Halloween

The boys had fun time trick-or-treating (as expected). Arvin and I took the boys to Lindberg park and met up with some friends (Lamondo and his girls) to trick-or-treat in the neighborhood around. 

 My superheroes

Superheroes in action: 

School Halloween Party

El Rincon had their annual Halloween party yesterday. Both boys were excited about attending, however last minute Harper lost that privilege by 'kicking' someone in the head at recess on Monday, which sent him to the principal's office. Though he was being annoyed by another kid, pushing away his head with his foot was not the solution to the problem and I am sure now he will now think twice before doing something inappropriate. So with that - I ended up taking Andre's friend Caleb to the party instead, while Harper went to the regular STAR  after school program.

 Andre loved his costume and was definitely acting the part.

 Caleb and Dre

 Showing off his fancy eagle tattoo.

Chorus Performance

Andre is part of El Rincon Rockin' Rockets chorus (and I still play the piano). They performed a song for Red Ribbon week in their school and this is their last rehearsal.

Basketball

Once again the basketball season is here. I love watching the boys play my favorite sport. I love seeing the development of their skills, building of the new friendships and expressions of joy on their faces. This is the first time that I am taking a backseat and not coaching them. (To be honest - I still coach them, individually; and yes I am the crazy parent on the sideline telling my kid what to do). As I now realize it is hard to see your child mess up when I know what they did wrong as it is normal to want your child to be the best at anything they do. 

Harper is playing in YMCA Culver-Palms league for 4-5 year olds. They play on 8 foot rims. He has a great coach and awesome teammates.

 Though they only had 1 practice before this game, Harper was met with embraces and excited exclamations from his teammates about his arrival.

Though Harper didn't score any baskets, he did great on defense (had a couple of blocks too) and had a few good passes. There is definitely a room for him to grow and skills to learn and I am looking forward to him having a great experience this season and nurture a desire to improve even more.

 

 

Andre also plays in a YMCA league. Though he is 7 he runs in the league for 8-9 year olds. He is more than excited to have his friend Caleb (who he goes to school with and who he was in the same kindergarten class with) on his team. (I will take some picture next time).

I was a little disappointed when Andre returned from a summer with his dad and announced that he did not want to play basketball anymore, and that baseball would be his sport. I told him that I will sign him up for baseball, however he has to participate in some sort of sport before baseball season starts in the spring. He resisted going to workouts a couple of times (since that meant not playing video games for those two hours on the weekend), but he always came away happy and glad that he did it.

 Andre now continues to train with BFT and is quick to improve his skills. He now started building friendships with some of the kids there and that comradery makes him want to come back again and again.

Pumpkin Patch 2013

This is our 4th year coming to Underwood Family Farms' Pumpkin patch. This is the first time we came on the weekend and the fun 'fair'-like' activities made it even more fun. We were able to see pig races, go on a hay ride, kids used tomato slingshot, we did make it out of the big maze too!

 

 One of the most fun activities - pig races. The boys had a blast cheering on our pig and watching them run the obstacle course.

 We did find all five finger paints in the maze (unfortunately my phone died before being able to take the picture). We actually found our way out of the maze with only two finger paints found and the kids insisted on going back in to find them all. At the end we matched our finger pattern to a silly action we had to perform - Andre had to hiss like a cat, Harper - sidle like a crab and I had to cluck like a chicken. This was boys' favorite activity.

Unfortunately my phone did not last to take pictures of them doing tomato slingshots or playing the carnival games in which they won small pumpkins. Harper tossed two out of three pumpkins into a little cutout and to be honest I am not sure if I could have done it. Andre won in throwing a softball and knocking off the coconut.

White Coat Ceremony

A midst the craziness of grad school we had an official induction of our class into the nursing rank symbolized by endowing us in the white coats. The whole event took about an hour, but the talks were definitely inspirational and got all of us pumped up about our course of studies and our future. 

UCLA MECN Class 2015

Shaking Dean Lyder's hand

The Russian speaking crew (mafia?)

Freida, Shawn, me, Luke, Masha and Lena

Being goofy - Heather, Megan and I