RMT Journal

Picture perfect!

noreply@blogger.com (Mildred) — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 05:26:00 +0000

OK, the pictures aren't exactly perfect but since everyone is asking about recent pictures of the kids, I thought I would finally post some....

Where have I been, you ask???? I'm just now getting my head out of the clouds. Luther is now 6 months, I'm back at home and de-cluttering after construction, and I have to get organized to start school again. I'm going to try to blog more often now that I've scheduled in a 45 minute break for myself in the afternoon! Woo hoo! Of course, that might actually turn into a nap :)

The first photo is from June, when Alyssa & Lexi were doing their ballet recital. Alyssa is holding Luther. I've got to find a more recent photo of Lu, but that'll have to do for now. The other three photos are from ICHE Family Camp this past weekend. It was a great time...even if we're not the camping type!

That's all for now...will try to find some more pictures soon.

Win World Series. Repeat.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 06:02:00 +0000

Unbelievable.

That's the only word I can use to describe the feeling of coaching two consecutive teams to World Series titles.

And even that word doesn't do it justice.

But before I continue, some background is necessary to put this in perspective.

Last year, I was the head coach of Ethan's WPPA team in the 7-8 year old division, called the Junior League. We were the Rockies and we stormed through the league, going 14-1 in the regular season and winning the Junior League World Series in an amazing come-from-behind victory. There was a lot of drama that season, with false (and often ridiculous) accusations against me and my assistant coaches. That offseason, the WPPA instituted several rules (both for the draft and for game play) that was intended to prevent our kind of success from happening again ("Rockies Rules", as one of my assistants mockingly called them).

This year, with only two of Ethan's teammates from last year's championship team, and with my inexperience as a new coach in the 9-10 year old kid-pitch division, called the Minor League, we were the Rockies again and finished a respectable 3rd place in the National League. But most importantly, we still went on to win the World Series again.

Winning one World Series championship is completely amazing. With 15-17 teams (depending on league) but only one champion, many coaches never win a single championship. It's true at any level...from professional right down to youth league. So I understood the gravity of winning one. But winning back-to-back World Series championships? That is an indescribable, completely unbelievable feeling.

There are so many reasons this one was even sweeter than the first. As I mentioned, only two of our kids from last year were on this year's team. That means 11 of the 14 players were different. But we won again anyway. In addition, our coach pitcher decided he wanted to be his own head coach (his team ended up facing our team in the World Series so kudos to him) but we won again anyway. What's more, we faced teams with good head coaches who have had prior experience in the kid-pitch Minor League, whereas I was the newbie kid-pitch head coach. But we won again anyway. Also, critics who thought I sandbagged the draft last year have to eat crow this year since we drafted this year's team with the new "Rockies Rules" in effect and won again anyway.

What's more, Ethan's team won the World Series without our team's best player (Leo) in Game 3 of the best-of-three format. We had won Game 1 but lost Game 2 in extra innings. Then Leo was out of town for Game 3. But despite that, and despite the team's disappointment of losing Game 2, the team battled back to win Game 3 anyway (fairly handily, I might add). One of Leo's former head coaches was very impressed with our Game 3 win because he knew how good Leo was, and how hard it is to win without your biggest gun.

So congrats to Ethan, his Rockies teammates from last year (Ben & Rhys), his new Rockies teammates this year (Leo, Jack, Eli, Mitch, Henry, Nolan, Luke, Daniel, Sam, Grainger and Andy), this year's coaching staff (Brent, Rob, Bob, Lon and Buck) for their tireless assistance, and the parents who shlepped the kids to the practices and games. I appreciate each of you. Every year's team is special but this year's team is beyond special. And this year's team created memories I'll never forget...and hopefully they won't forget either.

Finally, but definitely not least, endless thanks to Mil, who let me coach again this summer while handling the other 5 kids. You are the best.

Let there be light???

