I love Sundays...

as long as I don't have to work the next day! I spent most of my day in bed today. Sick?..nope. Just reading a new book I started yesterday. That's how I read. All of it at once. With the boys occupied with their new toys and games, I was able to sneak away and get lost in my book. What a way to spend a Sunday! I did emerge from the bedroom around 5pm to make dinner and do some organizing. I made it through all of the toys in both boys rooms and also organized the shelves in Jaxon's room that have been neglected forever!!! Tomorrow I will hit the living room and my bedroom. After that, it's on to the scrapbook room...that is a scary place right now! Oh, and inbetween all that organizing, I will continue to plan both baby showers for my sister and my son's 9th birthday party. See, I deserved a day in bed today!

Mama Mia!

My little sister is gonna be a mamma for the first time! Here is what she's looking like these days. I think she looks super cute and we can't wait to meet their little guy! Only two

more months to go!

Merry Christmas!

We have had two full days of family and fun! Christmas Eve started off with a trip to the mall for Santa pictures with the cousins and Nana and Papa. Shortly after that we went over to my mom's house for our annual Christmas Eve brunch. Holly came down from Sac and we were all together for a few hours ( minus Tim who had to work and left Sac way too late for us to see him). Our dinner stop is always at Nana Rosie's for a meal of shrimp cocktail, crab, prawns, calamari, clams and sausage for the non-fish eaters (Shawn and his brother Sal). We were home by 9pm, just in time to put out cookies, milk and a note for Santa and sprinkle magic reindeer food on the front lawn. Good thing Mason's teacher gave that to them this year! Just before heading off to bed, the boys slipped the Santa key on the front door so Santa could easily slip into the house without having to bother with the messy chimney.

The boys woke us up around 7am...which was much later than I expected. We opened Santa gifts (Star Wars transformers for Mason and a remote control helicoptor for Jaxon) and our stockings before diving into the stacks of gifts from Mom and Dad. After several boxes of clothes, the boys were about done with our gifts. We had to put those aside and open the toys before we could continue. Guess practical gifts are too boring! After gifts, Shawn made his Sunday Special-eggs, potatoes, sausage and toast. We had such a leisurly morning since we didn't have to be anywhere until noon. That's when we headed to Nani and Nanu's for presents. The boys opened the obligitory t-shirts and socks (they were not happy) and then the final gift was the best. They each got a Nintendo DS and two games! Uncle Sal got them each remote control helicoptors so the afternoon was off to a busy start. Our final stop for Christmas was at Nana and Papa's house. We had appetizers and drinks and then a good ole fashioned turkey dinner. I can never get too much of that! We opened presents AGAIN and loaded up our treasures and headed home about 8pm.

So, our house looks like a toy store collided with the wrapping paper department of Target. I guess I know what I'll be doing for the next two days! But this was a blessed and happy holiday indeed.

Brrrrrr Baby!

Last night, we went to Gilroy Garden's Holiday Lights with The Tompkin's Family. We had such a great time, even though it was freezing! The kids rode rides, drank hot cocoa, played games, and basically had a fantastic time. Once the sun went down (did I mention it was cold?) the park was lit up in the most amazing way. And after 5 hours in the cold, we all came away with the same conclusion...we couldn't live anywhere that is this cold all the time. We are true Californians at heart.

Merry Christmas

To all my friends ( all three of you) and family. I am not sending cards out this year. I am tired and swamped and had to take something off of my To-Do list. So, I'm breaking all sorts of copyright rules, but here is a card for you. I'm sure the 5 people who read my blog won't call the FBI. Or maybe they will. Oh well, I look good in orange.

Vacation Time!

School ended at 11:50am today and the boys and I walked out at 1:00pm! That is a new record for me. I would normally take advantage of the quiet time and the extra hours on an early release day...but I was out of there today! It has been quite a hectic week in 1st grade and I am so happy to be off! So, what does a tired teacher do on the Friday before Christmas? Go out to lunch and come home to take a nap! Marissa and I took the kids to Chicago Uno for a long lunch and then I came home and curled up on my bed and slept for an hour. It felt so nice!

Now I can move on to Christmas! Our tree has been up, but it looks pretty empty underneath! So I may wrap some gifts tonight. Or I may curl up on the couch and catch up on some reading. Either way, I am looking forward to two weeks off and spending many memorable moments with my kids.

Well Hello There

I have not blogged in a while. It could be because life keeps me busy. Or it could be because my camera BROKE and I am quite lost without it. It's not as fun to blog without pictures. But I wanted to check in so that when I look back at my year it doesn't look like I dropped off the face of the earth for 5 weeks. So my new camera arrived yesterday, but I can't download the software to allow me to put my pictures on my computer.

So what's new?

1-We went to Sacramento last weekend to get sized for our dresses for Holly and Tim's wedding. So cute!!!

2-We only have 5 days of school left until Winter Break. Yeah!

3- I am almost finished shopping, which is amazing since I only started yesterday. Ha!

4-I sent out the invitations for Michelle's baby shower in January. It's almost time to be an Auntie again!!!

5- I am trying to take time to bring out the spirit of Christmas, because it doesn't quite feel like the holidays yet.

Ahoy Matey!

