i am becoming

when michelle obama announced that she was going to do a stop on her book tour here in l.a., dailygluttony and lilcee and i immediately put our heads together and decided to scoop up tickets as soon as they became available.  one of my mom friends from school also came to mind right away, and as soon as i invited her to join us she happily accepted.

it seemed like months away, and then all of a sudden it was the week of the event.  the book was released on tuesday, and i scooped up a copy and hoped i could get through at least some of it before showtime.  on wednesday during cheer practice, i sat in the parking lot, cracked it open and started reading.

i got about a quarter of the way through that night, but i was so busy with projects the next day and didn't get to read a single page more.  boo.  but that's okay - i was excited for the evening, as was my friend.  we rode out to the fabulous forum together, and pulled into a parking spot about 25 minutes before the show was scheduled to begin.

there were long lines for photo ops, and food, and drinks, and merchandise.  we decided to go ahead and find our seats, and this was our view of the stage:

her playlist was upbeat and fun to listen to - there were songs by michael jackson, demi lovato, kendrick lamar, ariana grande, to name a few.  it kept the crowd pumped up and excited for what was to come, along with all of the photos, videos and quotes from the book that played on the giant screens.

 of course, a list of sponsors:

and then, the lights went down and we heard her voice welcoming us all.

tracee ellis ross was our hostess for the evening, and she was funny and enthusiastic and just as much of a fangirl as the rest of us.

and then finally, michelle came out to greet us.  she was just as i'd expected - warm and engaging and just like someone you'd want to hang out with and just chat with for hours.

it was an awesome, inspiring, uplifting hour and a half of listening to her tell stories and answer tracee's questions and explain parts of the book in further detail.  she talked of how she and barack met and fell in love, and discussed things we could all relate to.  we hung onto every word as she talked about her childhood, things she learned throughout her time in the white house, being a mother and a first lady and trying to keep her family as normal as possible.  just straight talk, with little bits of advice here and there about life, love and parenthood, and it was all fascinating to listen to.

and then all too soon, she and tracee stood up, said their goodbyes, and waved as they disappeared backstage.

we stopped at the merchandise tent on our way back to the car, where i picked up a fun mug and at-shirt that i wore the very next day.

for her stop in D.C., barack made a surprise appearance at the end.  that would have been so cool.  and when she gets to colorado the event is hosted by reese witherspoon.  so much fun!

i'm still trying to carve out some time to read the rest of the book.  there's so much going on right now though, so i may not even get a chance until after christmas.  eek.

getting our jamz on

cheer competition season has officially begun!

it started last week, with the team's showcase extravaganza that started off with picture day.  the girls had just received their brand new uniforms and were all excited to put them on and see how they felt as they performed the routines they've been practicing for months.  hair and makeup for the pictures were optional, so the bean went with the natural look.

they were really excited to perform for the crowd - it was a packed audience, with all 300 tickets completely sold out.

the jitters were definitely in full force, because the five teams struggled a little with their routines.  we were all still super proud of them though, and the girls looked relieved to have it over with.  i took this of the bean and the hub and we all cracked up when we saw the old lady and her special friend wrestling in the background.  best photo ever.

i managed to get one with her too, but this shot is much less funny,

and then they spent all of the next week practicing for their first competition.  they practiced almost every day that week, and then on friday night the two of us drove down to newport beach and checked into the marriott just outside the UC irvine campus.

the next morning, i worked on her makeup and got her hairpiece all pinned into place before i threw my "cheer mom" tee on for the day.  the girls were all wearing this tee over their uniform, with this year's tagline printed on it:

our first jamz cheer competition was at the bren events center on the UCI campus.

we got all checked in, secured our section of the venue, and settled in to wait for the girls' turn to warm up.  i could tell she was super nervous as they headed outside.

i'd worn my sparkly chucks again, just as i had all last season.  they seemed to bring us luck, because they placed every time i wore them.  i really hoped that luck would hold out for this new season.

