Early Summer 2010

Funny Bone Removal

Hello All,

As you know, I love making short movies of my kids. This is our latest video, made on Memorial Day, and taken from some footage from back in February. I hope you enjoy.

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

The Latest Roll...

The Best Photos Of Spring 2010

The Bwudding Soccer Star

All I'm saying is that David Beckham better watch out!

Like Father, Like Son

Hello All,

There are several brands that I am loyal to. I am a company's dream customer if I dig on their product. I plan to have the newest Apple gadget with every new iteration. When I play my Yamaha Maple Custom drums, I'll be using my Vater Recording sticks. Going into the fridge and you'll will see a Henry Weinhard's six pack of root beer...unless I have had one, then there will only be 5! There are several other companies that have my lifetime, theirs or mine, loyalty.

I'm the same with food. One fast food restaurant that will always keep me coming back is Subway. Somewhere in the last several years, I became a life long lover of Subway. Something about the "choose your own adventure" sandwich compilation just made me giddy! Then, Subway combined three words that hooked me like a starving fish: Chicken Bacon Ranch! I think that it's fair to say that anything with any of these three words, rank among my most favored foods. But put them together and you have heaven on a plate!

Not too long ago, Caleb witnessed my euphoric celebration as I took my first bite into my latest sandwich. He was so impressed by the sandwich and his Father's enthusiasm, that he immediately asked if he could take a bite. Of course, being the good Father that I am, I denied him the privilege in order that he might have his own Chicken Bacon Ranch Signature sandwich.

So, today, March 14th, 2010, Caleb got to enjoy his first CBR. Here are a few pics to commemorate the moment.

This was Caleb's first bite. It brings a tear to my eye, just reporting that! He was excited about telling the young lady what he wanted on his sandwich. She was a little disappointed that all he wanted was chicken, bacon, ranch, olives and salt and pepper, but the Bwudd was not!
Here was his initial assessment: Two thumbs up! You cannot beat that high praise! You might notice that there is a lack of smiling. That's just so he doesn't lose any of that Subway tastiness!



This picture will be a great pic for later when Caleb is an Iron Chef! People might just point to this moment when the epiphany demanded a response, naturally, that a person can find the best flavor combinations when they add bacon to the mix!


Yep, a fine Father/Son bonding experience! Thanks Subway for making this moment possible!

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

Why We're All So Tired All The Time!

Hello All,

7PM is not one of my favorite hours. Getting kids ready for bed is notoriously "unfun." Oh, wait, I can hear it now: "These are the best years!" Do you ever notice that when a fellow parent says that, they are, to a person, referring to years long past!? Funny how the "now" is never spoken of as "the best years!" Now, I will break the rule: These are the best years, but 7PM is the worst of the hours! I can't wait until they are just a little older and bedtime means they are tired and they get themselves showered and readied to sleep. Anyway, I digress: 8PM is better. Kids are in bed reading and the operative word for Daddy, "quietly!" 9PM is just awesome! A little after 9PM, 2/3 of the kids are out...a little like this picture here, with Caleb and Lizzie unconsciously imitating Michelangelo's famous fresco "The Creation Of Adam."

Most of the time, Caleb or Lizzy are out first. Caleb, like his Mother, is a notorious sleeper. He just lays down and is gone pretty quick. Lizzy is usually next, slowly drifting toward unconsciousness. Once she is out, she pretty much stays right where she is. Caleb on the other hand will move all over the bed, in and out of 20 or 30 positions per night! And, it's not rare for him, at the slightest movement in the room, to dialogue clearly in his sleep! In this picture, he did start on the couch with Renae...

And speaking of version 1.0, she is never asleep earlier than 10PM. That's right: Sometimes 2 hours after getting into bed! She is just not easy to turn off. She reads voraciously in bed and seems to spend her time thinking about all sorts of insane thoughts. When she was a little kid, I would come home from Sunday night service and she would be obsessing about her strange fear of lions, that I promised to spank if they ever came near our house. That seemed to comfort her.

