Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I thought that a nice, 'newsy' (as my Grandma says) blog would be a great and green way to send out our holiday wishes and cheer to all this season.
I'm sure that you all recognize us in Grandma and Poppop's living room, but as some of you haven't seen the boys in awhile, I'll identify all. From left is Nick (15 1/2) with our dog, Oreo, Rick, Hess (17 1/2) with Rick's dog, Bear, Jonny (Dad or Poppop), Judy (Mom or Grandma), Me and Bobby. We all had a great Christmas day, dining on prime rib and tons of fabulous sides. We all pushed back from the table happy and a few pounds heavier! Perfect time to make some big new years' resolutions! A very special present from Gigi, the Hess trucks, were a big hit!

The week before Christmas, we had a great visit from Bob's youngest brother, Brian. The only way it could have been better was if he was able to bring his fiance, Kyra, with him. We had to share him with others for the first few days, but after he was unable to take the trip home due to the blizzard in Seattle, we got to have him bunk with us exclusively! The boys really appreciated the extra time to kick back and hang with 'Unkie Brain'!Alas, we had to let him get on the plane to return to Kyra on Christmas day. We met up with his dad, Lee at our favorite restaurant, Dinah's in Westchester. Nothing like a German apple pancake to make a few guys happy!


As usual, the Blankenships are busy, busy, busy on the soccer pitch. With Hess being a senior and co-captain of the Varsity team, and Nick burning up the goal as the Frosh/Soph goalie, we find ourselves watchin' a whole bunch of soccer!

To the left is Hess at the Marina tourney. See the snow in our mountains! Last Saturday morning's game was very chilly for us, upper 30's. Today, the 29th was a different story~ it was beautiful and about 70. That's California for you!





This picture below is Nick saving his second out of 4 in penalty kicks to win a game at the Marina tournament. Of course it took the talented shooters of Los Al to put away the p.k.'s for us, and Nick's saves earned him a dogpile (below) and the sweet taste of victory!















Not only are we busy watching our boys on the soccer field, we also got to see the my cousin, Lori, and her family, Greg, Beth and Timmy in Torrance at Timmy's AYSO allstar tournament! Timmy's the adorable blond below!






Lori, Greg and Beth were going to a party that night in San Diego, not knowing if Timmy would get to go or Beth would have to babysit. We couldn't let the opportunity pass us by, so Nick asked if Tim could spend the night with us. We also thought it'd be easier on all if we brought Chip with us too. At the time, I was pretty sure that Oreo would be good with the puppy, but it never crossed my mind that Chip may have never met a cat! Well, Oliver has always enjoyed the dogs that stop by the house. Chip, however, is a Lousiana hound. Hearing a low growl in the kitchen, I saw Chip staring into the darkened hall. Around the corner poked Oliver's head. Seemingly unaware of the danger he was in, he sauntered out into the kitchen. Grabbing Chip's collar in mid lunge, Oliver has no idea how lucky he was! The evening was spent playing our favorite board game, Quinto, and keeping an eye on the two animals who were hyper aware of each other just feet away. We made it safely through the night, Chip closed in with his buddy, Tim, on the futon in the den. We all were able to spend some great time together during Tim's final game the next morning and after for a bit of brunch. This holiday is just flying by!

Besides all the soccer, Bob's still plugging away at HREM and I'm working full time at CSULB and taking my first graduate level class this spring, Instructional Communication. I'll fill you in on that later~ I have this week off, so I'm busy trying to convert the den from the game room back to a study. Not too sure where the games will end up, but I know I'll need the space for my work. Boys are back to school next week too, and we'll have Varsity's first pasta party here. We'll follow up with the Frosh/Soph party a few weeks later, prior to the semester start.

Sending all our love to all our relatives and friends. Much happiness to all in the New Year! I'm feeling good about 2009!

Chris, Bob, Hess and Nick

Here's what they look like!

I know, I know. My boys have grown up overnight, so much so that you might not even recognize them! Once I decided to post this blog, I thought that I would finally have a way to post pictures without the annoying upload time with email.
So, Nick's our goalie, a sophomore at Los Al High. He is currently playing on a boys U-17 team as their goalie. This is him to the right grabbing a corner kick. Most of the boys on this team are from a neighboring high school in Cypress and they all seem to get along well. This Friday night we are hosting a pasta party for the boys. Even though they have a bye this weekend, they still need the carbs for the Car Wash that they are doing to raise funds for the team on Saturday from 8-3 at the local Arco station on Los Alamitos Blvd. Come one, come all and get these boys working!
Besides soccer, Nick is big into the tv show Chuck and Lost. I think we should try and get him a guest spot as Chuck's younger brother, don't you? Good thing we have tivo, so we could set this shot up!

