Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! It's been a crazy couple of days and I'm now taking a little blog break from cleaning up the aftermath!  The celebration started Thursday evening as Joel's family came together to honor Momma Gwynne with Tacos!!! As everyone else was working that day, I was nominated to make the birthday cheesecake.  With all of the sweets around, I wanted to make a bit lighter version.  Sunset magazine came through in this months issue - it turned out beautifully! When we got home, Amelia set a snack of milk and gingerbread cookies out for Santa Claus and went to bed.  

I got up early on Friday morning to put the ham in the oven so that it would be ready for brunch.  Amelia awoke around 7:30am and inspected the cookie plate to find that Santa had eaten the heart shaped one but only took a bit out of the tree shaped one and left the rest.  Next, she was on to inspecting the contents of her stocking as we Joel and I.  Of course, the toes were jammed with a big orange.  Amelia's sock was full of little plastic animals, candies and nuts.  Joel's had the candy and nuts accompanied by a package of Bacon Floss and some Ranch flavored tooth picks.  Mine included a Starbucks card! Amelia took her time going through each gift, one at a time and I was glad that she did - no hurry.  Marlene & George sent a great big "Catterspeller," Nana & Grampa sent a set of PlayDoh (yay) and Grandpa & Grandma Frantz sent a very fun game based on the Princess and the Pea.  

The family arrived around 11am and the feast was on!  Ham, baked french toast, fruit salad, homemade truffles and mimosas!  More gifts and more cheer.  When the party broke up it was time to mellow out and watch A Christmas Story.  All in all, a very busy day.  

I hope your Christmas was filled with family and fun - looking forward to the New Year!

A Chat With The Fat Man!

The "Fam" went down to Tuolumne City in the rain to participate in the Community Christmas Event.  The students and parents of Summerville Parent Nursery School were to be part of the parade, complete with home made kazoos but, due to the weather, decided to skip it.  Wet kiddos = whiney kiddos!  Santa arrived in a Fire Truck and took his place in a seat next to the Mrs. When Amelia had her turn to sit on the famous lap, she asked Santa for "play dough, a Hovaround and a toy deer made of plastic."  Now, I'm thinkin' that the play dough is taken care of (thanks Nana & Grampa), the deer request is being worked on and the Hovaround will have to wait a few decades.

Snowball Fight!!!

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Let it Snow!!!!

In the last 12+ hours, we have recieved about a foot of fresh, white, powdery snow!  Amelia began the day in a Winter Wonderland and, as fast as we could get her gear on, was out in it.  She even asked for a bowl and spoon so she could eat it for breakfast!  Though there's not a whole lot of moisture in it, we attempted to build a little snowman.  The girl also found out that it's kind of hard to get up when you fall down in it but... made her way through it to visit our neighbors and have some hot cocoa.  It has stopped snowing for now and I am preparing to make potato soup and some homemade bread while Joel pushes a shovel around.  Happy Holidays!

Apple Trees and Falling Leaves

A client of ours has a great apple tree and, because the home is currently vacant, we were asked to pick the apples and do with them whatever we please.  I picked a very large box full and brought them home.  Now what?  I've given bags of them to whoever would take them and am now looking for various recipes on what to do with the rest of 'em.  So far, I've made 2 Kutchens, a crisp, a batch of oatmeal apple cookies, roasted 'em with sweet potatoes, stirred 'em into muffins & have eatin' them with peanut butter. Yes, I still have a half a box full!!!!  I've gotten a few ideas from my FaceBook friends and look forward to trying some of them.  Oh, there's still more to be picked, too.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Apple Kutchen:
1/2 C. softened butter
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1/2 C. flaked coconut
2 1/2 C. sliced apples
1/4 C. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 C. sour cream
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350.  Cut the butter into the cake mix, then coconut.  Press mixture into an ungreased oblong pan; slight edges.  Bake for 10 minutes.
Arrange apples on crust; sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar.  Blend sour cream and egg together and drizzle over the apples.  Bake for 25 minutes or until edges are light brown.  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

A Day in the Life...

It's been rather crazy since we got back from Disneyland.  Amelia is learning so much every day and has a truely amazing imagination.  I've been working more on the Real Estate part of my life.  There is so much to learn - I just don't know if there is any way to know it all.  The short sales and foreclosures are beating out the private sales here and dealing with banks in order to make a sale is quite frustrating. I'm also working diligently on getting the donations for themed baskets for the Summerville Parent Nursery School to raffle off at the beginning of December at our annual Christmas Shop event. That's right, the holidays are already upon us!!! Joel is keeping busy with Sierra Property Maintenance - he's been doing various remodels and is building a 20' Yurt for Gwynne (awesome!).
It is with a heavy heart and a sigh of relief that I report this next bit of news; Honey the Dog passed away this morning.  She lived a "great" long life and we miss her terribly.
In better news... it hasn't snowed yet.

