My friend Aimee found this 12 of 12 blog thing where you take 12 random photos on the 12th of the month and share them. I have done this a couple of times, but usually forget all about it until I see Aimee's. So yesterday, she reminded that 12 of 12 was today (it's still the 12th because I haven't slept yet, lol). So, here, my friends, is a glimpse into my day today.

2:00 am ~ My diligent husband working on some power point slides for Monday's class. He loves what he does and spends alot of time preparing.
The rest of the day started late. Since the children were sent in different directions, we were childless this morning, so we slept in...
11:30 am ~ Joshua and Brandi loading up his bike to go to the train station. Back to school for him tomorrow too.

11:55am ~ Joshua's train arrived a bit early. I love trains. I love to sit at the crossing and count the cars. I love model trains. And I loved it when my little boys were into Thomas and Friends.

12:05pm ~ Time to go. Have a good trip. See you on your birthday baby. Joshua will be 19 on Sept 30th. That is when he will be back again.

12:30pm ~ We took Brandi home after we dropped Joshua off. She's a nice girl. I think she just might be my daughter-in-law someday. I'm glad she likes me too, since she will be the woman in my sons life and the one supervising my grandchildren. I know it's a ways away, but I have often thought about the women my boys will marry.

12:45pm ~ Then Brian and I went to lunch, without children. We went to the Bulldog Grill (where I wanted to take Aimee and Jodi when they visited and introduce them to tri-tip). We had tri-tip sandwiches, Joshua's favorite food, after we put him on the train. And they were SO yummy.

2:00pm ~ Bug Bug. Joshua and I have a digital/text version of punch buggy. When he is at school, we take a photo of VW bugs that we see and text them to each other. This kind of bug is worth one point. Convertible, new bugs and hard top classic bugs are worth two points, and convertible classic bugs are worth three. At the end of the week, we tally the photos and winner owes the other a Pepsi/Diet Pepsi.

4:00pm ~ We went to pick Nate up from my dad's. My dad lives out in the country of Central California. This is the nation's largest agricultural region. One of the crops we passed on the way to my dad's was grape vineyard. These happened to be raisin grapes. Did you know that grapes are picked and laid on the ground, on paper trays, to dry into raisins? If you look close at the base of the vines, you can see the paper with drying raisins.

6:30pm ~ Another errand. Soccer starts this week for Nate. And each soccer season starts with a new pair of cleats, because last year's cleats never fit. His first game is Saturday. I can't wait to be sitting on the sidelines and cheer on the team, and the fast, lanky boy, with the red hair trailing in the wind. I am a soccer mom!

8:30pm ~ After getting home, getting the boys bathed, teeth brushed and tucked in, it's time for laundry. Ok, I did start it earlier, but I still had a couple loads before everyone had clean pants, shirts, socks and underwear. Behold, the red load, lol. We have a lot of red stuff around here.

9:00ish ~ Time to check in on facebook. Looks like Joshua make it to his dorm safely. Although, I already knew this. I got the text. I love that I am "friends" with my kids, and several of their friends, on Facebook.

10:ooish ~ If you are my friend on Facebook (if you are not, you should be), you know that I have been making bracelets and auctioning them to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Every Sunday, I spend some time with my beads and create a bracelet to post for the week. So, here some of the beads I was working with tonight. This is not all my beads, by far... The finished project is on Facebook. Come on over and bid. It's for a great cause!

Thanks for peeking into a day in my life. This is not an average Sunday. But, it was today. It's been a good day. I hope you all had a great day. I also hope you will share with me your day on the 12th of October. If I remember I will post a reminder :-)

For those of you who know me at all, you know that I absolutely love my job. I work at the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. My title is Patient Navigation Coordinator. The patient navigation program is "my baby." Navigators are volunteers who are professionals in the cancer field, either by being a social worker, nurse or other "professional" or by being a cancer survivor, far enough out from treatment to be able to help patients jut beginning their journey.

My job as the coordinator is to connect navigators with recently diagnosed patients. The navigators help these patients get connected to resources to help them as they begin this new journey. I love this program; and I believe in this program. A diagnosis of cancer turns your world upside down and this program helps patients get going in the right direction.

I think it is very important that my navigators have the best training to help our patients. I try to make our trainings both education and fun. This evening we went on a field trip. I became acquainted with Marlene, the owner of Hollywood Hair, when I was interning in a cancer center last year. I arranged for my navigators to visit Marlene's shop and see what a patient experiences when visiting a wig shop for the first time. First, we got a lesson in wigs, types, prices and care. We learned about scarves and wraps too. Then we had the opportunity to try on some wigs. We really did have a blast. Below, are two of my navigators, Pakou and Debbie and me.

So, now I need your help. I am looking for a new hairstyle.

So let know if any of these works for me...

Flash forward... We all decided to try on grey wigs

and see how we might look in about 30 years, lol.

Not too bad, if I do say so myself, lol.

Wow, have I really not blogged all summer? It has been a great, although busy, summer. We've done some traveling. And I have been working at a job that I love. Oh, and I've been Facebook-ing. If you are not my friend on Facebook, you should be. There are some great photos over there from our summer vacation. Hopefully, I will get some up here, with some fun stories, now that the routine of school is back.

Speaking of which, today is day 3 of school. But here are the first day of school photos, because the boys are getting so big and I don't want to miss sharing this moment. This year they are in 4th and 2nd grades, and still at different schools.

