Seven for Sundays

 1.  Happy Thanksgiving!!!!  So, this lady above here is my sister in law... and oh goodness thanks for her!  Brez had a slight breakdown during Thanksgiving pictures... and for whatever reason I was super hormonal (and no I am not pregnant!) and I had a slight breakdown....  All I wanted was to have happy cute family pictures.... well if you will notice down below, you wouldn't be able to tell there was any kind of break down anywhere!  Now of course, Mitzi is the fabulous photographer who takes the pictures, comes up with the colors and deals with all of our crap!!! hahaha, but I also want to thank Casey for acting like a crazy fool to get Brez to have that huge smile on his face!  I also want to thank Kris for reminding me how much her children... or maybe just one in particular hated taking pictures until this year!  So anyway... I just want you all to realize how much work goes into this one itty bitty beautiful family picture!  Thank you Mitzi, Kris, and Casey for all your help :)

2.  I hosted Thanksgiving on Friday ALL BY MYSELF this year!  I am slightly proud of this fact.  Brady had baseball in the morning, so it was just me and Brez.  We made the ham, the turkey, homemade mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, homemade sweet potatoes, corn, corn bread, rolls, and then of course all of the desserts!  Did I mention everything was homemade and I did it all by myself... I feel like hobby homemaker.

3.  Brady was one of those people that went shopping on Thursday night....  don't hate us...  He had spent enough family time with us, me and Brez were passed out on the couch...  So he got some good stuff and good deals for Brez's Christmas.

4.  We got tickets to the B1G Championship game this upcoming Saturday... we fly out Friday night ... get in to Indy at 11 am... Fly back out of Indy at 7 am.... do the math... yup... 20 hours... But is it all worth it?  Hell yeah!!!  I am just hoping that next week I am telling all of you guys about how great it was to be there when............

5.  MSU basketball and MSU football are both currently ranked in the top ten!  Wow does this feel weird.

6.  Ohio State's lack of classiness during their rivalry game against U of M yesterday had me ALMOST rooting for Michigan... let's be mature and flick off an entire stadium because YOU got ejected for fighting.  I wonder how #79 feels now... not getting to play in his last rivalry game against Michigan... You keep it classy Ohio State.

7.  My high school I teach for, Valencia, made it to their football playoff finals by beating Saugus on Friday.  I wish I could go to their game this weekend, but as previously mentioned.... I'll be heading to another game :)

I leave you with this!!! GO GREEN

Seven for Sundays (Monday)

1.  Potty... That is the word that we use the most in this household over the last few days.  We are knee deep in potty training.  It's not as hard as I thought it would be, but yes, parenting can bring you down to a whole new level you never thought possible.  Let's take for instance our trip to the McDonald's playplace (which is our Sunday morning hang out).  We go for a little oatmeal and a good hour of running around in the playplace.  I wasn't sure I wanted to go this Sunday, seeing as Breslin was in his "big boy underwear," but Brady said that Brez wanted to go, so against my first instinct we went... and that is how I ended up asking the woman at the counter for the first time ever in my life, "Ummm, we need a clean up on the first step of the playplace, my son had an accident."  Mortified.  Yup, I was mortified.  Oh well, what can you do, after attempting to clean it up with the hand sanitizer but go ahead and tell someone that your child not only peed his pants, but peed all over the first step of the playplace.  On a positive note... one day later, Breslin had no accidents at home or at Mary's!  Baby steps... baby steps.

2.  Catching Fire.  I went with two of my other friends to see Catching Fire on opening night.  I can't remember a) the last time I have been to an opening night in the theaters or b) if I ever have.  The movie was awesome!  I will for sure see it again.  I feel like I need to read all of the books over again during Christmas break.

3.  B1G Championship and Indy here we come!  MSU beat Northwestern to solidify its spot in the B1G championship game.  Two years ago, Brady and I decided to be "good parents" and not go to the game because we couldn't leave Breslin, because he was just starting to sleep really good..... little did we know... he never did start to sleep really good, hahahaha, we are still working on it.  So anyways, with the help of Mitzi and Karen, Breslin will be well taken care of, while me and Brady head out to Indy for 20 hours in hopes of kicking Ohio State's booty and getting a trip to the Rose Bowl.

4.  MSU's basketball team is ranked #1 (enough said).  However, I am more concerned about being ranked #1 in April then now, however I will take it.

