Weekend wrap-up!

Lets just call this weekend soccer fest!  

Between both kids we had 5 soccer games.

Zoe’s team played 3 tournament games and won all 3 games!  

Zoe played amazingly well and scored a couple goals!
The views at her games are amazing, Mt Tam is in the background and the marsh on the other side.  
You couldn't of asked for better weather either, as it was a sunny 75 degrees both days.
Perfect California soccer watching weather ;)

Her team now gets to play at the finals next weekend and boy are they excited.

Eli's team, the Rustlers, played their last two games yesterday :(

They do not have tournaments at his age level :)
He had a great season as well, scoring goal upon goal every game!
I love watching him play because he just gets in there and has no fear.  
When I yell, "Eli, go get the ball and run with it," he looks at me, winks and goes after it.
I love that little guy :)

There were end of the season parties for both kids!  Pizza and cupcakes. 

Yummy!

We finally carved Eli's pumpkin.

We waited to late to get the tools and had to use these.  I know, Disney Princess, really, and for a 7-year-old boy?

 In the process of cutting his pumpkin, the little pink saw broke!

Hmmm….  That might of been a deliberate move on his part, I mean a pink saw?

In the end, the pumpkin turned out great (even though I had to cut the mouth with a kitchen knife due to the broken saw)!

Ate too much of this..

That is why I am eating this for dinner.  I will post this recipe on my cooking blog this week.

Good night and Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin fun & Halloween through the years...

Zoe's 6th grade class got to carve pumpkins at school yesterday.  It's a 6th grade tradition.  The school provides all the pumpkins and carving utensils.  I love her pumpkin because it's silly and fun!    This weekend will be Eli's turn to carve his pumpkin.  I can't wait to dig out the seeds so we can roast them up.  Pumpkin seeds are the best snack!  I will post a picture of his pumpkin later!


Here are some photos of the kid's Halloween costumes through the years. 

This is the first costume I have a digital picture of.  Zoe was an adorable pumpkin her first Halloween and a monkey her 2nd Halloween.  Once I figure out how to scan photos, I will post the pictures.  She was so adorable!  This is Zoe and her friend Ellie!





Zoe with her black cat!  Eli was still in Guatemala in the 2 above photos :(





Here he is celebrating his first Halloween with us :)   He did not really want to put a costume on, so all we could get on was the bear hat.  He does look adorable!  Zoe was not to be messed with!  Girl power!

This is Zoe rocking it as Cleopatra with an attitude! You go girl!  She is posing with a neighbor friend!  Eli was not getting into a costume again this year.  He took off anything we put on him as costumes freaked him out!





Zoe above as a soccer dog.  We could not find any cute dog costumes for kids so we found a mask and created this.  She was so happy to be a dog that she did not care!  Eli was a pirate for his pre-schoool party and then decided to be a cowboy on Halloween night.  Talk about a huge leap from last year when he would not even put one costume on.  He found his inner Halloween spirit!

Zoe as yet another dog!  Can you tell that she loves dogs?  Zoe and her friends decided to be Dalmatian puppies together and we had a costume making party.  So cute!  3rd grade, love the innocence! Eli was Buzz Lightyear here!

Surprise, Surprise, Zoe is yet another dog, but a Guide Dog this time.  We visited the Guide Dogs of Marin for girl scouts so that is where we came up with this costume.  I love it as it's so original, and so Zoe!  Eli was into Star Wars at this point, so he was Obi Wan.  He still dresses up in this costume and he still loves Star Wars!

 Zoe was a "peace" girl from the 60's!  Peace out!  Eli was an astronaut.  Isn't that costume the bomb?  It was passed down to us from a friend and we passed it on to another friend this year!  


I will post this photos of  their costumes next week.   Zoe is going to be a vampire and Eli is going to be Harry Potter!

Have a great weekend!

Critters in my attic & dress up with Zoe!

Had a terrible night sleep last night due to some critter in my attic.  All I heard all night was scraping and rustling above me.  It reminded me of that Allstate commercial where that guy pretends he's a raccoon in your attic.  It's actually a funny commercial and I usually laugh at it, but not anymore ;(  


All I could think of last night was that commercial and what that critter is doing to my attic.  I can just see him up there smiling and ripping up installation, chewing on wires and just reeking havoc.  I was mostly afraid that he would rip through my ceiling and jump down on me.  Folks, I am not a fan of rodents in my house, even if they are in the attic.  I just want them to stay in nature where they belong.  I called my pest guy first thing this morning and luckily he is coming out today.  I will keep you posted with what we find!  Update:  My pest guy came (for those of you that are local, I have the best bee, ant and pest guy) and he went up in the attic and did not find a thing, not even one dropping!  He laid a few traps just in case, and told me to call him if I hear anything again.  Last night I had the most restful sleep and did not hear a thing but silence.  I am totally happy about that :)


Let's move onto a lighter note.  Zoe's language art's class read a book called Freak the Mighty and they are doing a little skit in the class based on the book.   Zoe had to come up with 2 costumes for the two characters she plays.


