January 29

Tonight was Connor's belated birthday night with pizza and cake.  Ryan is home for a few days and his friend Jacob came over too.  After dinner, Mark took the guys and Kelleigh to WWE ... I opted to stay home!  Unfortunately Connor has a terrible cold and barely any voice; hopefully he will enjoy it.

When Connor wasn't looking, Mark added "Go Niners" to the cake when he filled out the order form as Connor has the Ravens in their Super Bowl bet!

At the WWE event where all their favorites are - current World Heavyweight Champion Champion lberto Del Rio, "The Celtic Warrior" Sheamus, "The Viper" Randy Orton, Wade Barrett, The Rhodes Scholars, the WWE Divas and more!

January 26

This morning Mark and I went to see this movie.  While there were clearly some creative liberties taken and things left out, it was a very well done film on how intense the process was to bring down bin Laden.  I have tremendous respect for those who doggedly pursued him and realized early on that I don't do well with interrogations!

Then Kell and I went to the mall as she was insistent I see the prom dress she had tried on with her girlfriends.  Upon seeing it again, she decided she didn't like it as much after all. We chose a few more to try on but nothing was "the one" but fortunately we have time.  I got a pair of jeans, stopped by the grocery store, and home to fix dinner.

We are having a rainy, dismal day here which has kept the attendance down at the Torrey Pines golf tournament.  Such a shame that it couldn't be the glorious weekend we had last week as it's such a beautiful location to spend a day.

January 23

Connor is 16 today!  Hard to believe that 16 years ago we were driving home with him at this time.  He was one of the most precious and sweetest babies you could ever want.

Banner that greeted him this morning ...

We will actually celebrate his birthday early next week as he wanted to see WWE so Mark got tickets to take Connor, Kelleigh, and Jacob then we'll have cake.  He has enjoyed his couple days so far at RBHS.  This is finals week for Kelleigh so she's been hard at work studying each night.

This is also Ryan's last night of his first vet science class and, because he earned a B in the class, he is able to move on to the more advanced one which begins in a couple weeks.  We are so proud of how hard he worked to make this happen. He also got his car back from the shop today so it's been a great day for him!

My dad's doctor appointment wasn't the news I had hoped for.  Mom said he was taken off the medication that the doctor put him on yesterday and is back on what he was given in the hospital.  They told him he is at high risk for a stroke. If this doesn't work, he will have to go in to hospital to have it shocked back.

January 21

Last night Mark and I took Ryan his new car which we had picked up from the dealership earlier in the day. We met him at work in time for his break, drove the short distance to the restaurant (across the parking lot) so I could show him a few things as our time was short, and had dinner.  Got in the car to go back over to his job and the car wouldn't start.  Okay ... maybe some day this will be funny, but at 7:00p on a Sunday night in a place where you know no car repair businesses, it definitely is not.  As Ryan went back to work very disheartened, we attempted to get some roadside assistance which proved to be no easy feat.  In the meantime, fortunately, the car started and we drove it to New Life figuring it was easier to deal with there than in a parking lot.  We chose to stay until Ryan got off work at 9p to ensure he was calm and that we would deal with things.  On the bright side, if this was going to happen, it was a blessing it did while Mark and I were still there rather than when he got off work.  Today the car is in the shop being evaluated and tomorrow we will know what they find.

Talked to Dad for a bit today and, while he sounded more like himself, his heart rate is very high.  He has a doctor appointment tomorrow so hopefully they can figure out why.

This week I have two birthdays - Connor's 16th on Wednesday and my boss' on Thursday.  Here is the card I made for my boss which has AMC movie tickets inside and the matching envelope (can't see Connor's until Wednesday!) ...

January 20

Kelleigh chose to use her Christmas money toward having her hair highlighted - she is thrilled with the results!

Before ...

During ...

After ...

We are leaving shortly to deliver Ryan his car.  He is sooooo excited he can hardly stand it.  Someday his children will find these pictures of interest as they look at cars "from the old days"!  Here is his 1997 Ford Contour ...

January 16

This has been quite an eventful week.  Mark, Connor, and Kelleigh met with the school district and got their records expunged of their wrongdoings.  Kelleigh will stay at Marantha but Connor is going to begin the second semester at Rancho Bernardo HS on Tuesday. We made it clear that his social life will not interfere with his grades or back to independent study he will go.

Ryan has his class final tonight so hopefully that is going well AND he was told his "move out date" today of March 1st.  He will be getting an apartment with two guys from Reality House which are a little older than him but very solid, great guys.  He is a little too overwhelmed at the moment to be excited.  We told him to get through today's final and we will talk about the future tomorrow.  He also has to go get his car insurance finalized so we can deliver that to him this weekend.  Never a dull moment!

 

January 14

Today is a huge day for Ryan as his first car was purchased.  Mark found this car and today we went and looked at it.  It's a 1998 Ford Contour in immaculate condition both inside and out with incredibly low mileage, new tires, and smog and oil change.  We had it titled in his name and once we get the insurance settled, we will bring it home.  He is VeRy excited!

January 13

We were so excited to see my sister and nephew for a little bit last Thursday before they headed home.  Josh is now 21 and will be attending the police academy later this month on his quest to join the secret service some day.

