O Canada

After watching the Olympics last week I'm finding myself going around humming the Canadian national anthem. So far this is what I know, "O Canada, blah blah blah blah. O Canada, blah blah blah".

Do you know how Canada got it's name? I heard they just put a bunch of letters in a hat and started to draw them out one by one. They picked the first letter and yelled out, "C, eh". Then they picked the next letter and yelled, "N, eh". Finally they picked another letter and yelled, "D, eh", and ended up with C-A-N-A-D-A. You know I'm part Canadian, some of my mom's side is from Quebec, pretty cool eh?

Here's some pics of when Jimmy visited British Columbia, it's a beautiful place. This is what it looks like with a little less snow during the summer.

Looks who's two

DJ celebrated his second birthday last week. We went out for his favorite food pizza to CiCi's pizza buffet. I haven't been to this place since high school, and all I can say is it's a step up from the cardboard pizza they serve at Chuckie Cheese. Oh the joy of hanging out at kid places.

He later celebrated his b-day with his cousin, they are only a week apart. He's not as polite an eater as her.

We finally got the "big boy" to take a picture with his sister over the weekend.

And now the terrible two's have begun, and they're a lot like this.

She's here

Baby Renee arrived Sunday, Jan. 24th at 8:55 am she weighed 7 lbs and was 18.5 inches. Renee was ready to come and arrived just an hour after getting to the hospital, which meant no time for any meds during the delivery. So I had to go all natural. Not fun, but it was over fast and now we have this sweet little girl.

Count Down

The count down to the baby's arrival has begun. My hips are sore, I'm about to tip over, and have developed a talent for picking things up with my toes. Who knew?!?!  Baby Renee is due the end of the month and at first I was nervous about the delivery but at this stage I'm willing to endure whatever it takes to get it out.

Deej is up for a rude awakening when she comes home, but until then has been happy to test out all her  things for her.

Making sure the bouncer, well bounces...

Wrestling with the boppy pillows to check their firmness.

And a pic of princess Renee, all snug in my belly not wanting to come out.

A little catch up

No this is not a left over Halloween picture of the Wolverine, these are Jimmy's "bear claws". Jimmy has become a pit master and the bear claws are for shredding his bbq'd pork. He got tired of using two little forks to shred his meat, now he shreds like a real man!

Our family Christmas picture, props to the photographer of this pic who nicely cropped my 8 month prego belly from the pic.

Deej hanging with his cousin on New Year's.

Celeb Sightings

Jon & Kate were seen together at a party on Halloween, a source close to the couple says they are trying to remain friends for the sake of their eight kids.

Clark Kent is Superman! This revealing photo was taken while Clark was quickly ditching his disguise.

The Purple Belt

Well, I have been getting ready for the upcoming Jiu Jitsu Atama Open next week to compete at the Blue Belt level. I went to class yesterday and trained hard and boy was I surprised when Professor Draculino and Marcelo gave me my Purple Belt. I didn't think they would give me the belt a week before the Tournament. I am extremely grateful but now even more fired up to compete and train at a higher level. I know the guys I will be going against are top level guys but this will be a good experience. The guys at Gracie Barra TX jiu jitsu school are like family and I have the best training partners. I can't believe I get to roll with Professor Draculino and Marcelo on a regular basis. These guys are top level competitors and are ranked as the world's best. Not only that, the team in general is progressing fast and a good environment exists at the school. We all push each other hard and give great feedback. What an honor and privilege it is. Hopefully, Carol and I will have some good footage of the tournament to post for you all next week.

Long Weekend

Last month we spent a long weekend in San Antonio. I got tricked into signing up for a time share presentation so we got to stay in a nice hotel near the Riverwalk but in exchange had to sit through a sales presentation one of the mornings. Their biggest sales pitch was that if we didn't vacation we would be very stressed and die young of heart disease. So when we weren't worrying about heart disease we tried to relax and hit up a few places in town.

At Seaworld with a beluga whale, they are so friendly they come right up to you. It also helps if you have a bucket of fish or a small child :)

Being forced to take picture with whale. The whale was better at smiling for the cameras.

At the Alamo just before a group of men in kilts came out and performed. I'm not sure what kilts have to do with Texas independence.

And the Riverwalk.

Lucky Day

With a day with the numbers 09/09/09 something good was destined to happen. We went to have an ultrasound of the baby today and found out we're having a little girl. We can't wait for her to join our family in January. Let the pink takeover begin.

Before...

After hearing he's gonna have a little sister.

Summertime

 Watching fireworks in the front yard, my neighbors had some crazy fireworks this year. 
Hanging out in the air conditioning, the only place to be when it's so hot outside.
Waterslides at Schlitterbahn, I think Jimmy was a little old for this one.
And lots of bbq'ing, I mean LOTS, probably a couple times every week. Jimmy will be happy to grill you up something if you stop by. 

New Family Pic

Say hello to our newest addition. This little pea is due on Darren's birthday. How did that happen? Well I guess we know "how" but isn't that crazy!

So far so good. No morning sickness, I just feel a little more tired than normal. I know people hate me, but I must be a birthing machine, my mother had 11 children after all. It's in the genes!

Hurricane Season

The start of another hurricane season has begun. This year I was asked what my hurricane plan was, I replied, "My plan is simple, I'm leaving town!" 

