-in-law. It kicked my butt!
3. I have a huge love for college basketball but am starting to develop a little respect for the NBA.
4. I don't think that the Golden State Warriors will ever be good again.
5. I truly think that Miss D will go to Stanford in 14 years.
6. I am grateful every day that I have a job and it's a job that I love.
7. I am going to keep a watchful eye on our new president and read every article that I can on his daily happenings.
8. I think I am a really good mom.
9. For the first time in years and years, I made some New Year's Resolutions. Though they are not very daring, they are goals that I would like to keep.
10. I can't think of No. 10 so I will mention that my favorite movie is the Back to the Future trilogy. :)

Been a while

As if I didn't already know that I haven't blogged in a long time, Matt actually pointed it out the other night when he opened the laptop to the internet and our blog came up. He said, "You haven't blogged in a lot of years." ('Years' being an expression we have for 'A very long time.') I said 'I know, I know.'
Life has been busy. With Matt's basketball season in full swing, I just get tired and lazy. I haven't been running that much which has probably contributed to my tiredness. I am planning on doing a 5K in Davis on Feb. 8 with Michelle and my dad so hopefully I will be ready. I have a new workout plan on the refridgerator but haven't stuck to it very well.
As for Miss D, she started ballet class two weeks ago. I will post pictures on my SmugMug when I get a chance. She absolutely loves it! And she does so well. She's the oldest in her class, which is mostly made up of 2-year-olds. Because Diana is in a class setting all day, she's used to listening to the teacher and paying attention so she makes us so proud with her attentiveness. We don't get to see how she behaves in preschool so it brought a tear to our eyes the first week of class when she just marched out there and was dancing around. She helps the teacher clean up after each exercise (that's not really surprising at all because she's done that since before she could walk).
Diana is also into the Annie movie and any little girl who was born in the late 70s, early 80s knows the addiction that comes with that movie. Diana is so into it. She loves the singing and the dancing. She thinks Miss Hannigan is silly. Matt is a little worried about the sexual innuendo, but I told him not to worry... she's three, she has no idea what's going on.
Diana loves the music in the movie so much that she sings "Tomorrow" as she's trying to fall asleep and her teacher at school said that she was singing it in school all week.
Diana is just the sweetest little thing. She's really developing into a wonderful little girl!
And curious to boot. The "Why?" phase has begun and the "What song is this, Mommy?" phase is in full swing. I'm surprised neither of us has lost our minds yet, but I'm sure it's not far off.

Matt's team won again tonight. That makes six wins in a row. We have a big week next week. Two more road games, starting the second round of conference and play the two teams that we lost to the first time around. Hopefully we can get some redemption, win the rest of our games and at least tie for the conference title. That would be remarkable!
The team is playing better and really starting to click on the court. Some players have really stepped it up and it's been fun for me to watch.

A Letter from Diana

Dear Daddy,
Thanks for taking me to preschool in the morning. I have fun with you in the morning, getting ready for school and driving in the car with you. I love that you play the music loud on the radio so we rock out. It really wakes me up and gets me going for the rest of the day.
Thanks for being persistent and teaching me how to shoot the basketball in the basket. Even though I would rather play with my easel or anything else in my playroom, I know that someday, I might change my mind and hit the hardwood and the lessons you are teaching me now are extremely valuable.
Thanks for making me awesome breakfasts, especially on the weekends. Those BIG pancakes are awesome and I don't really think it's necessary for you guys to feed me the rest of the day.
Thanks for tackling me because it's going to make me one tough cookie when I grow up...even though I am pretty tough already.
Thanks for worrying about every scrape, scratch, sniffle and cough that I have. It's good to know that you care.
Thanks so very much for letting Mommy do my hair. Enough said.
Thanks for playing computer games with me. I am getting really good at the memory game and I really enjoy the variety in my play time.
Most of all, thanks for working hard in your job because it teaches me good values. And thanks for giving me big hugs and kisses even after your team loses a tough game. It's nice to know that I can always put a smile on your face and that I am still No. 1.

I love you, Dadddy!

On the DL

I had a little accident on Saturday night while getting ready for Matt's game. I was cutting up some meat and grapes for dinner for Diana and me to eat before Matt's game and I cut my middle finger with the serrated knife. OUCH! I had to call my Mommy who took one look at it and insisted we go to the minor injury clinic at Vacaville Kaiser. It was bleeding pretty good and I was really pale and lightheaded from the sight of all that blood. Long story short, I ended up getting two stitches in my finger and updated my much overdue tetnus shot while I was there. I am getting the hang of typing without my middle left finger. I get the stitches removed next Monday hopefully but until then I have to wear this splint for extra protection. Totally annoying. I haven't tried to hold my camera yet but I am pretty sure I should just take a breather from taking photos of Matt's team for the week. So pissed!
Oh well. I hate knives.

Post-Christmas Shopping

So, I haven't posted in a while and I will post some photos from our awesome Christmas but I wanted to get a couple things off my mind before they vanished.
First, did you know that you can do a Google search for coupons online? I might be the last person that knew this, but I just saved a ton of money the other day by getting coupons for Borders and New York and Company. My sister in law (Debbie rocks!) got me a gift card to New York and Company and I stretched it out even further by getting a coupon code for 30 percent off. I got so much more than I would've had I not gotten the coupon. And they are having a fat (or is it phat?) sale right now so I am a very happy shopper right now.
I got a couple bucks off a book at Borders online the other day as well for just typing in "Borders coupon" into Google. There are coupons all over the place. Do it! It takes a couple seconds and it's so worth your time.

The other thing. My mom (Gramma V rocks!) got us "The Cat in the Hat I can do that!" game for Christmas and we played it last night for the first time. So funny! Anyone out there who loves a good laugh and a quick game for the short-attention spanned...get this game! Diana loved it, Matt loved it and I loved it. We will play it all the time.
Diana got another game called Zingo, which is Bingo with a zing! Another awesome game that Diana just loves. It's really fun to be in the game phase with Diana. We have been playing a lot of games lately. I know Matt has been getting a little tired of playing Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders and Hi-ho Cherry-O all the time so it's nice to have some different games to play. Diana has even been trying to play Connect 4 lately. It's pretty funny!

