Walking With Dinosaurs

We saw Walking With Dinosaurs on Monday, and WOW!  Very cool!  If you've never heard of it check out http://www.dinosaurlive.com

If it comes to your area, you should see it.  

Don't take your kids unless they are at least 4 though.  Matthew had moments of sheer terror on his face during parts of it.  Seriously, I've never seen the kid quite so scared.  He almost got sick from fright.  We had to "take a break" outside the arena doors and have a long talk about how the mechanics of how the dinosaurs were made, and how people are controlling them from inside the dinosaurs.  I recommend seeing the "how it was made" special before you go to take away some of the fear for your kids.  

Very cool show!

Stressful vacation?

So, I just poured myself a glass of wine here at 8:15 pm.  The kids are finally in bed, and I just took a shower.  Tonight is all about relaxation.  The Duraflame is lit in the fireplace - yes that's right, the Welshes are all about the Duraflame log.  So, why am I so excited about some relaxation?  Because this "vacation" has been anything but!  

I guess I thought, no...I guess I hoped that this 2 week vacation that I am on would be relaxing.  A time to unwind and spend fun time with the family.  But, the Holidays are a crazy time and it took a few days to get ready for those.  Then after Christmas, it took a few days to get the toys put away and get the house organized.  Now it is almost New Year's and my vacation is coming to a close, and I'm totally and completely exhausted!  

Our kids are great, but my God I'm sick of being their referee.  I swear they are growing because they are constantly asking for food (even though they both just out-ate me at breakfast, and it's only been one hour since).  I tried to read today and I was bombarded by questions and requests and the need to break up fights.  Uggggh!  I might be going a little bit crazy.  

And to top it off, I decided to get a free 7-day trial at 24-hour fitness because I thought this would be the perfect week to get some free workout time in.  But I haven't gone yet because there is no time, and they call us every day to ask us when we are going to come in and activate our free pass.  Leave me alone already!  I wish I could come in, believe me!

So anyway, enough of the pity party.  Life is great and I'm happy to be here.  Perhaps the wine is starting to kick in?

Christmas was great fun.  The kids got way too much stuff as usual.  Santa brought Matthew a train and he was just thrilled (even though it was a steam engine and not a diesel, it was still "just what he wanted").  Kayla got a tricycle from Santa.  Andrew and I got a new MacBook, which I am typing on as we speak, and we finally went wireless in our house.  I also got a new iPod nano - red, of course.  We spent Christmas at my parents house, and the Kansas relatives were here.  We've been to the zoo.  Lots of fun.

I managed to sell my rug on Craigslist today - see previous post for some background.

We're gearing up for 2009, which promises a ton of fun vacations already planned.  Can't wait for those!  Disneyland, Phoenix, the Outer Banks, and Mexico.  Perhaps they will provide some relaxation....  Who am I kidding?  Travel with kids is never relaxing.  But at least one of them will be with dear friends who I dearly miss.

The wine is definitely helping...I've decided that I need to schedule a massage and facial for Friday.  

Happy New Year to you all.  I hope you have a wonderful, safe, and healthy 2009!

An interesting morning...

Kayla is going through a major independent streak lately. She is almost two and a half, and wants to do everything herself. You can't touch her when she's getting dressed, because she wants to do it herself. It has progressed this week to us not even being allowed to watch her get dressed. As a side note, she is actually doing quite well dressing herself, although she occasionally needs help with getting a shirt off or finding an arm hole.

This morning was no different, she practically yelled at me to get out of her room (a preview of the teenage years to come?) so she could dress herself, and she shut the door behind me. A few minutes pass, and I start to hear some whining coming from the room. This is usually followed by, "Mommy, I need help," but this morning the whining just continued. I thought, "good, she's going to keep trying and not give up - an admirable trait." I decide I'll poke my head into her room to see how she's doing.

I open the door and see Kayla struggling to get her shirt off, with no pants and no diaper on ... and I smell poop. Getting nervous now, I ask Kayla, "did you poop?" and she says yes. My next question is, "where is the poop?" She tells me it is on her diaper, which is sitting over on the floor. I take a closer look, and sure enough there is a log of poop on top of her diaper - not IN the diaper mind you. A pit starts to form in my stomach as I realize this can only end badly. "Kayla, how did the poop get there?" She replies, "I poop my hand." Dear God no.

