oops...

carrie nailed me. so here i am. it's not that i don't want to blog, i just don't always have the time and energy...bad kristen, no biscuit.

there is a lot i want to blog - but i need to head to bed early. i'm subbing tomorrow and thursday and it's snowing and dangme cold. i'm subbing for 2nd graders. i've made a word search puzzle for them that i think is easy enough - hopefully not too easy.

today was a brownie meeting. i have a new co-leader. i think we're going to get together for coffee on friday - at least that's my hope. today seemed like less fun than it should have been. i need to work on that. hopefully beth and i can figure out some fun things.

jolie and the kids were up for ken's b-day - i started a post for that and didn't finish it. crap. anyway, we got to see them at dinner and traded some gifties for the advent stockings and a few other things. someday we'll get to sit and talk and have a real discussion for more than 3 minutes *smile*

jolie and karly (karly turned 2 on the 9th)

jake, jolie, and karly

jake and jolie

all these pictures were taken by rhys

we had a wonderful thanksgiving. my SIL, Connie and her 16 year old, alana were here here with their 2 dogs (styx and tabby - both border collies). Ken came for football and dinner also. it was a primarily organic and/or grassfed dinner which made everyone happy. i was delighted with our turkey from wild oats - i was very concerned about cooking it correctly - i was quite pleased that it was cooked quite well and was still juicy - yea! connie and alana brought apple pie (alana's favorite), yams, stuffing (bread), red wine, and i'm sure i'm forgetting something...OH! ham for the next morning and the green beans). ken brought some lovely french white wine, and i made pumpkin pie, stuffing (oatmeal), the turkey, salad, green beans, and rob made yummy dinner rolls as well as cinnamon rolls for the next morning. i'd hoped to have dinner ready at 3....well, we ate at 4. not so bad. we had some yummy appetizers, so everyone survived.

the kids' table.

the big kids' table

on saturday, rob, connie, and alana went geocache-ing. connie has a 4 wheel drive f250 (it's biodiesal - cool, huh?) so they were able to easily get where rob wanted to go. they found something insane like SIX caches. they also had a lot of fun.

alana on a cold hill

here she might be signing the log - there's connie's truck behind her
it may look like dancing, but there is a string that alana is holding - it was part of the cache. connie is in red watching the dance. *smile*
rob with 12 angry men. the dvd, not actual people shrunken down to surprisingly small size

on saturday and sunday rob also put up the outside lights - outside of our house looks great! inside, not so much, but at some point it will be christmasized.

and, just b/c, here is a picture of irene
and, i just want to say that i love my daughters sense of style. it always puts a smile on my face. under the purple sweater she has another sweater that also has stripes of various colors.

and now, i need to think about bed b/c it's going to be icy and scary driving tomorrow to get way across town.

and thanks again to carrie - everyone should go and give her some love b/c she helps to keep me blogging :)

b/c i'm lame and can't figure out how to get a new blogger picture - i want to get one just from my computer but it only lets me have a url...will this work? who knows.

Disneyland

Rob has a pretty good rundown of day one and how we got there...if you remember, rhys was sick. then irene was sick. did i mention that previously? she was 1/2 day behind rhys. on tuesday, everyone laid low. i was exhausted b/c i'd slept with rhys - slept? did i say slept? yeah. that would be overstating the fact that i occasionally closed my eyes. whenever i did that and sort of began to actually fall asleep, rhys would moan and need me to be awake to rub his little tum. so, i was not in my normal wide awake mode when i was supposed to be packing...packing didn't really happen until after rob got home. whoops. i just couldn't focus. and on top of that, every time that i DID try to go and pack, one or both of the kids would need me. ah well. we finally did manage to get to Pat and Bob's in Lodi. Pat had made her delicious vegetable soup. Rhys didn't want much of it, but Irene enjoyed it. so did the rest of us. i took rhys up to go to sleep and both of us fell asleep mere minutes after i finished reading Fox in Socks.

the hightlight of the next day's drive was rhys throwing up. wheee. i'd had a waterproof sheet on top of both kids b/c we were in the prius and i didn't want them to get syrup on the new car...the kids were watching a video and suddenly, there went the 4 bites of pancake. on rhys, his carseat, the sheet, and...my computer. for whatever reason, the incident happened in the middle of NOWHERE and there wasn't much of a shoulder, so rob couldn't safely stop on the side of the road to do all we had to do...so, miles and miles down the road (shades of trying to find a toilet on our way from richmond back to norfolk) we were finally able to stop and clean up the boy, sort of clean up the carseat, and get back into the car. yes the computer works. i had an extra flannel - hmmm - what to call it? not so much a receiving blanket as it's lovely and big (it was a gift from Jaye when rhys was born - it's large and serves MANY purposes for us), so we put that on top of the car seat and continued on our way. rhys quickly fell asleep for most of the rest of the trip. at some point, irene switched to pat and bob's car (smart girl!). we got to our hotel (Paradise Pier!) around 5. We had a fabulous view of California Adventure


it was actually light out - but this was the first picture we took. nice view, huh? we were VEDDDDY excited and happy with it.

rhys didn't make it for dinner, so everyone else had dinner while rhys and i went upstairs. they brought my dinner up for me and rhys had his toast. i think he had 3 bites of it.

the next morning was DISNEYLAND DAY!!!

irene had been all set to go on a million of the scarier rides, then changed her mind when it came down to it..."i'll do it tomorrow" was her mantra....but we didn't realize at ALL what the next day would bring. so, pat, rob, rhys and i did pirates while bob stayed w/irene. we went on several of our favorite rides. at one point irene thought she really needed to be back at the hotel (that tells you just how carpy she was feeling!). so we started to head back...then she rallied soon after i realized i needed my wallet.

