Facebook Zombie

I'm sorry. I really am. This blog has been so neglected. We are in 2009 people. 2009. And I haven't written a thing in here. Sorry. A lot is happening. March is coming swift within a week. In a few days Matt's parents will be here. And just as they are leaving we will be welcoming two foreign exchange students from Japan!

The house is busy. I'm busy. So I'm sorry. "Take a picture," they say, "it lasts longer" sigh...

What's worse is I am completely and utterly addictedto Facebook. Most of everyone I have know and have known has gone on this thing. Including some I've only met and made friends with virtually. It's fantastical. I knew I was in trouble when even Matt joined this thing. I love that I have reconnected with some friends that I haven't seen in ages. But, damn it takes too much of my times. Piece of advice for anyone thinking about signing up - stay away from "requests". People sending you virtual drinks and flowers and candies and such. I'm in an endless loop giving and receiving these things and ultimately, it just eats away at the time. But, I have enjoyed reading about the people I care about. Until next time. Let's hope it's not next year!

Fair Report 2008

We had a great weekend. We went to the Santa Cruz County Fair on Saturday and I have to say we "faired" pretty well. Har Har. Matt did the best out of all of us, he coveted a First Place, Best of Division Rosette for his picture of London's Tower Bridge! He also got a blue ribbon for his picture of Sam. Matt is incredibly talented. In fact, most of the stuff I entered and got ribbons for had pictures he had taken in them! I rarely take pictures anymore. I just don't need to. We need to frame the winning photos asap, so we can show them off in the house.

My sister did well also getting ribbons for mostly everything she entered. I finally got First Place for my Chocolate Peanut Butter surprise cookies! The secret is the dutch chocolate. Yum. Cindy and Lilly also did quite well. Cindy's blueberry muffins won First Place and she credited the win to the Martha Stewart cupcake holders that she had put them in. Most excited of us all, however, was little Sammy. He entered his Lego creation, "The Roblox Home 360" and won First Place in his age group!! He was bragging all week. Henry, was the only one who didn't get any ribbons this year. He entered in a painting and his Legos. Unfortunately for Henry the Lego category was jam packed this year with nearly 100 other entries and a good number of them in Henry's age group. Henry was excited for his brother but, sad for himself. I felt bad for my little guy. He did work hard on the Legos. Matt promised to take Henry out and teach him some Photography techniques so he can enter some photos next year.

The weather at the Fair was perfect this year. Usually, it's boiling hot but, it was rather mild all week. We looked at all the usual stuff (Farm Animals, Home Arts, Trains, and Reptile hut), did all the usual things (rode Rides and the Ponies), ate all the usual bad things (wall of curly fries, burgers, and ice cream). Mary got hypnotized by Mezmer again. There were a couple of new things, the Watsonville Speedway race cars were there for a free but, very loud show. The boys loved watching the cars speed by. And some piglets had been born over the week. We didn't leave the fairgrounds till almost 9 p.m. It was a long but fun filled day. Until next year!

Back to School...

I'm up early this morning. Matt left for a flight to Atlanta at 5 a.m. so I have a little bit of time before I have to round up the boys and get them ready for school. I'm working in Sam's class today. It's incredibly tiring working with preschoolers!

This weekend was incredibly busy! On Friday Henry attended a birthday party at Seacliff Beach for one of his classmates. On Saturday we hosted some friends over for a long overdue dinner and slideshow from our trip to Yosemite in the Spring. The other two families brought the food while we provided the venue. We meant to do this earlier but, life just go so darn busy!

It was kinda good that we waited so long to do this because seeing the pictures just took us back to how much fun we had. We stayed in adjacent cabins with the Hoffmans while the Linnevers stayed at Yosemite Lodge.

And even though Matt joked that some of the pictures were the same (he and Dave Linnevers have the exact same camera) it was great to see everyone's perspective. Dave's were all about beauty - the beauty of Yosemite and the beauty of his wife and daughters. Matt's were all about the adventure - the adventure of Yosemite and the adventure of his sons. And Dan's were all about the fun-which was had by all. I particularly enjoyed the pictures he took of Matt taking pictures and the one of Sam literally communing with nature (peeing by a tree)!

On Sunday Henry had another birthday party to attend and I offered to watch two of his classmates after the party. My house was filled with boys yesterday. Needless to say it was very loud in this house.