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 06:10:00 +0000

I'm one step closer to figuring out this undercabinet lighting maze. The LED light bars came in yesterday (1-day shipping from DHL...they rock!) and I think I've solved our problem with how the transformers will work with the five different hard-wired zones. Just have a couple questions left for our Taiwanese vendor (Photonier Technology) and I'm ready to complete the order. It's pretty exciting, as this is the last major piece of our kitchen puzzle.
Still digesting the news that LeBron James declared he's going to play with the Miami Heat. What a moron. He's taking a pay cut to play with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh but the Heat still won't have any money left to pay for a decent supporting cast. But wait, there's more! Miami is a small market, so good luck if LeBron wants to expand his "brand". But wait, there's more! LeBron will have to share the spotlight (and the ball) with his two superstar buddies. Good luck trying to separate from the pack and establish yourself as The Man. While some people are hyperventilating that Miami will now win multiple championships, the reality is that with a projected supporting cast of minimum-salary nobodies, this team still isn't a lock to beat Boston, Orlando or Chicago in the East, much less win one NBA championship. To me, LeBron is clueless and I hope he never wins any championships.
It's Day 3 of the Henry Potty Training Festival and he has not had a single accident all day (and so far, all night...through 1:26 AM). Can I say 'Whew'??? I still hate potty training but I thank God that it's been pretty painless so far.
As head coach of Ethan's youth baseball team, had a team practice tonight. Things are going well. Ethan plays at Welles Park in the Minor League; our team is the Rockies. Team is 7-2-3 and in 3rd place in the National League. Have a game vs. the Yankees on Saturday, then the regular season finale vs. the Twins on Sunday. We'll see how things go.
Bought this new product at Target called Kashi TLC Oatmeal Raisin Flax Soft-Baked Cookies that has both omega-3 and fiber. Both Mil & I agreed that we wouldn't buy this again. It tastes very "grainy", is not exactly soft in texture (I was expecting it to be like Matt's Cookies) and generally more like a granola bar than a cookie.
Sorry, no pics today. Getting late. Maybe tomorrow.

Potty animal

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:47:00 +0000

So it isn't a year since our last post...woo hoo! Like a broken New Year's resolution, we'll resolve to try to stay current in our blog. (If you roll your eyes at this point, I don't blame you.)

Today is Day 2 of the Henry Potty Training Festival. I have to call it a festival to make it sound fun b/c I hate potty training. We normally start our kids, whether boy or girl, at 2 years old but had to postpone it with Henry since we were temporarily dorming with Mil's parents due to our house construction. So Henry is now 2.5 years old. Hopefully he will "get it" faster since he's a little older than we would normally start. And so far, he's had many successes in between several of the expected accidents, so it could be worse. But I still hate potty training.

Just to clarify, we do potty training cold turkey b/c we feel it works faster that way...at least it has with all our other kids, who averaged about 2-3 days to get it down 80%. Last night was his first overnight experience and Henry had no accidents. I took him to the potty at 11:30 PM (he was dry but nothing happened at the potty), and again at 1:30 AM (he was dry and had success in the potty). And Henry stayed dry the rest of the night. Whew! But I still hate potty training. We'll see how it goes tonight.

As for our house, I'm currently trying to figure out how to do undercabinet lighting for our kitchen. I decided on LED, as it's cooler to the touch than Xenon and more energy efficient than halogen and even florescent. But it's been quite an adventure trying to figure out what exactly I need. I could go the expensive route (over $1000) and let the Lighting Manager at Ferguson design a Juno Trac12 LED system for me but I can save about half that if I can plan it myself. Pray for me b/c this has got me sorta stumped. Our GC even came over today to look at my parts list and asked "Can you return this stuff?" Ugh. And did I mention I hate potty training?

We cooked our second meal on our new BlueStar range tonight: BBQ pork fried rice. It was our first time using a wok on our 22,000 BTU burner and lemme tell you, that is some serious heat. I had to use an oven mitt just to hold the spatula thing that I used to stir the ingredients in the wok...and I felt the heat near my tummy as I stood in front of the range. Wow. The range is incredibly impressive. I can't wait until our kitchen is finally 100% finished (currently has no running water and nothing is in any of the cabinets, so we're still cooking out of boxes).

And our hood is phenomenal. We turned it on and when we finished cooking, you couldn't smell anything. Only after we turned off the hood and the cooked food continued to release aroma did we get any whiff of culinary scents. In the past, our entire house would smell like food b/c we didn't have any kind of hood. And it was less noisy at full power than Mil's folks' hood at medium-high power. Outstanding performance.

(Please excuse the messy and still-unfinished kitchen in the photo).

Lastly, we tried putting the kids down early: 8 PM. Of course, it wasn't until closer than 8:45 that the kids were all in bed...but it was better than the 10PM bedtime they routinely had been getting for the past several weeks. This gave us a little more time for our personal stuff before our own bedtime. And we have a lot to attend to these days. We'll see if we can sustain this effort of putting the kids to sleep earlier.

How are you doing? Please keep us abreast of what's happening in your life! Everybody has a fascinating story to tell and we'd love to hear it.

Welcome, Luther!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 05:48:00 +0000

So it's been a year since our last post! A lot's happened since then and we haven't been journaling it all. Hopefully, it won't be a year before our next one.

On Mar 1st, Luther Robert was born. It was fast! So fast, Mil didn't have time to get an epidural. If we were another half an hour later to the hospital, Mil might have given birth in the car! In fact, the baby came so quick, he was born before the doctor arrived (a mid-wife helped deliver, and she was terrific).

Here are the first photos of Little Lu from the hospital...

Luther checked in at 7 lb, 6 oz.