Disneyland!!!

We arrived home yesterday from a crazy, action-packed, long weekend in Disneyland with my parents. Amelia had THE best time!!! We received a call at home on Tuesday evening and Amelia got to listen to a few characters invite her to the Happiest Place on Earth. We headed out Wednesday morning and were in the park that very afternoon. We took the Monorail into Tomorrowland where our first stop was the Astro Blasters and then, the Rockets. We headed over to Toon Town to meet Mickey but stoppped along the way to enjoy a parade.

The next morning began with breakfast in Goofy's Kitchen. Amelia wore her Cinderella dress and met quite a few characters including the Fairy Godmother and Princess Aurora. Back to the park for more fun!!! After a rest, we all got ready for Mickey's Trick or Treat Party. Amelia dressed as a lady bug and got to meet Handy Manny. We, the adults, got to ride the Tower of Terror in the dark - very cool! The little girl's fave part was the dance party in Candy Corn Acres where she got to get jiggy with Daisy Duck.

Friday greeted us with more fun and chaos. Amelia got her very first pair of ears and we met Princess Minnie and Snow White. After a float through a Small World, it was time for another nap. We watched Fantasmic that night and the girl was really happy that Mickey won!

Amelia wore her Snow White dress for our early entry morning. We walked over to Toon Town for Mickey's Morning Madness. When we got there, one of Mickey's handlers came over to us and talked to Amelia, asking her if she could twirl and what her name was. After that, we were escorted to a reserved table for the celebration. During Mayor Mickey's speech, we were proclaimed the Honorary Family of the Day. Insane!!! Joel, Amelia and I stood at the podium, wore sashes and waved to the audience. A little out of our comfort zones but Amelia ate it up! We had breakfast with Minnie and friends and spent the rest of our last day in Disney's California Adventure Park. It's a Bug's Land is great for the little ones!

I'm happy to be home and can't wait to do it again!!!

Completely Random Thoughts

Amelia is back and better than ever! Yesterday, she was "kid of the day" at school because she wore a smile, participated in every activity and shared a toy with Charlie in the sandbox. I was so proud! She kept it up for the rest of the day... being good. It was really nice to have such a helpful, dry daughter with such a sweet disposition.

A few Amelia-isms of late:

"Daddy sleeps like a growling dragon"

"this dog situation is keeping me awake"

to Roxy: "it's not Ewmo, it El-Mo, El-Mo... say it like that, Elmo, mo, mo." Roxy says, "Elmo." "Yeah, that's perfect!"

"Momma, we're going to have a concert today." I ask her who's playing at the concert. She says, "AC/DC!"

So, now I have the flu and, at the moment, I'm at the office and I would much rather be at home, cuddled up with a big blanket!

Joel has started on the new roof project at our house. Demolition complete! The carpentry ensues and we should have our new metal roof finished before we leave for Disneyland on the 13th!

Seeing Spots

It's been a pretty eventful week here. On Monday afternoon, I went to Gwynne's to pick up Amelia. She and Roxy were naked and playing in the kiddie pool. When I went to help Amelia with her clothes, I noticed that she had some red spots on her right thigh and thought they might be flea bites. After examining the family pets, we decided they were not flea bites. The next day, Amelia seemed a bit under the weather and by the afternoon, there were more spots. Wednesday came and Amelia's voice left. Again... even more spots. By Thursday, the little girl had no voice, no temperature and was starting to look like a leopard. Making a few phone calls, I tried to ease my mind on what could be going on. Without a fever, our pediatrician didn't want to see her. I spoke with my sister-in-law, Donna, that night and found that my neice, Melaynie, had been diagnosed with H1N1. That's right... Swine Flu. What??? After some Tamiflu, the little chica is doing much better. Now... on to Friday. Amelia is once again without voice and has the spots from her ankles on up. For the first time all week, she sleeps all night. Today we wake up to a new girl and... a doctor's appointment. Our Pediatrician says she's fine and that the spots show her sensetivity to being even slightly ill. I guess this will help us out later when she tries to fake being sick in order to get out of taking a Math test. What? No spots? You're fine. Go to school. Her voice is a bit clearer today and her energy level is back to normal. Emergency averted.

Gap Casting Call

http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/paulalfrantz/215333719/

click on the link above to Vote for Amelia in the Gap Casting Call!

General Posting

Wow! There has been so much going on lately.... so busy. I feel like I've hardly been home at all this summer as there's still two more trips coming up! Joel and I are going to SF for the Motorhead concert on October 5th and then we're all meeting up with my parents for a trip to Disneyland in the middle of the month.

