The Rubalcaba Family Website

Hailey celebrated her 7th birthday today. Princess Belle came over and was the guest of honor.

So the girls have started soccer this year. Wow, there goes Saturday mornings! But it’s not that bad and both Hailey and Hannah are having fun. Hailey plays for the Tarheels, and Hannah for the Hawkeyes. They both are picking up the game really good. Hailey is getting a little more active and able to move the ball when she gets a chance. But it’s like organized chaos when the game begins. It’s like an angry/kicking mob surrounding the ball and moving it to and fro. It’s fun to watch. I’m really surprised with Hannah though. She’s more of the shy one, but she was really chasing down and making every effort to kick that ball. I can tell they both enjoy it and that’s all good.

On a side note, we had lunch, Saturday, at that new place, Panera, near the Target/Chili’s shopping area. Not too bad, I actually liked it alot. The atmosphere is sorta like a Starbucks and the food was good too. They have sandwiches, soups, and breads. Looks like they have a website as well - http://www.panerabread.com/

Hailey will be 7 soon. I can’t believe it. Where’s the time gone?? She sure is turning into a little woman. I see the person she’s becoming and can’t help, but feel proud of her. For 7 she’s such a responsible little person and a huge help when I need one. She keeps me on task and understands when I forget. She’s also a great friend. We have the best time going to the mall or just hanging around the house. She loves to dress like me and I get the biggest kick out of seeing her in her stylish little outfits. She is my joy. She’s also taken an interest in photography. She’s pretty good. I show her some things here and there and she’s really taken to it. In a couple of weeks we’re going to San Francisco to shoot an engagement session with one of my couples and Hailey’s going to tag along. I’ll show her some things, but she’ll also be working. I need someone to help me with lighting and she offered. I think we’ll have a great time even though I hate San Francisco. Like I said her birthday draws near and I’m going all out with her birthday this year. It’s going to be something. I took some pictures of her in her “belle” dress and I had several of them enlarged so I could hang them around my office during her party. I’m transforming my office into a ballroom for her party. Here are some pictures of her on picture day at school and also of her in her Belle gown. Enjoy!

Wow, got a lot done this weekend. Got up early Saturday and did yard work. The girls helped out a little. We straightened up the backyard and cleaned up the front. Sunday rolled around and we did a few other outside chores. Monday we made a trip to Home Depot and picked up a few things. Beck started her garden. She got some tomato, bell pepper, and green onion plants. We also planted a few things too. We came across this cool-looking chiminea and ended up getting it. It’s metal, rather than pottery like our old one that cracked due to the heat. We fired that thing up as soon as we got it setup. I had some spare wood and an old broken chair that fueled it for a few hours. All in all, the backyard is starting to look good again.

I took some pics of the girls Sunday evening. I wanted to try out this other background that we got. It didn’t look too bad, although I wanted the kids to wear something that would contrast good against it, but with my kids, they’d rather be shirtless 90% of the time.

Here’s Hailey with her "Blame My Sister" shirt. The picture above is Lilly. She wanted her picture just as soon as she saw me snapping some pics of Hailey.

I tell you what, these girls had it great this weekend. Every meal they had was home-cooked. They had biscuits-n-gravy, pancakes, french toast, BBQ chicken, BBQ pot roast, rice, broccoli, tacos, taco salad, lots of tea parties, and a few other quick fixes.

Hannah gave it a two hands up!

It was definitely fun, especially with the weather getting a little warmer so the kids can start playing outside again.

I think once summer rolls around, we want to finally get the patio up. Possibly, Eric and I may attempt it. Well, actually, we need to first convince Eric to help since he’s the woodworking specialist. We shall see. Heck, he did such a good job with the chicken coop, and most recently with a cabinet/shelving unit in our living room, that he jinxed himself!

I’m just about done…a long weekend gone by…and a sore back to show for it…but worth the pain when I see the smiles on the little faces around me.

OK, I’m hooked on watching Friday Night Lights every Wednesday. I got it programmed to record and watch it religiously. What a great show. I think it’s the only show I watch on regular/network TV. As soon as Season 1 hits the DVD stand, I’m there.

Not much else new. Today was Valentine’s Day. Beck had school and I just chilled at home with the girls. We ordered a heart-shaped pizza from Me-N-Eds and chowed down on that. Mom came over with Blake and brought some Valentine stuff for them.

