Medic!!!

Just picked up the kids from school and took them to get a slurpee on the way home (it is hot!). When driving home, I turned a corner to see a little girl laying in the sidewalk face down. I pulled over and jumped out of my truck. She was laying face down and whimpered when I started talking to her. Then she turned around and sat up. Apparently she had fallen off her bike and lived around the corner and her brother was on his way to get her mom. She was crying and said her leg and hand hurt. I stayed with her for a few minutes until her dad came. I think she was fine - just dramatic! I had the kids come out of the truck to see if she knew them to try to comfort her because I was not going to drive away leaving her sitting there crying. She said she didn't know the kids but knew where we lived because she has seen Daisy in the front window --- Daisy was hanging out the drivers window of the truck!!! I loved that she stopped crying and smiled when she told me she has seen Daisy in the window! See how Daisy Mae brightens everyones lives!!!

Every family needs a dog!

My handsome husband!

My husband is in his element in the outdoors - doesn't he look handsome snow shoeing thru the woods!?

Snowshoeing with no kids

These are pics from our snowshoeing trip with now kids. That is Mari and Kyle in the top pic and Kyle on the bottom. Kyle is the guy who looked so scary in his halloween costume - he was a fairy! Let's just say he looks better in winter gear than he does in a skirt! Mari is also known as "Beautiful Mari" - that's what she makes the kids call her when she is taking care of them!!! The pic above is from the moonlite hike!

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

That is an old song....but this is a NEW puppy! This is Lucy, my girlfriend, Heather's new puppy!!! She is 7 weeks old today and is a Brittney Spaniel. Heather takes posession of the puppy on Sunday. Lucky me gets to go with her to pick Lucy up in Simi Valley - 5 hours and 11 minutes from here. We are going to go down early Sunday morning and come back the same day.

Date nite

Gracie and I have a date nite tonite with our friends, Maddie and Tina. We are going to dinner and a play. Our friend Jeremy is in the play - he is 10. Last nite I asked Gracie where she wanted to go for dinner and she said "to Indian food". I responded that not everyone likes Indian food and it is likely that Maddie (who is 8) would not like it. So she said, "ok - let's go to sushi". I cracked up because someone who is not big on Indian food probably won't be big on Sushi - especially a kid! Gracie and Drew are so well cultured when it comes to food! Most kids would pick McDonalds but Gracie picks different ethnic foods and thinks nothing of it!

The skaters....

More from Grandma's birthday.

Half Dome

This is the view from the Curry Village ice skating rink in Yosemite. This is our favorite place to ice skate....and you can see why.

Grandma and Grandpa

This is a great pic of Grandma Anna and Grandpa Roy from Grandma's 70th birthday in Yosemite. This is at the bottom of Bridalveil Falls.

Mountain lion sighting

We got an automated call from the kids school tonite to let us know that a mountain lion was seen on the levy in the hills above the school. Which is not really a threat to the kids because they don't go up there. But it is a threat to me because I run up there!!!!! Not every day, but at least once or twice a week. And I have always joked about wearing an id while running in case I get attacked by a mountain lion! Will keep you posted as more info comes in.

Indian Food

We had a great dinner tonite. We went to an Indian restaraunt with my brother and his family. We are not big Indian food fans because we don't like curry or mint. But Brian and Diana know the food and advised us. It was really yummy!

Interesting Book

I started reading the most interesting book this weekend. It is called "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" by Mark Haddon. It is written from the perspective of a 15 year old boy with autism. The author worked with autistic kids and has a fascinating insight into the mind of someone with autism. The main character is trying to figure out who killed the neighbors dog....

It is a quick read - definitely worth a trip to the library or the bookstore.

Snowboarder

This Gracie snowboarding in February at Badger Pass. This day was so beautiful that there were girls snowboarding in bikini tops.....not Gracie, though!

Junie B has arrived

Junie B was born On March 15 via c-section. There were 3 females and one male. I have not yet seen pics but was told they are all brindle pied, some with more color then others. We hope to go see her in mid April. I will keep you posted.

It is all in who you know.....

I have often been given a bad time because of all the people I know who have some kind of info or contact to get info, product or services that helps me out! Whether it is someone who knows someone in a position of importance/power, or its a mechanic that let's me borrow his truck while he fixes my truck, or its someone who knows someone who is breeding the type of dog I want..... I have been pretty successful at reaching out to those who can help me out. But at the same time, I always feel that I return the favor whenever possible.