A major clean up effort ensues, including a ton of questions to try and determine where to focus my cleaning efforts. Did she poop on top of the diaper? Did she poop on the rug that I'm trying to sell this week on Craigslist and then pick it up? Or, did she poop on the hardwood floor and then carry it over to the diaper? Or, did she simply use her hands like a catcher's mitt? The answer to all of these questions was "yes," so it remains a mystery. A horrible disgusting mystery. I did the best I could cleaning the entire room, but only Kayla knows how things really went down in there with the poop.

An unexpected visit

This weekend we had a wonderful surprise! We got a text message late Friday night from our very good friends in Colorado asking if we had plans on Saturday and if we wanted visitors. We've known Nikki and Mike Zeman since college. Nikki and I were sorority sisters at CU, and Mike went to the Air Force Academy. Mike is now a pilot with Southwest Airlines, and had a long stop over in San Jose Saturday night. He convinced Nikki and their two boys to come out for a visit as well. We get to see them once or twice a year if we are lucky, so we were thrilled at the idea of having them come for a visit.

We had so much fun! Matthew was so excited to have two boys to play with, and they all slept on the floor in his room (until Cooper woke up screaming, but that's another story). Kayla was very excited to see Mr. Mike again (who she latched onto at our last get together at Disneyland). The adults stayed up very late enjoying beverages and several rounds of Catch Phrase. And wouldn't you know it, the kids got up VERY early. One of the Zeman boys thought he was still on Colorado time and decided to wake up at 4:45am, and the rest of the kids followed shortly thereafter. Yikes! Four hours of sleep was not nearly enough for me.

It often feels like our lives are so rushed, and our weekends can be filled with mundane chores and activities just to try and catch up. It was such a breath of fresh air to have those things thrown out and replaced with great friends and laughter. Life is short and we have to take advantage of those opportunities whenever we can. I'm looking at my to do list today thinking, "my God, I got nothing done this weekend." But I wouldn't trade it for the world...good times spent with great friends is priceless.

Visit to Santa

Matthew has been obsessed with gifts this year. He has been tearing pages out of catalogs and showing us what he wants for Christmas now for several weeks. He will show us the pages and ask us what we like best on the page, and then proceed to tell us all about the things that he wants. This happens multiple times a day. It's gotten so bad that we had to hide the torn-out catalog pages from him this weekend! He has changed his mind 6 times already about what he wants Santa to bring him. First it was a train, then an aircraft carrier, then a track for his cars, then the aircraft carrier again, then the train, and so on...

So, we went to see Santa yesterday at the mall. Matthew and Kayla were excited to tell Santa what they want for Christmas. I was excited that Matthew was finally going to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. In the car we realized that Matthew had brought along one of his catalog pages to show Santa. Yikes! I'm thinking that it probably is not cool to show Santa a catalog page, but figured that other kids had probably done worse, and Matthew wouldn't be the rudest kid to ever sit on Santa's lap with his silly catalog page. But Andrew was not going to have any part of it. "No showing catalog pages to Santa!" Matthew threw a small fit, saying that Santa would bring him the wrong thing if he didn't show him the catalog page. I told Matthew that Santa would know what to bring him, but that didn't seem to calm him down. Andrew told Matthew he was acting like a little brat and Santa would bring him a lump of coal. That didn't help. Finally, we reminded him that Santa was watching him right now, and he finally decided that he should stop. We all got out of the car and headed into the mall...

The actual visit with Santa went off without a hitch. Last year, when Kayla caught a glimpse of Santa, she climbed up Andrew like a monkey escaping a lion attack. This year she actually sat on Santa's lap and told him that she wanted a "tricycle, a pink tricycle." Matthew told Santa he wanted a "diesel train." Santa told the kids to look up at the mall skylights to see if they could see the reindeer, and there were actually antlers up there! Very cute. The pictures were not great, though...the kids had that fake, uncomfortable smile on their faces. Oh well, we didn't want that $40 picture package of wallets and a key chain anyway!

When we got back to the car ready to head home, Matthew says, "if Santa brings me a Thomas train instead of a diesel train set, I'm going to be very upset." This of course prompted a stern lecture from both parents about being thankful for getting anything, and how some kids don't get toys at Christmas, and some kids are starving in Africa. My lectures always seem to come back to the starving children. Oh well, you've gotta love kids and Christmas!

