November & December/Birthdays & Christmas

Sammy's 6th Bday at Chuck E Cheese. Where a kid can be a kid for cryin' out loud! ; )

Christmas 2011. The boys in front of our poor "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree.

Philip, working out on his 13th Bday.

Paul ~ on his 12th Bday.

Sharing a Bday cake, ah how nice!

Visiting my parents as they passed through on their way to Arizona.

First Day of School 2011

7th Grade, 1st Grade & 6th Grade ~ Time flies, that's all I have to say.........

Long time, no see. Long time, no blogging.

Oh my poor neglected blog! I must say though that I am consoled by the fact that most of the blogs that I follow go un-updated as well! Oh that darn social networking site, you know who you are. I am happy to say that I have freed myself from you! YEAH! I would be lying if I said a part of me didn't miss it, it is fun. But, I figured hey, I survived without FB before, I can do it again, and I am, and it's good. ; )

Aaaahh, now on to the good stuff. What has been going on with "US", The Gonzalez Five, The Gonzalez Gang. Gee, been so long, I wonder if anyone even checks here anymore???? I guess we will see.............

Life is full & busy & we are blessed. It is the last weekend of our summer break and it has been very relaxing and restful. We have had time to catch up with family, attend three different VBS's, get water-logged at the pool, stay up late and sleep in late as well. All the fun things of summer!

Philip will be going into 7th grade and is getting SO big! He has his moments, (don't believe that all drama is with girls :) he is about to become a teenager for crying out loud. All in all, he is doing well. He is excited about school starting on Monday. He is quite the handy guy, helping me around the house with little things and helping his brother (Paul) fix his bike. He loves shooting hoops, riding his scooter and of course playing video games. Have to do a bit of bragging - he made the honor roll all four quarters last year, way to go Phil!

Paul is going into middle school ~ 6th grade. He had a good 5th grade year and enjoyed being the "upper class men" of their elementary school. Paul enjoys playing with the neighbor kids in the cul-de-sac on our street. He likes riding his scooter, playing "guns" with his brothers and neighbor friends and still enjoys bugs, and drawing. He is still okay with his old Ma in public situations (unlike his older brother), and will come up to me and give me a hug at school - we'll see how that goes in "middle school." ; )

And finally last but oh so certainly NOT least, my baby. David had said when Sammy was born,

"Sammy, I think you're going to be the baby for a very long time." When he said this, I remember thinking to myself, "What is he talking about?" Well, now I know. Sammy is my baby and I am so holding on to all of his baby-ness that I possibly can, for as long as I can. But, I must say, it's getting hard. He is of course getting big and growing so fast. He is five going on eight, thanks to his older brothers! He will be going into 1st grade and he is so excited about it! He is such a funny guy and he sure keeps us on our toes. He just started sparring in karate this summer and he LOVES it!

Night Ranger/The Fair

Here are some "scenes & sightings" from our annual trip to the Alameda County Fair.

Jim & the boys at Night Ranger

Sammy & some friends he made at the fair = D

Water balloon fight!

Crazy kidz!

Father's Day 2009

We went to church Father's Day, followed by lunch at the Japanese Gardens - very nice day! Who would have guessed from looking at these pictures that two of my guys would be down for the count (sick) a few hours later! : ( Poor guys.

Misc. Paul & Sam

Just some silliness from my two littlest guys.  David says they can no longer sit next to each-other in the car because as he put, (and I quote) "You two, are too much!"  LOL!

Siblings of black belters patiently waiting..............

Paul as "The Terminator" - He loves that stuff!

What else is there to say, but, silly Sam!

The too-muchers. : D

Time flies

Here he is, our black belt.  I can't believe how fast five years has flown by!

                  Philip starting out as a "Pee-Wee"

And, Tah-dah!  Here he is today as a Jr. black belt!  He may only be half Korean, but he's more Korean than I'll ever be!   He's got a black belt in Korean tae kwon do along with a belt with his name written in Korean on it!  Cool!

                                Testing for first degree black belt

Easter 2009

What a glorious day today was - We celebrated our risen Saviour and He blessed us with a beautiful day!  Thank you Jesus!

         Dave, Cousin Ross, Auntie Irene & Kevin (Rachelle's fiance)
   Me & Wanda
Cousin Rachelle, Carole, & Nina (Ross's Girlfriend)
Cousins Frank & Pie

Gary, Daryl, & Ed Young (Friends from church)

     My guys!

Faux Asians Eating Faux-ish (but decent) Korean Food : )

My Brother and SIL where in town for a second (literally!).  Fortunately we were able to meet up in Jack London Square for dinner and coffee - It was really nice!  

                             The lovely Adina & my Brother Tage

Sammy slept through dinner, but joined us later for coffee : )

Sulfur Creek Nature Center

The boys went to a birthday party at Sulfur Creek - They really enjoyed seeing and touching all of the creatures.

                                         Paul with a chinchilla on his lap.

Celebrating March Bday's - Dave's, Arthur's and Mine

                                                 Dinner at Buffalo Bills

                                                Mr. "Phils" @ the Bills.
                              Sammy playing under our table : ) We sat outside.
                                   Sammy & Paul playing with Uncle Arthur

Karate Kids

    Getting ready for Saturday ITC (Intensive Training Curriculum)

Update on the black belt

So, being the picture freak that I am,  I tend to only like to blog if I have a picture to go with it. Philip did indeed earn his black belt, but we had to wait awhile for his new uniform to come in, which it has, but now I need to get a black ribbon-thingy sewed around the collar, which I have yet to do.  Thus there is no picture of Philip with his new black belt uniform, thus there has been no blogging from me.  Thought I should at least give an update though on this topic as Philip really worked hard and did a great job with everything and did earn his black belt.  It was very exciting and I will post pictures of him in his new uniform soon.

What'da ya know I did have some pictures to post with this blog.  I kept everyone waiting for nothing!

Getting ready to run at 7 AM on Sunday - when they get to the top of Garin hill, that's where the "real" testing takes place.

Almost to the studio.

Everyone waited on the corner of Mission Blvd. near the karate studio to cheer the group on as they came down the street.  (As you can see Paul is very into cheering his brother on as he is glued to his video game! : )

Philip & his partner for the black belt test.  They seemed to be evenly matched in size! : )

                               And here he is with his new black belt!