My dog, Daphne

I'm playing with my new camera and my sweet chica, Daphne was a willing subject. She is always so happy :)

Happy Christmas Eve!

We had every intention of dining at Ernesto's for a late lunch/early dinner today. Russ was going to pay because I won the bet - Maya is walking before Christmas. All morning I could taste the chile verde, but alas, Ernesto's was already closed by 3 PM when we got there. So, we'll try again another day. We instead went to Tower Cafe with our friend Sharon. Here we are enjoying food and friendship!

I hope everyone finds nothing but good stuff in their stockings and underneath the tree!

Feliz Navidad!

Hal, Maya & Jack in front of the Christmas tree!

Merry Christmas!

Sunny December Days

Thanks to my friend Lindsay for taking these wonderful pictures of Jack and Maya at the park this week!

Oh, Christmas Tree

Jack helped me decorate the tree again this year...actually he did almost all the work and he sure is good at it. We had so much fun remembering our ornaments...where and when we got them. We collect ornaments from all our travels and each year we also pick out ornaments. Jack has a neat collection going and we are starting one now for Maya. Maya tried to help take off the ornaments!

Go Kings!

Russ took Jack to his first Sacramento Kings basketball game last night. Jack enjoyed the game and can't wait to go again. Mommy wants to go next time!

Going My Way?!

Maya helps pack for our short visit with the Johnson's for Thanksgiving. Jack and Maya sure had fun with Grandpa and Grandma, but bad me forgot to take out my camera while we were there. Lots of fun and giggles and love as we visited with everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving

In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I'd share an inappropriate song I learned as a child at Sunday School. Totally politically incorrect by today's standards!

Gobble gobble gobble

Fat turkeys are we

Gobble gobble gobble

Fat turkeys are we

We're not here for living

We're here for Thanksgiving

Gobble gobble gobble

Fat turkeys are we!

Every year, I call my friend Barbara and sing this song to her on Thanksgiving! Two more days Barbara and I'm calling you!

I wish everyone a stress-less holiday and safe travels if you are spending the holiday out of town.

This has always been my least favorite holiday because of the stresses involved with preparing a large meal and when I was growing up, our house was tiny and all the family converged on our house. Our kitchen held 2 people at most, the day was usually cold and ugly and our large picture window would fog up and I'd feel trapped and long for a warm sunny day to play outside. In my twenties, I spent about 5 Thanksgivings in a row down in Cabo San Lucas, eating tortilla soup for my holiday dinner and lounging with friends by the pool with no stress or worries. Russ and I spent our honeymoon in NYC over Thanksgiving week and had a terrific time. With our kids, we now spend the holiday with family and it is enjoyable, but truth be told, I'm hoping that next year, we'll be sunning ourselves down in Mexico!

Love My Sister

This was taken yesterday out front. Not easy to get both looking at my at the same time! Every day, Jack talks about how much he loves his sister. He's so good with her, loves to play with her and show her how to do things. Currently, she is chasing after him (crawling) while he hides around the house. Lots of giggling in the house right now!

Friday night, we went to Emma's for dinner and Maya was pretty in pink! Jack was not with us that night because he went to the movies with Grandpa Bruce, Lola and Hal. They saw "A Christmas Story!" I love that movie!

Maya's new ride

Yummy Cupcake!

We had tons of fun celebrating Maya's birthday on her actual date! She enjoyed her cupcake and really went to town, wearing quite a bit, but actually feeding herself frosting and cupcake with her spoon and fingers!

Maya is One!

Maya turns one on November 8th! I can hardly believe it! She has been with us for almost 4 months now and at the end of the month, it will be one year that we got our referral for our then 2 week old baby girl. So much has happened in this past year. Lots of waiting and anticipation and it has all been worth every tear, frustration and laughter. I want to thank Maya's mom for giving us such a generous gift and also to Vivian, her loving foster mother.

On a daily basis, Jack tells me how much he loves Maya and how pretty she is. He even shared his army men with her tonight! He's been showing her how to play with all her new birthday toys and when I watch them together, I feel so blessed.