So anyway, this leads to my thoughts this morning about MY neighbor vs other people's neighbors. I have a friend whose neighbor delivers babies..... My neighbor, Rob (who is Toby's dad -- Toby is Daisy Mae's best dog friend) delivers bread and baked goods. When I break things down, delivering babies may be considered a more prestigious way to make a living BUT delivering bread/baked goods is a much better occupation when it comes to real life. This morning I found 4 bags of Pepperidge Farm cookies on my porch. I bet my friend with the neighbor who delivers babies didn't find a baby on her porch this morning.....nor would she have wanted to find a baby!!! But ME.....I LOVED finding the cookies!!!!

The moral of the story....surround yourself with people who add value to your life and to whom you can return the favor!

Thanks Rob!

Soccer

Gracie starts soccer today with her new team. She is all fired up and looked so cute heading off in her new cleats and with her new ball! This is a comp team that she tried out for and is the youngest comp team they have. She is playing in the under 9 division and is only 7! But with her height, she easily looks and plays like a 9 year old. I will keep you posted on how it goes. The only reason we went with a comp team this young is because she wants to play year round and I couldn't find another way to get her on a year round team.

New "hair do"

Got a new hairdo today and it looks really cute! Thanks to my very talented "hair do" consultant! She is amazing!

Bicycle Drama

OMG! You won't believe this one.....

We went on a bike ride last nite because it was such a beautiful evening. We had to drag Grace kicking and screaming because she did not want to go but once she was out there she was happy as a clam. We rode up on the hill for a few miles and then came down to the street to head over to the elementary school. Drew and Jim were ahead of us. I was a little ahead of Gracie riding in the street. She was on a side walk.

All of a sudden.....I hear this god awful crashing sound and a scream!!! I literally jumped off my bike while it was still moving, left it in the middle of the street and starting running back towards her.......READY?????? She ran into a stop sign!!!!!!! She was in a pile in the gutter and her bike was laying on the other side of the stop sign. I thought for sure that we were going to the hospital in an ambulance. It was so loud that people came running out of their houses and stopped their cars and backed up to help!

Jim and Drew heard it too and came riding back. We quickly sized up the situation looking for broken limbs or head/neck injuries and thankfully all she had was a skinned knee, shoulder and elbow. And it was not even skinned enough that she was bleeding. We sat for a few minutes and then she walked it off while we tried to fix her bike. She completely totaled the hand brake for the back tire. It looks like it took the brunt of the impact!

I suspect that she was singing a song and not paying attention to where she was going. Her typical gypsy girl behavior.

It is a miracle that she was not injured! Once again, she amazes us in ways we never would have guessed. Girl power!

xray

Cuki, the mom of my puppy to be, just had an xray and there are 3 puppies, maybe 4! That increases the chances that we will get one! C-section still scheduled for next Friday March 16. Maybe the puppy should have an irish name since she will be born the day before St Patty's day.

New Dishwasher

I have not been blogging much because I have been too busy washing dishes. Our dishwasher started dying about 4 weeks ago. It took us awhile to get someone out to look at it because we were at the cabin so much. Finally someone came out and told us the motor was dead and it would be $360 to fix it. We did some research and decided to just get a new one. We decided on a Maytag and so far so good. It is really quiet and gets the dishes clean - which were my ONLY requirements!

Babysitting

We are watching the neighber's lab - Toby - the next couple days because the neighbor is in a class all day. So we are suppose to go over and let him out in the morning. OH SURE! That is not the kind of babysitters we are - he has been out front with us for the last 4 hours while we washed the truck and cleaned the garage. Poor guy is going to be exhausted. He lives with a quiet single guy and we drag him into the middle of our chaos and run him into the ground.

Yesterday he was over while I was on a phone call for work. I was in my office and it sounded like the world wrestling federation was in my living room. Drew came in and reported they were wrestling like mad!

He is a sweet dog and we really enjoy him. I just wish he would relax a little - he is really timid and gets nervous when we are all up and moving around. I guess I can't blame him - yesterday while he was here, Gracie was making up cheers about him and Drew was building a house out of the new dishwasher box! It actually made me a little nervous and its my house!

Wild Hogs

We saw the movie Wild Hogs last nite and it was great! I laughed out loud thru the whole thing. Definitely worth seeing especially if you are feeling like you are having a midlife crisis and wondering what life is all about.

Moonlight snow shoe

Last weekend we headed to the cabin with no kids and did a moonlit snow shoe hike at Badger Pass in Yosemite. It was a full moon and unbelievably beautiful! It was only about 1 1/2 miles but it was straight up a mountain at about 8000 feet. We did 7 minutes of silence where everyone in the group was quiet and just listened to the night - very cool! I hope to post some pics as soon as our friends send them.