"Busyness" as Usual

So, the Welshes have been busy as usual. Nothing too exciting, but I'll catch you up on what we've been up to.

Football season is over! Hooray - we have Andrew back. Unfortunately, Andrew's team didn't make the playoffs this year. It's what you would kindly refer to as a building year (no size, and little talent - not a good combination). People always ask if I am happy when they don't make the playoffs because the season is over sooner. Actually, no. Andrew and the other coaches (and the players, too) put in so much time and effort into the season that you really want them to do well. Adding a couple more weeks of playoffs to the end of the season isn't a big deal when you've already survived three months worth of it. Andrew and I are always glad when the season is over, though, no matter how the team does. It's REALLY nice to have him around again on the weekends.

We celebrated Andrew's birthday last weekend and this weekend. Now for the next two weeks I can say that he is a "year" older than me.

We bought mattresses for the kids, and Kayla moved to a "big girl bed" this weekend. She is so excited to be growing up, and I'm not really sure how I feel about it yet. We had to get extra long twin mattresses for our kids because a twin bed is only 6'2" long, and for 90% of the population this would probably work fine, but these are Welsh kids we're talking about. I think Matthew will definitely be over 6' tall, and Kayla may even hit the 6' mark herself.

Matthew graduated from his first round of ice skating lessons. He has really gotten the hang of it. He's taking the second level now, and then he can sign up for hockey when he turns 5. Although now he says what he really wants to do is play baseball. He is very excited about being able to play t-ball on a team this year, and I must admit I'm looking forward to watching him play, too.

Andrew and I are looking forward to having 2 full weeks off at the end of this year. We have this time off every year, and it's always a great time for us to hang out as a family, after a very busy Fall. We usually keep the kids in daycare for a couple of days the first week so we can shop for gifts, see movies, clean the garage, and just hang out together. Can't wait for some time off!

So much to do before then...so little time.

For crying out loud!

So, I am rather annoyed that NBC aired that incredibly heartbreaking episode of ER on TV last night. I hadn't watched the show in about a year, watched it for the last half hour, and ended up turning it off in tears. Darn you NBC!

I am not a cryer. I don't cry at movies or books, or sappy wedding commercials. It's not that I have no feelings, it's just that things don't get to me very easily. I also am very careful about what I choose to watch and read. I avoid Oprah books with a passion. If it's on Oprah's book list, it will immediately be scratched off mine. Don't get me wrong, she chooses good books I'm sure. But the topics are way too depressing. They are all about overcoming intense personal struggles, and I just don't want to read about that. When I go to watch TV or read a book, it's because I'd like to have a few moments to escape reality and be entertained. Being depressed is not entertaining for me. Real life is tough enough, and in my lifetime I've already faced my share of grief and challenges to overcome. I don't want to watch other people suffer, and I don't want to read about other people's pain when I am trying to escape for a short while.

Now, again, don't get me wrong. I care deeply for others, especially my friends and family. Helping them through their struggles and sharing their pain goes with the territory, and there is nothing I would not do for someone I care about. The thing is, when someone else is hurting it hurts me too, and when given the choice for how to spend my free time, I choose not to experience those feelings when watching TV and movies, or reading books.

So, on to the ER episode... it was a flashback episode that showed Angela Basset's character (a doctor on the show) and her husband suffering through the death of their 5 year old son. Hello? Who wants to see that on TV? I have an almost 5 year old son, and this is not something I want to think about. The death of a child has to be the most painful thing that anyone can experience. It's one of those things that, as a parent, when you find yourself even starting to think about losing your child, you immediately make yourself think about something else because the feelings are so incredibly intense and painful. You don't even go there! I didn't realize what the episode was about when I turned it on, and I had to turn it off before it ended because it was just too hard to watch. It took me quite a while to recover after that, too.

So thanks a lot NBC. Thanks for the pain and sadness when I was just trying to sit down and unwind before bed. Thanks for the nightmares that I had about my children last night. Next time you should put a warning label on your shows. Forget about warning me of brief nudity or violence, how about warning me "this may cause intense sadness and depression." I'll certainly think twice before I turn that show on again.

Kayla cracks me up...