more rides, more fun, no real awful lines. nightmare before christmas'd haunted mansion ROCKS in a BIG giant way. i went on it w/Bob and Rhys and once w/rob while pat and bob took the kids on the jungle cruise. we had dinner at the mexican place by Thunder Mountain Railroad -- it had broken down. it opened just as we were getting ready to leave, so rob and i hopped on (no line!) while, again, P&B watched the kids. then it was on to see about the parade. pat and irene stayed and saved our place for that while rhys and bob went on the paddle boat and roba nd i went on to space mountain. MAN that is a great ride. i've always liked it, but now it has rockin' music, it's faster, and it's DARKer. fabbo fun.

the parade was the same one we'd seen back in march. it was just as good. the fireworks got cancelled which was a bummer. of course, they weren't s'posed to happen until 9:30 anyway (well past when our kids fall asleep). we went back to our hotel and the kids fell asleep pretty quickly. rhys had fallen asleep on the way out of disneyland. irene was out before rob and i headed out for disneyland. pat watched the children for us while we had a wonderful time back at disneyland. it was so much fun to just go. we got some coffee, went on splash mountain (oh my dog did i get wet! i was in the very front. S.O.A.K.I.N.G. that's what i was. but it was great fun. from there we went to indiana jones and then back to space mountain. after that we perused various shops. we then walked back to our hotel and relieved grammie from babysitting duty and thanked her profusely. it was great fun to be able to go back.

here are some pictures from the day:

our hotel had a character breakfast - we'd all forgotten about that...so i was upstairs until rob called and said BRING THE CAMERA!!!

irene and daisy :)
daisy was very sweet and funny. rhys had quite the cowlick and she kept trying to press it down. it didn't work.

isn't this a fun picture of pat and bob with pluto?
irene, rhys and MICKEY! (the spot on rhys' leg is actually the remnants of a halloween tattoo)

not the very best of pat, but here are bob, irene, and pat on peter pan. the camera didn't want to take multiple pix at that point. dadgum!

here are rob, rhys, and I - the "cast member" took this for us

on the train with gramps

gramps and rhys in a funny toon town car

two silly children in goofy's house

pat and bob are sitting in front of the fountain at toon town. and in the foreground, you can see rob in the rust sweatshirt and galaxy quest hat. and if you click on it, you can see rhysie behind rob - in an orange shirt.

just before the parade started (irene and rhys anxiously looking for that first float)

day two of disneyland was less than perfect. when we made the reservations (several months ago), we were trying to figure out a time to go that would work for everyone and that was during irene's time off track. halloween didn't work b/c pat and bob were just returning from hawaii. there needed to be a bit of a break for them before traveling again. the following week (which is this week) didn't work b/c rob has to go to las vegas for a big gaming convention thingy. rob doesn't have a lot of vacation days, so our thinking was that if we went on thurs/fri, he'd only miss 3 days. well....friday was veteren's day. well, not really, but that's the day that all the schools got off. i have never NEVER seen disneyland so busy. just getting in caused my heart to beat a bit faster - and not in a good way. when pat, bob and i went to new orlean's square to find something, i was ready to pass out. the line for pirates was already more than 1 hour long - and they were putting up ropes from the outside of pirates practically to the water! by the time that pat and i were done, i'd say the line was at least 2 hours. so, we decided to head to it's a small world. it had just opened up on friday - newly winterized (holiday-ized). we were going to get in line and our friends, judy, dustin, and their daughter, abby could meet us in line. well, par for the course, it had broken down. we decided to wait there anyway and maybe it would open. about 10 minutes after judy et al arrived (it took them about 2 hours from their hotel door to us -- and their hotel was only 5 minutes away!), the ride opened! so we were able to hop on. to hear irene tell it, we had waited all day for that ride. it wasn't working properly for the 1st half of the ride, but they let us ride it a second time. so we got 2 rides for the wait of 1. that was nice. if only we'd known that we could have done multiple fast passes, maybe we'd have done more stuff. but probably not. we headed over to california adventure for lunch - took judy, rob and bob about 40 minutes to get lunch. took dustin even longer to get the kids' lunch. after that, rob took irene and rhys (rhys was just done and done in) back to the hotel. bob went with them. the rest of us headed back to disneyland to do a little bit of shopping. about an hour later - maybe a bit longer? we headed back towards the hotel. pat opted to wait for the return crew and sat and people watched for a while. rhys was still sleeping, irene was frustrated and upset that she'd gone on so few rides. i think all of us were feeling that. i stayed w/rhys. judy et al stayed with me to keep me company. the rest of the crew headed back to california adventure and went on Soaring Over California. Irene loved it just as much as before. Pat and Bob really liked it as well. they then went on the jellyfish ride (an up and down kind of ride - similar to the parachutes at knott's berry farm - but smaller - for littler kids) and then had dinner. rob had told irene that after dinner they could go on everything she wanted for as long as she wanted. the poor sweet thing fell asleep at dinner and could NOT be woken up for anything. the next morning she woke up crying b/c she didn't get to go on all the rides she wanted to go on. poor beanie.

so, all in all, it was a good trip. just disappointing that last day. now we know for sure that we really need to do the midweek thing. tuesdays are still the best days to go (in my opinion). but do not EVER EVER EVER go on a holiday. my word. just crazy.

and the pix for day two are on a different computer. sorry about that.

the kids are feeling ever so much better and we're back to the normal stuff.