I'm excited because today is my first day of class! I'm taking a digital scrapbooking class on jessicasprague.com. Jessica Sprague is one of the big wigs in the Scrap world. She's a contributing editor for Creating Keepsakes Magazine and a real inspiration. I'm taking a class specifically on Typography and Writing, something which I need to brush up on. I played with some templates yesterday and I only had to ask Matt to help me once! Anyway, time to head off for school. C ya.

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

How bad of a blogger am I? That should be reserved for a whole other post (which I will draft and probably not upload because I am just that bad at this!). Summer went by so fast! One moment I was driving Henry around to Jr. Guards in Capitola, watching him compete, eating Pizza My Heart, and then congratulating him and the ceremony.

The next moment, I would take Sam to swimming lessons at the new pool in Watsonville High School. Aside from some time outs for not hanging onto the side of the pool, Sam had a real blast at swimming. The high school instructors got a kick out of throwing him around all over the pool!

And the next moment they were off to school! Matt and I decided that although Sammy was already five (in July) that we would give him one more year of play and preschool. This was a tough decision for us to make. I was really agonizing over it all of last school year. Academically, Sam is fine but, maturity wise he is just a little too young. Honestly, after the first week in preschool I was very glad that we had made that decision. He's really happy back with Teacher Debbie and I am just relieved. Next year, he will be ready for sure. Occasionally I'll get a question as to why his classmates from last year are in another class but, it's never a long or sad discussion.

At first I thought it was going to be really really busy for me, having to work in each of the boys classes and being elected on the SMT (Linscott Parent Board) meant up to 3 meetings a month for me. But, in the end things are working out. I work in Sam's class on Mondays (co-op parent secret -- there are a lot of Monday holidays). And I'm only working an hour a week in Henry's class - I'll be doing a keyboarding center with the kids on Fridays. Darlene, Henry's teacher is on the SMT too so she knew how busy I would be anyway. Plus, she's been teaching 3rd grade for eight years and she pretty much has the curriculum memorized so, she didn't really need my help. Good news is I get stick with my work out routine 2 weekday mornings again this year.

Anyway, next week is the Fair again. And I'll be updating with ribbon tallies, if I can manage to keep my act together!!

Our Family is kinda "Artsy"

We just had the County Fair over here. Matt put in three photographs. Charlotte put in several home arts pieces and a collage in Home Arts. Henry put in a poem and a watercolor. I put in two scrapbook pages and two types of cookies. As a whole we didn't "fair" too badly. (Har har.) In fact we ribboned in pretty much everything we competed in this year! Matt got second place for this picture:

This was his first time entering the fair and that particular amatuer category had tons of entries. So I was really really impressed and proud that he got that place. I guess that's where reading the manual and learning from the top magazines will get ya!

Henry got third place in both his picture and his poem! He had a poetry reading on Saturday. Lily won first place for her poem! I've included the videos in this post. They are both so darn cute! Siobhan, Cindy's friend took it on her digital camera! Thanks Siobhan!

There are a couple of things that Shioban missed getting. First, when Henry went up to the microphone, he tapped the mic loudly and said "Is this thing on?"- which made everyone laugh and after he finished reading he gave a triumphant "woohoo" and held up his ribbon and poetry book. And when he sat down, Sammy went "Good Job Henry!" and hi-fived him! Very cute!

As for me, I won First Place for this layout. I won Second Place for another layout and my Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies and Pistachio Cranberry Biscotti won both placed second. Cindy, placed 3rd in the two categories she entered in. My only beef with the fair this year (and I'm not talking about the bovine exhibit) was that there is no distinction whatsoever between Mini Albums and regular Scrapbook Albums. Cindy went up against and lost to two mini albums that clearly did not take half as much time to make as Cindy's large 12x12 scrapbook. I think next year they should split the Scrapbook category into two. Because quite frankly she was robbed.

Of course not to be outdone by any of us. My little sister, Charlotte placed First in four out of the five categories she entered in, including her Fine Arts collage pictured here. She ribboned in everything. She is very talented. I am so proud of our family and friends. Seeing our stuff at the Fair just makes the whole experience even more sweeter.

Fall already.