Renae, when it comes to sleep, is to much like her Father, who loathes to miss any opportunity that resembles the solitude that late nights afford him and that one day, will be the norm of his existence. ("Oh how I long for a sparcely lit, quiet study...it's coming...I believe it!) What's that? Oh yeah, I know: Best days...

Then, there's Mommy, who is known to sleep just about anywhere, at any time. Having moved more than 10 times in 5 years, as well as bearing three children in 8 years, and being married to a guy who loves late nights for over 12 years, has made her quite ready for a few years of sleep! But, the "when's and where's" of a young Mom?

The old rule was, "sleep when the kids sleep" and this worked, when the kids slept! Nap time used to be such a great thing for Lela. Ah, and then there was the Spanish siesta! All of Jerez used to shut down daily at 2PM and when in Rome...or Spain...do as the Spaniards do! That worked for a while and then we moved back. Today, Lela steals a nap here and there whenever she can, but as you can see from the picture, she rarely sleeps alone!

And then there's me. You'll note that there are no pictures of me. That's simply because I do not sleep...or, more accurately, nobody is awake when I go to bed. I spend those precious late hours studying, blogging, reading (current book: "Paul's Metaphors") doing laundry ("I am not ashamed!") and catching up on my Hulu cache! Plus, if I slept more, I might have missed these pics and not been able to remember these great times!

Blessings To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

"What's Hip Today Might Become Passe!"

Hello All,

This is my Grandpa and Grandma Sanchez on their wedding day. The picture was taken just before the 2nd World War. It made me laugh because it seems that not smiling was the cool thing to do back in those days, at least in the circle of friends that my grandparents ran with. Could you imagine taking a wedding picture like this today? I think that you might get a few strange looks.

But looks aside, my Grandparents remained by each others side, despite having only dated for a few weeks. They got married before my Grandpa went out to fight for our country and they stayed married until he died, just a few years ago. Their picture says a lot about their time, but not much about the value of commitment that they demonstrated to each of us over many years. Their marriage faced great challenges, greater I'd say than most that we would face: Deployment to World War II, alcoholism, the loss of their first born, etc. They stayed together. That should never go out of style, though today, marriages often fail at the first sign of potential trouble!

A funny aside to this picture. I went and visited my Grandma not too long ago and she gave me a little inside scoop into the background of this wedding picture. Apparently, my Grandpa's sisters like his ex-girlfriend so much, that they insisted that she be included in the wedding party! Can you imagine that!? My Grandma let it be, but she was none too happy about it!

Speaking of pictures, here is a picture of the Bwudda's big cut. Boy glory, here we come! In case you can't see it, it's above the left eye... We took the bandaid off today because it's getting a little itchy. Caleb's face reflects his misery! Poor kid!

Have a great weekend everyone and watch out for those walls!!

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

Ballet & Burritos

Hello All,

Here are a few scenes from our family over our usual enjoyment of the fine art of ballet and the equally fine art of the El Burrito burrito.

Hope you enjoy.



Blessings To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

A Corolla And A Camera, Pt. 1

Hello All,

It seems that a good portion of our family's life is spent inside our car. Whether it's a jaunt to Orange County for a dental appointment or it's house hunting in the Inland Empire, our car is the stable common denominator. Usually, we'll listen to some tunes, everything from Veggie Tales to Hillsong United. Over the last several trips, we've had to spend some time doing home school. I think that you get the picture: The car can get quite boring! So, out comes the camera.This obviously caught them off guard, so I thought, "I'll just snap a few more..."
As you can see, they are warming up to the idea.
Yep, they know the "red light" is on now.
They get it from their mother you know!
What? The girls are getting outshined? That won't last long...
You gotta love that the Bwudda is still trying...
It's two against one dude! It's only gonna get harder to get out in front of these two!