5.  Dyed my hair brunette.  It was time for a change.

6.  We took our Christmas card pictures at the beach this year.  I will give you just a sneak peek.

7.  Well I am about to start reading the Divergent series.  I need to take a relax of teaching once winter break hits, between common core and AP Stats I am BURNT out...  Can't wait to dive head first into these books.  Any other book suggestions are welcome!

Seven on Sundays (or this week Monday)!

1.  Short week this week.  I took Monday off to spend an extra day in Michigan.  Breslin flew back with me and was a trooper.  This little man is probably a better traveler than most adults I know!  The best feeling in the world at the end of a flight is fellow passengers telling you how wonderful your child was on the flight!  And in the 12 hours of travel that day not one fit, one tear, or one scream!

2.  Still living off the high of beating Michigan the weekend prior!  MSU had a bye weekend this weekend, so we are still celebrating :)

3.  Michigan State basketball is underway!  The first basketball game of the season was this past Friday.  And MSU won handedly.  We are now getting excited for the big match up this week, Pre Season #1 (UK) against Pre Season #2 (MSU) on Tuesday!

4.  Breslin's newest favorite play thing is the car.  Oh my goodness, this one causes mommy a lot of stress.  Brady let Breslin sit in the front seat once (with the car off of course and the garage door closed).  And he is turning the steering wheel, turning on and off the lights, turning the clickers, and saying "mommy, daddy we're off the the airport."  Super cute, but highly stressful for me.  I know there is no possible way the car can turn on and Breslin's off, but if there is, I don't want it to happen to us!  My biggest fear is the fingers, he is opening and shutting the doors (so we keep a watchful eye and stay close, but boy is it stressful).  Now, when it is time to get out of the car, get ready for tantrum city.... Oh lord, does it seem like the end of the world when we take him out.  But now we have come up with the perfect Christmas gift for him--a toy motorized car... and I am pretty sure Brady already has the model picked out!

5.  This weekend was project clean up the house.  It felt a little like Spring Cleaning, except the fact that we are in the month of November.  The month of October was a super busy one for us, so things like keeping the house clean was not on our list of priorities!  I must admit the house looks much better!

6.  Christina booked her flight out here for Thanksgiving :)  Enough said.

7.  Yesterday I went to church and reception with the Ikonte's.  This was the family of Chibuzo, my student who had a cardiac arrest and was saved by three of our students at Valencia.  A few of us got invited to a service in thanking God for Chibuzo's life being saved and then heading over to their house for a celebration.  Something like this happens in your world and it truly makes you believe in miracles.  I am so thankful that Chibuzo is okay and that we were able to spend that day celebrating, versus any alternative.

Seven on Sundays (well this week it is on Wednesday)

 1.  Well this was an eventful week.  Halloween was on Thursday and myself, Karen, and Michelle dressed up as Minions at school.  Then I did a quick costume change after school into our marathon costumes.

We dressed up as marathon runners this year for Halloween

Happy Halloween :)

Nathan accompanied Breslin door to door Trick or Treating

2.  We flew to Michigan on Friday because we had a "Buy Back Day," but no teaching.  So we took the day off so we could fly to Michigan and spend more than 36 hours in town.,... or so we thought.  Then this happened: Shooting at LAX.  Our flight was supposed to leave at 1:30... But when we got down to LAX around 11:30 the airport was shut down.  No one was let in, no one was allowed out.  So we found the nearest Playplace and spent 2 hours there.  Finally around 1:30 I told Brady that we should just try to head over and find a parking spot and figure out how to get to LAX because now our flight was supposed to depart at 4:15.  We drove around for a good hour (and Brez man fell asleep) until we found a spot to park.  We then just sat in the parking lot, because still nothing was allowed in.  Finally at around 3:30 we started walking to the airport with hundreds of other people.  At 4:00 they finally opened the doors.  We got through security and sprinted to our flight, just to find out that they needed a new crew to work our flight.  Finally at 6:30 our 757 (which normally seats some around 250 people) was flying to Detroit with 30 people in tow.  We got to Detroit safe and sound... 5 hours late, our luggage didn't quite make it in time, but that's okay.  Through the whole ordeal Delta was absolutely wonderful.  They certainly get an A in customer service, and solidify the fact that I am frequent flyer of the airline!

