The Contini Clan

Eight

2012-01-29T06:37:00.000-08:00

Vinnie is 8 today!!

Artistic, loud and smart--these words best describe Vinnie! So what has Vinnie been up to this year?? Here are Vinnie's top 8 for the last year.

1. We went snow skiing last year in Deer Valley, and for the first time he was able to ski with us for the entire day! Way to go Vinnie!

2. He played on the AA Giants with his Dad as the coach.

3. He joined his big brothers for 2 weeks at sleep away camp and had a blast!

4. He actually tried a few new foods while away at camp. Turns out starvation is a great motivator. Unfortunately he still won't eat new things here at home.

5. Started second grade, and helped his teachers get to know him better by telling them he was lazy. They can't say they weren't warned.

*click to enlarge and check out number 1

6. Played Fall Baseball on the Cubs and got his first hit off a kid pitched ball (which was a big deal and took most of the season!)

7. Learned how to cover up a swear word by using the word "beep".

the above picture was turned in as part of a homework assignment

8. He continues to demonstrate his complete lack of healthy fear for any kind of adult or authority figure. At lunch he has been known to ask the principal to open his capri sun. At the Monterey Bay Aquarium he marched up to the woman lecturing and proceeded to ask her question after question on sharks (until I went up there and rescued her).

Vinnie makes us laugh daily, amazes us with his ability to put together complicated lego sets, and has the singing voice of an angel. I can't wait to see what he is going to do with his life because I know it is going to be great! Happy birthday Vinnie! We love you!

Here I go again...

2012-01-14T11:09:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has been on Facebook regularly has noticed that I have been doing some awfully long runs on the weekends. I have been training for a marathon, Surf City in Huntington Beach on February 5. Again. I get a little nervous saying that out loud. Why? Because last year when I was training for the exact same marathon, I ended up with a stress fracture in my hip, preventing me from running for over 4 months. It happened one week after I bought my plane ticket. So what have I done different this time? I haven't bought a plane ticket!! No way. I am driving down. I have even been reluctant to blog about it, for fear of something bad happening.

So why now? Because I just finished running my last 20 mile run and am now in official taper mode (which I find more painful than the 20 mile runs. Weird, I know.)!! I am pumped up and feel great! I am still a bit nervous about an injury. Hell, I could fall down the stairs tomorrow, or trip over one of the boys' cleats in the garage at any moment. Let's just say though that I am cautiously optimistic about my chances of making it to the starting line this time around.

What about my goal time? Up until now I have been saying that my goal is to make it to the starting line. I feel I need to move past that now and choose an actual time goal. My one and only marathon 3 1/2 yrs ago I ran in 4:31, but was injured through most of my training, and injured during the race. At that time in my running, my PR for a half marathon was about 2:06. Things are different now. My recent half marathon time was 1:51. My long run times/paces have been all over the board.

16 miles @ 9:21 pace
18 miles @ 8:52 pace
20 miles @ 9:05 pace--felt AWFUL at the end and was staggering the last mile
16 miles @ 8:54 pace
20 miles @9:33 pace--felt better, but still wiped out and dry heaving at the end
17 miles @9:08 pace--felt great!!
20.5 miles @ 8:58-- This was my run today. I felt really good! I actually felt like I could have kept running. I didn't throw up at all and chowed down a bag of Cheetos when I got home.

So fellow running buddies--what should I reasonably expect to be able to do? I am thinking 4 hr 15 min for sure (which is a 9:43 pace). I am hoping for faster though. Thoughts?

New Years Eve, East Coast Style!

2012-01-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

Better late than never, right?

Zachary had plans for the night, as usual, which means we did not have a babysitter. We thought about finding one, but never actually got around to it. We decided since we couldn't do anything fun, we would have a party for the younger kids.

We invited handful of the cousins- Peter, Gian, and Laurel (all age 9 years) and William (age 8 years). With my younger 3 we had 7 kids here for the night.

We started off with a silly string fight. Seemed like a cool idea. The kids had fun, but unfortunately the cans lasted less than 5 minutes, and Christopher cried because he couldn't figure out how to use his! Next time, more cans and a tutorial for Christopher prior to the party.

We had heated up the hot tub so the kids played in the water. Much to my surprise they even went in the pool!! The water was so cold that the temperature didn't even register (it just said less than 50). They would jump in and swim across, then get back in the hot tub as quickly as possible. Nuts!!

Then it was pizza time!! To say I was regretting those horns the entire night is an understatement!

The kids then settled down for a movie (or 2) until 9 pm. We went outside with poppers and confetti to ring in the (almost) new year. They were all asleep by 11 pm, with me soon following (Pete was long gone on the couch by then!) But don't worry. Thanks to my 13 year old who decided to text me a "Happy New Year" message at midnight I was awake for the real new year as well. (Apparently Zach's party was just getting started!)

Wishing everyone the best in 2012!!

The Christmas Wrap

2011-12-31T11:23:00.001-08:00

With New Years Eve upon us, so is the end of the Holiday season. I love Christmas and all the family time that comes with it. This year we did lots of fun things.

This year we met lots of our cousins in San Francisco for the holiday version of Beach Blanket Babylon. BBB is a San Francisco tradition, and a bit difficult to describe if you aren't familiar with it. A good time was had by all!

A Long time tradition for us is decorating our gingerwood house. This year the boys actually worked together to plan out and execute the design.

Unfortunately I must have screwed up the icing. 15 minutes after the boys were done I went to look at the house. Epic fail. The roof completely slid off. I was way more upset than the boys.

As usual, Zach has headphones on. It makes him so enjoyable to be around!

I always love picking out the tree. The boys? Not so much. They subscribe to the "grab the first tree you see" school of thought and have no patience for my pickiness.

Vinnie, decorating the tree

I always enjoy baking and love trying new recipes. This year I made peppermint shortbread, Christmas buttons (addicting!!) and rocky road.

Vinnie sang in the children's choir for Christmas Eve Mass. He even had a solo, Away in a Manger and rocked it!

After Mass we went to my sister-in-laws house for her annual Christmas Eve party. This was a first for us, as we usually stay home and do our own thing. It was a blast, except the little ones came home talking about their cousin who told them he didn't think Santa was real (thanks Petey!) I promised to try and stay up and catch the fat man in the act.

And lo and behold, I caught him!! Really, he isn't very graceful and made quite a bit of noise so it wasn't that hard. I took a quick picture as proof and quickly went back to bed before he caught me. The kids were thrilled to see the picture, and Vinnie is still talking about it!

It was a very "apple" Christmas in our house. Santa brought 3 ipod touches and 1 Macbook for the boys. Santa was pretty generous with Pete and I as well.

Unfortunately, the above is Vinnie's ipod touch after 2 days. Shattered after being dropped. Our fault as we hadn't got around to getting a case for it. It still works, but looks pretty bad. They are now all put away until the otterbox cases we ordered arrive. Does anyone know how to replace the faceplate? I am just sick about it.

A couple days after Christmas we went back in to San Francisco for a showing of Grinch the musical. A great production that we all really enjoyed. I highly recommend it!

The holiday ended with a brief visit from Grandma Liz.

And tonight? We are having 4 of our nieces and nephews (ages 8 - 9) over for a New Years Eve party and sleepover! (Zach got a better offer and will be at another party)

Have a safe and happy New Years!!

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-25T08:23:00.000-08:00

click to enlarge

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

13

2011-12-18T07:48:00.000-08:00

13 years ago I had a pretty big surprise. I was pregnant with my first, but wasn't expecting him for another 5 weeks. Zach had other plans though, and in the early hours of December 18 made his grand appearance. Best Christmas gift ever!


On Santa's lap, 6 days old. Santa was terrified of him!

Here are Zach's 13 highlights and accomplishment's over the last year:

1. Skiing the bowls in Deer Valley Utah. ( I am too scared to even look down them let alone ski them!!)

2. Learning how to play catcher during Spring Little League.

3. Finally being allowed to get the Call of Duty game.

4. His baseball team winning the Majors championship and moving on to the Tournament of Champions.

5. Getting straight A's in 6th grade.

6. Making the All Star baseball team.

7. Learning to boogie board while on vacation in Huntington Beach.

8. Had a blast his 4th year at Camp Kennolyn.

Camp drop off, seeing his old camp buddies again

9. Playing juniors Fall Ball on the big field and getting several great hits!

10. Being allowed to ride his bike to the mall.

11. Serving as alter server for our parish.

12. He is now babysitting his brothers and getting paid for it. I admit, this is one of my highlights for the year as well!)

13. He is now a TEENAGER!!

Happy Birthday Zach!! You surprised me the day you were born and have been an amazing gift ever since. A go getter from the start, you will go far in life, accomplishing what you set your mind to do. We love you!!

Thankful

2011-11-25T13:34:00.001-08:00

As always, I have so much to be thankful for this year---family, friends, good health, and a good job. What else is there?

Our office (Almaden Pediatrics) even sponsored the run!

I am also thankful that I am able to run. Last December I suffered a stress fracture in my hip while marathon training, leaving me unable to run for over 4 months. I have been back in full stride for several months now and am training again for a marathon. I know I may get injured again at any time, so am trying to just focus on one run at a time. Whatever happens, happens.

Yesterday Pete and I ran our neighborhood 10K turkey trot. It is a fun, casual event filled with our friends and neighbors. I even PR'ed at a 49:04! Woo hoo! I can't remember Pete's time, but he kicked my butt and may have even come in at the top 3. Still waiting for the official results to post.

Nephew Gregory manning up for his flu shot!

I am thankful that our job allows us to help people. Our hostess gift this year? We brought flu shots for the nieces, nephews, and other family members! The gift of good health is a winner every time. (actually I just didn't have time to get a real hostess gift. Don't tell Fran.)

Tina, Lisa, Fran, me, Luci, and Maria

I am thankful for all the family that we are surrounded by. I miss having my cousins, aunts and uncles near me, but am grateful for Pete's family who has always accepted me. I am pictured above with my 5 sisters-in-law.

I am thankful that we do live close to his family, and that Pete is a great son to his mother. As a mom to 4 boys, it means a lot to me that my boys have such a great role model. I am crossing my fingers that at least one (and hopefully all!) of them will stay close by and surround us with grandkids!

I know that Zach is thankful that he gets to sit at the "Big kid" table!

And the grown-ups were all thankful that the "little kid" table was in the other room!

The Contini's ~ Thanksgiving 2011

I hope everyone else has as much to be grateful for as I!! Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Veteran's Day, Vinnie style

2011-11-11T13:30:00.001-08:00

Overheard this morning, Vinnie talking to Christopher:

Vinnie: "Today is a holiday Chris, one that you probably don't even know. It is Veteran's Day"

Christopher: "What?"

Vinnie: "It is when we celebrate all the wars that the United States won. We only lost one you know."

Me: "Is that so? Which one did we lose?"

Vinnie: "I am not sure. I just know it wasn't the first World War or that Revolution one."

After I finished laughing I explained the real reason behind Veteran's Day.

Thank you to all veterans out there!

A little afraid for Vinnie's teacher conference this week...

2011-11-06T09:17:00.000-08:00

Vinnie's homework has always been a source of entertainment for me.

Last year he shared with us his feelings about homework:

Earlier this year he warned his teachers about the fact that he was lazy:

"And the number 1 thing about me is... I'm lazy!"

Today I was going through his last weeks returned work and found this little gem:

The above is the picture accompanying his report on "The Big Bushy Mustache"- a story about a boy who loses his fake mustache.

"Oh my beeep!"? What did he mean by that? Surely he wasn't beeping out a cuss word, was he?? So I called him over and asked him. The smirky grin on his face alone answered the question for me. "Well," he said, "that's what you say when you don't want to cuss, right? I didn't want to use a cuss word there."

Can't wait to hear what his teachers have to say about that.

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T20:43:00.000-07:00

Halloween is coming to a close!

The fun started on Friday with the school Halloween parade. I ran over to watch the boys walk by.

Joey was Waldo and Vinnie was Luigi. Vinnie cracked me up when he told me wearing the mustache "smelled like skiing in Deer Valley". I am guessing because he usually has a fleece gator pulled up to his nose? Funny kid.

Friday night was the school Pumpkin Bust (basically a carnival). for the first time ever we did NOT win a cake at the cake walk! Just as well. The boys did do the hair scare booth, which meant they all had to shower when we got home--what a mess!

