During March Madness, we called a moratorium on the “no screens during the schoolweek” rule so Little Brother could get his fix of basketball games. It wouldn’t be fair to let one brother get screens but not the other. And it wouldn’t be fair to only allow screen time for sports (Nate likes to “play sports, not watch it”). So during March Madness, it looks like Nate gets to enjoy extra TV, movies and video games during the week. Lucky for him!

Watching Netflix on the iPad

A typical Monday afternoon for Lincoln does not include time for homework. Kindergartners at our school get homework on Wednesday and turn them in by Monday so Mondays are typically free and clear. Today, however, was a special Monday. Today this little guy had some very – VERY – important homework to attend to.

Time to fill out his BRACKETS!
Anyone who knows my youngest son knows that he is OBSESSED with sports. Basketball in particular. So March Madness is totally, completely, absolutely right up his alley. He knows all the teams, their stats, their key players. It took him no time to fill out his brackets; he knows exactly who he thinks will win.

His final pick:

And a little interview with the kid. You can hear his thoughts on the teams for yourself.

Over the weekend, I received some crushing news.  My grandfather passed away.

Although his age (100 years old) combined with a series of recent health issues prepared my brain for the fact that he wouldn’t live much longer, there was nothing that prepared my heart for the aching I felt when I learned that he had passed.   I thought I was prepared for this moment, but clearly I was not.  In the middle of Mission Oaks Park, immediately after a fierce Mommy/Nate vs. Daddy/Lincoln baseball game, I talked to my uncle about his passing … and I broke down and cried.  This must have been the first time my kids have seen me so sad.  They were so concerned for their mom and all her tears!  But it was a good opportunity to talk to them about my grandfather, whom neither of my kids had met.

Kong-Ta Horng was an incredible man who led a full, well-rounded and amazing life.  He had a great family, an army of friends, a successful career (as an OBGYN), an active lifestyle (always walking, hiking and/or playing tennis … even well into his senior years), a wonderful retirement filled with travels all over the world, and a love and passion for photography which he passed on to the entire Horng family lineage.  I will always remember his playful spirit, his silly sense of humor, his perfectionist tendencies and the adorable smile that he often wore.

In his nineties, my grandfather published a book that chronicled his life through photos.  His childhood, his school years, his college years, his family, his world travels, his landscape and flower portraits, his milestones, his accomplishments, his friends and his loved ones.  As I was leafing through the pages and sharing memories with my kids, I came across this spread.

Wow.  This image just hit me like a ton of bricks.  My own love and passion for photography started at a young age thanks to this incredible man.  Here we are back in 1984, watching the sun set and waiting for the perfect moment(s) to press the shutter and capture the beauty and the moment forever.  I am so thankful that someone (most likely my mom) wasn’t focused on the sunset and instead, captured THIS beautiful moment forever.

Just booked my tickets for Taiwan and look forward to honoring his memory and celebrating his life and legacy.

The Christmas festivities are in full force over here at the Zimmermann household. We’re surrounded by family … and lots of delicious food. Cooked with butter. And sugar. And more butter. And more sugar! Just the way we like it.

Before turning in for the night, I spent some time rearranging our presents and making room for Santa and his gifts. Hmmmmmm … as I started to reposition the packages, I started to notice a trend. They all looked a little like this:

Fortunately, Santa still had the boys on the “nice” list and left a nice pile o’ loot for the kiddos.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

My little guy has a heart of gold. So full of love and compassion.

The purity of his heart brings me so much more joy and satisfaction than any of his soccer goals, stripes on his karate belt or gold stars on his worksheets ever could. (Although don’t get me wrong … I am quite proud of all of those things, too!)

In first grade, the kids have to do home reading every night. A few weeks ago, he read a book about being a leader and doing the “right” things. I was floored (not really) when he read the page below and without prompting, he told me what he would do “if that boy were real.”

I share this on my blog not to boast about my kid (well, yeah … I admittedly am kinda am doing that a little bit) but to illustrate how you can use photography to capture a feeling, a fleeting moment in time. Even after the fact.