We spent last weekend in Winnemucca for my Great-Granmother, Ruth Wooley's Memorial Service. A sad occasion but always nice to see family. We left Cali Friday to make our way to Nevada where my cousin, Rebecca, and I put the finishing touches on a slide show for the service. My parents took charge of Amelia for the morning so I didn't have to chase her around the church. We all met up at my grandma's house for a long visit. We had an awesome dinner with my parents (beer can chicken ala Daddio) and a soak in the hot tub before calling it a day. Taking off not too early to make our way home. What a quick trip.

Between work, preschool and constantly going out of town, I can honestly say that I don't know where my summer has gone! The leaves are already beginning to turn and the evenings included a slight breeze letting us know that Autumn is nearly here. Before you know it, I'll be wearing my gorgeous boots and wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Ouch 'N Stuff

In the last three years as parents, we have had the great pleasure of "firsts." First tooth, first step, first word, first potty use, first summersault. Well, today was the first bite from a meat bee. It happened at about 8:30 this morning while she was putting her shoes on for school. I was brushing my hair and Joel was out at the work truck. We both heard "ouch" then... Scream and total freak out!!!! She was bitten on the bit of the hand between the thumb and forefinger. After holding an ice cube, eating a Tylenol meltaway and getting a Shrek band-aide, we were off to school. It's about 5:30 pm now and we've had a few more Tylenol throughout the day but it is still swollen and quite sore. Poor little thing. I'm sure, after a couple more summers, she'll be used to this!

In better news... Amelia has become a "race car driver" in her little pink Barbie Jeep Power Wheels. She seriously hauls butt down the street in that thing! Some very awesome neighbors, you know who you are, brought this fabulous toy to our home and I couldn't be happier! This keeps Joel busy as he tries to modify it to make it better and faster, go further and it keeps Amelia busy as she's out there driving it until the battery dies nearly every evening. I want one too! (pout)

School is in again and that means fundraising! As some of you already know, Amelia's preschool is a Co-op (Summerville Parent Nursery School) and we're runnin' outta money to keep our little school open so, we're really hitting it hard this year. I still have S.H.A.R.E.S. cards available if you shop at SaveMart, S-Mart, FoodMaxx or Lucky. We're also working on our 39th Annual Christmas Shop for Children and I'm heading up the raffle division. If you or anyone you know is crafty and would like to donate some of your wares to be sold or raffled on December 5th, please let me know! I will be more than happy to get you a receipt for your tax-deductible donation. Oh, and if you're interested in purchasing PartyLite candles or some bulbs for your garden (the school gets 50% of the sales on these) don't hesitate to get a hold of me - I'd love to sell ya some!

Until next time: stay away from hungry bees!

Vacay to the Bay

Oh,what an adventure! We got up very earlyWednesday morning, packed up the car and the kid and headed up, over the Altimont. First stop, North Berekely BART Station and on to the Embarcadero in SF. What a fast and nearly effortless way to travel. Now, after waiting a "long, long time" for the "F" car and watching 3 or 4 very full ones go by, we decided to walk the 1.5 miles to Pier 39. This was actually good after being in the car and on the train. Tickets in hand, we made our way into the Aquarium of the Bay just in time for Amelia to announce that she was "really hungry." Back out the way we came and on down to the pier for some lunch. After consuming our chowder-filled bread bowl, it was back to the Aquarium... for real, this time! We really liked the new jelly fish exhibit! Being a SpongeBob fan, Amelia let her Dad know that she needed a net. Into the tunnels - Wow! What a great way to see the fishies as well as a guy in a scuba suit doing some cleaning. After some time in the touch pools, it was back to t

he

Pier for Bungee Bouncing

and the SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D movie ride. Back to the BART and Berkeley to stay with friends, Justin and Morgan. Amelia really likes their Lab

radoodle, Lucky as was kept quite busy with him.

Up early and out the door to meet cousins Gwynne and Chris for breakfast. Then, all in the car for the ride to the Oakland Zoo! We were met there by Auntie Kay and Uncle Rick for the first part of the day. And... What a Day! Amelia had a "key to the zoo" and loved using it.

We saw lots of different animals, insects and reptiles - Great Zoo! There was also a carnival area there where Amelia rode every ride - her fave being the "miracle-go-round." I also liked the Sky Ride - a ski lift that took you over the animals!

Home again and not a moment too soon as my car is needing some love. Lots of driving this summer and I think I'm done for a while. Also, I don't know why this is blue and underlined!