The big excitement (at least for Joey) was that he won a bag of guppies at the carnival. I told him if they survived the weekend we would buy them a bowl. Sure enough the little suckers lived. Off to the pet store we went--turns out a fish bowl ain't good enough for these guys. Nope. They have to have a tank with a water filtration system, heater, rocks, plants and something to hide and swim in. At least that is what the pet store lady said. Or maybe I just have "sucker" written across my forehead. Either way, the free fish cost us $70 in supplies. Now they really better not die!

Sunday night was the annual Halloween party at the Saratoga Country Club. There is good food and a pretty cool magician that the kids watch while us grown ups get to sit back and chat.


The cousins at the Halloween party. I love the look on Zach's face!

Are Mario and Luigi not the cutest damn things you have ever seen?? Adorable! I skipped the big puffy mustache and just drew one on with eyeliner. Much better!

The weather has been in the 80's here all week, which means we can't carve pumpkins until the last day or else they rot. I was scrambling yesterday and today to get them all done. Christopher loves Angry Birds so I had to do that one for him!

The younger 3 went out trick or treating with the neighbors.

Zach went out with a bunch of his friends. In fact, they are still out there! When they dropped by he already had a ridiculous amount of candy.

Zach and his friends Hunter and Eric entered the school costume contest for best group costume. They lost to a bunch of crayons. Boo. I think their idea was better.

Vinnie hitting his loot after. Funny thing is, he probably won't even eat 80% of it! He is as picky with candy as he is with food. He will only eat regular M&M's, Skittles, Starbursts and plain Hershey bars. Thankfully I love peanut M&M's because he got a boat load of those!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!

Our Fall weekend craziness!

2011-10-23T14:37:00.000-07:00

We are nearing the end of our crazy Fall schedule. The calendar below is a sample of what Saturdays are like around here:

Absolute insanity. So what have the Contini boys been up to?

After 2 years of football, Zachary decided not to play this year. He wanted to play more baseball, so is on a juniors Fall ball team. He has now moved up to a full MLB size field. The size difference is huge--last season the base paths were 60 ft long. Now they are 90 ft long.

Zachary has actually done great with the transition, which is no small feat since he is a catcher! The throw from home plate to 2nd base is ridiculous, but he is improving. He is even getting great hits!

Just because Zach isn't playing football doesn't mean we are done with it. Joey is playing his first year of tackle football and is really loving it. I was a bit concerned because it is such a huge time commitment, and Joey is such a lazy complainer at times (Love ya Joey!) that I was afraid he would complain and not want to go to practice. It has been tough at times to get homework done, but he has hung in there!

He is number 12 in the picture above. He has come a long way this season and is getting considerably more playing time that last few weeks, a testament to his improvement.

Vinnie usually plays soccer in the Fall, but also wanted to stick with baseball this season. Pete is coaching him in a Fall ball team. It is the first time that the kids are now pitching. He is doing a little pitching, and is pretty decent at it.

After struggling all season to get a hit, he went all out yesterday. He hit a solid single, but thanks to the beauty of play at this level, a series of errors turned it into a homer! He was so excited it was great to see. He followed it up with another single at his next at bat. His slump is officially over!

And that leaves us with Christopher. I have already posted about Chris and his first real sport. Pete is coaching Chris in soccer (yes, my 4 boys are playing 3 different sports. God forbid they all choose the same sport!). I have to admit, he is kicking butt!

He is playing up an age level, so is by far the youngest and smallest one out there. He is aggressive and not put off at all by the bigger kids. He is the dominant player on his team and is such a kick (ha ha!) to watch! There have been times when parents from the opposing team are cheering him on because he is so cute and stands out so much.

And Pete and I? Not too much. On a last minute whim we ran the Morgan Hill half marathon this morning. It was so much fun. I am grateful to have a husband that shares this passion of mine. I had no idea what time to shoot for as I heard this was a hilly course and I haven't run an official half in a while. My PR on a flat course a couple of years ago was 1:54, so I was hoping for under 2 hours today. Much to my surprise I came in at about 1:51:30!! Woo hoo!! Pete of course kicked my butt, coming in at 1:33. It was a fun course and perfect running weather. We definitely need to do more of these (as if we have the time with the boys' sports schedule!) together.

That about wraps it up. Go Team Contini!!

Crazy Snake Lady

2011-10-14T12:24:00.000-07:00

You know those crazy ladies with all the cats? That might be me some day. Except I will be the crazy snake lady (which sounds much cooler than the crazy cat lady!).

Our friends were looking to get rid of their corn snake. I figured 2 snakes can't be much more work then 1 snake, right?

Introducing the newest member of the Contini family-- Brian Wilson Contini! We call him "Wilson" for short. He came to us with the name "Ninja", but we wanted to keep with the Giants players theme, so he is now Wilson. I don't think he minds.

I am still keeping my fingers crossed that Buster will still make an appearance. Come home Buster!! We still miss you!!

Vinnie's Top 10

2011-10-12T14:08:00.001-07:00

At the beginning of the school year Vinnie had to fill out the following paper titled "Top 10 things you need to know about Vincent Contini" for his teachers (he has 2 this year).

I cracked up when I read through and reached "And the number 1 thing is____!"

*click to enlarge

Way to lower your teachers expectations of you Vinnie! At least they have been warned.

Desperate times...

2011-10-05T17:05:00.000-07:00

...call for desperate measures.

You know how you will lose something, then go crazy looking for it? You look and look, but just can't find it so you break down and buy another? Then you find your lost item?

That is what I am hoping will happen with us. We lost Buster Posey, our pet snake about a month ago and still haven't found him. We have left dead mice out for him, his favorite rock, the warming pad. Nothing.

So we broke down today and bought a new snake.

Introducing Tim Lincecum Contini. We just call him Timmy.

Welcome to the Contini house Timmy!

(OK Buster. You can come out of hiding now)

Pirate Party time!!

2011-09-25T17:39:00.001-07:00

We have done it! We have survived another kid birthday party! Woot! Woot!
The theme for Christopher's 5th birthday party was pirates. Not because he is into pirates, but because he saw the pirate swords at Target and wanted them and I figured it would be easier than trying to do an Angry Birds party, which is what he is in to. So pirates it was!

I was a bit stressed since I was out of town last weekend, and crazy busy all week with other things. We were scrambling today to get the activities together. We did it!

The first activity was the bean bag toss. The boys took turns tossing the bean bags in to the pirate chest.

The next activity was the jello hunt. This was an activity I did for Vinnie's lego party this year, where the boys used chop sticks to pick lego pieces out of the jello. This time I used blue jello and we told the boys that a treasure chest fell into the sea, spilling it's contents. They used their chopsticks to pull out treasure (toy rings) and fish (swedish fish). It was a bit tough for the younger boys to manipulate the chopsticks, but they did it.

Next up was the obstacle course. Pete has done this for both Vinnie and Joey's birthday parties and it is always a big hit. It wasn't pirate related, so Pete suggested we have the boys rape and pillage at the end of the obstacle course. Funny guy.

We came back in the house for pin the pirate on the map. Eh. Not too exciting.

We then took a break for pizza.

The next game was a surprise hit. It was a back up game that we were only going to use if we needed to kill more time (which we did). It was essentially musical chairs, but we used treasure maps. The kids refused to walk in a circle, and instead went crazy running all over the place and plowing into each other. Boys! Much to our surprise we did not have to stitch anyone up at the end! They played this over and over (and over). I find I can never predict what the huge hit of the party is going to be.

Cake time! Of course I made a pirate cake.

Make a wish!

The final event was the treasure hunt. Every pirate party has to have a treasure hunt, right? We had no idea how to do a treasure hunt for 5 year olds who can't even read. Pictures? Rhymes? An hour before the party we were still trying to figure out what to do. I decided to keep the clues real simple, with either Pete or Vinnie reading the clues. Examples were "this is where Christopher's brothers play basketball" and "this is where the mailman puts the mail". At each location was a paper bag with the next clue and some pieces of candy for their bag. The final clue led them to the big treasure chest which had their take home goody bags in it. It went smoothly and the kids had a blast!
The goody bags had pirate stickers and tattoos, an eye patch, chocolate coins, a candy necklace and a few other little trinkets. I find it hard not to get carried away on the goody bags!

Aye matey!!

Happy 5th birthday Christopher!!

2011-09-20T04:55:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe, but my baby is turning 5 today!

As the youngest of 4 boys, Christopher is not your typical 5 year old. In fact, he thinks he is about 10! He is saavy and tough and has no problem holding his own when surrounded by older kids. In fact, he still can't understand why he wasn't allowed to have a sleepover party for his 4th birthday!

Christopher is also our family clown. Here are 5 funny things Christopher has said or done recently:

1. A couple of weeks ago we were having a family meeting about the kids' recent poor behavior around here. We were going around the table asking each one what they can do to make this house more pleasant (ie. stop fighting with my brother, do what I am told, etc...). We came to Christopher last. He looked around and said " I will stop fake farting. Also, I will stop pulling my pants down and showing Vinnie my butt."

2. Last year I asked him who wipes his butt if he poops in preschool. His answer? "We don't poop in school. We only pee. That is why it is called pee-school".

3. When looking for our lost snake last week (who we still haven't found) he pulled his penis out of his pants, started waving it around and said "here he is!"

4. We went down to SoCal this summer to visit family, including my cousin's 3 month old baby. He is a cute little boy with big open eyes. Christopher was staring at him and leaned over and whispered to me "That baby is freaking me out. Look at those eyes!"

5. In his preschool this year there is a little girl with adorable big curly hair. He said to her mom the other day "Is that your little girl? Because she has crazy hair!"

Happy birthday little man!! You make us laugh and keep us on our toes! We love you!

I guess we better start checking our shoes before putting them on...

2011-09-13T19:04:00.001-07:00

Notice anything missing? Yep, Buster Posey (our pet snake) is gone for good this time. I am still not entirely sure what happened. I know I saw him in there on Saturday morning, but when the boys went to take him out Saturday night to play, he was gone. They insist they never left the top off and I believe them because I would have seen it off. There has been a tiny hole in the mesh top for a couple of months, but I didn't think he could get up to it or slither out it. Guess I was wrong. Crazy thing is, a month ago the boys did leave the top off for a few hours and he didn't leave then (despite me thinking he did).

We looked everywhere. I had the kids looking in every shoe, nook and cranny in the downstairs. At one point Christopher yelled out "I found him!" I ran around the corner to see him with his penis pulled out of his pants , wiggling it around. Sigh. When I told Peter what Christopher did he said "I was going to do the same thing!" I think Pete was actually disappointed his 5 year old son beat him to the joke. Double sigh. Clearly the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

I have a nephew who lost a snake and found him 6 months later. My cousin found her lost snake a year later, his tail dangling from behind a wall hanging. (I have no idea what they were eating that entire time!!). I suppose that means there is a still a chance we will find Buster, but who knows. I don't know if those are unusual stories or if that frequently happens. I am afraid he went down a vent and is stuck. What will happen when we turn the heat on?! I don't want him to suffer. I actually left some of his food (yes, by food I mean a dead pinky mouse!) sitting out by the vent, hoping the smell will lure him out so he can at least eat. (It is starting to get a bit soft and gross though, so i will have to toss it!)

The kids are bummed too, but I think I am the most upset. WAAAAHH!!! If I am this broken up about a snake, I can only imagine how I would act if I had a warm blooded pet that was lost!

BUSTER, PLEASE COME HOME!!

Finally!

2011-09-12T06:14:00.000-07:00

Christopher is finally playing in his first real, gets-to wear-a-real-uniform-and-have-a-snack-after sport!!

Christopher was less than 72 hours old when he went to his first sporting event- it was Zachary's soccer game. He has spent most Saturdays since then at various soccer, baseball, and football fields watching his brothers play. Finally he is old enough!!

My favorite picture! Nobody can catch him!

Technically he should be in the under 5 division, but his best friend is in the under 6 division so we petitioned to have him play up. Pete offered to coach so the league agreed.

He is the youngest and by far the smallest on the field, but look at him go! The joy on his face says it all. Despite his age and size, he is one of the better ones on the team. He is not intimidated at all by the bigger boys (why would he be? he is used to his brothers!). What he lacks in size, he makes up for in speed!

Of course, nothing is as exciting as the snack after! Above he is with his best friend Aaron (who is only 6 months older!)

Team Contini strikes again!

Happy Birthday Pete!

2011-09-08T04:00:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to my husband, the man who wears many hats!

Pete has so many things going on at any given moment, I don't know how he does it.

1. The big thing of course, is that he is a full time pediatrician.

2. He is on our neighborhood board as the communications director. He is in charge of the newsletter, among other things.

