We've got a First Grader on our hands...

Leyton ready for his first day of 1st Grade! It was a short summer but we made the best of it!

Welcome Baby Camryn Canada!

I drove up to Los Angeles today to meet baby girl Camryn Canada today, the daughter of my college BFF Grace! Camryn was a planned c-section which made it easier for me to arrange for Leon to take care of the kids in my absence for a mid-week event! Camryn is Grace's first child and I'm so glad I was able to be there for the special addition!

Lincoln's Preschool singing during Church

Every year, Foothills has their preschool children attend the church service and perform a song for the congregation. Lincoln is our singer, he loves it... question is if he will do it in front of hundreds of people. Well he didn't let us down, although it didn't look like he was singing as loud as he normally does, he didn't get scared and he didn't cry! His teacher, Miss Vicci, is the same teacher Leyton had when he was 3! We are so proud of our baby boy, he's growing up so fast!

Iron Pigs - First HOME Game

Our first home game was played on the "big" kids field, a treat since no other game was scheduled at the same time! Just had to share more photos of the boys, too cute for words and they both are very serious about the game but also having a good time! Oh and the team also did hitting from a pitch from the coach, if they didn't hit the ball in 3 tries, they moved to the "T." Of course our boys loved that and each hit the ball from a pitch!

Spring OPEN HOUSE at Leyton's school

Hard to believe that Leyton is already done with over 2/3 of Kindergarten! It's gone by so fast. We went to his class tonight to see all the wonderful things he's done in class and to confirm how much he's learned in the short few months and how much he has improved, especially his writing, art work and ability to read! We are so proud of him and his teachers tell us repeatedly that he's "a model" student!

Catching Leprechuans!

Leyton is OBSESSED with catching Leprechauns! He has been since last year when they did it in his Pre-K class. He had a lot of fun coming up with little gadgets to put in his Leprechaun trap and fortunately this year, his Kindergarten class had Leprechaun traps as a project! Here's his finished product and he's very proud of it!

First T-ball Game for our Iron Pigs

Our first official game of T-ball and it's away in Jamul. At first we complained that we had to make the 20 minute drive but once we arrived at the field, we bit our tongues because their fields were immaculate! What a treat for the boys to have their first game on such a well kept field! Surprisingly the game was not as slow and unexciting as I had thought it to be, in fact it was quite the pleasure watching and cheering on our team! There's plenty to be learned on the field but the boys looked so cute and did such a great job. We don't have too many kids out there that don't pay attention to the game, surprisingly for this age! Both our boys made us proud and played like serious ball players! Lincoln reminds us of "Darth Helmet" from Spaceballs when he wears his batting helmet... so cute! Leon is having a great time being an Assistant Coach on the field with both his boys at the same time, the first time since starting organized sports!

A new T-ball player in the family!

Look who wants to also play T-ball! Since the team only has 9 players and Lincoln loves to warm-up and watch the other kids play, we gave him a shot at playing with the team and maybe joining the team! He was a little shy at first, granted he is only 3.5 years old, plus he's by far the smallest kid on the team! But surprisingly he handled himself quite well and is looking forward to playing! Look out T-ball... there's a new IRON PIG in town!

Leyton starts playing T-ball - GO IRON PIGS!

For the first time since the boys started playing in organized sports, Leon is not the coach and Linda is not the Team Mom... is it possible??? I think I'm already going into withdrawals, but I'll survive... I get to focus on taking action photos and updating the team blog (you didn't think I could really stay completely out of it, did you). Oh, and Leon is the assistant coach! Today was the first day of practice and it was actually nice to be able to sit back and let someone else run the show (this time)! I personally wasn't that gung-ho about doing it since we don't have any experience with managing a baseball team. The only thing related to the sport is that Leon's been playing on the church softball team, and we go to Padres games but it's not the same, at all! I'm sure we would've gotten along fine had we ended up being in charge, but now I can sit back and take notes on what works and what doesn't! Here's to a wonderful start of our baseball experience with the kids! To keep posted on what's going on with the team, check out the Iron Pigs Blog link on the right hand column!

Farewell Eban, until we see you again!

One last gathering of friends and family before Leon's buddy Eban headed back home to his family in Idaho. It was such a blessing for Leon to have had the opportunities to spend time with him, it had been way too long! Hopefully the next time we see him won't be so far away!

A new addition to our Wii collection!

As a gift from a dear friend of Linda's (Grace), we added the Dance Dance Revolution to our Wii arsenal of tools and games! At first we thought that us adults and maybe cousin Isabel (or the girls) would only enjoy the game, but it turns out that the boys love to play it as well. Even Aunt Nancy and Uncle George got into the swing of things! If you have a gaming system, you must add this to your collection, it's such a fun workout!

Happy Valentine's Day

Even though today was the official start of the Lunar New Year, it also happens to be Valentine's Day. Since we celebrated yesterday with family, today was completely dedicated to Valentines! Fortunately, we got to spend the day doing something that we both love doing and doing together... GOLF! We played a twilight round (9 holes) at the Coronado Golf Course, lunch beforehand at the Ferrylanding. Beautiful day spent with each other, the kids were with Ong Ba Ngoai! Also is included the Valentine's pictures the boys used this year for their classes!

Chuc Mung Nam Moi - Lunar New Year

Today is Lunar New Year's Eve and we were fortunate to have Linda's distant cousins come to our house to celebrate the New Year with us! The kids were dressed (briefly - long enough for pictures) in their traditional Vietnamese clothes. We feasted on a delicious spread mostly created by Linda's Mom. And at the end of the day, we rotated family members through on the Wii for some Guitar Hero and Wii Fit Plus! Even Linda's Mom got into the games! What a great time!

SuperBowl Sunday

After spending the morning in Descanso witnessing and celebrating the baptism of our niece and nephews, we headed back home to host a small SuperBowl party. We weren't originally going to do it, since Leon is on call, but his childhood friend (Eban) was still in town and it was a great opportunity to get together with him again! Fortunately for most of the crowd, the New Orleans Saints were the Champions! After the game, we had a jammin session on Guitar Hero with the kids!

The Cousins are Baptized!

What a special day for us all as we got to witness our niece Isabel and our nephews Joe, Will and John be baptized today at their church in Descanso. It was one big family celebration, including family from Linda's side. There were a total of 9 kids baptized at the church!