Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Ella's birthday part 2

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This evening we had a fun birthday party for Ella.  Grandma Jeanne and Uncle Jeff came over as well as our good friends, the Nostrands.  It was a princess themed party with Ella in her Cinderella dress and all the boys in knight gear.  We had a goofy "princess" cake and a monkey pinata. The kids hit the pinata in the garage because of the crazy snow/rain weather outside and played a game of pin the hat/crown on the princess.  We had nachos for an appetizer and make your own pizza's for dinner.  Nothing like an eclectic princess theme party for our little eclectic princess!


Click here for more pictures!!


Thank you to everyone who sent birthday wishes and gifts.  Ella had a wonderful day and you all helped make it possible! 

Happy Birthday Ella!

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Today our little princess turns 3!!  Cannot believe it!  She has been having a great day so far telling everyone she meets that it's her birthday today and that she's 3, though she doesn't say 3 she holds up 3 fingers each time.  So cute.....oh how time flies....


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2004



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2005


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2006

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Dinner Club

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Last night was our turn to host our monthly dinner club.  It was SOOO FUN!!  We did a sort of a fiesta theme this time around with a nacho bar for appetizers and enchiladas for dinner.  Of course we also had to have a pinata to make it truely festive.  We love our friends and are so thankful that we are able to do so much with them....with the kids and without! 


I put together a slideshow of pictures we took last night....




The kids spent last night at Grandma's and this morning I got an email with pictures of what they were doing.  Convinced Grandma to let them play with her computer!
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Sunday, February 18, 2007

Our home away from home

Aaron and I just got back from a few days in Bend, Oregon....it is our home away from home!  We went up there with a co-worker of his, Rob, and his wife, Angie.  We had a great time and in addition to getting a day in skiing we checked out some local shops and tried some new restaurants.  The weather was horrible up on the mountain but I think a bad day skiing on Mt. Bachelor is better then a great day on Mt. Shasta, so Aaron and I still had a blast!
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Here we are about to head out onto the mountain
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Me and a very graceful fall
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After I finally dug myself out!
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Back at the lodge after only a couple runs~time for refreshments!


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Rain~not quite what you want to see on a skiing day.


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All bundled up~it was raining lower on the mountain but higher up we had to deal with stinging ice balls...notice me with no goggles?  Yeah real smart!


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Rob and Angie on the lift


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Back at the lodge again....we were all soaked! 


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Back in Bend...such a beautiful town.


A little video....






Wednesday, February 14, 2007

The Ultimate Joy for Ella and Jacob

The new Chuck E. Cheese is open!! 
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Saturday, February 10, 2007

For Aaron

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Friday, February 09, 2007

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Random bits

I haven't been taking a lot of pictures so far this year so I forget to come on here and blog.  I need to remember to though because I use this as a sort of personal journal and unless I come on here more frequently, months of our lives will be unwritten about and I just can't have that!  That and it's fun to share stuff, even if I'm the only one getting a kick out of it!


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Recently we put up a bit of "wall graffiti" on a blank space near our dining table.  We purchased it from a company called Wonderful Graffiti.  They have some really fun ideas on their website or they will do custom work.  We chose to do custom song lyrics.  We're very happy with it and I'm looking for more spots to possibly jazz up with some graffiti. 


 


One thing I've been working on quite a bit is getting ready for this year's Basket Party. Img_6700_1
My friend, Stephanie, and I put together an annual women's brunch (this will be our 4th) that includes a basket exchange and charity raffle.  This year we are supporting Oprah's Angel Network (a constant because the idea of the party started with Oprah) and the new Redding library children's department.  This year's theme is all about books.  It's been really fun incorporating books and reading into everything we're doing.  If for some reason you're out there and want to be invited but we missed you, please drop me a line!  Tickets are selling fast and we have a limited number of seats available. 


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Rob dream....so by now my "Robsession" is evident to everyone.  Well last night I had a crazy dream about him.  Aaron and I were hanging out with Rob and Kyle from Matchbox 20 and some other people.  Somehow Rob and I got together but I wasn't too comfortable with the whole situation because he's married (me being married didn't seem to matter in the dream because Aaron was there as well and was supportive with whatever my choice was going to be.  Uh, OK!?  He had the same reaction when I told him about the dream this morning.)....my dilemma in the dream was could I trust Rob to be with me only and actually leave his wife and would I forever have the fear that he will now cheat on me because he did it to his first wife.  After waking up and thinking about it, I decided that no, I will not be with Rob romantically.  So see...I CAN make rational decisions when it comes to Rob Thomas!   Hehehehe!!   One side note in the dream....Kyle was telling me that MB was getting back together to make music and they'd be playing again in Vegas but he wouldn't tell me when.  Hmmmmm....  Dreams are crazy things...most I don't remember but there are those select few that seem so very real and I truely feel like I lived it and can't get it out of my head....like last nights dream.  A few weeks ago I had one about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in which they were staying with us for awhile and now every time I see a picture of them, I think, "Oh there's my friends, Brad and Angelina."  Crazy!! 

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Fishing in Jan

What a way to spend the day, Jan 31!  The kids got fishing poles for Christmas so we spend the afternoon at Shasta Lake near the dam doing some fishing.  Never did catch anything...good thing since none of us eat fish! 
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Where's Waldo....where's Lisa?  Where's Molly?  What about Jacob and Ella?
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It's official!!

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Ella is potty trained!!  Whew, no more diapers for us!!!  We're so proud of her and she did it before her 3rd birthday.  Jacob was 3 and half when he was done with diapers.  "They" say girls are quicker than boys, and we actually thought she might have done it before she was 2 but alas that was not to be.  Hey that means an extra 20-40 bucks in the budget each month!  Guess we'd better start saving it....diapers are nothing compared to brand name shoes, jeans, prom, and on and on, right?  :-)