Good Morning Seattle!

This morning's run brought to you by....

















That was a 5.25 mile run and about 1/2 mile of warm up/cool down walking. I love traveling to places where it is fun to run outdoors!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

It's Our Anniversary!

This is the first anniversary in seven years I won't be able to spend it with the man I married.  That's because I boarded a plane this morning for Seattle, to attend a work conference. 

Despite not being home to celebrate on the actual day, I am grateful that we can celebrate our 7th anniversary year round with the little things....

... like Drew.  We have the most amazingly smart, hilarious and healthy 4 year old.

We take time for each other - even if it's only a few minutes.

We really don't sweat the small stuff.  At the end of the day it's almost all small stuff.

And we grow more and more in love with each other every day.

I think that's what makes our marriage work - we work at it.  And you know things are going well when you sit back and realize that the past seven years just flew by... when it doesn't feel like it could be more than 3 or 4 years.

OK enough with the mushy stuff, I'll let you get on with your day.  I just wanted to share with Dave that I love you sweetie!  Happy Anniversary and I wish I could be there.

Our 18 Year High School Reunion

It was kind of a high school reunion weekend of sorts - our 18th to be exact (I'm shocked that it's been that long already).  We all got together for the closing of Brenden Theatres - which I'll get to posting about one of these days - but we had to drown our sorrows in wine and beer first. 

We started out drinking beer at The Hop Yard in Pleasanton of course we were like the group of friends from St. Elmo's Fire (I forget who mentioned that, that night) but it really was.  We just ate, drank and had a few laughs. 

You know when you can go a few years without seeing some of your friends, but you can pick up right where you left off... yeah that's us.

After the Hop Yard we moved over to The Vine in Danville for some wine drinking and to see another former classmate who was running the "show".  That's where we managed to snap a ton of pictures.

 

L-R: Rich, Tsan, Jenn, Fergal, Kristin (mostly hidden), Heather, Jason, Me

L-R: Jason, Fergal, Rich, Tsan, Heather, Me.

Kristin was cool enough to open some champagne for us all to enjoy - and it was really good!  I don't normally do champagne after a bad drinking experience.

We moved tables away from the loud music and enjoyed a TON of laughs and posting on facebook.  I believe there was even a discussion about how ridiculously long Heather's tongue is.

L-R: Fergal, Heather with her long tongue, Jenn

L-R: Heather, Jenn, Kristin

L-R: Jenn and Tsan the former Mr. Panther (our high school's version of Homecoming King)

L-R: Tsan, Me, Jason

Heather and Fergal - I believe they were posting pictures on Facebook or perhaps trying to find Jason on Facebook (he finally caved to peer pressure and joined that night).

Rich (our class president) and Jenn.  (hey Jenn, notice I didn't show the crotch shot picture? ;) )

 Heather and Jason.

Final shot of the night.  L-R: Jason, Tsan, Me, Rich, Jenn, Kristin, Fergal and Heather

And because we clearly didn't drink enough wine that night, we ventured out to Livermore and Cuda Ridge winery (the latest winery we joined) and tasted a flight or two and then hand a bottle to go around while everyone looked at pictures from our high school days.  We were on our way to the Brenden Reunion and needed to get our buzz on - that and purple teeth.

The folks at Cuda Ridge were nice enough not to panic at our group - of course I was rude and didn't call ahead - but they put us in the barrel room so we could taste, chat and not get in the way of other tasters.

L-R: Me, Jenn, Tsan, Elaine (Rich's wife), Rich, Fergal, Heather, Jason and Drew was there but not tasting.  Dave would be the man behind the camera.

This was seriously one of the best weekends in a while, and there was still more to go!

Sweet Treat

It was an amazing weekend and I'll get to all of that over the course of a few days, but first here's an update of a Sweet Party I threw on Saturday afternoon.  I say it's sweet because it was a dessert party - and you got to eat dessert before dinner!!

This was the first party of this kind I've been able to throw in over two years of trying.  This was courtesy House Party and Weight Watchers.  House Party is something my friend Helen introduced me to more than two years ago when she had a Digiorno Pizza Party during our Kansas City Mom gathering. (I even have pictures on an old post of that pizza party!)  So I signed up and spent the next two years applying and getting turned down.  Well I finally "won" and got to host a Weight Watcher's Sweet Treats "Me" Moment Party.