Merry Christmas

I don't believe in saying Merry Christmas to people I don't know well so on my e-mail signature at work, it says Happy Holidays. I don't want to offend anyone and I don't want to hear "Oh, I don't celebrate Christmas because of my religion." But on my blog, I can do whatever I want. And I don't think there is anyone who reads this who doesn't celebrate Christmas.
Here are a few pictures leading up to a Very Borchert Christmas...Enjoy and Happy Holidays! :)
Diana helped Matt make gingerbread men...


Then helped him finish off the leftover dough when there wasn't enough to make a complete gingerbread man...



Matt made plenty of goodies for the holidays. Yes, those are Oreo Balls. All good, all the time. Want the recipe? E-mail me.



Uncle Chris and Au Bob helped decorate cookies. If you read Michelle's blog, you saw that she called it "slave labor"...that was not the case at all.



And finally, there's the annual trip to Candy Cane Lane to see all the awesome lights!



The holidays are off to a great start!

It's worth getting off work later

I took Diana to school the last couple mornings because Matt has practice at 9 a.m. It sucks to have to get off work at 5 p.m. because I don't get into work until 7:45 or 8, but when things like this happen, it's all worth it.
This was a conversation Diana and I had this morning in the car on the way to preschool:

Diana: Mommy, what song is this?
Mommy: This is Jingle Bell Rock
(Silence as Diana is thinking. Even though I can't really see her in the back seat, I can hear her thinking. Must be a Mommy thing.)
Diana: No, Mommy, this is Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.
Mommy: Oh...(Total shock, embarrassment and a little more shock hits me) I guess you're right. It is Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. I get those two mixed up.

Do you think we've listened to enough Christmas music lately? My 3 1/2 year old knows the songs!

I'm done

I know I have said it about 15 times in the last two weeks, but I am done Christmas shopping. I may not have something wonderful for everyone, but I don't want to go out into retail hell anymore.
It's raining here today and I had to park clear across the parking lot at Target because Diana HAD TO HAVE these Mickey Mouse wipees that Gramma V had at her house. I know what you are saying..."Why didn't you just tell her that Santa will bring them?" I have been doing that for months now and I honestly don't know why I didn't do that. I must have lost my mind...the rain must have leaked into my brain and caused massive flooding. And then, once inside Target, I walk around like a zombie because it's just a giant sale all over that store. Every ornament is discounted, every decoration is discounted, every freakin' toothbrush is discounted.

I'm done.

When Daddy is away, the girls will play

Since Matt was out of town at a tournament last Thursday and Friday, Diana and I invited Gramma V over to the house for a girls night in. Diana and Gramma V cooked English Muffin Pizzas and then it was time for some art!
I got this idea from Alison over at Parallel Parking. Diana does a lot of handprint art at school and I thought this was a great idea to get some holiday decore around the house for relatively inexpensive. I went to Target earlier in the day to buy the supplies and I had plenty of extras around the house in my scrapbooking room. Diana had a great time "decorating" her tree once she got aggressive with the glitter shakers.


Once we got done with our reindeer, santa and tree handprint arts, Diana wanted to be one with the finger paints...who am I to say no?


It was a great night with Gramma V, Mommy and the kitchen floor. (Don't worry, Daddy, we cleaned up really good!)


Matt came back on Saturday afternoon and we had a restful day around the house. On Sunday morning, we left for Silveyville in Dixon to get our tree. These photos were taken of Diana before she threw the ultimate tantrum. Diana "rode" one of the reindeer, we all went for a sleigh ride with Santa and picked out a great tree.


Diana still talks about the sleigh ride and how "when we went to pick up our tree, we went on a sleigh ride, Mommy!"
Before we left for Silveyville, Diana made sure to tell us that she wanted a little tree. So glad we didn't have to break it to her that we were only getting one tree for the house. We did want to take her photo next to one of the many small trees though...so cute!


And finally, we got to decorating tonight. Diana did a great job. She especially looked forward to putting on the "red bubblegum" decoration that Gramma V bought her at Kohl's on Black Friday. I was really proud of her for not getting frustrated when her decorations kept falling off the tree. She stuck with it and kept trying. After just a few decorations, she got the hang of it and not one fell off.

Is there a reason for everything?

I go back and forth with this question. For instance, I truly believe that God brought Matt and I back together less than a year after we went on a blind date...which led to us eventually beginning to date and eventually getting married. BUT...I believe that things happen for a reason as well. For instance, I believe that things didn't work out at my job in Spokane, Washington, after college because I was meant to be back in California and start my post-college life here.
For whatever reason, someone came back into my life tonight and the timing couldn't have been more poetic. On Friday at Kohl's while shopping, I saw one of good friend's mom's, Denny. My mom has somewhat kept in touch with her over the past few years. They would see each other around town or at different city functions. Tonight, at Merriment on Main in Vacaville (where there are 16,000 people in attendance) I ran into Denny again with her grand daughters. How weird, I thought. She told me that her daughter, Jesse, was just across the way. I haven't talked to Jesse in over a year. We were good friends all through high school and kept in some contact afterwards. We became closer friends when she and her family moved down the street from me when her youngest daughter, now 6, was an infant. They lived there for about a year and a half and moved out of that house shortly before Diana was born. To make a long story short, we lost touch around the time Diana turned 1. She became a firefighting paramedic, I became a mom trying to balance that and being a coach's wife. I admit (and still do) that I have a hard time keeping in touch with friends and being proactive about getting together with girlfriends.
But, for whatever reason (may it be God putting her back in my life tonight or karma or 'things happen for a reason') I saw her for the first time in years tonight. There was a little awkwardness because I feel guilty for not being a good friend. I told her that I would call her and we said that we would get together sometime. I hope that we do. Jesse is a really good friend and her kids still remember me and were really excited to see me. I can't believe they remember me.
I still have a photo of her three kids sitting with Diana on the porch one summer, Diana was little. I think it was one of the last times we all got together. It's on my desk upstairs.
Why does it take something like karma, or Merriment on Main, to bring people together? Why is it so hard to keep in touch with friends that you've had since high school when they live just down the street? What's even sadder to me is how much Jesse still keeps in touch with so many people that I still talk to as well. We still talk to the same people, but not to each other. We didn't have a falling out or anything like that. Her phone number hasn't changed. My inability to make friends a necessity in my life is the only thing to blame. It's sad, really.
There are other New Year's Resolutions that I will make for 2009 (even though I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions) but this is No. 1...Gotta make more time for girlfriends.

