The things that matter {to me}

Photo a day

So far I've kept up my Photo A Day project in December.  Okay, I'm technically cheating with December 1 because I did take the pic over Thanksgiving weekend but really it's the same as the one I took Dec 1 so let's pretend... okay?

Dec 2: an outtake from the joint photoshoot of Alex & Todd for Noni's Christmas card. These 2 turkeys fool around a lot... good thing they are cute!

Dec 3: Noni,Lisa & I went shopping at the Filoli Estate. It was cool, what an amazing house. Someday maybe we'll live on an estate... yah right! LOL

Dec 4: Technically our 16th wedding anniversary but since Geoff was gone I celebrated by hanging out with the kids on the couch. Alex & Fiona were holding hands

Dec 5: We went to Gilroy Gardens to see their Christmas lights. Personally I think it was worth it just to be cold. LOL We do not get a lot of cold weather so it felt really Christmasy to be out at night & see our breath. Alex liked the laser lights & "firework" show.

Dec 6: Todd turned 7! We went to their house for cake & ice cream.

Dec 7: Alex wanted to play Lego's with me. We built a whole huge Lego conglomeration... it was great to play together.

Dec 8: Give peace a chance!

Dec 9: Give a boy a flashlight & you are guaranteed that he will be entertained for hours

Stay tuned... I'm at it everyday LOL!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Forging ahead

We are going on day number 659065309340 of Geoff not being home. Okay, not really but it sure feels that way. At least he's no longer stuck in that dreary boat yard in Fort Bragg moving at a lethargic snail's pace (that wasn't his fault), now he's up north in Crescent City fishing again (YAY!). By all accounts things are going well & the boat project (while long & painful) was a HUGE success. I can't wait until he comes home though & we are normal again. Until then I am still whiny, in case you were wondering.

In other news Fakey showed up this weekend from his hiding spot in the garage and of course Alex is overjoyed. We actually did ornaments this year for the first time in forever. We have a few unbreakable ornaments that Alex put on himself, so far things are going well. We had 1 episode of mild pulling on Fakey, testing out his sea legs but when I asked Alex if he wanted the tree to be "all gone" the answer was a resounding "NO" and since then Fakey has been safe.

I love how Alex hangs all of the balls on 1 branch like grapes :)

Even Fiona was feeling festive

Of course there is the beloved star filter

That's was our Thanksgiving weekend activity (of course there was a lovely dinner at Lisa's for Thanksgiving). 

In other Alex news we are in another rough patch. We are currently having some backsliding in the potty training, lots of resisting sleep (11:21 here & he's still chattering in his bed) and some not so fun behaviors again. I think it's a combination of things between him wanting to exert more independence and missing his dad. Currently the plan is to try to manage but not make any sudden moves until things get back on track after the holidays and Geoff integrating back into the mix (hopefully by January) but he is trying my patience on a daily basis... especially with the potty stuff. As usual I hold my breath that this is indeed just a stage & not a place we are going to stop, but I think it's such a normal pattern by now that I am confident we will get through.

And with that I will hit the hay so that tomorrow we can get day number 659065309341 over with.
 
 

Knock Knock... who's there?

It's meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! Are you scared? I know Lisa is, but that's because I am really coming to her house for Thanksgiving. LOL

Dontcha love self portraits? I do! This one was taken with a Tokina 11-17 fisheye lense that I rented from my new favorite place. I've been trying to have more fun with my photography and this lense is super fun! Oh Santa...

10 on the 10th

Hello 10th of the month... my super busiest day of the month every single month. The rents are all deposited & mailed off. Now to share 10 things that are on my mind:

1) Alex's report from school today was less than stellar so I put the kybash on the promised after school trip to Target. His face crumpled & he knew he was sunk. He was pretty good this afternoon though... hopefully that made an impression.

2) No school Wednesday in honor of Veterans Day.  I am so thainkful for the service of our military personnel past & present!

3) I seen the cutest pair of flats the other day & I am obsessed with finding them before they go off sale.

4) I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow! I'm hoping that since Alex will think it's a school day he'll sleep in too (since lately he's been up early on the weekends)

5) I can't believe that Thanksgiving is 2 weeks from Thursday.

6) I would like to give a big thumbs down to whomever decided that Saturn was going to be closed & no longer make cars. JERKS! Not that I'm planning on getting a new car, in fact I love Madge more than any other car I have ever had but it just bugs me that they took the brand away.

7) If you are not my friend on Facebook then you missed the update this week that Alex got another 9 month clearance for the spine surgery. Yay! No progression again this time.

8) Why aren't you my friend on Facebook?

9) 4 loads of laundry tonight... how is that possible since everything was clean as of Friday?

