Winter Formal

Katya has her Winter Formal tonight. Man, where did the time go? My little girl is attending a winter formal at her high school.

Anyway.... she looked beautiful!

She had her girlfriend J. come over early and they giggled, did their hair and got ready upstairs while Ginger and family came over bearing chicken enchilidas for the occasion. We all ate yummy Mexican food and waited for her grand entrance. She looked lovely.

Then her friend Smiley came over with his mom (just friends) and we made everyone pose for pictures and gushed over them in general. They looked so cute! They were meeting other friends for dinner and then going to the dance that started at 8 o'clock.

I can't wait to hear how the dance went. I hope she has a wonderful time!

Cupcake Party

Last weekend we had a little BBQ get together thingie to mark and celebrate the babies birthdays. They are too young to have friend parties, so we just use it as an excuse to have our neighbors and friends over for good food and some visiting.

Things I learned at the party:

1. The babies are very VERY good at opening presents now

2. Alexis really, really, really likes to blow out candles. In fact, she blew out her cupcake candle four times before she let us sing for her and THEN blow it out. Then later that night she blew otu the same candle about another ten times.

3. Cupcakes are evidently best eaten from the top down.

Another Birthday Bites the Dust

Thirty nine. 39. Three ... Nine ... The ten year anniversary of turning 29. Yesterday was my 39th birthday.

Uuuugh. That is a big number. Next year is a BIGGER number. But I am getting ready for it.

I joined a gym and went and worked out this morning. Lets just say that as a person who used to be in rockin' good shape - I've got a lot of work to do. But my head is in the right place for it finally.


I find it funny how we have the eve of big birthdays and the BIG birthday itself. You know, 29 and 30, 39 and 40.... At least I don't have the huge list of expectations for turning 40 that I did for turning 30.

So, here is to a healthful year full of toddler fun, teenage sports, travel, work, making new friends and visiting with old ones.

Happy Birthday, Logan!

Today my sweet little surprise baby turns 2.

Man...it goes so fast. One day you bring them home from the hospital and the next they are running around and dramatically telling you "no" (with a hand out and everything).

It has been crazy having a little boy after two girls. He is a rough and tumble kind of guy. He loves to jump on you, hang on your arms and bounce on your stomach. He loves to hug and cuddle and share his toys with you. He will eat just about anything (unlike his picky sister) and likes his chocolate Ovaltine milk. He LOVES his binkies.

So, happy birthday to you little man. Love you lots!

Mom

Think Hope - Not Hate

Our country is in such turmoil right now. People are losing their jobs left and right. People can't afford their mortgages and so many are losing their homes. We are in two wars. Our schools are out of money and some are closing. The cost of gas may be half of what it was over the summer, but food prices are still high. Medical costs consume so much of our money that even with insurance, our 20% equals hundreds of dollars a month.

The world economy is on fragile ground. The effects of global warming are evident even to those that don't believe in the science. Natural disasters are commonplace every year with flooding, tornados and hurricanes. Extremes of nature bring all kinds of problems from long periods of sub-freezing temps to long extremes of hot weather in the 90's and above. People get sick from both and trying to afford to keep you house comfy costs money too.

So now we have a new President. Because of the election, it seemed like not a whole lot was done to try and fix what was broken because of the new faces that were going to take office. Everyone was waiting to see what personalities and opinions would be pushing policies through. I'm not just talking about the presidential office, I mean governors, senators and representatives.

The pomp and ceremony of the Inaguration is over. The realities of a new face of this nation is real. It is a nice side benefit that he happens to be black. Or kind of black or whatever - the dude ain't white and it's cool with me. I like his agenda for this country. I have spent a lot of time reading whitehouse.gov and I hope that his team can move us forward to a better place. The hope that people have is great, even knowing any change will take time.

Then I read that Rush Limbagh is spouting his rhetoric of hate. He actually said that he hopes Obama fails. What?? He is letting his partisan POLITICS take priority over the good of the NATION. He wants the whole country to continue on its downward spiral just to feel better about a Democrat being elected? Give me a break.

I didn't vote for Bush and I sure didn't like his agenda. But he was the President and I hoped that he would make good decisions for the country. That the country would be better because he took office. I never hoped that he would fail. Why would I when his decisions would eventually impact my life? He fails, I fail.