We served both frozen and baked goods (which were given to me in the way of free coupons - I picked the items).  I then cut the boxes to display what we were eating, the point value (a weight watcher thing) and the nutritional information.

The kids had their own goodies!

That picture was apparently before I put out the cut up ice cream sandwiches for them.  

And then the favors... 

 .... they were the reusable totes, and inside were weight watchers coupons, a notepad, sharpie, and a calendar in which guests are encouraged to mark dates where they will do something for themselves!

The cool thing about these kinds of parties - no one is trying to sell you something like a Tupperware, Home Interiors, or Scentsy.  You simply come and enjoy whatever the party entails.  It's a way for companies to have a mass amount of people from around the country try their products and hopefully through word of mouth and social media it encourages others to try these products.

While I'm not currently following the Weight Watcher's program (I'm using My Fitness Pal now) I was extremely successful using their Points program over the years.  Since 2006 I've lost nearly 50 pounds!

Here's a sampling of the guests....

L-R: Dad, Dave (wearing the host apron we were given), my high school friend Jenn and our neighbor Julie in the background.

L-R: Julie, Jenn, and another high school friend Heather (those are Heather's kids Nikos and Olive).

L-R: Heather, Olive, Jonelle (Drew's preschool teacher last year) and Travis.

It appears I never got a picture of Grandma, Mom or myself.  There were a few other kids as well, but they were outside for a majority of the party. 

I'd say the overall consensus was the desserts were far above everyone's expectations.  Some were surprised to not pick the chocolate creme cake as their favorite baked good but the coffee cake (which was amazing by the way).  As for the frozen food, the leader was the Ice Cream Candy Bar - which was basically a frozen snickers, but healthier!  My personal frozen fave was the dark chocolate raspberry cheesecake bar with chocolate!

If you notice in that first picture we served a Weight Watcher Golden Sponge Cake - which is a healthier Twinkie.  Well then if you look at the kids table we served the original Twinkie.  A few of the adults did the old fashioned taste test.... Surprise Surprise everyone preferred the Weight Watcher's version better than the calorie laden original childhood favorite.  So that was a big score.

Everyone's already asking when I'm going to throw another one!  I guess I better get to filling out applications.

Real Birthday Party for Imaginary Friend

Someday when Drew is in therapy as a result of our parenting, hopefully he remembers this one cool thing Dave did. (I can't take credit for it - I just snapped the picture).

 Let me give you a little background... Drew has an imaginary pet fly named Fido.  Some of you parents may recognize Fido from Nick Jr.'s The Upside Down Show.  I'm not sure that it's on anymore since the station has redone it's line-up within the past month or so.

But anyway, for about a year now Drew has talked about his pal Fido. Most kids blame their younger siblings for doing something they themselves did wrong.  The downside of being an only child there isn't really anyone to blame - well unless you have an imaginary pet fly named Fido.  Drew farts - and you give him the "look" to say excuse me - he says "Fido did it".  I therefore need to ask Fido to say "excuse me".

You walk into your bedroom to find your bed naked - sheets, comforter and pillows on the floor - Fido did it.

You ask who made a mess of all the toys?  Fido.

You want Drew to sleep in his own room, but he's scared - you ask him to have Fido protect him.  Drew tells you Fido is sleeping in the hole of our bedroom doorknob (the key hole) and cannot be disturbed.

Yes, this is Fido.

Well on our way home from School on Monday Drew announced it was Fido's Birthday on April 6th.  So when I mentioned that that was last week - he quickly asked what today was and I said April 9th.  He said "Oh yeah today, April nine, is Fido's Birthday".

Fast forward that night as Drew is supposed to get ready for bed, he wanted to tell Daddy that it was Fido's Birthday.  So Dave said, "Well let's get him some cake and sing Happy Birthday".  The way Dave tells it (I was getting things ready for Drew to go to bed) was Drew didn't really think there was cake. But we had some leftover bunny cake from Easter.  Then Dave pulled out a candle.  Dave said at this point Drew couldn't believe we were really going to have a little party for Fido the imaginary pet fly.

And then the two of them sang Happy Birthday - yes to Fido.

Since Fido was so little and couldn't blow the candle out - Drew had to help.

Since it was bedtime Drew wasn't allowed to eat sugar that would just keep him up, so Daddy "sacrificed" himself to do it.  (Mind you this was no sacrifice since he gave up sweets for Lent).  And there you have it - why we had a real birthday party for an imaginary friend.

