Weekend Recap

Hey kids,
Daddy here. This weekends activities consisted of celebrating Jake's birthday. Saturday morning, we gave Jake his present. I think he liked it.

We had the gang meet at our house at 11am and the Clickners came up from Chico. While the girls and Al stayed at the house Jake, Jack, Rudy, Patrick, Nathan, Doc & I went to Oasis Fun Center. The kids played a game of laser tag in which Rudy and Jack absolutely decimated the rest of you.

Then, we went outside and you guys drove go karts. Jake was in the lead for a while, but eventually Nathan overtook him and when Jack made his move to overtake Jake, Jake may have bumped him out causing Jack to spin out. But you know what they say, racing is rubbing. After the go karting, we went back inside and played another round of laser tag. This time Doc & I decided to join the fray. We lost. We lost big time. However, there was only 100 points separating the first and second place teams, we all had a great time. We headed back to the house for some Little Caesars lunch. After lunch, we headed to the park. Jake, Rudy and Jack went to play soccer  and Alex and Nathan went to fly Al's new drone . Eventually, we had to take Jack to his cousin house for birthday party. After that, we headed home to play Jake's birthday present, Madden 16 for Xbox one. Eventually, Rudy had to head home to and the Clickner's, since they live so close were able to stay till well into the evening.

Sunday morning, we got up and went to Mass at 9, as per standard. After Mass, Grammie, Papa, Jula, and Violet came over for another celebration of Jake's birthday. He got a Star Wars book and some cash. After the gang took off, we headed over to JC Penny to look for some shoes for Alex and I and actually found some! We hit Safeway on the way home and had a nice relaxing close to an awesome birthday weekend. I love you guys,

Daddy

XII

Hey kids,
Daddy here. 12 years ago today, our family was blessed by the arrival of SteveO. I remember when Mama was pregnant with you, Jake and we were going to find out whether you were a boy or girl. I remember not wanting to find out, but mom did and when we found out you were a boy, I was super excited to have another son. On the day you were born, Alex spent the night at Grammie and Papa's house and mom and I got to the hospital about 5 a.m. It was President's Day and the anesthesiologist had forgotten to show up, so we had to wait a bit. It all worked out okay though, and you arrived safe and sound, okay maybe screaming a little. After they got you cleaned up and took you to the nursery, I was standing there on the other side of the glass just watching you sleep when Tutu and Grandpa showed up. Tutu asked me, "Which one is ours?" I said, as I pointed to you, "That's him right there." Grandpa asked, "What did we decide to name him?" And I said, "Jacob Albert Mansfield." Grandpa got the biggest smile on his face. He loved you so much, Jake. I know you don't remember him, but you made a very big impression on him from the first day he saw you.
Now here we are 12 years later. Countless adventures, funny stories and life changing years later. I hope you had a happy birthday son. You deserve it. You have brought so much joy into my life and continue to do so every day.  I hope you never wonder about how much I love you or how proud of you I am because it is beyond compare. I love you,

Daddy

Weekend Recap

Hey kids,
Daddy here. This weekend the entire Mansclan had a three day weekend.
Friday night, we had to stay away from meat, since Lent is on. So, we had mac and cheese. Mom and Izzy fell asleep in our bed watching TV on the iPad while the boys and I watched Flash downstairs and then fell asleep watching an episode of Legends of Tomorrow.
Saturday morning, I headed to the movie theater and met Doc and we saw Deadpool. It was totally awesome! And wildly inappropriate. I'm sorry to say that you guys won't be saying that for quite some time. Which is too bad since it's a perfect Deadpool movie. After the movie, we went to Lumberjacks for lunch and I had to have new tires put on the car, ugh. Mom and Izzy went to school, so mom could get some stuff done. I got home just in time to have a few minutes with the boys before I had to head out. I was once again hosting the RMEF annual banquet and fundraiser. This year, the event was at Win River and went pretty smooth, albeit long. I got home about 11:30 and went straight to bed.
Sunday morning we got up and went to church. After church and our standard weekly run to Target, mom had the brilliant idea to go mini golfing. We headed to Oasis Fun Center for our round of mini golf. It was pretty competitive and a whole lot of fun. Oh, & I got a hole in one! After mini golf we dropped you guys off at home and mom and I ran to Safeway to pick up some dinner fixins since the Reagan's  were coming over later.  We also stopped at Fall River Tap House and had a pint. Since we were not fasting anymore, mom made Philly cheese steak sandwiches for dinner. It was as awesome as it sounds! Al played video games, Jake played the iPad, Izzy and Mackenzie played princesses and Andrew ran around in between all of you guys while us adults played darts outside. Everyone had a great night.
Monday, since we were all off, we decided to go take a hike at Whiskeytown. We loaded up the water bottles and drove to the trail head. It was a short hike all in all but perfect for us that are not in the best shape. We finally made it to the falls.