Diana's Christmas List

As listed by her mother, me:
Diana loves...notepads, pens, workbooks, coloring books, crafts, bath time, Backyardigans, Princesses, Thomas the Train, Dora, Diego, Mickey Mouse and most of all Minnie Mouse.
Stuff we didn't get her but she would love...the Hot Wheels ramp that's $10 at Target (they were sold out when I did my shopping on Friday), puzzles, fingernail polish that's suitable for a 3-year-old who still puts her fingers in her mouth at times.
We are posting this list because we know family will ask what Diana needs for Christmas. Truthfully, she doesn't NEED anything. These are her interests and stuff she would be absolutely thrilled to see on Christmas Day when she opens her presents and stocking. She's had such a great year that's been filled with milestones. Seeing her grow and seeing her develop interests has been so fun for us.
We are thinking about putting her in a dance class once the new year starts because she really does love to dance. It would be good, also, for her to socialize with some other kids her age outside of preschool. We know that the next year will be filled with even more excitement as she inches closer to (gulp) kindergarten.

My first Black Friday

I did it! I survived Black Friday and my Christmas shopping is done! Yes!
There were very few lines, except at Kohl's - my first stop. And since they were so organized, it wasn't that big of a deal and the line went super fast. When we left the store my mom asked, "Where next?" I said "Target, but I am a little scared to go there." We mapped out a plan and hit all my stores. Much to my surprise, I didn't have to wait in any lines anywhere else all day. I even went shopping today and the lines weren't that bad. I guess the economy is worse than I thought. Oh well. I took advantage of the deals. I only bought stuff that was on sale and that was on my list from hours of scouring through holiday ads. I must admit that I did have a huge adrenaline rush shopping on Friday. I don't get those too much anymore so I didn't really know how to react. It was tons of fun. What's going to be more fun is seeing Diana open presents on Christmas. She is fully informed about Santa Claus and while I shopped on Friday, she went around the store with Gramma V and made her list for Santa Claus. (Thanks, once again, to Gramma V who came to the rescue and allowed me to shop for my little one...and my big one).

Multi-tasking at its finest

I hope Matt doesn't get tossed from any more games in his career because it's really hard to text him updates, watch the game and take pictures all at the same time. It'd be one thing if the game hadn't been so close tonight but it was a thriller so when I did remember that I was supposed to be texting him, it had to be really fast at a timeout or something.
The girls ended up losing 73-69, but gave a valiant effort. They never got down by more than 7 for most of the second half and it felt a lot closer than that. The game was tied 61-61 with 6:40 to go and Fresno then went on an 11-0 run to pull ahead with about 2:30 to go. I thought it was over for sure. I packed up my camera (which was running out of battery and no good to me anyway) and moved away from the baseline. I talked to a "fan" for the final minutes and watched as Solano cut it to four points with 38 seconds left. That was all they wrote though. Like I said, it was a great effort. We should've beat Fresno. Missed opportunities. We caught them on a bad night though because they must have missed 15 layups and they only shot about 10 threes. But it's another learning experience...you watch film and learn.
It was nice to have Gramma V, Au Bob and Uncle Chris at the game tonight! Chris was getting a kick out of the Fresno coach during the game...he's quite theatrical and had Chris in hysterics. :)

Our weekend...where to start

We had lots planned for this past weekend and while we got it all accomplished, there are stories to tell.
We woke up at 6:15 a.m. on Saturday morning as Matt and I were running a 5k in the Davis Turkey Trot. We slowly got Diana up but since Gramma V was coming over that morning we knew she could sleep in a little. They would later meet us at the race.
Matt and I did a great job in the race. We ran together the whole way and he provided me some much needed encouragement over the last 400 meters. It was a great day for running as there was plenty of fog to keep us cool. We kicked butt.
Matt had to jet outta there because he had a game later that night to prepare for.
Mom, Diana and I stayed around to cheer for my sister who was running in the 10K. We had fun walking around Davis, lingering around the farmer's market (I highly recommend it, it's every Saturday all year long, rain or shine), playing in the parks and just enjoying one another's company.
We made our way over to the finish line to cheer Au Bob on over the last home stretch and she did great!
Later on, Diana did the 200 meter kids run (no, I didn't bring my camera...Yes, I am lame). She ran with Gramma V and had so much fun. She truly loves to run. All day long yesterday she was bragging about how fast she ran in her race and had to show us by running around the house. When I can, I will take a photo of her with her number and her finisher's ribbon. I hope she loves running for a long time. We may be on to something here!
After a quick bite to eat and a nap, Gramma V was back at the house to watch Diana for the rest of the night as I headed up to Santa Rosa to cheer on Solano in their fourth game of the season. Very long story short: We lost, Matt got ejected because he got two technicals. First time ever! That's OK...he's learned a lot from it. But, he can't coach in the game on Tuesday night so that kinda sucks.
Anyway, it was a good weekend.
We are all very excited about a short week this week (Diana and Matt have two days of work, I have two and a Half (hopefully)).