Here's looking forward to the next car ride with these three.

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

Caleb Is Now This Many Years Old!

Hello All,

Actually, it was 6 years ago this past Thursday. But when you are a kid, and really, for that matter, for an adult, who likes to celebrate on a Thursday? I would suggest that Thursdays are second only to Mondays in terms of lame celebration days! Anyway, I digress...

I remember the first day we brought the BWUDDA home. It was a hot sunny day in Redlands. Redlands Community hospital released us with our son and the plan was to take him over to church and then home, where Renae would see him for the first time. I remember being so proud and excited at the prospect of having a son. That feeling has not abated.

In fact, it's more of a joy everyday. Caleb often brings a new level of goofy humor to the table each morning. His joy is positively infectious. I hope that he enjoys us, as much as we enjoy him.

I know that he thoroughly enjoyed this day. It began around 8AM with the girls coming into our room to wake us up. They excitedly reminded us for the 50 thousandth time, that this was Caleb's birthday and that we were to go and "surprise" him. We all got up and yelled "surprise" and sung "Happy Birthday." He rolled out of bed with that signature smile and the day was on.

A party ensued, gifts were given, a pinata was destroyed by my iron fist and cake was consumed. The end of the party had Caleb running around with his new Bug Vacuum (shown in this picture) which was the run away favorite gift.

Our son is the very best. We love him so much and are thankful that he had an amazing birthday.

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

Her Grandparents Will Be Proud

Hello All,

One of the great advantages of working at a Church is the steady flow of information that you can get on your own kids. I tend not to seek information out and Brenda, our children's ministry director, rarely gives a bad report. However, when she comes across something wonderful that our kids do, she comes and shares it with me. She brought me Renae's prayer request today. It concerns Renae's new 2 month old cousin Charis. Her request looks like this:

"god please help Cusen Karis to be a foller of you're kindom from Renae"...a little heart under her own name!

While the spelling is nothing to be proud of, the sentiment is!

Too cute!

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank

"My First Surprise Party..."

Hello All,

In all of the years that I have been married to Lela, I have never once surprised her on her birthday. Aside from the usual ways in which gift cards appear on her night stand or flowers on her kitchen table, there are generally no other startling moments. I can't really say what got into me this year, but for the first time in 12 years, I decided to surprise Lela. And that's just what I did.

It began in my mind a while back, when I thought that it would be fun to see her face when she saw how cleverly I had played the role of "Business-As-Usual" Frank. That's when the plan hatched. I would invite our neighbors to our house, they would wait in the garage and when the door opened up, Lela would be looking at our neighborhood friends who had come to celebrate her. Pretty standard surprise fare, but the challenge would be my ability to pull of the deception.

Without tooting my own horn, (too much!) I will say that for a newbie to the surprise industry, I think that I pulled it off quite nicely. With a HUGE assist coming from our precious neighbor and Lela's prayer partner, Mia, the surprise went off without a hitch. Returning from Olive Garden with my parents, Lela opened the garage and saw the little feet of all our kids jumping up and down in excitement. Smiles were everywhere, but especially on Lela's face!

It made me happy to celebrate my wife this way. I know how much that she is loved and this little party helped her to see that in a little more tangible way. At the end of the day, she reported how special she felt. I said to myself, "Mission Accomplished!"

Here are a few pics of the festivities:
"...The Garage goes up and..."SURPRISE face! Inside the garage photo courtesy of Cecelia!




















Those terrible Costco people and their cruel sense of humor! They'll be hearing from me about this!




While we were at dinner, Mia and the kids did a makeshift birthday banner, as well as a few "cards" from the kids. A little chalk on the walls and you have a festive environment. Mia: Thank you so very much for your help!






And this is pretty much the end of every event: Hang time!Next year: Clowns! It's going to be fantastic!

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

While We Were Walking...