3. Currently he is coaching Vinnie's fall ball team.

4. He is also coaching Christopher's soccer team (or as we like to refer to it- "herding cats")

5. He is on the ER committee at the hospital.

6. He writes our office article in the "95120" magazine

7. He is working on a new business venture (which is all I can say here) (also, I am not too thrilled with this one).

8. He is also working with a company as a pediatric adviser to their product.

9. Last but not least, he is a pretty great Dad and husband!

Happy birthday Pete! We love you!

edited to add- I almost forgot! He is also "team doctor" at all the Leland high school football games and is starting work on some pediatric podcasts (Lord knows he loves to hear himself talk!)

The case of the missing cell phone

2011-08-22T20:39:00.000-07:00

So it came to our attention last Friday that Zachary did not know where his cell phone was. He actually wasn't quite sure when he had lost it. I knew that I was texting him on Monday night, so knew he had it then. Too say we were frustrated was an understatement. He has now had this phone for 14 months, and we are already on the third one (thank God for the insurance plan). The first 2 meant their demise via a water death.

I went crazy all weekend tearing apart the house. We looked EVERYWHERE. Under mattresses, cushions, in pants pockets, you name it. I decided to go in to sleuth mode. I went online to our verizon account to see when it was last used. I could tell from records that he was texting at 9 pm on Wednesday. Zachary was insistent he did not bring it to school on Thursday. So it had to be in the house, right? We couldn't find it. But we did find Zachary's St. Christopher medal that went missing 2 years ago.

When Mona (our nanny) came in to work this morning I asked her to keep an eye out for it. She said that when she did laundry on Thursday morning it came out of the washing machine. (What?!) She showed it to Christopher who stated "Oh, that's mine. It is Zachary's old phone." So she gave it to him.

I went to Christopher (as if a 4 year old is going to remember anything). After several minutes of questioning he said he brought it over to a playdate on Thursday. Ugh.

So I called his friend's Mom. Yes, she did remember the phone. She thought Christopher left it in her car. Great!

Except she had a rental car that day. Are you kidding me?!

Surprisingly she was able to track it down at the car rental place and got it back to us today. Totally water logged. A third water death for Zachary's phone.

Thankfully the phone insurance will cover it, because I sure would have hated to kill Zachary in our nice, new kitchen.

It's Done!!!

2011-08-21T20:24:00.001-07:00

After eating and cooking in our garage for the last 2 1/2 months, our kitchen is just about done!

Above is the eye sore we started with.

This (poorly taken by my husband) picture is from the same view point. Notice the missing wall, opening the kitchen into the dining room.

The stove side of the kitchen. My cabinet hardware hasn't been installed yet. It took me FOREVER to pick out the handles and knobs. There were 1000's to choose from, which threw me for a loop. Needless to say I finally decided on something, which will be installed later this week.

Above is the close up of the cook top. After 10 years of an electric stove, I am so excited to have a gas cook top again! I am also pretty excited about my pot filler.

The color didn't come out great in this picture, but I love my granite. It is called "new gold" and is a caramel-ly color.

We had a credenza built for the back wall of the eating area. I now have a place to store all the china (which we have never used) we got for our wedding. (Does anyone use their china??!!) We replaced the tile floors with hardwood floors.

We did some work in our family room as well. We have an alcove that used to hold our entertainment center above.

We had a built in desk put in. We also bought a second computer because Pete says I am a computer hog. I blame Facebook.

The end of our family room had lots of brick. Ugly.

The brick was removed and we had 2 bookcases built in. Pete picked the absolute biggest TV that would fit in the space above the fireplace. I have to admit, it is pretty awesome, especially when watching sports. If you look at the ceiling you can see speakers, which have been placed throughout the house and in the backyard. We now have a complicated audio/visual system that I may never learn to use. You can also see that we added crown moulding throughout the entire downstairs.

We originally were not going to do anything with the living room (otherwise known as the kids toy/game room). Yeah, right.

We decided to extend the hardwood floors throughout. Won't that sound lovely when the kids are running around and wrestling in here? They do look beautiful, but we will get a large area rug to save our sanity. On the left you can see the french slider doors which open into the eating area of the kitchen.

Despite the warnings we had from several people, Pete and I didn't end up divorced. We never even argued. It was easy really. Whenever I wanted something, Pete said "Whatever you want Dear". How simple is that?

Doomsday

2011-08-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

In other words, the first day of school. Blech. I just wasn't ready this year. What else is new?

The morning was a complete disaster. Zachary forgot his PE clothes. Pete had to run them over to the school.

Joey couldn't find his backpack. We looked everywhere for it. How do you lose a backpack?? We finally gave him one of Zach's old ones.

Vincent was whining non stop about his hair. Seriously?! He is worse than a girl.

Joey had to leave early to do safety patrol. I was finally ready to leave with Vinnie and Christopher, then Christopher had to poop. This kid poops like a 40 year old man, meaning he sits in there FOREVER. There is just no moving him along. Ugh.

By the time we got to school there was no parking anywhere near the school. I hope Christopher's poop was worth it.

The good parts? Christopher started a new preschool, the CDC at the elementary school and loved it. All the boys seem happy with their teachers, and happy to be back with their friends. And the mornings can only get better, right?

And Mona found Joey's backpack, buried in his room.

Buster Posey is back!!

2011-08-03T20:22:00.001-07:00

I mean this Buster Posey:

Not this one:

Let me back up a bit. This morning Vinnie was playing with the snake. I told him to put him back. A couple hours later I went in to make sure he latched the top on. When I walked in Zach's room the aquarium lid was on the floor. I got this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I ran to the tank. Buster was gone. I dug all over, hoping he had just buried himself. Nothing.

I called down for the kids and we all started tearing apart Zach's room, then the entire upstairs. Of course we are remodeling our downstairs right now, which means everything from the bottom floor is piled upstairs at the moment. This means that our upstairs resembles an episode of "Hoarders".

After looking for a couple of hours, I gave up. I was really bummed-- I have grown pretty attached to that snake. What if he got scared? Or hungry? Or lonely? But I had to stop, we had Giants tickets. We were gone all day at the game (The Giants won! Yay Giants!).

When we came home Pete was in Zach's room looking for some other lost item (story of our life right now). Sure enough, there was Buster, in his cage (with the lid OFF!). I swear I dug through the cage and he was not there earlier. Pete thinks I just didn't see him. I think Buster missed his cage and the easy life he has in there, and came back. Regardless, good to have you back Buster!

Going home

2011-07-31T16:14:00.000-07:00

After washing all the boys' camp laundry last weekend, I packed them back up so we could drive down to Southern California to visit my family in Huntington Beach. I drove with the boys while Pete stayed home to take care of the office. He was very sad to be home alone instead of hanging out with my Mom, Aunts and Grandma (yeah right!)

We had a great time hanging out on the beach by the Huntington pier. The boys kept going on and on about how warm the water was compared to Santa Cruz.

My sister met my Mom and I at the beach. Zachary took the above picture of the 3 of us. I kept trying to get him to pull the camera down and include more of us, but it was probably just as well that he didn't!

Nothing tastier than ice cream on a hot beach day!

Vinnie had a loose tooth dangling that he refused to touch or let me pull. Sure enough it fell out while eating the ice cream!

On Thursday my Aunt had a BBQ to get everyone together in one place. Above are most of my Aunts, cousins and my Grandma. It was so nice to see everyone!

My Mom was most excited to have all her grandsons together for the first time in about 3 years. My sister's boys are standing in the back, while my boys are sitting in the front.

On Friday we decided to change it up and headed over to Newport Beach to hang out.

The waves were pretty impressive so Zach and Joey rented boogie boards and had a blast.

This was a dream come true for Zachary--burying the little brother that annoys him the most. I don't know about you, but I detect a look of evil in Zach's eye!

The younger boys spent hours digging in the sand!

We then showered up and were treated to a ride on my Aunt Dede and Uncle Harry's boat around Newport bay and to a delicious dinner.

After a wonderful, relaxing trip we came home yesterday. Good thing we did because Pete was out of clean laundry and food! In his defense it was very busy in the office while I was gone. (So he says. I just don't think he knows how to work our washing machine!)

And now I am in laundry hell!

2011-07-23T20:59:00.001-07:00

We picked up the boys from Camp Kennolyn today!!

We saw Vinnie as soon as we arrived. He immediately started talking non stop about all the fun he had!

Joey was also happy to see us. And Zachary? He spotted us across the quad and turned and walked away. Oh well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad!

Cabin introductions were first. Vinnie was in Angels Camp.

Joey was in Davenport with his cousins Peter and Gian.

Zachary was in Jamestown. His good buddy Keaton is to his right.

Pete and I did enjoy the quiet with only 1 child at home, but I was happy to see the boys again!

It was so cute to see Vinnie running around telling Christopher about camp.

We spent a little time with the boys seeing some of their activities. Zachary and Joey did fencing for the first time this year. Vinnie got to try it out today as well.

Zachary and Keaton were being far too goofy to get a decent picture of them.

All of the boys did riflery this year. Joey also did carpentry, archery, outdoor cooking and jr. ropes.

Along with fencing and riflery, Zachary also did swimming, outdoor cooking, outdoor adventure, and archery.

Vincent's other activities included basketball, swimming, archery, drama (Zach said he was great in the camp skit!), and animal care.

Vinnie was the one I was a bit anxious about, since it was his first year. He is such a picky eater, and stubborn as hell about trying anything new. I was talking to one of his CILT's (counselor in training). He mentioned that Vinnie was having issues with eating, and it even worried him enough to go to the head counselor. Apparently the head counselor's response was "We have a saying here--when they are hungry enough, they will eat." And guess what? He did! He was excited to tell us he tried turkey, hot dogs, mashed potatoes, eggs, muffins, and brisket. That alone is worth the cost. I might leave him there all summer next year!

I was mortified to see the state of Joey's shoes!! No wonder all of his socks were black! Poor kid went on the 3 day backpacking trip and hiked for 12 miles in these shoes. Yikes!

And that leaves me with laundry for days. What this picture can't get across is the smell. Blech. All socks and most of their jeans went straight in the trash.

Good-bye Kennolyn! Once again the boys had an amazing time, making memories that will last a lifetime. We can't wait until next year!

Someone is missing his brothers...

2011-07-13T09:47:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Mona (our nanny) walked into the toy room to find Christopher writing little circles on a piece of paper.

She asked him what he was doing. 'Writing a letter to my brothers," he said
She offered to write the letter for him and he could tell her exactly what to say.

*click on image to make bigger

Christopher has been kept pretty busy with friends, but nothing can substitute for his brothers!

And then there was one...

2011-07-10T18:56:00.000-07:00

Today was Camp Kennolyn drop off day! The boys were super excited. It is Vinnie's first year, but his brothers have been filling him in on camp life for the last several weeks.

First up was our usual stop for lunch at Carpo's. Cousins Peter and Gian were already there waiting for us.

Vinnie is in Angel's Camp, which is for the youngest boys.

He immediately hit it off with Ethan (of course Vinnie could talk a post to death, so I am not surprised he quickly made a friend!) My biggest concern about Vinnie and camp is the food situation. He is the most ridiculously picky eater ever. To make matters worse, he is a cryer. I am picturing many crying meltdowns because he is hungry but refusing to eat. But who knows? Maybe he will actually try a few new things!

Joey is in Davenport cabin with his cousins Peter and Gian. There was also a kid or 2 from previous years that he was happy to see. This is Joey's 3rd year, so he is quite the pro now.

Zachary is in his 4th year at camp. He is in Jamestown cabin, with his best camp buddy Keaton (on Zach's left). They have been in the same cabin for 3 years now. Sam is another friend who Zach has known all 4 years. That is one of the many things we love about this camp--the same kids keep coming back to the same sessions. It was all I could do to get a couple of pictures of Zach before he was off with his friends!

Good by Mom and dad!! See you in 2 weeks!

Which leaves us home alone with Christopher--

So what do you do when you are an only child for the first time? Go jump in the pool all by yourself!

Know any good microwave recipes?

2011-06-27T19:09:00.000-07:00

When we moved into this house 7 years ago, my mom announced that it had the "ugliest kitchen she had ever seen". While I think that may have been a bit harsh, it is pretty damn ugly.

Finally, 7 years later, we are saying good-bye to the kitchen!

The kids have spent the last couple of weeks decorating the walls.

Mostly with tanks, guns, knives and general destruction.

"Goodby wall!"

Demo day finally arrived on June 13th.

By lunch time, this is what our kitchen looked like!