Six more months until we have to go back

It's not like everyone looks forward to going to the dentist. There's the scraping, the possible drilling, the smell of the place, the anticipation of wondering if the dentist is going to tell you if you have any cavities.
I have taken really good care of my teeth over the last seven years so I haven't had any cavities in that time. I actually like going to the dentist. (sick, I know). We recently changed dentists here in town - to one that is a little more family friendly and he's right around the corner from our house. We could walk there if we wanted to.
Diana went with me to my first cleaning a couple weeks ago and watched from a chair. She had no clue what was going on, she just sat there and checked it all out. She was a little more familiar with the place when we went this week and didn't hesitate to walk back to the chair where she would be examined. Once we got back there though, that was it.
Usually if Diana doesn't want to do something, she will tell me in a low voice, "Mommy, I'm all done" or "Mommy, I don't want to."
This was a VERY vocal "MOMMY, I'M ALL DONE!" And this was before anything had even happened. The hygienst had barely introduced herself to us.
She tried to show Diana the awesome stuffed animals with teeth but she wasn't having it. She sprayed water on the carpet from one of her many tools (OK, D laughed at that, but that was about all). It wasn't a pretty sight. We ended up giving up on the whole teeth cleaning thing, but we did have to hold her down a little so the dentist could look at her teeth. She got over it. I wasn't happy though when the hygienist gave her two..no, three...Disney Princess stickers and a Halloween toothbrush to match her Halloween socks.
Hopefully in six months, when she's four, she will be a little more understanding that this is what we all have to do - the dentist rocks!
P.S. She had no cavities, by the way...obviously.

Funny Diana Quote of the Week: As I was putting my running clothes on tonight, I was very excited to sport my new Solano women's basketball sleeveless t-shirt. I have plenty of SCC women's basketball shirts, but this one CAME sleeveless. This isn't me cutting off sleeves. I put it on and Diana says "Mommy, that's a basketball shirt. You can't wear a basketball shirt to run in. You have to wear a running shirt."
I said "No, hun, this is a running shirt. I always wear shirts like this to run in."
She replies "No, Mommy. That's a basketball shirt. It has a basketball on it. You have to get one with runners on it."
I found a shirt that Matt got when he ran his 10K a while back and put it on...all was right in the world.

Opening Weekend

Basketball season has officially begun. Unfortunately, Matt's team lost their opener on Friday night though they played really well (I had to give some feedback so Matt made me watch film on Saturday morning before he left for the gym). I was very impressed with the team's hustle and heart. They played really hard and seemed to just be really nervous.
We won tonight...We beat Siskiyous who we lost to twice last year, including a playoff game. It was an AWESOME game. We got down big early but the girls fought back hard and showed lots of fight. They are so much fun to watch. Matt has some players on his team that are really flashy and dazzled the crowd. Oh, the crowd. Well, Matt's team was the first to play a game in the renovated gym so there was a couple hundred people at the game. It was so much fun! They were really into it and cheered the girls and booed the refs.
The starters threw t-shirts into the crowd during pre-game warmups, then Au Bob and I threw more into the crowd later in the second half (I am such a good wife).
I am putting a picture on here from after the game (If you want to see photos from the game, you can check my SmugMug site later in the week).
As is tradition for the past two years, Diana and Gramma V practiced their shooting afterwards. Diana also practiced with Au Bob and me for a little bit. She has everyone fooled because everyone was calling her a "baller." I just looked at them crazy because she NEVER shoots baskets at home when Matt or I try to play basketball with her.

Funny Little Diana

Diana is almost 3 1/2 and she's quite the little chatter box. Her vocabulary is growing and she says some things sometimes that make us absolutely crack up. Here's sampling. If I think of more in the next couple days, I will add them:

I was explaining to Diana one day about scouting and how Matt goes to watch his opponents play against other teams. He writes down their plays, sees what defenses they run, etc. I told her one night that he was in Sacramento scouting. She said "Mommy, only Au Bob and Uncle Chris can live in Sacramento!"

One morning Diana and I got ready for our day before Matt and we started to make our way downstairs to make breakfast. Diana yelled back "Daddy, we'll meet you downstairs!"

The other day, we were driving home from preschool and John Mayer's "Say" came on the radio. All of a sudden, I hear a little voice coming from the back of the car singing right along with the radio. Diana was singing the chorus right on with the radio. I couldn't believe it. She says "Mommy, sing with me!" I wanted to sing with her, but I wanted to hear her too. Such a dilemma!

My mullet baby

I don't have any pictures to show yet because I am still trying to figure out if I can get the right angle on her hair for you to be able to tell but Diana got a hair cut the other day.
This wasn't the kind we paid for. Some little girl decided that she wanted to get a head start on her cosmetology career by practicing on my daughter. I got a call mid-morning from KinderCare on Monday saying that the teacher turned her back for one second and when she turned around, one of the little girls was cutting Diana's hair. They were cutting magazines with the scissors and the girl decided that magazines = boring and hair = fun!
The school is taking action against the teacher because she wasn't paying close enough attention to the class...ya think? When I went to pick up Diana after school that day, the director of the school was extremely apologetic. I understand these things happen. What kid hasn't either cut their own hair with scissors or cut someone else's hair? But when you look at the area where Diana's hair was (for lack of a better word) slaughtered, she looks like she has a mullet. It's kinda funny. I can't do much with it because the girl cut a good chuck of it off. I don't know that my hair lady would be able to do much either and she's a miracle worker.
So, the last couple days, I have just been playing with the area where there used to be long golden locks. It's just short now...waiting to grow back. My poor lopsided child.
Of course, it was no big deal to Diana. She did tell me the name of the girl who cut her hair and the teacher who was in the class at the time not supervising.
Today, when I went to pick up Diana, one of the girls who I see every day said to me "I apologized to Diana." I didn't know what she was talking about because I never knew her name. I said "Oh, you must be ..." She got kind of embarassed and said "Yes." I said "It's OK, accidents happen." I was way too nice. All this time, I thought that girl was like 5 or 6 and just in the class in the mornings before they took her to her school. She looks WAY old! It really surprised me that she was the one who cut D's hair. I might have to go back to the director and ask more questions. If this girl is older, there's no way she should be in a class with 3 and 4 year olds. Just more drama at K'Care!

