Jack's Birthdays

Jack turned 4 on February 7 (I know, hard to believe) and he was lucky enough to have two birthday parties. The first one was in Texas on his actual birthday. It was a bit impromptu since we were in Dallas for Papaw's funeral, but with Kristen's two kids and my cousin Kim's five kids, we ended up with quite a shindig. The kids played a lot outside and we had ice cream cake and tons of fun. We didn't plan on it, but the party was great.

Jack's other party was this Saturday on the Santa Monica Pier. We worried all week about the weather and it rained up until Friday. Saturday was spectacular though as we couldn't have had a better day. The location was unbelievable (I know we never had birthday parties in locations as scenic as this). The kids rode a bunch of rides (we had trouble getting them off of the bumper cars) and Jack had an awesome time. He was so happy!

Robyn's birthday was also last weekend, February 8th. We spent most of it on an airplane coming home but we did go out to a nice dinner Friday night. She has her own ice cream cake in the freezer that we still need eat. Lots of ice cream cake in the last week!

Here are some pictures of both parties!

LA

Jack's Birthday Santa Monica 2009

Dallas

Jack & Robyn's Birthday 2009

House Update Jan 25th

As I mentioned in the last post, we're coming down the home stretch on the house. On the outside, the rough stucco is done, the windows are in, and the roof is done. The main thing left to do on the outside is to apply the finish color coat of stucco which they will do once we nail down the color. We also need to get some of the concrete blasted up and get some steps built in the back, but that will be done near the very end. The garage is a bit of a mess but we'll probably deal with that after we move back in the house.

On the inside, the tile and cabinets are going in right now. We have a coat of paint on the kitchen and family room but we're not sure we like the color. The tile in the bathrooms is starting to come together and it looks great. The cabinets look good too but we've had a few issues. We're going to make the island a tad smaller than what we'd planned on and we need to figure out what we're going to do with the oven cabinet. The contractor says it's too small for the oven we're getting, but the cabinet guy says it will be fine with a little cutting on the sides. Not sure who's right here, but we're siding with the contractor for now.

The window and door frames should get done this and the tile and cabinets should be pretty much finished as well. After that, we're on to the countertops and then flooring. Below are some pictures from this weekend.

House Pictures Jan 25

What's been up?

Well, around our house, there's been a lot going on. First, we're still in the rental house during the last few weeks (hopefully) of the big remodel project. The cabinets are starting to go in and the tile should be finished this week. The house is really starting to come together and we can't wait to move back in.

Jack is back in school and likes his class. He also does basketball practice two days a week after school and takes swim lessons on the weekend. He's developing quite a jumpshot and is getting better at a swimming off by himself.

Avery continues to grow and has started eating table food. She seems to want to eat everything. She would eat chips and salsa if we'd let her. She's also now mobile and getting quite fast at crawling. You definitely have to keep an eye on her now or she will be into something before you know it.

Robyn has had a lot of interest in two of her scripts has several people waiting to read the rewrite of her comedy. It's been tough to write during the last month or two since we were out of town for the holidays and now the house project is almost all consuming. She's excited though and has gotten some great feedback (by that I mean both positive as well as helpful).

Other than that, we finally got around to posting a boatload of pictures. Check them out:

We're back

It's a been a long hiatus, but we're back up with the blog. There's a lot going on, so let's get started...

First things first, Robyn came in second for a HUGE screenwriting award called the Goldwyn award. It's given by the Goldwyn Foundation (the G in MGM for you non-Hollywood types) to the best screenplays submitted by students in the UC system. The competition consisted of a lot of great screenwriters, many from Robyn's class, and despite that, Robyn came in second! The results were published in the

Hollywood Reporter: (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3iac3113c71beb425a7c52d45feb7d21fd)

Variety:
(http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117995207.html?categoryid=1236&cs=1)

and in the UCLA Paper:
(http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-sweeps-2008-samuel-goldwyn-70952.aspx).

She's been getting lots of calls and emails from agents and managers as a result so this has been a real boost. We're really excited for her and proud of her.

Jack's doing great and is back in school at New World Montessori. He loves it there and has been doing really well in his second year. He's a lot more confident in himself and is really learning a lot. He loves to play all kinds of sports and any kind of car.

