Inspiration

I have been inspired to get back to my blogging.  It really is a great outlet for venting and really terrific way to keep all our family and friends updated on wasss happenin'.  I do realize that it's been 6months since my last post and so, so, so, so much has happened.  If you're not on FaceBook you've probably been thinking that I have fallen off the face of the earth - not so!  We are as busy as ever!!!
Just before Thanksgiving, we were hit with a pretty major snow storm.  The power was out for 4 days and we were "blessed" with just over 2 feet of fresh white powder.  What better excuse for playing all day and teaching MoJo to pull Amelia's sled?  Although the storm caused quite a bit of damage, we prefer to remember the fun parts.
Christmas was spent at home and we ate like Kings!! We celebrated Gwynne's birthday (Christmas Eve) with fish tacos, fresh mango salsa & cranberry margaritas.  The next morning was pure chaos as Amelia, at four years old, has got Santa Claus all figured out.  It took much of the day to open all the gifts!  Her fave seems to be the "real" tap shoes that Joel gave her.  Joel and I made a beautiful brunch with a baked ham and mimosas.  It was Prime Rib and red wine for Christmas Dinner.  I know, you're jealous.
The New Year brings renewed hope for stability.  With a dry week, we've been able to begn the clean up from November's storm and we prepare for the next one to hit us.  Amelia is back in School and loving it!  I've been busy with Real Estate as well as filling in for our local mail carriers so they could have a break.  Joel never gets a break. He's either fixing our house or someone elses!
I hope that the holidays were happy for you and that the new year brings more new and wonderful experiences!

You Are My Sunshine!

It's been awhile!

Yeah, sorry 'bout that!  So, what's new?  Well.  I closed escrow on a home last week so, it's official... I am a Realtor now!  This check is gonna come in very handy!  Now, if I could just keep this up and close one every couple of weeks, I'd have nuthin' to worry about.
We headed over the hill, to Winnemucca, for Easter.  Seriously, if highway 108 is closed, I'm staying home!  I love my family but the stress of "winter driving" is just not worth it!  The visit was good though.  Amelia had a great time playing in the "hot pool," dying and hunting for eggs and seeing How to Train Your Dragon.  The weather reports made our decision to leave about a day early to head back home and we're glad we did!  The roads got a little slippery over Monitor Pass as the snow fell.  See y'all again in the Summer!
Joel is off and working this week in the Bay Area.  We try to Skype every day.  Amelia likes to use the mouse and make the arrow pick Joel's nose - very entertaining!  Technology is a wonderful thing.
I guess that's about it for now.  Busy busy but all the same!

Is Sleep Really Necessary?

I'm not so sure.  I know that I like it and, apparantly, am very good at it during movies.  I actually slept sitting on the floor during Inglorious Basterds the other night.  Odd.
Yeah, I'm busy.  There's no doubt about it!  Between work, family & preschool, I don't get a whole lotta "me" time.  And when I do have a moment alone, I feel a little guilty about it and I miss the fam.
We are so happy to finally see signs of Spring!  Daffodils are blooming, the tulips aren't far behind.  I'd like to try to get to Daffodil Hill this year... I say that every year.  I have never been.  I'm also relieved that the rain and snow has subsided 'cause I have only a few chunks of firewood left and no time for getting more.  "It's been a long, cold, lonely winter... here comes the sun."

Amelia has been adding to my exhaustion lately.  Why are 3-year-olds so loud?  I find myself constantly asking her to shhhhhh, bring it down a notch.  Ugh.  She's doing great in school and loves being there.  She sings a lot, draws a lot, whines a lot.  She's been singing Three Little Birds by Bob Marley quite a bit lately.  I love it.

Okay... that's all I have time for!!!!!

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.

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!