Patience really is a virtue

The only thing I remember about being 3 years old is my sister being born. I don't remember anything else. But I can only imagine that it wasn't all fun times.
I love my Diana - more than anything. I love her laugh, I love her smile. I love that she talks my ear off whenever we are in the same room or in the car together. I love that out of the blue, she calls me "Maimey" sometimes...I don't know why, but it's cute, so I let her do it.
I love that before she gets out of her bath at night, she takes one of her little people (her fishies, her little guy she calls Diego, or her Flounder squirt toy), puts one of them in a cup with water, covers them up with a wash cloth and says good night to them. And that in the morning, when she goes to the bathroom, she says good morning to them.
I love that when she gets tired at night and has some M&Ms for a special treat, she is absolutely bonkers and so funny. I love that she talks to herself in bed at night for 90 minutes before she finally falls asleep.
I love that she is so sweet and innocent one minute and the next minute she's wreaking havoc on my nerves.
It all comes with the territory. I can let it get to me, or I can have patience and just remember that the good times we have together far outweigh the trying times.
Diana is super independent. My mom says "This is what you wanted..." And she's right (aren't all our moms right?). This is what I wanted when I was pregnant with her. Diana doesn't understand how we can give her all this love and all these physical things like toys and books, etc. and still have to say no to some things and set limits.
It's hard on all of us.
The word I keep telling myself is patience. As long as I have patience with her and every situation, we do OK. We were patient when she waited a while to talk, when she waited a while to walk and when she waited a while to go pee pee in the toilet and we will be patient with every other situation that comes up in her life for the rest of time.
She's worth it!

Halloween

As Diana gets older, Halloween gets more fun. I am sure that when she hits 9, 10 and 11 and we try and talk her out of trick or treating, she's not going to be a happy camper. But as a 3 year old, it's all fun.
She doesn't eat candy, never really has except the occasional M&M for a reward, so she had no idea that she could actually eat the candy she got from total strangers when we got home. After every house she went up to, she came back to me in the street and said, "Mommy, I got MORE candy! This time it was brown."
Our neighborhood kinda sucks because there were only about 15 houses that were actually open to having kids come up. Some people left their porch lights on, but weren't answering the door. Who does that? That's just cruel.
I compared our neighborhood last night to the bad 1985 in Back to the Future II except without the war-zone feeling. You know? It was dark and dreary and empty. There were only about 15 kids out in the street trick or treating and it just didn't feel festive at all. But we had fun nonetheless.
It was especially fun because I was dressed as Snow White and Matt was Spider-Man. And if you think that I am putting any photos of either of us dressed up, you are sorely mistaken. We both looked awesome, but this IS the internet, people!
Just keep in mind that I am now a size 10 and looked super hot as Snow White and Matt had the full on Spidey outfit with hood and covers for his sneaks. We rocked and Diana thought it was super awesome!
UPDATE: I am giving in. My husband might either a)kill me; b) divorce me for posting this photo of him, but isn't it the cutest ever?


This is all you get of me though:


I put photos on my SmugMug from our trip to Cool Patch Pumpkins (sorry for the delay) so check those out. I am really happy with them.
Two more weeks until basketball season starts. Matt's media guide is off to the printer and should be back to us on Friday. I am really excited about it this year. It's going to be really nice!

Cheap Entertainment

The last few weeks, after I put Diana to bed, Matt and I have turned the television to mute and turned up the sound on the monitor downstairs. Sad? Pathetic? Yes. Highly entertaining? Yes.
Our daughter is hilarious! She sits up in her bed for an hour and a half and just chats away reliving her whole day and telling all her buddies about everything that went on.
This week, we had to take away her buddies because of some behavior problems at preschool. But tonight, she got Baby back and just talked and talked to her for over an hour. Earlier in the week, that wasn't the case. Diana definitely wasn't in the mood to just sit up in her bed and talk to "herself" before falling asleep.
It was nice to hear her talking to her friend again and telling Baby how Miss Mary and Kyle wear Crocs to preschool but not Harry. :)

Cheese please

Let me preface this story by saying, I know, I know...it's been a while. The busy times aren't over, but they have settled down a little bit. One more month till the season starts and things will really slow down. For now, here's a story to keep this blog a little fresh.

When I was pregnant with Diana I craved cheese. I've actually always loved cheese - and still do - but for the sake of this entry, I will refer to me, pregnant and cheese. Matt was actually worried about my love for cheese when I was pregnant. Even though he didn't come with me to the initial meeting at Kaiser when they spend three hours telling you everything you CAN'T eat but don't tell you what you CAN eat, he was worried about cheese.
About a year ago, Diana went to the grocery store with me and we got her a piece of cheese at the deli. I think they must have asked her if she wanted a cookie and I said "No, but she can have some cheese."
So now everytime we go to the grocery store, Diana has to have a piece of cheese to snack on. And the girl will remind me all throughout the store that we have to stop and get cheese before we leave.
"Mommy, I want cheese."
"I know, D, but we have a couple more things to get then we'll head to the deli."
Two minutes later...
"Mommy, I want a piece of cheese."
"Yeah, D, I know. Almost there, hon."
Etc...You get the point.
The other night we had to stop at the store to pick up some things after work and school. After a while, Diana got hungry and realized she wanted some cheese.
After walking up and down several aisles with her reminding me that she wanted cheese - and other moms looking at us with the "How cute" expression on their faces - we finally arrived at the deli.
Swamped! There were four people in line ahead of us and only two people working behind the counter. Seriously?
I leaned down to Diana and said "Sweetie, there's a lot of people in line ahead of us, let's just go home and make dinner."
Huge mistake! Colossal!
Tears start flowing down the face and she starts crying so hard that no sound is coming out of her mouth.
"OK, OK. My bad! We'll wait!"
Just like that all is right in the world again. The tears magically disappear and the man in line ahead of us diverts his attention away from us and back to placing his order (sidebar: why is it that people stare at a mom and a kid in the store like we are some kind of freak show? Do they feel sorry for me because they think I am a single mom? Look at the bling people!)
Anyway, Diana finally got her cheese. But I ordered a half pound so the deli people weren't annoyed by the random mom who just stopped by for one piece of free cheese.
As we were heading to the checkout line, Diana was chowing on her piece of cheese but still wanted to push her "shopper in training" cart at the same time.
I had to draw the line and no tantrum was going to stop me this time.
Diana collapsed on the ground all princess-like - cheese still in hand - and yelled "I want to push it!" I just kept walking, hunched over the "shopper in training" cart to the checkout line.
She got over it real quick, we paid for the groceries and headed home. Next time I am pregnant, I am going to stick to eating veggies all the time. There's never a line there!