Kayla is always doing something that just cracks us up. Last night I was putting Kayla to bed. We had just finished reading stories, and she turned her bedroom light off. Sometimes we sit together in the rocking chair in her room and snuggle for a few minutes before she gets into her crib, so I asked her if she would like to snuggle for a couple of minutes, and she said yes. But then she told me to get up from the rocking chair. Confused, I said to her, "Kayla, I have to sit in the chair if we are going to snuggle." She proceeds to crawl into the rocking chair, turns around to sit on her bottom, extends both arms in front of her, and says, "come here Mommy." She actually wanted me to sit on her lap for a change! So, I oblige her and partially sit on her lap (hardly any weight on her, mind you). She says, "too much. Off Mommy. I go bed now." That girl is just too funny.

Halloween 2008

Here is an update on the Welsh Family's Halloween festivities. The kids and I finished up our decorations for the yard, and had such a great time doing it. It's hard to tell who had more fun...me or the kids. Our favorite decoration (and the favorite of passers by) is the Witch Crash (see photos below). We also added a lawn cemetery this year, and made all of our tombstones, and then we made a huge spider out of trash bags. All ideas came from the internet, of course, because I need inspiration (i.e. other people's ideas) to get crafty.


I'm pleased to announce that we had the coolest house on the block for Halloween this year, and since I am a huge fan of Halloween, this gave me much pleasure. Other houses in the neighborhood go all out for Christmas with Santa on the roof and tons of lights. The competition is steep for Christmas. But Halloween was open for the taking. I told Andrew that we had to get in there and claim it before someone else did. He gave me that look he gives me when he thinks I'm doing something silly, but isn't going to say anything because he knows how much fun I'm having.

We carved two pumpkins, and Matthew was all into it, while Kayla didn't like the idea of getting her hands messy. She is a tough little thing, but if her hands get sticky, she is not pleased. Dirt on the hands is ok, but sticky or goey is out of the question for Kayla. The pumpkins turned out great, but unfortunately we carved them the Sunday before Halloween, and by Halloween morning they were moldy and pumpkin juice was running down our front porch. Yuck! Into the trash they went, and after a quick trip to Michael's, a fake carved pumpkin went into their place. So, I'm quite sure we had the ugliest pumpkin ever thanks to my 20 second, last minute carving attempt.



Halloween was spent trick-or-treating with my family in downtown Los Altos during the day. The kids had a lot of fun. Here is a pic of Kayla and Matthew in their pirate costumes with their cousins (my sister's kids...Will the firefighter, Emma the chef, and Marie the ballerina). At night the kids went trick-or-treating with friends Colin and Jared, and since they were dressed as Batman and Robin, Matthew felt compelled to bust out last year's Spider-Man costume.


So, now it's on to Thanksgiving and Christmas. I can't believe how fast time flies. The Welsh family is having lots of fun, and life for us all is still crazy busy. Football season is winding down, though, and we're all looking forward to having Andrew around more.

Snuggling with Mommy

I feel very blessed to have two cuddly children. Kayla is a morning cuddler. Matthew likes to cuddle at night in his bed. It's very sweet, although sometimes they want to cuddle when it is not the most convenient time. This morning Kayla woke up at 5:15. This seems to be a common occurrence with her lately. When she was an infant she did not get up this early. But these days, she gets up during the 5 o'clock hour several days during the week. Usually, when I hear her calling for me this early, "Mommy....I awake now," I first attempt to ignore her. That is usually followed by, "Mommy....where are you? I awake now. Where ARE you Mommy?" So, then I go into her room and I tell her that it is the middle of the night and that she needs to go back to sleep. Even though I usually get up about 30 minutes later to get ready for work, she is cutting into my precious sleeping time, and as many of you know, I am not the best morning person. Sometimes this works, and I get my 30 extra minutes of sleep. Other days, like this morning, she responds with, "No sleep crib, I want go nuggle on couch." So, I tell her that if we go "snuggle" on the couch she has to try and sleep because Mommy is very tired, and she agrees. We go to the couch and she lays down with me and proceeds to flip around like a fish out of water. When I tell her to lie still, she will for a short time, but two minutes later when I'm drifting off to sleep, she's at it again. So, getting annoyed now, I tell her, "I'm going to take you back to your bed if you don't try to sleep because Mommy is very tired." She responds by crawling up to my face and saying gently, "shhhhh," and then kisses me all over my face. That's it...she's got me. I get a huge surge of love and wrap my arms around her and we giggle together, hugging and kissing. Who needs another 30 minutes of sleep anyway?