3.  Tailgating, Sparty, and football!  So we made it back for the football game!  Breslin got to meet Rachel and Rachel along with Sparty!  (He absolutely loved Sparty by the way)!  And then met Jeff and Lisa King for the first time.  Our Breslin man is a huge trooper going on these crazy Spartan adventures with us.

 4.  And the Spartans did it!  Michigan State beat Michigan 29-6, in one of the most lopsided victories for Michigan State versus Michigan in most recent memory!  It was rainy, wet, and cold-- and absolutely perfect for a day filled with tailgating and football!

 5.  On Sunday we just spent the day traveling around campus and hooking up with people.

Hanging out by the Spartan statue

Playing with Teagan at Jenison Fieldhouse

 6.  Got to hang out with some great people over the weekend.  Met up with Anna and Teagan, Mel, Jeff and Lisa, Kathie, Rachel and Rachel, and Aunt Joyce.  These trips are so much fun, but they are always too quick.  I am looking forward to the next time we go back and hanging out for awhile!

Some of my favorite MSU peeps

The Williams and company

Rachel and Breslin

7.  And the whirlwind of October is over.  The first weekend in October we headed off to Michigan for the MSU/IU Homecoming game.  The following weekend I had my Jason Aldean and Jake Owen concert.  Then I had my 1 hour and 55 minute half marathon the next weekend.  And we capped off the busy month of October (first few days of November) in Michigan.  Phew... it was fun, but it will be nice to relax a little bit.

Seven on Sundays

 1.  Breslin is an old pro at Gymboree now.  He is such a stud, we do think it is time that he moves up to the next class.  Next week will be his last week in level 5 :(  He is growing up so quickly!

 

2.  Breslin went to his first ever Halloween party at Gymboree.  Breslin dressed up as a marathon runner!  Now, I might be biased, but it was one of the more creative outfits out there.  He got to jump, dance, and play as well as sing, read and do crafts.  He had so much fun!

 

3.  Well  I had my half marathon!  And finally on my fourth try I got under 2 hours!  The first three, something always came up in my training where I lost focus, or skipped some of my long runs.  (say like a newborn child... then a toddler, etc.)  But this time around I really tried to stay focused and get all the runs in that I needed.  The two hours became a MUST this time around.  Before this, I had been at 2:04, 2:03, 2:08....  But this time I needed to get it. The official time was one hour 55 minutes and 11 seconds!  Halleluja.  Next year... maybe I go for 1:45.... hahaha.  We shall see.

Last years medal/ this years medal!

Registration... Oh goodness, I can't believe I am doing another one!

Morning of!  Did I mention that it was a halloween half marathon!  I dressed up as a bumble bee!!!!

My second to last training run before the half marathon.

 

4.  Halloween is rapidly approaching... so we did pumpkin carving at Aunties this year!

 

5.  My Spartans are 6-1 after a great solid win against Illinois.  We are now ranked in all of the polls.  We have our big game this weekend against Michigan.  We will be flying out there on Friday and spending the weekend.  Let's get it MSU.  

6.  Breslin has a new favorite ritual; going over to the Carey's house on Saturday for football.  This was the second weekend in a row that he went over there and he has an absolute blast.  He absolutely loves it over there.  We watched the morning games, then head to In n Out for lunch (while desperately trying to keep Breslin awake).  After that he conks out in the car and takes a good 2 1/2 hour nap (I am sure the Carey's take some sort of nap as well, hahaha.  Breslin sure does know how to suck all of the energy out of everyone).

7.  We renewed our passes for Magic Mountain today.  We stood in line for 2 hours, but it is well worth it.  for 210 bucks we got annual passes for the three of us for Magic Mountain, Hurricane Harbor, and it includes parking.  We used our passes quite a bit this past year, so it should be money and time well spent.

7 on Sundays

1.  Welcome welcome fall!  And thank you Breslin for inviting fall into our home with welcome arms (and on the days the cleaners came).

2.  Holly, Jeff, and I went to the Hollywood Bowl to watch Jason Aldean and Jake Owen perform.  When we went to Nashville with the Carey's for the CMA Fan Fair Music Fest, Jake Owen got to only sing one song due to the coming storm.  Ever since then I have felt that I got jipped with his performance.  Now I have seen him perform a whole set.  I love Jake Owen & Jason Aldean, they were awesome!