Crazy time for the Borcherts

This week begins a crazy month for us. Tonight, Matt and I attended the Solano College Hall of Fame banquet in Fairfield. And since Gramma V is out of town on vacation, we had to enlist in a family friend to watch Miss Diana for the evening. Apparently, they had a blast! Diana was a little shy when the babysitter came over but turned into Chatty Cathy once we left. There was even a little switcheroo when the babysitter left and her mom took over for the last hour and a half and Diana just went with it.
They played trains, practiced letters on her white board...delved into a little bit of everything. Grandma Jennifer, as Mom Babysitter likes to be called, was loving to listen to Diana on the monitor after she put her to bed. Diana usually winds herself down by talking to her buddies for about an hour and a half and tonight was no different. She talked about her babysitter and everything they did. Matt and I just cracked up listening to Grandma Jennifer tell us all about their fun. Matt was a little worried how Diana would react to having a babysitter since she hasn't had one in a really long time, but she did great! I am a very proud Momma!
Anyway, this is a crazy month...I am headed to Orlando for a work function this weekend. My half marathon training concludes and the race is in three weeks. I can see the finish line, so to speak. Matt's basketball season is a little over a month away. I have deadlines to meet for various projects and I am trying to keep my sanity through it all.

The countdown to the "Sanctuary"

One of Matt's players walked into the renovated gym for the first time last week so we could take team pictures and called it her sanctuary. She loved it. I loved it. It's wonderful. The lighting is the same as before (here's me speaking photography language now) but it's lighter in there now because the floor is a little whiter (probably because it's newer). The first thing I thought when I walked in was "team spirit." There is a big ole Falcon painted at half court, the words "Solano Falcons" on the actual floor near the hash marks and it's just big, blue and beautiful in there. The bleachers are awesome and when they are pushed in, one has "SCC" painted on it and the other has "Falcons" painted on it.
The team - and Matt - have waited a very long time and been delayed a lot as to when they are actually going to get in the gym and get to practice in there. The date has finally been set, Oct. 6. Hopefully I am not jinxing anything by posting this. I figure I write enough about me and Diana that I need to give a Matt update every now and then. So, he will be very happy to finally be in his gym on Monday and practice with his team on a regulation floor instead of at Solano Athletic Club where they have been practicing since school started. :)

A horse is a horse, of course!

What a great Sunday!
After starting the morning with an 8-mile run (geez, that's a long way), I got some rest before heading out to Suisun Valley to take some pictures of my co-worker Adrienne and her horse, Rainy. I also took some photos of Adrienne's mom with her horse. Click on my SmugMug link to the left to see a few and check back later in the week as I still have about 75 to edit. Enjoy!

Not busy enough

I need to do more crafts and activities with Diana at nights and on the weekends. I have been better at reading my parenting magazines lately as they have some great ideas in them for stuff to keep toddlers busy around the house.
Most of the projects have to do with recycling things around your house and I ran across a great one the other day. It involves hair bands (we have a ton of those), an empty toilet paper roll (I'm sure I could find one of those) and a toddler (got one of those!).
We keep all of Diana's hair products in her step stool in her bathroom. It's a mess of colorful rubber bands, hair brushes, combs, hair, scrunchies, etc. So disorganized and kinda gross. Something had to be done. So, I finished off a roll of toilet paper today and opened the new cloth hair bands (not rubber, those are horrible) I bought for Diana this past weekend. She had a ton of fun wrapping the hair bands on the empty roll.

So, this is where we will store her hair bands from now on. We cleaned up the rest of her step stool and it's super organized now. Her brush even fits inside the toilet paper roll.

When Matt got home tonight, she immediately ran to the top of the stairs and said "Daddy, we put my hair ties on the toilet paper." I have never seen him more confused! It was hilarious!
I plan on making a list of things Diana does at KinderCare that she seems to enjoy so we can do them at home on the weekends - painting, washing her Barbie in a tub, cutting magazines and gluing, etc.
It's sorta like a New Year's Resolution, I guess. Oh, and I am looking into dance classes for her as well.

An out of town date night

I was so excited when Orshi asked me last week if Matt and I wanted to go to the Stanford-San Jose State football game. I immediately said yes and then when she said it was AT Stanford, it was a double yes. Matt said that he would like to go as well and when Orshi found tickets for only 10 bucks on StubHub...well, we couldn't pass on the opportunity.
I was pretty excited all day but got even more excited as we got closer to campus about an hour before kickoff. There were thousands of people in the parking lot (er, tree groves) at Stanford tailgaiting and having a great time. It was an atmosphere I have not experienced much.
See, I have never been to a college football game, technically. When I played basketball at Solano, we worked Cal football games as security. While I did get to work the USC section one night and hear the two fight songs ALL DAY LONG, it's just the same as cheering and really getting in to the whole atmosphere. Plus, I didn't really have an appreciation for college sports like I do now.
So, seeing the tailgaiting and hearing Orshi yell at her fellow San Jose State rowdies out the window of my car made the experience of attending my first "real" college football game so exciting.
I could go into details about the whole game, but there's no need. The student section was packed, I got to hear some of the Stanford fight song throughout the night (they were on the opposite side of the stadium from us), I learned how bad San Jose State people really do HATE Stanford from the alums sitting behind us and I got to see a Stanford come-from-behind win (much to the chagrin of my husband and friends). It was an awesome day!
Go Cardinal!

M&Ms in the bath tub

It's been nearly three months that Diana has been potty trained and the teachers at KinderCare told us to give it "a few months" before she would start to go No. 2 in the toilet. We encouraged her to go No. 2 when we thought she was going to go in her underwear, but she really showed no interest. Which was fine. Hey, there are things I am not comfortable doing that I don't want to do. On the other hand, there are things I am not comfortable doing that I MUST do (that's a whole other blog post).