We have set up a temporary kitchen in the garage. I figure after 3 months out here, I will love our new kitchen no matter what. Hell, after 3 months out here, I will probably happily take back the old kitchen!

I am sure the neighbors will get a kick out of watching us eat dinner.

We have a microwave and a toaster oven. Pete has a big BBQ out back that even has a burner. Not bad!

2 weeks in, and this is what we have so far. The wall is gone and there are new wires and cables everywhere. What a mess.

We are really changing the entire downstairs.

Can you believe all that brick?

Well, it is now gone. The mess it made was truly epic. Brick dust sucks when you have bad allergies.

That mess is what some of our ceilings look like now. It has something to do with an audio sound system with speakers in the ceiling and in our bedroom. I care nothing about any of that mumbo-jumbo. That is for Pete. Whatever makes him happy.

So, know any good microwave recipes?

Maybe this means he will be a doctor...

2011-06-13T19:40:00.000-07:00

Christopher came home from preschool with this drawing of himself with Pete. Notice anything?

I asked him what the black line under the belly button was.

"Our privates Mom!"

Clearly they aren't very private. I am sure the preschool teacher was thrilled.

Good-bye...and Hello!!

2011-06-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

Lots happening over here today!

Christopher had his end of the year preschool celebration. It was sort of a graduation, although he is not going to kindergarten next year.

Unfortunately next years class schedule for this preschool just isn't going to work for us, so this was also a good bye.

We loved it here and will miss it next year.

We also had an exciting hello today!

Introducing the newest member of our family, Buster Posey Contini! We just call him Buster.

He is a baby corn snake. Isn't he awesome?!! My boys have been bugging us for a pet for a while now. After much research, I decided one of these guys would be perfect. They like being held, you only have to feed them every week or two, easy to keep clean, they don't make any noise, you don't have to walk them and they can be left alone when we go on vacation. Almost a perfect pet! Why almost? Because this guy will grow to be 5- 6 feet long and he will live 20 - 22 years. Needless to say, someone will be sneaking him into his dorm room one day!

What else happened today?

Zach got braces! Hello Metal Mouth and good-bye to skittles and starburst!

Just call me "one-eye"

2011-06-05T13:36:00.000-07:00

One of the joys of my 40's so far has been my loss of near vision. It started to come on slowly, and was easy to compensate by just stretching out my arms to read things. It has now progressed to the point where I am having difficulty reading/sending texts and can't read my running watch while out running. It was time to do something about it.

Last year I went to an optometrist for real glasses. I wanted a pair that I could always wear. I was given some progressive lens (talk about feeling like an old lady!) to try. I don't think I really needed the distance Rx though, because while they worked fine for reading, I couldn't stand them for distance.

Which brings me to this years appointment. My Aunt had been talking to me about monovision--she just wears 1 contact for near vision. I was a little squeamish at the idea of sticking a contact in my eye, but was willing to try anything.

I got my contacts last week. I had no idea how to put one in, so Pete tried to help. We spent a ridiculous amount of time, and half a bottle of saline, but he finally got it in. I looked around. Nothing. I was so disappointed. Everything looked the same. Maybe Costco gave me the wrong Rx? I looked at the box. Nope. Was it really in? Pete looked in my eye. Yep, he said. It is in there. Shoot. Maybe it just takes time. I decided to keep it in and see if my eyes adjusted to it. On the plus side, I could hardly even tell it was in.

At the end of the day I went to my bathroom to take it out. I reached down to grab the case, and sitting on the counter was this little hard round thing. My contact. It was never even in my eye. Sigh.

So I tried again the next day. Long story short, I can get it in now. It it helps tremendously with reading and looking at my phone. But my distance vision is blurry. I feel like I have an oily film over my eyes all the time. It is especially bad when driving. I have been wearing them for about 6 or so hours a day. I think the blurriness is getting better, but am not sure if it is just wishful thinking. I have decided to give it at least 2 weeks before scrapping the idea. Does anyone out there have monovision? Do your eyes just learn to turn turn off and on depending which one you are using? Or am I stuck sending wacky text messages because I can't see what I am doing?

I'm back!!!

2011-05-28T16:18:00.001-07:00

To running!! Well, I hope so anyway. Almost exactly 5 months ago I went out for a long training run. 11 miles later I came limping back, barely able to walk. Diagnosis~ stress fracture in my hip. My ortho doctor told me no running for a minimum of 6 weeks. No biggie, I thought. I have had to take that long off running before.

6 weeks later I was still having pain with walking. I got a second opinion. I begged for a cortisone shot. Nope. I could do nothing but wait. After 4 months I couldn't take it anymore. I slowly started back. I was still having tightness in my hip, but figured the fracture just had to be better. I still feel a twinge here and there, but it seems to be improving.

And now? I feel great! I am still taking it slow, only running 3 days a week, about 20 miles/ week. I have run a few times with my running group, which was great. Today I did 8 miles at a 8:44 pace. Woo hoo!

I am not sure how many miles I will ultimately be able to do. I am hoping to try again to train for a marathon, but who knows. For now, I am just happy to be running. Pete is happy too, because I am sure he was tired of hearing me moan and groan constantly!

Tell us how you really feel Vinnie...

2011-05-21T09:23:00.001-07:00

I am not sure what writing prompt they were given, but I am sure Vinnie's teacher was thrilled with the outcome!

Happy Mother's Day!!

2011-05-08T07:16:00.001-07:00

To my beautiful Mother

Who kissed every owie

Who always made me a hot breakfast before school

Who was the room mother for my classes

Who was at every school function

Who was at every sporting event

Who came to help after every grandbaby was born

Who uses almost every vacation day to come visit us

Who adores her 6 grandsons more than life itself

Who taught me everything I know about being a Mom

I love you Mom!!!

Mother's Day Fashion Show

2011-05-04T14:08:00.001-07:00

Christopher's preschool had their annual Mother's Day Fashion Show and Tea today. This is our first year at this preschool so I wasn't sure what to expect. The kids were told to dress however they wanted- fancy clothes, costume, uniforms, etc...

Deciding what to wear turned into a battle this morning. I had a Giants baseball uniform all set to go. It is baseball season, we love the Giants, easy decision, right? Nope. Christopher insisted on soccer. I begged and pleaded. I bribed with cookies and candy. I laid on the guilt with the "this is supposed to be for me" argument. The other kids even got into it and said they wouldn't play with him. In the end, he won. Oh well. You have to admire his determination.

The kids came out in two's while an announcer described their attire. It was really the cutest thing! They then walked down the aisle/catwalk. Christopher came out with Eli, dressed in his Karate uniform.

Here is Christopher with his best friend Aaron. And yes, they are in the same class. Aaron is about 6 months older than Christopher. My kid is a midget! (But a damn cute one!)

My mom wasn't in town, but I was thrilled to have my mother-in-law there. She raised 7 kids and is an amazing woman! We are lucky to have her live close by.

After the fashion show there was tea and strawberry shortcake.

I received a plate, a heart pin that Christopher made, and an angelic looking picture of Christopher. Which cracks me up because he got in trouble at school Monday for "fake farting" all during class with Aaron. The angelic thing is really a front, get this kid an academy award!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Easter Fun!

2011-04-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

Easter weekend was really hoppin' at the Contini house! We had the usual battery of baseball games, followed by Easter activities.

We had lots of fun dying Easter eggs. I don't recommend the marble dye package. What an oily mess that was!

The Easter bunny left her usual trail of jelly beans to the Easter baskets. As you can see above, she was short a basket bag.

The baskets were filled with new bathing suits, a DVD for each boy, and candy. The above shows some of the cute things the bunny did with the candy this year.

I made cupcakes for Easter brunch. The eyes and nose are mini M&M's, the ears are marshmallows, and the whiskers are twizzlers. Fun and easy to make!

After Mass we headed over to Pete's mom's house for the family Easter celebration.

First was the traditional "little kids" hunt. This is for the 9 and under bunch.

The kids run like crazy grabbing all the eggs they can!

Christopher showing off his loot!

Joey with his toys and candy.

Then the backyard was "reloaded" for the big kids. I use the term loosely, as you can see from the size of the kids above! I love the fact that these guys still love to do the hunt.

Of course they are probably motivated by the fact that their eggs contain money along with candy.

Zach's take was $20 this year. Not bad!

After a delicious lunch, the kids spent the day in the pool. The day started off pretty gloomy, so I didn't give much thought to sunscreen. A couple hours later it hit me that it was pretty sunny out, so called the kids out for sunscreen. Too late. Everyone got fried. Yikes. Other than that, it was a wonderful day spent with family! How was your day?

So that is where they went...

2011-04-17T09:51:00.001-07:00

I was rolling up the sleeping bag that Zach used on a recent sleep over. I noticed it was a bit lumpy, so opened it up.

What did I find? 8 pairs of socks and a pair of boxers. I guess I can stop blaming the washing machine.

Baseball birthday

2011-04-03T18:53:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated Joey's birthday with a baseball party!

We started off with the "dizzy bat game". The boys had to put their forehead on the bat, spin around 10 times, then run the bases. It was certainly a lot of fun to watch!

Next was the matching game, where they had to match all the MLB teams with their cities. It was a bit difficult for them, so we had them work in teams.

Next was the obstacle course. This was basically the same one we did at Vinnie's party, where it was a huge hit.

The boys were pretty hungry after that, so we had lunch. What did they eat? Hot dogs, chips and Gatorade of course!

After lunch was the Home Run derby. This was by far the hit of the party. The boys took turns with a wiffle bat and ball, getting credit for a home run if it went over the fence. I seriously think they would have been happy doing this for 2 hours!

I finally managed to pull them away for some cupcakes. I made the baseball's out of fondant and drew the threads with a food marker.

Joey also requested some cake pops. I failed at my attempt to make the lego head cake pops for Vinnie's party, but agreed to give them another try. I think they came out pretty good!

After the cupcakes the boys played "pickle" in the front until their parents came. This was another game they probably could have played all day!

Everyone got to take home a goody bag. The bags contained Big League Chew, baseball cards, baseball tattoos, a small soft baseball and a bag of M & M's.

Team photo!!

All in all, an easy party. We are getting pretty good at these backyard parties and are already planning the theme for Christopher's party in September. Maybe pirates?

Opening Day

2011-03-31T13:02:00.000-07:00

While Major League Baseball is just officially getting started today, we here in Almaden are in full swing!

Zachary is in Majors division on the Reds.

He is off to a great start! He plays mostly shortstop and second base, occasionally third base. Last year he only played outfield, so this is a huge step up! Once again I am team Mom for his team.

Joey made triple A as an (almost) 9 year old, making him one of the youngest in this division.

He has already had a few awesome hits! Their team hasn't won a game yet, but they are having fun. Pete is one of the assistant coaches. Vinnie is in single A, with Pete as manager. He is doing awesome at third base and loves it!

They have only had 2 games so far, (after having 3 rained out!) but the team is doing well. And then there is Christopher. He is not quite old enough this year to play, but stays busy on the various play grounds and doing his part to keep the snack shack in business!

Go Contini's!

And a happy anniversary to my husband today! As usual we will be on the ballfield tonight, cheering on one of the boys!

Happy Birthday Joey!!

2011-03-27T11:50:00.001-07:00

Today is Joey's ninth birthday!!

Joey had quite a year. Here are the top eight highlights of his eighth year.

1. He received his first Communion.

2. He went to camp for the second year. This year he stayed for 2 weeks like his big brother Zachary.

3. In the Fall he played flag football for the first time. He did great, getting 2 interceptions in his very first game!

4. He also played Fall baseball. Although he was the smallest on the team, he did well, even getting to pitch at times.

5. We went to Disneyland in October. Joey really stepped out of his comfort zone and went with me on the Tower of Terror. Pete wouldn't even do it!

6. Once again he tore up the slopes of Deer Valley, even hitting a few black diamonds with his big brother Zachary.

7. He was drafted to a triple A team this year, making him one of the younger (and smaller!) kids in this division. He hasn't let any of that intimidate him though and has already had some great hits!

8. He was the most amazing son a parent could ask for! (Ok, maybe this was a highlight for me, but it is true!)

Happy birthday Joey!! You are the bomb!!

Ski Week 2011

2011-03-06T12:26:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe it is already over, but we had our annual ski trip to Deer Valley, Utah a couple of weeks ago. We stayed in the beautiful winter home of my Aunt Dede and Uncle Harry.

Also in attendance at my aunt and uncle's house were the "British cousins" Izzie and Ellie. It has been 3 years since we have seen them there, and the kids loved it. Everyone got along fabulously, as if we had just been together. I think Joey and Zachary were a bit smitten with them and their adorable British accents. They are still talking about them and Zachary has a picture of the girls on his cell phone!

