Balla's Got Game!

We've stayed fairly close to home lately.  It doesn't often lead to exciting blogs, but it is still day to day life and what we've been up to.  Mason's still playing basketball and Siena taking dance lessons.  Last Sunday Mason and Luis got a little extra practice in at Yaya and Papa Ron's house.  Sometimes coaching from Daddy isn't Mason's favorite thing, but all in all, it went well.

Happy hoopster!

Here's Mason at this week's game.  He had a lot more confidence and actually played like a real point guard. He brought the ball up the court a few times, made some good passes, and took the shots when they were open.  What a difference a week made!

Sir Speedy headed down the court.

After basketball we dropped the kids off at my parents for a sleepover and Luis and I had a date night.  We did some walking around the Hawthorne area before going to the Bagdad to watch Twilight.  Luis checks out the remnants of a lot of concert posters.

The Bagdad is a cool theater pub where you get to eat a full meal while enjoying your film.

It was also time this week to replace my good old running shoes.  Out with the old...

...in with the new.  Gave them a good 8.5 mile break in today and they're fabulous!

The Ultimate Jinx

You really don't want me to root for your favorite football team.  Here's how the 2011 NFL Playoffs played out.

Wildcard Round:
Bengals/Texans - K roots for Bengals; Texans win
Lions/Saints - K roots for Lions; Saints win
Falcons/Giants - K roots for Falcons; Giants win
Steelers/Broncos - K roots for Broncos; hey they actually won!

Divisional:
Saints/49ers - K roots for Saints; Niners win
Broncos/Patriots - K roots for Broncos; Patriots win
Texans/Ravens - K roots for Texans; Ravens win
Giants/Packers - K roots for Packers; Giants win

Conference:
Ravens/Patriots - K roots for Ravens; Patriots win
Giants/49ers - K roots for Niners; Giants win

Super Bowl:
Patriots/Giants - K roots for Patriots; Giants win

If you're tracking the math, that's 1 for 11.  So apologies if I happened to root for your favorite team.  I take full responsibility.

Despite my apparent playoff jinx, we had a great afternoon watching the game today with the DeCicco's.  Well, the kids didn't watch much of the game but they enjoyed the food!

New York style pizza of course.  We also had New England clam chowder but were all too full from pizza, chips and Oreos to eat any of it.  Giada was on board with the pizza.  She also seemed to enjoy playing with the Cruz kids.

Mason went around the room and took pictures of all the guests.  Since he's a pretty good photographer, I thought I'd include them.  Here's Sharon:

And Chris:

Luis, sporting his throwback Seahawks jersey.

Me with Siena's feet.

Mason also took this picture of the Giants victory celebration which looked kinda cool.

If his future as a pilot and President of the U.S. doesn't work out, he might have a future as a photo journalist.

That reminds me, last weekend Mason sent President Obama an email.  He decided he wants to be president after his piloting career is over and had some questions for the president about the job, or more specifically about living in the White House.  He needed to know if you get to do your own decorating there, if his friends can live there with him, and what happens when you need to use a room but a tour group is in there.  And the question certain to get us on the Secret Service watch list, what kind of secret rooms are there.

Luis is watching highlights of the Super Bowl now, most likely because he spent most of the game on RMLS trying to find a new house for the DeCicco's.