Halloween Fun

We've been gearing up for Halloween around our house. This past weekend we finished up our tombstones and painted a black fence for our cemetery, we decorated some trick or treat buckets, and we visited the pumpkin patch.

Kayla has really gotten into dressing up lately. Here are a couple of pics that show two of her favorite outfits - a traditional outfit from India (thanks to Grammy and Grandpa), and a Cinderella dress-up outfit. I love how proud she looks in her Cinderella costume. She wants to be a pirate for Halloween, by the way. Let me rephrase that...Matthew wants to be a pirate, and Kayla wants to be whatever Matthew is going to be.

I have never...

So here is a fun little thing that my friend Nikki started on her blog. The things in bold are things that I have done in my lifetime. You can look at the list and see all of the things that apply to your life, and see some things you haven't done that perhaps you should consider doing, just because you only live once.

Bought everyone in the bar a drink
Swam with wild dolphin
Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
Been inside a Pyramid
Held a tarantula
Taken a candle lit bath
Said I love you and meant it
Hugged a Tree
Bungee jumped
Visited Paris
Watched a lightening storm at sea
Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
Seen the Northern Lights
Gone to a huge sports game
Walked the stairs to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa
Grown and eaten your own vegetables
Touched an iceberg – does a glacier count?
Slept under the stars
Changed a baby’s diaper
Taken a drip in a hot air balloon
Watched a meteor shower
Gotten drunk on champagne
Given more than you can afford to charity
Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
Had a food fight - at camp, of course
Bet on a winning horse
Asked out a stranger
Had a snowball fight
Screamed as loudly as you possibly can – it hurts!
Held a lamb
Seen a total eclipse
Ridden a rollercoaster
Hit a home run
Danced like a fool, not caring who watched
Adopted an accent for an entire day – not an entire day, but I did for one evening!
Actually felt happy about your life, even for a moment
Had two hard drives for your computer
Visited all 50 states - over half so far
Taken care of someone who was too drunk
Had amazing Friends
Danced with a Stranger in a foreign country
Watched wild whales
Stolen a sign
Hitchhiked in Europe
Taken a road-trip
Gone rock climbing
Midnight walk on the beach
Gone sky diving
Visited Ireland
Been heartbroken longer than you were in love
In a restaurant sat at a stranger’s table and ate with them
Visited Japan
Milked a cow
Alphabetized your CDs – I’m claiming that tapes count
Pretended to be a superhero – can you say Wonder Woman Underoos?
Sung karaoke
Lounged around in bed all day
Posed nude in front of strangers
Gone scuba diving
Kissed in the rain
Played in the mud
Played in the rain
Gone to a drive-in theater
Visited the Great Wall of China
Started a business
Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
Toured ancient sites
Taken a martial arts class
Played a computer game for more than 6 hours straight - I had a Nintendo
Gotten married
Been in a movie
Crashed a party
Gotten divorced
Gone without food for 5 days
Made cookies from scratch
Won first prize in a costume contest - I think I won second prize once
Ridden a gondola in Venice
Gotten a tattoo
Rafted the Snake River
Been on television news program as an “expert”
Got flowers for no reason
Performed on a stage
Been to Las Vegas
Recorded Music – does recording in a booth with friends for a birthday party at age 12 count?
Eaten shark
Had a one-night stand
Gone to Thailand
Bought a house
Been in a combat zone
Buried one/both of your parents
Been on a cruise ship
Spoken more than one language fluently
Performed in Rocky Horror
Raised children - not done yet
Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
Picked up and moved to another city
Walked on the Golden Gate Bridge
Sang loudly in the car and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
Had plastic surgery
Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have - Not sure if this really counts, but I fell about 25 feet from a rope swing into a rocky creek bed once, and walked away with hardly a scratch. I felt very lucky.
Wrote articles for a large publication – I published a paper in a technical journal (boring)
Lost over 100 lbs
Held someone while they were having a flashback
Piloted an airplane
Petted a stingray
Broken someone’s heart
Helped an animal give birth
Won money on a TV game show – I wish!
Broken a bone
Gone on an African safari
Had a body part below the neck pierced
Fired a rifle, shotgun or pistol
Eaten mushrooms gathered in the wild
Ridden a horse
Had major surgery - is a tonsillectomy considered major?
Had a snake as a pet
Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
Slept for more than 30 hours over 48 consecutive hours
Visited more foreign countries than US States – 7 countries, over 25 US states
Visited all 7 continents
Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
Eaten Kangaroo meat
Eaten sushi
Had your picture in the paper
Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
Gone back to school
Parasailed
Petted a cockroach – squashed a few, but never thought to try and pet one!
Eaten fried green tomatoes
Read the Illiad
Selected one important author who you missed school to read – I skipped work for three hours to read Harry Potter once
Killed and prepared an animal for eating
Skipped all of your school reunions
Communicated with someone without sharing a common language
Been elected to public office
Written your own computer language
Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
Had to put someone you love in hospice care
Build your own PC from parts
Sold your own artwork to someone that didn’t know it was yours
Had a booth in a street fair
Dyed your hair
Been a DJ
Shaved your head
Caused a car accident – rear ended someone once, ok three times
Saved someone’s life

