More Back-Bloggin: Home Improvements and Holidays

So, I'm still way behind on the blogging, as you can tell. I thought I'd just quickly catch up on things I meant to write months ago. Not much writing, and just a few pics to capture the fun times we've been having around here.

First, while Brian was gone, I did manage to get a few of my home-improvement projects checked off the list...

Painted that one accent wall in the living room. More yellow, I know. And I love it. Looks much better in person than on the computer, believe me.
Got those adorable curtains for the kitchen, and I'm still very much in love with them.
See how cute the print is, up close? It's almost Hawaiian, I think...
Hung the travel pictures above our bed, finally...
They make me happy. :) (so does the little guy in the corner.)
And got the curtains for the piano room.

Things are looking a lot more finished around the house now!

As for the holidays... We really had a blast the whole season (except for the dud of a New Years Eve, which you've already heard about.) So here are some highlight shots...

The downtown lights of Caldwell are really quite charming...

Took all the cousins for an outing to walk around seeing the lights and singing carols. It was cold, but fun, too...

Had plenty of family parties at our house that looked like this...

Celebrated Samantha's birthday at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Sam wore a princess dress all day, and dressed it up that night with her favorite present, the hot pink bathrobe...

Now, no laughing at the lovely Castle Cake I made. Seriously, I had an hour and a half to put something together, from start to finish. And Samantha and her cousins were ecstatic with the results...

That about wraps it up. Oh, one more. Here's our tree...

It fell over three days after we put it up! No one was even near it. We just heard a loud noise in the living room and came in to find our gorgeous REAL tree toppled over. Decorations were everywhere, and pine needles, too! Sad day. But we put it back up and it lasted the rest of the season.

Of course I have more to post, but will have to save it for the next edition of Back-Bloggin. Stay tuned...

Ode to the Wind

The Wind -- a poem of alliterations

The whispering of the winter wind

Went wailing down the winding road.

Whistling and whimpering,

It wound around the bitter cold.

And all the while it blew and grew,

All the while it blew and grew.

It wove around the weathered wasteland,

Wavering and wandering,

Whirling, whipping, whickering,

Slithering and squandering.

And all the while it blew and grew.

All the while it blew and grew.

by Kamber Hone

1992

So, it's not my best work ever, but I got an A on it, way-back-when. I think of it every time it gets soooo windy here -- like last night. I thought our roof might blow off, or at least our doors sounded like they might blow open. It's much calmer this morning, but I had to put up my post anyway. I'm sure the wind will be back soon. I mean, it IS January, right?

Speaking of January, confession coming... January is my least favorite month of the year. Surprised? I bet I'm not alone, really. I try not to think about it or admit it, but it's just a downer for me. Especially the last part of January. So bleah. We've actually planned January getaways in the past, and that really helps.

This year we're planning to go to the Winter Ice Festival up in McCall next weekend. (It's the same one we went to last year, if I could link to it, I would... it's AWESOME!) We've booked a cabin for a few nights, and invited some family to join us if they can. Fun! So, that's keeping the "bleah" of January at bay for me this year. Actually, I really can't complain. I mean, we aren't even suffering from "the Inversion" so far this winter. There's still sunshine (despite the wind), and the kids' fevers are gone. Well then ... Roll on, Frigid January!

over and out

Hey. No fair. Blogger took my vids down. Man! They were working for a couple of days, promise. But it took absolutely HOURS to load just those three. So, unless they magically come back I probably will NOT be adding any more anytime soon. Sorry 'bout that. Blame it on Blogger.

Just heading to bed for now. I have in mind to blog, good intentions, if you will. But it just isn't happening right now. Instead, I have sick kids, and lots of laundry, and cub scouts and primary, and a stuffy nose, and a writing project, and...

That's the skinny, folks. Life's happening -- even in January. Bye for now!