My niece/cousin Kelly was also there. She was as precocious as ever and the boys loved seeing her, as always. Pete and I can't remember a vacation in recent years where we didn't have Kelly along!

Everyone couldn't wait to hit the slopes, with tons of fresh powder to enjoy.

Zachary (shown above getting snow for the hot tub. Brrr!) went to ski school the first day only so Pete and I could also take a lesson. He is a great skier, and loves going down black diamond runs, along with the more difficult bowls.
He skied with us the rest of the week, being forced to stick with the tamer runs. It is good for us though since he pushes us to go down stuff we probably wouldn't do on our own. He got separated from us on the last day, so took the opportunity to do one of the tougher runs, Ontario Bowl. Yikes!

Joey did great as well. He had ski school for the first 3 days, then skied with us the remaining 2 days. He is a solid intermediate skier who will be kicking our butts soon enough!

Vincent was in the advanced-beginner class in ski school. When I picked him up the first day, his instructor said "Boy, can he talk. Non stop, the entire way down the hill!" Yep, tell me something I don't already know! Vincent was in ski school for 4 days, and for the first time skied with us the last day. We had such a blast all together (minus Christopher). I am looking forward to the day when we are all 6 skiing together!

My boys and I having an awesome time skiing together!

That leaves us with sweet Christopher. This was his first year skiing, and he was pumped up about it!

He had so much fun , and ate his weight in snow the first day we were there.

Here he is in his first day of ski school, once again eating snow as he was going up the magic carpet. Yuck.

He was amazing though, and was even skiing in parallel by the last day! We could here him yelling "This is awesome" as he was going down the hill. I am thinking it won't be long before he can join the rest of us.

My Aunt Dede kept pretending to mix Christopher up with Pete, saying they looked so alike in their matching ski attire. Christopher then declared "That's silly Auntie Dede. I have more hair than my Daddy, that's how you can tell us apart!" Sorry Pete. That propecia may not be working as well as you think!My Aunt Dede and I with all the kids in the house. It is truly amazing what my Aunt and Uncle put up with! My 4 boys are noisy and rambunctious enough, but throw 3 girls in the mix and it was darn right crazy in that house!

Thanks again Auntie for another amazing trip!

February Update

2011-02-16T14:11:00.000-08:00

I haven't felt like there has been a whole lot to post about this month, so decided to lump a few small things together.

The first weekend of February I went down to Southern California. This was supposed to be for my marathon. Unfortunately I am still having discomfort with normal walking, so am still not even close to getting back on the road. But I already had the plane ticket, and my cousin was having a baby shower so I went anyway.

It was great hanging out with my Mom without the kids (although she probably would have preferred to have the boys there!). We got a mani-pedi and went to my favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant. I loved seeing my Aunts and cousins.

My mom, grandma, and 4 aunts. Nice looking bunch, aren't they!

The part that sucked? First of all I missed the end of the Superbowl sitting on the airplane home. The worst part though was all the people in the Orange County airport wearing their marathon shirts. Then the guy that sat across the aisle from me was wearing his shirt AND his medal. What a dweeb. I was pretty bitter about it. If something like this happens again I will make a point to steer clear of the race and the town it is in. Sigh...

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Then there was Valentines Day. I spent the weekend before making these little goody bags for the kids' class parties.

Aren't they adorable? I had to make 75 of them. 30 for Joey's class, 30 for Vinnie's class and 15 for Christopher's class. Nobody tells you about stuff like this when you are deciding how many kids to have. I think this type of information (along with the number of damn school projects kids are required to do) would be a lot more useful than hearing about the anticipated cost of putting them all through college. Just saying.

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Zach was honored yesterday for making the Principals List at school, which is for kids who made a 4.0. Way to go Zach! I was surprised at the number of kids who made straight A's. There was also a lot who made Honor Roll (3.5- 3.99 GPA). As I was watching these kids walk up to get their pins, I was struck by how many I have known since they were in kindergarten and how they have changed! Time is truly flying.

Zach with his pin. And a haircut! I am so sad. I just loved his hair long. I guess I can't complain--I have a kid who gets straight A's.

I was also struck by what an interesting age this is developmentally. There were kids who are still so small and look like they would fit in back at the grammar school, and others who were taller than the teachers and clearly in the throes of puberty, with the acne and boobs to prove it. Funny!

---------

And what are we doing this weekend? Packing and heading out for our annual ski trip to Deer Valley, Utah. While packing for a family of six for a week of skiing totally bites (also something you don't hear about before you have kids!), the trip is always amazing and worth it.

Off to pack!

Rugby time!

2011-02-02T14:55:00.001-08:00

Zachary had his first rugby game a week ago. It was a lot of fun! Pete had to explain the game to me, which is cross between football and soccer.

I learned lots of new terms like "scrum" and "ruck".

Zachary did great! Even against the player above who was easily 3 times his size!

He was fast!

Here he is scoring a "try", which is what they call a touchdown. Good try Zach!

After the game (they won) they spent a little time scrimmaging each other.

The weather was beautiful. I am guessing we won't be so lucky for the rest of the season (although this weekend is also supposed to be nice). Apparently there is no such thing as "weather delay" in rugby, so we are in for a few cold and wet ones! Bring it on!

Lego Party!

2011-01-30T16:11:00.001-08:00

So yesterday I did something I swore I would never do again--we had a birthday party at our house. We had one 3 years ago when Vinnie was 4. It was the longest 2 hours of my life! But like childbirth and running a marathon, you forget the pain and decide it really wasn't that bad. Vinnie wanted a Lego party, so I decided to do it!

I got the templates for all the stuff online at Living Locurto. I used them to make personalized bookmarks for the kids and bubbles. I also found lego candy on Amazon.

I attempted to make lego head cake pops. It was my first attempt at cake pops, and had no idea how big they were supposed to be. It was a disaster. They were too big and fell off the sticks. Then the food pens wouldn't write on them. After a few I decided to cut my losses and scrap the idea.

Forget the cake pops, look at that hideous tile! We are remodeling our kitchen this summer. Woo hoo!

Ugh. It is hard for me to admit baking defeat. I will try them again at some point. I had better luck with the cake. It was a bit challenging to frost the marshmallow knobs, but the cake was otherwise simple. When Vinnie saw it he exclaimed "You are the best baker ever! Well, second best after the person that does those Baskin Robbins cakes!" I need to make sure he never watches Ace of Cakes or Cake Boss or I will really be bumped down!

Waiting for the party to start!

The first activity was the building activity. I had a huge pile of legos in the center and the boys each built something. This kept them busy for a while, and they came up with some pretty amazing items! I took a picture of each child with their item and Vinnie to use as a thank you card. They got to take home their creation as part of their goody bag.

The next activity was the "jello pinch". I had 3 big bowls of jello with legos in it. The boys picked the pieces of legos out with chopsticks. First team to finish won. It was a lot of fun, my favorite activity of the day.

After taking a break for pizza we went out back for an obstacle course. Pete was in charge of this activity, and it was pretty amazing! Based on the noise level I think the boys had a blast. The activity itself wasn't lego related, but was a great way to get the boys moving. Pete suggested we try and bean the kids with legos as they were running by.

Then it was cake time!

After cake time we had a lego relay race. The kids scooped a lego brick out of a bowl with a spoon, then ran it down to the other side, putting it the other bowl.
Vinnie with his loot. Having a lego party guarantees lots of lego gifts!! Vinnie is thrilled.

And us? We had fun! The party really went well!

Seven

2011-01-29T16:54:00.000-08:00

Vincent is 7 years old today!

Here are the top 6 highlights of Vinnie's 6th year.

1. Had a great time in Deer Valley skiing, and skied on some blue runs! I can't wait to see how he does this year.

2. He played coach pitch baseball and did great.

3. He completed kindergarten, and was finally able to make it through the school day without crying about something. Woo hoo! (well, that was probably more of a highlight for Mrs. Jung, his teacher)

4. He had a great time playing soccer in the Fall with Pete as his coach

5. He finally lost his brown tooth! And by lost it, we think he swallowed it. He refuses to touch loose teeth, which means that it dangles precariously for weeks before one finally comes out while he is eating.

6. He sang in the church choir for Mass on a regular Sunday, and during Christmas Eve Mass. Vinnie has a great voice so we are trying to coax him to stick with it.

Happy Birthday Vinnie! The last 6 years have been so much better with you in them!

Yikes!

2011-01-26T13:48:00.000-08:00

I got a haircut. Not quite sure what happened. I went in feeling like I wanted a change. Maybe I was taking my New Years resolution to "purge" a little too literally. Whatever the reason, I told my girl to "cut it up to my shoulders". Last I checked, my shoulders weren't that high up. I gasped after the first cut, but what can you do at that point?

Don't let the smile fool you. I hate it.

I keep looking at myself in the mirror thinking it looks disturbingly familiar. Then it hit me.

I look like the Dutch Boy Paint boy. Damn. I am thinking about going back in to ask her to do something else with it, but am afraid I will come out bald.

Ugh. It is going to be a long 2 months.

Dick, the newest state

2011-01-23T19:12:00.000-08:00

Click to enlarge

Luckily Zachary noticed Joey's answer before he turned it in! In Joey's defense, he said he found the answer on the internet. He even showed us on "wikianswers" where it stated "Georgia and Dick border Florida". Joey learned the internet isn't always right, and I learned to always check his homework before he turns it in!

I am a runner

2011-01-09T12:30:00.000-08:00

Although I have been running off and on (mostly on) for almost 25 years, I have not always thought of myself as a runner. I ran, but I wasn't a "real" runner. In fact, it wasn't until I was training for my first marathon a few years ago that I finally started to think of myself as a real runner.

After the San Francisco Nike marathon, October 2008

Running used to be a very solitary experience for me. I always ran alone, and joked that it was my only "alone time". I cherished being alone with my thoughts for the long periods of time, and would frequently get an idea, or figure out a solution to some problem I had been pondering.

That changed last spring. During an early morning track workout I was approached by a man, Hollis, who began asking me lots of question. "What distances did I run?" "What was my pace?" "What kinds of workouts did I do?" I must have passed the interview, because he invited me join their running group on some runs. I was pretty nervous, but showed up one morning. I have been running with the group since. Not every run, but most of them. I have grown to really love running with a group! I have met a really wonderful group of people. I have become so much stronger and faster as a runner. We are a varied group- one guy has been running in Almaden for over 30 years and knows every street and trail like it's his backyard. One guy does Ultra trail races, recently doing a 50 mile one. One women does LOTS of marathons, and has even done 3 marathons, 3 days in a row in Tahoe. A pretty inspiring group!

After the San Jose Rock-n-Roll half marathon, October 2009

I had been inspired to try another marathon. (Click here for the summary of my first and only marathon). I am signed up for the Huntington Beach marathon on February 6th. Training was going great, and I was really enjoying it this time around. The group has been so supportive, especially on the long runs. What a difference this time around! For my first 20 mile run one guy ran the first 10 with me, then a group met up with me to run the second 10. I was on pace to even do around 4 hours, a 30 minute improvement over my first run.

After the Quicksilver 25K Trail Run, May 2010

Then I got injured. A nagging hip soreness which quickly escalated. I took a week off, then had to get back on track again. It hurt, but was tolerable. After trying an 11 mile run though, it was excruciating. In fact, as soon as I stopped running I could not walk. Long story short I have a beginning stress fracture in my hip. The marathon is out. I can start running again in a month if I am pain free, but I doubt I will be at that point. It has already been a couple of weeks and it still hurts to walk. To say I am frustrated is an understatement. Looking back on my training schedule I can not see what I could have done differently. I had a solid base. I increased my miles slowly. I kept my overall weekly miles low-ish. How will I prevent this from happening again? I wonder if I had immediately stopped at the first sign of pain if it would have resolved quickly. I just don't know how to differentiate between OK pain and bad pain. When you run long distances there are going to be aches and pains. I just can't seem to figure out when it is OK to run through it and when to stop. Will I ever be able to run another marathon? I don't know. I know in the grand scheme of life's difficulties this is minor, and for that I am grateful.

So for now I am a runner who can't run. I feel lost. I don't know what to do with myself. I am getting crabby. I watch others running and am jealous. I look at upcoming marathons and wonder if I can be ready in time for this one or that.

If I can't run, then what am I?