I made the mistake of taking the girls to Rite-Aid with me to pick out a card and some candy for Beck. Jeez, they are a handful. They were pulling cards out all over the place and basically just doing whatever they want. It made me think of those times where I was in a store and someone’s kids were just all over the place and I’m thinking “what’s wrong with this person, those kids have no discipline…if those were my kids…”. Except, these were my kids and they were out of control and I do discipline them and I’m sure the people there were thinking that same thing about me! It’s a vicious cycle I guess.

That’s all folks!

I like Nick’s nickname for me now…iMom that’s cute. I’ll keep it.

Well anyway here’s what’s going on at the house. Hailey’s in first grade and she’s doing very well. So far she hasn’t missed any words on her spelling tests and is advanced in math. But then we’ve always known that kid’s brainy. Hannah’s in her last year at preschool and Lilly will be starting this year. Hailey and Hannah are both going to sign up for soccer. I guess that’s really going to make me a soccer Mom. Wow, you make a few choices and BAM!!! You’re married, drive an SUV, and have kids that really are in soccer. When did this all happen to me? I never saw myself as a “soccer Mom”. I guess we’ll just have to worry if I start beating up other parents on the sidelines. Which I have seen can actually happen to you. I’d probably be more likely to be the one receiving the punches.

We have a new dog, a new cat, and many unwelcome new mice. Hence why we have the new cat. Charlie is a girl and she’s our new puppy. She’s a german shepherd mix. And we have a little kitten who’s 3 months old. He’s a boy and his name is Tarquinn (don’t ask it’s a vampire’s name from one of my many Anne Rice books, but Quinn seems to fit the cat). And of course I must mention that we still have our loyal, loving, and nanny like Lab - Sadie. She’s doing well. Putting on some weight and throughly in love with Charlie.

As for me work’s busy, but going very well. I’m in school. Going to COS right now part time. Taking some photo classes (I know I’ve already heard all the jokes from my friends who are also in the field, please don’t retell them all - it’s getting old). I’ll be going full time next semester I hope. All the kids will be in school so I’m hoping I’ll be able to be in school full time too.

Nick and I are doing really well. Our anniversary is this month and it will be our 7th year as a married couple. In May we’ll have been together 10 years total. Isn’t that nuts?? That makes me feel old and I’m all about not being old. All these years I have not had a wedding ring. Well I did for a while. I bought that one myself when we got engaged and it doesn’t fit anymore. I lost about 30 lbs. since having Lilly and it just falls right off. I understand I could have it resized….but I’ve put in ten years and feel I deserve a rock. So a rock is what I got. I found one I liked and Nick ordered it yesterday I think. Because of how small my hand is they have to special order the setting, size it, do some other complicated somethings, and then set the stone. Total time 4-5 weeks. So I won’t have it by our anniversary, but I know it’s on it’s way so I guess that’s ok. It’s gorgeous. Il put a pic of it in this blog so you can see. It’s a pink diamond (emerald cut) with two white diamond baguettes, and many white round diamonds going down the band. I’m very excited and can’t wait to get it. 5 weeks seems like forever.

Bringing me to another thing that’s going to take forever. I have ADD and I’m in the process of being “formally” tested. I see a behavioral therapist and I was taking medication, but I was never “formally” diagnosed. So I’ve had to go off meds in order to be tested. I’ve been off meds for almost 45 days. I was suppose to be able to go back on meds within the next week. I get a call saying my testing will be March 5th (which adds another week to my time) and then after my “interview” (interview sounds like something good like a new job…here it means someone is going to ask me a million boring ass questions for several hours and I won’t feel any better by the end) they’ll be able to tell me how many tests and what tests will be needed to determine what type of ADD I have and how bad it is. From there I’ll be able to better control it with or without meds and they’ll be able to find meds that may be better suited to me. The “normal” testing range is between 2 and 4 tests all a week apart. So I could be adding up to 4 more weeks without any help or knowing what’s going on. Sucks for me.

Anyway I can hang…Here’s my ring (yay!!!)

Just a test post using ecto from Beck’s iMac.

For the first time in a long time, a weekend to just kick-back and relax. Nothing that important going on. We’ll probably go get some breakfast tomorrow morning, although Beck was thinking about making some apple pancakes with apple cider syrup. Either way, I win.

I touched-up a photo, the other day, of our last wedding we did photography for. I kind of like it. Here it is.

I did the re-touching in PhotoShop CS2. There’s a simple technique, which is outlined here, for making the pictures "pop". I also added a "zoom" effect around them, which gave sort of a glow as well.

Speaking of photos, and being as this is a blog, I found this photoblog software today called PhotoStand. It’s a really nice looking photoblog program for displaying your pictures, very similar to PixelPost. Not bad for being simple and free!