Wow. Can't get over how quickly 2007 has gone by. I mean seriously. It's September people! The boys have been in school for a couple weeks now and things are going very well. Henry's new teacher, Becky is great. And I'm not just saying that because I was on the committee that hired her. She's very easy going and welcoming. The kids and parents just love her. Discovery room has become a real lively community. They have really gotten into writing and reading already. They have penpals in a school in Florida and they take language on Friday. Henry is having fun learning sign language.(PS. One of Henry's front teeth fell out right before school started. Isn't he a cutie!!)

Sam is adjusting to going preschool three times a week now. Because this is pre-kindergarten things are more focused, so he's had to deal with that. Not to mention the usual problem with food. If he doesn't like snack - he refuses to eat any of it. He wouldn't even get near the table at first. I have taken to bringing him nutrition shakes so that he gets some nutrition before lunch. So at least now he will sit with the group and dring his shake. Otherwise, he just loses it with hunger. He's going through a real emotional time right now. He's been crying a lot over the littlest things. The world has just become to look so big to him now. Teacher Debbie has told me that all of this is normal. He's working through negotiating this reality, learning rules and learning about himself. That's a lot for a little four year old to learn!

I will leave you now with a few pictures of our Labor Day weekend. We went to New Brighton Beach on the Sunday. We had a sunset picnic with the Hoffmans, Murakamis and Sterns from school. It was freezing but, the kids all managed to get soaked still! And then Gilroy Gardens on the Monday. The boys always have wonderful time communing with nature.

Look at the big brains on Brad!!!

I am so happy to announce the new arrival of our dear friends Mila and Chas' new baby boy Bradley Alan. Isn't he a cutie! There is just something so terribly cool about a new born baby. They are simply amazing. Our super biggest congratulations to the happy couple.

“A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for”.

Have you ordered your copy yet??

Look!!! I made that layout on that page. That's Sam - isn't he just adorable!! Come on! You know you wanna order a copy. Go to Scrapbook Dimensions. Pre-order your copy and then go here and join the Scrapbook Dimensions Yahoo Group. We will be doing layouts and creating general mayhem!! Come on! You know you wanna join me. :)

My Baby is Four and Bobo's head is a "Potato"!

Wow. Can't believe it's already August. Summer has flown by at break neck speed! And my little guy Sam has suddenly turned FOUR! It's amazing how quickly they grow. It was like yesterday he was just this little guy. Now he's chatty and stubborn and truly himself. This picture of him and our friend Hernan, says it all. We visted them in Santa Monica and he was fascinated by Hernan's head. What he said about Hernan could have been seen as insulting but, he's so cute you can't help but laugh.

He really drives me crazy sometimes but, I just adore him. We took our usual trip to Felton to ride on Thomas for his birthday weekend. It wasn't as busy as years past and it really wasn't too hot either. Sam was disappointed because they didn't have the giant Lego Thomas set up like last year. By far his favorite part (next to riding on Thomas) was the large railway set up. Unfortunately, some kid was manning the thing and it was roped off from other kids playing with it. It was kinda funny watching all these 3-5 year old trying to give him direction. Sam would have stood there all day, if we let him, watching Thomas go back and forth around that track. And of course no day at Thomas would have been complete without purchasing t-shirts and toys. The merchandising at these events is phenomenal. That little blue engine is a capitalist juggernaut!!

We had a pretty mellow day on his actually birthday. We went over to the Hoffmans and had pizza, ice cream cake, and broke a pinata. The Hoffmans have been housing some Italian exchange students for the last couple of weeks and I'm sure they found the whole toddler party thing interesting. And yes, you heard right when I said we had pizza with rea Italians present. And they thought it was pretty good. Atleast I didn't feed them Dominoes! Unlike the day before, it was all about Cars and Lightning McQueen. He loves the little race track his grandma and granddad bought him. It's a good sign that he's still playing with these things after having received them over a week ago.

I'm Published Again - Yay!!

Just a quick note to tell all that a couple of my layouts will be featured in this calendar going on sale as early as next month! The calendar is being published through Scrapbook Dimensions Magazine which specializes in hybrid scrapbooking and hybrid scrap techniques. My super talented friend Julie Ann invited me to be part of this last year and I am so grateful. It looks amazing! Now I know it's not like the last Harry Potter book or anything but, if you are at all remotely interested in my craft please go pre-order a copy now!!! Go to Scrapbook Dimensions to reserve your copy!!! At least go to Scrapbook Dimensions and check out the blog about it, please. I am so excited! Yay!