... I managed to snap these...Sunset in Ladera Ranch, 65 degrees...Me and my family on a walk on one of the many trails, especially this one near the "Dead Swamp"... There is not much better in my life! I really don't think that I would trade any thing in the world for these moments!

Then there were the obligatory funny face ones...

I am a really blessed man! Thank you Lord!

My Great Kids

Hello All,

I just wanted to take one blog entry and salute my wonderful kids. They bring me incredible joy, especially as they get older. They are now 7, 5 and 4 respectively. I thought that I would put up some pictures where they are not completely laughing out of control and give you a brief update about their lives currently.

Renae, The Thoughtful. Ms. Curious. Ms. No-Question-Left-Behind. This last week, Renae, a bright 7 year old, asked me about the economy, politics and the necessity of employment. Renae is the master planner/manipulator. If she wants to eat somewhere, she will find a way to make it an idea you thought of, even though she is the one who thought of it for you. She's good...She's very good! I'm pretty sure that she will one day be the Dictator of a small but powerful country.

Renae is doing awesome in school, reading like a champion and keeping ground on her math skills, which had not been as strong earlier in the year.


Caleb, The Sensitive. He is perhaps the most polite boy that there is in the world. He loves his sisters and always helps them build forts and caves by hanging blankets from the bunk bed. He is quick to smile and easy to make laugh. When he laughs he cannot stop himself.

Caleb is getting ready for school in the fall. Lela is spending a good deal of time working with the Bwudda.


Elizabeth, The Entertainer. Lizzy does naturally what the other two wish they had the capacity to do. Lizzy makes us all laugh with her one liners and witty repartee. Add to that, that she cannot make the distinction between the "r" and "w" sound, which makes her sound super cute!

That being said, she is a bit too fascinated with potty humor, which tends to be her "ace in the hole" when it comes to getting the other kids to laugh. I always fear that she might be trying to release some inner sailor with that humor, but for the most part it's pretty innocent. Lizzy loves to learn, enjoys reading and is always super affectionate with Dad, who loves to "Wock her" in his chair.

These are our pride and joy. The looks on their faces are not the norm, but I loved the contrast between their faces and their amazingly distinct personalities. Call it my little artistic diversion on a late Sunday night.

Call them my favorite subjects!

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

Frank, Meet "Wii"

Hello All,

Today was the celebration of my nephew Adam's 4th birthday. Aunt Corrie's house was filled with family and a new Wii system. For those of you unfamiliar with the Wii, it's a computer game with interactive hand modules that let you play with full motion. It was my first time, but I slowly got a "handle" on how to play. Early in the day, I discovered that there was a boxing game on the docket. I thought that I might just take on my wife first, seeing that it is Valentine's day. I am grateful to say that I defeated Lela, which took three rounds. I was hopeful that my victory would not spoil romance later, but I could not have taken a dive! That would have gone against my code! Then I took out my niece Hannah, shown here in this picture. Incidently, I beat her earlier in a game of Wii Tennis. It was not Hannah's day for Wii! After dispatching Hannah, I took on the birthday boy himself.

Adam put me through the paces, but I was able to defeat him as well. Being that I am roughly 9 times older than he is, I am not ashamed to say that I was getting tired. Those Wii modules require some muscles and I admit that they were screaming at me to quit at this point. That's when Brennan, one of the family's youngest friends, clocking in under 10 years old and weighing just over 70Ilbs, came up to challenge the yet-to-be defeated champion. I knew that I was in for a bit of a challenge.

