Happenings with the Hollomans

2011-10-03T10:28:00.000-07:00

Spectators were not allowed at the high school golf matches last spring, so I have never had the opportunity to photograph Bryce golfing. Yesterday we had some time to kill so Bryce and I loaded up the car with a bucket of yard-sale golf balls (Thanks Gramma and Pappa) and some old clubs and headed for the beach. (I know, I know - some whale somewhere will probably choke to death on a golf ball... ) I discovered how hard of a sport golf is to shoot. I did get some pretty cool shots tho - and Bryce had a good time whacking golf balls into the ocean!

The club and the ball moved so fast I had a hard time getting them in the shot!

After he ran out of golf balls, he hit seaweed root balls

Catching up

2011-09-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

So it's been awhile, eh?

Meghan has started the 6th grade and seems to be doing well with it. No big changes for her at school, except that in some skewed wisdom, the school district decided to group the 5th grader and 6th graders into classes by academic standards. So that means that all of the high achievers in 6th grade are all in the same classroom, the average students in another and the underachievers (?) below average (?) whatever you want to call them, in still another. It's great for the high end teachers, because they get to teach to the same level every day. I am not sure it's a great thing overall though. The teaching staff has made this separation common knowledge. I can't help but wonder how those kids in the low end class feel? I mean, there is so much peer pressure at this age, and now to be thrown in a classroom full of dummies (not my word, but the words of one girl who happens to be in the class) - talk about your self esteem issues! These kids now have no one to push them, and I don't know about all of the high-end students, but many of them learn better when they help "teach" an idea to another student. Good news for the school test scores, is that there are 33 kids in Meghan's class. The lower-end class only has 14 students. Sure would be nice if we could run some average class sizes - these rooms are too small for that many kids!

Stepping off my soapbox now...

Bryce has started his sophomore year and also seems to be doing well with it. He is not playing any fall sports this year - tried like heck to talk him into soccer, but no luck. He is still working at the golf course, and finally has his weekends mostly off. This will work well for him as he can start going to open gyms for basketball, and as the days get darker earlier, his hours will be somewhat reduced. Bryce will also get his learners permit at the end of this month. He has been working hard to pay off his share of the pickup we got for him early in the spring, and will have a little spending money for gas and the like once he starts driving. He has mastered using a clutch -at least on flat ground, going forward :-) , and is looking forward to hitting the road soon!

Meghan's soccer team is in full swing and so far seems to be pretty successful. They are early in the league season, but doing well. A large number of her team will be joined by a few members from another team for a soccer trip to Europe in June of 2012. They have been hitting the fundraising hard - it's looking like about $3000 per person for the team and chaperones to go. I will not be going - Lon really wants to to go, and other than the picture making opportunities, I really don't have any burning desire to go to Europe. The plan is for them to visit Belgium, Germany, Denmark (maybe) and Sweden, culminating in a large tournament in Pitea (pronounced Pee-too) Sweden. See here for the Pitea Summer Games - it's in Swedish, but most browsers will translate for you.

Concentrate!

A little before and after

2011-06-14T12:34:00.000-07:00

On Easter Sunday I took what has turned out to be one of my favorite pictures of Meghan - EVER. It didn't start out that way though. We went down to the river, one of the many spots I take the dog to run, and just bummed around. She was playing in the delta, where one of the smaller rivers around here joins into the Eel River.


This is the image, straight out of the camera. It's OK, but not spectacular or eye-catching.

I downloaded all my photos in to my favorite tool - Adobe's Lightroom 3. I've been playing with cropping and angles lately, so after trying several different crops I came up with one I liked. Still, it wasn't really what I was looking for. The nifty thing about Lightroom is that there are all sorts of different "presets" available. With one click of the mouse, you can apply just about any look you want - sepia, black and white, polaroid, 70s grunge, etc.

This is the final product. I love the black and white treatment and the close-up gets rid of all the distracting elements - the goofy Halloween shirt, the bright green background, her hand. Beautiful!

The difference between what you say and what others hear

2011-05-22T18:25:00.000-07:00

Lori (while hugging Lon, who was chewing some food): "I can hear your mandible popping."

Meghan: "Did you say MAN NIPPLE?????"

A soccer finale

2011-05-19T11:38:00.000-07:00

Spring soccer came to a close last weekend for Meghan. The team played 8 games in Medford and ended up with a 5-1-2 record. Not bad at all!

She makes this face a lot, but I don't know what it means!

She gives direction to team mates...

Nice move, Meggo!

Her form has improved a lot - she used to not be able to straighten her leg out like that!

She gets to take the occasional corner kick (and needs lessons in tying her shoes!)

Concentrate!

Coach worked really hard with them on some new playing ideas and the girls really stepped it up over the weekend. It was a whole new level of play!

She is very good at throw-ins and has a knack for keeping right on the line. Good girl!

She celebrates goals with her teammates - she did score this weekend and her reaction was just the same as it was for this one scored by Sam.

She's very good at stealing the ball

Hi, pretty girl!

She takes the occasional goal kick - she's got a heck of a boot!

She makes defensive walls on penalty kicks - and always makes this face!

Fractured Fairy Tales

2011-04-22T22:09:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this video

Here is a video of the play that Meghan's advanced reading group wrote and produced. Sorry 'bout the sound quality. Thanks Beth for videotaping and Tracy for sharing!

