Enjoying Vegas

Neil and I got to take a couples trip to Las Vegas in April. Neil was part of a relay race in the Nevada mountains. The race was called Baker to Vegas and the teams were made up of law enforcement from all over the world, although mostly CA agencies. Neil and some of his coworkers were asked to be runners on the Modesto team. It was such a joy to see Neil work hard and train for this competition. His dedication to the run and team was awesome. He is looking forward to being asked back as part of the team for next years run. Although he said it was very hard he would do it again in a heart beat!

Alex's 6th Birthday

Since I was in the midst of recovery during Alex's 6th birthday (July 12th), it was a very low key event. We invited a few family members and served pizza and salad. Alex didn't notice who was missing or who came, he just cared about his presents and how much money he had received (that boy STILL has $50 held over from July). He is big into DS games so of course, he got a couple. We told him he now has to wait until Christmas before purchasing any more DS games. He owns about 15 now. He also loved getting Auntie Jill and Uncle Rob's Transformer toy in the mail. These kids are blessed with so many family members that love them and remember them on their birthdays and holidays.

Baking Healthy

Since I no longer eat baked goods, my kids are having withdrawals from sugar. This is the last day of summer vacation and Samantha was a bit bored. She asked if we could bake something. Let's make healthy muffins with blueberries (a little bit of chocolate chips). Alex help crack the egg and beat it and Samantha did the rest. They told me they tasted delicious!!

Healthy Muffins

1 cup flour
3/4 cup bran, wheat or oat
2 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup of sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 well-beaten egg
3/4 cup non-fat milk
1/3 cup apple sauce
1 cup blueberries
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Sift dry ingredients along with blueberries and chocolate chips in a bowl. In a separate small bowl, combine egg, milk and apple sauce. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix just until moistened. Bake 12 muffins 400 degrees for 20 mins.

Getting Back to Normal

Slowly my body is returning to normal. I'm still tired quite a bit, but then I have an excuse to take a long nap. The kids haven't spent too much time at home this summer, so they claim to not be too bored. They are very good at letting me rest. They would much rather have me rest at home then a hospital bed.

This weekend Samantha took a Baking class held by the recreation department of our city. She had so much fun along with our neighbor girl. Alex is old enough to take the class, so I promised that next time I would let him go. Samantha wasn't too pleased by that.

I took Alex over to Micheal's while she was baking where they were holding a free craft event for back-to-school kids. Of course, he talked me into buying him some craft projects. I'm a sucker for his cute face and eyelashes.


School starts on Tues. for these two and I can't wait. What I can wait for is the shuffle to and from two schools everyday. Hopefully I can work something out with my neighbors.

The kids are growing up fast. Samantha lost all of her baby teeth and is in need of braces. Alex desperately wants to be older and have a camera and MP3 player. Why does growing up take so much more money to do it?

It's been a long, long time

Lots has happened. I don't think I'll play catch up, but start from here. Isn't that how life should work.

Its beautiful in California

This is perfect weather for me. High in the mid 60's, sunny but still chilly enough for a sweatshrit. I love sweatshirts. I can cover up all the winter fat!
Today I worked in Alex's kindergarten class. I try and go in every week and it's only worked out for every other week. Alex LOVES when I'm there. He comes up and gives me kisses and hugs the whole time. His class rotates between 4 tables, so he was only with me once. I had a couple of interesting conversations - I asked one young man to get a Kleenex because his nose was dripping, which sparked the topic of boogers, which I explained are really called mucas and that mucas has germs that our body is trying to get rid of, so that's why you need to blow your nose, and not suck it up. And one girl pointed out that's it's not a good idea to pick your nose because you will get germs in your nose. On another rotation, one girl had a VERY loose tooth, so we talked about what would happen if you swalloed your tooth? I said that the tooth fairy would still bring you money and that you would just poop the tooth out. The girls thought that was funny!
I sat in on Samantha's piano lesson this week. I haven't really listed to her since her first lesson and I was very impressed with the knowledge that she has already gained. She wants to take drum lessons after her 2 years of piano are up. I told her Daddy can teach her that. We will defeniatly need a bigger house just for the drum set!

Christmas Pictures

I just now edited the pictures from Christmas. If you are on Facebook you've seen these already, but in order to but them on Blogger, I have to downsize the pixels.

Christmas is packed away

We spent yesterday evening packing up the Christmas tree and decorations and when it's all gone the house looks so empty. I always hate packing it up because it means that I have to help Neil push the HEAVY boxes up the latter to the attic. Last time I was in the attic, I hurt my back. Bad memories!
We truly enjoyed Christmas this year. We spent Christmas Eve at our house with my family, lots of food, and game playing. The guest list included Mom, Jess, Geena, Chelsea, Robert and Melissa, Bev , JonJon, and Grandpa Ron. We were missing quite a few this year and we missed them. I did about half of the cooking the day before so I would have time to get ready, shower and put on makeup, for the day. Christmas day was spent quietly at home. Grandpa Ron came over in the morning for breakfast, then we had a visit by Lyndee who stayed and played for a couple of hours. It was the most peaceful Christmas I've had in many years.
The kids favorite gift this year was the Nintendo DS games that Neil and I got for them. They received many gift cards and money and the day after Christmas they spent their money on more DS games. Thank you everyone for all of the generous gifts you bestowed upon us this year. We were blessed with an abundance of love.
The kids go back to school tomorrow, I go off to work for my Dad, and Neil will return to work after a 4 day hiatus. We enjoyed our time off but we are ready to go back to work!

Christmas Time

Wow. It's been a while since I blogged so I figured I better get busy. Tonight Neil and I went to his annual PD Christmas party. This year Neil and I were both involved in setting up, donating items for the auction and raffle as well as Neil being the M.C. It turned out very nice and we had a great picture taken of the two of us. It only happens once a year.
The kids had a good time decorating the tree but got tired of hanging ornaments about half way through so that's how many went up. It was all them this year.

Turlock PDs Open House

Neil participated in the PDs 3rd annual open house a couple of weeks ago. He did 2 demos with Mike S. along side. This was much better than last years because he has had lots of practice and has attended 2 competitions.