Believe it or not, the lady on the right was Mil's and my preschool teacher, Becky O'Connell. Turns out long before Mil & I met at UIC, we actually were in the same preschool class together. And she happened to be working in the hospital that night!

The hospital gave us a complimentary "Celebration Dinner" that was a more special meal than the normal fare they would've given. It was a nice touch.

Ken & Meina with Luther

We'll post more photos soon...hopefully sooner than a year from now!

Three's company

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:00:00 +0000

We celebrated Erik's 3rd birthday with a dim sum lunch (his request) at Shih Wah in Chinatown. This is our first family birthday song to him that day...

Seitz seeing

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:19:00 +0000

Ethan performed Concerto No. 2 by F. Seitz for his Northwestern Music Academy Spring Recital on Sunday, March 15, 2009.

Music souvenir

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 03:37:00 +0000

Alyssa performed Souvenir de Sarasate by William Potstuck for her spring recital at Northwestern Music Academy. This was performed on Sunday, March 15, 2009.

A star is born

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 16:04:00 +0000

OK, maybe that's an overexaggeration but Alyssa had a starring role in a skit at The Moody Church on Jan 18th. This skit is about our attitudes towards giving. She previously had a bit part in a Christmas play about three years ago.

Give Thanks

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:57:00 +0000

Alyssa is helpful on Thanksgiving, feeding Henry so we can focus on the day's food.

The bird is the word.

All together now!

The older boys (clockwise from left: Ethan,
Russell, Zach) had their own table.

Lexi and Alex

A thrilling party for Jen.

The thrills were too much for Ken and Tito Beng too.

Mil and Jen read the Thanksgiving story to the kids.

Thanksgiving entertainment: Ethan on the viola. Better than NFL football!

Phoebe does a number too.

Lexi sings and plays the piano simultaneously as Noelle looks on.

Rob and Alex play Carcassone as Erik watches.

Ken makes his move. Ethan and Russell were formidable competitors!

At Nai Nai's the day after Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving 2008 was a good time with family, though we missed Lolo and Lola. Still, we have much to be thankful for!

The Fast and the Furious

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 04:14:00 +0000

Wednesday, our church was doing a Day of Prayer & Fasting. I decided to participate as a way of making a sacrifice to the Lord.

Let me just say that it was quite an experience!

You have to first understand that I have a big appetite. So this is indeed quite a sacrifice for me.

I've heard that fasting will make you replace thoughts of food with thoughts of God. Not sure about that, as I was thinking about food all day!

That said, I definitely did a lot of praying throughout the day.

There were several times when my fasting took some really tough turns, like when my kids were munching on delicious-smelling Whoppers (courtesy of Lola) in the car while I was driving, and going grocery shopping with all the food in the aisles staring at me.

That night, I attended the prayer meeting at church and the hour I was able to stay for was a time of prayer for families, children and marriages, both corporately and in small groups.

As a sinful man, the entire day did make me conscious of my need for the Lord in my life.

I could've taken the technical way out and chowed down at 12:01 AM that night but I wanted to go all the way in my commitment so I didn't eat until the next morning. And I had quite a breakfast: an egg, bacon, rice, a hearty bowl of oatmeal, and a half a Whopper!

I can't believe I made it. I had doubts whether I would do it again but Mildred was very encouraging, telling me how proud of me she was. Some people are proud of doing a marathon, which has no spiritual benefit, but at least now I know the feeling of accomplishing something tough...especially when there is a spiritual benefit for a sinful guy like me.

Lola turns 62

noreply@blogger.com (Mildred) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 03:39:00 +0000

My mother turns 62 on October 15th. We celebrated with a small party at our house yesterday complete with steak, pancit, and ube ice cream cake.

The highlight of the evening was the "talent show" of all the apos (grandchildren in Tagalog). Alyssa and EB played the violin and viola, respectively, Noelle and Phoebe sang, Lexi did some ballet positions, and then there was more singing from Russell, Zach, and even our little Erik.

After the "show" the kids and grandkids all gathered around to thank God for Mom and to pray that the Lord would continue to show His favor on her. What a blessing it was to see Mom with all the grandkids gathered around. I can only hope that when I am 62, I am as blessed with the joys of seeing my grown kids and sweet grandchildren. Mom has 8 grandchildren....I wonder how many I will have :)

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you!

Cruisin'

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:34:00 +0000

Every year, the Moody Church Softball League (of which I lead) holds a postseason party for one last opportunity for fellowship and to present league trophies. The party this year was held on Saturday, Oct 4th. For the third year, we did a boat cruise courtesy of Steve Borgstrom (a league player) and Wendella Boats.

This year was the first time we did a night cruise and it was pretty spectacular to see the city skyline at night. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to use the camera to capture those types of photos. So here are the few photos I have of the event...