Flute-ography

2011-04-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

So I forced Meghan to take a music class this year at school. I think it's an important skill, and it was a free, after-school class. She signed up for the flute because it was the first instrument of the class period, and her friend Lisa picked it too. Throughout the year, kids have dropped out of the program - but we decided Meghan needed to stick with it - even though she doesn't like it and never practices. Tonight the after-school group had a mini concert, some choir by the little kids, working their way on up to the older kids. I tried to take some video (we'll see if that gets posted or not) but here are some stills....

Setting up the music

Notice the bright shoes - they were supposed to wear black and white - this is the rebel in her coming out!

Soccer begins again

2011-04-11T15:16:00.000-07:00

So, here we are again, soccer pitch. Nice to see you!

On the way to Medford for soccer, stopped at the harbor in Crescent City. I was really hoping this dang bird would choke on the starfish, but instead it took about an hour for the starfish to be digested enough the gull could spit it out and start on another side...

Not sure what was going on here, but I think she was successful!

An interesting couple of days...

2011-04-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Meghan spoke at a Rotary Luncheon. She was somehow recruited by a group of kids at her school that are trying to get a BMX park built in the neighborhood. This group has the attention of a city councilwoman, has spoken at city council, a chamber meeting, and now the Rotary Club. The teacher advisor for this group wrote her speech for her, and she, along with 5 other kids presented their plan to the Rotarians. They might sponsor the park!!!

Meghan cracks 'em up!

Today, her advanced reading group presented a play that they wrote and produced themselves. This group of girls worked for 6 weeks writing, editing, planning and rehearsing. Their play was a VERY loose interpretation of Snow White, and totally cracked me up. I am hoping the video that was taken gets posted on line somewhere - if so, I'll post a link.

Peeky: "Hi ho hi ho it's off to..." Hungry: "Why are we singing???"

When Peeky grows up, she wants to be Michael Jackson

After eating the poisoned apple cinnamon waffles

Hooray! A happy dance!

An awesome young man...

2011-03-31T14:26:00.000-07:00

Holy cow - Bryce just turned 15!!! He has developed into an amazing young man that we are very proud of.


This was taken on Bryce's 7th birthday - G'ma Jude and G'pa Bob got him his first set of clubs

Today, he is on the high school golf team and playing in tournaments!

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Instead of a cake this year, he wanted "cake pops".

The Soggy Foggy Bottom Run

2011-03-22T13:19:00.000-07:00

On Sunday March 13th, Meghan ran in the annual Foggy Bottom Run with her school running club. About 15 minutes before the race was scheduled to begin, the skies opened up and vomited water. Within minutes the streets were flooded. Troopers that they are, most folks participated in the race anyway.


Pouring rain at the start of the race

"I can't believe I'm running in this crap!"

Nearing the end - the friend Meghan was running with wasn't feeling so well!

59th/550 runners, time of 15:38 GOOD JOB MEGHAN!

Lon and Meghan at the game

2011-02-24T12:31:00.000-08:00

Winter Semi-formal

2011-02-14T09:53:00.000-08:00

So, Bryce has been hanging out with a girl that lives in a town about 40 minutes away. They've spent hours on the phone, actually TALKING to each other, and he's spent a couple of Sunday afternoons at her house. Early in January, he invited her to his winter semi-formal.

The boy has "all the right moves"! He got the color of her dress early on (she only changed her mind once!), bought a tie to match and ordered a corsage. Saved his money to buy her dinner and dance tickets, sent her flowers at school the Friday before the dance.....

Took him up to her house before the dance for pictures, then her parents treated them to dinner at a very nice restaurant. They brought them to our house and they hung out here for about an hour before the dance. After the dance, Bryce and I drove her and a friend back to their town.

They had a very nice time, up till the very end - there's always some sort of drama at these types of dances - it's just too much pressure to make it a "perfect" evening. Hopefully they'll make it up, soon!

Shot!

2011-01-20T08:33:00.000-08:00

Where to start...

2011-01-15T09:40:00.000-08:00

Holy crap! I have been very neglectful, dear blog, and I am sorry. So, what has happened in the last 3 months? Let's see....


Bryce finished up his U17 Coed league season - the team dominated. Bryce was a stand-out in the net...

...and on the field!

Meghan's soccer team had a Halloween tournament in Redding

with a Halloween party in the house we rented (that actually held most of the team!)

Meghan played a whole season of basketball for her school - her team dominated too, and Meghan really stood out. She learned a lot about basketball and really enjoyed the game!

Meghan turned 11!

Meghan played in a very foggy soccer tournament in Redding

We had Christmas with Lon's family

And last but not least, Bryce started playing basketball for Fortuna High.

It's been a busy three months, and it doesn't look to slow down any time soon!

Racing and drama

2010-10-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

I am raising a very gifted athlete and a bit of a drama queen.

