reminding myself to breathe...

OMG. i am stressed out. there's been so much going on this past 2 weeks. i am starting to feel fatigued and run down from either racing off to be somewhere tay or i need to be or tackling "a job" that needs to be done before its deadline. this has been happening almost every day/night. wanna share about my soccer field trip last night and kai eating something that made me proud of her...but i can't tonight. tomorrow's tay's recital as well, so i'm gonna be busy with that. perhaps i'll catch up with you peeps on saturday? wait. i can't...i'm doing errands for taylor's birthday party that's on sunday and on sunday i'll be doing last minute prep. AHHHHH!!! you feel me?

roots

i cannot wait to take tay to this movie. we first saw the previews for it a while back...i forgot which movie we went to, but it was way before horton hears a who. tay's also been listening to "kung fu fighting" at school. she's requested that song from my ipod countless times while we were in the car. finally got to download that baby tonight. here it is to perhaps get you in the mood to go see the movie on june 6th too!

graduation

taylor's preschool graduation was last tuesday night. she was very excited about it. when her name was called to get her "diploma", the audience and i learned that tay's favorite thing to do at school is to play on the climbing gym and that when she grows up she wants to be a cheerleader!

later in the program, jonathan and i were pleasantly surprised. taylor and a male classmate led the class in a cheer. first the boy led the cheer in english. then it was tay tay's turn. she led the class in the same cheer but in spanish. proudly sitting in the audience i was thinking, "omg, this is awesome! wait, what the heck is my daughter saying?!?!" she shouted the line and then the class echoed her. we were beaming. afterward, ms. millie (her teacher) came to us to discuss taylor's performance. she complimented taylor's spanish speaking abilities and felt that taylor was the right one for the job. she also told taylor to keep it a secret and boy, she sure did!

the ceremony was followed by a celebration with bounce houses, pony rides, a petting zoo and a balloon man. tay had an absolute blast!

tay leading the cheer in spanish

celebrating in the bounce house with pal julia

60 yards, nothin' but net

david's exclamation point on the game:


hey...that looks *just* like this one from his manchester united days back in '96!


with last night's win against kansas city (3-1), the galaxy are now in first place in the western conference. woo-hoo!!! la will have to do without ld (landon donovan) and becks for a little while though, both are off on national team duty to play EACH OTHER at wembley!!! ld's up for his 100th cap, so that's pretty sweet.

getting ready for a night field trip to the fc dallas/houston game on wednesday. we're taking 50-60 select students (mixture of 3rd and 5th grade kids) as a reward for all their hard work, determination on TAKS and good behavior throughout the year. been in contact with the guys from guardia roja, so hopefully the kids will get to stop by their area to experience an aspect of the game's atmosphere up close.

the buzz is...

becks doesn't take crap from anyone.

so much freakin' happened at the game yesterday that i have to do a separate post on the altercation involving becks. this happened deep in the 2nd half. becks was insanely tackled (a late and dangerous tackle) by fc's adrian serioux. i learned today that the slide into becks' legs was so dangerous that those precious stems could have been broken.

oh, and then serioux added "welcome, baby, welcome". so what's becks to do but shoot straight up from the ground and go after the a-hole who pulled that crap. the ref immediately red carded serioux and then david got a yellow for going after him.

as serioux left the pitch, david dished it back to him: he blew serioux a kiss and waved buh-bye. talk about a big commotion, and rightfully so. serioux is a punk. as i said in my 5-1, my boys post below, the fc dallas crowd then became extremely hostile towards david. they booed him every time he touched the ball. for a second it was getting a tad uncomfortable sitting in the sea of fc supporters.

but alas, my beer-induced buzz helped me shake it off and jump up with my arms in the air when david served edson with the 5th goal (to make the final score 5-1). here's what becks did to the inferno to rub it in:

i loved it. i had never seen david be so cocky before, but it was awesome to see him dish it back.

here's a video that shows the tackle, david's reaction and goodbye kiss:

teeny tiny ballerina

this afternoon was a little hectic-it was picture day for tay's dance school. for those who know my daughter well, it's not exactly a newsflash when i say i've got myself a girlie-girl. oh yes, we really enjoyed primping this afternoon!

5-1, my boys (minus gordon)

what up peeps! i. loved. that. game. (except not getting to see gordon, my fellow OSU alum. he was back in la with an injury from a practice session. DUDE!)

got back from frisco a while ago but i had to take a shower and relax a little. it was FREAKIN 93 degrees today (but thankfully there were periodic breezes to bring relief). needless to say we were all sweaty. plus we were sitting below & to the left of guardia roja, so i also had to get the confetti out of my bra. yup, even got caught in a few streamers too! totally awesome atmosphere. as the game was getting ready to start, david was @ midfield on our side. many fans (including myself) shouted & cheered for him. he flashed his oh-so-sexy smile at us. in fact, i had the pleasure of seeing him smile several times as the galaxy stunned the hoops in the first half. an fc dallas fan across the aisle from me was so upset he was intensely shouting that he should get his money back because of fc’s poor performance. i sat there pretty smugly and said to mere, “not me. i’m getting my money’s worth!” and whaddya know, edson with his hat trick?! sweet! and…i know cronin (goalkeeper) makes galaxy fans nervous, but i have to give him credit for some saves in the first half, especially the one in the 16th-some-odd minute…he was “big” there. 2nd half…well, i wasn’t as closely tuned-in due to my being on my celebratory 3rd beer & having fun with friends. however, things got exciting real fast when becks got taken down. becks lunged toward the culprit, fc's bench was up and getting in the mix. galaxy's bench got up. coaches were in between players. A-C-T-I-O-N!!! hoops people booed & became hostile when serioux was sent off. whatever. as david waved…buh-bye.