Back Blogging: Some videos

Hey! Good news! Blogger finally is letting me upload some videos. So here's a few recent ones I thought would be fun to share. First, here's Samantha, jumping into the pool at the hotel in California. ALL. BY. HERSELF!! (This is great progress, since she went to ONE day of swimming lessons this summer and suddenly decided swimming is NOT for her.) Check her out...

Spencer found a spray bottle in my bedroom. He just made me laugh, so I thought I'd share...

Here's the vid of Spence (and Sam) saying "Oh So!!" when he saw the Christmas lights. Keep in mind it's dark, we're in the car, and we were mainly trying to record his voice. So, the actual "views" in this one are less than exciting. But it's still pretty cute, hearing him get so excited, I think...

I might add some more later this week, so check back. :)

Back-bloggin': San Fran trip (early Dec)

I can't NOT post all these great pictures from all our fun "happenings." I think that's why I'm not blogging. I'm too far behind and have too many fun things I want to share. But no energy/drive to put it all up for blogger consumption.

But I'll start sort of where I left off... The week after Thanksgiving, the kids and I went to San Francisco to visit Brian and bring him home. It was such a fun trip! Even though he was working part of the time, we still got to see and do so many fun things. The short recap:

First of all, check this out! At the Natural History Museum they have a live albino alligator! Samantha was totally freaked out by it, and didn't want to see the rest of the aquarium for fear the fish might GET her...

But Spencer loved it all. Me and Spence, checking out the live sand dollars, they're some of my favorites...
Seriously, Samantha stood waaay back from most of the aquarium windows, and only got close if Mom or Dad was right beside her...
Just love this pic, have to include it...

The Cali Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park had a great aquarium, as well as a rain forest and planetarium (which we skipped). Here's the snake show...
And here's Samantha, looking at the snakes... entranced.
And here, she studies the map. She loves maps, have I mentioned?
We bought them some fun lollypops as we were leaving the park. Spencer really didn't know what to do with it at first...
But he figured it out. He looks really serious in this one, because he was afraid I was taking it away...

Samantha got one too. Pink, of course. They were GREAT entertainment for the whole rest of the trip. We left them in the car and let them lick away all day as we rode along!

We fed the ducks in Golden Gate Park, but Spence hated it. He screamed and cried, which Brian got on video, if I can get it to load (will try later, but for now here's a pic of me feeding the ducks) ...
Rode the trolley car to Union Square. This is all of us, packed in the car together...
Samantha loved it because she got to stand on the seat and hold onto the bar for part of the time. I was less enthusiastic, because it was an hour-long wait and the busker that was playing the electric guitar while we waited was absolutely pathetic. Plus, it was frrreeezing cold. Oh, but what a memory! right?
We had an awesome hotel suite, with a king bed, and a cute little living room (which I failed to capture on our new camera)...
Our hotel was complete, with fabulous made-to-order complimentary breakfast, and an indoor pool and spa. yay!!

As you can imagine, the pool was BY FAR the highlight of Samantha's trip! Her dad bought her some new floaties, and she learned to jump off the edge by herself. So fun...
We saw some seals, but just a few. We wanted to see the Elephant Seals, and planned a whole day around it, but missed them again. Bad luck! Oh well. We settled for the harbor seals at Santa Cruz. The kids were ecstatic.
Saw some amazing giant Redwoods. Very cool! (And cold, too, unfortnately.)

Also saw a gorgeous sunset from Muir Beach overlook. Left the kids in the car for that one, was that mean?
The lights of the city, all lit up for the holidays...
We also got to see our friend, Ryan Park, who we knew in Boston. Had dinner with him and got to catch up a bit. Samantha was kind enough to take a picture of all of us...
Then Brian took another one...
Just had to throw in these fun ones of the kids. I love the look on his face, don't you?
And that's our girl! Little smudge of ketchup from lunch on her cheek, oops.
We went over Donner's Pass on the way home. Lucky for us, we just missed a big snowstorm -- the roads had been closed the day before. But for us, we just got a spectacular snow show, and some nice, dry roads...