You Tube

If you haven't already, go to YouTube and type in "cute blonde not too tired for chocolate cake." It's a very cute video of Amelia trying desperately to get through her teeny slice of chocolate cake before passing out at the kitchen table... good stuff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odCzP6a8FGI

You can also click on this link... maybe.

Amelia's Art

Amelia drew this "Olive Family" at Grama Gwynne's the other day. I was happy to get a shot of it before it got erased. The story is told that it took the girl nearly 15 minutes to create this masterpiece as she stood back, arms crossed after each addition of legs, fingers, hair, etc. It seems to me that the "Mamma Olive" is bending down to talk to the "Baby Olive." Anyway, I just loved it!

BowlFest

Had a really fun time at the Black Oak Lanes this evening. Gwynne, Joel, Amelia and I shared a lane w/ bumpers and a ramp for the wee one and.... she bowled a STRIKE!!!!! Actually, I'm the only one in our foursome that did not have a single strike during the game. This was way more fun than staying at home!

Flener Wedding Weekend!

We had a fun and exhausting weekend in Sublimity, Oregon for cousin Justin Flener's wedding to Miss Jessica Stoopes. Lots of driving, lots of family and lots of berries!

We left early Friday morning, along with Gwynne, Emily and Roxy in a seperate car and headed north. Making many stops along the way, one at Crag Rock which was very beautiful, we arrived around 9pm. Saturday was spent playing in the pool, napping and primping for the party. We all headed over to Kerry and Don's for drinks before the gorgeous garden wedding - the fastest vows I've ever witnessed! The Bride was beautiful, the weather... perfect! We made it back to the hotel with a passed out toddler around 11pm.

Sunday was spent back at the Flener home for a full day of family visiting. Joel and the little girls spent the first part of the morning picking Marion berries and blueberries which were later made into one of Don's famous cobblers. Wonderful. Many hours later, it was back to the hotel for some much needed Zs before leaving at the crack of dawn Monday morning.

This time, we had an extra rider as Maxx needed a ride home. Amelia slept a lot more this time which made for less stops so after dropping Maxx off in Red Bluff, we arrived home before 6pm to some very excited pets!

Ava and Amelia play in the pond.

Three Years Old!

Amelia turned three years old yesterday! We celebrated with a luau attended by lots of family and friends! We started the morning by opening the gifts and cards that came in the mail. She got this cute gardening set from Grandpa and Grandma Frantz and a very fun TinkerBell outfit from the Nasarow family. After she wore the box on her head, she changed into the new outfit and flew around the house a bit. The luau got going around 11 and we all had fun in the bounce house, smacking the candy out of a butterfly pinata and making edible leis out of Fruit Loops. Joel cooked up some great burgers with grilled pineapple and we all enjoyed the SandCastle cake. Beach music played on our recently installed outdoor speakers and Amelia got lots of wonderful presents. During clean-up she changed clothes again. This time she put on her new Cinderella outfit from Nana and Grampa. Such Fun. Great pics!

Amelia's new gardening hat!

Amelia blows out the candles - Amelia and Ryan enjoy some cake!

Sue and Brandon, Patrick and Roxanne and Ryan and Alyssa.

Jeremiah and Amelia H, AnnMarie and Kevin, Thomas and Jessica and Abby and Marissa!

Ryan, Amelia and Alyssa

Fireworks

We had a pretty good time on Sunday. Went to Lake Don Pedro to celebrate our Independence and watch the 'works over the water... Beautiful. We put together a bunch of food and drinks, hopped in the truck and headed out. The place was pretty packed but we were still able to find a little place to swim around a bit. The show started at 9:30 and lasted about 1/2 hour. About 10 minutes in to it, Amelia said that she was very tired and wanted to go home. The traffic out was not as bad as expected and we made it home by 11. Amelia, of course, slept the whole way.

Family Reunion

Joel, Amelia and I just got home from my family reunion in Sumpter, Oregon.  We left last Wednesday and drove to Winnemucca and joined up with my grandparents the next morning for the second half of our trek North.  We got to the cabin just in time for dinner and a lot of visiting. Friday was filled with games and more visiting and we spent Saturday in Sumpter where we rode a steam train.  The train was robbed and the kids were given candy by our very friendly bandits.  I had a great time going through old photos to guess "Who's Who" and loved sitting by the camp fire while the kidlettes played with glo-sticks each night.  We enjoyed dressing up for the Host a Murder game on Sunday and ate fabulous food.  Monday started early as we headed back to Winnemucca.  We met up with my parents as soon as we hit town and Amelia got to fly her Elmo kite!  Winnemucca is great for that... plenty of wind! My dad grilled up some beautiful rib-eyes and we played a few rounds of Wii boxing before hitting the sheets.  Another day of driving and we arrived home this afternoon to be greeted by very happy pets. Back to reality... back to work.