One of ye grand perks of being a teacher is staying aboard ship with ye wee lads when they are out of school. (ok, that's about as much as I can handle of pirate speak) The boys and I had a movie day yesterday, starting with a picnic breakfast and Pirates of the Caribean 1 at 8:30am. Since each movie is almost 3 hours, we only made it through #1 and #3. Luckily we had watched #2 the night before on tv. We stopped of course for lunch, a brief video game, and to pop popcorn in the afternoon.

Time for a Change

It's was time to change from blond to something a little bit darker. Ha! ok, a LOT darker. I love it! And yes, that is still a JackOLantern on my cupboard. Hee Hee.

Happy Halloween

New Tattoo!!!

ok, fine, it's not me, but man I wish that is was! Holly turned another year older last week and to celebrate we headed to Berkeley for her next tattoo. I had to sit there and listen to the sweet buzz of the tat gun and NOT GET ANY INK! It was so hard to sit there and watch and not get one too! Next time, next time.

Berkely was fabulous as usual...homeless tweny-somethings living high on the streets without a care in the world, street vendors selling amazing photographs and some very unique jewelry, Cal students sporting their blue and gold after the big game. Such a fun college town! I miss that!

But life as a wife, mother, and teacher is fulfilling in it's own way. Sure, house parties have been replaced by children's birthday parties, and Saturday morning sleeping in has been replaced by double soccer games, but I wouldn't change it for the world. Nothing beats the warm hugs of a five year old, the amazing mind of an eight year old, or the support of a husband you have known for over 15 years.

Life is good. Sorry, I was feeling nostalgic tonight.

October is Soccer and Pumpkins

Mason is in the green shirt, to the left of the white shirts. He's actually near the ball, which is rare for him.

Here is Jaxon (number 5) in a rare still moment. We are impressed by his stamina this year.

It's always difficult to get both boys looking and smiling at the same time. They had gigantic pumpkins!

I'm Baaaaaaack!

Where have I been? I have been knee deep, burried alive, drowning, trying to come up for air in First Grade. ok, maybe that's a little dramatic, but school started 6 weeks ago and it is kicking my butt! Why? Let's see..could be a) I haven't been in the classroom for two years; b) things have changed drastically since I left the classroom; c) I am teaching curriculum that I have never taught before; d) I am now teaching 6 year olds, and a handful of 5 year olds that will turn 6 between now and December. That's right! I am teaching 5 year olds!!!! I think that this is best described with a situation a few weeks ago. One of my yet to be 6 year olds sneezed and then stood up, dropped is head and yelled "boogers" while a stream of snot hang from his nose and dangled onto the ground. Need I say more? It's going to be a long year.

However, it has been a very successful soccer season for Jaxon and so that is what we are focussed on at the moment. He has been a goal scoring machine! He has 2 more games and then we move onto the next sport that will take up most of our free time. I think it will be basketball, which will be new for all of us in the Culcasi home. Yes, my shrimpy boys are going to take on the hoop. We will see how it goes. But you have to love them for being interested and not noticing that they completely miss the height requirement necessary to make it big.

Let's see, what else is new? Umm, not much. Life is busy and full and I wouldn't change it a bit. Except, maybe a raise. That would be good. Go union!

Back to School

My baby is in Kindergarten and he loves every second of it! Yesterday was his orientation day and today he started his first full day. He had so much fun and met many new friends. He even has another Mason in his room. So now he's known as Mason C. Jaxon is a big third grader this year. So awesome. Me, well I'm teaching first grade and let's just say it is interesting!

It's August

We all knew it would come to this. The final weeks of summer. Here comes the mad rush to fit in all the fun we missed in July, there's lots of plans to make to get ready for school, soccer is in full swing, and I have got to make some time for scrapbooking! It's going to fly by my friends. Hang on tight, it could get bumpy!

Jedi Knights in the Water

Leave it to my boys turn turn giant bubble wands into Jedi Lightsabers. They had a blast fighting the dark side inthe pool and then blowing giant evil bubbles. Summer is the best!

Things I Love About Camping

Fishing in the River

Swim rides with my baby.

Campfire stories in the tent. Only Mason would sit long enough to listen-go figure!

Jiffy Pop on the fire pit. Mason calls it "Jishy Pop"-so cute!

Nightly card games are always a favorite. The kids love to play LCR,

but only if they play for money. Kids!

Hnaging out down by the water was the only way to keep cool. The kids and the dogs ( and also the adults) splashed and swam in the water.


S'mores followed the Jiffy Pop-yummy!

Ping Pong and Horse Shoes kept the boys busy when we were out of the water.

Camping on the river gave us LOTS of rocks to climb on.

This is actually the smallest rock that he jumped from.

Cooking dinner on the campfire always tastes so good. But it's even better when someone else cooks it. Yes, that's SHAWN cooking!

The Great Outdoors

Camping trip #2 was at Washington, California. Say you've never heard of it? That's because the town has a small population of 166 people and is in the middle of the Sierra Forrest. But boy what a spectacular time we had! We headed up on Thursday about 4:30pm, arriving at 8:00pm. Just enough time to set up the tent, inflate the mattresses, and hang out at the campfire for a round of s'mores. All of us stayed different amounts of time-Michelle, Geoff, and Shawn left Sunday so they could get back to work. Michelle, Matt and Katelyn headed home Monday. Mason and I came home Tuesday afternoon. And Papa and Nana kept Jaxon and Corey until Thursday. Jaxon is my little mountain man now! 5 days was enough for me. Taking a shower and sleeping in my own bed was a welcomed comfort last night (not to mention escaping the dusty campsite)!!!