Lake Tahoe

Today I scheduled a consult with a bride who was in town visiting her parents in Lake Tahoe. I thought it would be a great opportunity for us to take the kids up to the snow for a quick trip. Since we are so close it seems crazy not to take advantage of it. Their aunt Andrea also met us from Reno.

The consult was at this amazing bakery in Tahoe City called the Tahoe House Gourmet Bakery. Oh my gosh it was so good. Mike and I each had the croissant stuffed with Black Forest ham, guyere cheese and green onions. I am still drooling over it.

We took the kids down to the public beach in Tahoe City which of course is covered in at least 2 feet of snow. It actually warmed up quite a bit so it wasn't at all cold while we were down there. The kids complained only when they got snow in their boots or when we told Cole he could not bring the dead crawfish home with us. Gross!!!!

For those who want to know the camera details.  These were all taken with the Canon 5Dmk3 and the 24 1.4 L lens.  (except for the 2 above and the very last photo.  Those are iphone)

Photo taken by my sister Andrea

Photo taken by my sister Andrea

Photo taken by my sister Andrea

Photo taken by my sister Andrea

Photo taken by my sister Andrea

Photo taken by my sister Andrea

Meanwhile, Uncle Lennis was scaling a waterfall.......

Pure Joy

The Garden - Starting the year out right

Each and every year we always try to get the garden prepped and ready to go for the summer.  Hopefully but starting now we can get a head start on it!  When Mike is totally finished with it al the dirt area will be filled with the deck boards so we can eliminate the weed issues which will in turn take less time for us to fix it up each year.

My resolutions

3 blog posts in one day! Way to start it out right! :-)

Cole's New Year Resolution

Today is the first day I learn to take a picture - Cole age 5

Ringing in the new year!

New year, new adventures, new problems.  :-)

Last night at 11:48 the neighbors started shooting off fireworks and probably a few were gun shots as well.  Onyx has never been a dog who fears storms, fireworks, etc....  One time this summer a few gun shots went off and she was on my bed shaking like i have never seen before!  Fast forward to last night.  The first round went off and she started pacing.  Second round and she was in our room, on our bed, on top of us.  75 pounds of labrador squishing me.  She was scared.  Shaking so hard the bed was moving.  Panting so fast I thought she might pass out.  When the gun shots started she was off the bed and started pacing around the house and then ended up in our closet.  She has never gone in our closet.  This dog was scared.  We felt so bad for her.  I brought her bed in our room and managed to get her calmed down.  When she finally took the deep breathe and then sighed I knew it was over for the night.  30 minutes of torture for her.  So I'm happy to say Onyx will now be partying hard on the 4th of July and New Years Eve.  She's getting drugs.  Happy drugs so she doesn't have to go though that again.

The day the Mayans said the world would end.....again

Gorgeous sunrise on the day the world did NOT end.  So glad that drama is over.  :-)  It will be nice to get a break from that mess until the next crazy starts it up again.

Happy Winter Solstice!

Hot Lunch

Since the first day of school, Cole has told us he does not ever want to eat a hot lunch.  He said that waiting in line for hot lunch cuts into his time to eat (my kid of guy!).  Flash forward to today.  It was hectic like any other Monday.  Rainy, running out the door, etc...  The kids were at each others throats and in a rush to get out the door I asked Cole to get his backpack.  He questioned me as to why there was no snack in the side pocket but I just assumed Mike forgot and didn't think much more.  I gave him a snack and we went on our way.

When I picked Cole up from school, I was walking with the other moms like we do each day and one mentioned that she had helped at lunch and noticed Cole was eating a hot lunch.  It kind of threw me off guard since this is something he was so against and Mike had packed him a lunch.  I asked Cole if he had a hot lunch and he gave me this sneaky look.  I just assumed that he pretended that he didn't bring a lunch and snuck in the hot lunch line.   She said she had helped him with his tray because he didn't know where it went and he didn't have his little blue box (Goodbyn).  I look in his backpack and turns out Mike forgot to put it in and I didn't even think to check to make sure it was in there.  

I of course felt horrible at that point because if Cole's anything like me I can only imagine is little heart breaking when he opened his backpack and saw no lunch.  But bless his little heart.  He told his buddy that his dad "must have not been thinking right" (i am dying by this point laughing so hard) and he had help from his "hot luncher" friends who showed him the hot lunch ropes.

He told me in the car ride home that the hot lunch was gross and that dad made better lunches.

I love that we have raised such an independent little guy but at the same time I feel so bad that we forgot his lunch.

Acupuncture

This is me.  Relaxing.  With out kids.  If going somewhere and getting needles stuck in my face, neck, head and 18 other spots gets me 1 1/2 hours of quite time, I'll take it!  I am going to acupuncture for treatment of my inflamed intercostal nerve.  Since it landed me in the ER 3 weeks ago and pretty much made me unable to walk I needed to do something else.  My doc wants me to have a nerve block.  I am trying other options before resorting to that.  I currently also have two seeds on taped on to pressure points in my right ear that are supposed to aid in the healing of the intercostal nerve.  

The Doc offered to take a photo for the kids.  She's awesome.  Cole loved it.  Siena is more concerned that I don't have my shirt on.