Meghan participated, off and on this fall, in her school's running club. The club participated in several cross country meets throughout the county over the fall. Meghan's busy soccer schedule, and now her basketball schedule, kept her from competing in the races - that and the fact that she really isn't competitive by nature. It's like pulling teeth to get her to run in the races. Lon and I worked on her over the fall to at least do the last race of the season - the Humboldt County Elementary Championships. As the day drew near, she really didn't want to run. She had soccer practice AND basketball practice that afternoon. There were many tears and discussions. Finally, she consented. She would run if I bought her ice cream after. The girl knows how to bargain, I'll give her that! She went to bed the night before the race with a minor cold and a sore throat. The day of the race dawned cloudy and cold - the fall rainy season is imminent. So I picked her up after school and we drove to Arcata for the race. The course was relatively flat, 2 laps around the Sports Complex, 1.8 miles. She took off like a shot, but noticeably slowed early on. As she passed me, 3/4 of the way through the first lap, she was bawling and telling me "I can't do it Mom - my throat!". Mean ol' mom that I am, I pushed her on. Every time she passed me, she was crying. She finished the race, taking second place in the 5th grade girls and 10th or 11th overall in her division. I am very proud of her for finishing the race even though her throat was "on fire". She competed well, hung tough, and got her ice cream in the end!

Can you guess....

2010-10-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

...what Lon and Bryce did last weekend? I'll give you a hint!

Bryce's favorite part of the game, I think!

Lon was given tickets to a skybox for the game from one of his customers... Although the Raiders didn't win, I think they guys enjoyed themselves - maybe a little too much! ;-)

Randomography

2010-09-29T09:12:00.000-07:00

I got to watch one of Bryce's soccer games last weekend. Probably one of the few I'll get to see, being on the road with Meghan and all. He's playing on a U18 coed team, playing "short games". He is definitely a leader out there and it's a shame this is the only place for him to play this season.

Racing back to the net after running a ball all the way down the field and taking a shot on the other goalie!

Meghan joined her school's running club, but wasn't planning on participating in any cross country races. That all changed yesterday when she decided to run a short race at the local park. She ran with the 3rd-5th grade group and led the race from the start. I was worried about her, she was off like a shot (I think she thought she had to keep pace with the guy on the bike that led the route) and I wasn't sure she could last the whole race. When they came out of the rodeo grounds and started up the hill, she was the only one in sight. She was clear around the corner before the next person even came out of the rodeo grounds. So, I waited (very anxiously, I might add) for her to come back down the hill and there she was, still clearly in the lead with one lone boy about 25 yards behind her. As she saw me, she burst into tears and said she couldn't breathe. Drama queen much? :-) Anyway, she finished strong, a good 30 or 40 yards ahead of the other boy and minutes ahead of anyone else. She strained a muscle coming back down the hill, but otherwise, once she caught her breathe, she was fine. What an amazing first race!

Already way out in front!

This is where she burst into tears...

Finishing way ahead of everyone else

Note to self:

2010-09-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

If you put wet soccer cleats on the boot dryer, soon your entire house will be fragrant with the odor of wet soccer cleat. Don't do it!

In the blink of an eye...

2010-08-25T09:16:00.000-07:00

From this...


1st day of 1st grade

To this....

1st day of high school

Bye Bye Summer...

2010-08-18T16:01:00.000-07:00

This has been a soccer-filled week. Over the weekend, Meghan's team had a tournament in Ft. Bragg. Honestly, I don't know what all the big deal about Ft. Bragg is. It was a spendy little town with not much there. Our bed and breakfast was just that. A room with a bed/bathroom and a breakfast in the morning. No common room, no TV, no table in the room. Hmmmm. Anyway, the girls worked really hard and won their tournament, with no goals scored against them in 4 games (They had 5 games, but one of them didn't count and was an automatic win for them/forfeit by the other team.)

Bryce has had tryouts for the high school soccer team all week. He is still trying out, but will know by Friday if he has made the team.

School starts for Bryce next week (parent orientation Monday, Freshman orientation Tuesday and school starts Wednesday. Meghan gets a few extra days off - she doesn't start until the 30th. But gosh.... they both have to go until June 16th. What happened to a summer vacation? Remember when we started after Labor Day and ended by Memorial Day?

Meghan checks out a blow hole @ glass beach

Has it really been two months?

2010-07-28T16:17:00.000-07:00

Wow! Time flies....

In the last two months, Bryce has graduated from 8th grade (way overdone pomp and circumstance with a prom at the end), Bryce went to Wyoming with G'ma Jude and G'pa Bob to do some work and have some fun, Meghan went to stay with Gramma Lynda and Papa Steve for a week, Lon and Lori spent a week in San Francisco, Lori and Meghan went to Wyoming to catch up with Bryce and the grandparents, and both kids have started soccer practice. It seems the summer is just flying by!

8th Grade Graduation

Lombard Street, San Francisco (The Crookedest Street in the World)

Lombard Street, San Francisco

Meghan swimming @ Gramma Lynda's

A bottle rocket takes off.... (Happy 4th of July!)

Meghan in the mirror

On top of Dead Indian

Moose in the yard at the cabin

Beartooth Mountains, Wyoming

Fun at the cabin

A little slow...

2010-05-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Bryce and Meghan had their final 6 on 6 soccer games. Meghan scored a goal after begging her coach to go in at forward. Bryce scored his second goal of the season as a goalie. The weekend before (I was in Medford with Meghan and didn't see it) Bryce booted one the length of the field and into the net. Last weekend he ran the ball the length of the field, passed it to a teammate who passed it back to him and he headed the ball into the net. Good thing he has a good team that will back up his net while he's showboatin' down the field!

