It is the bestest Christmas in my whole life

This was a quote from my youngest daughter. She is one who feels (and expresses herself) to the extreme. It was a small Christmas so it made me feel really good to hear her say that. It means she didn't even notice.

Robyn showing off her necklace. Annalise bought matching necklaces. The one for Robyn says "Little Sister" and Annalise's says "Big Sister."

Boy, was Jeff surprised. The girls made these picture frames (Robyn's not shown) when we were over at a friend's house for dinner. Thank you Staci for being so sneaky!

For dinner we headed up to Jeff's mom's house. Once up there the girls had a fun time opening more gifts. It was a nice Christmas for everyone.

Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas News 2009

Merry Christmas everyone! It's been a crazy year. So crazy that I didn't end up mailing out cards this year. Sorry! Anyway, I thought I should write something about the year so you know what we are up to.

Jeff -- This has been a busy year for him. The school district closed his middle school but fortunately for us they transferred him to another school. Now he's principal at a K-8 school. He's never worked with elementary school kids so this is definitely a learning experience, but he's enjoying it as well. At the same time as the job transfer Jeff started graduate school. He's going back to get an educational doctorate in Educational Leadership. So this fall has been crazy busy for him. The icing on the cake (?) happened a couple of weeks ago. Jeff just got called as the second counselor in our ward bishopric at church. They know his time limitations so hopefully everything will work out. Wish us luck.

Susan -- I'm just trying to keep up with everyone else. I still help out when needed at the gym's daycare. I'm still chauffeur to the girls. Never fear, I still read a ton of books, spend way too much time on the computer, and I've also gotten back into sewing. Check out the girls' Christmas outfits -- I made them. I was able to buy a serger which is exciting for me as I've wanted one for many years. I entered in the county fair again this year and received two red ribbons. I enjoyed receiving the ribbons so much that I'm already planning on what to enter next year -- hopefully this next year I can get a blue ribbon instead of a red.

Thing One -- She's now in fifth grade and doing very well in school. This year she participated in the summer swim team and played soccer again this fall. Besides sports she also takes dance (jazz) once a week and participates in girl scouts with her friends from school. She's gotten so grown up that now we just let her answer the phone. It's usually for her.

Thing Two -- She's in her last year of preschool. Next year she will start kindergarten. It's hard to believe time can pass by so quickly. She loves to spend time with her sister and play with her friends from school and church. She's been begging me for dance lessons but I figure that next year a good time to start. I think I need to get her in piano lessons in the future. She's already picking out tunes on the piano.

We hope you all are having a wonderful holiday and enjoying your time off of work & school. Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.

Mr. Bean Nativity Scene

One of my favorite clips. Merry Christmas everyone!

Charles Schulz Museum

Also over Thanksgiving vacation, we (plus one) headed over to the Charles Schulz Museum one day.

It's a pretty neat place to visit, especially for Peanuts fans like Jeff & I.

This mural is made up of individual cartoon strip tiles all the way from floor to the ceiling. They even had cartoon strip tiles in the bathroom. How considerate, you could read while you wait. :)

The museum had a few activities especially for the kids. One activity was a crossword puzzle. The answers were found on the back of the Linus sculpture in the garden. When they turned in the activities' sheet the museum gave them character magnets -- which are now proudly on our refrigerator.

The girls just goofing around. I'm not sure if you can see him but that's Snoopy underneath the girls.

Afterwards we went ice skating. Across the street is Snoopy's Home Ice, and it's a really nice skating rink. Jeff & the girls went skating while I just watched. Robyn did really well. She was able to skate without touching the wall.

Hockey player Charlie Brown posing with the girls.

Let's Go For a Walk

One thing we've done several times over the years has been to walk the Golden Gate Bridge. Whether it has been with grandparents, cousins, or friends we've always enjoyed the walk. A good thing about this area is that as they've been replacing old bridges they've also been adding pedestrian/bike paths as well.