GO. NOW.

if you haven't already done it,

GO AND VOTE!!!

we're losing rights right and left, but we still have this! GO AND DO IT!!!! NOW!!!! and if you've already done it, GOOD ON YA! Voting is important. I really don't care about those people who say "my vote doesn't really count" IT DOES!!!! i don't want to hear ANYONE bitching to me about the state of our country unless they get off of their duffs and VOTE! THEN you can bitch and moan all you want.

we now have TWO sick kids in the house (though rhys is seeming MUCH better today - KNOCK WOOD, THROW SALT!)
. We leave this afternoon for Lodi and then tomorrow we make the trek w/pat and bob to DISNEYLAND. All kids WILL BE BETTER! that's the law.

i'm making phone calls until we leave to make sure that people are voting and if they can't get to the polls that they have a ride to them. the race here in washoe county, and, in fact, ALL of nevada is well and truly neck and neck. we have early voting, so i voted last week. i went on sunday w/our precinct administrator (that's the wrong title -- i can't remember exactly what it is) and put those voter door hangers on doors of those people we knew hadn't yet voted.

more when i get back (unless there is wi-fi and i'm not exhausted...then i might try to post).

now stop reading and run to the polls! *smile*

Somebody's sick. We must be going on a trip.

we have a great big great and wonderful trip planned. we leave tomorrow to go to Lodi and spend the night at rob's folks house, then all of us will caravan in our priuses to The Paradise Pier hotel and spend the next two days at disneyland w/grammie and gramps (pat and bob - rob's parents). it will be wonderful and fabulous. my girlfriend, judy, and her family will meet us there on friday and we're going to have lunch at the blue bayou.

so this morning, everyone woke up feeling fine. no problems. i was upstairs folding a mountain of laundry. rob had left for work. suddenly, rhys was NOT feeling well. i came downstairs after he called for me - cleaned him up, took him upstairs to get a bath and freshen up a bit more. got out of the tub, more runs, and some throwing up. joy.

it truly is astounding how often this happens. murphey likes us, i guess. right now i'm trying to get a wee bit of chamomile tea down him and a little bit of cracker. it's no fun throwing up bile, right? it is my fervent hope that this is just a wee little bug that is over today.

more halloween

Okay -- here are my halloweenees. I thought i had more of irene -- but it might be that they were from earlier in the week...usually rob goes as a gorilla, but that costume is apparently quite hot. this year he decided to go as Static Cling. I was Super Mama. you can see a wee bit of me in the picture of rhys with his sucker.

I found more. Here is our garage -- until 10/30 when the wind whipped through our area and destroyed our people :( but it was fun to have them up for a while.

and here is irene as tinkerbell
and irene WITH her tinkerbell.

and, because i just found it recently and had scanned it, and it was from halloween, i thought i'd show you this one:
i believe this was 1992. rob and i had been dating for just over 1 year. i was a biker babe (obviously) and am drinking beer, so i must've already been tipsy. i'm wearing rob's fabulous leather jacket and a leotard from HIGH SCHOOL (what better to show the cleavage?!?). Rob was in our friend Chris' chaps etc. do you like my tattoo? and my beauty mark? how about that wildly toussled big hair? nice, huh? i can't remember where we were -- i don't think it was rob's place, but i can't remember where it was. someplace in rohnert park.

More pictures will be forthcoming

I could have sworn i told blogger to put this in the middle - whatever.

here are various stages of pumpkinness. it took quite a while to do and i'm tired b/c it's late. i'll do the outfits tomorrow.

hallween was wonderful and fun. rhys was TOTALLY into it this year. Irene, of course was into it as well. last year, rhys went along for the ride. this year he practically RAN to every house. it was great fun to watch. i was going to stay home and give out the candy this year...then saw the sheer excitement in his eyes and rob and i both decided to leave the candy out w/a note and all of us would go around our neighborhood.

irene was tinkerbell. rhys was Super Rhys Fairy - or Super Fairy Rhys. totally what he wanted to be. i had a great buzz lightyear costume from a friend. he was completely uninterested. he wanted a mask. he wanted wings. he wanted a cape. so that's what we did.

now, i need to head to bed. but i have to say that the kids and i had a lovely day in susanville with laume, her daughter, and 3 grandbabies!

really?!?

i want to post about my anniversary (it was on saturday - 11 years *beam*) and about the fun day we all had and my darling children and the pretty fall colors. but right now, this will have to suffice...

You Are Cameo

You are understanding and very empathetic. You don't tend to have acquaintances. Everyone is your friend. And all of your friends tend to be friends. You have a knack for bringing very different people together.

What Color Orange Are You?

REALLY? what the heck kind of orange is that? it looks PINK to me. not ORANGE! sheesh. and i LOVE the color orange. oh well. i don't think that *everyone* is my friend. that used to be the way i thought of everyone, but now i *do* have some acquaintances. but my friends, well, there's nothing i wouldn't do for them. my friends are bosom friends that i love greatly and deeply. i am lucky to have good friends. i wish i had more good friends that lived close, but it will come in time.

the other thing i need to do is comment on my comments from my last post. gads, i'm just sucking here, huh? i need to make a big S.F. for rhys' SUPER FAIRY costume. Irene's costume is all ready to go. I'm going to be Super Mama, apparently. Rob will be a gorilla. he thought, perhaps he'd wear a tie this year as well. *smile*

and, b/c it's my new favorite picture that has my heart all over it, i'll share it with you:
this is by the truckee river in reno. the trees were amazing and there is my little family - those that i love most and best in all the world. i love watching rob with them. well and truly, i am lucky.

life, headaches, and other ramblings

just babbling so i have something on here to delight you poor souls that read this. i've been slipping a bit into the odd depression thing again. i've also had a few really awful headaches. they are similar to migraines, but, when i was tested for migraines in college, i was told that they are just muscle tension headaches. i guess i should try doing the exercises for those again...i think a little of it all could be hormonal, but it seems like it's more than that. i've never really been a depressed kind of person. i'm definitely a glass half full kind of girl. at least one person even commented on it saying that she'd never heard me sound low. i'm sure that much of it is the political state of our country. it's deeply upsetting to me. the amount of killing and dying going on in iraq, afghanastan, darfur (sp?), it's just awful. and so much of it just seems for naught.