You are my Sunshine as sung by Amelia this morning.  Have a beautiful sunny day!!!!

Big Girl!

Wow!  Amelia's growing and learning so much lately.  On Sunday, she spelled her name on Roxy's chalk board!  I was so excited that I took this photo.  She has done it quite a few times since but I'm so glad I witnessed the first one!  Proud Momma.... oh yeah!

Amelia's Tent

I saw this in FamilyFun magazine so I'm sure you could also find the instructions on their website.  Anyway, it's a very cute tent made from a hula hoop, ribbon and either tulle or muslin.  We made ours out of muslin to provide some shade and used plastic bugs hot-glued to clothes pins to hold seems together.  I think it turned out pretty good and Amelia really seems to like it!

Monster fish

Joel and Amelia went fishing yesterday and this time, they were in for a surprise.  After catching a few little fish, as usual, Amelia had a much bigger tug at the end of her SpongeBob fishing pole.  Joel helped her pull up a rather large bass.  This 15+ pounder was "scary" and it made her cry which made for a pretty funny video.  So here's a photo of Amelia and her "big, monster fish" as well as one from another time that she went fishing so you can see what she usually catches!

Beautiful Ride

Joel and I got a babysitter for the girl and hopped on the bike today.  This was my first time out on the motorcycle this season and I have to say, my butt hurts now.  Not my butt really but my inner thighs.  Yowza.  Anyway... we had a gorgeous ride out Cottonwood road to Cherry Lake, up Cherry Oil road to Groveland with a stop at the Iron Door Saloon and back to Tuolumne via Wards Ferry road.  Beautiful!  The Dog Wood is in bloom as is the fragrant Buckeye.  There were wildflowers everywhere! It's outtings like this that make me really stop and think about where I'm living and how much I really do love being here. 

Twain Harte Mini Golf

Twain Harte Mini Golf opened for the season tonight.  We took Amelia and she did pretty good.  She got bored after about 11 holes but we bribed her with ice cream to make it through all 18 holes.  

The Heat is on

So long Spring.  I had to have Joel take the cover off the swamp cooler on Saturday and not a moment too soon.  While I drove in Sonora today, my car let me know that the coolant was low, just another thing for Joel to address.  I love that my car lets me know these things before things go bad.  

Now that Summer is approaching and Amelia will be out of school, we've been looking for new and exciting ways to spend our days off, as a family.  The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art offers free admission on the first Tuesday of the month.  The Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate park also offers free admission on the third Wednesday of the month.  I really want to go to Golden Gate park as I've never been there and I've read a lot about the new Academy of Sciences and would like to see the live roof as well as the albino alligator.  We have also heard great things about the Oakland Zoo so that's going to be a priority.  Along with Family Reunions and Weddings, this summer is looking busy and fun!!!!

It's Official!

Finally... I got my Real Estate Salesperson License number today!!!!! Many months and two sets of finger prints later but, it's now official.  If you or anyone you know (in California) need to buy or sell a home, give me a call - I need the practice. :)

Proud and Embarassed... at the same time

Amelia is learning new things all the time!  Some of the things are funny, some not so much. Today, she was playing in the yard and Joel and I were talking inside as he had just gotten home when Amelia came a'runnin'.  Something had really gotten her excited "Daddy, come see." She had pooped in the yard... all by herself.  I really don't know what possessed her but when ya gotta go, ya gotta go!  I'm actually just happy that she didn't do it in her pants and... camping this summer is gonna be easy!

Happy Momma's Day!

Well, it's Mother's Day and, so far, has been a pretty lazy Sunday.  I look around at my messy house and I just can't care enough to clean it today.  We went out for breakfast and then it was back home to work in the yard a little.  A couple of margarita's later and my motavation is quite low.  Oh well, back to it tomorrow!

New Melones Visitors Center

Amelia and I spent the morning at the New Melones Visitors Center with her class. It was actually really fun. The kids watched a film about conserving water, pet a California King Snake and Gopher Snake, went through the mining exhibits, touched many different animal pelts and did a couple different crafts. We were also to be treated to a little nature hike but that part was cancelled due to the rain. Amelia said that her favorite part was touching the snakes. If you live in this area and just drive by the signs on your way to and from Angels - stop and check it out sometime.

Getting So Big

Not long ago I asked Amelia whe she got so big. She replied "on Thursday." Getting big she definately is and she's learning so much every day. On Sunday, Joel threw the bikes in the truck and we drove up to the basically abandoned Black Oak School where Amelia could actually learn how to pedel and steer. She did so great! After biking through the campus and around a bit on the basketball courts, she was ready for a break and spent some time on the playground but then it was right back to it as we had to get back to the truck.
Later that evening, Joel took her down to the Ponderosa Pond where she proudly caught four blue gills! She had more fun with the worms and wasn't really into touching the fish so much - Joel took some really cute pics on his phone.
The relationship between Amelia and Sweet Pea the kitten is flourishing. She cat has absolutely no problem being packed around the house and is very content to nap in Amelia's lap while she watches her daily dose of Shrek.