Easter Fun at Church

We love Easter at church - not only are the services awesome but there is a lot of great chances to sit and chat with everyone at the potluck breakfast.  Drew likes the egg hunt and all the additional candy he gets.

Thankfully I felt better after being in bed Friday and Saturday and was able to participate in the fun. 

They let the Pre-K kids start with the egg hunt around 9:15am.  Normally the eggs are well hidden in the Sunday School classrooms, but our church is expanding and all the classes are scattered.  So this year the eggs were just hanging out in front.

After each child found 12 eggs, they were told to stand to the side so the adults could see how many were left.  Once it was clear there were a ton still remaining it became a free for all.

When we finished the egg-hunt, Drew wanted to show Daddy where he wrote on the wall of his new Sunday School Classroom, which should be sealed up within the next week or two. (Yes he was told he couldn't write on the walls at home!)

Following the service we got a picture in front of the Flower Cross we make each year.  The congregation is asked to bring flowers from home (or the store like we do) and decorate the cross.

After church we went to Mom and Dad's new house for dinner.  It was a quiet group this year of us, Mom and Dad, Aunt Connie and Uncle Doug and Grandma.

Aunt Connie brought dessert including this adorable bunny cake!  She told us her recipe dates back to 1968! (I hope I remembered the accurate date).

We enjoyed the weather in Mom and Dad's new backyard!  Can you believe when they bought this house in October this backyard was all weeds as tall as Mom (which isn't very tall - depending on who you ask LOL).  But they added every item in this backyard which was mostly completed only within the past couple weeks.

Above: The hosts - Grammy and GrampC
Below: Uncle Doug and Aunt Connie (I suck and never got a picture of Grandma/GG)

Drew and GrampC are hanging out in the shade playing Angry Birds

This next picture is from the "Back 40" - the cigar smoker's area. That's Dave yappin' on the phone.
 

Grammy and Drew

 Mommy and Drew

 Daddy and Drew hamming it up

And that completes the Easter Picture-Palooza!

A Dye Job with Hide and Seek

It's a rite of passage for kids every Easter - to dye eggs and then find them the next morning.  This year was a little bit of a bummer - well for me at least - because of the bug that had me down and out for 2 days.  I managed to get out of bed long enough to boil the eggs and then hours later to help Drew dye them.

That last picture Drew's working on making an Angry Bird Easter egg and needed inspiration.

Being the good mama I am I also helped hide nearly 3 dozen eggs (real and mostly plastic) Saturday night on behalf of the Easter Bunny.  Drew loved it all.

Good Friday Easter Festivities

Sorry for the late updating and posting of all of our Easter festivities - which began on Friday. I had every intention of posting a blog over the weekend, but this mama came down with some sort of bug.  So instead I'm getting a late start this afternoon...

So Friday was Drew's Easter celebration at school.  I've mentioned it previously, but in case you forgot he goes to a Christian Preschool - which we LOVE.  So they really focus on the reason for Easter. I came in for them to talk about the symbolism of the holiday - the rock, the cloth, the cross, the empty tomb etc. 

Then we got to have a bite to eat - which Drew had to leave the table shortly afterward because they were serving hard boiled eggs along with fruit, donuts etc.  He has a major aversion to eggs and vomits at the sight of them.  So he spent "brunch" in the school's library.  And nearly threw up as I was still chewing on my way over.  He thought I was eating an egg, but I was finishing his donut.

He was relieved when it was time for the egg hunt.  Here he shows off his Easter basket he made - which is upside down if you can't tell..

Then the kids went upstairs to where their eggs were hidden.  One of the teachers shows off the jellybeans the class planted earlier in the week... and how they grew into lollipops!

After the kids grabbed one lollipop they were off!  It was nearly impossible to get pictures in the chaos.  They were running all over the place!

The above picture - Drew's in the background.

I managed to snap a picture just after he picked up an egg.

Daddy made a surprise appearance just after the kids finished their hunt and were checking out all their loot.  

School closed early for Good Friday so I brought Drew to work with me for the remainder of the day (which was short lived because that's when I started feeling off).  But while he was there he had some "work" of his own.  My co-worker brought a bag for him to decorate and had some Easter Eggs hidden around the office for him to find.

Ignore my messy desk...

He loved looking at the additional loot he scored!