Where does she get this stuff?

Amelia came into our bedroom at 5:15 thismorning, crawled into our bed saying something about a "dream that wasn't good" and went to sleep.  I got up, did some yoga and continued through the normal morning schedule.  On our drive to school thismorning, I asked Amelia what she dreamt about last night.  "Well, Roxy and I were playing in my room.  Roxy was making a mess and some bad guys came in and we were afraid."  I asked her what the bad guys looked like.  "They had black helmets and black pants and black shoes and we were afraid.  But, then Daddy came in and he kicked the bad guys outside.  They went into the sky and they didn't come back.  Daddy drove your car and we went to work because Daddy kicked their butts."
Hmmm.  I was in total understanding until the part where they went to work because of the butt-kicking.  Not really sure what to make of that part.  What I DO know is that the recounts of Amelia's dreams are about the most entertaining I've ver heard.

LaRue turns 92!

We've had a pretty great couple of days with the family around here!  Kerry ventured down from Oregon and Key and Gwynne Alice made the trip from the Bay.  The visiting started on Wedensday.  On Thursday afternoon, a small group cleaned up Grandma's overgrown entry way.  I think we'll see some really beautiful things happen in the spring.  We all met up at Lupita's Eproson House in Twain Harte for a Mexican Feast last night.  Our waiter plopped a sombrero onto LaRue's head and treated the lady to a "shaken margharita."  We've posted a video of this event on YouTube - search for "LaRue 92."  The group congregated at our home thismorning for a fabulous Waffle and Mimosa Breakfast (thanks for cookin' Gwynne & Joel) and Kerry baked a beautiful Date Cake.
The Jones Family is planning a Family Reunion for this summer in this area so, we drove up to Twain Harte to check out the Lazy Z Resort.  Perfect!  We'll be working on the rest of the details in the coming weeks in order to get all the info out to everyone with plenty of time to make arrangements to get here - can't wait!
It's just the beginning of 2010 and I'm off and running!  Joel is staying steady with being a Contractor and I am getting ready to close escrow on two homes in the next week.  Along with reunion planning, preschool 40th anniversary event planning, preschool itself, my brother's wedding in October, yada yada.... I'm running outta time for sleep!  A couple of my brothers and the fam are coming up next weekend to do a little snowboarding and visiting - that should be fun.  I'm also trying to figure out a time in the very near future to take a few days to go to the Mucc for a visit as well.  So much family... so little time!
Amelia is doing awfully well!  She is a constant source of entertainment and aggravation.  She believes in magic right now and Joel and I have a lot of fun with that - making things dissappear when she turns her head.  I wonder how long we can keep that one going.

Amelia-isms

We've heard a few funny things come outta Amelia's brain lately - I just haveta share!
"I have a little frog in my troat but when he hops out, maybe we can go to the park."
"My heart beeps are really loud."
Let's play "hide and sink."
And...
She was making noises with her mouth and when I asked her what sound she was making, she replied "a wet fart."

Yup, that's our girl!

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.