Since this week the girls are out of school, and the weather has been nice, we decided to walk across the newest bridge. It was just Annalise & I (plus friends) as Robyn ended up bowling with a friend's family. This was probably for the best.

Vista Point view -- overlooking the straits and the mothball fleet -- see the beautiful day.

This was the view we had of the girls on the way across the bridge. Never once did they walk with us. It was either way in front or way in back.

We had a great time, but boy, were our feet were tired that night.

Now, where is . . .

Anyone who has been to my house has to know that decorating is not my forte. Heck, I have a hard time keeping the house tidy. But the other day when I was at Target I made a purchase that I'm pretty proud of (and the family likes as well) . . .

Now we have a new (functioning) shower curtain and Annalise can complete her geography homework at the the same time. I just love multi - purpose items. :)

Fancy Nancy

Last Saturday we went to a Fancy Nancy party at the local bookstore. In order to attend Robyn had to dress up special for the occasion.

There was coloring,

storytelling,

and general crafty fun.

Next week there will be a Polar Express party and I've been told we have to attend. I guess I have a party girl in my house.

One more to go

Well, Saturday was supposed to be the last game but because the league cancelled all soccer games a couple of weeks ago, they added one more game. So next week, for sure, will be the last game of the season. Yea!

For this game the girls wore a different color jersey. The other team's colors were really close to ours, so the our coach gave the girls a different color to wear. I happen to like the green plaid, but then green is my favorite color. My oldest daughter did not agree with me. She thought they should be called the Nerds because "only nerds wear plaid." So we disagreed, and I'm thinking that this will be the start of a long line of differences of opinions . . .

October 31

Happy Halloween!

From our house

to your house!

Family Games

Well, it's been a long weekend. Our local elementary school was closed on Friday and Monday due to the tragic death of a first-grade girl who contracted H1N1. The district wanted to stop the spread of the virus. With the two extra days off we were at a loss of what to do -- thank goodness for games! The girls played the Wii, their Nintendo DS, and they discovered a new game -- it's become our new favorite family game --Mancala. We've actually had the game in the house for years but it was lying forgotten in the bottom of our cabinet. Annalise discovered the game at school when she had rainy day recess. She was happy to find out we had the game here. It's such an easy game that she taught Robyn how to play and over the weekend they played many games.

Games can certainly pass the time away. Growing up I remember playing many rounds of Uno and Chinese checkers with my brothers and sisters. When I was younger the game Life was my favorite game. Now I really enjoy playing Scrabble. What is your favorite game?

NICU Reunion

On Saturday Robyn and I went to her hospital's ICN's (Intensive Care Nursery) Reunion. Every couple of years they have this party for all babies who "graduate" from the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit). This is our second time going. The first time we went was just a few months after Robyn was born.

When Robyn was born she was one sick little girl. She had a condition called hydrothorax which was the result of lymphatic fluid leaking and surrounding one of her lungs. Because so much fluid had been found in her chest cavity her left lung was significantly smaller than the right one. The doctors found out this condition at my 20 week ultrasound and as a result I was heavily monitored during the last half of my pregnancy.

Because of the severity of the problem I had to be induced early and in a controlled setting with a high level nursery nearby. Poor Robyn, when she was born, I heard her cry only once and they immediately went to work on her. The first couple of days were touch and go because her lung(s) didn't want to work. To add to the stress of it all I ended up in emergency surgery an hour after she was born. I did not get to see her until later the next day. Poor Jeff was spending his time either in the nursery or with me in my hospital room.

Thank goodness for those great nurses and doctors who took care of her, especially when I was so out of it. The first couple days for Robyn was touch and go. But fortunately for us, due to new drugs she gradually got better. So much better that we were able to bring her home after only three weeks instead of the possible six weeks we were initially told. I was scared to death about bringing home a baby who had been so sick but the nurses assured me that everything will be all right. And you know what -- everything was all right!

Before

She was the biggest baby in the nursery, but one of the sickest. We couldn't hold her until she was two weeks old because of her chest tubes.