So- Cal Adventure

We're back! Betcha didn't even know we left!! We just got back from our whirlwind trip of Southern California. We were in Valencia, Anaheim, Carlsbad, San Dimas, Santa Monica and Newport Beach. We went to Disneyland and Legoland and visited some of our longtime friends from college. We rode a ton of rides, ate in Goofy's kitchen and at the Pirates of Carribean, saw many fireworks, swam in various pools, met up with people we hadn't seen in years, and took lots and lots of pictures.
We stayed overnight in Valencia at a Hilton there just before Magic Mountain. We swam in the pool and had dinner at a Denny's nearby. Then on Sunday we made our way down to Anaheim and the Disneyland Resort. We checked in went into the pool right away. Then we had dinner at Goofy's Kitchen and took a walk along Downtown Disney before we went to bed. We needed to go relatively early because we wanted to take advantage of "Early Entry" into the park at 7 a.m.

Monday in the park was awesome because it wasn't too hot and it wasn't at all busy. We rode most of the rides we wanted to ride that day. We loved used the Parent Swap option for the rides. Because Sam was too short to ride some of the rides, I would get a Parent Swap card and as soon as Matt and Henry were done with the ride, I was allowed to cut in the front of the line and ride. Sam was scared of pretty much anything that was involved a tunnell and was dark. He actually believed that Henry, Matt and I were traveling in Space when we went on Space Mountain. I rode it once, and he made me promise not to go again for fear that he would lose me in space! Henry got to ride twice this way, which he truly enjoyed. We ate a late lunch at the Blue Bayou restaraunt which overlooks the Pirates of the Carribbean ride. It was really cool even though Sam said it was too dark and refused to eat anything except bread and lemonade. The rest of us enjoyed our meal anyway. Because it wasn't really busy we even got to catch the parade in the afternoon and the fireworks at the end of the night. Needless to say the boys were exhausted.

Tuesday and Wednesday was definately busier. We went into California Adventure on Tuesday and got to do pretty much all the stuff we wanted to do except Henry was heartbroken when he realized he wasn't tall enough for the California Screamin roller coaster. We spent about half a day in California A and then went back to Disneyland in the evening to take advantage of the lull in the lines that happens during the fireworks. On Wednesday, the first thing we did was ride the Newest Attraction at DLand - "Finding Nemo Adventure". We got there when the park opened and still waited in line for an hour and a half to ride that ride. That was by far the longest line we had to wait in during the entire trip. It was a cute ride overall and at least now we can say we rode it. But, we met up with an Australian family while in line to see Mickey and they asked us our opinion about it and whether they should stand in the now 2 hour line for it and we were honest with them. I mean these people have the actual Barrier Reef - they don't need to see one with fake talking fish... Some other highlights about Weds. are that Henry got to take part in the Jedi Academy a show in Tomorrowland where kids get to train as Jedi and actually fight with Darth Vader or Darth Maul. We also got to see Fantasia on Wednesday which was a nice way to end the whole fun time we had there.

We left Disneyland on Thursday and made our way towards Carlsbad where Legoland is. We stayed at a rather nice Hilton directly across from the beach. We went to Legoland on Friday morning and spent the day there. It was really fun. The rides are pretty tame in comparison to Disney but, there was lots of stuff for the boys to do. Their most favorite thing was this "Build and Test" area where you could build your own Lego race car then race them. They spent a real long time there. There was also a relatively big Water Play area at Legoland and the boys got soaking wet there, which was good because it really was a hot day.

On Saturday we got to meet up with our longtime friends from U.C.S.C. We went up to San Dimas where Eric, Christina and family are situated. We got to meet Clark's wife Lisa and child Owen for the first time. Brandon and his wife Carrie came by and showed us pictures of the film he's making. And we were even received a surprise visit from Bobo and Casey who were on their way from Santa Monica to Silverlake to catch a Rentalsconcert. I was so happy to see all of them that I completely forgot to take photos but, take my word for it they were all there. Seriously. I could hit myself for not grabbing the camera that was sitting at the table. It has been so long since I'd seen everyone! Everyone seems to be doing well and are happy. My only concern is Brandon's health which is under suspicion. He's either to afraid or too stubborn to go to the doctor or both. It's probably nothing...but I really wish he'd see a doctor soon. (Hopefully he reads this.)