I digress. To make a long blog post short, Diana went No. 2 in the toilet last night. On her own free will, she came into the bathroom while I was getting her bath ready and announced that she had to go. I didn't think anything of it so she sat down and then I noticed out of the corner of my eye that she was "concentrating" a little harder than normal. I looked away to give her a little privacy and then sure enough...

I will spare the fine details so if you want to know the fine details, I will be more than happy to email you. I don't think it's necessary to post it here. We proceeded to have a party in the bathroom that concluded with Daddy bringing M&Ms into the bathroom. Diana ate them in the bath tub and she then paraded around the house saying "I went poopy in the toilet! I'm a big girl!"

Hallelujah!

Happy Grandparents Day

I just noticed on the calendar the other day that today is Grandparents Day. I am very disappointed in myself that I didn't notice earlier in the week so I could properly prepare myself for this extremely important day, but Diana and I more than made up for it today. I got a ton of my scrapbooking supplies out and we did some crafts...or "craps" as it sounds when Diana says it. Diana made some cards for all the grandparents so they can be expecting them in the mail this week. She did them all by herself...I had absolutely nothing to do with them. I just sat there and watched football while she made them.

Oh, Diana, you are so funny

I don't know where it comes from, but all of a sudden, Diana has got adult humor. Tonight, while I was washing my face and she was going back and forth from her room to my room playing and changing out of her school clothes, she stopped to watch me wash my face. (She's intrigued by me washing my face and Matt taking his contacts out).
She asked "Mommy, what doing?"
"Washing my face, hon."
She looked at me, tilted her head a little and said "Again?"
All I could do was laugh out loud. It was too funny. That was just the start.

As I was getting her bath ready later in the night and she was supposed to be getting out of her clothes, I walked into her room to find her sitting in her bed, lining up all her "buddies" against her pillow.
"Diana, whatcha doin'?"
"I'm lining them up, Mommy."
I noticed that one of her small ducks, who we call New Duck No. 2, was off to the side of the bed looking very sad to not be with his other companions.
"Well, what about New Duck No. 2, D?"
Without a hesitation, as if she had already put thought into it, she replies with...
"There's not enough space for New Duck No. 2, Mommy."
Again, I had to laugh out loud and then go downstairs to tell Matt. He proceeded to double over in laughter.
I came back up to find Diana putting New Duck No. 2 in a space in between the other buddies.
"I found some space, Mommy."

Too precious, had to share!

A cool new site for moms

My friends Dana and John (and their cutie son, JJ) moved to Washington, D.C., not long ago after John accepted a job with USA Today. Dana was content with being a stay-at-home mom but when an opportunity arose for her to earn some money and still be at home 90 percent of the time, she jumped on it.
She was recently hired by momslikeme.com, which I have come to find out is a great new web site for moms. I have been trying to go on and post to keep some topics fresh but it's been hard what with my training for the half marathon and all. I sent out an email to all the moms I know so hopefully they will sign up and we can share advice and keep in contact with each other's lives. The site is cool because it's broken down by region so I am linked on to the San Francisco part of the site, though, I believe, I can visit other parts and post comments, etc.

Please, please...if you get a chance, go to the site and check it out. It's free and what mom doesn't need some other friendly moms from around the country to share with?

On another note: RIP Matt Garcia. The Fairfield City Councilman was brutally shot on Monday night in a drive-by in Fairfield. He was 22 years old and things like this should not happen to someone who was trying to make a difference in the community where he was born and raised. I wasn't going to post anything here about it but I want to encourage readers (aka Michelle) to visit the Daily Republic and The Reporter's web sites to read the coverage in today's newspapers. The coverage and accompanying photos are excellent. To log on to the Daily Republic, use my username: asportgirl@yahoo.com; password: borchert.

Stop the Violence!

Cinderella!

I found this on another blog I came across. Take the quiz and find out who you are. Leave your answer in my comments.

You Are Cinderella!

Dignified and hard working. With a gentle and soft-spoken manner you have something many people don't. Patience. Even through the moments of heartbreak you're still able to hold onto all of your hopes and dreams. Bide your time; your dream will come true.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

It's us again!

I know, I know...Finally, right? My sister is a blogging machine over at Random Ramblings (click Michelle and Chris over there on the left) but me? Too little time lately.
Let's give a short update on the Borcherts:
Me...I got back from Philadelphia on Sunday after a very short business trip. The trip to Philly was a little more exciting than I would have liked with the company jet developing a cracked window somewhere over Salt Lake City. We made an emergency landing and flew commercial the rest of the way. Very long story short, my total travel time was 19 hours. My total time in Philly was 28 hours. Argh. I was very glad to be back home on Sunday and glad that there is a 3-day weekend this weekend. My workouts are going great! I dropped a pants size which means I only have two pair of pants that fit me right now. All the others are way too big. Kinda exciting, kinda a bummer because shopping is something I am trying to cut back on.

Matt...My dear husband has been in school for two weeks now and basketball is going great. He's got 16 girls on the team and you can follow their season so far by reading the blog (click on the link on the left). His assistant coach writes most of the entries but I have asked her to please teach Matt how to blog as it's very important to recruits. Matt has been a running machine lately and it's showing in his much slender physique! :) He is doing a 10K in Davis on Monday and we are going to be there to cheer him on. Go Daddy!

Diana...I have to just pick a couple things to write about because there's just so much! We decided last night (thanks to the encouragement from Grandma V) to take Diana out of her music class at KinderCare and put her in Phonics, which is geared more toward 3-year-olds. We'll see how she takes to it. It's the same teacher, but she loves her music class. We still have 10 CDs that she's gotten from the music classes, so she can listen to those songs whenever she wants, but she loves jammin' out in that class. She's also doing really well with her new bed. She has fallen out just a couple times and last night Matt pointed out that she's adjusted her sleeping method so that she doesn't fall out. We both noticed that she was pushed up against the other side of the bed so she doesn't even come near the railing. She still doesn't get up in the middle of the night to go pee, but three out of four nights this week, she's had a dry pull-up in the morning. Pretty awesome!