na, na, na, na…hey, hey, hey…goodbye.

so, here are the pics i said i'd post. almost wasn't gonna have any to share. you see, i got "red carded" (sent off) myself...by the security guard at the gate. apparently, the lens that i had on my camera was too much for pizza hut park to handle (has to be less than 5 inches). *totally* pissed off, i had to walk my camera back to my car. luckily mere had her shorter lens with her, so her camera captured these shots:

becks and klein warming up

this landon picture is for tay tay!

the inferno-one of fc dallas' supporter groups

guardia roja (another supporter group). they were right above us and on the side. these guys play samba beats on drums and other instruments, cheer, blow horns and throw heaps of confetti. it was awesome being in a very lively section!

did i mention that they also threw *many* rolls of streamers? yes folks, this was our section.

the boys celebrating their first goal (it was by klein). oh, and some more streamers...

it's nice to know that if all of david's millions were to disappear, he still looks gorgeous while picking up trash. not many people can pull that off you know...

monica, me and mere during half time

becks' trademark kick

and there he goes with his sexy way of clapping @ the end of the match {whoops, some drool just hit the keyboard}

T minus 4 hours & counting

graded the last of my students' compositions this morning. thank god that beating is over. and now that the enormous monkey is off my back, the sun rays are piercing through my bedroom window, the angels are singing and a grin has swept over my face. yup, i can finally indulge in my anticipation for the game! can't wait to drive to frisco to see my boys in action yet again!!! will post pics when i return.

a teacher's daughter

so i meant to post this earlier but kept forgetting to. i had a hilarious moment with taylor on sunday. she was in my room with her new my little pony toys on my bed. i was playing with her *and* watching a recorded episode of the bachelor that i missed the week before. yes, my attention was diverted a few times whenever something exciting was happening on the show. taylor, getting annoyed at her mama during one of my distracted moments goes, "mama, FOCUS. you're not paying attention to the toys and watching tv instead!" hmmm, i wonder where she's heard these terms before.... {looks up thoughtful}

needless to say i burst out laughing. this brought taylor intense joy as she too began laughing. man, i laughed until i had tears in my eyes & my sides hurt!

elephants...

got nothin' on tay. with regard to memory, that is. thought i'd share a conversation we had during her bath tonight. it certainly made me laugh out loud and adore my daughter even more than i did before this took place (HOW is that possible?!?!):

me: so mama's gonna go see david beckham play this weekend.
tay: oooh, i wanna come. i wanna see david beckham!
me: well, maybe next time. how about i take pictures of landon [donovan] for you? (she declared admiration for him in a conversation about 2 months ago)
tay: yes. {a beat of silence} mama, why did he get mad after he scored?

me: {starting to laugh & clearly amazed that she remembered this from the galaxy/houston game on april 19th} you're right! he *did* get mad! he yelled at the other guy because he kept hanging on him and bothering him.
tay: {laughing because i'm laughing} yeah! (says this with complete conviction that landon was justified in yelling at ianni)

i wonder if landon realizes how special he is?!?! i mean, how many mls players can say that a 4-year-old girl's got their back?!?!

here's the goal (all in the first minute. but if you have time, continue watching the next segment of jozy altidore. a superstar and only 19 years old. european clubs are looking at him, he's that good):

mommy's day

SHE makes my world go 'round...and i'm so lucky she's the one who calls me mama. happy mother's day to all of the mommies, grandmas, aunts and godmothers!

and it's not even close...

*seeing becks in person >>>> seeing him on tv/in pictures (10 more days!!!)

*sonic's diet vanilla coke >>>> "regular" coke

*laughing with julie's students in writing class today about one of their stories about a flying turtle landing in the main character's backyard to give him & his friends a ride into outer space >>>> further disciplining 2 boys from my homeroom for blatantly folding paper airplanes during instruction in julie's class after already being busted for it minutes before.

*having a conversation with tay last night about "secret toots" (apparently her term for passing gas silently) >>>> smelling kai's "secret toots"

(reference this post and this one for info on the >>>>)

nite owl

what up peeps, just got back from a movie. awesome soundtrack. have to say i was totally stoked to discover that i already own most of what was played in it...thanks to grey's or other shows/movies. usually when a song or songs strike my fancy i either become a dork and stay after the movie's done to check out the music credits or go on a mad search on the internet when i get home. but not this time. look at me...i'm AWESOME {saying it like barney from how i met your mother}. take a listen to a few of the tunes:

care-package

if i could, i'd send my far-away loved ones this box full of love. of course you'd have to send it back to me, in tact, right away:

bathroom buddy

so TAKS is over for our third graders. yesterday was the reading TAKS retake for the kids who didn't pass the first administration back in march. it was me proctoring 2 kids. in someone else's classroom. for 4 1/2 hours. oye.

remember my post about test security? well, one of the rules is that the tests need to always be in your possession or locked up if you're not in the room. the kids and i *really* had to take a restroom break and since i was in someone else's classroom, i didn't have keys to lock up the tests while we were gone. so what's a rule-abiding teacher to do? take the *blasted* tests with you to the bathroom. yup. me and the taks test. bonding like girlfriends. (don't worry TEA, they never touched the floor) when i came out with them in my hands, our male counselor (who was stationed outside of the restrooms for strict monitoring. yes, kids are not allowed to talk about the test with each other.) looked at me and laughed. glad i could bring joy to SOMEONE during our week of doom.

6 today

hauoli la hanau, kai-doggie!