After we celebrated Ryan's graduation yesterday, we headed to Santa Monica Pier which we'd never been to.  It was a very cool place with a mini amusement park, street entertainers and vendors, and even a "Bubba Gumps" restaurant! Other than not being able to find where we'd parked the car, it was a great afternoon!

January 12

Today we officially celebrated Ryan's graduation from New Life House.  It was emotional for so many reasons.  As I shared with the families, we began this process over three years ago.  Our first interaction with New Life was when the guys were guests at one of the family support groups we attended at Mt. Carmel High School.  There were over 100 people in the gym that night and Ryan was in the center of the group being "called out" on his behavior by the guys.  As I sat and listened to these young mens' testimonies and those of their parents, I can recall thinking how great it would be to be in their shoes.  Little did I know the path we had ahead of us.  Wasn't too many months later that Ryan was being dropped off at New Life as it was clear his outpatient program wasn't enough.  One of the worst days of my life was when the Director told us nearly 6 months later that we needed to bring him home as he wasn't mature enough to want to change.  He needed to sink or swim.  He swam for two months before taking a nose dive which landed him back at New Life.  It was 17 weeks before he was allowed to have contact with us but, he will tell you today, it was those weeks that changed his life and made him realize he had to change.  The young, messed up kid that we left there is today a fine young man with 21 months of sobriety, a job, doing well in his vet class, and a role model to many.  We couldn't be more proud of all the hard work he has put into the process and the world of opportunity ahead of him now. Today I stood before that group as one of the parents of a young man like those I envied three years earlier - VERY, VERY PROUD.  

("4140" is the house number for New Life.)

January 9

Look at that cute but VERY dirty face ... and the mud-covered feet!  Mark left the furballs outside unsupervised and came back to Chloe carrying a newly planted pansy in her mouth!  While he got the sink full of warm water to wash her feet off, Jake opened the door and they all went charging through the house.  Makes me laugh just to envision.  Of course he threatened that he was going to send her back but we all know he loves his million-dollar-girl too much!

Ryan just returned from Palos Verdes High School where he spoke to a class about drug addiction and where it leads.  He said he was nervous but afterwards called to tell me it went so well and how great it feels to be able to do things like this.  He's come so far with his public speaking; so proud of him.

Dad is doing much better today thanks to the antibiotic and modification of heart meds.  Hopefully this is the path he'll continue on and will start feeling more energetic soon.  My sister and nephew arrive in port tonight so we will have breakfast with them tomorrow before they head back to Florida.

This week is busier than usual between family in town, international guests at work, lacrosse meeting for Mark, weekly groups, and kid's activities.  The holiday break seems sooooo long ago!

January 7

My sister arrived yesterday afternoon as she was boarding a ship today for work.  She and Josh return on Wednesday night, we'll have breakfast on Thursday all together, then they fly home.  We had lots of laughs and such a great time enjoying fabulous wine, snacks, delicious dinner, and yummy dessert.

Sadly our dad isn't doing well  He has been pretty sick for the last couple of days and believe he probably has a kidney infection.  The home care nurse comes tomorrow and will do a test so he can get some meds.  Later in the afternoon he has a doctor appointment that he wasn't well enough to attend this morning.  Despite my pleading texts and calls, he refuses to go to ER.  If I lived nearby, I'd be hauling his behind there whether he liked it or not!

January 5

Mark is busy all day referring lacrosse games in Solana Beach so I decided to do a little crafting.  Got the laundry going, dishwasher emptied, things tidied up as my sister arrives tomorrow afternoon (yeah!), and can now spend some time in my office guilt-free!

There have been so many cute ideas on several company blogs I follow that I chose to copy them.  Sadly, I am much better at copying ideas than coming up with my own.

This is by far my favorite one of the day's projects and love the details ...

This card reminds me of something my crafty girlfriend would make as she LoVeS aqua and red together- it's fun and makes a whimsical note card ...

There's something about this little turtle that makes me smile.  Perhaps it's because we have an aquatic turtle with a personality!

Last, this is the cover for the 2012 Christmas cards we received.  I started putting them into a book like this last year, love it so much, that I am going to continue the tradition.  It's fun to look back through and see friends' pictures, newsletters, and how the cards change.

Tomorrow I will be posting some pictures from my sister's visit  :o)

January 2

With Mark's help we were able to wrestle the last tree into its case and everything is taken down and put away.  Amazing how big it makes the rooms look when things are gone!

I am greatly excited as I just booked a ticket to see my best friend in February ... sort of an early birthday present to myself.  I didn't get to make a trip the last part of 2012 so am taking advantage of a great deal and going for a long weekend.  Will make going back to work a little easier tomorrow!

In an attempt to constantly annoy his cousin who posted a picture of herself with her golden, Mark took one to make his new Facebook picture!

January 1

As a new year begins, I am grateful to have my father doing well after suffering another heart attack the day after Christmas.  He is home now but, given his limited heart function, he was told to consider each day a gift.  My goal is to remind myself of that and take those few minutes to make a call, drop a note to someone, or simply ask how someone is doing as lives can change in an instant.  Much love to family and friends as we begin 2013.