Bryce also ran in another 2 mile road race last weekend. He placed 1st in his age group (men ages 10-14) and 3rd overall in the race out of 150 runners. His school entered their running club in the race and the whole club did really well (the Toddy Thomas boys finished 1, 2, 3 in the men's 10-14 age group)

Bryce is done with soccer for a bit - until practice for the fall team starts in July. I think he is going to train for another road race this summer too. Meghan has one more tournament in Oregon this spring, then she will be done until July also.

Kickin' it in for the final push

Challenging the ball

Makin' the turn

The game face

Save!

Punching the corner kick

Getting into position

Punt

Bryce, get back in your box!!!

Header...

2010-05-10T14:41:00.000-07:00

Meghan had more soccer games in Medford this past weekend. The girls finished up their Oregon League at 6-1-1. Not too shabby, all things considered!

Soccer with the big dogs

2010-04-27T14:23:00.000-07:00

Meghan is playing in a spring league in Oregon this April and May. We had our first weekend of four games last weekend. We enjoyed a lot of sun, some really good soccer and some much needed Me/Her time! Her team, made up mostly of 11 and 12 year olds, played really well together. They won 3 of their 4 games!

Finally, a sunny soccer weekend!

2010-04-19T10:52:00.000-07:00

Score!

Concentration

2010-04-15T13:16:00.000-07:00

Catching up

2010-03-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Meghan's class put on a play about a movie about the California Missions. Got that? Good. Anyway, Meghan had a major role in the play, the Assistant Director, Johnson. I'm in the process of trying to figure out how to get a video clip off my camcorder onto here, but in the meantime, here are a few shots that Bryce snapped while I was video taping...

Yesterday, Bryce competed in the Foggy Bottom Milk Run in Ferndale (Ferndale is a dairy community, right on the ocean so it's always foggy there - hence the name). This is an annual road race, with 2 mile, 4 mile and 10 mile routes. His school put together a team from the school Running Club for the 2 mile event. Although Bryce is not a member of the Club he was asked to participate with the team. He didn't really train because he was in basketball until the weekend before. So, he had two days of "training" with the club, then the race. He was really nervous - it being the first race he had ever run in. He ended up coming in 12th overall (out of 250 men competing) and 3rd in his age group. He was first for his school. I'm pretty proud of the boy!

Meghan files

2010-03-02T09:35:00.000-08:00

Meghan had to do a presentation on Amelia Earhart last week. She had to write a summary for the book she read, design a poster, and then give an oral presentation dressed as the character. Here's a note from her teacher, attached to her homework summary for the week.

Some Hoops stuff

2010-03-01T10:28:00.000-08:00

Meghan is nearing the end of her basketball season. Next weekend is her last game. Here are some shots from last weekend's game. Somehow, she manages to joke with members of the other team, then turn around and steal the ball. She had a little competition this weekend - there were some girls on the other team that had a few skills!

A little something different...

2010-02-14T20:46:00.000-08:00

Sunday, Bryce and I went to see the Moscow Festival Ballet perform Giselle in Eureka. It was the first time either of us had been to the ballet, so neither of us knew what to expect. Giselle is basically the story of a village girl who falls for a prince who is pretending to be a peasant. Her mother wants her to marry the woodsman, and the prince is betrothed to another. Giselle finds all this out and kills herself. The second act, both suitors are haunted by ghosts of jilted women. Giselle stalls until dawn so her prince can be saved, but the woodsman isn't so fortunate.

I, being the cultured and classy person that I am, kept picturing the ballet dancer in the Chevy Chase movie Modern Problems...

All in all, I was pleased with the ballet and would go see another one. Bryce, maybe he would.... but he actually even volunteered to go to this one with me - in fact, he was all over it, when I mentioned that I might go see it today. That boy never ceases to amaze me!

Giselle and her prince

The ghosts (or willis, as they are called in the program)

Meghan's Saturday

2010-02-08T15:12:00.000-08:00

Meghan was a pretty busy girl on Saturday... she had a Futsal game, then right after that, a basketball game.

Ouch

Jump Ball

It's easy when you're the tallest!

Some indoor soccer stuff

2010-01-18T11:56:00.000-08:00

Meghan is playing Futsal, a form of indoor soccer, played with a low-bounce ball. They play in a gym, on a basketball court. She seems to really enjoy it, and it's a lot of fun to watch - very fast paced.

Basketball begins

2010-01-13T20:04:00.000-08:00

Mother Earth wakes up

2010-01-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

So, on Saturday afternoon we had a major earthquake. 6.5 on the richter scale! It was a real eye-opener to be sure. Bryce was away at a friend's house, but Lon, Meghan and Lori were all home. Lon was in the kitchen and Meghan and I were in the family room when we heard a loud BANG. Lon described it perfectly when he said it sounds like when a tire blows up at the shop. (Read about what makes the bang here). Then the whole house started shaking. The big tv was rocking back and forth, the standing lamp was all over the place. Cupboard doors started banging. Meghan, having had earthquake drills in school, jumped under the computer desk. Lori ran (well, staggered) and grabbed the big TV. Things kept rolling it seemed like for a very long time. Poor Meggers was freaking out, so Lon abandoned the cupboards and went to be with the Girl. All told, we shook for something like 20-30 seconds. We survived unscathed, although a lot of things fell over or fell off of shelves. It was difficult to get ahold of Bryce as I think all the phone lines and cell towers in town were in overdrive. He survived in tact, but it took Meghan quite a while before she calmed down.