After talking to the wee hours of the morning we stayed overnight at the Burgess house then headed to Newport Beach on Sunday. For Matt, unfortuately, the vacation was over and he had to get back to work. He had to attend a Sales Conference for Smith Micro at the Hyatt Resort where we stayed till Thursday. I was basically on my own with the boys. I took then to the mall nearby. They had a small train ride next to Macy's which the boys rode and we walked up and down the place looking at overpriced brand name stuff. I also took the boys to a couple nearby scrapbook stores and Chuck E. Cheese. About midday we'd go to the pool or watch movie in the hotel room. By Thursday, we were all ready to take the long drive back to Watsonville our car full of dirty clothes, expensive souveniers and happy summer memories...

Big News! Small Packages...

First off. Like my new look? I was getting tired of the dots.

Anyway, after much serious inactivity in the scrap world I managed to crank out a layout that just won a contest! If you go to Scrapbooker Online you will see my layout on the home page for the entire month. I had no idea I had won, until Cindy told me the other day. It was announced in the Newsletter which I hadn't read yet. I got a gift certificate to use in their store!

I go through fits and spurts when it comes to scrapbooking. I know I should network more, but, I don't. This hobby can be pretty consuming, if all I do is think and work in the hopes of being published again. I have a family to tend to, you know.

Actually, Charlotte and I have been working more on Artistic Trading Cards. They are mini art cards, you stamp on them, paint them, draw, whatever. Anyway, we have a group in Salinas that we've been trading with the last couple of months. The first one, I did in November, is at the top of this post and this is the second one I did. Funny, these don't look half as good as the ones Charlotte or some of the other ladies at Stamp Bug did. They are fun to make and trade but, it's hard for me to work on such a small canvas! I'm long winded. I'm a big girl. I need lost of room!

I have a hard enough time working on greeting cards! I made a couple of regular greeting cards that I thought were alright. I had fun making them anyway. This one is for Cindy's mom Ruth.

Cindy just had a milestone birthday and we were lucky enough to celebrate it with her. We went to Cilantros for dinner. We got pitchers of margaritas. Henry and Sam actually did really well. (I brought some chicken nuggets for a cerrtain picky boy but, Henry actually ate his Quesadilla quite happily). We came back home for cake from The Buttery afterwards. Yum o rific!! The cake was raspberry poppyseed. Anyway, Ruth was kind enough to pay for the entire dinner, so I made the card.

!And here's the card I made for our friends Mila and Chaz. It's pretty self explanatory. I am so happy for them. They are gonna make great parents!

And finally since I'm catching up here, talking about parenting, and additions to family...I wanted you all to know that after much consideration and mulling over, after some real conversation and more hemming and hawing than I cared to admit (because, as much as I love my kids, I thought I was pretty much done done with having anything more to take care of...I mean, this was really mostly Matts idea. He really really wanted this. I wasn't sure if the kids were ready for this but, they all seemed to really go for the idea. Anyway, I'm stalling. Basically, Matt and I have decided to add one more addition to our family...

We adopted Bonzo, a male domestic shorthair on February 15th from the Animal Shelter here in Watsonville. Now, I am by no means a cat person. Really. I am classically allergic to cats. But, knock on wood, fingers crossed, I have had no problems. I take my claritin everyday now and I haven't had any sneezies or watery eyes and it's been well over a week.

Bonzo, so far, has been one of the sweetest cats I have ever met. He spends most of the time lounging around and sleeping. He loves to be pet on the head and under the chin. Even Sam, the whirling dervish that he is, doesn't phase him. If Sam gets crazy, Bonzo simply leaves the room. Actually, to his credit, Sam has been wonderful with the cat. He hasn't pulled his tail or tried to ride him or anything crazy like that. And Matt's taken full charge of the feeding and the kitty litter etc. The vet thinks Bonzo is about 4 or 5 years old and pretty much agreed with our assessment that although, he was put in the shelter classified as a "stray" he must have had an owner or owners at some point because he's incredibly docile.