It took Jeff 45 minutes to get us those three overpriced beers.  He missed 75% of Jake Owens set.  Holly and I appreciated it though.

There really is nothing like the Hollywood Bowl.

Tailgating.

 3.  We spent Saturday morning with the Carey's.  We watched the MSU/Purdue game at their house, and then headed off to In n Out for lunch.  Breslin absolutely LOVES the Careys.  Mimi and her phone kept Breslin nice and occupied.

 4.  Friday night was the West Ranch/Valencia game.  A house divided in the Burrill household.  Valencia came out on top, I believe the final score was 42-6 (or something around there).  Breslin had a blast.  He hung out with the cheerleaders, sat in the bleachers, watched the drumline up close and personal, and did what Breslin does best, run around absolutely every where!

Breslin hanging out with two of my favorite students and cheerleaders.

Just watching the game.

 5.  October is breast cancer awareness month.  Valencia had a "pink out" at the football game in support of breast cancer awareness.  Although I did not wear this shirt to the game (some people may have thought it was inappropriate) I love this shirt.  Fight Like Hell.

6.  Ran 12 miles on Saturday in 1:45.  I really want to hit my goal of under 2 hours next week during my half marathon.  I have put in the miles and trained hard, so lets home all of my hard work pays off.

7.  MSU is 6-1.... one more win away from being bowl eligible... and we are still undefeated in the  B1G.  Keep it up my Spartans.  The score may not have been pretty, but we are going to be in every single game.  GO SPARTANS!

Seven for Sundays

 1.  On our last day in Vegas we visited the m & m store.  Breslin loved picking out and getting his "candies."  Oma had a great time with him in Vegas, and Breslin had a great time with Oma!!!

 2.  So we went Vegas, back home to California for three days, and then flew out to Michigan!  Nothing like hitting up three states in less than a week, and I wouldn't have it any other way!  As we said good bye to Las Vegas, we hit California during a cold spell, and flew too Michigan smack dab in the beautiful time of fall.  The weather was great and the trees were just starting to change colors.  They look beautiful now, but they are going to be gorgeous in three weeks when we go back there.

 3.  We left Breslin at home for this trip because it was a whirlwind trip.  We left at 10:45 pm California time, and got into Michigan at 6:15 am Michigan time.  No nap, no nothing.  Brushed our teeth, got a quick shower in and headed out to tailgate by 9 am.  Even though Breslin wasn't around, I headed off to see two of Breslin's bestest buds, Miss Hannah LaMacchia and Miss Teagan Bratta.  These two darlings are about as precious as they get and they keep getting bigger and bigger!  We will be back in three weeks with Breslin and these three little ones can have a fabulous little play date!  And I can hang out with both of their pregnant mommies!!!!  Dear lordy, both Dana and Anna are pregnant!  I am so excited for them :)  But no, no I am not following suit just yet!

 Little Miss Hannah

 Little Miss Teagan

4.  And.... the reason for the trip.... A Michigan State football game.  This was our first trip back this season and it couldn't come soon enough!

5.  It was our first trip back for a homecoming game since I graduated from Michigan State and I had a blast.  MSU won 42 - 28, so that made the trip even sweeter!  We are already more successful then our trips last year :)

6.  Did you guys see that Michigan Penn State game?  Uh yeah... that was a tough quadruple over time.... Nobody wanted to win that game.  But in the end the better team won ;)  So let me get this straight... MSU beat Indiana... Indiana beat Penn State... and Penn State beat Michigan, so by the law of syllogism...  well you guys figure it out!  Ha!  If only that were the truth! 

7.  Absolutely exhausted from this past week, so I am going to relax on the couch and watch the season premiere of "the Walking Dead."

Seven for Sundays

 1.  We are on our fall break, so we headed off to Las Vegas for the four days.  We are definitely doing more of a family vacation in Vegas, versus a Vegas trip.  We are staying off the strip at Tahiti Village Resort.  We spent Saturday morning watching Michigan State win its big ten opener at Buffalo Wild Wings.  We then came back to hang out by the pool and take a nap.  Followed by a nice dinner off the strip at Grimaldi's Pizzeria!  Then today we headed over to MGM to see the lions... and apparently they are no longer their anymore :(  So as a back up plan we went to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay.

