I apologize. I wish I had an actual topic to discuss. I don't. Instead I've got a lot of nonsense to babble about. Actually it's not total nonsense.

I've actually been feeling better. I think part of that has to do with the excitement around this year's American Cancer Society Relay for Life. The Force has already eclipsed our highest total by raising over $2,100, breaking the mark of $2,007 set last year.

Dennis continues to get supporters in California (he's at $450), Michelle continues to raise money here ($350) and as a team we raised $463 at a bake sale last Tuesday. And we still have two more fundraisers to go!

This year we recruited some new blood and that blood has paid off. As mentioned before Dennis and Michelle have been studs in getting donations and Michelle's also been a very motivated in helping our team with the other fundraisers.

Roseanne, Josh's mom, has also been very helpful donating $500 and donating baked goods (as did Michelle, Karen, Dad, Marika, Lis and Grandma).

Alexandre has been a stud at helping me organize and throw a real 80's party.

It started as an idea. Then it grew to a 20-person house party. Now we've got a ballroom, DJ, posters, flyers and tickets! We're close to getting food and beverages donated as well. We've hit the big time here! It's been extremely less stressful than past years and yet it's been extremely more successful.

Remember there is still time to get those donations in. If you're interested please click here. For those of you that have already donated, a million times thank you!

Meanwhile, Lis' tummy continues to grow. We have an appointment next week and should find out the sex of the baby next month, hopefully before we head to SoCal in late May.

The weather here has been nothing less than crazy! On April 12 it was sunny and in the mid-80s. The following weekend it snowed, rained and hailed and all that was within a 1/2-hour, no joke! We got 3-4 inches of snow at our place, drove a few miles and saw nothing. Then we drove a few more miles and were getting hailed on.

Lukas meanwhile continues to grow and has become less fussy, though he still has his moments. He never ceases to amaze me with how quickly he learns or how funny he can be. We have a great time together. I told him when we first found out that we're having a baby that both he and Baby Brother get to wrestle with Dad. He doesn't forget. Every time we bring up Baby Brother he says the he and Baby Brother are going to wrestle Dad. Plus he likes to kiss and talk to Baby Brother (or sister).

Anyway, I thought I'd bless you all with some photos of our past couple of weekends.

Above: Okay, so I still think my son will be a future No. 1 draft pick in the Major League Baseball draft, but c'mon son, falling asleep while watching the Mariners game! That's not the right start.

Above: Lukas and I put on our Spring clothes and headed to the mailbox. Friggin' snow!

Above: Seriously, he found the stick, grabbed his guitar and interrupted by baseball game watching by pretending to play the violin. Look at his hands, he looks like he knows what he's doing. I'm guessing he learned from watching PBS (the only channel he watches), it does wonders for your kid, don't it?

Above: Daddy tries the fiddle. Lukas gets a little too involved in Lego Star Wars for the GameCube.

Above: No trip to the river for rocks would be complete without photos!

I just wanted to brag on how well The Force is doing in raising money for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. So far we've raised $1,390. At this point last year (May 1) we were at $420. That's nearly a thousand dollar difference and we still have three or possibly four fundraisers to go. It's amazing and has totally got me hyped for this upcoming Relay for Life.

Three participants in particular are kicking butt.

Josh's mom, Roseanne got us off to a hot start by donating $500. I recruited a girl from my church, Michelle, as I thought she'd be a great attitude to have on the team, turns out she's a great fundraiser too, raising $350. My buddy Dennis, the one who was diagnosed with lymphoma last year, is coming up for the walk and asked if he could sign up because he could possibly get some donations. He's up to $325 already and is excited about continuing to raise money.

I've raised a measly $125 (thanks Raquel!) and being the Team Captain that I am, I'm looking to get even more donations than the rest of the crew. Anyone want to help me make a come-from-behind victory? If so, click here then click "Donate" and donate what you can to help!

In the meantime, we're getting things organized for a bake sale that Lis, my mom and Grandma will do on Tuesday. We're having a car wash on May 10 and on May 3 we're having an 80's party. I'm totally psyched about this because the DJ from the Relay is going to DJ the party and his team and ours will combine on the event. I'm still trying to line up a hall that will host us, but there is a bit of hope that one of our team members friends will let us use a ballroom that she owns. Can I get a "What?! What?!"

As you can tell, or can't...I'm as giddy as a schoolgirl for this upcoming Relay. We've got some strong team members that I really want to recognize because for the first time in the four years that we've done the Relay, The Force has become a contender in fundraising. A year after winning the Team Spirit competition, we're threatening to win the fundraising competition too (current rank: 3rd).

So help us all out by donating here, and thanks for continuing to support Lis, Lukas, myself and The Force in our fight against cancer. 

Three years ago today Lis was diagnosed with leukemia and our lives came to an immediate halt. I still remember the day, the phone call from Lis saying that the doc said it may be cancer, sitting in the hospital for hours wondering what was going on and thinking it had to do with Lis' diet. I still remember the doctor excusing my Dad and Randy out of the room so he can let Lis and I know that she had cancer and would have to start chemotherapy treatment ASAP.

This day, more than any other changed my life forever, though you could technically say it was the day that Lis and I got married since if we were to not marry then I wouldn't have been hanging out in the hospital three years ago today.

Though I vowed to change the way I would start looking at life, I've unfortunately gotten back to the way I was thinking. Unfortunately, so did Lis. I complain about work and we complain about money. We don't give each other and Lukas enough free time to enjoy our life together. I still work two jobs, and work even more at the insurance office. We haven't gone a vacation with just the three of us since we were awarded the trip to Disneyland in February 2006.