And yes, before you even ask the question, yes I have already bought a scrapbook album for him and papers, stickers etc. There are actually some popular paper lines like Ki Memories and Flair Designs that carry scrapbooking supplies specifically for pets! And yes, this is crazy, but, I will be making pages about him too. (Some people dress their pets, I will be scrapbooking mine.) He is, after all, now part of our family!

My name is Janet, and I'm an AWFUL Blogger...

For the handful of you who even look at this, I am truly sorry. I have no excuse. Things just get real busy around here. So mea culpa mea culpa. Sorry.

As you can see, we had a great Christmas. (Christmas. When was that? Like almost 2 months ago!!) The boys got aiong great with their cousins. Joe is super sweet and Tabitha is simply amazing. That girl is a wonder. She is so beautiful and independant. She really held her own among the boys. Sammy was so smitten that when they had to go home after the first day they came to visit, he cried because she had to go. He kept calling her "Tabida, Tabida...".

Joe and Henry really bonded over Joe's computer and Henry's Nintendo DS that he brought along with him. They both got a Dr. Who Sonic Screwdriver for Christmas and they spent the majority running around in pretend play.

The weather was milder than usual, although it still rained. Louise and Keith took all of us to a place called JUMP for Tabitha's 2nd birthday. There they had all sorts of structures to climb and slide on, ball pits, and a trampoline. Henry's favorite part, by far, was being able to shoot the plastic balls from a cannon on top of the structure to us down below. If Henry had his way, he would have spent every day of our vacation there. My only beef, and this is a little one, was that the exchange rate was awful high. It was basically 2 dollars for every English Pound. Expersive. All in all, the whole trip went by awful fast but, we had a great time.

It took some time for us to get over the jet lag. Poor Matt, who had consective trips to Vegas and San Francisco right after we got back, got so sick with the cold that his boss cut his trip short and I had to pick him up in San Francisco. Not to worry though, we've all fully recovered.

School is back in full swing for both the boys. Henry has started having spelling tests every week. He's doing really well - getting a perfect score every time!

In fact, he was doing so well that on February 11th I got up at 4:30 in the morning, stood in line for 5 hours at Toys R Us in the rain to get Henry what he's been coveting since last summer...The Nintendo Wii As you can see it's a total success. We got back from getting a Monday off for Lincoln's birthday, all Henry could say at school was "We got a Wii!!"

Henry's been really good though. He has to finish all his homework, work on his math facts, or do some reading before he gets to play. It's amazing to watch, really. I can almost understand why everyone wants a console. All the games are made so that you basically have to move around the entire time. The console came with a Sports game and then I bought two other games. Even I enjoy playing it and I am by no means a game fanatic. I guess there are some problems with specific games but, the ones we have, have been great to play.

Anyway, that's it for now. Again, I'm sorry for being such a bad blogger. If there is anyone out there who still looks at this, thanks and take care. Till next time.

Dare #44 and 11 Years Today

Finished this layout earlier in the week. It's Dare #44 on the Dare blog. I've been in kind of a scrapbooking "funk" for the last month. I entered into two contests one for Memory Makers Magazine and another for the "Effers" on their Dare blog. I didn't do well in either and I think it kinda bummed me out more than I care to admit. I didn't expect to win either contest but, with Memory Makers Magazine last year I at least got one layout in. I did some layouts this year for them that I thought were really stellar but, I haven't heard a peep from them. I haven't shown these to anyone because I thought they might get picked up somewhere but, it seems that the other magazines/books that I have submitted to doesn't want them either. So, I'll probably uploading them in a few weeks. I have to really commit to getting published but honestly there isn't enough time to make new layouts and submit plus keep the house in a working order. I really admire some moms who can do this. You may laugh at me when I say that the Scrapbooking world is a very competitive one. It seems everyone is scrambling to get themselves published and if you don't keep up with the latest trends or techniques, you fall behind. I have 3 subscriptions to different magazines and I haven't even really looked at them because half the time I feel inadequate (why didn't I think of this) and the other half I'm just getting sick of seeing the same people's kids over and over again. Anyway, I like this layout of Henry that I just finished and that's the important thing.

It doesn't help that I've been very very busy with the kids' school. I'm even going into Sam's school this weekend to work on the pre-school library. I'm the librarian for the pre-school. The library is basically a very very very packed closet that I'm going to need to organize enough to start checking books out to the pre-schoolers' parents. If I go missing after this post, please make sure someone checks under the pile of library books at the school!