Neighboring towns didn't fare as well as Fortuna did. The mall was closed due to structural damage (chunks of ceiling fell, light fixtures fell, floor tiles were raised), several grocery stores closed while they cleaned up aisles and one building fell. Ferndale, closest to the quake, had many windows broken in the old victorian downtown area. About 28,000 people were without power until the early hours of the morning.

We had several aftershocks, although Lon and Lori only felt one, a 4.5 that rattled the furniture.

Here is a map of the activity for a 24 hour period surrounding the quake. The big orange balloon is the big one, the purple balloons are M4 or better, the green balloons are M3 or better and the blue ones are M1-2.9. Some of the shocks happened before the big one, but all of the purple ones happened after.

The NSGS says we can expect a large aftershock to rattle the area within 7 days after the quake. However they also said the risk of tsunami from this incident was low, based on what type of quake it was.

Christmas

2009-12-29T13:36:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2009 - Yuba City, CA

I have the most awesomest daughter EVER!

2009-12-14T11:07:00.000-08:00

I lost a bet with Meghan yesterday so I am cleaning her room. I found this tucked in amongst the clutter on her computer desk. I know I shouldn't have read it, but.... gosh! It made my eyes leak!

And then, the best part:

Meghan, you rock my world!

Look how long those legs are!

2009-12-11T14:53:00.000-08:00

Meghan got new HIGH tops for her birthday - yikes!

Before and after

2009-12-10T14:13:00.000-08:00

Before and after - the boy lost a bet at school and had to get a haircut. I had no idea he would go this short. His hair hasn't been this short for 5 years! I miss the curls and flips...

Scenes from the big party

2009-12-09T09:32:00.000-08:00

It was really hard to take pictures of running, screaming 10 year old girls with only a disco ball for light. This was the one time we got them ALL to stand still!

Something from the "good mamma" files!

2009-11-24T18:52:00.000-08:00

Meghan wanted to do a special birthday party with a friend who may be moving away soon. So... the girls got pampered then we went to the mall to "hang out". They got to roam around, untethered to a parent. They shopped at Hot Topic, got ice cream and I am assuming, giggled a lot.

Some quotes from Meghan, while she was getting her hair done:

Why does my hair have to be so beautiful?

It's hard work being pampered!

Scenes from a Photo Booth

More from the Bad Mamma files

2009-11-15T19:23:00.000-08:00

After doing some much needed tree trimming and other yard work, we moved the trampoline around and, well...

End of the season

2009-11-13T13:37:00.000-08:00

Both kids are finished with their respective fall sports. Meghan's team manager never did get around to scheduling team pictures, so a half hour before we left to turn her gear in, we snapped this - it'll have to do!

Bryce's football team lost out in the first round of playoffs. It's really too bad, they should have won, but I think we were ALL ready for football to be done. It wasn't a very enjoyable year for us. The Huskies did draw first blood in the playoff game - here's Bryce's reaction:

Catching up

2009-11-05T13:33:00.000-08:00

Whew! Time flies when.... well, when you have no excuse for updating the blog. Since the last post, I've taken a trip to New Mexico with my Friendly Friend (See the pics here), Meghan had an opportunity to play up a level in soccer with the U12 girls team and finished the regular season with her U10 team. Bryce finished his soccer season and his football team is entering the playoffs this weekend. Busy Busy Busy is my only excuse. Busy wading through the 2500+ pictures I took in New Mexico, busy transferring ALL my pictures to a new, bigger hard drive and of course, Halloween and even more sports pictures to sort through too. Sigh...

Anyway, here's a random assortment of stuff. As usual, you can click on the kids jerseys to the left to see all of their sports pictures. Be patient - I'm still sorting and getting them all up there!

Soccer pics from the weekend

2009-09-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

Meghan had a tournament at Sonoma State University this weekend - don't know if Lon will come back with any photos or not. Bryce had a scrimmage against the girls during the week (they lost 3-0 this time - I guess he's not the soccer king after all!) Today he had a game in Miranda. I didn't take a lot of pictures, it was a pretty slow game, action wise, but here are a couple to share. The header is from the scrimmage with the girls, and thestill shot is from today.

No, I didn't know...

2009-09-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

Last night at dinner we were goofing around (not having appropriate table behavior AT ALL) when Meghan made some smart alec comment about something I had done. I looked at her and moved a little closer to her chair. She moved away. I asked why she was moving - was she afraid? And she said.... DO YOU NOT KNOW WHAT YOUR FACE LOOKS LIKE?

I had to leave the table. I am a power to be reckoned with in my family, I tell ya!

PS: the rest of the night involved comments about what my face looked like. Sigh...

Puppies

2009-09-22T20:36:00.000-07:00

Meghan's friend had puppies today. Well, not really Meghan's friend, but the dog that belongs to her friend. The mamma dog is a registered yellow lab. The pappa is a bull mastiff/pit bull cross. They are going to be some kinds of big! Anyway, the final count was 12 puppies - some yellow, some white, some brindle, some black... a regular ol' melting pot of puppies! Meghan got to skip school this afternoon to watch the big event. I figure it was either a lesson in Natural Science, or a great idea for birth control!

