Girls' Weekend in Northern California

I spent Friday night having dinner in San Francisco with 2 of my really good girl friends, Michelle and Melissa...M & M (that is what i will call them for short). So, those that know me and know me well, know that I don't go on "random spur of the moment trips". However, that is exactly what i did this past weekend. M & M were already in Cali, one for business, the other flew out Thursday to hang out. Friday, late afternoon, I flew out to Oakland where M & M picked me up to start our weekend in Wine Country. Dinner on Friday night in San Fransisco was great! We dined at a wonderful restaurant a called Scoma's http://www.scomas.com/?page=home. The food was delicious and the service and atmosphere were terrific. After filling our tummies we headed to our hotel in Fairfield for some rest before our full day of winery/vineyard hopping in Sonoma Valley on Saturday.
Saturday was a full day of wine tastings and winery hopping followed by a fabulous dinner. The day was gorgeous and the company impeccable! We made several new friends and enjoyed so many great wines. I was in awe over the beautiful fall colors that surrounded us.



Sunday came all too quickly. We ate a quick breakfast at Denny's, checked email, said good bye to the wine country and headed for Oakland to the airport. We took the scenic route ;-)

The trip was fast but very good! As much as I love M & M, I did miss my boys, T & E. I was very happy to get home to them.

Thanks for a great trip M & M; I am looking forward to next year's girls' trip.

Veterans' Day 2008

Yesterday was Veterans' Day and E's school paid tribute to Veterans with Patriotic night at the school. Complete with the Pledge of Allegiance and singing patriotic songs. They were so cute; E was great and we are very proud of him. ****(disclaimer the pict quality on this video isn't all that good...i took it with my digital point and shoot and we were a bit too far back)****

Still hard to believe he is in Kindergarten!!!

HALLOWEEN 2008

It has been quite some time since my last blog and boy do I have lots to catch up on :) For now, we will start with the recent.

Last Friday was Halloween and we had a ton of fun. After work, I grabbed E and we headed out to "spooky" Cedar Park to meet up with some of our favorite friends, the Deazvedos. (T was already in Florida, so he missed this year's Trick or Treat fun) E was was dressed in his new Iron Man costume and we met up with the Jedi Knight and Princess. Oh, and Mickey and Minnie were there too!

The kiddos had a lot of fun and made quite the haul. Doesn't Iron man look handsome?

Thanks for taking pictures, Aunt Jenni :)

Pizza Seeds :)

E is a pizza fanatic. I think he would eat it for every meal if we would let him. He always orders pizza if given the opportunity. That being said, yesterday we stopped by Whole Foods to pick up a snack for T. and E was hungry too, so we grabbed a good ole slice of healthy pizza to go. When we finally stopped to eat, I said to E., "you are going to turn into a pizza because you eat so much of it". E's response, "na, I won't because I am not eating the seeds". "Seeds?" I say. He says, "Yeah, if i eat the seeds I will turn into a pizza". I was trying desperately not to laugh because he was serious. So I say, "Pizza Seeds?" He says again, Yes, and looks at me like I am crazy because i didn't hear it the first time or didn't know that. I know I should have taken the opportunity to explain that pizza doesn't come from a pizza seed and that my first statement was a figure of speech, but i didn't yet. I just enjoyed the moment and our discussion about pizza seeds. I will save the explanation for another day. :)

E News

Ethan knows how to tie his shoes!!! We are so very proud of him. He has been trying for a long time now, practicing and practicing. T has been showing him how and finally this weekend, E did it all by his self. Yesterday morning Ethan got ready and I was ready to tie his shoes, but he came out of his room completely dressed and shoes tied. He has grown up so much. We are extremely proud of our Ethan.

Full Weekend Report

This past weekend was so full and fun. Friday night (which was the anniversary of the first Friday in August the T and I truly talked), was the Rumor of Glory concert and food drive. It was amazing. There were tons of people who brought lots of food. It definitely made a dent in restocking the food pantry for a little bit anyhow. Nate Navarro http://www.myspace.com/natenavarro opened for Rumor of Glory and my goodness he is good. His words and music shared his heart and that is awesome. Then the Rumor of Glory show was sooooooooooooooooooo Gooooooooooooooooood, GREAT, Wonderful! I am a little biased,however, those weren't just my words to describe the music and the message behind the music. After the show and some socializing, we headed home for some much needed "hang" time. We put Ethan to bed. Then T and I just hung out enjoying each other and couple glasses of wine. We have gotten a bit caught up in the day in day out that we haven't just hung out together. It was great and much needed.
Saturday morning, after a feeble attempt to sleep in, we got up and headed to the gym. I wanted to try this Fitness Yoga class and T was going to appease me and go too. :) T and I were both amazed at how much we enjoyed the class. WE will be doing that one again. Tony picked up Ethan and went to the rock climbing walls while I enjoyed a few minutes in the hot tub, then the steam room and after my shower met back up with them. Ethan climbed higher than ever....we are so proud of our little boy!!! We really love our gym. We ate some lunch and headed home to change and drive to my company picnic. The picnic was a lot of fun. It was hot, but hey it is August in Texas. We enjoyed snow cones, games, bbq, ice cream and more. After the picnic, about 7:30, we headed to Cedar Park to drop Ethan off at Aunt Jenny's and Uncle H.'s house. Tony and I were going to have some date time. Thank you Aunt Jenny and Uncle H. After dropping Ethan off, we rushed home and got showered and dressed. We went out to Lake Travis to hang out with Michelle and Frank on Frank's house boat. We had good conversation, good snack and it was sooooo fun to watch Tony and Frank rock on Guitar Hero. After a couple of hours we headed back to pick up Ethan get home.
Sunday morning be went to church and after enjoyed some lunch at Jason's Deli together. After lunch, we went home so I could prepare for my leadership meeting later that afternoon. T and E went to the pool at the gym and ran some errands while I went to my leadership meeting. I beat them home and actually had a little bit of time by myself. Crazy...I know. I used it to clear out a some clutter and purge some more stuff (I have been doing this in little projects). E and T returned home with a set of hand weights for me and a new workout outfit (good for yoga) for me too. Love my thoughtful husband for picking it out! We spent a little time together before T headed to work. Ethan went to bed and I fell asleep on the sofa until T got home from work.
Jam packed weekend, but it was full of great family time. I love my little family ;-)

RUMOR OF GLORY on FRIDAY NIGHT

My handsome husband has a concert performance along with many other amazing musicians. I encourage you to check it out. It is great music and a really cool drama. Very neat experience. This is an encore performance of the CD release show that Rumor of Glory did a few months ago. The admission is 1 item of nonperishable food. This will go to help restock the quickly dwindling food pantry. As most of us know, hard economic times have hit sooooo many people and this is a chance to help out a little. Come check out the show...you will not be disappointed!!!
You can hear see and hear more about ROG on their website www.rumorofglory.com

Hope to see you there!!