Oh and if you've been paying attention (it's all about my life here) today is Matt and my 11 year anniversary!! We're such and old couple that we haven't even exchanged cards today. We'll probably go out tomorrow night for dinner or something to celebrate. He saw The Departed while he was in New York a few weeks ago and he liked it enough to want to go see it again so we may go see that, who knows. Later gator...

Boo!

   October has come like a ghost!! The stores are packed with Halloween stuff already. If you go to Micheals (which I do more than I care to admit) you can see the holiday triad approaching - Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas all in one shot! Blamo.

Mum and Dad were here for nearly three weeks in September. They visited the fair with us and we got to celebrate Dad's (cough) 69 (cough) birthday! Matt and I purposely didn't tell them about the house remodel till they arrived. I got a great picture of his mom's face as she opened the door. I was laughing too hard to take a picture of his mom hitting him for lying to her all the weeks before they got here! We are really pleased with the downstairs.

Matt was in New York for a week. He was there when that terrible accident happened in Manhattan killing that Yankees pitcher and his flight instructor. Thankfully, Matt wasn't up town when it happened. He arrived home safe and sound last Friday.

School is in full swing for Henry. He's is gone from 8:30 to 2:45 Monday through Thursday. He is out at Noon every Friday. He's having a great time in school. Some old issues regarding friends have come up again - which make me more crazy than anything but, Henry seeems to be coping well. I know I should just let it go because it is the nature of these things. But, I just feel like Henry's being punished because he reached out to the new kid in class. His "old" friend seemed to have trouble with this and said he was taking Henry "off" his friends list. Can you believe that? They in 1rst grade! I'm holding my tounge but, you can think of all the mean little things I want to say. Henry's such a nice, considerate kid. It's not fair to him. We are so lucky to have him.

Sam also started pre-school. He goes twice a week. I can't begin to tell you how much he loves it there. He is so good too! He sits in circle and sings and is generally happy. He loves his teacher, teacher Claire. He's growing up to be such a social kid. Matt and I are so lucky to have him too!

School has kept me busy as well. I have 3 meetings a month that I have to go to for the kids. Not to mention the numerous school related jobs and fundraisers I have to take part in. Henry's school just got done selling wrapping paper. He made some good money off of Matt's co-workers. Next month we will be selling cookie dough for Sam's school. Yum!

That's it for now. I will try and upadate again soon.

School approaching

I can't believe it's almost September already. It was like Summer happened in a matter of days! At first we were swimming along. Literally. Henry and Sam spent most of each day in the water. Henry can pretty much swim now. He has to gain more coordination in his arms and legs but, it's strictly a developmental thing. He can pretty much paddle across the pool without any help. He can stand and sit dive like the rest of him. "All Pro" is what one of the instructors called him! It's amazing how quickly these kids grow before your eyes.

Sam started doing "water adaptive" this summer. This is basically one on one play with the instructor. The instructor introduces the child to playing in the water and helps them get over the fear of water. At first Sam was scared and wouldn't let go of the person as if his life depended on it. And when he did start liking it, he didn't realize that it was bad to drink the water and he ended up throwing up in the pool a couple of times, which made class end abruptly. But, he was learning! By the second session, Andy, his instructor was whipping him around and dunking him in and out of the pool without any trouble. At any given time you could look in the pool and he would be smiling this big smile. When he came out of the pool, his lips would literally be blue from the cold but, he would be smiling nontheless.

Of course Summer wouldn't be Summer if we didn't do our usual. Of course, for Sam's birthday we went to Roaring Camp and saw Thomas. This time, we went early in the day and it was perfect. We rode the train in the morning, ate an overpriced barbeque lunch, and then did all Thomas related activities till the afternoon. After that, Cindy and Mary opened up their house to us and we had burgers, cake and broke open the Thomas pinata. Oh, and Henry the Magician performed for the first time! He got this Magic Kit from Bobo and Casey for his birthday and he loved it. He practiced all the week before for his audience and his act was pretty flawless (except when Mom, the useless assistant, accidently gave away the trick to a trick!)

