Party Pics

Thanks to Dcan for the pics. The haku lei is from Hawaii - friends who couldn't make the party sent it. The evening was sparkly, wouldn't you say? Such fun!

Thanks & Giving

Had a birthday! It included a BIG surprise party courtesy of my CH! Wow! People kept on appearing up the steps to "the Attic" at McMenamin's Edgefield - couldn't figure out how they all heard about it. Sneaky husband-mine used my FB to invite all those friends, plus let other groups surreptitiously know of the celebration. I thought I was going for dinner, maybe a movie (Trains, Planes and Automobiles was playing in honor of Thanksgiving), and an overnight plus a mani-pedi in the morning. I did get dinner, an overnight + a mani-pedi - but, oh! The party was grand!

Thanks to all who commemorated with me, either there or with well-wishes! I feel truly blessed to be touched by so many lives. May this decade be one of balance and peace amidst growth of family. Enough mush? Here's a bit more...

Looking forward to more holiday festivities. May your holidays be magical and safe! Here's to the sands of time and the things that renew and invigorate us! Blessings!

Lucy

Love this!

Independence!

Celebrating the 4th of July! (Did you know that Independence was actually voted on July 2nd and the document signed on the 4th? Thanks, NPR, for that nugget.) We'll start the day with pancakes (thanks to friends who are hosting a pancake festival of sorts - a new tradition for them, but not their neighborhood) then travel to the coast to be with CH's family. The weather is supposed to be sublime! Then back again, back again, lickety split to rest and be ready for church in the morning and more adventures on the 5th!

Sadly, the biggest fireworks west of the Mississippi were canceled, so no hanging out at the 'rents condo to view them. Fortunately, this is the year that the 'rents are re-doing the condo, so it would have been a VERY tight fit with the upheaval in their home. So, it all works out.

Pictures of Xan to follow...there'll be some fun ones, no doubt, from all our 4th activities. (Insert smiley face here.)

Oh the joy of boy!

Here are some lovely pics of our Xan man! He certainly is changing - less of a baby and more of a boy. Thanks to Liz for helping make him look as cute as he is, great photos, eh? Every day we're seeing changes, my how he likes to take things apart. Makes for interesting times when trying to fold laundry, for instance, as he grabs as fast (or faster) than the folder. Climbing, exploring, throwing, touching - he's into it!

Sound of Music - explored

A friend sent me this YouTube video. Hilarious! Would that we could/would ALL stop the daily routine and start to dance. Delightful. Enjoy!

Happy 1st Birthday, Xan!

Wowee!!! Xan is now one! Way to go baby boy! (Insert chant of one, one, one.)

We're at the end of Spring Break - funny how fast that flitted by. The TO DO list is far from finished. Sigh. But, we had some good times at the coast, thanks to CH's parents loan of their house at Seaside. Sadly it rained non-stop the entire time we were there. We still relaxed, read, drove the coast, visited Tillamook and Astoria (highly recommend Baked Alaska on a cool pier in the latter - yummy!) and marveled at the mobility of the small one.

Xan had a small birthday bash: one tante, a Granny & Poppy, two cousins, his mama. His dad had to work... Funniest thing was that Xan was not about to taste the frosting of his little cupcake (made without refined sugar - hear a cheer for agave nectar!) and was forced to put his coated fingers in his mouth by his mama. Then, he discovered the bliss and went from squawking to heaven in less than a second.

Check out some of the looks from this past week here.

Spring Break is coming...

And we're all SICK. Nasty colds do we all have, complete with hacking coughs and runny noses. Throats are sore and aches abound. What a great way to start a much anticipated (though laid back) vacation, eh? Cool thing that Xan is now doing: army crawl = lots of mobility! It's making the parents a bit crazy - recognizing how much needs to be done to childproof! Amazed that we've had this big hiatus of almost a year (next week, 1 year!) before having to seriously make everything "safe" - so many folks only have 4-6 months before their youngins' start roaming. Thanks, baby! Also, Xan has popped out five teeth and more look to be coming. Wow! It really changes his smile. Not loving the biting (only twice while being nursed - eek), but loving the look!

Check out the cute feet of Xan and his cousins. Xan's are the closest and smallest, FYI. :-)


And so that brings us up to date, a bit. Still employed (though somewhat anxious about budget shortfalls in the district - will employment be enjoyed this time next year?) and thankful for that. Looking forward to the Gang Get Together this weekend! It's been super long since we've all been gathered in one place - some have not yet met Xan! Won't that be fun?!

V-day approaching

10 and 1/2 months old - that's Xan's age. Incredible! He's getting big - with three teeth peeking through that'll pop any day now. What a super sweetie, too. CH and I marvel daily on the wonders of the boy. Still not crawling, but kinda scooches along and, when he can, loves to stand. He likes to read (not only his daddy's helicopter magazines). Seems into stripes in the below pics. Fun, fun, fun! Oh! And it's almost Valentine's Day. I wonder if the CH has anything sneaky planned. He'll probably have to work. One year (not so long ago) there were lots of beautiful red roses. I was not unhappy about that. :) Tee-hee. I guess I need to get planning for what to do for him to show how much I love him. Ah, mush. Anyway, back to the cute growing boy. Check him out:

Let it Snow!

We had SNOW! Two days off of school and church canceled, but Christmas Eve went on as scheduled (whew!). It was beautiful, if not a little bit dangerous. My nice husband likes to shovel snow, so our driveway was relatively safe.

We did have a scare though at the beginning of the weather where a tumble down the outside stairs resulted in a visit to the ER. Xan was fine, thankfully. Isn't he the cutest in his little hospital gown? The one good thing to come out of the hospital visit. Ha ha!