Sometimes, you happen to have your camera with you right when something special or spectacular happens. More often than not, however, you find yourself saying, “I wish I had had my camera!” In some instances, I find it’s actually worthwhile to recreate a moment for documentation purposes. In this example, I knew that I wanted to remember this moment when Nate showed his compassionate self. I wanted to document it so twenty years from now, I could remember how even back in first grade, he was always such a lover. So after Nate was finished with his book reading, I grabbed my camera, flipped the book back to the appropriate page and made Nate read the page again. And then I snapped this photo and added the caption.

There’s something about seeing the image that really helps cement this memory into my brain. I know I won’t ever forget that he has a heart of gold, but every time I look at this photo, I relive that little moment with my son. And it makes me smile.

Someone dumped a ton of water in with my good (read: expensive!) conditioner while in the shower the other day.

That someone is a couple days shy of turning five and has also perfected his I-don’t-know-what-you’re-talking-about look.

Are we there yet?
How many more miles do we have?
How high are we?
Are we there yet?
How fast are you going?
Are we there yet?
How many more minutes?
What time is it?
Are we there yet?
Repeat ad naseum three zillion more times.
Then it will be just like you were sitting in the car with us as we drove up to Mammoth Mountain this weekend.

The four of us trekked up to the Sierras this weekend to introduce the boys to the sport of skiing. And yeah … the amount of time logged in the car was a little on the painful side, but I would do it again (and I know we will!) in a heartbeat.

I was amazed at – and proud of – how quickly the boys picked up skiing. Soon, however, that sense of pride turned into a little fear as I saw how quickly the boys wanted to graduate from the poma and move onto the chairlift, speed down the slopes and try the jumps. It’s not gonna be long before my boys are gonna wanna do crazy stunts!! But I’ll worry about that another day. For now, I’ll revel in the fact that we get to ski down the slopes as a family of four.

Here are my boys on our short walk from cabin to slopes.

From Mammoth Mountain Ski Weekend

And with a gentle nudge from their private instructor, they’re off!

From

From Mammoth Mountain Ski Weekend

From Mammoth Mountain Ski Weekend

In between runs, we made time for snowball fights.

From Mammoth Mountain Ski Weekend

And after a nice day of skiing, we made time for lightsaber battles and force pushing. (And hanging out with our friends whom we shared the cabin with.)

From Mammoth Mountain Ski Weekend

Lucky for us, the weather gods were very generous with their degrees and their sunshine. We got a lot of both! (Which is why the boys got to see a few “California Girls” skiing with “bikinis on top”) Perfect conditions for the boys’ first ski experience. Goodbye, Mammoth! See you next year!!

From Mammoth Mountain Ski Weekend

We took a lot of video footage on Day 2. Which is probably pretty boring to everyone except immediate family. (And even that is debatable.) So I tried to spice it up and condense the footage in a short clip. First little iMovie project on my Mac. (Probably not my last.)

Until recently, Erich and I were the only ones that could leave little notes lying around the house (for each other or for the kids). But now … now that Nate is learning to write (and having fun with his newfound skill at that!), it is SO awesome – REALLY AWESOME – to just find little random love (or like) notes around the house, the office, the car.

On a random notepad at home:

On my laptop computer screen at work:

I know no one cares, but it’s so hard for me to post sub par photos without my little photo disclaimer. So here it is for my sake, not yours. Excuse the photo quality. Snapped quickly with my iPhone purely for documentation’s sake.

The boys aren’t all that great about putting things away where they belong. (Perfect examples evidenced in the this photo – towel hanging over the bed, drawer half open, toys on the ground, balls under the bed, etc.) In fact, the opposite is quite true. They are actually quite good at putting things where they don’t belong. Case in point: Linc’s DS. It has been missing for several months now. We searched high and low – all over the house and in both cars – but it was nowhere to be found. In the end, Daddy was accused of losing it at the UCLA soccer game, the last place anyone remembered it making an appearance.

This weekend, we were playing in the boys’ room and Linc went to get something out of his treasure chest. He squealed! Look what he found buried along with his treasures.

Sorry, Daddy. Falsely accused!

We love basketball.
And we intend to get a “real”hoop.
But we haven’t plunked down the $ to pick up a new hoop yet.
Soooo … what is this basketball-loving family to do in the meantime?

With the help of our friend, Mr. Duct Tape, we give an old baby/toddler toy an extended life.

It’s not pretty.

But it’s functional.

The boys get to work practicing their shots.

I can only imagine how much fun we’re going to have when we get a real hoop!