this is team "believe."  they took this just before they hit the mat:

i have to admit, i loved last year's routine way more than this year's.  but i know they've worked really hard on improving their skills and taking their performance to the next level, and while they seemed to be struggling during practices and showcase, they seemed to pull it together pretty well once it was showtime.  what i didn't realize was that two of the girls had collided as they did their tumbling runs, which ended up really hurting their score.

did i mention that the bean is actually cross competing this year?  instead of performing with just one team, she's also a backspot for a second group of girls.  this means double practices, but that also means that we get to watch her perform twice during competitions.  about an hour after her first performance, she headed outside to warm up again with her second team, "trust."

this team is quite a bit smaller than her other team, and she seems to like this routine better than the one with her first team.  and it was fun to see her take a spot in the front during a jump sequence.  i'm so glad she can jump higher than her mother.

unfortunately, they suffered a couple of missteps during their routine as well, and when the awards ceremony started we got to see the results of their performances.  believe ended up taking third place, and the score sheets told them that that tumbling run collision cost them two points and first place.  trust ended up taking second, partly due to the failed stunt but mostly because the team that took first was bigger and better, with every single girl able to hit back walkovers and back handsprings.  that always earns more points.

still, it was a great effort with some pretty good scores that earned them spots in the national championships in las vegas come january.  we picked up some food after we left the auditorium, and almost as soon as she'd finished the last bite of her in-n-out burger i looked over and saw her like this:

she only has practice with one of her teams this week, but with their next competition in two weeks, i'm sure they'll ramp up the sessions again once thanksgiving week is over.  rest up, kid.  it's gonna be a rough, bumpy ride to bakersfield.

showering baby boy wan

so while brother wan was at home in oklahoma enjoying a visit from his best friend, sister wan flew out with MIL for a wedding, a visit with friends and family and a shower for the baby they're expecting in february.  talk about packing a lot of fun into one short week.

the shower was out in yucaipa at her sister's new house.  it took us a while to get there, and when we arrived most of the guests were already inside, mingling and chatting.  i got to wear this:

and then we got to slice ourselves a nice serving of these giant burritos.

the decorations were super cute, and the dessert table looked really good:

like, look at how cute this cake is!  since the bean's party i've been kind of obsessed with the notion of sharpening my own decorating skills, but it's hard to practice doing big ass cakes when no one at home is a huge cake fan.  so i just settle for admiring other people's work whenever i get the chance, like this:

we played a couple of games, and they were good ones - none of that lame ass "measure the mom's belly" or "guess what's in the diaper."  these were simple, but lots of fun.  each guest received these items:

and our mission was to create a baby out of that play-doh in about five minutes' time.  the bean was already thrilled to be included in the shower, so i knew she was going to be extra excited to participate in a game that she was going to excel at.  in fact, she OWNED that game.  she said "i bet it would be easiest to have the baby wrapped upon a blanket," which was genius and i kicked myself for not thinking of it first.  heh.  that only child syndrome never goes away, even when you're playing a game with your kid.  anyway, look at how cute her entry was:

mine was...much less so.  but hey - it was good enough that it was the one chosen by one of the kids to take home as a party favor.  "that little girl took your baby," my SIL said.  "kidnapper!" mumbled the old lady.

and she was super stoked when her creation was selected by the mommy-to-be as the winner.

the second game was a simple one - you had to guess the nursery rhyme from the string of emojis on each line.  it'd been a long time since i thought about nursery rhymes, so i didn't do too well, but it was fun anyway.

while the guest of honor opened presents, the bean continued to sculpt things with the leftover play-doh.  she created this and presented it to me proudly:

we hit up that dessert bar before the party broke up.  look at this cute cupcake:

and it was stuffed.  with cookie dough.  the old lady loved it.

i was happy to munch on a dipped s'mores marshmallow and a toffee-crusted pretzel rod.

after we said our goodbyes, we drove about ten minutes away to oak glen, where there are apple orchards currently open for business with all kinds of goodies.  we decided to stop at snow-line orchards, because yelp told me they offered fresh hot apple cider donuts.  sold!

it was a fun little side trip to cap off our day, and now we wait until february for little wyatt steven to be born.  the timing is perfect, because cheer season ends right around that time, and so hopefully we'll get to fly out for a quick visit on a long weekend.