Resolutions

2011-01-02T18:28:00.001-08:00

The start of the new year always brings up the discussion of resolutions. A couple of years ago I began emulating my friend Suzie, and instead chose a word to focus on. Last years word was Simple. I vowed to simplify my life. You can click back on the word to see how I was planning on accomplishing that. So did I?

Like most things I suppose, I could have done better, but overall I felt I did improve. One of the ways I simplified was when it came to signing up for things for the boys' classrooms. In the past I would always sign up for some homemade, complicated thing, and would find myself baking at 5 am to get it done. Instead I signed up for chips, napkins, plates, etc... Much easier! I still like to bake fun and fancy cakes and cupcakes, but now reserve that for my own kids' birthdays.

Organization is the key to simplifying. Remember my breakdown at last years Open House? Obviously we were still having some issues with organization!

Last school year we used the above system. Each boy had a bulletin board, slot, and backpack hook. They were to come home, empty their papers in the slot, then Pete and I would go through them. Problem was, that set up was in their toy room. We are not always in there so would not always check the slot or notice the paper hanging on their bulletin board. This school year we still use the above system, with some additions.

I added the above bulletin board in our kitchen. It is divided into sections, with party invites, school forms, and appointments having their own spot. It is in the kitchen so we see it constantly. So far we haven't lost a single school form, missed an appointment, or missed a party! I did show up to a Christmas party 2 hours early, but that was more indicative of my need for reading glasses than my organization skills.

We also did some work on the toy room. As the kids are getting older, it is transitioning more into a homework/gaming/TV room. (Poor Christopher. Only 4 years old, but I am so over the little kid stuff!) We weeded out a lot of the toys. We then went to Ikea to come up with a desk system. We now have a desk with 4 stations.

The drawers are organized with all their school supplies, art supplies, electronics, etc.... We found cups and magnetic tins in the kitchen supply area to hold pencils, pens, scissors, erasers, push pins and such.

It is really working great! It is fairly easy to keep clean and in order. The kids each have a place to sit and work. And everything they need is in one place! Simple!

So what is my word for 2011?

Purge.

No, I am not planning on developing an eating disorder! Purge my house and my life. Get rid of all the extraneous stuff. It dovetails nicely with Simple, and also with our upcoming downstairs remodel this summer. I will clean out drawers and cupboards. I will continue to look at my schedule and purge any unnecessary obligations. I won't take on too much. I also want to purge some of the crap from my diet. I eat WAY too much sugar/candy. Really, an embarrassing amount.

Purge.

How about you? What do you want to do this year?

BEST GIFT EVER!!!!

2010-12-25T10:20:00.001-08:00

(Not including the health of my family and all that)

Woo hoo!!! Hope everyone else got what they wanted this year! Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T05:30:00.001-08:00

Hoping everyone has a wonderful Holiday!

click to enlarge

Traditions

2010-12-22T14:59:00.001-08:00

I really love the holidays! What I love most is all the fun traditions we have. It is nice to have the extra time as a family, and I hope my kids will look back on these as good times (not times that their Mom was a screaming, stressed out mess. They get enough of that the rest of the year!)

A number of years back we bought this gingerwood house that we decorate.

The kids have a blast with it. I have to sit on my hands and resist the urge to jump in there and make it neat and orderly.

We are not winning any contests with this little number, but it is festive none the less!

I love to bake for friends and neighbors. I usually try something new every year, which is a bit of a gamble. I love the above Christmas buttons. So easy and so good. I will definitely be making these again. I think I have eaten more than we gave away.

The above Oreo truffles were simple, but a bit time consuming. Pete loved them and says we have to make them again. Maybe he can be the one to hand dip 100 little balls into chocolate.

There is a drive through light display called Festival of Lights that we also do every year. The kids love popping their heads out of the top of the van while we drive around to see the lights. Pete looks like he his having fun too.

I have to admit, the kids usual gripe about picking out the tree. Not sure what their problem is. I always loved picking out the tree as a kid! Whatever.

This year they actually got into decorating it! Usually they each will hang 1 or 2 ornaments, then run back to whatever they were doing, leaving me and Vinnie to finish up. (Vinnie is a crack up. Every holiday he is all about the decorations and putting things out. I can always count on him!) This year they all stayed and hung up every last ornament! Which was nice, except it meant I had a lot more rearranging to do when all was said and done. I am willing to let the gingerwood house look like a mish-mash, but not the tree!

The final step, the tree topper!

This year I took all the boys to see the Nutcracker. I had done it once with Zach many years ago, but haven't done it since. We all really enjoyed ourselves, and decided it was going to be a yearly tradition from now on.

While this is Christopher's first year in preschool, we have been attending someones school Christmas program every year for many years. He was so excited about it, and is still singing "Away in a Manger" for us at the top of his lungs. If I ever get around to taking it off the video recorder and putting it on here you can hear it. Hilarious!
Of course there was no flash photography and we had a crappy seat to boot, so this is the best I got. Bummer.

And finally, the visit with Santa. I am not the type to force a kid to do this, and have let Zachary know that while I would like him to, he does not have to. When my Mom saw this picture she commented about how sweet and mature Zach was to do this for me. Then I had to admit to her that I paid him $5 to do it. And he would only get the $5 if he smiled. Hey, whatever works!

Happy Holidays to all!

Happy Birthday Zachary!

2010-12-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it, but my oldest turns 12 years old today!

The following are Zachary's top 12 highlights of the last year.

1. He officially passed Pete and I up in skiing ability. He had a great time making us go on black diamond runs, then waiting at the bottom for us while we fumbled our way down.

2. He was chosen to play Majors in Little League.

3. After struggling with his bat, smacked one to the outfield in a game changing moment!

4. Graduated from elementary school. He was so ready to be out of there!

5. He got his first cell phone. And Pete and I now understand the beauty of the "unlimited texting plan"!

6. He had a great time at summer camp, and was able to meet up with friends from previous years.

7. He played on the Jr Pee Wee football team and worked his way up to the starting line by the end of the season

8. Started middle school and absolutely loves it! We couldn't have asked for a more seamless transition.

on his way to the dance

9. He attended his first middle school dance. I don't think there was any actual dancing with girls, but he had fun none the less.

10. We went to Disneyland and he went on every major roller coaster and loved it! (this was one of my highlights too since I now have someone to go on roller coasters with!)

11. He started playing rugby just last week. He was a bit nervous before his first practice, but loved it! One of the coaches even pointed out his "perfect tackling form" to the rest of the team.

12. He finished his first round of finals and did awesome! He may have even pulled off straight A's.

Happy Birthday Zachary! Being your Mom is certainly one of the top highlights for me!

Until next season...

2010-12-06T06:23:00.000-08:00

Wow! I am behind on blogging. I am struggling to find the time these days. In other words, the usual!
The Contini boys all wrapped up their Fall sports seasons last month.

Christopher had a great time with soccer. Next year he will be old enough to play on a "real" team! He is more than ready.

Vinnie's season ended in the freezing, pouring down rain. It was absolutely miserable watching the games, I can't even imagine the poor kids playing!

Vinnie was a trooper though, and didn't complain!

He had a great season and was a real solid player. He probably would have been even better if he wasn't chattering constantly on the field!

He loved his trophy and couldn't wait to add it to his "collection".

Joey's baseball season was next to end. While his team struggled, it was a great learning experience for Joey, and he really improved his skills.

He finally came out of his hitting slump and knocked a few to the outfield! I can't wait to see how he does in Little League this Spring.

Zachary's team played a tough team in the first round of the play-offs. As usual it was an unusually warm game. Zach was hoping for a rainy game all season, but never got it. He is number 4 above, lining up against the huge guy. Yep, our team was physically one of the smallest in the division. We ended the season 4-4 though. The play-off game was surprisingly close, and in fact we would have tied except for a bad call by the ref.

Lots of family came to cheer Zachary on.

Coach Saul presented Zach with his "helmet trophy" which I thought was fun compared to the usual plastic gold trophy crap we usually get.

Last to finish up this year was Joey's flag football team. The tournament was a series of 4 games in mostly pouring down rain. Once again, miserable to watch! The few pictures I took were during the brief breaks in the rain.

Although it was Joey's first year playing, he did great and was a real solid player as well.

He is pushing to play tackle football next year, like Zachary. While I do not have concerns about the "tackle" portion (heck, it can't be any worse than the pummeling that goes on in our living room on a nightly basis!). I am concerned about the time commitment and really long, tough work outs. Joey is a whiner and I do not want to hear him griping before every practice! Oh well, we have a few months to decide.

Way to go Team Contini!

Usually the winter is our break from sports, but Zach is starting rugby this week! Pete played in college and is thrilled. I am guessing Zachary will get his wish to play in the rain. I am looking forward to learning a new sport!

Thankful...

2010-11-26T14:16:00.000-08:00

I have so many things to be thankful for this year.

I have a wonderful husband who tolerates me with a minimal amount of griping. He thought I was teasing when I said I bought a reindeer kit for the van. He was mortified pulling out of the garage, but did it anyway!

I am thankful to have beautiful and healthy boys. Vincent recently sang in the church choir at Mass and did great! He can carry a tune like nobody's business, so we are hoping he will join the choir permanently.

I got to attend Christopher's preschool Thanksgiving program. It was adorable and he was so excited about it.

There he is, the short one. Yes, those kids are all 4 year olds. We are accepting donations for his growth hormone fund.

I am thankful for my health and that I can run. Pete and I did a 10k Turkey Trot in our neighborhood. It was a beautiful morning, crisp and cold (in the 30's!) and we ran surrounded by friends, neighbors and patients. How lucky are we? I almost broke 50 minutes, with a personal best of 50 min 40 seconds, thanks to the great running group I have been running with the last 6 months!

I am thankful for all our extended family. Although I miss living near my family, we are lucky to live near my Pete's family. Above I am pictured with his 5 sisters (and 1 goofy brother-in-law!)

My kids are surrounded by cousins, much like I was growing up. We rented a jumpy (a tradition). We then locked them all up in it and didn't let them out until dinner. Just kidding. But a great idea for next year!

The little kids table was outside (making for a nice peaceful dinner for the rest of us!)

Zach was thrilled to be included on the teenager/young adult table.

Finally, the grown up table! Lisa brought her headdress this year, but left the politically incorrect dark face make-up from last year at home. Dinner was wonderful, the company and conversation even better.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! May you all be as blessed as I am!

Happy Birthday Mom!

2010-11-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

Today is my Mom's birthday!

I couldn't have asked for a better mom growing up. My sister and I were lucky to have her at home when we were kids. I remember that she insisted we have a hot breakfast before school every day. Of course as a kid I just wanted a bowl of Apple Jacks, but as an adult I can appreciate the work that must have been for her! She was always there after school, waiting for us with a snack ready.

I owe my fabulous laundry folding skills to her. I know that sounds funny, but she is meticulous, leaving the clothes looking like they have been ironed they are so neat! To this day I still can not fold a fitted sheet like she does. And gift wrapping? She is the best!

I do not remember that parents spent as much time in the classroom as they do today, but I always remember that she was involved with my classes, usually the class mom. That meant a lot to me, and motivates me to help out in my boys' classrooms whenever I can. She was my Brownie troop leader one year, and was at every softball, soccer and every other game we were in. She was always there. In fact, she still is. Even though we live over 400 miles away, she is an active part of our lives, frequently visiting or joining us on vacations. The boys adore their "Grandma Liz".

She is my "go-to-gal", whenever I have a question-- I still have to call her every Easter to ask how to boil an egg properly. When I venture in to carnivore territory and want to cook my husband some meat I have to call her to ask what kind of roast to buy (and how the heck do I cook it??) I still can't buy a bra without her (Thank God I don't have girls myself. Who would help them?? )

Mom, you have always been there for me and us. You are an inspiration to me as a mom, and a women. And you are gorgeous! I can only hope to look like you when I am your age. Thank you for all you have done and continue to do. We love you!! Happy Birthday!!

(sorry I didn't get a card in the mail to you on time...)

My new baby!

2010-11-13T14:31:00.000-08:00

Here she is! A cerulean blue 2011 Lexus IS 250 with the ecru interior.

We bought a new car (for me) a couple of weeks ago. My 10 year old Honda with the oxidizing paint was just getting too embarrassing to drive anymore. Of course I still have the van for when I am driving all the rug rats around, but this one is just for me!

I love, love love the navigation system. Of course with my 1.2 mile commute to work I don't get to use it very often, but it came in handy when Joey had a game in Morgan Hill recently. I don't know why we didn't get it when we bought our new van last year.

The best part of the navigation system? I have it set to show me all the Starbucks around me. How awesome is that!