Getting Crafty

This Halloween I decided that it would be fun to create several yard decorations with the kids. I know many of you are probably thinking that I'm not the crafty type, and you would be right, but I do get inspired to create things occasionally. Here are the kids posing with our spider that we made last weekend. It's made out of pipe insulation, black duct tape, and a milk jug. We put it on a huge web outside the front door, and it actually turned out better than I thought it would. This weekend...tombstones.

Our Little Lady

Kayla and Matthew get along fairly well, for the most part. They often wrestle each other for fun, and you would think that Matthew would win most of the time, being 2.5 years older and a head taller. But in reality, Kayla usually dominates. Last night was one of those very entertaining moments that I happened to catch on the camera. To set the scene, Matthew had taken one of Kayla's toys from her and then given it back - just to bug her. When he does something like this, Kayla likes to get right up into Matthew's face and say, "not ok Mah-you!" I think you will agree that Kayla probably won't have any trouble holding her own with boys.

Not So Fond Halloween Memories

With Halloween fast approaching, I'm reminded of a particularly funny day in my life, and I thought it would be fun to share it with the world. About 8 years ago, my volleyball team was involved in a fundraising activity. We agreed to work one night at the local Six Flags amusement park for "Fright Fest" and donate our earnings to the team. We were asked to dress all in black and work in either the haunted house or the outdoor hayride through the woods. Most of us had to make sure scary things jumped out at just the right time by pushing a button or releasing a rope, and the rest of us had to don scary masks and jump out at people. I was unfortunate enough to get the "jump out and scare people" gig at the haunted hayride.

Three of us were led to an area in the hayride that was set up as an abandoned spooky gas station complete with rusty cars, and special lighting and fog effects. We were told that the hayride would be coming along every 5 minutes or so, and that our job was to hide and then jump out and roar ferociously as the wagon passed. We were also instructed not to actually touch the wagon. No problem. I put on my mask, and we all hide.

Wagon #1 comes along, and first time jitters get the best of us. We hold our positions and giggle.

Wagon #2 comes along, and the three of us jump out and roar. One small child screams. Mission accomplished.

Wagon #3 comes along full of teenagers. We jump out and roar. Not a single scream, and someone says, "Is that supposed to be scary?" Someone else says, "Are those girls?"

By this time it is starting to rain. Did I mention were were outside?

Wagons #5 -10 are uneventful. A couple of screams. My roaring is improving, and I've even got a great lumbering monster skipping thing down. But, I'm wet now, and it's starting to get cold.

Wagon #11. I'm a little late on the scare, so I have to run a bit to get to the wagon. I slip on the way there, my feet fly up over my head, and I land flat on my back in a puddle of mud. Needless to say there were no screams out of this wagon. Just howls of laughter as it passed by.

Fast forward a few wagons. By this time we are cold and wet, muddy, disheartened, and starting to lose our voices. Wagon #15 comes along. It's another wagon full of cynical teenagers. I gather up my pride, and let out a ferocious roar. Someone laughs and yells, "You Suck!," and at this point I lose it a little bit. I like to think I was just really into my character. Anyway, something ignites in me and I run and jump up onto the wagon (definitely breaking a few rules by now), and the teenagers all scream and run to the front of the wagon. Even the driver is a little frightened. Well, they paid money to be scared didn't they? After this, we decide it's probably best to call it a night and we abandon the abandoned gas station.