It's been soooo nice to be all together again! He was in San Fran working from Labor Day all the way until the first week of December. Looong time away! I have a new appreciation for single parents and the hard job they have. And also a new appreciation for my husband and how wonderful it is having him around!

a tiny catch-up

It's been ages, I know!

And the worst part (for me, anyway) is that I haven't even checked ANYONE ELSE'S blogs this whole time I've been not writing. For example, I didn't even know my sis-in-law is having a GIRL baby, because I didn't check the blog. Thankfully someone else told me, huh? I'm sad to think of all the other tidbits I've been missing this whole non-blogging time.

I have no real excuses, except that Brian has been working from home this past month and he uses my main computer all day. That's sort of a good excuse, isn't it? I mean, we do have two other computers in the house, but one is slower than tar, and the other one (this one) crashes all the time and has lost my docs on a few occasions lately. Plus, neither of them have any of the pictures we upload. So, I feel a little lost in the blogging world right now.

But I'm trying again. And here's a little update from here, starting from way back...

Thanksgiving:

Was great! We spent the weekend with Brian's family, doing all kinds of fun family things -- games, football, looking at Christmas lights, hosting "the Great Cousin Sleepover," etc. Good times! Some of Brian's siblings from Utah came up, which made it extra fun. Plus we got together with extended family, which means I got quizzed on all the cousins' names again. (still not good at that one, unfortunately.)

One extra tidbit, we finally got ourselves a new camera on the Black Friday sales. yay! hopefully I'll get to add some pictures on here someday soon.

Trip to San Fran:

Wonderful! We got a great SouthWest ticket deal, so I flew with the kids to meet Brian and bring him home to us. We stayed in a great suite hotel with an indoor pool -- new love of Sammie's life. She even learned to jump off the side of the pool (with her new floaties, of course). Big girl! We toured around the city a bit, saw the majestic Redwood forest, and got to meet Brian's colleagues. The firm he's been working with extended him the offer to continue working on this project from home, so he's been busy this whole past month, continuing to log hours, reviewing documents for them. Nice!

Samantha's Birthday:

She's officially FOUR!! Yay! Can't believe she's already so old. She just seems so grown up to me. I keep asking her, "how did you get to be a big four-year-old already?!" She responds, "Because you maked me a cake and then I was four." She had a great birthday, celebrating with a fun play date with her little friend from church, then a big family party at Grandma and Grandpa's in the evening. We celebrated her's and her cousin Ella's together. One of the favorite present's is a new hot pink bathrobe from Ella's family. Samantha sleeps with it in her bed every night and puts it on first thing every morning. sooo cute!

Christmas:

Was with my family this year. We packed up all our goodies and presents on Christmas Eve, and drove to be with my parents the whole Christmas weekend. What a crazy party time!! The kids were overwhelmed with constant sugar highs, tons of play time with cousins, a string of VERY late nights, and so many many presents and new toys! Samantha got a bit of the "more for me?" syndrome, expecting every day would bring even more presents than the day before. She's still coming off the Christmas-addiction, I think.

Christmas highlight for me was an evening out with JUST the grown-ups. We got baby-sitters for all the kids, then we went to a little B&B for a private catered dinner party that my parents set up for all of us siblings and parents. Ah, the sweet serenity of adult conversation and no interruptions! It's just nice to get away for a little while sometimes, ya know? Then we went back to my brother's house, put the kids to bed, and played games together. Fun memories!

Of course, we had a big "after" party that lasted several more days once we got back our home here... More of Brian's family was in town, so we had another big dinner at his parents' house, then games at our house another night, then football at his brother's house the next night, etc. We gained our obligatory five holiday pounds, and are now working them off with our New Year resolutions.

