This past weekend Paul took 25 High Schoolers up to the snow for their annual Winter Retreat. I always try to plan something while he is gone so that we don't go stir crazy. This time I planned a trip to Santa Rosa with a stop along the way at the Exploratorium in San Francisco.

We all had a busy fun weekend and we were excited to see each other again come Sunday night.


Here are a few cute pictures of Nora and my weekend...Paul's weekend can be capsulized by this: snow, food, attention holding speaking topic, very little sleep, Justin Beiber, poker & pushing vans out of snow banks.

Weather reports for the day was heavy rain with a chance of snow in San Francisco...as you can see from the sky in this picture the weatherman got it wrong on that day!

Nora is doing this goofy thing right now where she won't look at the camera when a picture is being taken. A straight on face from her is a rarity right now!

Michaela and I carpooled up to SR which was fun to let the kids experience the Exploratorium together and for the mommies to have some adult conversation along the way!

By far the two favorite experiment experiences were the bubbles and air blown beach ball.

Nora liked to stick her face in the wind hole. Goof ball!

In Santa Rosa we got to do so many fun things.

Friday night we got to help cook a delicious meal

for a group at my parents church.

Saturday was my dad's birthday,

which we celebrated at Traintown and will a family dinner.

Sunday we got to go to my parents church and worship with them.

At least the goat will look into the camera!

All Aboard!!!

A good weekend and a great visit!

Be Here Now

I have a confession to make. I am a task person, not a people person. Shocking I know, but truly I feel proud when the dishes are done, relaxed when the laundry pile is empty and victorious when I see vacuum lines in the carpet. Sometimes I feel like I am a bad mom/wife because I spend more time cleaning, bill paying, and event planning than I do actually spending time with Nora and Paul. (We all have our things to work on!)

So, on Fridays I do not work in the office, I am at home with Nora and her two best friends Liam and Aaron. This last Friday's forecast was rain, a task oriented persons worst nightmare! I prayed to Jesus asking for a dry spell while Aaron was awake so we could go for a walk, that didn't happen. Then I prayed to Jesus to have a dry spell at any time so that I could send Nora and Liam out to play in the street, I didn't care, anything to get them out from under foot, that didn't happen.


So, as I tried to clean and organize the house with the kids under foot, I looked at the three cuties and even though I am sure they loved the TV show I had put on for them, I thought to myself "you should try to make this day memorable instead of forgettable". So I put down the shirt I was folding, turned off the TV and did something memorable. I overturned all the cushions from the sofa, threw over some blankets, piled in some books and in an instant my tidy living room was a ramshackled fort. The kids loved it! They especially loved destructing the fort, which I had to calm myself and let happen over and over again!

Their faces say it all.

Aaron was more interested in eating the sheep than participating in the fort...I didn't take it personally!

The Day of Love and Merriment!

I love Valentine's Day! Not so much because I need the affirmation from Paul that he loves me or visa versa, even though that is a nice side affect. What I really love about the day is that it takes me out of my normal routine and causes me to be creative, spontaneous, thoughtful and a little silly! Now who could hate that!?!?!

We taught Nora that what you say on Valentine's Day is "I Love You!" She kept saying it while I was taking the picture, overflowing with love and excitement, and thus never giving me an open eyed picture of her! Oh well, here's to love!

Nora and Liam exchanging Valentine's!

One tradition that I have is that every year I wear my red fur coat. When I put it on I become the Valentine's Goddess and we go out and deliver our Valentine's goodies. Paul HATES this coat, which gives me a little more motivation to wear it, but I tell him that really he loves me more because I wear it because it keeps things silly and fun. It keeps him on his toes and he needs that! I can't wait until Nora is old enough to be embarrassed by the big red fur coat! Oh how fun traditions are!

Happy Valentine's Day!

A Day of Fun

This past Saturday I told Paul that I wanted to have a day void of work and full of fun.

We decided, since the weather was nice, to pack into the car and head over the hill to Santa Cruz. We strolled the boardwalk, we rode the carousel, we walked the peer, we were amazed by the people in bikinis in February playing beach volleyball, we marveled at the sea lions, we searched for Nemo, we had FUN!

Paul and I kept barking like sea lions to show Nora how they do it and she kept shhhh-shing us because the sea lions were sleeping! Whoops!

Nora was very disappointed that the bird wouldn't stop to let her pet him!

She did a lot of chasing!

The night before we watched Finding Nemo as our Family Movie Night Flix. Once we got to the ocean Nora was focused on seeing Nemo, and the sharks, and whales, and turtles, and baby turtles just like how she saw them in the movie. We looked, but we didn't see Nemo. We might need to take a trip to the aquarium soon to satisfy her curiosity.

Still searching for Nemo.

In Loving Memory

It is not without tears that I write this post.

On Wednesday, February 2, 2011 our loving, energetic, always playful puppy Max went to be with Jesus.

He was only 3, but a health complication meant that his time had come.

He was my four-legged child and even though he had a propensity for dirty underwear and his nose led him more than his head did, he was still a part of the family and his presence is dearly missed.

We love you Max and we look forward to seeing you again.