So, if you go on a haunted hayride this Halloween, remember that those people are working very hard to scare you, and you might want to let out a little courtesy scream. It might just make their night...or at the very least, keep them from completely losing it.

California Dreamin'

Andrew and I often talk about how expensive it is to live in CA, and how we could have a huge house is we lived somewhere else. This is compounded by the fact that several of our friends live out-of-state and have recently built new homes with basements that are bigger than our house (you know who you are). Well, Andrew and I celebrated our anniversary with a 12-hour date on Sunday, and after only a 30 minute drive we spent several hours lounging on a beautiful beach in Santa Cruz. So, here you go my out-of-state friends, finally something about CA living for you to be jealous of.

Too cute...

I asked the kids to pose for a picture today, and they both cocked their heads the exact same way. Too cute.

Future NHL Player

Matthew has had a fascination with hockey for a long time now, and has always said that he wants to be a San Jose Sharks hockey player when he grows up. We have a hockey set at home, and I must say he's got a good slapshot by now. One day we mentioned to him that he would have to learn how to ice skate someday if he really wanted to be a Shark, so of course he wants to take lessons now. Here he is at his second lesson, practicing getting up onto his feet.

Here he is concentrating very hard on getting all the way across the rink without the help of a chair.

And, the joy of accomplishment!

Dancing with Bubba...

So, I signed up for a dance class (intermediate jazz) at the local community college, and it started on Wednesday. I used to be a gymnast and a dancer, so I thought it would be fun to pick it back up again. The thought occurred to me that I might be in a little over my head when I almost passed out halfway through the class, most certainly due to over exertion. And, after the intense butt workout that our instructor, Bubba Gong, led us through to the entire song "Don't You Wish Your Girlfriend Was Hot Like Me (extended version)," I find that even the most simple things (like sitting down on the toilet) are excruciatingly painful. Guess I'm not in as good of shape as I thought. No wonder dancers have such incredible bodies!

So, here's a dilemma I've been having. In July we went to Disneyland for the first time with the kids. We had a ton of fun, by the way, but the kids were a little scared by some of the rather huge characters that are there (think 7 foot tall Mickey Mouse). So, to alleviate their fears somewhat, I told them that they are really just people dressed up like the characters, and that seemed to work for the moment. But, I'm afraid I may have ruined the magic of Disneyland a little bit.

Matthew and I cuddle every night on his bed before he goes to sleep, and the other night we were talking about Disneyland. The topic of the characters came up, and he asked me me if they were real or not, and then he proceeded to ask if the tooth fairy was real and if Santa and the Easter Bunny are real? Yikes. So, I did what any mom would do in such a situation...I changed the subject.

So, apparently 4-year old Matthew is starting to get the idea that some things are real and some aren't, but I guess I'll just have to say that everything is real for now - to keep the magic alive. After all, kids only believe in magic for so long, right? And when they wake up screaming in the night about a seven foot tall Chip and Dale, I'll just remember that it's all part of the magic.

Happy Anniversary to Us

So, today marks 8 years of marriage for Andrew and I. But we've actually been together for 14 years now! Those of you who have known us the entire time are probably feeling very old right now. Can you believe how fast time flies?

We are celebrating by having a 12 hour date this Saturday. We're heading to the beach in the morning for some relaxation time, having a picnic lunch on the beach, going to a movie, then we'll cap the day off with a romantic dinner for two. Can't wait for that!

Looking back over all the years, it's amazing to me what we've been through. Andrew and I have grown up together in so many ways. Our lives have changed so much over the years, from carefree college kids to working parents with huge responsibilities. We've endured ups and downs, and sickness and health, and sadness and loss. We've endured parenthood, which some days feels like the most challenging. Luckily for us we've endured this journey together, and we're still going strong after all these years. I'm so thankful that Andrew came into my life, and I can't imagine it without him.

No time to blog...

So, I've done it again. I've started something that I know I have no time for. I do this all the time - I fly through life wanting to try to do everything, but I have no extra time for anything. I figure it will be a way to let others know what's going on in our lives, and document this craziness that we are living so we can look back at this chaos one day and smile.