Here is Meghan's favorite puppy. Rosie was such a good dog, letting the kids hold the puppies.

Recently overheard

2009-09-22T11:57:00.000-07:00

At the football game on Sunday, between parents:

Parent 1 "Did you know that Bryce plays soccer too?"

P2 "Really? At the same time as football?"

P1 "Yes, he's on the same team as T.'s brother"

P2 "Does he go to practice?"

P1 "He comes early, and leaves after about 45 minutes, but according to T. he really doesn't need to. He's the best on the team."

From Bryce's soccer coach:

B. "Can Bryce come to the scrimmage on Tuesday and stay for the whole thing? We are playing the DIII (next level) girls and we really need him to redeem ourselves."

Me "Ummm I'll have to check with him and his football coach. I take it the outcome the last scrimmage was not good?" ***Bryce missed the last scrimmage between these two teams because he had f'ball practice***

B. We really need him. We only lost 2-0, but the whole team came up to me after the scrimmage and said that if Bryce was here, we would have creamed them. He really is an integral part of this team, whether he realizes it or not."

Me "Okay. I'll check with Bryce and see what he wants to do, and clear it with his football coach"

So, today we are skipping football practice completely (it will likely cost him playing time this weekend, but it's a choice he made) and scrimmaging the girls.

I think the boy has a few fans in soccer, don't you? Now if only he could keep his tongue in his mouth!

Football

2009-09-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

The kids had a hard game in football yesterday - the opposing team, lets just call them the GIANTS, scored on their first possesion. Then again. Then.... our boys finally settled down and the game became pretty level. The giants ended up winning with a touchdown in the last 4 seconds of the game. Sigh...

Bryce played pretty well - he made some good tackles and had a couple of balls thrown his direction. You can see all the pics from his game by clicking on the football jersey to the left.

2009-09-19T19:38:00.000-07:00

Meghan and Bryce both had soccer games today. Bryce's team won 5-1 - again he was goalie the first half and forward the 2nd. He is really enjoying soccer this year, and his coach is teaching him a lot!

Meghan's team tied the "team to beat" today. It was a very physical game, with lots of body play, pushing and shoving. One of the girls even got a "yellow card" warning to lighten up.

You can see all the pictures from today's games by clicking on the respective jerseys for Bryce (green) and Meghan (blue) to the left.

Life at our house

2009-09-19T07:56:00.001-07:00

Football premier

2009-09-14T12:39:00.000-07:00

Scenes from Bryce's first football game can be found here: www.aaahuskies.shutterfly.com. He had a really good game - played both offense and defense, almost had an interception and got a few ball carries.

Meghan's soccer

2009-09-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

OK, the slide show thingy isn't really working for me.... visit www.ervgirls.shutterfly.com to see all the pictures from Meghan's game.

Meghan had a great game - she finally got to play forward for part of the game! Her team won 4-2.

I love when she runs all stretched out like this!

Bryce's soccer game today

2009-09-12T18:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry, there are too many pictures to pick from - there are over 100 in the slide show....

Look who I saw today!

2009-09-11T17:37:00.000-07:00

Captain Phil Harris and his boys, of Deadliest Catch fame, came to Eureka today to support a local family. Captain Phil's brand of coffee sells in Ray's supermarkets throughout the Northwest. The manager of the Ray's supermarket in Arcata was diagnosed last year with a brain tumor. Captain Phil pledged a dollar from every bag of his coffee sold between June and September to this man for his medical bills. The manager has since passed away, but Captain Phil made good on his offer, and presented a check to the family today.

I went in and bought a bag of coffee and snapped a few pictures, but the line for autographs and meeting the Harris family was really really long. So I skipped that.

1st day of school pics

2009-09-03T08:57:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm slow... It's only been a week and a half!

Soccer, part deux

2009-08-29T13:45:00.001-07:00

Bryce had his start in soccer today. He was goalie the first half of the game, then alternated between offense and defense the 2nd half...

Saaaaaave

Goooooaaaaaallllll!!!!!

Fair 20009

2009-08-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

The last hurrah of summer... the kids had a great day at the fair. They both had buddies to pal around with and rode rides all day long. Neither complained too loudly about the 9:00 bedtime for school!

Football begins...

2009-08-22T16:33:00.001-07:00

When the days are long...

2009-08-14T12:09:00.000-07:00

... and your kids are making you nuts, it's good to look back on simpler times!

1st soccer of the season

2009-08-10T14:38:00.000-07:00

The girls team played a tournament this weekend - their first games of the season... They did well, all things considered, and improved each game. They will be a force to be reckoned with by the end of the season! Meghan played defense all weekend - she really wanted a crack at the forward lines, but didn't have the opportunity this time around.

A little bit shorter now...

2009-08-05T17:23:00.001-07:00

Softball 7/28/09

2009-07-31T12:08:00.001-07:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

kids and cameras

2009-07-24T16:51:00.000-07:00

How we spent our summer vacation

2009-07-21T10:05:00.000-07:00

I can't speak for anyone else, but since June 28th I've put almost 5000 miles on the car. YIKES!
Below are some sneak peeks of the vacation - I'll add some more in as I wade through the 700+ that were taken.