Things have also changed for the better. We share our story to others and most love to hear about Lis' battle back and how well she has done since then (heck, she's even pregnant!) We continue to get more involved with church and become part of the church family, if this hadn't happened we may just be the people that go to church on Easter and Christmas. I've continued writing in this blog, which has allowed me to continue to write, and I love writing. And we continue to support the American Cancer Society (donate by clicking here please) and its Relay for Life.

I really can't complain about how things have gone the past three years. I still have my wife, we ... never mind ex-Boss Lady called. Unfortunately she still works on the accounting (WHY?!?) for the office so she has to talk to me about 10 times a day, when she's doing the accounting. Got to love starting your week off by getting a lecture of why you need to call people back when they bounce a check.

Now that I've forgotten what I was saying I guess I'll get going. Gotta call the creep that bounced the check.

I've started, then stopped, then started, then ... you get the point ... numerous blog entries since the last time I posted on March 6.

I wanted to tell you about how excited I was that the NCAA tournament and March Madness how arrived. I wanted to tell you about how I forgot to take Thursday and Friday off for the opening round games. I wanted to tell you about how I picked UCLA to beat North Carolina in the finals, after UCLA knocked off Stanford and UNC beat Georgetown. I wanted to tell you about how this is the greatest sporting event in the World! Sixty-four teams all with a win-or-go-home decision every time they step on the court!

Then I wanted to tell you about our Easter. How Lukas went hunting for Easter Eggs at a local Easter Egg hunt that was instead dominated by parents searching and picking eggs for their young-ins. I wanted to tell you about how Lukas was ready to run before the bell rang, so we stopped him, the bell rang and then he waited for us to give him the go-ahead. Then as I let him run off, Lis and I noticed that instead of just the kids running for the eggs it was the parents with their kids in tow, darting for the Easter Eggs. So as Lis and I begin our run for an egg, Lukas loses his shoe and begins to fuss. "Don't cry Lukas, we'll get you an egg!" I tell him. "My shoe, my shoe..." he repeats as his right shoe points to the right and his left shoe continues forward. Then I wanted to tell you about how Lukas ended up with one egg, only because his mom was able to snatch one away from a parent trying to get an egg for his or her 3-year-old. Tell me why we couldn't have let the kids go by themselves?!?

 Lukas and his lone egg ~ Easter 2008.

Top left: Lukas decorating eggs ~ Easter 2008. Right: Iasmin and Lukas.

I wanted to wish you all a Happy Opening Day! The 2008 baseball season had arrived and again I wondered why I was sitting at work instead of enjoying this holiday. Two years ago I declared this, like most baseball fans do, a national holiday and vowed to take the day off so my son and I could watch baseball together. Instead for the second year in a row I sat at work wondering why I must continue to service our existing clients when I need to be finding new clients so that I could get a possible pay increase.

I wanted to tell you all about how it snowed the day before April and a week after Spring came. How we got three inches of snow at our house. How driving home from my parent's house I had to shift it into 4-wheel drive so that I could drive, not slide, down the hill towards our house. How messed up this weather has been and how I want summer and heat to come.

I wanted to complain about how I've been sick every month of this year and how the virus goes in a vicious circle - Kevin, Lukas, Lis, Kevin, Lukas and now Lis again, occasionally stopping to infect my Mom (twice), Dad and Erik.

I wanted to share with you the horrible April Fool's joke that my brother Randy played on Erik, who played it on me, who then played it on Lis, and then decided that all three of us should play it on our parents. The joke: Randy had alcohol poison and was in a hospital in California. The doctor said that surgery may be needed on his liver. I was in shock but quickly remembered it was April 1st.

Later in the evening I phoned my parents to let them know Randy was in the hospital and that Randy did not want them to know but it was in his, ours, their best interests if they knew. Dad was upset. He said Randy tried to call earlier but he didn't answer and now felt bad because Randy was in the hospital. I told him he could call his cell phone or I could give him Randy's hospital room number (there was no number).

They phoned Randy. He explained, told him he was in the hospital - Room 203. Randy said he had to go because the doctor was coming in.

Randy phoned me. He said they were buying it, he felt bad, maybe he'd wait 10 minutes and call back to tell them. I told him not to wait that long, five minutes would be long enough.

Randy calls back. Talked to Mom and Dad. Not good. Other than the obscenities Dad gave Randy, Mom was crying, Dad was nervous and they were both ready to book a flight for Mom to visit Randy at the hospital. Randy said, "The doctor said he'd need surgery...oh and he said one other thing - April Fool's!"

I wanted to share with you about how excited I am about this year's ACS Relay for Life. The team actually feels like a team. We've having a team meeting this weekend to discuss fundraising. We're actually having more than one fundraiser. People are excited about being a part of the team.

Finally, I wanted to tell you about our doctor appointment today. Things are sounding good, heartbeat 150 mph, or whatever they call it. However, and this is where things get confusing, Lis has an antigen in her blood (from all of her transfusions) that could counter with the babies blood causing the her blood to attack the babies blood which could cause the baby to need transfusions while in her uterus. I had to get my blood drawn to see if I have what the baby needs and if so then there is no problem. Sound confusing? Me too! Lis just has messed up blood.

I think that pretty much catches up for the month. That was fun, wasn't it?! Now enjoy these silly pictures!

Top two and on down: Erik and Lis and Erik's friends wedding. No, Lis is not pregnant and drinking. Lukas, Grandma and Papi give a toast. No, Lukas is no 3-years-old and drinking. Lis and Kevin kiss! Gross! Married people kissing! Mom tries to grab Dad for a kiss. Kisses for daughter-in-law. Kisses for Pops! Lukas and Daddy sip on the leftover food coloring. Lukas in the shower. Man I wish I had a body like that!