Earth and Eggs

Saturday was Earth Day and I am a little ashamed that we didn't do anything special. We could have at least planted something. I did take Amelia to her friend, Charlie's 3rd Birthday Party which a lot of fun.

Today is Easter Sunday and it was not as good as the last few. After Thomas and Joel had a little spat at breakfast, Thomas and Jessica left and no one really felt like celebrating "family style." Patrick, Emily, Joel and myself hid the eggs at White Rock Acres while Gwynne kept the girls busy. Roxy and Amelia had such a great time hunting and driving around in the Barbie Power Wheels Jeep.

Amelia's been bouncing around all day, due to the sugar intake I'm sure. She's asleep now and I'm not too far behind.

I Passed!!!!!

I cannot believe it! I passed the California State Real Estate Salespersons Licensing Exam... first time! I am so relieved and happy and nervous all at the same time! The test was in Sacramento on Monday afternoon and I received my results this morning. I have to say, the last few days of waiting and wondering have been just aweful. Now, I should get my application for license in the mail by Monday or Tuesday, my desk is waiting for me at the East Sonora Prudential office and I'm already searching for leads. So, if anyone out there needs a REal Estate Agent - give me a call! 209-768-1304! I'll find your dream home for you and put you in touch with someone that can get it financed as well! :)
So, other than the cold rain, today has been pretty darn good so far! When I dropped of Amelia thismorning, Roxy told me that today was her real birthday and that she and Amelia were going to dress like princesses. I'm sure they're having a great time!

Crazy Monday

My quick trip to Sacramento was just that... quick. I found my way to the California Department of Real Estate building without any problems and over an hour early. No worries, there was a Target just down the block and I had to get dog food before heading home anyway. The 150 question exam took me about 2 hours (there was a limit of 3 hours 15 min. to finish) and I won't know the outcome for a few more days. I really hope that I passed! The suspence is going to kill me!!!
Because I got my shopping out of the way ahead of time, I was able to bust back home with a Emily-requested bubble machine in time for Roxanne's 4th Birthday Party. Lots of kids, sweets and a trampoline! By 7:30, Amelia was fading away and we headed for home just in time for me to watch "House" while Joel got the little girl bathed. I love that he does the bedtime routine every night!
Now that all of this chaos is behind me, I really should clean the house.

Sun-Day!

What a beautiful day! The sun is shining and the sweet peas I was so scared of freeze for are doing great! I pulled away from studying to mow the lawn and play with Amelia a little. She and Joel made a kitty fishing pole out of a stick, string and ribbon today. I think Amelia and the baby kitten like it equally. Today, the name is "Dusty." I'm not sure if this will stick or if we'll be calling the kitty something else by tomorrow. This afternoon, Amelia said that the name should be "Amelia" but I talked her out of it.
Such a nice day. Joel took Amelia for her very first motorcycle ride. They just went around the neighborhood a bit but Amelia LOVED it! She told me that they went really fast and in a circle. I know how fast I've been on that bike and I'm posative that her version of fast is not the same as mine.
I'll be heading out early tomorrow morning to get to the exam site in Sacramento then it's time to race back home for Roxy's 4th Birthday Party!

No "Studying" without "Dying"

Amelia and Sweet Pea

My Brain Hurts!!!! I've been cramming for my California State Real Estate Licensing Exam which is scheduled to take place Monday at high noon! Joel and Amelia went away for the day so I could study and now... I'm tired but I'll be hard at it again tomorrow as I'm still not completely comfortable with Law and Arethmatic. I am, however, very comfortable with the section on Construction. Hmmmm, I wonder why that is. Thanks Joel! So now that my eyes are burning from staring at the computer all day, I'm taking a break to play with "Sweet Pea" as Amelia has decided to call the baby kitty. Cute. She just woke up from a little snooze in my lap and is now tearing through the papers on my desk. I think she looks like SkippyJohn Jones. Skippito! (You'd have to read children's books to understand that one!)
We enjoyed a Spring Party at Arastraville School yesterday. Amelia had a great time with her friends on the Egg Hunt, searching for gold coins in the sandbox and eating lots! I made cupcakes for the event (of course) - they were shaped like little easter baskets!
Well, after Monday, I hoping to get my house cleaned up and since Amelia's on Spring Break now, maybe she'll help - probably not!