Lexi is right at home with the adults at this table during the dinner portion of the cruise

Ethan shows up in this photo but the city night skyline does not

Ethan takes over the captain's chair during the cruise

Alyssa sits in the captain's chair during the cruise

Pump up the jam!

noreply@blogger.com (Mildred) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:53:00 +0000

Some days you just feel a bit blue. So on those days, you pray and thank God for life (eternal & temporal!). I'm glad that I'm around my kids all day to remind me of life's joys! Ahhhh, the bliss of being a child, a child of God :) Here are some pictures of our fun at Pump It Up to celebrate EB & Alyssa's summer birthdays. Even Mommy and Daddy had the opportunity to try out the equipment!

Alyssa, Ethan, Lexi, Erik (and I guess Henry too)
are ready for big birthday fun at Pump It up

Birthday Boy Ethan enjoys a big slide

Birthday Girl Alyssa and Lexi race through the obstacle course

Tita Jing, cousin Phoebe and Erik take a plunge
(although Erik doesn't seem to get as big a kick out of it)

Lexi enjoys a big slide too

Ethan takes his first-ever stab at a climbing wall

Daddy couldn't resist either. Afraid of heights? :)

The entire party. Where's Waldo...er, Alyssa and Ethan?

Daddy meets with the Birthday King and Birthday Queen

The Birthday King and Birthday Queen enjoy their birthday kingdom

Dedicated to the dedicated

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:35:00 +0000

We dedicated Henry to the Lord this past Sunday (September 21, 2008).

Noticeably, Pastor Lutzer didn't hold Henry (or the other two kids being dedicated that morning). This might have something to do with physical strain relating to his recent eye surgery...or it could be he just thinks it's easier to have the parents hold their kids. Who knows?

The cameraperson is Lolo, sitting about 15 rows from the front. Thanks, Lolo!

Blog makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:07:00 +0000

Ever watch "Extreme Home Makeover" on TV? We decided to do an "Extreme Blog Makeover."

Let's face it: Blogger templates are pretty tepid (read: ugly). WordPress themes, on the other hand, are often way cool...but you can't use them unless you have a web host (read: pay up). Being too cheap to pay for a web host and too creative to settle on ugly templates, I discovered that some people have been porting some snazzy WP themes into Blogger templates. Can you say "Woo hoo"? (go on, say it)

Anyway, I found a Blogger template called "Dreamwork Redux" and liked the possibilities (kinda like scoping out a house that's for sale and then envisioning what you'd do with it). So I used it for our blog and started gutting it down to the studs and rebuilding it from the modernistic look-and-feel to a more family-oriented style. Took a few days but I finally have it under control. Hope you all like it.

If you want to use the template,
1. Follow the link in the footer of our blog.
2. Download the template.
3. Upload the xml template to Blogger (note: you'll lose any existing widgets in your blog, but you can add them back).
4. You're done (if you like the style as-is out of the box).

The images and .js files in the template are stored on the web by someone else. If you're lazy, just leave it; if you're anal and concerned that person will someday close his account and take down those files, you can upload the files yourself. The images can be stored on sites like ImageShack, Photobucket, etc while the .js files can be uploaded to pages.google.com.

So basically, we're rebooting our blog. Feel free to bookmark it and check back often. Or if you're lazy like me, you can subscribe via email or RSS (your choice) and get blog updates automatically so you don't have to keep checking back here. As the old ads used to say: try it...you'll like it!

Memorable Memorial Day

noreply@blogger.com (Mildred) — Tue, 27 May 2008 01:24:00 +0000

Memorial Day marks the start of our family blog. I've never done a blog before (gasp!) so now I feel SO with the times...haha! Mother of 5 - I am a little bit out of it, I know.

So what did we do this weekend? The inexperienced blogger has no pictures so we could have really embellished this but that wouldn't be truthful, now would it? :)

Friday - Rob got home early and we had some friends over from Ethan's baseball team. We grilled some burgers and hot dogs.

Saturday - the kids played outside (riding bikes and playing ball with the neighbors). I planted the last of the tulip bulbs I got for free from Old Orchard. I must've gotten 200 bulbs...woo hoo! Noelle stayed over and we all saw The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. We didn't get to catch the matinee showing so we had to pay the full price but it was worth every penny! Afterwards, we had our favorite pizza from J.B. Alberto's for dinner.

Sunday - church, a visit to the inlaws and then dinner with Lolo & Lola. Russell and Phoebe slept over.

Monday - Breakfast at the Rosa Diner (ha ha) and then some shopping (we came home empty-handed) and a quiet evening at home. We are wiped out! Rob thinks it's back to the grind tomorrow but I don't call it a grind :)

Contact Us

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:15:00 +0000

Are we your long-lost ninth cousins seven times removed? Did we borrow your jackhammer and never return it? Did you recognize us on The Tonight Show? Just want to tell us how much you like our earhair? Then give us a holler! We'd love to hear from you.