Friday was all about Ella! She started the day with the "Birthday Bucket" of goodies....
She then had a full day of school where I'm sure she let everyone know it was her birthday all day long! Afterwards I picked her up and we grabbed a smoothie and a cookie then headed to the beauty salon for some pampering. 
She ended up getting a pretty drastic cut...10 inches cut off! She had enough to donate to Locks of Love which she was very happy about to have her hair eventually used for children's wigs. She loves her hair now...especially now that it doesn't tangle and she can brush it all by herself.
After a quick powernap, we then met up with Grandma for Chinese and then Coldstone.
Such a fun day! Thank you for turning 5 Ella and letting me join in your celebration...you only turn 5 once!
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Ella's Birthday
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Way to go Slumdog!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Hi y'all!
So I kinda keep forgetting I have a blog and thought I'd post a little something while I remember! We've been busy with the usual daily stuff and kids activities...there's been a little sickness that has hit our household and now I'm stuck on jury duty for the past couple days. For fun stuff we have managed to see a lot of movies both at the theater and at home (we recently joined Netflix which has been great!)...some we've seen recently: Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Definitely Maybe, Underdog, Zach & Miri, The Women, Gran Torino, Coraline, and Slumdog Millionaire. I'm voting for Slumdog in next week's Academy Awards. (Shh...don't tell I haven't seen most of the other nominees!)
I also wanted to share a new local blog for the Redding peeps. It focuses on locally run business in the area to help out our own local economy. I think it's a great idea and am all for supporting the local business owner! Check it out here.... IheartRedding.com
Until next time!
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
What is it?
Updated 2/12/09: Ooops sorry, Jeff! I had forgotten I had a blog for awhile! So this picture is of the Sundial Bridge from underneath it looking up. Took it with my iPhone on a walk with the kids.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Blast into the 1970s!
Saturday night we hosted dinner club and went with the theme of the 1970's...it was crazy! Everyone dressed up and looked so good. Well I didn't, I looked like Mrs. Roper in a very unflattering outfit with too much blue eyeshadow, but it was all fun! The dinner we served ended up being a little scary however...for appetizers we went with salami rolled around pickles and cream cheese, deviled eggs, and crackers with Easy Cheese. Dinner was crockpot chili (made in an authentic 70's olive green crockpot), cornbread, green salad with ranch, tater tots and orange jello salad (we forgot the frozen peas and carrots). Dessert was chocolate fondue. We played a game with 70's trivia, ouija board, had disco and rock blaring...I just realized we forgot to bust out the Twister! Probably a good thing though...my skirt and Alicia's dress would have been challenging! That and Aaron mighta busted a hole in his pants...LOL! Click for more pictures
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Mini Photo Shoot
Playing around while on a walk...
Ella is much better at model poses then Jacob...here's the type of pose Jacob gives me!
And here I was playing around with a Christmas gift, the Gorillapod. The absolute coolest tri-pod...it
turns anything into a tri-pod! Here I used a tree...
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Guys Days
While Ella and I were on the coast with Grandma last week, Aaron and Jacob had a bunch of fun of their own. Golfing, football playoffs, video games, McD's, nachos, Globetrotters...I'm sure there was more and I'm sure some of it was "secret" but maybe Aaron will enlighten us with what else they did! Fortunately Aaron took pics too...
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Girl's Trip to the Coast!
Ella has had an extended holiday break (which lasts for another couple of weeks!) so we decided to take a little vacation. We debated for a long time on snow or beach and ultimately decided Fort Bragg/Mendocino would be our destination. We also invited my Mom to come along and make it a real Mother-Daughter-Daughter trip. The weather was absolutely unbelievable. Sunny and 70 degrees, not even a breeze...it's January people! It's the coast in January people!
We did a little window shopping, whale watching, treasure searching and eating among other things. One restaurant we found that we highly recommend was D'Aurelios. It was such a treat to find and a real locals place with the best Italian food. My Mom and I each got pasta and Ella got a pepperoni pizza...the salad, the bread, everything was SOOOO good. Click here for some photos from our trip.