One year ago, Maya was only a dream to us and now here she is, the daughter and sister we can't live without.

Happy Birthday, Maya!

Fun with Photos

I'm just playing around with photo effects and getting to know this computer. My first picture is of Russ, Maya & Jack at Grammy's, the second is of Jack as "Little Russ" and the last is of Grammy & Maya - taken at Hal's birthday party.

Halloween Fun!

Josh at our annual pumpkin carving party!
Most of our pumpkin masterpieces on display!
Maya Mouse playing on the couch!
Jack as Jengo Fett, Star Wars Bounty Hunter
Jengo Jack, Coral, Maya, Spider Ryan and Ninja Gannon all ready to do some serious trick or treating!

In between kids being sick, we've managed to have a little bit of Halloween fun! Coming up...Maya's 1st Birthday! Let's hope no one is sick this weekend for the festivities!

My friend Barbara

Oh, almost 20 years ago, I met my dear friend Barbara (Levin) White. You see, the office manager at CSAC told me that she hired Barbara to be my friend. Well, Bev was right because Barbara and I forged a really close friendship and did everything together until she moved back to Ramona years ago. We've still maintained our friendship over the years, although we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like. In 2004, Barbara and Bill lost their home to the wildfires in Ramona and Barbara's mom Carol lost her home as well. Well, now the fires are ravaging the area again and although at this writing, Barbara's home still stands, everything around it is burned, including their well their house has sustained some damage. These pictures were taken in 2005 when we went for a visit, right after Barbara's house was re-built. I hate that she is going through this again so soon. It isn't fair. Love you, Barbara!

Maya's Blessing

Well, I can't get the video to load via blogger, so I'll load it to u-tube!

Day of Respect

Today is "Day of Respect" at my son's school. This is the 7th year of this important event that brings people from all walks of life to the school to teach the children about diversity, different jobs, exposes them to people and things from all walks of life. It also was the dedication of their International Peace Rose Garden, one of only of few in the world. There was a blessing by some Native Americans, led by a woman from Mexico and I was so moved by her blessing of the new rose garden, that when the ceremony ended, I talked to her and introduced her to Maya and she gave Maya a blessing. It was so moving that I'm still all teary-eyed and emotional about it. I want Maya to notive her history as a Mayan Indian. I'm including a short video of the blessing and also some pictures of the day, including a 1940's Army helicopter that landed at the school and the kids got to get inside and try it out. Police and fire were there, a librarian, a woman with dogs, a man with a parrot and more. They traveled around to each classroom talking about life and respect and everything under the sun.

Watching Like a Hawk

Maya and I were driving in the grocery store parking lot yesterday when we saw this Swainson's Hawk perched on the stop sign. It was amazing to see him up close and personal. My mom posted the frontal view picture on her West Sacramento photo of the day web site if you want to take a look, I have a link posted on the right side of this page.

Squeaky Clean

I gave Maya a bath in the kitchen sink the other night and she loved it! So much has changed since we brought her home in late July. She is now cruising the furniture and can pull herself up into a standing position against almost anything. I'm pretty confident I'll be winning the walking bet I have with Russ! I bet she'll be walking on her by Christmas. She is a determined and curious little chica and we are having the best time with her.

Cousins

Maya met her cousins Jordan and Matthew for the first time!

Weekend Fun

Last weekend, we enjoyed a picnic up in Plymouth. This picture was taken at Young's Vineyard. Hal, Maya, Jack, Ryan and their friend Aidan!
Silly boys! Aidan's family joined us for a fun picnic!
Michael kisses the monkey!
Maya lets aunt Joanie give her a bottle and a nap! This is not an easy task!
Maya crawls around and get nosy. First stop, Tina's purse!

Johnson Visit

Dada, with Maya and "Hey Yo!"

We drove up to Carson City on Sunday for a quick visit with grandpa Jake and 2 of his older brothers who are on a road trip around the states. Great uncle Sid is on the left and uncle Maury is the middle and that is Maya with grandpa Jake!

Thursdays with Grandpa