Nate is all set for the first day of 2nd grade. He is so excited that his friend Joseph is in his class this year. Here, he's ready to go, with an apple for the teacher, a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory apple to be precise. It's a tradition.

Nate and Miss Basmajian

Jacob is ready to go to 4th grade. I'm not sure how he got so big so fast. He excited to build a model of a mission this year. 4th grade focuses on California history. They will be learning about the gold rush too. I think this will be a fun year for him.

Jacob and Miss Bailey. She wastes no time. At back to school night last week, Jacob was given homework! This is his assignment, due Friday. But, since he will be riding the bus, and I took him the first day, he decided to bring it.

I think this is going to be a great year for both of them. I get a good feeling from both teachers. Maybe next year we can have them both at the same school though. That would make life a bit easier. For now, we will just go with the flow.

Stay tuned for pictures and stories from our summer road trip! It was a blast. Just like I remember with kids fighting in the backseat, wanting to know, "are we there yet?" Can't wait to do it again!

On Wednesday, Nate and I left for our "special trip" to Seattle. I took Jacob 2 years ago, when he was 8. It was a great time, and we have so many great memories. I promised Nate that we would go on a special trip too. I love building these memories with the boys. So here is our first day of travel.

Here's Nate, playing with a toy airplane that we bought in the airport store, while we waited for our flight to start boarding. When they started boarding the VIPs, we went to the gate and could see our plane. Nate good, although growing impatient waiting for our turn to board.

Boarding Alaska Airlines Flight 235. I love this picture. He was so excited! One person behind us was annoyed at us for holding up the. Oh well, he'll get over it. This was my baby's first flight and must be documented. Honestly, it was ONE picture.

Buckle up.

Be sure to read the safety instructions.

Nate loved looking out the window and pointing this he saw to me. This was on our ascent. We were leaving the bay area and heading over the mountains.

This was how Nate spent just over the first hour.

Once we were above the clouds, in Oregon somewhere, there wasn't much to look at. I brought his DS, just in case. So he got to play it.

This is crater lake, mostly surrounded by clouds; so it is not vary clearly defines. I'd like to visit it from the ground someday.

I believe this is Mt Rainier, in Washington, snow capped and standing tall through the clouds. Is this not an awesome photo?

Descending into the clouds for landing.

This is what the inside of a cloud looks like.

As we broke through the clouds we got a glimpse of the space needle. Nate saw it first. But, it was cloudy enough that I could not get a photo. As we got closer to the ground, Nate spotted this water tower. I love that he notices things that not everyone would think is significant.
When we touched down, Nate noticed these and explained to me that "Those rectangle things on wing are called flaps." That's right Nate. Then when were taxi-ing to our gate, we watch another plane take off. Nate pointed out that the wheels went up into the plane. I said yes, most airplanes have wheels that go up when they are flying. He informed me, matter of factly, "I know, that's so the wheels won't make it unstable." He's a smart boy!
After arriving and settling in at Aimee's and Jason's house, we decided to get Subway for dinner and meet Jodi and the boys at a local park to eat. They have the awesome-est parks here. Unfortunately, I left my camera at Aimee's, so no photos. The kids got along great. Never fear, there will be other parks to visit, and I will remember my camera.

Jacob's backyard camp out birthday party - part 1

We decided to have a sleep over party for Jacob's 10th birthday (which is actually Monday). So, we talked about themes and he decided on a camp out. I have never done anything like this, so I turned to the internet. There were some great ideas that I borrowed for Jacob's party. The party started at 6:00pm, just in time roast hot dogs for dinner.

A couple of Jacob's classmates, and his cousin.
Then we made s'mores!

Next we divided into teams, one teen and two younger kids on each team, and went on a photo scavenger hunt. I will post this in part two, hopefully tomorrow. The kids really enjoyed this.

After scoring the scavenger hunt, it was time for presents. Jacob opened them on the hood of the car, because Brian insisted on having the fire pit on the driveway.

Jacob got a set of water guns and they all enjoyed them.

Here they are all ganging up on Jacob. He was a good sport.

Jacob's school friends.

Looks like Jacob is the target again.

Shawn and Raymond

My masterpiece. Way too much chocolate, but oh so yummy. It's a "dirt cake." Chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, oreos, and chocolate "rocks." I used the rocks to create a campfire, with all 10 candles together. A paper tent was the best way to show that it is a birthday cake.

Jacob is ready to put out the campfire. He really blew them out.

Several rounds of "glow in the dark tag" before bed. Each child had a glow stick that they used to tag each other. You can't really tell because of the flash. The porch light was on so it wasn't completely dark. But, the glow sticks were a fun touch.

Not sure who was "it."

Jacob and Raymond are "frozen."

Jacob get "untagged" by Devin.

Nate blowing bubbles (just thought this photo was neat)

The girls' tentGoodnight girls (yeah right)

The boys' tent

Goodnight boys (yeah right)

For at least an hour, we heard "Jacob, are you still awake?" from the girls. And, "Devin, are you still awake?" from Jacob and the boys. It was so funny. It was nearly 12:30 before it got quiet out there. Brandi is supervising the girl tent. Joshua and Shawn are supervising the boys. So, I don't have to sleep outside. One of the many perks of having older kids too.

Check in soon for part 2 - the scavenger hunt. It was so much fun. We are even talking about doing it again later in the summer, just for fun.