ugh.

i have phone numbers of many people in our district to call and remind them to vote vote vote! don't listen to the ads on TV telling you that it doesn't matter, the Republicans are going to stay in power and even gain power in the house and senate. that gives me a bit of hope. here, they are haranguing (sp?) jack carter b/c he's moved around a lot - moved to different states, etc. um, didn't many of the bush's do that? and really, don't people MOVE?? my SIL has moved several times, to different states. rob's folks have as well. in fact, they also moved to a different country. rob and i have moved all over the place and to a different state, and we've both lived in different countries. so does that mean that if we wanted to run for office that we shouldn't b/c we've moved around? what's THAT about?? grrrrrrr

irene's investiture was this past weekend. she's officially a brownie now :) yea! she and i had a lot of fun at the GSSN (girl scouts of the sierra nevada) 70th b-day party. one service unit even had a fashion show of GS uniforms over the past 70 years. i got to show irene what MY brownie uniform and junior uniforms looked like. :) it was cute.

i've also been tearing apart our garage and getting things freecycled. there was a fair bit of fabric that i realized just weren't me and i wasn't going to use. they are now with someone who is going to turn them into quilts and blankets for little ones. i've given a lot of the children's books that just weren't beloved by my kids to someone who was so happy to have them. i've given away a number of baby things including a lot of little people stuff. that was hard b/c it's just one more thing that is telling me my babies are not so much babies anymore.

rob's really busy at work - IGT is stuff ready for the big gaming convention thing in Las Vegas next month.

thursday is the last day of school for irene - she has break from nevada day (being celebrated on 10/27 this year - although halloween is when nv became a state. funny that i know that but i have no clue when california became a state) until the monday after thanksgiving.

irene got her report card and is just shining in class. yea! her reading is just really amazing to me. and she's learning the joys of reading to herself when she's in bed. i LOVE that. i hope that doesn't come across as i love that she can read to herself so we don't have to - b/c, good lord! that's not even CLOSE to the case. we still read to her and with her and i hope to do that for a long time. i'm looking forward to sharing so many books with her. but now, she'll just pick up a book and start reading it.

we just took another step w/rhys and took down his high chair (he was eating at the table, not using the tray part - but we were getting him closer to the table) and he's sitting in a big chair now. we're getting ready to make another big kid step w/rhys - he has a queen mattress in his room right now (all the better for those that sleep w/him on occasion), but we're getting ready to put him in a twin bed. we'll use the frame/headboard/etc that was his gramps' bed and has also been used lovingly by his cousins.

i have a quilt i need to sandwich/baste/and quilt - don't think it's going to happen before the baby is born. damn. the house is still a mess b/c of all the tearing apart i've been doing...it's at times like this that i wish i had rhys in preschool - but so many of the ones i've seen/heard of/looked at the webpage - are WAY WAY WAY too religious for us. i want the preschools we had in petaluma and the one where i taught in point reyes. bleh. oh well.

we have brownies today. wonder what we'll have for dinner. hmmmm.....last night it was yummy pancakes (buckwheat, flax, chocochips, bisquick - kids love 'em). that means they have pancakes for the rest of the week in teh mornings. i LOVE that! it's something they love and it's easy for me to not have to fight w/them over what we're having for breakfast.

okay - gotta go.

when do kids get to be kids?

check this out (rob just sent it to me)...the title is "Playing tag now a no-no at some US schools." Do you know why? because the schools are afraid that parents will sue! how insane is that? why are we such a sue happy country? i do know that kids can get hurt playing tag. but, c'mon, kids can break a bone or bonk their head from just walking.

at van gorder elementary (where irene went last year), they don't have swings. why? b/c they are DANGEROUS (cue ominous music). the thing that first caught irene's attention and made her love her new school (which is older than van gorder)? SWINGS. the school has 3 areas with swings - one for each playground area.

when i was in elementary school, we had 3 recesses. the first and last were 15 minutes. the lunchtime recess was 45 minutes (and that included eating lunch). now, irene has 2 recesses - one 15 minute one and lunch recess which, i think, is 20 minutes or so. no child left behind has just totally screwed so many things. many teachers are teaching only to the testing and many "specials" are being cut b/c the kids need to be having more more more academics. was my schooling so awful? did i end up stupid b/c i had extra recesses? because teachers didn't teach just to the test? no. no child left behind has also made it so that even if a school is doing well, if it doesn't continue to get better and better test scores, it goes on The Watch List. spanish springs is one of those schools on the watch list. we got sent a letter from the school district showing where SS is as compared w/other schools in the district. they were at or above all of the other schools in every area. and yet, they are on the watch list.

i truly appreciated irene's teacher last year - mrs romaggi had the kids doing art almost EVERY SINGLE DAY. and the art was always related to language arts or math. do you see what she did?? she ... COMBINED art WITH learning. what's that??? they were LEARNING THROUGH PLAY? what a CONCEPT! how DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE! geez. stuff that teachers already know.

this year, irene has a teacher who pushes them to be their best, but not in a scary bad way. miss graham is wonderful and irene comes home from school just beaming and goes to school telling me how much she loves it. she's doing well in math, fantastic in reading and spelling, and she's a good friend as well. she has swings and some bars to play on which makes her happy. she gets to run and have fun. and they do some coloring most every day. it doesn't feel, to me, like miss graham is teaching to the tests. this could have to do with the fact that she's been teaching for 20 years (which is amazing to me, b/c she looks younger than me!) and knows what really works for getting kids to learn.