Sad to say, the whole Christmas season passed without me sending any Christmas cards this year. The stamps are in my wallet, the cards have been hauled around the state with me, and we even printed family pictures to go inside. Sigh. But I think we missed the window, the ship has sailed, and we might be saying "next year" this time around. Sorry 'bout that!

New Year's:

Not the highlight this year. Actually, it was a bit pathetic this time around. New Year's Eve was really foggy and snowy this year. We were going to maybe do something with some of Brian's family, but it just didn't work out. So, Samantha and I stayed up late playing play-dough and watching Cinderella while Brian worked. At 11:50, we put Sam in bed and drank Martinelli's cider. Happy New Year! bleah. Next year I want to do something awesome, just telling y'all right here and now, okay?!

Kids report:

A quick conversation with Sammie. Last weekend, we had the radio on, and the song was about a guy telling the girl if she didn't love him TONIGHT, he'd go find someone else to love him better. As usual, I was talking to the radio, telling the girl, "if he's the kind of guy who's going around giving ultimatums like that, you better not fall for him anyway!"

Samantha looked up from her coloring and said, slightly irritated, "Mom, it's just a song!" (As in, please stop talking to the radio.) Then, after I laughed a little bit, she added, thoughtfully, "Besides, what are Old Tomatoes, anyway?" ha! We thought it was adorable.

Spencer's a cutie, too. He has three obsessions right now: shoes, his coat, and his pajamas. He brings me any of those three items at any hour of the day and expects me to put them on him. I usually oblige him with the shoes and coat -- we put them on, take them off several times a day. But he brings me a pair of pajamas at noon and wants to wear them, then throws a huge tantrum when I tell him "not yet." It's kind of cute, kind of bothersome. I know it's just a phase, so I'm trying to stay amused.

Spence says some really cute things now. Our favorite phrase for the holidays was, "Oh! So!" Whenever we drove by a house decorated with Christmas lights, he would excitedly exclaim, "Oh! So!" (as in oh, so pretty!) By the end of the season, it turned into "Oh! So! So! So!" Really cute. We got it on video, maybe I'll try to upload. He also says several new words and does a lot of mimicking right now. So fun to hear him learning so quickly: coat and shoes are his all-time favorites, though puppy and monkey are close seconds (he has jammies with puppies and monkeys).

Church:

We have been extra busy with church lately. A big Primary New Year's party tomorrow -- wish me luck! And I have Sharing Time for the children for the whole month of January. Whew! Better get busy for now.

This was not my best blogging, I know. And I can't even promise I'll do better and be back on track. But I am definitely hopeful!! Bye for now. Happy New Year to everyone!

Thinking about Samantha

I've been thinking about Samantha tonight, loving her little personality. She is my helper, and my little friend, especially when Brian is gone. Last night the wind woke her up. (I think it woke up everyone in the Valley, for that matter!) She came SCREAMING into my room, eyes wide, face white. Once she was with me, she didn't scream or cry out again -- only whispered. She told me she got up to turn on her CD player (she sleeps with lullabies), and heard a noise in the hall. I know for a fact it was the wind, because I'd been hearing similar "noises" all night.

Well, she ended up cuddling in bed with me for the rest of the night, and seemed quite pleased with the arrangement this morning. She mentioned it several times today -- how she had been scared so she got to sleep with Mommy. I'm wondering if tonight will bring a repeat? There's not nearly so much wind, so hopefully she'll sleep through.

We have our ups and downs together. Some interesting things I want to remember about my girl right now...

-- She loves learning about driving, directions, places. When we're in the car, she asks things like "why did you slow down? did the speed limit change?" or "if we turn there, would that road take us to the library?" She knows what the stop lights are for, and when she sees a light turn green, she's quick to tell me to "go, Mom!" She thinks she knows the quickest ways to places, and gets a little upset if I take us a different way than she was expecting.