The same goes with Obama. If he fails... the country fails. And in some ways so does the world.

So, I can only hope that people out there who harbor great hatred towards Obama because he is a Democrat or because he is a person of mixed race/African American/whatever - think about the bigger picture. You may not like him and I'm not asking you to. I never liked Bush myself.

But I am asking you to think hope and not hate. Think that you hope he makes decisions you like. Hope that his decisions help to bring back jobs to your city, affordable housing to your area, respect of the US to the rest of the world, stability to your bank, money to your kids schools and brings your military family home.

Get involved. You have the opportunity to speak your mind through the change.org website. Let your voice get heard. State your opinion. We don't all agree and that is a great benefit not a disadvantage. You can't move forward as a person or a country without people challenging your ideas. It makes you think, educate and re-evaluate.

I for one have great hope for this country to pull ourselves up, dust ourselves off and put things back together ... only better.

The Beauty of Freezing Fog

I love winter. Love it, love it, love it.

Probably being from San Diego gives me the love of the magic and beauty of winter. Snowflakes, icecicles, treetops covered with white... it is beautiful.

We have been having freezing fog here and it leaves the trees with the most gorgeous ice crystals on the trees and branches. I hope you enjoy what I get to look at today.

Branches of the tree in front of my house.

My street

Angels That Watch Over Me

Here is a big shout out to thank those angels that watch over me every day and have since I was a little girl.

I KNOW I have angels. They have protected me from great harm, they have helped me to make those decisions that can change your future for better or worse, they have made sure that I always arrive home safely and have protected me from those that would do me harm.

This fact is constantly brought up again and again when I have car problems. Last night, I pulled into my garage and all of a sudden steam started pouring out from under the hood and I heard coolant pouring onto the garage floor. Luckily, Bob was able to easily fix it with a new hose clamp and some new coolant. But it brought the fact home again just how lucky I am to have those angels. My car has never broken down when I was not a) home or b) with Bob who could fix it. Those odds just don't exist without divine intervention.

Who are my angels? I am not sure exactly, but I can venture a few guesses.

Grandpa Harold: He is my step-father's father who passed away when I was in college. We clicked upon meeting the first time and we loved spending time together. He taught me how to use a computer when I was in high school and computers were a rare thing instead of the standard. He taught me WordStar (the original word processing program) and how to program in Basic. He teased me when I got my drivers license and he drove all the way to New York to meet me at the airport when I got back from Belgium. He had no teeth, but loved to eat steak. He was a hoot. I loved him as if he was my grandfather from birth. I miss him so much and am so bummed that he never had a chance to meet my kids or be a part of my adult life.

Grandpa McClellan: My paternal grandfather who passed away a few years ago. Great man who lived an amazing life. Flew bombers in WWII and Korea, was a motorcycle cop in Long Beach, a private pilot flying charters to Catalina Island, and drove that old RV of his all over the US with my Grandma McClellan. He was quiet, but I know he loved me. If I ever needed anything I knew that he would be there for me.

Uncle Richard: My uncle died about five years ago and his death has left everyone in our family with a deep sense of loss. He was a playful, funny man with a crazy sense of fashion (Donald Duck hats and Yosemite Sam shirts) and a deep love of family.

Aunt Georgie: She was my aunt from when I was a little girl. She passed when I was five or six years old, but I have never forgotten about her. She was a powerful personality with an outspoken direct manner and a playful side.

I am just guessing at who is up there watching over me. It could be family from long ago that I never really got to know like my great grandparents. Whomever it is, I appreciate so much their help and their always making sure that if something breaks on my car, it does so in my garage. If my kids hurt themselves, it isn't serious and we are always RIGHT there, if I am faced with a big choice I usually make the right one and for that little voice that tells me what is going to happen about five minutes before it does. I have to listen to that little voice more often to make my life a bit easier.

To my angels - thanks for the help! Someday when my time comes, I promise to pass it on.

B-Ball Girl

Last night was another one of Katya's marvelous basketball games, but this time I had my camera so I was able to capture a few choice moments.

Total concentration

Rebound girl - 9 this game!

SCORE!!!