it's really not an easy thing to be a new teacher these days. you aren't tenured, you're not getting paid much, mr. bush's no child left behind has made all sorts of things more difficult for them as well.

things need to change.

we need to stop sueing everyone and everything at the drop of a hat. we need to get rid of no child left behind, b/c it seems to leave many children behind. we need to LET TEACHERS TEACH! and we need to PAY teachers! i can tell you that as a sub, i make a whopping 10.50/hour. yeehaw. i don't think that new teachers make too much more than that.

whoops! it's been a week.

thanks to carrie for bonking me on the head and reminding me that i've disappeared. the thing is, i get so bummed when the blogs i enjoy are not updated regularly. i'm constantly impressed with DebR who posts nearly every single day. when she doesn't post for a few days and she hasn't told us she's going to be gone, i worry *smile*

so -- let's see...a quick view of our past week...on monday, rhys and i went for a walk. it wasn't such a great healthy quick walk for me as rhys wanted to walk on his own rather than hang out in the stroller. we went looking at all the groovy trees and colored leaves. this is one thing that i DO really like about nevada. we didn't have the changing colors of leaves to this extent in petaluma or rohnert park.
Rhys on our walk. it looks like he's doing itsy bitsy spider, but i don't think he is.

some really cool colors in the trees on our walk

the trees are really in cool colors right now.

this is our flowering flame pear tree in the front yard.

tuesday was brownies. it was also the pumpkin patch field trip. rhys got to come as well b/c i was driving myself. we successfully went through the corn maze. this year the corn stalks were at least 8 feet high (it's really hard for me to judge heights b/c i'm short - 5'). I'd heard from someone the key to getting through the maze, but there were many points when i began to doubt. it was still a lot of walking. i was surprised. by the end of it, our group of girls were tired out and wanting to be done with it. i was tired too as i had to hold rhys for most of it. and take pictures too, of course.


rhys waits for renebean's bus to arrive. what's that? who made that amazing and wonderful jacket? why, none other than Lydia the Amazing! she made it for HER baby boy when he was a wee bairn. then, when we visited her this past june, she gave rhys this one and a few others!!! we are very very lucky!

here it is from the back. SO amazingly fabulous!

Camille and Irene making sure they stick together.how's THIS for a halloween sheep???

here are the 4 girls in the corn maze.

we got back from the pumpkin patch and had to zoom home (we being rhys & I) so that i could finish up the things i needed for brownies. our brownie meeting went pretty well. i didn't have enough planned for them to do. they are FAST with EVERYTHING. yeesh. so i need to work on that. perhaps if i have twice as much stuff as i'd think they can do, we'll have enough for them to do w/o any "OH CARP! WHAT NOW?"

zoomed home after brownies and got myself a little something to eat before i had to zoom to another girl scout meeting -- this one was the service unit meeting. it was over around 8ish. came home and was very tired and a bit overwhelmed!

thursday found rhys & i on our way to borders for TEACHER DISCOUNT DAYS! we got a few things for beanie that will be a surprise for her b-day or christmas. i got some other fun stuff as well. i love going to book stores. i love looking for children's books. it's a gift for me as well as them as i'm one of the folks that often reads the books. over and over again. and again. *smile* it also just so happened that we were there for the 1/monthly story time at borders. they used to do it weekly. we didn't get to go all the time b/c it's in reno and we can't always get there in time from school (we're a good 1/2 hour or so from most every place outside of sparks). the new story time reader is really great. they had a few that were okay, but not stellar. this woman (donna) is very animated in her reading. we like that more than deadpan readings. after a bit, we headed back to school for my volunteer day.

friday was a 1/2 day for irene. we came home and made some witches, then went back to borders b/c it was reception/raffle sign up etc time for teachers from 5 - 8. mom met us there and then a bit later, we met rob at On the Border for dinner. it was yummy. rob then took the kids back home w/him and mom and i went back to borders to wander and look. it was lovely.

saturday found us at gymnastics in the a.m. and then to the pumpkin party the D.R. Horton was putting on for our development. but it was really less than fabulous this year b/c our development has only a few houses left. so, we walked to the next D.R. Horton development a few blocks away. it was much more happening there. the kids had fun. that was what mattered.
hmm - i'll try and post the pix again tomorrow. blogger is being less than helpful with them right now...after that fun, the kids made cookies w/nana. they had a fabulous time and we have amazingly delicious cookies...well, there are two left. we did share a few of them...

sunday was the Meridian Gold Run For Education. it was fun. irene ran probably at least 1 mile even though it was a 1/2 mile run - she ran back and forth and zig zagged. rhys ran on rob's shoulders until the last quarter mile, then he and i ran together while rob and irene finished the race together. it was all good and fun until the crazy speakers by the bounce houses were on full tilt. it was so unbelievably loud. it was for the BMX thingy that was happening after the run. they apparently believed that it was really smart to have the speakers by where the littlest kids were rather than over by where the BMX stuff was happening. :( we left b/c it was so loud. i'm sorry, but holy moly! having 125 decibels of screaming "DAN WEED IS HERE!! WOOHOO!!! LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR HIM!!!!" did me in. it also did in the kids and rob. so, we went to mom and ken's to wait for a guy to show up and buy some tires. he never showed up. how rude is that?? it was pretty darned rude, that's how rude.

it's 1/2 days all week for irene - conferences are happening. i need to get back to borders this week b/c **trumpets and fanfare commence** i WON something at the raffle. no idea what it is yet. but yea me! :) irene's conference is tomorrow. rob's getting off work early for it. yea rob!

and so, you are now caught up. and again, i'll try for pix again tomorrow.

a meme from debR

i got this from DebR and this is what she says about it:

I got this meme from Mim at R*S*V*P. The object of the meme is to answer each and every question with either "yes" or "no." No "maybes", no stories, no explanations or equivocations. ACK!

she *did* however put some question marks on hers -- i'm doing that too - either to the ones i don't remember exactly if it was me or someone else, or if the question just seems vague to me - i mean, when talking about playing chicken - are they talking about in the pool? are they talking about in a car? or is it just any kind of chicken? hmmmm....

anyway, here is mine.