 2.  Oma met us in Las Vegas and came bearing Lion's gear.  Unfortunately the Lions lost today.  But Breslin doesn't seem to mind, because he also got a chocolate covered donut with sprinkles.

 3.  Breslin and daddy go to touch the stingrays at the aquarium.  Mommy wanted to have nothing to do with it.

 4.  Just my Delta App letting me know my upcoming flights.  We go to Michigan for the MSU homecoming game in less than a week, then back again in a month for the Michigan Michigan State game, and then we have our flight booked for Jamaica for Chris and Alicia's wedding.  With the renewed calendar after getting our furlough days back it looks like we might have to miss the last day of school.  (Now of course there are at least three flights missing from above...  We are planning on going to Michigan and Colorado for Christmas break, a flight back to Michigan some time in the Spring, and then of course our trip to Florida for Spring Break).

5. Breslin's new favorite thing....  Drumming on the Rock Band drums. 

6.  Common Core- the new national standards for teaching- is an absolute mess.  We had our full day common core meeting on Friday and felt absolutely overwhelmed, defeated, unknowledgeable, and ill prepared for these new standards.  We will keep at it until whomever makes these standards realizes what a mess this really is.

7.  T-minus three weeks til the half marathon.  Just keep running.

Seven on Sundays

So I am going to try and get back in on the blogging action!  I have been a little behind because of the start of the school year has been kicking my ass!  Common Core  (the new national standards) and AP Statistics was a lot to take on this year.  I feel like we are in week 18, not just rolling into week 7.  Oh well, I always love challenges.  So I know I could never do 5 for Fridays on time, so I am going to try for seven on sundays.

 1.  We went to Lombardi's Ranch already this year!  If you go opening weekend you get free train rides, and if we know are son correctly, he loves trains!  So we met up with Mitzi and Megan to go Pumpking picking and train riding.  It is hard to believe that this is Breslin's third time at Lombardi's.

2.  The Williams were out here on business, and bless their hearts, they drove all the way up to little old SCV to see where we live and take us out to dinner!  It is always soo good seeing them, but better yet, it is always nice seeing my Michigan family out here.  Even though I have lived here seven years I still get home sick!  I love you guys and am so glad you made it out to visit!

 3.  It was homecoming week at Valencia this week, so Michelle and I were showing our Valencia school spirit on Friday.  Our football boys won, so yay for them!

4.  On another school note, it was a rough/bittersweet week for Valencia.  This week one of our Varsity basketball players suffered a cardiac arrest during practice.  This happened to be a student of mine this year (who I tutored all of last year).  If you know anything about college basketball you might know the name Hank Gathers from Loyola Maramount.  He was the basketball player who died a couple years ago after a basketball game because of a sports induced heart disorder.  Well, my student, our student, has this same issue with his heart.  Luckily within seconds three of our sports med students, yes students were able to revive him.  The defibrillator and CPR was used to revive him.  I am privileged enough to have had two of the three of these young men in my classroom for two and three years.  If my life were on the line, these would be two boys that I would put my trust in.  Our basketball player is still in the hospital and may have to have heart surgery this week, I have been in contact with the mom sporadically, and she has kept me up to date.  Please keep him and his family in your prayers and thoughts.

5.  I'm in the home stretch of training for my half marathon.  I have one month left.  This past Saturday I ran 10 miles and it went relatively well.  I need to pick up the pace slightly, but I think I will finally be able to get under 2 hours in this half marathon.  It is a halloween half marathon, so I am taking any ideas on costumes.

6.  This week my common core class (this is Algebra 2, not an abs class) went really well.  This class is really trial and error.  It is really challenging taking something that I think I am really good at, and making me TRY.  But this week we did two really cool activities that worked out great!  Or at least I thought it did!  We will really be able to tell when my kids take their test on Tuesday.  So I may only be riding this "high" for one more day... but I will take what I can.

7.  Breslin is as funny as ever these days.  I can't believe how big he is and how much he talks.  However, one thing he still struggles with--sleep.  He will sleep great for six-seven nights in a row... and then have a bad night, and remind us why we only have one child.  Our little man, refuses to sleep in past 6:45 AM, and will still every once in a while wake up in the middle of night.  I find it quite sad that waking up at 6:30 AM for me is like sleeping in.  Oh well!

Anyway, see you all next Sunday!  And I am going to try and post on my 365 blog again.. So come back and visit!