The first character she plays is a tough gang member.  I think she looks pretty tough, don't you?

Don't know that I want to see that look on a daily basis as I like seeing my sweet little girl, but she got into her character.


The second look we were going for was for the character Loretta, who is frazzled, drunk most of the time and pretty clueless about life.  We sort of got that look, I think.  We have to mess up her hair more.  When she plays the character she really does an amazing job.  She loves playing characters opposite of her personality.  

What is scary is that she is wearing my red Madonna shirt in the gang photo above and my sweatshirt here.  She is now almost fitting into my clothes, when did this happen?  I had to throw in the last picture with her brilliant smile.  That is my girl!

Take the easy path...

The following message came to me on a run the other day.  Running is my meditation and often these thoughts of wisdom come into my head.  I think its because I am open when I am running and my mind is quiet.  I just thought I would share it with you!

Were always use to traveling down the windy path of life.  Why do we choose this path?  Because it seems like the way we are destined to go.  "Why should our path be easy we ask, isn't life suppose to be a struggle?"  Why should it not be easy?  It's been embedded in our brains and psyches that life is suppose to be hard and rewards are suppose to be small and that life is not supposed to be this easy.  Life is supposed to be easy and breezy and full of wonderment and bliss.  Take that road that is open, straight and full of ease and see where it leads you and how fun your journey is along the way.  

Look at the redwoods, they grow large and straight, there are no twists or turns to them.  Have you ever seen a more beautiful and powerful tree?  The redwoods hold the key to eternal life and are full of wisdom.  They have been here for ages and will continue to be here, growing stronger and taller.  They have learned the secret to life; and that is to grow tall and take the easy path of straight and narrow, not the windy path full of obstacles and hurdles.   

Zoe feeling the bliss of life while in nature!  We should all aim for this feeling!

Give yourselves a break and start to believe that this is the way life was destined to be.  Know within your self that all is good and will continue to be good.  We set our own course in life, so why not set it to be an easy and blissful course?  Make things easier on yourself and get out there and enjoy more, love more, play more.   You chose to come here and experience life, so go experience it and have some fun while doing it!  

Girls gone silly ;)

Dorks! These girls are hilarious!  They were making a "Horror" movie and were playing the parts of dorks (their funny little interpretation of what dorks are) that were being attacked!   It's actually a very funny and creative little movie they put together.  Zoe does this a lot with her friends, they script out little scenes, then one acts out a scene while the other video tapes it, or they get on photo booth and record a video that way.

Eli always tries to sneak into the girl's movies and photos.  

 Eli's interpretation of a dork, hunched up shoulders and pulled up pants!

I love the imagination and creative play that my daughter and her friends have still.  They're in 6th grade and they still have that innocence and do not take themselves to seriously yet.  I hope it stays that way for a while.

Have a happy and silly weekend!

Your so vain and the oldies...

NOTE:  Go to bottom of post first for special treat and then come back up and read it!

OK, so I'm driving in the car today shuffling through the radio channels and I hear Carly Simon's "Your so Vain" (BTW, I came home and uploaded this song from i-tunes since I did not have it).  I get excited because I have not heard that song in like forever!!!  So I start singing away at the top of my lungs & getting into the groove of that song, feeling pretty cool because I know ALL the words.  Then the radio announcer comes on and says "your listening to 103.7 the oldies".  What, the oldies? You mean the songs I listened to as a child are now considered oldies?  What went through my mind was, "hey, wait, I'm only 41, I'm not old, I'm in the prime of my life here."  But, I guess music wise; songs from the 70's are considered "the oldies."  It brought me back to when my parents would be singing to their favorite growing up songs and my brother and I would cover our ears and say" that song is so old, turn it off, gag me."  I have not had to deal with that yet, as my 11 year old loves my music.  She is not into Pop at all.  She loves my alternative, rock and oldies!  Eli on the other hand loves my music style but also is totally into Pop music!  Anytime the song "Moves like Jagger" comes on, he is singing and doing the moves!

OK, so lets get back to age here.   To tell you the truth, I honestly feel physically like I'm 29, I don't know why I always go to that number but that is how I physically feel.   I have wisdom like a 41 year old, which I am thankful for, but I don't feel like 41 physically, does that make sense?  I know so many moms my age that feel this way as well.  When I was younger, 40 seemed so old, but now 40 seems so young.  I feel in the prime of my life.  I love being 41 :).  Its like you allow your true self to emerge.  You no longer care what others think of you so much and you follow your own guidance, wisdom and self.  I have also become comfortable over the years in my own skin.  I love all my different selves.  I have my spiritual "ohm" side, my practical, care taking, loving mother & wife side, my happy go lucky "Whoo hooo" side (which my friends know me best), my rocker chick side (Go Cathie!), my hippie organic side, my designer and chef side.  There are many more, but I can't think of them all right now.  I mean we all have so many different parts/personalities to us that make us who we are and those different sides come out all the time.  I have learned to embrace all my sides and let them shine when they want to shine.  I use to hold back some aspects of my personality to fit in with whatever crowd I was with at the moment, but that got tiring and I was not feeling true to myself.   I now say and be who I am.  If someone doesn't like or get me, then their loss, right?  So basically I'm saying, embrace and love all your different selves and go listen to some Carly Simon :)

I've made it easy for you and uploaded the song from You Tube for your listening pleasure.