Baby Kitty

We have a new addition to our family and according to Amelia, "she doesn't want a name." Joel and I picked out a little girl kitten from Cousin Aaron's litter a brought her home. We hid her in the lunch box for Amelia to find, it was very cute and I took video that's way too long to show here. Our first evening was great! The new kitty loves her bed and slept with Amelia all night. She spent today with Donna across the street as we were at work. Jinx doesn't seem to care one way or another and Honey likes kitties so she's very interested in sniffing the baby as much as possible. So far, so good.

Sunday Afternoon

Last night, Joel and I celebrated Earth Hour by shutting down everything, including Amelia, from 8:30-9:30pm. We lit some candles and grabbed a drink to enjoy the darkness. I'm not sure how many people participated world wide but I think it was A LOT! I wonder how different my power bill would be if we did this once a month, or once a week. I couldn't be on Mondays though, don't wanna miss House.
Joel and Amelia have gone to Jameson's 3rd birthday party today. I stayed home due to the nasty cough and the need to study (which I'm currently taking a little break from). Amelia was sooooo cute when they left. She was dressed nicely and had glitter in her hair - party ready! This afternoon, she and I will go do a little shopping 'cause I don't plan to go to Sonora again for the rest of the week.
Oh, the butterflies... all 5 "hatched." Two of them as previously reported, one during school on Friday and the other two during the course of that evening. They're doing great, eating from orange slices, strawberries and flowers with sugar water sprayed on them. Amelia watches them all the time. We'll be setting them free at the Preschool Spring Party on Friday. It has been a very cool project and we'll probably do it again.

Yucky Bugs

I'm talking about a couple different bugs here. First, I have the yuckiest bug you can get... the flu bug. I feel like crap and am at home which means that Joel is working all by himself which makes me feel a little worse. It's alright though, I'll take a nap and feel a bit better about it. :) The other bugs really aren't vey yucky at all. We've been housing the catterpillars for Amelia's school since we received them in the mail a couple of weeks ago. She's takes them in on Fridays to show everyone their progress. Last week, all 5 of them climbed up to the top of the cup and became chrystalides. We got home last night and noticed we had a new butterfly in the habitat. Another opened up about a half-hour later. As of this morning, we still only had the 2 but I'll be going to pick everyone up soon and I hope we have more now. I really hope at least one opened while they were at school today!

The Sniffles

Now that Amelia is finally getting over her cold and coughing less each day, I've only just begun. I began to feel my throat getting soar last night and now, at the end of the day, I've got it all. The itchy eyes, swollen throat, headache and chills. Great. Amelia and Joel are playing and all I want to do is go to sleep. I hope this goes away quick 'cause I just don't have time to be sick... again.

What the...?

So I mowed the lawn the other day - gorgeous day. We had a very nice BBQ and visit with Joel's family yesterday as Aunt Kay, Uncle Rick and Cousin Gwynne were here from the Bay area. Today, we awake to SNOW! Where did Spring go? This wasn't really unexpected - the meteorologists said this would happen, I just didn't believe them, couldn't believe them. The report called for snow last night to about 2500' and we're around 3800' so we were warned. When Amelia awoke thismorning and came out to the kitchen, all I heard was "Oh my gosh" and then "where's my snow boots, Mom?"

Beautiful Day!

It is 72 degrees here today and I am loving it! Amelia spent the morning at school and I ran errands. It was BookMobile day so Amelia traded her library books in for 8 new ones - Joel will be happy as he's the one that does the bed time readings and gets bored with repetition. Amelia, however, does not and would be prefectly content reading Green Eggs and Ham every single night. When we got home this afternoon, Amelia played in her sand box while I mowed the lawn - it actually needed it already!
The big news on our hill is that of a visitor... a big Mama Bear is awake and hungry. She's been getting into the neighbor's trash cans and making people nervous. A few days ago, our friend John accidentally locked the bear in his garage, long hilarious story. Anyway, it took a snow shovel to clean up the "mess." So far, I haven't seen or heard it at my house but that doesn't make me want to be outside much after dark.

Amelia's Big Girl Bed

Amelia spent her first night in a "big" bed last night. When we brought it home, she was so excited and actually asked to go to bed last night! Joel found the bed on craigslist a couple of months ago and I got a mattress for it yesterday when I was in Sonora. After seeing the bed, our neighbor, Donna, brought over the cute bedspread that really went with the bed perfectly. As you can see, as soon as I got it made up with her new Diego sheets, she got to try out the bounce!