Brennan was hungry for the win. Concurrently, you could tell that I had become satisfied with myself and honestly, took the young lad a tad too lightly. What would ensue would simply be the battle for supremacy among the gathered family. Brennan was being cheered on, while I was being booed at every opportunity. I did not take this personally, as it's been said that nobody roots for Goliath! Brennan and I went toe-to-toe for the full 3 rounds, neither of us having a clear advantage. Sweat poured down my face at the end of the third round, while Brennan only looked around to make sure that nobody had messed with his candy from the pinata! He was playing it cool and did not want to show his nervousness as the decision was being rendered by the computer. I toweled off while the points were being tallied. I was not ready for the decision, as it went against me and for the young whippersnapper! It seems that in the case of this last fight, youth beat out experience. Frankly, I could not have been happier for the lad and more relieved that nobody wanted to get another fight with me, the now has-been Wii Boxing champion!

Tonight, as I ice my aching appendages and my slightly bruised ego, I thank the Lord for Adam and the fun of getting our family together for great memories like this!

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

Allow Me To Introduce, Karis Harmony!

Hello All,

My brother Richard and his wife Lenna, gave birth to their first born Friday around 1:20PM. Thankfully, she takes after her mother and is quite beautiful!! We took the kids to the hospital and were able to visit "Auntie Lenna" in her room for about 20 minutes. Poor girl was totally tired, but definitely excited. Rich...well, he looked quite shocked, but excited as well.

The experience was of course, incredible for the kids. They love little babies. Their cousins, Adam and Isaiah are always doted on when we go over to "Auntie Corrie's" house. (Ever notice that it's always the woman's house!? Hmmmm.....) At first, we were not sure if they were going to let us in. The sign above the maternity ward read that no kids under 13 would be admitted, unless they were siblings. I admit that I considered lying, which I am glad that I did not perform, especially in front of Carlos Casco, who accompanied us to the Hospital. Thankfully, my wife just went to the desk and with her sweet demeanor, was able to persuade the nurse that we could all enter if even just for a short time. (Weird, but I did not think that the Force worked on nurses!) I am really glad that the nurse let us in, as the I believe that the kids would have completely melted down if they had been restricted.

As you can see, their awe of the moment was clearly seen. They wanted to touch and hold and play, but wiser minds prevailed, and they just looked from a distance. However, both Lela and I got the chance to hold Karis, which for me brought back a ton of memories. The feel of her skin, the type of diaper, the look on her face, all flashed me back to when Renae was born. That day was surreal, a feeling that I know Rich now relates to!I know that I did not show any pictures of my sister-in-law...I will wait for her to approve them! Needless to say, she looked lovely as a mother whose heart, though tired, was blessed and fulfilled in the purpose that lay before her.

To Rich and Lenna: Congratulations! To Karis: Welcome to the world! We can't wait to get to know you!

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

Because Nobody Believes Us!

Hello All,

Most people see our children in one light and most of those times, it is in church or some other public place. They come across as angelic, perfect little beings, who are shy when spoken to and quiet when answering a question. Here's how they really are!



The responses to this video will vary in the widest of ways. For example, some with children will be encouraged that a Pastor's kids act this way. At the same time, others with children will be DIScouraged that a Pastor's kids act this way. For singles or newly marrieds, this will be employed as birth control! If there is a psychologist in the house, I am sure that they will want to contact us for a "session" or two!

However, our responses will likely fall into these particular feelings, at least once: 1) These kids are ridiculously cute and 2) they are pretty hilarious. Lizzy admitted today to "fake crying" at least once, which was great to get on camera!

Hopefully, you will enjoy watching it as much as I did making it.

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

Happy Birthday Zizzabiss!

Hello All,

That's right: Our littlest Sanchez, version 3.0, the precious surprise has turned the page on year three! Now at 4 years old, she is only one year away from being able to drink coke and have gum, though she has already experienced both on numerous occasions. Yes, she is quite sneaky...takes after her mother!

Elizabeth is the most energetic and naturally funny of the three. She's also likely the toughest! I have seen her take on her older sister and her older brother and win...easily!

We love our little girl and we look forward to all that she has in front of her. I know that the Lord is going to use her in special ways.

Happy Birthday Zizz. We love you!

Blessings...To Our Friends,
Frank Sanchez

A Few Days Of Leisure