June 19 - June 26: A trip to Yuba City. The kids hang out for the week with Gramma and Pappa. They do some work for Great Grandma, and lots of swimming at the park!

Happy Birthday, Gramma Lynda!
Happy Father's Day, Pappa Steve!

June 28 - July 2: A quick trip through Kennewick on the way to Spokane to drop the kids with G'ma and G'pa. The kids are headed to Wyoming. G'ma andG'pa put them to work... there's a little fun mixed in!

Screening rocks

Meghan takes some instruction from G'pa BobA little Annie Oakley in the making

Cool Hand Luke - shot the center out of the target - repeatedly!

G'pa shows 'em how it's done!

July 6 - July 12: Lori heads towards Wyoming. Lon flies in on the 12th.

Gathered up to 4-wheel in the Pryor Mountains

G'ma Jude

C'mon you guys - hurry up!

Bryce was sure Lon was going to hit me!

I wish this one were in focus - Bryce took it!

Meghan took this one!

Why are you looking at me like that?

I seeeee you

...as close as we got to the Pryor Mtn Wild Horse herd

Can we ride waaaaayyy up there? Pleeease?

A small band of Big Horn Sheep living on the range

A baby...

July 15 - July 19: A brief stop in Kalispell to visit the little brother and his family. Another brief stop in Kennewick to visit more friends on the way home. We leave Bryce with the Dennis family. The town will never be the same!

Look at those rubber band wrists! don't you just love them?

Why oh why did we not get a picture of all the kids together? Oh yeah! They were never still long enough....

Damian - King of the Hill or innocent bystander?

Visiting friends....

2009-07-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to the Ward's for letting us crash their pad!

Meghan's hilights

2009-06-18T12:41:00.001-07:00

A chick with an attitude!

2009-06-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

Thought this would be fun for my 100th post!

Summer vacation has officially begun...

2009-06-15T08:38:00.000-07:00

Friday night - Meghan sleeps at Lexies
Saturday night - Lexie sleeps here
Sunday night - Lexie sleeps here

Friday night - Bryce plays Xbox - completely beats one game
Saturday afternoon - Bryce is bored
Saturday night - Bryce antagonizes girls
Sunday afternoon - Bryce is bored
Sunday night - Bryce antagonizes girls

Ahhhh...... the joys of summer!

Remember when this was all the summer fun you needed?

A proud mamma...

2009-06-12T14:10:00.001-07:00

Middle School track and field day

2009-06-10T16:59:00.000-07:00

Bryce had field day at his school today and this is what he came home with:

1st place - 100 meter dash - 15.84 seconds
2nd place - 4 x 100 relay - 1.04 minutes
1st place - long jump - 11'11"

The final 3rd grade field trip

2009-06-10T12:09:00.000-07:00

This has been the month of field trips for Meghan's class. First, beach clean-up day, then the Environmental fair and finally, a trip to the redwoods for some "camping" fun. I led a group of 6 kids through their activities....

First, they made leaf imprints on t-shirts using plant matter and bleach water. Some went a little heavier on the bleach than others.
Then, they roasted weenies. At 9:00 in the morning. Yum. Or not....

Next they built a tent, tore it down and sat in another tent and told ghost stories and knock knock jokes. In the meantime, Meghan took about 40 pictures of this car, not realizing my camera wasn't set to take a shallow picture. Nice Subaru!

After that, they got to make s'mores. At 10:00 in the morning. Yum.... or not.

Then we played down by the river, collecting water bugs and throwing rocks. Unbelievably, no one went in. After that, we took a nature hike. We found a burned out redwood that fit everyone in very nicely! And yes, Preston was the only boy in the group. He ate it up!

Next we toured the visitor center and went on a wildlife scavenger hunt, then dissected owl pellets. (sorry no photos here - no reason other than I was too busy).

All in all, a good day spent in the woods. No one got poison oak, no one got burned in the campfires, and no one fell in the river. What more can a person ask for???

Meghan makes the front page of the paper

2009-06-07T13:50:00.000-07:00

A trip to the College of the Redwoods Environmental Fair

2009-06-06T10:51:00.000-07:00

Meghan's class took a field trip to the CR Environmental Fair yesterday...
The Zane Middle School students had an"Air Fair" - everything there was powered by air, or created with air, etc... Wild Things Animal Rescue brought in some critters to look at.... and there was a plant study in the greenhouse.

Brown Lemur

Black Throated Monitor Lizard

Lunch, with Mom "spying" on her

Red Kangaroo

Zane Air Fair
Hovercraft

Memorial Day camping

2009-05-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

We spent this Memorial Day much differently than the last (moving, unpacking, etc).

Putting together a new fly rod

Learning to fly cast

Bryce takes a crack at it

Climbing trees...

Playing.... war games?

A bit of silliness
Making fire!

Chasing sticks

Posing for Mom

Roasting weenies

Getting comfy

A hungry visitor

Almost perfect...