My New Toy

I've wanted one ever since I saw it on an infommercial at 3am many months ago... a Steam Mop. I hate mopping the floor and I don't have time to get down and scrub it every time so this seemed like a very cool thing to me. So, I didn't get one for Christmas and I didn't get one for my Birthday so, after selling my little motorcycle last week, I splurged. Joel brought it to me at Gwynne's thisafternoon (I was painting again) and I tried it out in her kitchen while Amelia was still napping. WOW! It turned out pretty good. We brought it home and I had to wait until after dinner to try it out in my own kitchen 'cause everyone was hungry, darn it. The floors look great and they're not sticky like mopping sometimes leaves them. I also did the master bathroom - major improvement! Amelia's bathroom will have to wait for now as I went through all 6 of the cleaning pads and they are currently in the washer. That's right, wash and reuse! No waste, no chemicals, no more crap to buy and it only weighs about 4 pounds. So far so good on this crazy purchase.

Bowling with Toddlers

I just sent the last hour or so at the Black Oak Lanes with Amelia's class. It turned out to be way more fun than I thought it would and Amelia had a great time as well! They are actually quite set up for the preschool set - they have bumpers, ramps to roll the balls down, little shoes and light balls. Amelia bowled a 68!
We experienced another first today - the escalator! As soon as we got on it Amelia yelled "woo hoo!" Disneyland is going to seriously blow her mind!

Weather?

So, as I said before, Saturday had temps in the 60s - perfect for a get-together. Sunday afternoon brought rain but nothing compared to Monday. Insane rain and hail along with thunder and lightning (see photo). We had some more rain on Tuesday. You know, the all-day drizzle that puts people in a fantastic mood but nothing prepared me for what I woke up to... 3 inches of fresh snow! It doesn't stop there. It is now about 2pm and the sun is shining bright! The temperature is just over 50 degrees and the snow is nearly gone. The street I live on looks more like a creek now as the water runs down it and the previously mentioned storm left quite a bit of mud a debris, very pretty. This is, by far, the strangest Winter I have ever experienced!

Craziness

This last Saturday, we celebrated Joel's birthday with a White Trash Bash. We were joined by many well-dressed friends and family for a hill-billy pot luck that included hot dogs roasted over and open flame and paired with white bread, Ritz and cheese in a can, BBQ chicken legs, bean dip, BBQ chips, cheap beer and a cake made by piling Hostess cakes up on a big plate. YUM! We all had fun the Spam carving contest - Gwynne was our winner and took home her very own can of Ranch Beans. The best dressed male was Billy and he received an outdoors magazine from the liquor store. Jessica was the best dressed female and was awarded a package of fly strips and a box of lime Jell-O. The coveted 40 oz. Cobra beer went to our best dressed couple, Jason and Rachel. Even the kids dressed up - Amelia wore her well worn jeans and work boots and sported a tramp stamp while Jameson wore overalls without a shirt and had a tattoo on his neck, nice. The weather cooperated through the evening and we were blessed with temps in the 60s.

So now it's raining - A LOT!!! We had a huge downpour a little while ago that included Thunder, Lightning, Hail, Rain and Mud. Crazy.

Saturday in the sun

Today has been a very busy day. We started by finishing the front deck on Gwynne's place, only the railing and stairs are left. Then, it was off to a birthday party for Amelia's friend, Kyra. An afternoon of swing set, bounce house and bubbles not to mention candy, cake and more candy. We came home nearly 2 hours ago and the girl is still going crazy. She should crash soon and, hopefully, be in bed by 8.
Amelia's temper is so funny to me. It's hard to keep a straight face while I'm being scolded. I'm often told that she's "serious" and that if I get a spanking then, I'll have to have a time out in my room for 2 minutes! I actually wouldn't mind the time out. It's supposed to be one minute of each year so I'd get a half hour to myself... Sweet!

More Snow!

It's snowing now for the third day in a row. This time, though, it seems to be sticking. Big fluffy flakes are falling from the sky and Amelia can't wait to go out to play. I feel bad for Joel today - he is delivering the mail and the weather doesn't make his job very easy. I can honestly say that I'm glad I'm not doing it! I'm supposed to be going to Gwynne's to paint today and I'm really congested and my ears hurt so I don't want to go but... I will, as soon as I down some more AlkaSeltzer Cold. Yummy (Blah)

Snow Day Sunday

It's snowing quite a lot but it's just not sticking. Joel and I spent much of yesterday shoveling and preparing for this massive storm that we had heard so much about. It seems to be mostly north of us but it's still cold.

Speaking of colds... I woke up with one and man, does my throat hurt. Amelia has a bit a well as she's been coughing all day. So, she and I are staying indoors today. We baked cookies this afternoon. I gave her lots of things to decorate them with and it was really a lot of fun. She chose which cutters to use so we made pigs, cupids, dogs, hearts, snowmen and guitars!