We met a nice family that had a giant dog, and when Izzy saw it she said, "That's a Saint Bernard!" It was! His name was Brody and he was super friendly. I tell ya, that girls knows her dog breeds. We headed back to the car and had a nice relaxing evening. All the nonsense starts back up tomorrow, but there is something else to look forward to, it's Jake's birthday tomorrow!! I love you guys,

Daddy

Weekend Recap

Hey kids,
Daddy here. This weekends activities included a whole lot of fun.

Friday, we headed out to Mason's Pizza in Bella Vista. It's owned by Mrs Woodfill's Brian and his wife Michelle. The service was a bit slow, but who cares when we're together with the family?!

Saturday, we had to clean the house and since we did such a great job, the boys and I went and got Fast Weenies for lunch. In the evening, Mom and I went to a crab feed at the fairgrounds with Grammie and Papa. We loaded up on crab and had a great time.

Sunday morning, Al and I were the readers at the 9am Mass. As much as I love doing my part to read and preach, I love just as much seeing you, Al, take such pride in yourself when you get up there. I'm so proud when I see you reading and serving your church. Jake noticed that there was lack of lead servers, so he stepped up and lead the others in what to do. SteveO, I'm also very proud of you for seeing that they needed servers and just jumping into the role. It fills me with joy to see you guys serve where your church needs you.  After church, we headed to Target for the weekly trip and to get the ingredients for the Buffalo chicken dip. We went home and Mom prepped the dip. We headed to Laird's for the MansClan tradition of watching the Super Bowl with those guys. The game was kinda boring, but the company was awesome so we had a great time. Final score on the Super Bowl 50 snooze fest was 24-10 Denver. I can't believe that Carolina only scored 10. Anyway, another great party was had, so we're calling it a success.
You guys have tomorrow off, but I gotta work. Enjoy your day with Mom. I love you guys,

Daddy

Weekend Recap

Hey kids,
Daddy here. This weekend was the annual Walk for Life in San Francisco. Alex has been to the Walk for Life a couple of times but the rest of us had never been. Father George called us on Friday and told us there were five seats left on the bus if we all wanted to go. It seems like it was destined. So, bright and early Saturday morning we got up headed to church and got on the bus. To say the seats were cramped, would be a massive understatement. To say the guy sitting in front of Mom was annoying, would be a monumental understatement but, we were there for the greater good so we forgive and move on. Be with a billion, really?! Ok, now I'm moving on. We arrived in San Francisco and went to our designated spot. I think the rough estimate put 55 thousand people there!

There were a few guest speakers but eventually we began walking. Father George had told us there would be many protesters and not to engage them. Alex, Veronica and a few others were hoping to see some crazies and we did. How about the lady screaming about her abortion? How about the "It's safe to leave the church" guy? One of the things I thought was neat was as we passed by a construction site all of the guys working on the site put their tools down and applauded us. That was awesome. It was also cool to see San Francisco all decorated up for the Super Bowl. We did however see a guy wearing all of his Seahawks gear. As I pointed out to Alex his team is watching from the same place that our team is, the couch. Alex got a little touchy because Brooklyn and Abeni Figueroa tried to monopolize my time, that is when mom wasn't physically having to restrain Ab from dealing with protesters. We eventually made it back to the bus and headed to get something to eat. Father George treated and we went to IHOP. We are so very blessed to have such a wonderful spiritual leader in Father George and I'm also proud to count him as a friend. We got back on the crowded bus and headed home. They decided to play a movie on the way home and that movie was Nacho Libre. I think it's one of the worst movies I've ever seen, but as I couldn't hear most of it it's hard to say. The only thing I know for sure is the only people laughing out loud was the guy in front of Alex and his kid who is sitting behind me. Ok, now I'm done. We eventually made it back home safe and sound. Hopefully, next year if we get to go will get a little bit bigger bus. If not, we will make it work. I'm glad we all got to go. I love you guys,