The worst part is, now I panic about getting a door ding. It was nice not having to worry about that with my old car.

Out of the mouths...

2010-11-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

The other night as Christopher was calling me (once again) to come wipe his butt I started thinking about him and preschool.

"Hey," I said to Pete. "What do you think happens when the kids poop in preschool? Do they yell for the teacher to come wipe? Does a teacher go with them, just in case they need a wipe?"

"I don't know," said Pete.

"Christopher, what happens when you poop in preschool? Do your teachers wipe you?"

"We don't poop in preschool. " Chris said. "We aren't supposed to"

"Really?" I asked.

"Well, duh. That is why it is called PEE school!"

Halloween

2010-11-01T08:34:00.000-07:00

Halloween is over, which definitely puts me in Christmas panic mode. Yikes! I am still grappling with the fact that summer is over. Here is a peek at our Halloween treats this year.
Christopher's preschool had a "Noah's Ark" parade. While this is a cute idea, it sent us scrambling for an animal costume. Christopher wanted to be a ghost for Halloween, so that was what I was counting on. Several people offered up animal costumes, but then couldn't find them. We did have a dinosaur costume, but wasn't sure when dinosaurs were on the timeline with the Ark. We finally went with the above Winnie the Pooh costume. Was Pooh on the ark? Maybe not, but we figured his ancestors were, right?

As you can see above, apparently there were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the Ark! Maybe that was who kept all the animals in line all those days trapped on a boat. To the right of Christopher is his little buddy Aaron. They hit it off from the first day and are quite a pair. As luck would have it, he only lives 1 block away from us!

Saturday night was the Halloween party at the Saratoga Country Club that we are invited to every year by my sister-in-law. My favorite costume of the boys' this year? Zachary's, hands down. I swear he looked just like Where's Waldo!

Here we are heading in to the party. Can you guess what Pete and I are? Yep! The rescued Chilean miners. That was Pete's brilliant idea 1 hour before party time.

Zachary dancing to YMCA with Aunt Lisa.

I decided to skip pumpkins this year. With our crazy sports schedule there just wasn't time to buy them. When Vinnie heard this on Saturday he was crushed. He looked at us with his enormous weepy eyes and stated that we just had to have pumpkins. Sigh. No problem Pete said, we will run over to Safeway after Zachary's football game on Sunday to buy them, then carve them up quickly before the trick or treating began.

Of course when Vinnie and I arrived at Safeway the pumpkin bin was empty. Not one. Off to a pumpkin patch we went, where we (thank God) found some pumpkins. I was also surprised to find many other people buying last minute pumpkins. Of course they didn't have any gourds, so Vinnie and I went back to Safeway, because he really wanted to have his pumpkin eating the gourd (you can see it in the picture 2 above). I loved our SF Giants pumpkin. I decided it was good luck since they won last night, so I will be lighting it again tonight!

Finally, several friends and neighbors came over and off they went trick or treating.

Now how can I stop myself from eating all the freakin' candy in the house??!!

LEGOLAND!!

2010-10-20T14:35:00.001-07:00

A couple of months ago Pete and I got to talking about Legoland. We have been a couple of times, most recently when Vinnie was an infant. Obviously Vinnie doesn't remember it, and Christopher wasn't even born. The problem is, Zachary is getting too old for it and we couldn't figure out when we would go anyway. You know, the usual conflict with having kids spread across different age groups.

But who says we all have to go? So I planned a short trip down to SoCal with Vinnie and Christopher. I pulled Vinnie out of school for a couple of days so we could go midweek. We had a blast!

It was pretty empty most of the day. Christopher was the only kid driving the cars! He was very proud of his drivers license and carried it all day.

Vinnie got to drive on the big kid roads. He took it very seriously!

Vinnie's favorite area was Mini town, with the replicas of several cities. Las Vegas was amazing! Can you believe that is built with lego's? I can't even imagine being the team that put these things together!

Of course my favorite was San Francisco. I actually lived 1 block away from the famous "painted ladies" when I lived in San Francisco (well, one of the many places I lived in during my years there).

There were several new areas to Legoland since my last trip. This airplane ride had Vinnie and Christopher screaming with laughter. There was no line so the ride operator let them ride 3 times in a row.

We enjoyed the 4-D movie. What is 4-D you ask? There was blowing wind, spraying water, and falling "ice" during the show. Fun stuff! Of course Grandma Liz came with us.

Don't tell Pete but I spent a ridiculous amount of money to have their caricatures done.

They made them look like little lego people! It was worth it, right?

Darth Vader is always a classic.

The day got a big thumbs up from all of us!

The very best part? Two wiped out kids at the end of the day!

The following day I had a wonderful 9.5 mile run along the beach in Huntington Beach. I was entertained by all the surfers and a huge school of dolphins along the way! Later we went to Balboa Island for lunch before heading to the airport. Here we are with my mom's friend Darryl. He is a nice guy (and the closet thing my kids have to a grandpa). He looks cranky in this picture though!

Great trip with two of my favorite little guys, Vinnie and Christopher!

DISNEYLAND!!

2010-10-10T15:37:00.001-07:00

The boys were off of school last week for a "furlough week". Basically our schools are so short on money that the teachers took an unpaid week off and we had a week of vacation!
So what did the Contini's do? We went to Disneyland!
Our favorite thing to do is to have breakfast with the characters. It is actually a really good breakfast, with the characters coming around to each table and hanging out with the kids.

The first day started off pouring rain. No problem! We donned our matching ponchos and headed for the park. Luckily for us, the rain only lasted half the day. We knew lots of families that were there who had been there for a few days, with rain every day.

Christopher loved seeing Lightening McQueen.

We ran into Griffin, one of Zach's good friends. Zach spent half the day with them, going on all the great roller coasters while we stuck to stuff for the younger boys.

We also ran into Alle and her family. After hearing she went on Tower of Terror, Vinnie (and Joey) went on it too! They were terrified, just as the name implies!

We ran into many families we knew from school. Pete kept track and recorded about 20! It was fun.

An actual picture with me in it. Not something you see very often.

On the second day, my mom joined us.

Zachary was so excited to spend all day with us. As you can see, he especially like the Winnie the Pooh ride.

The cars were a favorite with everyone but me. For some reason my cars kept stalling. I think I was getting bum cars. Pete just thinks I am a bad driver. Whatever.

Nearing the end of the second day and I still had the 4 kids I arrived with. We put a card in the pockets of the younger 3 with our cell phone number on it, and instructed them to approach any employee or mom if they got lost. We lost track of Vinnie at one point for about 30 seconds. When we turned around and saw him he was already reaching in to his pocket for the card. What a crack up!

By 7:30 of the second night Pete was done. He took Christopher back to the hotel while I stayed with the other boys. We had a great time. As you can see, I did not do the tea cups with them. I will go on any roller coaster you can think of, but I do not spin in circles. Vomit time if you ask me!

The morning after we returned home Joey spilled his milk. Clearly the spirit of Mickey came home with us! Now if I can just get that damn "It's a Small World" tune out of my head!!

A Day in the Life

2010-09-29T16:35:00.001-07:00

A neighbor recently looked at our family calendar and said that it made her nauseous.

Sometimes it makes me nauseous too.

The Party

2010-09-28T20:09:00.000-07:00

Christopher woke up the morning of his birthday screaming "It's my birthday today!!" That was his battle cry for the day. Everywhere we went he let everyone know-preschool, the grocery clerk, etc...

He loved his pillow pet!

We had his party last weekend. He has been talking about his party for months. He said it was going to be at Happy Hollow and Thomas the Train was coming. He also wanted to have a sleepover party. I had to keep explaining to him that most 4 year olds weren't ready for that!

So we settled on a pool party. The weather was a crazy 90 + degrees out. Friends and cousins came over, including his best friend Michael.

He wanted a Cars cake, so I copied a design I saw at Baskin-Robbins. Mine is quite a bit more lopsided, but Christopher didn't seem to notice!

Big brother Joey helped read the cards.

Hope you enjoyed your party sweet boy!

The Face of Four

2010-09-20T13:12:00.001-07:00

Happy 4th birthday to my adorable,

sweet,
curious,

goofy,

and rambunctious little Christopher!!

You make us laugh, give us love, (and sometimes drive us crazy) and you complete our family perfectly! We love you!

Let The Games Begin! (part 2)

2010-09-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

Our sports season started with Zachary playing football and Vinnie playing soccer. Joey and Christopher have also started their seasons now.

Joey didn't want to play soccer this year. What he really wanted to do was play Pop Warner football like Zachary, but Pete and I did not think he was ready. For starters it is such a huge time commitment and Joey can't even get through his homework without griping!

So he is playing Fall baseball. It is a little more low key than spring baseball, and looks like fun.

He is excited because he is allowed to lead off and steal bases for the first time. It looks like he is going to spend some time playing catcher, which he likes.

He even got the game ball after the first game!

Christopher is on his very first "team". It is a once a week soccer program for the little ones. Pete said he was very hesitant and nervous for the first couple of minutes, then tore up the field the rest of the time!

The soccer ball comes up to his knees!

I love the look of utter joy on his face in this picture!

Score! Way to go Christopher! Welcome to the world of sports (as a player)!

Zachary's team is now 2-1 after a heart breaking loss today. The next few weeks look pretty rough so let's hope they can turn it around.

He is playing mostly defense, but occasionally fills in on offense.

Vinnie's team is doing well. I am most impressed with how hard Vinnie works and how much he hustles!
Despite this kid who kept trying to push him, he kept going after him!

Finally, Pete and I ran the Quicksilver half marathon this morning. 13.1 very difficult miles on the trails. I ran it last year, but forgot how tough this particular course is! I told Pete it is like childbirth--you forget the pain after the run is over, and before you know it, you are willing to do it again. He is not so sure he will ever do it again. Wimp. That is why women have the babies!

Pete kicked my butt on time (he ran it in 1 hr 50 min to my 2 hr 14 min), but he is hurting a bit more than I right now!

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ca/almaden/579414525"&amp;gt;QuickSilver Half Marathon&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;br/&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/find-run/united-states/ca/almaden"&amp;gt;Find more Runs in Almaden, California&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;

If you click on the above map you can check out the elevation. The first 4 miles is uphill! I was certainly feeling the burn!

Stay tuned, there will be more Contini sports to follow...

A man who wears many hats...

2010-09-08T14:15:00.000-07:00

Baseball (and soccer) coach...

super fast runner,

caring doctor,

awesome husband,

a total wimp about heights (this was Pete having a panic attack on the Golden Gate bridge!) (Sorry dear, couldn't resist adding this one!)

fun loving Dad,

and hottest hunk around!

Happy Birthday to the man that is all of the above and more! I love you Pete!

Let The Games Begin! (part I)

2010-09-01T11:55:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year again--Fall sports season! Woo hoo!!

Vinnie had his first soccer game on Saturday. When he stops talking, he really is a good little player!

He was constantly moving and really tenacious about sticking with the ball. He scored a goal, which is always thrilling.

Pete is coaching him (again) this year. Big surprise.

He even received a special patch at the end for all his hustling.

Christopher was excited to be wearing one of the extra uniform shirts.

And once again, spent time hanging out at the adjacent park!

Zachary is playing Pop Warner football, and also had his first "preseason" game last Sunday.

We pretty much trounced the other team, although they were a Division II while we are a Division I, so that was expected.

I have to admit, Zachary was pretty disappointed with the amount of playing time he got. I think he was really expecting to play more than he did. During the previous weeks scrimmage he had a lot of playing time and did well, so we all expected him to play more. I felt bad for him. Of course as a mom there is a part of me that wants to swoop in, start emailing people and make it all right, but of course I can't. (Not that it would work anyway). I let him know the season was just starting and if he kept working hard, he would see more playing time.

I hope I am right.

First...and last

2010-08-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

This has been a momentous week--Christopher started preschool! I am not sure who was more excited--me or Chris!

His schedule is MWF afternoons. Monday was only an hour and the parents stayed. They did a couple of projects, then had circle time.

At one point during circle time they were singing a song that several of the kids knew, but Christopher did not. He kept looking back at me, and I could tell he was a little upset. Finally he yelled out "Why can't I go to school with my brothers?!" I nearly busted out laughing. Poor kid.

Wednesday was his first "real" day. On the way he kept balling up his fists and exclaiming "I am so excited!"

The other boys all came with me to pick him up. They hugged him and oohed and ahhed over him. As we were heading out for our celebratory yogurt stop Christopher told us about his day. When I asked him about the other kids he exclaimed "There was lots of friends, all for me!"