After
She's my big girl now. Her rocky start hasn't stopped her yet. The only reminder we have are the scars on her chest from her tubes.

Our first big rain of the season

Yesterday was our first big rain of the season. Much like the first snowfall, people around here were going nuts though as far as I know there was still plenty of milk and bread on the grocery store shelf. LOL So for our first major rainfall we ended up with over 4 inches of rain that included gusty winds, broken tree branches and some power outages. Compare to others, we were lucky. I heard of places further south who got over 10 inches of rain. I was mostly inside yesterday due to my sick little girl. It was cool to watch the storm from inside the house.

This is from the downspout from the side of the house. The water is bubbling up because Jeff was clearing out some of the debris out of the gutter from our redwood tree. It had backed up the gutter so we had a waterfall in front our side window. Not a good thing as water starting to come inside the house. So, Jeff was outside working in the rain.


Our side yard.
There is a drain but the water was coming down so fast we had the beginnings of a pond. Once it stopped raining so hard it did drain, but it had us worried there for a while.

The Writing on the Board

Quick update -- Annalise is going to need glasses. When the teacher moved her to the back of the room she complained about not seeing the board. Well, I know what that means. Today we took her to the eye doctor. Her eyes are going nearsighted but they are not bad enough where she would have to wear glasses all the time. The teacher has since moved her to the second row so now she can see the board. The doctor gave us the choice on whether to get glasses now or later. Annalise didn't want them now so we are waiting. But as I told her, next time there won't be a choice. I got glasses the summer before fourth grade. I was hoping this wouldn't happen until she was older like Jeff or even my brother Robert, but no such luck.

Here's a picture of me in 4th grade. Hopefully her glasses won't be as big.

School project

Last month Annalise had her first big school project. Her assignment was to to re-write "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" so that a second-grader can understand it. The teacher had them basically re-create the book by making both front & back covers, title page, and illustrations. After they were all done they then actually had to read it to a second grader. She worked so hard on it and the teacher said she could tell. I think she did a great job so I thought I would share some of the pages.

front cover

She did much better on the illustrations than I would. My drawings are pretty bad.

back cover -- notice the upc code. The teacher wanted that as well. I found that on the computer under clip art. Can you imagine trying to draw that thing?

Pumpkin Patch

Last week was quiet, but on Friday we were invited to come along on a field trip to one of the local pumpkin patches. We had lots of fun riding in a wagon, eating toasted pumpkin seeds (YUM!) and playing in the hay. You can't tell by the pictures but there were pumpkins there -- trust me. :)

jumping in the hay - she had to do that by herself as I'm allergic to hay

riding a "horse"

striking a pose - why? because it's fun!

goofy fun

Saturday

Saturdays are usually pretty quiet for us. We go to a soccer game and then we hang out at home. Yesterday was a little different. We still went to a soccer game but this time it was first thing in the morning so that left the rest of the day to do other activities. There was a lot going on around town so we made the most of it, despite the heat.

The Sharks won again, 6-0. So far they are undefeated this season. Anyway, the girls came off the field soaked. The city must have watered (heavily) the night before because you could see the water flying off the ball when the girls kicked it down the field. Robyn, as usual, had fun on the sidelines. She especially had fun because grandma, grandpa and her aunt came down to watch the game.

After the game we went to visit a local alpaca farm. It was National Alpaca Farm Days. I found out about it from our local paper. We got to see cute alpacas and even saw a baby alpaca (a cria). Have any of you ever touched an alpaca? They have the softest fleece ever! While we were there we got our picture taken by one of the local newspaper photographers. Who knows, we could be in Sunday's paper -- now I just need to find a paper so I can check to see if we are in it.

We also made a stop at the city's Kid Fest. We didn't end up staying long due to the heat but we walked around and saw the booths and did a couple of activities. Overall, we had a very full day. Thank goodness tomorrow is Sunday. Now we can rest!