We also did our usual of going to the Strawberry Festival. This year it was held in Ramsey Parkrather than downtown Watsonville. We parked next to Target and walked down to the festival. We found the tastiest Strawberry Funnel cake in the world!! Seriously. I could talk about this funnel cake for days. It was crispy and covered with powdered sugar and topped with icecream, strawberries, whip cream and chocolate sauce. We devoured it! The kids colored strawberries and Henry rode the rides and even participated in a show with Ronald McDonald. We got the chance to use our neighbors, Liam and Callum's slip and side. We also spent plenty of time in the Park. We even got to go to Bonfonte Gardens and the San Francisco Zoo. Sam is so not a baby anymore. He has become increasingly active and engaged in everything. The Zoo was the best because he loved looking at all the animals.

A parental highlight was being able to see our friend Amy Jo a few weeks ago. She was visiting Santa Cruz for the weekend and we all got together to have brunch at this place in Felton and then hang out at Mark and Marla's new home there. Mila and Chas and Amy's friend Camille were there too. We didn't think to get a reservation for 10 people so we had to wait for a bit but, the food was yummy. Sam was real upset for me for not getting him a doggy bag for his pancakes!

Speaking of doggy bag, we also got to meet M&M's doggy "Maynard". He was such a sweet and huge puppy! He's part Boxer and from the size it looks like part Great Dane as well! Mark and Marla literally saved him when they found him at the animal shelter. Henry had a grand time taking pictures of the pooch. I'm seriously thinking about entering some of his pictures into the fair next year!

Speaking of which the fair is definately a sign that Summer is closing and fall is coming. We managed to go to the Monterey County Fair this year. Unfortunately, it wasn't "all that." The venue was small and cramped. Parking was on a golf course and the inept idiot who directed us to parking (after I paid 8 bucks to park) made me park my car right on top of a yellow jacket nest!! Henry was stung right on the face! Luckily I was able to swat the bee away and pull the stinger out of Henry's face before a lot of the poison got in. I then took the icy water bottle I had for the trip and told him to put it on his face. He didn't have a huge bite but, poor kid, was so upset. I was so angry! The guy who told me to park there promptly told me to move to another space but, I was so angry I almost couldn't speak. The rest of the fair was sort of boring after that. They try to cram so much into such a small space and the kiddie rides were tucked away on the whole other side from the adult rides. The food was good though and the important thing is the kids had mostly a good time but, I like our fair better by far. I've entered a few things this year and I'm glad to say this is the first year Henry has entered something too! He did a collage/mixed media about (what else) games!! It turned out really good and he was so proud of it.

Well, that's it. By the time I post this, school will have already started. I can't wait.

Camping (the lowdown)

O.k. I'm going to be short because I think part of my problem is I ramble on and on and I never manage to finish my blog entries in a timely manner. So here's the short version of us camping.

We stayed at Sugar Pine Point in Lake Tahoe. Absolutely beautiful place. We were a two minute ride from Meeks Bay. When it was sunny it was lovely. Meeks Bay was gorgeous. The water was cold but clear. The kids all played together well. I got to reconnect with some people from my past. (I'll explain later - Watsonville is truly a small town). Henry enjoyed being able to just pee in the woods (as long as he pee-ed away from the tent). And there's nothing like a smore before bedtime. We all sat around the fire and sang silly songs. This is stuff made for fond childhood memories.

However, there were a few snags in the trip (what's a vacation without a few snags.) First, the mosquitos had a smorgesborg. Our air mattress had an irrepairable leak in it. There was a bear threat the whole weekend (which forced me to be neater than I have ever been in my entire life!) So I had to hide the food and clean up our site every day. (There was a sighting the night before we got there but, none after) It rained the day and night before we left, really rained. Sam and Henry looked like ghosts in their ponchos. Sam's poncho (as everything else) was too big and kept slipping! And last but not least, our little Sam had an ear infection! We went to Urgent Care in So. Lake Tahoe, got turned away (they were "full" - Matt was infuriated), and ended up waiting 3 hours at the Emergency room. And the ride back was long and ardous with Sam's ear bugging him the entire time.

Other than that, we had a great time and vowed to do more camping. We came away with 4 lessons learnt. 1. We need a bigger tent 2. There was an Urgent care a lot closer to Sugarpine Point that we missed. 3. I need to make sure to cover Matt completely with Sunscreen. and 4. We either need a trailer or a bigger car... And that my friends leads us to the next entry!...