2009-05-20T16:52:00.000-07:00

Last week Meghan took the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test, our school district's standard for testing for the GATE (gifted) program. We got her results back today - 99%!!!! She was pretty excited about the whole thing. I don't think it was a test I could have passed. Here are some sample questions.
I looked at the last question on the test - uffda. I studied it for about 10 minutes and couldn't come up with even a logical guess as to what the answer was. She had 30 minutes for the whole dang test!

Anyway, Nice work, Meggers! See you at the GATEs functions next year!

Meghan Baker

2009-05-19T17:43:00.001-07:00

Lemon Bars covered with powdered sugar - made by Meghan

Happy....

2009-05-19T09:59:00.001-07:00

...Anniversary! Happenings with the Hollomans is 1 year old!

See my first post here. This also means that the kids and I have been in Cali. for almost a year. Time sure does fly. (On a side note, the hockey team that Bryce was playing with at this time last year did not do nearly as well this time around... they lost out in 3 games.)

In the "Bad Mamma" catagory...

2009-05-14T16:05:00.000-07:00

So, Bryce has been working on "graffiti" style writing. He's actually pretty good at it. After using all the paper in the house, he's ready to graduate to the real thing. I bought him some cheap spray paint and we created a controlled environment - plastic sheeting and masking paper stapled to the fence. He's discovered it isn't as easy as putting to paper, but not too bad for a first attempt:

Meghan, in all her photogenic self!

2009-05-12T12:48:00.000-07:00

A sunny spring day

2009-05-10T13:55:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day. The dog, the kids, the mom and the dad were all antsy.

Meghan and I loaded up the dog and headed for the river - we found a prime spot last summer. Meghan and I had a fun time exploring the creek that fed the river, until we found some stinging nettles. Ugh. Meghan and the dog were NOT happy. I went back to get the car and found that Lon and Bryce had followed us. Miraculously both Meghan and the dog recovered. We went back down the trail and spent another hour or so, just goofing.

Bryce again...

2009-04-30T11:23:00.001-07:00

Seems that Bryce and Jeremy have a lot in common!

Signs of spring

2009-04-27T11:33:00.001-07:00

Yummy! Are they ripe yet???

Scenes from the cruise

2009-04-24T09:39:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I wasn't smart enough to take pictures while we were actually ON the boat. DUH....

The 3rd largest flag in Mexico, at the port of Ensenada

An odd sculpture on top of a building in Ensenada

The one hill we climbed on our "Baja" jeep adventure

The winery we stopped at

The tiniest church I've ever seen!

Spring school portraits

2009-04-22T15:48:00.001-07:00

A baby, an acrobat, a girl and a dog

2009-04-20T11:29:00.000-07:00

April 17 - no tubes, wires, plugs, etc... Gorgeous!

Welcome to the world,Little Amanda

2009-04-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

April 3

April 6

April 7

Amanda Kay Ruffing

Born April 3 at 3:09 AM

Weight 5 lbs, 14 ounces

19 inches long

Late birthday pictures and other stuff

2009-04-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

Not to overshadow those all-important shaving pictures, but I figure I'd better clean off my memory card!

The first shave

2009-04-06T10:11:00.000-07:00

Bryce has been bugging us for over a year to start shaving.... sigh. I'm just not ready for this, but the time has come. Yesterday we bought him an electric razor at WallyMart and he discovered it in the car on the way home... He couldn't stand it, and when we stopped to stretch our legs, he just had to shave. Funny boy!

Random bits of stuff

2009-03-23T10:56:00.001-07:00

Father and Daughter

2009-03-02T11:39:00.001-08:00

Even the rain couldn't deter some hoops time with Lon and Meghan

Enter the age of teen angst

2009-02-19T11:08:00.000-08:00

Things we saw in Hawaii

2009-02-11T11:21:00.000-08:00

Images from Meghan's first basketball game

2009-02-10T14:50:00.000-08:00

She was very nervous before her game... new sport, new coach, new people. Once she got onto the court, she loosened right up and had a ball (no pun intended!)

Air Bryce

2009-01-30T15:46:00.001-08:00

basketball pictures - round 2

2009-01-23T14:43:00.001-08:00

A good thing

2009-01-22T18:21:00.001-08:00

Meghan's school has a great idea to keep kids active. It's called "running club". For 9 weeks in the fall, the kids stay after school and run laps around the playground. Well, running is optional. Anyway, they earn a charm for each 4 laps they make. Throughout the year, they have "fun runs", and a chance to earn special charms. Today was one such run.

A taste of rivalry

2009-01-20T19:34:00.000-08:00

So, after 11 games, Bryce's basketball team is 8-3. Their three losses have come from "Town School" - the other middle school here in town. This is a huge rivalry, apparently. We lost to this team in our first tournament, lost to them in the championship game of the tournament this weekend, and again this afternoon. Each game has never had a difference of more than 6 points, and usually more like 1 or 2. Tonight we lost by one point, after TWO overtimes. These are the two most evenly matched group of kids I've seen. Of course, both coaches play their starters the entire game. It would be interesting to see how the "scrubs" matched up against each other.

Fun with a friend

2009-01-19T14:06:00.000-08:00

Meghan and her friend, L., spent time at the local bounce-house today, as Meghan's earned reward.

Basketball Pictures

2009-01-16T10:03:00.000-08:00

visit HERE to see all the pictures from last night's game!

The problem with having a good lens is that there ends up being too many pictures to choose from to post on the blog...

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