-- She doesn't like television or movies very much. Like the rest of us, she occasionally gets sucked in, and will watch whatever is on the tube. But left to herself, she usually prefers almost anything else to t.v. It's true, she still gets VERY nervous about scary parts of movies. But more than that, it seems that she just doesn't see t.v. watching as a valuable use of time. I wonder if this will change? I keep thinking it will, but it hasn't so far.

-- She says the most amusing prayers. A few weeks ago, when my dad was sick for awhile, she would pray for him to get well. After a few days she got quite creative and came up with this gem: We thank thee this day, for loving guidance to show us the way. Please bless Grandpa Dennis to feel better, and all his wonderful creations, of this beautiful, wonderful world of Grandpa Dennis. To be happy and not sick! Amen! Sounds disjointed, I know. But that's just the way she prays, not the way she talks.

-- She counts in Spanish now, all the way to 40. She counts EVERYTHING. Uno, dos, tres... There are tres cups on the table, Mom. How do you say cups in Spanish? Preschool is a highlight of her week and she picks out her outfits days in advance.

-- Samantha likes to talk about the things that made her day especially good. Yesterday, she told me, was an especially good day, even "one of the very best days EVER." You know why? She said it was "for three things: I went to preschool, I played Husker-du (a new matching game we got at the thrift store) with Mom, and I got to help pick the leaves up." Isn't that sweet? I love how easy she can be to please. Just the simplest things make her light up.

-- She has a particular order to certain things, and gets quite cross when things go out of order. For example, she sleeps with three blankets -- the flower blanket, the warm pink-and-black-striped blanket, and the cold princess blanket. (Those are her names, of course.) The flower blanket generally sleeps next to her, then the warm blanket, then the cold blanket. If you get them out of order while tucking her in, you will be reprimanded and made to do it the right way. Also, there is an order in bedtime routine -- and unfortunately, my order differs from hers, and we have had huge disagreements about whether it is better to have story time before or after going potty and brushing teeth. (She says before, I say after.) Her final word on the subject, a few nights ago: "We just ARE supposed to read FIRST because the LORD said that's the RIGHT way to do it!" Whoah. Not sure when bedtime order became commandment. hmm...

-- She sometimes thinks Spencer is a bully. She'll be standing on a stool, and he tries to climb up beside her. Although it's a big stool and there IS room for both of them, he gives her a gentle nudge, and she dramatically falls from the stool and acts the part of helpless victim, laying there whimpering and telling on Spencer. He is amused by this behavior, and I'm amused by his amusement. She gets very little sympathy, but continues to try to make him out to be the big meanie around her.

-- She is almost TOO easy to tease. A few weeks ago, we were discussing her upcoming birthday. I told her I really liked having a three-year-old, and I was thinking maybe we just shouldn't have her turn four, so we could keep having our cute three-year-old girl. No more birthdays for Samantha. She immediately turned on the tears, telling me how unfair that is! Even when I was laughing, and even when I had said the same joke 15 times over the course of several days, she still couldn't keep from crying each time. Then she'd ask, through her tears, "Are you just kidding, Mom?" Each time I said yes, she would try to smile and fake that she thought it was funny. But it's obvious she finds no humor in this joke.

Speak of the cutie pie... She just got up for a drink. It's late, she's whiny and I better get to bed and get her back to bed. I do love that darling little girlie.

***

30 minutes later:

Ah yes, this same little angel who just claimed several paragraphs of adoring prose from me just spent the past half hour throwing a big ol' midnight tantrum... stomping, screaming, whimpering, refusing to be comforted because we accidentally left her blanket in Mark and Dalana's car today and she wants me to go get it. NOW. Tragedy. Woke up Spencer, who then threw a mini tantrum of his own.

Did I mention ups and downs? Oh yes, I did. Third paragraph. Maybe shoulda put it in the first paragraph??

must be validated

Just put the fourth load of laundry in -- two are already folded and half put away, half still on top of the dryer. Also raked up three bags of leaves and veggie plants from our backyard/garden area. Put over 100 rotten tomatoes in a bag, too -- so sad seeing them freeze, but they never ripened properly anyway. Also took out some trash (I've been obsessing about putting the trash out for the garbage collection tomorrow morning, since I missed it last week.)