What are some of your favorite Carly songs?

Slowing down and listening....

Do you listen to yourself?  I mean really listen to yourself every day to see where you're being led or what you really want to do?  Do you ever stop to get clear guidance from yourself?  I have been doing that lately.  I have been trying to stop and listen to my heart and myself before I jump into something.  I sit and see what "I" really want to do in that moment and then I go from there.

I have learned over the years to stop listening to what everyone else is doing and to listen to what my family and I want to do, what speaks to us and what we enjoy.  It's easy to get caught in the "herd" and "to follow the pack," but what fun is that?  I mean if were doing what everyone else is doing, then where is our growth?  Also, following the herd takes away our uniqueness and doesn't let us figure out what really makes us tick and come alive.  Slowing down gives you time to reflect and figure out what you like and dislike.  It gives you time to create and use your imagination to create your dreams.  How many of us know what we really want? If we got quiet once in a while and slowed down our pace, we would figure it out.

I see people racing around working so hard all the time and doing every activity under the sun, but where is the joy in that?  How do you connect with yourself and others when you're racing around?  What are we all working so hard for and what is our end goal?  It's easy to race around because then we don't have to think and be, but that is a scary place for some people.  We have been taught and programmed to believe that life is suppose to be hard and that you're suppose to suffer.  I have come to see that's not the case.  Were supposed to enjoy this life that were given.  We should be swimming downstream the river of life instead of swimming upstream.  Upstream is hard, downstream is easy, but that doesn't sit well with us because we have been told that if something is easy then its to good to be true, right?  Well, let me change your way of thinking, try the easy way, and see where it leads you.  Swim down the river of life and slow down your pace while you're at it!  Be present with yourself, family and friends.  Your life will be blessed in so many ways.  Cheers!

Running...

Ahh... Running!  Its one of my favorite things to do.   Its my form of meditation and time for me to just be one with nature and the earth. When I am running my spirit shines and I feel almost like a bird in flight.  I get lost in my run and my body gets in its own rhythm and groove.  Its so amazing the high I get while running.

This is where I get to run, isn't it beautiful?  

These are the steps that I warm up with.  Isn't the greenery and moss so amazing?

I never take this beauty for granted and each time I run this trail, I see something new.  I love that this is my backyard (not literally, but a 5 minute drive from my house).   I am so grateful and appreciative of the beauty that surrounds me and I am grateful for these amazing legs that carry me on my runs!  

Where is your favorite running spot?

Halloween Decorating and getting Booed?

We love Halloween at our house.  We get so excited to decorate the front porch that we always start on the first day of October, but this year the kids had off September 30th so we started a day early ;)  I can safely say we were the first house in the neighborhood to put up our Halloween decorations.  I think I like decorating for Halloween so much because the decorations look good with our house's color scheme.  I mean we have a brown-shingled house with a mango door.  It speaks Halloween!

We try not to be too scary with our decorations because we don't want to scare away any little kids (though Eli did talk me into getting 2 grave stones this year).

Some might say this big tarantula spider is scary!

But not these cute little guys!  

This is our creepy Halloween tree.  Eli always decorates it first and then Zoe comes in and changes it!  

So the other night we got booed!

Have any of you gotten booed before?  It's a cute Halloween tradition over here in our hood.  Someone basically rings your doorbell, drops off a bag with 2 notes attached and goodies inside, and runs before you can open the door (kind of like ding dong ditch).  The kids love it and love the pre-Halloween candy inside!

You then have to hang the above ghost on your front porch so everyone knows you got booed and your house is now off limits to any future boo's.  The other requirement is that you have to go out and boo two other people's house within 24 hours.  Well, my kids did not want to wait 24 hours, they wanted to go then and there.  So we made some copies and filled some bags and then set out to boo 2 neighborhood friends.

See the ghost hanging in our window?  One step down, the other to go!

Here are the kids with their boo bag heading over to hit their friend's house.  Eli looks a bit scared here!  

And they're off; they are going in slow motion here so I can capture them on camera!  Eli is still looking a bit nervous wouldn't  you say?

They arrive at home after hitting the first house and they are all smiles.  Eli told me, "Mom, I know I got busted, I know the mom saw me."

Zoe is heading inside, giving me a thumbs up for a successful and fun night!