Latest Happenings

Updating this has been on my list of things to do for months now...so I'll give you a quick review of our exciting (or not so exciting) life. Since I also didn't get around to sending Christmas cards this year, you can consider this the Christmas newsletter I would have sent you. I'm sure you were all highly disappointed I never sent it. Nobody likes to miss out on a lengthy Christmas newsletter, right?

Justin occasionally gets to travel for work, and he got to go to China and Hong Kong a few months ago. He got to live the dream at the Ritz Carlton and do things like visit the Great Wall while the kids and I got to stay home. Does anyone see something wrong with this picture??









We've been arguing over where to go for vacation this summer because if I am only going to take one big trip a year, it ABSOLUTELY HAS to include a beach. The level of relaxation that I can reach at the beach just doesn't happen anywhere else, even though I love to travel. Justin doesn't love spending a whole vacation soaking up rays at the beach, so he wants to go "somewhere different" like maybe the Grand Canyon. Well, let's see...a few years ago, he got to go to Europe TWICE in one year, including to Italy and Paris. Last year among other trips, he went to China and Hong Kong, and this year he's supposed to go back to Europe and China and maybe Charleston, South Carolina. Seems to me that he goes to plenty of "different" places. Can anyone see my point? I told Justin we can go to the Grand Canyon or Zions or wherever, but that will NOT count as my vacation. I said I will happily go to the beach by myself while he stays home with the kids. I could actually even get more relaxing in that way. Or better yet, while he takes the kids to see the Grand Canyon, I will go to California and hit up the beach. Justin thinks he's getting the short end of the deal, but who stays home and takes care of the kids while he's out traveling the world??

Alexander is now in first grade. He goes to a dual immersion charter school, so he speaks more Spanish than English at school. We are impressed with how much Spanish he has picked up in 2 years.





After Christmas this year, Alexander finally decided that Santa "doesn't exist" because Santa got lazy and left his presents in the garage until it was time to open them. Oh...and they weren't wrapped.

Theodore, the hamster, died on Super Bowl Sunday; and no, it wasn't a tragic but suspicious accident inflicted by me. He simply died of old age. It was very traumatic, and Alexander couldn't understand why we couldn't have his funeral at the church with a coffin. Justin, being the sensitive father, asked Alexander if he wouldn't rather just throw it away in the garbage. Instead we had little Theo's funeral in my parent's backyard, complete with violin music. Justin and I did not offer to get Alexander a new hamster...we hoped we would be done with that. But my sneaky brother and his wife, who originally got Alexander the hamster, got another one. So now we have this guy.



Looks can be awfully deceiving because he isn't nearly as loveable as he looks. He's a mean little bugger, he bites all the time, and he stinks, more so than the other hamster did.

And speaking of rodents, our favorite little groundhog turned two in February. I wake up in the middle of the night every night with her climbing on top of me into my bed, dragging all five of her favorite blankets, pushing me out of the way, saying, "Scuse me, Mommy. Scuse me, Mommy!, SCUSE MEEEE, MOMMEEE!!" The other morning as I pushed her over so I could have an extra inch of room to keep from falling off the bed, she even had the nerve to say, "GET OUT! GET OUT!! I need ba ba, Mommy!!" And Justin wonders why I need to relax at the beach...







Here's Madeline wearing a dress that my great-grandmother wore when she was this age. It has lasted through five generations.







As for me, I wish I could say I've been out traveling the world, but I haven't been. Consequently, I got really bored with the walls in my house and decided I needed to do something about it. First, I priced wallpaper and quickly discovered that's way out of my budget. So I happened upon stencils and have kind of become addicted to them. My house may look like a circus house by the time I'm done...but this is what I've done so far. I'm still working on a few others.











That's all for now, but stay tuned for my beach update later this year.