10) I'm nervous about this whole healthcare reform thing. I'm not really interested in discussing the politics of it, I really just want some unbiased information. See, we private pay for our health insurance (ie: we are not part of a group). We LOVE our coverage (we have Kaiser) and I am nervous that we would be forced to take some sort of public insurance & give up our super fabulous coverage. I want to be able to keep what we have & pay for it like we do now. I hope that will work out. As for the rest of the fighting I'm soooo over it... can't we all just get along?

Talk to you again soon :)

Since it's my blog I can make up words if I want to!

My made up word of the day: reflecty

As we were driving home from school today the weather was amazing & I noticed that the tide was way out. I really wanted to stop but the pull of chores & of course Alex needed a snack etc so we kept driving. At home after we took care of snack and I did some dishes I decided that the light was just too good to waste.

As we drove up I was so excited to see the super reflecty sand... I knew it was going to be a good day!

 
 
He drew another heart <3

We were home in an hour & we were both so relaxed! Totally the right decision... reflecty sand is good for the soul ;).
 
 
 

Checking In

Alex is keeping me busy these days, he's a handful mostly in a good way ;) I love all of his little quirks and I'm really thankful for them (well most of them) like for instance his love of all dolls in the shape of babies (not to be confused with real babies... those he's not that fond of). In Alex's eyes all (pretend) babies are stunt babies, they are meant to try out the world in a way that only the small & uber flexible can. These 3 babies were found at Target yesterday and once we got home Alex found this bed that belongs to another toy that became their transportation the next adventure. Quirks are good.

Geoff is still gone. I've abandoned any hope of seeing him here on a regular basis until after New Years. See by the time the boat is done it will probably be time for him to go north to Crescent City to fish crabs which will be most if not all of the month of December (he'll come home for Christmas of course) but the reality is he's going to be working so we'll remain on the weekend track for the next 3 weeks and then all hell will break loose with the opening of crab season... at this point him being here for Thanksgiving is not looking good. Blah... this boat project is going to be fantastic when it's done but it pretty much ate up a most this year of our lives.

Speaking of the holidays can you believe they are right around the corner? Someone carved a giant peace sign into a hill side near the harbor & I am determined to somehow get that in the background of my Christmas card pics... yep it's time to obsess over card photos again... oh joy!

 

Birthday Time

We celebrated a big birthday last week... someone turned the big one one (as in 11).  I made a little birthday picture collage from his weekend celebration. We had presents, a googly eyed monster cake (there's a story there from my family) and pumpkin carving. Presents & pumpkins... Alex's favorite "p" words!

Then on Sunday it was time for the annual tradition of loading up Bum's big pumpkin for the giant pumpkin weigh off here in town (the winner was over 1600 pounds... it came all the way from Iowa). Alex was super into that and that made for some super cute pics to share

Other than that it's been pretty quiet around here.  I hate to bore everyone with my "Geoff's still not home" whining (there's been a lot of that lately) or my work chatter. Alex has been quite testy lately too, not sure what's up with that other than that he's eleven now... 2 years from teenage hood.
  

The beloved patch has opened!

Alex has been dying to go to the pumpkin patch. Daily when we drive by the chatter from the backseat is clear & concise... pumpkin day better come soon! So today because it was early dismissal Wednesday the outing was planned... the boy was ready.

  

 

 

 

There are more pictures here.  We ran, we laughed, we came home with 3 pumpkins (one is already carved thanks to Friend Sasha who was here tonight with Alex while I worked). It was a great day!

Disneyland Update

We had an amazing time at Disneyland! It was not too hot & Alex was soooo thrilled to be there. We rode the Matterhorn at least 20 times LOL which is what he is most interested in. The crowds were more than we were used to (economy shsmonomy) but at least is was under 100 degrees.

Alex really got interested in the pool which was fun since normally pool time is exhausting as he just wants to sprint around & liberate the umbrellas. But this year we put a life jacket & goggles on him and just let him be his own man in the pool. He was putting his face in & swimming all over. He's just good!

I uploaded 28 pics to Facebook, you can click here to see them even if you are not on Facebook.

PS to Erika who commented on my last post & seen us in Disneyland... OMG why didn't you say hi? Do you know what a rock star I would have felt like? LOL  How funny though!

We're off in the morning!

It's the annual famdamily trip to Disneyland & I can not wait! I'm soooooo ready, in fact so organized I'm afraid I've messed up LOL. Alex is already in bed at 8:30 pm because as I explained in my best motherly voice... tomorrow will not come unless he goes to sleep. LOL

I'll try to update from there but it will depend on the ease of the internet access there. Until then, have a good day... I know I'm going to be having one :)