This is the easiest plan because then I don't need to worry about all the food supplies, power generators, gas, etc. Last year when Hurricane Ike took out power in Houston for two weeks I had all my food supplies ready. But when Day One of the storm came I showed Jimmy his choice of canned food and he said he wasn't eating that.  I agreed canned raviolis and ramen really didn't sound that great. We only lasted 8 hours after the storm before we left town and went to Austin. 

So I've ditched my food supply from last year and need to start over this week. Maybe I'll get something actually edible this year, because I learned I might actually have to eat it. Any ideas?

Hanging in Austin during Hurricane Ike

"Save Your Breath...You will need it to talk to the Devil."

Alright, as many of you know I am way into the Martial Arts. Recently, I have started collecting some serious old School Kung Fu Flicks. They are the bomb! Carol is probably really fed up by now watching all of these. 

I grew up watching these with my brother and my dad. Probably one of the greatest was The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. But man, there were a lot that I did not get to watch so I am catching up. I think my dream is to one day make an awesome contemporary martial arts film. Anyway, I don't really enjoy watching them English Dubbed because it is just silly to me. In English, the translations are known for being extremely silly. For example in Avenging Eagle the evil kung fu master is about to kill one of his opponents and laughs at him with this Great Line,  "...you are not gonna kill me that's for sure...save your breath because you will need it to talk to the devil..." and like that he kills him. Make sure you start it at 8:05 minutes into the clip. Since I have Kung Fu fever I will post some great clips from time to time.  

Any ways here are my favorites right now in no particular order except the first one. 

1. The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

2. Heroes of the East 

3. 5 Element Ninjas

4. 7 Grand Masters

5. Ninja Checkmate aka Mystery of Chess Boxing

6. Magic Blade 

7.  King Boxer aka 5 Fingers of Death

8. Avenging Eagle

9. The Master aka 3 Evil Masters

10. 5 Deadly Venoms

Nerd Coming Out this Weekend

The one summer movie I really want to see is Star Trek. Jimmy went and saw Wolverine last weekend and I told him I wasn't interested because I'm holding out for Star Trek this weekend. No I'm not a Trekkie, but I am a big fan of Sylar from Heroes and J.J. Abrams creator of Alias and Lost.

I'm also looking forward to the new Harry Potter, but not too excited about the new Transformers or Terminator. I just watched the first Terminator last week, and still need to watch the second one. Maybe then I'll understand all this doomsday robot stuff.

What summer movie are you looking forward too? Does anyone want to be a Trekkie with me, maybe we could dress up and be cool like this.

Favorite Things

Silhouettes

My sister Courtney did these silhouettes of DJ for me. It's a new twist on something old. I remember making silhouettes of people's faces when I was little by tracing their shadow on a piece of paper on a wall. They never turned out very good.  I'm going to put these pics in the baby's room.

Good Night Nobody

I just finished reading "Good Night Moon" to Darren before he was off to bed, and can't stop laughing when I think about it. This book has been around 60 years and is a bedtime favorite around here. I turn the pages and read, "Good night moon, good night bears," as the bunny continues saying good night to all the things in the room. And then a strange twist in the story comes, I turn the page to find it BLANK with the words, "Good night nobody." 

What! Good night nobody, I'm stumped. You would think I could easily follow and understand the meaning of a child's book. I don't get it. Does it have some deep literary meaning that is beyond me? Or maybe there's a simple answer, like the printer made a mistake and printed a blank page that they then tried to work it into the story. 

Anyways it remains a favorite of Darren's, he obviously gets something I don't.

Good night nobody?!?! 

One big month

Our little man turned ONE year old in February. 
He got to eat ONE cupcake. 

And he took ONE step on his own this month.

All before even getting ONE tooth grown in. What's up with no teeth yet?

Keep Smiling...

Okay so Carol and I randomly got to singing this song. I won't get into details but if you know me it was really random how it happened. While this song was fresh in my head I decided to Youtube the video and was amazed at how awesome a video it is! I have noticed two things which make this video great:

1. Gladys Knight Getting Down: After a brilliant set up from Stevie Wonder, once Gladys is up to bat with her verse notice how crazy she gets down at 2:40. I am sure glad she is one of my peeps...Mormon peeps that is. 

2.Elton John aka Spanish Priest aka Kung Lao from Mortal Kombat: After a brilliant delivery from Gladys the "Spanish Priest gets all crazy in his Spanish outfit.  Sir Elton also reminds me of Kung Lao from Mortal Kombat. I have attached a picture so you can compare the two. This all goes down at about 3:18. 

I hope you enjoyed my analysis of That's What Friends Are For. I am laughing so hard while writing this. If any of you know me then you will probably be laughing too. 

Christian Bale Meltdown

Meltdowns are funny but this one takes the cake. By now all of you have probably have heard of Christian Bale's Meltdown on the Terminator 4 set when his Director of Photography distracts him in the middle of the scene. Well anyways, one of the things I miss about L.A. is the Kevin and Bean morning show. They are hilarious well anyways, they like to have fake interviews with people and one of those people happens to be Christian Bale. Check out the link below and have a good laugh at this impersonator. On a side note, Christian Bale actually did make his first public statement on the Kevin and Bean show to address this. I hope you enjoy it. 

LINK