Just in case you were wondering...Even though I have a hard time putting a new post, I do update the blog everyday by writing about my workout from the previous day. Just read the "How's the Training, Angela?" and you can follow my workouts daily!

So, that's all the news with the Borcherts...for now.

So little time

I have so many things to post about and I will get to it, I promise. I have an awesome picture of Diana that I want to put on here, I want to blog about Matt starting school. I want to update everyone on my training that has been going great. It's just been a hectic couple of weeks and even though the laptop has been downstairs lately because Matt has developed an obsession with playing MahJong while watching the Olympics, I am just too tired after I run and stretch and do my exercises. I crash by 9:30.

I do want to encourage my readers (aka Michelle) to click on the Williams College men's basketball link to the left. Matt's best friend just took the head coaching job at Williams College near Boston. The team is in Italy for 10 days, sightseeing and playing basketball. Nice way to start a job, right? The team is keeping a blog of sorts by updating fans daily of their excursions. It's pretty cool. There is even a picture of Mike with his new team on one of the postings, he's the tall guy to the far right in the white tee-shirt.
You don't have to be a basketball fan to enjoy the updates, it's college kids having a great time in a foreign country, getting to see some great sights and play the sport they love. If you have a second, check it out!

A couple of milestones

Diana just keeps growing, changing and getting older every day. It's hard to keep up. Matt bought her some new board games over the weekend because Candy Land was burning us all out a little. We played it every night for two weeks straight I think. She's really good at it, but we needed some more variety. He bought Hi-Ho Cheery-O which she plays at Gramma V's a lot and Chutes and Ladders which I played a lot when I was a kid but Matt didn't. Diana gets pretty bored with that one.
Also last weekend, we converted Diana's crib into a big girl bed. On the first night though, Diana fell out of her bed a couple times (it's not a long fall) and rolled all the way over to her door (it was closed). When Matt went in to check on her, she was sound asleep behind the door. The next day, Daddy went to Babies R Us and purchased a rail for the bed, which he later found out was only for a full size bed. It's supposed to fit in between the box spring and mattress. We are making it work though. We check on her every couple hours to make sure she doesn't roll out of bed and get caught in between the rail and her bed. I would hate to have to put the one side of the crib back on...Diana would throw a fit. She'll get used to it. She loves having a big girl bed though. Matt accidently called it her "new bed" the other day and she very sternly corrected him..."No, Daddy, it's a big girl bed!"
The other big news was that Diana went No.2 at school on Tuesday. I don't want to get into details, but she was rewarded with stickers from Miss Mary and M and Ms at home. She was very proud of herself, hopefully she can keep up it!

It's as easy as riding a bike

My workout this week, according to freakin' Hal Higdon, included 30 minutes of cross training on Saturday. I texted my dad on Friday morning to see if he would be up for a bike ride on Saturday morning. We had been talking about doing this for a while and now that we are both in serious training mode, now seemed as perfect a time as any.
He came over to the house and once I literally dusted off the cobwebs from my bike, we headed out. All was fine, we were strolling along really good. 30 minutes out on Leisure Town Rd., including about 10 minutes down this wonderfully cute little country road. On the way back, about 2 miles from my house, I biked over a concrete-to-asphalt change in the road. It was pretty harsh, but I just kept going.
A half mile later, I notice that my bike isn't riding the same. I look down, notice I have a flat in the front. Crap!
I start to slow down, glance back to tell my dad that we need to stop, lose control, swerve into the gutter and proceed to go face first into Leisure Town Rd. Well, I didn't really go FACE first, but I went flying over the handlebars, according to my dad, who then fell as well.
I jacked up my knee, I need new biking gloves because they ripped open (good thing I was wearing them though because my hands would've been ripped open instead), and my handlebars need some repair work as well.
I honestly don't know how I didn't get hit by a car, but good thing I didn't.
Dad fixed my tire (my hero), a nice lady stopped to see if we were OK and we biked back home, bloody knee and all.
I had to have my mommy come over and take care of my knee though because every time I looked at it, I got light headed.
I'm OK now...I ran 4 miles Sunday night (it was too hot, I should've waited three more hours) and the knee was good. It's just ugly more than anything.
Moral: Don't go four years without riding a bike.

Happy Anniversary!

Matt and I celebrated six years of marriage on Monday! We have always gone by the book (shocking, huh?) when it comes to giving gifts. For instance, the first anniversary was paper so Matt bought me some scrapbooking supplies (I was into scrapbooking back then) and I bought him some stationary. This year, the gifts called for candy and/or iron. Well, the candy part is easy. I bought him two one-pound gift certificates to See's Candy. His FAVORITE place to get candy. Even though we are both being disciplined and eating right and trying to lose weight, it's the anniversary and reason to splurge a little.
The iron part was a little harder for me so I just stuck with the candy part. Matt worked a little harder.
Our plan for the anniversary night was to attend the San Francisco Giants game on Monday night so we packed everything we needed into Matt's car on Monday morning and got Diana's suitcase ready for a night at Gramma V's. Matt was scheduled to pick me up from work around 4 p.m. but had to run an errand for me. I looked out my work window to see if he was out front (because I know how he hates to sit out there and wait for me) and I see this limo pull up in front of the building with a sign on the side. Now, we have a lot of limos come to Copart every now and then, but this was different because of the sign. Though I couldn't see what the sign said, I just had a feeling that Matt had gone a little crazy.
Sure enough, the receptionist called me up and asked me "Can you come down and get this?" I asked her "Is that limo for me?" She replied "I have no idea what you are talking about." Hardy har.
So, I went downstairs--with my entourage from work gushing behind me. The limo driver was waiting with some balloons and escorted me to the limo where Matt was waiting--with candy! YUM!
He said he was sure there was iron on the limo somewhere. :)
We opened our cards to one another (we got each other the same Mickey Mouse card) and enjoyed the trip into the city. We sat in the club level during the game so we had easy access to all kinds of food. We even sat inside during the last two and a half innings because it was a little chilly outside. They had televisions so we cheered the Giants on with the staff members waiting to get off work(it was cute).
The Giants won which was awesome and we feel asleep on the way home. It was a great anniversary...once again!

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!)