A Good Time Was Had By All

8 nights of Channukah, 7 nights of Daddy away in China, and then blammo, straight into Christmas. We had an excellent visit to the Bay Area, including staying with Pix, Michelle, and Austin in SF, a party at the Ellenbys, and then down the peninsula to the DeTrempe/Larsen household. Nice to have a family Christmas. Santa treated us all well. Now more time with family in L.A. Now if only we could magically find a New Year's babysitter...

Henry Visits Santa for 6 month Bday

Auntie Rebeca took the babe to meet Santa. Looks like he enjoyed it (as he does everything!!)

Thanksgiving

Henry was thankful for his first meal...until he found it it was only one course!

Disneyland for Vi's 5th Birthday!

Violet's favorite parts of Disneyland were riding on the carousel with Mary Poppins, the Peter Pan ride, and Star Tours. She also braved a one-hour wait to go on the new Submarine ride. A great day!

Halloween - The Golden Family's Favorite Holiday!!

Flag Salute

Violet led the flag salute for her school this morning. It took every ounce of my maturity to not sabotage the pledge as I have *such* strong feelings re: separation of church and state. My husband convinced me this wasn't the proper forum to take up my issues. :) Violet did a great job!

Fire Moon

The color of the moon during the fires.

Lucky 7

We celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary at Inn of the Seventh Ray. I really recommend it. Menu items are listed in order of "esoteric vibration." My only beef was that there is no chocolate on the menu!!! Now *that* is crazy.

Dominics Visit

The Dominics arrived from Portland amidst the crazy Santa Ana winds. We set the kids to work immediately, collecting palm fronds that had blown all over our yard from our cranky neighbor's unkempt trees.

Good times! :)

Family Photo

Family photos aren't easy to come by! Here are a couple of attempts...

Taste of Encino

Grandma & Grandpa took H & V to the Taste of Encino Street Fair.

New Bike

Violet got a new bike today and finally has taken to riding!

Dress Up

I'm so lucky to have a big sister who likes to dress me up!

a good grasp

Here's the big boy. He's just learning to grasp toys (or hair, or whatever...)

So tired!

Going back to work has had its ups and downs. Luckily it's part-time.
Nothing like the cumulative effect of 3+ months sleep deprivation to turn one into a bit of a lunatic. It alternately takes the form of: crying, an inability to string thoughts together (as if this doesn't make me paranoid given my possible genetic inheritance), general crankiness (i know logically that i love my wonderful husband, so why is it that i am snarling at him every 5 minutes?), falling asleep in odd places (under violet's bed - ok, so it is several feet off the ground but still...*in* violet's bed ("yes, honey, mommy's watching you do those puzzles at 5:30 in the morning")), falling asleep mid-conversation, inability to fall asleep at prescribed times due to exhaustion/irrational anxiety (frustrating!), and general giddiness (although this sometimes manifests at laughing loudly at *really* dumb tv shows, but i can tolerate it if it's a giggle fit at 3 a.m.). sigh.

Violet's First Day of Kindergarten!!

Violet is ready for her debut at Encino Elementary. We feel lucky that we can walk to school. Violet's teacher is Mrs. Ferreira. So exciting!

Sarah & Dan's Wedding

We had a great [and exhausting!] Labor Day Weekend in No. Cal. One night in Menlo Park, followed by two nights in Healdsburg. Violet & Henry are awesome travelers. More than 16 hours in the car and only Philip was whining! Hee hee! :)

Jason & Marichele Visit

Jason and Marichele were here this weekend. Violet had a special outing with them. They even took her to a special appointment, where she was dressed up as a pop star! Meanwhile, Jenn got to have a facial and go out to lunch with her girlfriend. :) Photos to come...

Just Another Perfect Day...

Zuma Beach rules! More dolphin sightings, sand castle building, snoozing (H-man), and relaxing. I love L.A.

Missing Mom

It's been a whole year since my mom died. I started having dreams about her last week before I realized what the date was. Funny how the mind/heart works on things on their own. I've been thinking about how different our lives were last year at this time, and how well she handled her own death. I miss her! I wish she could have met Henry. So that's what's on my mind, especially today.

Day Care aka Hooray for Aunt Rebeca!

After visiting daycares near my office, we stopped in to see Auntie Rebeca, who promptly decided that she needs to take care of Henry while Jenn goes to work 3 days a week. Hooray! Hooray!

DeTrempe Visit

J.D., Matt, & Paul drove down from the Bay Area. We had a great day at Venice Beach. Henry LOVED meeting his uncles, although the real fun will start when he's a bit older (i.e., able to throw a baseball! :))

Missing Disneyland

Violet woke up with a fever on the day of the Camp Encino field trip to DISNEYLAND!!! This stinks!

Jenn's BDay

Alan, Joan, Jenn, & Henry

Heather McC. & Ernie

It was great to have some backyard R & R. Nothin' says "party" like juice boxes, babe!