Good Bye, Keanu

Here is a little tid-bit about Cathryn's past. From the age of 12 to 17 I had a relationship (albeit one-sided) with Keanu Reeves. I watched Speed the day before my 12th birthday and I fell in love! From that point until I returned from a summer in Spain when I was 17, I collected and proudly displayed over 200 pictures of Keanu throughout my room. Some might call this obsessive, I call it young love! Within those 5 years I learned everything there was to know about the man. I saw every (the good and the very bad) movie he ever made. I waited for the better part of a day to see him in concert. I was dedicated.

When it came to my room, some of the bigger pictures I had included movie theatre cardboard displays. More often then not I could ask a theatre if they would hold one for me after his movie went out of theatres, they would and I would get the pleasure of a life size picture of Keanu in my room.

When I went through the taking down process when I was 17 I made a scrap book of the smaller pictures but when it came to the life size cutouts I just couldn't throw them away. So I convinced my dad to store them in his garage. Jump forward about 10 years, I'm married, I have a kid, a house and a garage of my own and my dad now thinks it is time that Keanu comes to live with me. He is happy to throw the posters away if I don't want them but if I do, then I need to take them. At that point I was able to throw away all but one, my Walk in the Clouds billboard.

On one visit to Santa Rosa (when Paul wasn't with me). I packed Keanu into my car, drove home and put him in the shed in the backyard, making sure Paul saw nothing (he doesn't quite understand or appreciate the hold a first love can have on a person!). Jump forward 2 more years. Now we are in the present. This past weekend we did a little spring cleaning. I was cleaning the office and Paul was in charge of the shed. I have been in the mood to purge recently so I ran out to Paul and told him whatever he felt like tossing then he had my full blessing. I went back inside and started de-cluttering the office. All of a sudden I hear a knock, knock, knock on the sliding glass door, I turn around and there is Keanu and Paul. Keanu, always with the look of love in his eyes, Paul with not so much love in his eyes. My heart jumped into my throat, my shoulders started to tense up and panic gripped my vocal cords. I couldn't speak, but when I looked at Paul, the living, breathing, compassionate, humorous, love of my life, I opened the door and said to Paul "put it in the toss pile." Immediately the tension released from my shoulders and I breathed a sigh of relief. Good bye, Keanu.

Happy Birthday Mama!

Today is my mom's birthday!

We have celebrated with her a couple times already but we won't be together today on her actual birthday.

We got cupcakes and celebrated in her honor even though we couldn't be together in person.

Happy Birthday Mama, Grammy, Linda! We hope that your ## year will be the best one yet!


P.S. I set up the cupcakes before dinner so Nora could see them and get excited. I told her that after a good dinner then she could have one. I went into another room and when I came back there was this cupcake and a very guilty looking little girl! I guess the excitement was too much to handle!

School Project

This week is transportation week at Nora's school. We were assigned our first at home school project, which was to decorate a box big enough for our child to sit in, in some sort of transportation theme.

The teacher downplayed the technical skill that had to go into this project, "just wrap a box and put some transportation stickers on it" is what she said, but in the same breathe she went on to explain how one dad spent 6 hours on his son's car and all the detail that he put into it. Striving to be the perfect mom and also having a little competitive streak in me, I couldn't then just wrap a box and put some stickers on it. But, with my ECE and teaching experience still taking up space in my head, I know that a project is more fun and meaningful if it is really done by the child. SO! I chose the mode of transportation (boat) and then Nora did everything else.


And this is how it went down:

I cut out the boat shape.

Nora painted it.

Nora and Daddy put on the stickers (Daddy peeled while Nora placed).

Nora picked out the pink paint accent, and I went with it, even though I didn't think it went with the nautical theme I was going for!

The end result...we had a great time with this project, Nora fully participated, I didn't try to control the outcome (too much) but most of all Nora really owns this boat! She has talked about it for two days straight, as you can see there is barely enough room for her and her babies (which she insists on having with her) but she loves it just the way it is!

P.S. I named the boat, she is our legacy after all.

First Day of School

January 4, 2011 marked a milestone for Miss Nora Rose, she began preschool!

She goes 2 mornings a week and she is having a blast. She talks about her new friends (she can only remember 2 of their name's!), loves to play on the playground and has made some beautiful crafts! She came home with dried glue on her face the other day, so I would say school is a success!

Ready for her first day of school!

We packed her "Pack-Pack" the night before and she was so excited she wanted to sleep with it that night! (And yes, we let her!)

After school, to celebrate her first day, we went out for ice cream!

Yummos!

Growing Up

Over our week off we set a goal to move Nora up to her big girl room and her big girl bed.

We have been working for weeks on planning, painting, and preparing her new room. So when the light & noise cancelling shutters got installed on December 30, it was time to make the big move!

Some finishing touches of recessed lights and chair rail will be finished when Papa comes to town, but all in all, we are very pleased with her new room and except for a few nights of falling out of bed, Nora is very pleased with all the changes too!

Getting all tucked in for her first night as a big girl!

Hiking in Half Moon Bay

We had the week off between Christmas and New Years so one of the days we decided to go hiking in Half Moon Bay. We had a blast! We ended our adventure with a delicious lunch at Sam's Chowder House for our favorite lobster roll sandwiches! What a treat!

Trying to get a family picture...kinda tricky!

Pointing out the star fish.

This is Sam's lobster roll.

I didn't take this picture but it had to be shown,

it is just too delicious to pass up!

Christmas 2010

This year we spent the actual Christmas holiday with Paul's side of the family.
It was a blessing to be with so much family and to be able to share in so much joy together.

Some of the holiday highlights:

• Getting together with our good friends the Debbas'...love that Mexican food!
• Meeting Kinsley Shull for the first time
• Nora's first Christmas quad ride
• Celebrating Christmas on the 24th with over 30 other Standens & friends
• Hearing the true Christmas Story told by Papa Standen
• Nora getting a Barbi Jeep for her big Christmas gift and watching her eyes light up!
• Celebrating Christmas on the 25th with nearly 30 Foster's
  

Here are some pictures...

Never out of first gear but fast enough to feel the wind in our hair and when we were done Nora asked for more!

Dual long-board action with Ugly (Uncle Ethan).

Nora, first spotting her Jeep.

She was content for the rest of the morning going in and out, turning on and off the radio, buckling and unbuckling the seat belt...until she figured out the gas pedal!

Taking it on the open road!

Thank you family for such a wonderful and memorable Christmas!