Goofy chick

Life With A Cast

Alexis is doing really well with her bright pink cast. In fact, way better than I ever thought she would. I forget sometimes how flexible kids are. They just accept things and move on.

Anyway, I thought I would share some photos of her life with a cast.

Getting ready for bed. Looks sleepy, huh?

She still has no fear of the trampoline.

The whole "arm in a bag" thing for bath time.

It also goes well with a wide variety of princess dresses

Re-sale Stores in Trouble

Effective Feb 9, 2009 there is a new law that goes into effect that basically requires all stores to test ALL their children's merchandise for lead. This includes shoes, clothes, backpacks...etc.

Re-sale stores obviously can't afford to test all of their merchandise and this is going to make them shut down. The consequences of this law at this time in our economy is deadly. Here is an article about it from the LA Times.

I for one love my re-sale shops and don't want to KNOW what this is going to do to the price of kids clothes in the store. This means that all those lovely clothes that your kids outgrew after one wear can't even go to the Goodwill. They have to go straight to the dumpster. Think about next Halloween when you need a costume and don't have $30 to buy a new one. How stupid is that?

Please, please, please write a letter to your sentator and congressional representative or send an email to the Consumer Product Safety Commission telling these morons what damage they going to be doing to an already fragile and damaged economy. You can also vote on Obama's change.org website to bring this topic up in consideration. It needs more votes to bump it up in priority.

ADDITIONAL NOTE:
This also affects any home based business that sells anything aimed at children 12 or younger. So all you working stay at home mothers who make quilts, toys, clothing or anything of the sort - you will be out of business too.

And yes, this law DOES include garage sales. You could technically get arrested for selling children's clothing that is not labeled "lead free".

Could our country get any more screwed up?

Toddler Follies

I was downloading pictures from my cameras (I still haven't looked at the CDs from David yet) from the Christmas holiday so that I could organize and share them all with you. If a picture is worth a thousand words, these tell what life has been like with the little ones for the past week.

Princess Alexis

Logan coming up with new and creative ways to play with the little kitchen

Breaking her arm doesn't keep her off the trampoline she fell off of

Logan cruising on his little Kawasaki - Bob can't wait to get them on dirtbikes

The Holiday Update

Well, our holiday season was great! My brother and his family came up and stayed with me for a week.

Two toddlers + two young boys = chaos

But good chaos. I was surprised at how well the kids all got along. My aunt, uncle, grandparents and two cousins came up as well, although they stayed with Ginger. We had much laughter, lots of good food, lots of movies and tons of hugs. I miss my family something awful. It is always sad to see them leave.

Then just as they left, Bob's friend, Eric, rolled into town. He is a long, long, long time friend of both Bob and I and he has been here for a few days so far. He is a fellow engineer and is enjoying helping Bob with some of his little projects while he is visiting. He leaves town on Tuesday with Bob to head to San Diego (he drove and needs assistance) and Bob will fly back next Wednesday. That will be a long day.

New Year's Eve was promising to be a fun one and we were going to troll around downtown Bend with some of my work associates, but then Bob got the call he didn't want to get for a while. His father was in the process of passing away and he needed to be by his side. Bob, Debbie K and Patti all held vigil and held their father's hand and told him how much they loved him and appreciated him as a father until he passed away. His body was old and tired and his mind had fogged from Alzheimers, so this was very much a blessing since he can now be with his wife, Marian. Bob is silently grieving his loss. Losing a parent is always harder than you think it will be.

Then today, I was redeeming a gift certificate that Bob had given me a year ago for a facial while he watched the kids. On my way home he called to tell me that Alexis was trying some acrobatic trick on the new trampoline she shouldn't have been trying and she took a hard fall. The fall left her in tears for a long time and during the two hours at urgent care, she cried constantly. Her poor eyes are puffy and chapped from so many tears. It looks like she broke her arm, hopefully just a hairline fracture with some fluid that is probably causing all the pain. Her arm is all splinted up and they gave us some Tylenol with codeine to calm her if she needs it.

So far, the end of December was great but the beginning of 2009 leaves a little something to be desired. I am going to bed tonight with lots of good thoughts to throw out into the universe that tomorrow will be a better day and 2009 a good year.

As for all the hectic goings on of the holidays, I will post that with pictures when I get a minute to go through everything. There were some great moments that I must share with you all.