Hess got his braces off last spring, and here is the great result! A big beautiful (oops, handsome) smile! he's a senior, playing on Boys U18 Long Beach Black. He is starting to apply for colleges. What an undertaking that is going to be. He'll take the SAT for the second time this Saturday. He did pretty well the first
time, but there is always that test-retest factor. Just having it under his belt that first time will take away some of the jitters. He will take the ACT in November.

The high school soccer season starts in December. I think that we have a pre-season game scheduled in Agoura!! How convenient!

Here is a shot of all the men at mom and dad's house after a nice swim.

Maybe after that preseason game we can get the team to mom and dads for a quick dip? Just kidding, Mom!!!

Oh, check out HREM's new website, complete with metatags and all that good stuff that makes it come up when you google "tank cleanup los angeles" and various other key words!

http://www.hremcleanup.com/whyhrem.html

Take care all!

September rain

Yesterday I woke up to a very strange rainstorm that I could see in the distance from my bedroom, across the Armed Force Reserve Center. It was falling from Anaheim, south to the ocean. These pictures are from my backyard. You can see the soccer net in a few of them. Just thought I'd share them with you!

Oliver the Great

I decided to introduce the Blankenship Buzz not with expected tales of early, dew-dusted, chilly soccer mornings, not with stories of homework, SAT's and college applications, not of work, life and love, but with this morning's account of our two fierce hunters, Oliver the Cat and his sidekick, Bob. (You'll hear more of the chilly mornings, etc. later!)
Our Oliver is the ultimate stalker. He has brought many presents in through the doggie/kitty door over the last few years, mostly gophers in all shapes and sizes. As our back yard overlooks the Armed Force Reserve Center in Los Alamitos, which has become an incredible wildlife habitat, we have a wide variety of critters romping through and soaring over our home. It has been a great education for us over the years, with hawks perched on telephone poles devouring their prey, owls scooping up neighboring ferile kitties, and egrets and ducks gracefully gliding over our modest back yard. Our land locked critters include the aforementioned gophers, possums, squirrels, skunks and, I hesitate to say, rats and mice.
It was early this morning that I noticed Oliver with his paws up on the drawers of the secretary that houses Bob's fly tying supplies in our master bedroom. While there are many feathers, strings and balls which would attract Oliver to that piece of furniture, it didn't seem to be the reason that he was interested this morning. As I put away one of the feathers I had pulled out of a drawer, I heard something move. Then a tail dropped out from the seam at the bottom of the pull down section of the secretary and I knew we had a critter. Of course my first reaction was to get the heeby jeebey's as a chill flew up my back, the obvious second was to scream for Bobby to quickly prioritize this over the LA Times! As Oliver paced, his tail slashing, Bobby slowly removed drawer by drawer as the critter attempted to evade the awaiting human and feline. There must have been an escape route out the back, as the next thing we knew, Oliver was a flurry of fur attacking the side of the neighboring bookcase as the rodent ran up the back of the bookcase. With his body fit snugly between the wall and the bookcase, we could see the critter clearly clinging onto the top, positioning himself for the worst. I ran for the yardstick. Even though I love animals, to me, a rat is not an animal. (It used to be when I was younger, but no more) Bobby ran the yardstick up the opening at the back, forcing it to the top of the bookcase, and unfortunately scampering straight for his head! My scream sent it fleeing the other direction and back behind the case. It was now positioned with a front and back paw on the wall and a front and back paw on the back of the case. Oliver, still poised with slashing tail, waited below. Bobby, fed up with it by now, took the yardstick and viciously poked it out the other side to the awaiting predator. A bit of a scurry and out the back door Oliver proudly marched, trophy clenched, checking back with us several times to ensure that we were witness to his triumph. Of course I took some pictures, this one is probably the least upsetting. After the pictures, we thought it best to remove the rodent, and reward the cat. As I hurried off to work, Bobby gave Oliver canned cat food, treats and plenty of attention. Thank goodness we have Oliver the Great!