This morning, I got some shopping done -- a few pairs of pants for Spence, and a cute shirt and sweater for me, plus some jeans for Sammie. Also went to the chiropractor again, which was good. He worked on my back some more -- the OTHER hip is now acting up, ug. Also he relocated my shoulder, so I'm hoping that rotator cuff issue will get better again (was good, then bad, then good, now bad again. hmm.) Took the looooong way back from Homedale (we'll call it scenic, if Marsing can be called scenic?), and got to Sammie's school five mins before her preschool was getting out. Even had a minute to sit in the car and listen to a sappy country song while I wrote a check for her next month of classes.

It's not that I haven't been doing things, you see. It's that I don't FEEL like doing things. No energy today. No drive to be "industrious" and "ambitious." And the list of things I still NEED to do just seems to keep getting longer. But I thought I'd take a minute to at least write down some of the things I HAVE accomplished today, so I can see for myself that I AM getting somewhere, even if it doesn't feel like it.

And now, I'm going to take a nap. Hopefully without feeling guilty.

Good Eats, and a Happy Sunday

More from the San Francisco trip. (I gotta milk it, right? But this will be the last post about it, promise.)

First, we made it to church for a great Sacrament meeting. I very much appreciated not having the kids. It makes a big difference in church, to not be wrestling Spencer and entertaining Samantha, who knew?! (Besides me.) I actually was able to listen and retain some of what was said. yay!

Next, I have to tell you about our favorite lunch -- a great memory I'm sure I'll enjoy for a long time! We ate at a restaurant that had this as a backyard...

Have you ever had a dining experience that just seemed absolutely ideal? Well, this was one of those times, for me. It wasn't just superb food, but more like the stars aligned just right for me that day -- the food, the whole dining atmosphere, the mood of the day, the weather, the company. All of it. Perfect. Except, it was a little bit pricey, I guess.

So, we went to a place at Half Moon Bay called Sam's Chowder House. Brian said it's a chain, well, it must be rather popular, because the whole parking lot was packed, and cars were lining the streets as well. We were lucky to have a 20 minute wait, which we spent walking along the beach. When our buzzer rang, we were escorted to our table -- best seats in the house, out on the back patio overlooking that same beach we had just walked along. Our view...

And, from the other angle...
Me, enjoying the view...
Brian, enjoying me taking so many pictures. :)

Our simple meal -- shrimp ceviche and avocado appetizer, New England clam chowder, and their famous lobster roll. We shared all, and it was plenty (though the appetizer was a bit skimpy on the portion size, we thought). The lobster roll was delectable, especially with an extra squirt of lemon. mmm... Here's the last morsels, since I didn't think to take a picture until it was almost gone...

And Brian, finishing off those last morsels. Can't let good lobster go to waste, you know?!

After lunch, more beach time, more wave watching. Ha, here's Brian, sitting on a rock that just got sloshed. He knows I'm taking my time getting the picture, hoping another big wave will come in and soak him...

Along with wave watching, we got to do some seal watching, too. We went to a beach that is famed for its tide pools. But it was high tide. So, instead of hunting for starfish, we were privileged to watch seals coming up to sunbathe, just a ways down from us. Not sure how clear this picture it, but here are a couple of seals making their way up the beach...

We took a path to a bluff and looked over the top at them...

Thirty-two, at first. And we watched another two straggle up out of the water to join the group. I love to watch them move. It seems like it must take sooo much effort. But they manage.

A picture of the happy couple, awww....

More waves, I really just couldn't get enough...

More coastal driving, and a sunset off the pier at Santa Cruz...

What more can I say? It was a really wonderful getaway for us -- one of the "bright sides" of Brian working away from home.