Have you ever:
1. Taken a picture completely naked? yes
2. Danced in front of a mirror naked? yes
3. Told a lie? yes
4. Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back? yes
5. Been arrested? no
6. Seen someone die? no
7. Kissed a picture? yes
8. Slept in until 5pm? no
9. Had sex at work (on the clock)? no
10. Fallen asleep at work/school? yes
11. Held a snake? yes
12. Ran a red light? yes
13. Been suspended from school? no
14. Pole danced? no
15. Been fired from a job? yes
16. Sang karaoke? yes
17. Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? yes
18. Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? no
19. Laughed until you peed? yes
20. Caught a snowflake on your tongue? yes
21. Kissed in the rain? yes
22. Had sex in the rain? no
23. Sang in the shower? yes
24. Gave your private parts a nickname? no
25. Ever gone to school/work without underwear? yes
26. Sat on a roof top? yes
27. Played chicken? no (?)
28. Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? yes (?)
29. Broken a bone? no
30. Flashed someone? yes
31. Mooned someone? yes
32. Shaved your head? no
33. Slept naked? yes
34. Blacked out from drinking? no
35. Played a prank on someone? yes
36. Had a gym membership? yes
37. Felt like killing someone? yes
38. Cried over someone you were in love with? yes
39. Had Mexican jumping beans for pets? yes
40. Been in a band? yes
41. Shot a gun? no
42. Shot a bow and arrow? yes
43. Played strip poker? no
44. Donated Blood? yes
45. Ever jump out of an airplane? no
46. Been to more than 10 countries? yes

Rob's Birthday Weekend

I'm sorry, I'm sorry! the news wasn't so fit to print last week for the most part...or rather, perhaps i wasn't so fit to print it. still working on that heavy feeling - but i think this weekend did a lot to help that.

My amazingly wonderful and handsome husband turned 40 on Saturday. We had a low key but very fun party for him at a local park. What was incredibly fabulous is that some of our friends from california were able to come, some of our family from california were able to come, some friends and family from here, and, the surprise to end all surprises, Debbie, Rob's oldest sister, flew out from texas to be here. to say that rob was deeply touched would be an understatement. I think having our friends and family here was good for the soul - mine as well as rob's. it was really fun to watch all the kids having a wonderful time playing together with a minimum of hurt feelings etc. Bob brought a bacci ball (bocci?) set and he and rob played along with several of the kids. it was a joy to watch them all laughing and having fun.

MIL, Pat and Debbie made a very yummy cake - the frosting is the most amazing part of the cake. it's probably 12 pounds of chocolate and then 12 pounds of butter. SO yummy! they also helped so much by bringing the paper and plastic goods, some bread and brie (i had bought one triangle of brie, but was worried it wouldn't be enough). i made aram sandwiches - veggie ones and turkey ones. i should have made 2 batches of the veggie sandwiches as those went like gangbusters. i was delighted at how easy they were to make. i bought lavash from trader joes, some light cream cheese, sun dried tomatoes that i blended into small pieces, then i put fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, and roasted bell peppers on them (the turkey ones had turkey - obviously *smile*). i rolled them up and then cut them into 6 circles. they turned out really well. i was quite pleased with them and with myself. i also made a yummy salad w/very cute little tiny mozzarella balls in them. we had various snacks and fruit to keep everyone pretty happy (at least that was the hope). I think we were successful.

the park was perfect, the soccer games had just ended when we got there to set up. the weather was *supposed* to have been in the 90s. happily, it was overcast and probably in the high 70s lower 80s. delightful. the wind was only bad a few times. the kids had a fabulous time at the park - they played and played and played. there were 8 kids ranging from 15 months to almost 7. i tried to be a good hostess and hopefully was successful. sometimes i had my eye mostly on where rhys was, sometimes i was able to talk to our friends and family. jolie and my cousin, erica watched the kids a lot of the time - i thank them very much for doing that.

it was pretty windy, so we were all trying to keep the 40 candles lit.bob and pat watching the fun

i love this picture w/all the kids anxiously awaiting their slice of cake

we got home close to 5:45 i think. Erica, Vicki, and Erica's boys were staying with us. i got the kids fed (the adults were all still pretty full) and erica got them bathed, then i put rhys down, vicki read to irene, erica was getting her boys down. Vicki then offered to watch the kids while rob and i went out to the casino to gamble w/our friends, bob, mark, and celeste. we found a 5.00 black jack table that was empty so all 5 of us got to play. it was such fun! rob and i started w/20.00 and i had 60.00 in my pocket when i finished playing. i think for the night we ended 40.00 up - so that's pretty darn good! and to have fun and get to chat w/your friends as your playing - what a delight! it was 12:45 am when we got home. i don't think we've stayed out that late since rhys was born. bob got rob a fabulous frufru cup to hold onto filled w/a margarita. mark later refilled it for him, so rob was feeling no pain.

the next day we had brunch at the el dorado. it was delicious and there were about a million things from which to choose. i think all the kids greatly enjoyed their meals - pancakes and bacon for rhys, french toast, bacon, and pancakes. both followed it up with ice cream - heh heh.