My youngest child is now in preschool. This will be the last time I experience this "first". I suppose I should be a little melancholy about the entire event, but I honestly am not. Christopher is so happy to finally have "school" to share with his brothers. And you know what I have realized over the years? While I will never have this "first" to experience, I have so many new "firsts" ahead of me. I can't wait!

Milestones

2010-08-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

The boys started school last week. Somehow, I am now the parent of a middle schooler! Zach appears to have made a seamless transition. Not one word of complaint about the increased homework load. He likes all of his teachers, and has already exchanged cell phone numbers with a girl. (yikes!)

Yes, he needs a hair cut.

Joey is in third grade. He has several of his friends in class (and even if he didn't, Joey doesn't waste any time making new ones!) As usual, he is already complaining about his homework!

Vinnie is in first grade, and seems to be handling the longer day just fine. He and the love of his life, Alle are not in the same class this year (no way was the principal going to let that happen!). Despite that, Vinnie is having a good time.

We have survived seven years of "first day of school" here in the Contini house!

2004- Zachary starting kindergarten

2005- Zach in first grade

2006- Zach in second grade

2007- Zachary in third grade, Joey in kindergarten

2008--Zachary in fourth grade, Joey in first grade

2009--Zachary in fifth grade, Joey in second grade, Vinnie in kindergarten

2010--Zachary in sixth grade, Joey in third grade, Vinnie in first grade

Seven years down, 14 more years to go!!

Finally!

2010-08-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

I think this is probably the longest stretch I have gone without updating my blog! I blame it on a combination of end of the summer busy-ness, and a computer that crashed and in the shop for the last several days. Frankly, I do not even know where to start, so will do a run down of the last 3 weeks of summer.

Once again Pete and I did the football physicals for the Almaden Pop Warner teams. Above you can see our set up. Basically a pop up tent in the parking lot! It was crazy busy, with a line down the parking lot. Between the 2 of us we did 70 check-ups in about 3 1/2 hours. All the money made went back to the football team. And the best part? We are relieved of all of our volunteer duties for the year!

We took the boys to a San Francisco Giants game. It was a beautiful day, but unfortunately the Giants choked so not such a great game.

Pete and I went to a night game on our own the following week. We arrived in the city early for dinner, then in to the game. It was freezing!! You have to love SF in the summer. The Giants played great and it was a perfect date night for us.

We had a slumber party to celebrate Zach's half birthday (for those who don't know, his bday is right before Xmas, so we celebrate in the summer instead).

He had his best buds over for swimming, cupcakes, and a sleepover. As you can see above I did not make special cupcakes. I just didn't have the time. I still feel guilty about that (not that Zach cares one bit!).

Thomas the Train was in town, so I took Christopher to that. I had taken Vinnie 3 years ago when he was in the Thomas stage. Christopher was so excited and talked about it for days leading up to the event. It was a beautiful train ride through the Santa Cruz mountains.

As excited as he was, he wigged out a little when it was time to get "up close and personal" with Thomas!

He was equally nervous with Sir Topham Hat. (I don't blame him. It was a bit creepy!)

There was face painting, trains to play with, and jumpy houses.

Best of all, it wiped him out and made for a peaceful ride home!

The summer ended with one last visit from Grandma Liz!

You know it's bad when even the soap needs to be washed...

2010-07-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

After 2 weeks away, Zachary and Joey are home from Camp Kennolyn! Yesterday, less than 24 hours before picking them up, we finally received a letter from Joey. (excuse the hideous penmenship. Joey's writing is as bad as Zach's!)

My heart sank when I read the last sentence. He's been crying??!! I felt terrible and actually cried myself. This was the only letter he sent us, but we did get one from his counselor early on saying how great Joey was doing. I had images of him quietly crying to himself in his pillow at night. I was heartbroken.
Also, how were Pete and I ever going to get time away from the kids if they get homesick at camp?!! We have been counting down to the day when they will all 4 go away for 2 weeks. (3 more years!)

Needless to say, I wasn't sure what we were going to see at pick up. Thankfully Joey was all smiles and said he had a great time and definitely wants to go back next year (phew!). Not sure what to make of the letter, but I think he was a bit homesick in the evenings.

Pick up day started with all the cabins introducing themselves. The dark haired boy to the right of Zach is Keaton, the boy he met last year and really hit it off with. Zach is already looking forward to seeing him next summer. I love that about this camp--the same kids come back each year, giving the boys friends to come back to.

We spent the morning getting a glimpse of the boys doing the activities they had chosen. Zachary had riflery, swimming, tennis, archery, outdoor cooking, and hand built pottery.

Joey had archery, swimming, carpentry, outdoor cooking, riflery, and junior ropes.

I was happy to see that Zach and Joey had swimming together. I was also happy that they both chose swimming since they tend not to shower frequently at camp (2 or 3 times the entire 2 weeks. Blech!)
It was fun to see how they have improved in some of the activities compared to last year. They both did so well in archery!

Joey was so much more confident on the ropes course this year!

There was no hesitation as he climbed up the tree, then rode the zip line down

We then enjoyed a nice lunch together, before heading home.

As expected, the state and smell of their footlockers were beyond bad. All socks went straight in the trash. A few pants and shorts were also sacrificed. The rest went through the steam cycle.

Even the soap needed to be washed!

The Reality of Four

2010-07-20T19:04:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday, with the older 2 still at camp, I decided to take the younger 2 to the Children's Discovery Museum.

The 3 of us had a great time, exploring all the exhibits. I had forgotten how much fun this museum was! Then I started to feel bad.

Before Christopher was born we had a membership to this museum. We came frequently, and the kids loved it. We haven't been in a very long time though. I doubt Vinnie even remembers it, Christopher certainly doesn't.

Why don't we come any more? Because Zachary and Joey have outgrown it. They would spend the time moaning that they were bored, blah, blah, blah. It can be challenging to find activities that entertain a 3, 6, 8 and 11 year old, all at the same time. It really got me thinking about how different things are for Christopher than they were for Zachary.

With Zachary, and even Joey, bedtime was a serene affair, which ended with Pete or I reading them a few books in bed. Now? Chaos. Christopher is usually running around and it is all we can do to get him in bed. Forget a story, I am just too tired.

And remember the almost forgotten birthday party of Christopher? I do.

The younger boys are usually stuck watching what the big guys watch. I have no doubt that Christopher can name the cast of "Suite Life on Deck" or "iCarly" , but probably couldn't name half the Sesame Street characters (or maybe any of them except Elmo!)

With the older two we did all the typical things families do with young kids--days at the park, seeing the Wiggles, Blues Clues, and Sesame Street, when they came to town, children's museums, Happy Hollow. Now? Big kid activities, mostly sport related.

What can Christopher do? He knows the Little League fields like our own backyard and has no problem marching up to the snack shack with a dollar bill in hand as he asks for a ring-pop. He can walk through the campus at the elementary school and high five the big kids, half of whom know him. He can also call his brothers names that a 3 year old wouldn't typically know if he didn't have older brothers using those names (I am already anticipating a few notes from preschool when he starts this Fall. I am sure he will be known as "that Contini boy"). Forget knowing any of the Wiggles songs (or any other kid group). Christopher and Vinnie can sing along to Lady Gaga and Ke$ha though. Great.

So are Vinnie and Christopher worse off? I don't know. I know they get to have lots of fun experiences , I just wish I had more time to give them all the things Zach and Joey got to do, not to mention more of me. I did promise Vinnie we would be back to the children's museum before too long and I meant it.

Absence hasn't yet made the heart grow fonder

2010-07-15T07:58:00.001-07:00

I asked Vinnie to draw a picture that we could send to Zach and Joey at camp. This is what he came up with:

"It is me dropping bombs on Zach and Joey"

I am sure they are love bombs, right?

And then there were two...

2010-07-13T05:31:00.000-07:00

Sunday was the start of summer camp for Zachary and Joey at Camp Kennolyn. This is Zachary's third year and Joey's second year. They have been so excited!

We had our traditional lunch stop at Carpo's before heading up the hill to camp.

Kennolyn is located in the Santa Cruz mountains. Kids come from all over the country (and some from out of the country) to attend this camp. We are so lucky to have it less than an hour from us. Contini cousins have been going to this camp for over 10 years.

Zachary is in Klamath this year. The same kids tend to come back each year to the same session, so Zach already knew most of the boys in his cabin from his previous 2 years. He was more than thrilled to find Keaton, his best bud from last year. As soon as we arrived Zach was off with his friends, without a look back.

Joey is in Big Creek this year, once again with his cousins Peter and Gian. I am sure they are having a blast (not sure about the poor counselors though! Sorry Jedd and Carlo!)

Christopher was bummed that he wasn't staying (so were we!). He is talking about when he gets to go. I think the youngest he can attend is six (do you want him earlier Kennolyn?). Vinnie is just so thrilled that he now gets the computer, xbox and wii all to himself for 2 weeks! Since the big boys left they have both been walking around the house saying "I miss Zachary...NOT!" "I miss Joey...NOT!" Deep down I bet they really do miss them though. (yeah, right!)

Palm Springs 2010

2010-07-09T20:26:00.000-07:00

This year we headed to Palm Springs for our family vacation. We wanted to go somewhere where we could spend the days relaxing by the pool, preferably within reasonable driving distance. And yes, we were aware that the temperatures in Palm Springs are over 100 degrees on a daily basis.

We drove down to Southern California to get in a quick visit with my mom and grandma. We also picked up my 8 year old cousin Kelly, who joined us on our vacation. The following morning we headed to Palm Springs.
We were thrilled with the resort (Rancho Las Palmas) we chose. The kids were all in one room and we were in the adjoining room. The rooms were nice and spacious.

We had a nice patio to sit on and enjoy our morning coffee and after swim cocktails.

This was the view from our room.

The resort had a great pool area. There was a water play area.

My favorite was the lazy river. I could have napped just floating around.
Christopher and Vinnie loved the beach area.

The perfectly pristine sand went right into the pool.

Pete's favorite was drinking margaritas and daiquiris in the pool.

The big kids loved the 2 water slides ( I have to admit, they were a blast!)

They also loved the R bar-- A sports bar that was open to kids on Monday and Tuesday. There was games to play, Nicolodeon on the TV and Shirley Temples to drink.

Friday night they roll a huge screen poolside and show a movie.

There is an aerial tram in Palm Springs that we checked out. It goes 2 1/2 miles up while slowly rotating 360 degrees.

The views were absolutely breath-taking.

While the temperature at the bottom was 105 degrees, it was a beautiful 75 degrees at the top.

My mom and her friend Daryl came for a couple of days and went with us on the tram.

Apparently there is a lot of wildlife to be seen in the forest at the top of the tram. Unfortunately all we were able to spot was the ever present "whiny preschooler", several sightings of the "bickering siblings" and the usually elusive "bitter pre-adolescent". *

All in all, a successful trip. We were home by July 3rd, just in time to enjoy our neighborhoods 4th of July activities.

I kicked ass in the Fun Run, we watched the bike parade, then hung for a while at the cabana club.

*comments regarding the wild life courtesy of Pete while we were in the forest.

Why no posts?

2010-06-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

Summer has gotten off to a busy start here at the Contini household.

Vinnie and Christopher had some swim lessons.

They are both doing great this year.

We have taken in a couple San Jose Giants games (the minor league team near us)

We even went to a San Francisco Giants game.

They have a great little kids area where the kids can hit some balls.

We got to see Buster Posey play, San Francisco's new hot player.

There was an impromptu ice cream party on the block. The reason? To get rid of a bunch of left over ice cream from the previous nights block party!

We have an awesome neighborhood with lots of boys. There is always someone around to play a ball game with!
Which brings us to today. Pete and I had the office staff over for an office BBQ/pool party. Turns out one of our staff can make a mean lemon drop martini!

And now I must pack. Team Contini is heading to Palm Springs tomorrow for a week of sun and fun!

Christopher's moment

2010-06-08T17:49:00.000-07:00

Christopher spends a lot of his time on the side lines. Watching his big brothers play baseball, soccer and football. Watching them receive their trophies and medals.

Today was "show day" for him at Little Gym. It is the last class of the session, and the kids show off all they have learned to the parents.

I blocked my schedule at work so I could be there with my camera. He was beaming ear-to-ear the entire time.

I saw him walk the beam, tumble, and hang from the high bar.

He was unbelievably excited to be presented his medal. After watching his big brothers, he was so proud to have one of his own.

After class was over he insisted on going to our office to show Pete, bursting into a patient room to show him.
Way to shine Christopher!