Avery continues to grow in size and grow cuter. She's now almost 8 months and is big for her age. She smiles all the time and loves to laugh at big brother Jackie. She's starting to try to talk and also loves to stand up and look around. She's such a happy girl. We are truly blessed to have such great children.

We're still living in the rental house and work on our house is coming along. The walls are up, the rough plumbing and electrical are done, the roof is on, and the windows are in as well. It's looking pretty good!

I'm doing ok as well. I just got back from a trip to Korea and Taiwan and am getting back on LA time. Pomegranate season is in full swing so I've been busy, but things are going well.

More to come. In the meantime, here are some pictures...

Jack & Avery Oct 2008

Big Family Vacation & House Remodel Underway!

Hey all,

It's a been a while since our last post but we've been busy. We've been on a big family vacation, started remodeling the house, and Jack started school again.

The vacation was fantastic. We had both sides of the family spread across two condos in Myrtle Beach, SC for a little over a week. We went to the beach a lot, we ate tons of seafood, the kids played until they dropped everyday, and we had great weather. It was tough for everyone to leave, especially the kids. Apparently, Barrett (my sister Kristen's 3 year old) just put his head down and cried as the went down in the elevator for the last time.

From Myrtle Beach August 2008

When we got back, the house remodel was in full gear. In a little more than a month, they've blasted up all of the concrete in the backyard, built the foundation and floor for the new addition, pretty much torn out the entire interior of the existing house, and done the rough plumbing. Still a long way to go, but it's really fun to watch the progress. I'm sure it won't be as much fun in a few months when it's still going, but we're having a great time for now.

From House Remodel 20080912

We've Moved! At least temporarily...

As many of you know, we've been looking to expand our house, pretty much from the day we bought it. Now, with a second child, the time has come as the house is literally busting at the seems with two adults, two kids, and the two cats. We're adding about 850 square feet onto the back, expanding the kitchen in the process and adding a family room. It's going to be a long process but we are excited that it is finally underway. More pictures to come. In the meantime, we've moved out and are renting a house down the street from ours. The rental house is actually quite a bit bigger than our existing house, so it's been a nice change!

Stuff Going On

Wow, it's been a busy month since my last post! Avery's grown a ton, Jack's been doing lots of activities, Robyn celebrated an usual milestone, Brad had a birthday, and we're jumping in on remodeling the house.

Let's see, first things first, Avery continues to grow at a rapid pace. The best thing though is that she's starting to get more interactive. She likes to smile and pose for mommy and daddy and coos so cutely.

Jack's had a busy summer so far. He's been to summer school (not his favorite place) and also to JAG gym (one of his favorite places). JAG gym is a gymnastic class where the kids run around, climb on things, jump on stuff, in other words, all of his favorite things in one place. He comes home ecstatic, but exhausted. Yeah, it's great! This past week, he's been going to a science camp where's he been building cars, airplanes, marble toys, and doing lots of fun activities.

Robyn went to an unusual event a few weeks ago: the five year anniversary of The Room. The Room was a movie that Robyn did when we first moved to LA and she was building her resume and demo reel. Everything surrounding the movie from the director to the script to the production of it was hysterical. The problem is, the writer/director/producer/star actor thought it was a serious drama. Anyway, the movie is so hilariously bad, that it's developed a cult following and is still shown the last Friday of every month. People really get into it: they dress up as characters in the movie, they yell out the lines, they act out the scenes as the movie is playing, and they throw stuff at the screen. Anyway, the five year anniversary was in June so Robyn went with a group of UCLA friends. Because the movie has such feverish fans and she really didn't want to be recognized, she had to go in costume. At the end of the movie, several people wanted her autograph and number of them wanted to have their pictures taken with her. Really funny stuff. A link to the pictures is below.

Robyn @ The Room 5 Year Anniversary Screening

We've also started planning for the big remodel: looking at hardwood floors, appliances, windows, doors, faucets, tubs, showers, etc. Wow, it's amazing how many different kinds of toilets there are, not to mention floors, tiles, hardwood floors, and other stuff. Anyway, we start in a few weeks and have rented a house down the street to live in while the work is going. Being close by will be great for keeping up with what's going on and having a backyard.

Well, I think I've rambled on long enough. Guess that's what happens when you only post once a month.