we all greatly enjoyed one another's company. it was so special to have debbie there. as rob says, it's never enough time. erica, vicki, and the boys headed out a bit before we did, so we said our goodbyes as they headed for tracy. soon after taking some fun pictures, it was time for debbie, pat, and bob (rob's dad, not our friend) headed back to lodi. mark, celeste, bob, rob, the kids and i stuck around for a bit longer. bob and rob had found the green stamps slots so they went there, the kids and i stayed and watched a rhythmic gymnast at circus circus. she was pretty darned amazing! irene loved it. after that, we went looking for rob et al. found them, i talked to them a few minutes and then got a bit busted for corrupting the minors. irene, rhys and i went outside (the slot machine was fairly close to the door) and proceeded to dance to Joy to the World (3 dog night, not the christmas song) on the sidewalk outside. we were probably pretty funny to watch, but i didn't care - and the kids sure didn't care. mark and celeste found us and we went up and got some coffee (vanilla milks for the kiddos). rob and bob eventually found us and then it was time to say our goodbyes. it was really a wonderful visit and my children, i'm happy to say, were quite delightful and polite when we were at brunch and in the casino.

we came back home and relaxed. it was a good weekend. i feel grateful for my friends and my family and rob and i both feel well loved :)

not the best picture ever of us, but that's okay. l-r
pat, debbie, irene, rob, rhys, bob, celeste, mark, and bob

3 friends
now THIS is more like it.

and THIS is just hillarious. we'd been seeing these crazy posters all over - sigfried looks looney, roy looks completely cg and darren romeo looks absurd. so mark, bob and rob decided to recreate it. they did a pretty good job. hee hee!

a little of this -- and yep, a little of that too

my friend, Becca, is going to be doing the san diego 3 day walk for breast cancer! 3 days. 20 miles each day. amazing! she is just a little short of donations to walk. here is her page. i first met becca online on a wonderful yahoogroup for moms pregnant with babies due in december of 1999. we've been on that same group for more than 7 years now - gosh - is that right? eek! it IS right! i've met her and her daughter, claire (who was actually born in early early january) a few times when i've gone to visit the grannies in escondido. she is a really lovely person inside and out and i feel lucky to know her.

rob went on a huge hike this weekend. he went to the top of mount rose! go check out his blog and read about it. you can see pictures on our new website. i'm HUGELY proud of him. this is a hike that, while i could probably do it, it would not be pleasant for those around me. i tend to bitch and moan when i do the "upandupandupandups" otherwise known as big steep hills.

while rob did that, the kids and i met mom and ken at a neighbor's house for a democrat get together. there were very few folks that came which was a bit disheartening. and it wasn't just for democrats, we had a green party member there too. i've offered to do some phoning as well as be a mini hq again. during the 2004 presidential election, ken was the precinct captain and our house was the headquarters. we were canvassing neighborhoods w/pamphlets at 5:30 am and manning the phones all day. ken is very disillusioned by it all and feels like the democrats really need to get the young people into this and get them to help do the canvassing. he was quite upset (as were most of us on the left side of the political spectrum) that kerry gave up so early.

yesterday was one of those amazing days when my children truly enjoyed one another all day. did you read that? ALL DAY. they played together and just had fun. at about 11:00 am, i told rob, you know, even if they lose it now, they've played together since 7:00 this morning really nicely. well, it continued through the evening. irene helped rhys on Starfall which is a REALLY cool children's website that encourages learning to read, learning the alphabet, the sounds the letters make, etc. irene's been on it since she was a little more than 2 i think and has used it in different ways as she's gotten older. they both had a lot of fun on it. irene is working with rhys on his alphabet, so they worked a lot on the alphabet pages. they also went outside and made some mud and had a great time just playing and gigggling and getting dirty. after that they took baths and then made some pictures together and built a spaceship outside. it was just delightful and i was afraid to take pictures b/c i didn't want to disturb this perfect setting. i was so pleased with them. it warms a mama's heart to watch her children enjoying theirchother.

while they were happily playing, i prepped the sit upon materials for tomorrow's brownie meeting. rob helped me by punching holes in the sit upon "fabric" while i cut rug padding (padding that goes under a rug) for them. that rug padding stuff was REALLY hard to cut! but i did it and rob finished his stuff too. mom came over and we put one together. she had a lot of yarn and big eyed needles, so we got those prepped for tomorrow as well. i hope the girls enjoy the process of sewing their sit upons together. i also hope it takes them a bit of time to do it and they aren't done in 3 minutes. after tomorrow they will have earned their first "try-it" and they will get them when we have their investiture. hooray!

this morning it's a perfectly crisp fall morning. i love fall. i hope everyone enjoyed the vernal equinox.

feelings, Dara, and a Path to Peace

The past few days i've been feeling a huge weight of sadness inside. i'd say depression, but i don't usually get depressed. but maybe that's what it is. a big part of it is the reality of the world right now. rob had a bit on his blog about iran and how it is now being claimed that they will not stop enriching uranium. then i went to lydia's blog a few days ago and she had a post about iraq that was horrifying and upsetting. from there i jumped to her ahno's blog and again, more upsetness.

my feeling about nuclear capabilities is sort of complex. i feel like, why are we, here in the US among the few that get to have nuclear weapons capacity? do i want crazy people in charge of nuclear weapons? people, we've already GOT crazy people in charge of them. RIGHT HERE. in our OWN GOVERNMENT. which country has actually USED nuclear weapons? oh yes, that would be the united states. right. anyway, it just seems like, why SHOULD we be among the only ones having them? i do understand some of the other side w/that. but ack!