Daddy

Monterey Trip

Hey kids,
Daddy here. You guys get to go on so many great field trips every year, I wish I could go to all of them but alas I have to pick and choose carefully which ones I am able to attend. This year, mom and I made the decision that I would be attending and chaperoning the 6th grade field trip to Monterey. So after getting fingerprinted and taking an online test assuring that I wouldn't let any kid light himself on fire, I was ready to go. Wednesday night Jake and I packed up our stuff and set out early Thursday morning to begin our trek. We met the rest of the 6th grade class at the school at 6:15 and riding in Moya with Jake and I were Rudy and Patrick. We decided not to caravan and just let the chaperones find the quickest way to the aquarium on their own. Mike Palmer and I stayed fairly close on the trip down and decided to get gas and snacks at the same time. The right down was pretty uneventful because the boys just kept their nose in the iPad the entire time. Except one we went over the bridge near Benicia and they saw all the decommission warships. Then, as we got closer Patrick's excitedly said hey there is the ocean.

Christmas & New Year 2015/2016

Hey kids,
Daddy here. The past couple of weeks has been super crazy, what with the holidays and such.

It started on Christmas Eve. I took the day off and had to wrap up some last minute shopping (get it, wrap up!? lol). In the evening, we headed to the Christmas Eve vigil Mass at church. Alex was one of the lead servers and Jake served as well. Izzy was a little angel (literally, not just sitting there quiet). Grammie, Papa, Jula, and Violet joined us for the Mass. We get so tied up in all the gifts that sometimes we forget the greatest gift of all, God's love. Always remember that God loved us so much that He sent us a savior in Jesus and that is what this special time of year is all about.  After Mass, we headed home for our annual Christmas Eve dinner at our house. This year we had a full house with the five of us, Grammie, Papa, Tia, Uncle PP, Great-grandma Dorthy, Jula, Violet, Uncle J, Henry and even cousin Josh! Sadly, we did not have our traditional crab this year, due to the drought. Rest assured, Mom and Grammie made sure we still had plenty of good stuff to eat. We did have one brand new thing at this years dinner. Jake set his fabric napkin on fire. I certainly hope this will not become a new trend. Later in the evening, Mr Brace came by to pick up Al so he could be an angel at the 10 p.m. Mass. I'm so proud of you, Al for being there when your church needed you, even though you didn't want to. That shows such strength of character. Mom and I got all the dishes cleaned up and made it to bed before Santa showed up.

The next morning, I think you guys woke us up about 3:18 yelling and screaming that once again, Santa had paid us a visit. Mom made a pot of coffee and we headed downstairs to see what the big guy left us.



Everyone seemed very happy with their haul. Al's final gift was a Drone! Sadly, it was coming from China and would not be here till the 8th of January. Jake got a fitbit and Izzy got Gracie and an EZ Bake Oven. I got a bag of Mom's underwear, oops! In reality I got the Star Wars book, Aftermath. Mom got some kitchen stuff and some gift certificates from you guys. It was another great Christmas with the MansClan. We  had a few minutes to look over our stuff and then had to head out for the second part of our Christmas day celebration. We got dressed and headed over to Grammie & Papa's house. Papa made Mom and I his famous Bloody Mary's and Jake and Izzy passed out the gifts. The party continued all day and well into the evening. We watched some football, had dinner and decided to spend the night.

The next morning, we had a nice slow morning and watched some movies. We eventually headed home to play with our new stuff. A nice, relaxing, easy day. Is it only Saturday?!

Sunday morning brought us to Church and back home for another lazy, totally awesome day.

Monday we got a few surprises. First of all, Al's drone got here, weeks ahead of schedule! So we flew it around the house for a bit to try to get a feel for it. I tell ya, that thing is harder to fly than it looks. The second of the awesome surprises was that Becky & Eric were coming to Redding to drop off David and wanted to know if Alex could come back with them and spend a week at their house. We debated it for a bit, but Mom and I decided to let you go, Al. I can tell you now that as much as you wanted to see your friend, I really wanted you to stay with us since I don't get enough time to spend with you guys. One day you'll be grown and gone and I just want to make sure we have enough time together while you're still under our roof. I often lament about how little time there is and how quickly it goes, but I truly love spending time with Mom and you guys more than anything else in the world.

Anyway, Al left for a week in Danville and Jake, Iz, Mom and I had a great time too. On Tuesday, we went to see the movie, The Good Dinosaur. It was another awesome Pixar flick, and of course, a little sad. We went shopping at JC Penny for Jake.