It was a beautiful few days. Coming up soon...what the guys did on their days without us!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Afternoon on the slopes
We had another beautiful day up on Mt. Shasta today. We took only Jacob this time--to work on his skills and take him up the chair lift for the first time. He did incredibly well! I think Aaron was jealous because Jacob is already skiing better than he ever did.
It was such a proud moment watching him and a moment I thought would never come, seeing him up on the mountain skiing with us....so exciting!
I did have a slight incident and have a mild concussion at the moment. I don't really know what happened. Last I remember is skiing down a pretty wide, fairly flat run and then next 'WHAP!" my head slams into the ground. I'm OK now with an all over headache but it was scary at the time. Jacob is smart, he has a helmet. I think I need to invest in one for myself now.
I don't think we'll go back up until they get another storm. The snow wasn't too bad but there wasn't a whole lot of it. And as for taking Ella up the lift...just not sure she's ready we're ready for that yet! She has a need for speed and her idea of skiing is who is going to catch her. I think a few more times on the bunny slopes for that girl!
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Another day on the slopes
Edited to add later in the day:
It was a very successful day on the slopes! The kids are really getting this skiing thing! Jacob is doing incredible and is able to make it down the bunny hill without
assistance. He's got stopping and turning down and just needs to refine it.
He said now that he knows how to do it he LOVES it. Ella is doing well too but I still fear she's about to bust out
of the "pie" formation and go full speed ahead at any moment. We're planning to go again next weekend and take Jacob up the lift.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Gratuitous Rob Post
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Mini Ski Trip
We made a semi last minute decision to take a couple days and go up
to Mt. Shasta for some skiing and relaxing....turned out to be a great decision. We were a little worried because the weather forecast was iffy and Monday was pretty ugly but Tuesday was absolutely gorgeous. We toured the town of Mt. Shasta and it is really such a cute town I don't know why we don't do it more. The weirdest thing ever is we ran into an old friend and co-worker of Aarons on a street corner...he worked with him down in Concord and he now lives in Napa and just happened to stop in Mt. Shasta to stretch their legs on the way home from Oregon. So weird!
We had a great dinner at our hotel and did some swimming and hot-tubing in their indoor pool. And guess what? At dinner we ran into another old co-worker of Aarons! This guy he worked with doing water testing on Iron Mountain.
Today we enrolled the kids in full day ski school and got to ski on our own...it was great! The kids had a busy and productive day with 2 lessons, lunch, and fun time with their instructors. Ella had a blast and didn't want to leave, Jacob had fun too but got a little upset that we weren't going to come back. He said next time he doesn't want to take a lesson, he says he's got it down and just wants to stay with us. We shall see. Next time. Ella need to works on her stopping...she just wants to to go FAST! Jacob needs to work on his turning. His idea of stopping is to fall down. Oh and guess what? Aaron ran into more co-workers, on 2 separate occasions on the mountain! This time current guys he works with now. Can't take Aaron anywhere, I tell ya! Click here for pictures from our adventures in Mt. Shasta
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Christmas Festivities
Whew, another year of Christmas has come to a close! All month to prepare and bam, it's over. It was definitely fun while it lasted! Let's see a brief synopsis...Christmas Eve was spent at my Mom's house. Aaron was working that day so it was the kids and I, plus Grandma and my brother. We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of crab, salad and sourdough bread. Pizza for the kids. I let the kids each pick a present to open as well.
On Christmas Day, the kids were up before 7 and begging to open the Santa gifts but they had to wait for Aaron to come home around 8am. After the first round of gift and stocking opening commenced, we prepared a big breakfast and Uncle Jeff and Grandma also came over. The rest of the day was spent opening gifts, playing with toys, and watching movies (Fred Clause--skip it, Enchanted--a favorite, Step-Brothers--inappropriately funny)...there was also lots of eating going on. Jeff made the entire dinner and like all his dinners, was completely gourmet and delicious. He made a Tur-duck-en which is a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey. Each bird had a different stuffing that went with it and it was quite an ordeal! Grandma made a DE-licious peanut butter and chocolate pie for dessert. Needless to say bootcamp plans are in the works and starting SOON!