i am the girl that didn't get to watch The Day After in 6th grade b/c i take it all in too much. when my 6th grade teacher, in her infinite wisdom let the whole class watch the nostrodomus (sp?) program and then said something like "well, we don't really KNOW that he predicted that the world would end in [whatever year it said]. it actually COULD be that it's THIS year." i was mush. i still remember part of it and it still scares the crap out of me. i'm the SAME kid that, in 1981 (i think i have the year right), while visiting my mom and ken in oakland (i was living w/dad and moni in redlands - 500 miles southeast), they were talking about the fact that there might not be any more gas and how they thought that could be exciting - you could walk or ride everywhere. i remember breaking down and crying and they didn't really get why, i think. i was 10 or 11 at the time and could only think about the fact that i couldn't see one set of parents or the other. i'd be stuck in one place or another. it was terrifying to me. i take these things inside and can see how it would be. so...when i read these things and listen on the radio and see the little bit i see on tv, i take it in and realize what it can be. but i know what it COULD be. why can't we all just realize that we are one? what you do to someone else, comes back to you. if you are good to your fellow people, it comes back to you. if you are bad, that comes back to you threefold.

so - that's been weighing on me. then, there's also the fact that my MIL's cancer has come back. well, actually, turns out, it never really went into remission. the ovarian cancer has moved a bit and it's really upsetting. i keep a positive healthy image of her in my mind and i also go to tara.org and put her ono the prayerlist at two buddhist temples. which brings me to the next part of my post.

I have a wonderful and very special friend named Dara. You can check her blog out over at daramusing. I've known her now for....hmmmm....gosh! i think it's been more than 5 years now. We "met" on a yahoo group full of mavericks (our motto is My Quilt, My Rules! and we can curse like sailors whenever we want and the group is HUGELY filled with talent!). Dara is a buddhist nun. Today, (which is also the autumnal equinox) marks 18 years since she became a nun. what a wonderful anniversary. Hooray and Congratulations on your anniversary. anyway, Dara sent me an e-mail today to tell me about the Path to Peace. it was like a little light had been added and a little weight had been lifted. around the Stupa that has been built in Sedona, Arizona is a path. the place, from all i've heard from people (including Dara) is very spiritual. very peaceful. a place of reflection and meditation. The buddhist nuns and monks of Kunzang Palyul Chöling are wanting to make it Path to Peace that goes around and through the area where the Stupa is. below is a picture of the 36' Amitabha Stupa.

This is what the pdf file says about this stupa: The Amitabha Stupa is considered to be especially powerful, as Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, vowed to respond to the prayers of all who call upon him.

i'm not doing a very good job of explaining this. so let me share a bit of what Dara wrote: The stupa is the first stage in developing the larger plan of a temple, activity center, and meditation gardens. Connecting these will be a Path to Peace, a walkway lined with inscribed bricks, meandering through the stunning landscape of the beautiful red rocks of Sedona.

she then invited our family to be a part of this beautiful project - this beautiful piece of hope for peace by sponsoring a block. I'd like to pass this on to you as well. this spiritual and special place is not a place just for buddhists. it is a place for people of ALL denominations and ALL kinds of faiths. for people.

there is a pdf file that talks about it and how to you too can sponsor a brick. oh! i just found it on their website! you can do it online as well - right here.

i called Dara after i got her e-mail and talked with her for a while. i let her know that her e-mail and she herself helped me to feel better. if i had endless amounts of money, i'd buy many many of these bricks. we're going to get at least one b/c it feels like something we can DO to help promote peace in these difficult times. maybe i can get some family together and we can get one as a gift for people.

maybe it's something that you'd be able to do or like to do. maybe not. but i wanted to put the opportunity out there just in case. (edited to say, believe me, i understand money being tight! so this might not be something you can do, even though the desire is there)


Daramusing: Anniversary

this is me trying to link all y'all to dara's blog. she explains it all better than i did. *smile*

the pictures 7/11/04 (plus one from 2001

First off, a special THANK YOU to Paula Lerner for letting me put the photos on my blog.

This is day 2 of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. It was my first night away from Rhys. Mom and I shared a little tent and were in tent city on Crissy Field in SF. this is at the first aid station on the walk that morning and rob was waiting with the kids. rhys was VERY ready to nurse and i was VERY ready to have him nurse, even though i'd pumped that morning, i was still quite QUITE full. irene had her little ponies and was playing as i nursed the boy. Paula Lerner was there. she was taking pictures for the book Why We Walk (go and check it out. we were almost in it *smile* - the pictures and stories in it are really amazing and Paula's photos are superb). i love that rhys' little feet in the picture. and irene is totally engrossed in her playing. on my shirt are the names of friends and family that have had breast cancer. they are my friends and family and the friends and family of those who donated $$ to my walk. there were too many on my shirt. it was a few weeks, i believe, after this walk that Paula Lerner was diagnosed with breast cancer. I am happy to say that she is doing well today. please do go check out her site b/c her photos really capture the moments well.

irene (4 1/2), rhys (newly 1) and mama.

Photo © Paula Lerner 2004

and here i am w/my boy

Photo © Paula Lerner 2004

The walk was an amazing experience. i felt so lucky to get to do it with my mom. to have her there with me. this june marked 5 years since her bout w/the disease. walking across the finish line - i just can't even describe how emotional it was. i was crying, i think mom was crying, actually, i'm sure mom was crying. one of the parents from my preschool was there - she had walked as well - i think she'd had breast cancer about the same time my mom did. she saw me as i was crossing and ran and gave me the biggest hug.

here i am with rhys after the walk

and, b/c i don't want to leave irene out -- here is one of the very few pix i have of me nursing irene - she's about 18 months in this picture - we were traveling to The Grannies in escondido. mom took this picture in buttonwillow - unfortunately, neither of us has a full sized image of it...so it's a little pixilated.