I am thankful...

I am very thankful this year. The list is long and certainly I will leave many things off that will come to mind later, but better to say what's on my mind. I am thankful for my little family - hubby, Big S, Little S and Little G, for our extended family (that continues to grow much to our delight!), for my many dear friends who mean more to me than I can express (you know who you are! you may be far away, but you are always close in my heart!). I am thankful for my good health and my family's good health, that we have a roof over our heads, food to eat, clothes to keep us warm, that we have more than we need and that we are able to share a little with others in need. I am thankful for my faith - it has gotten me through many tough times as well as many joyful and continues to grow stronger. I am thankful for the innocence of childhood - they make me smile, laugh, give me warm fuzzies... I am thankful for the technology that helps me keep in closer touch with those far away and reconnect with friends lost long ago as well as those I have made through technology!!! I am thankful for this and so much more.....

Day three, Hollister California

So, day three of our adventure led us back to Hollister, not the store with the anorexic models in "hip" clothing, but the REAL Hollister where REAL people live - the place we LOVED for almost 3 years! Big S had one very special friend during those years - they met the very first day of preschool which just also happened to be 9-11. Needless to say, it was a much different day for the kids than it was for the adults, but that's for another post. Anyway, before we moved, we took the girls to Build-a-Bear and had them each make a bear, then they recorded a message for each other and put it in their bear -now how darling is that? For the last 6 1/2 years, Big S had squeezed that bear and heard her friend's voice say "I love you S"! How rockin!!! Anyway, in the last year or so they have emailed back and forth a bit and since it just happened to also be Big S's birthday, the one thing she wanted to do was see her friend! So, we headed down to Hollister and met up with them for lunch at a pizza place - lunch lasted 3+ hours!! Her mom and I chatted like we always used to and Big S and her friend took about 5 seconds to warm up and then the 6 1/2 year gap melted away and there they were, best friends again!! It was better than I could have hoped for! Now, there is also a little brother involved, who is younger than Little G and he was a complete trooper! All those girls and him - thank goodness for the arcade!! The kids all had a great time!

air hockey rocks at any age!!!

last time they had their picture taken together they were 4 1/2 - neither look much different, just bigger!!

When lunch eventually ended, Big S ended up going home with them for a sleepover - just like old time! Ok, so she would rather spend her birthday with her best friend than her family - I knew the day would come, but this was so special that I would never have considered saying no!! Some friends are true friends no matter the time or the distance - I think these two have that type of friendship - lucky girls! Now perhaps they'll replace the old picture that they both still had up in their rooms with this one!!

Day two, Santa Cruz California...

We started out the day slowly, Hubby left late last night to connect with some golfing buddies for two days - see ya! The girls and I slept in and had hoped to connect with some friends from the old days, but not feeling great, we reluctantly decided to lay low at the hotel and later took a ride over to Santa Cruz to see the sights. Our intent was just to have a nice drive, but when we crossed over the mountains, it was so beautiful that we had to get out and walk around a little bit. That's when this happened! It may not look like much to you, but it was about the size of a ping pong ball almost immediately after I fell, I mean after the road jumped up and tripped me! In my defense, the lady at the store where we stopped to buy cheapo towels and get ice for my knee told me it happens a lot because the pavement is uneven and there are gaps between the asphalt and the track that run down the middle of the road. She said the week before some guy kissed the road after his motorcycle flipped him off in the same spot - maybe I could make some $$ off this moment of humiliation! Actually, no one seemed to notice my laying in the middle of the road or if they did, they didn't think I looked bad enough to stop and see if I needed help, so maybe I should feel too embarrassed or maybe the folks in Santa Cruz just aren't very nice. Either way, it hurt like the dickens and looked really ugly - two + weeks later it still isn't totally healed. Poor me!

So, while the girls frolicked, I sat on a towel and this was my view...

and this...

and this cute little thing stuck close by to make sure Momma was ok!

these two had no problem wandering off and letting me fend for myself! I guess one out of three isn't bad :)

They did tiptoe a little into the water, just barely! I would say the swimsuits were unnecessary - they could have rolled up their pant legs for as far as they got in!

the ocean is still the ocean I guess! Little G looks like she might get bold, but faked me out!

Of course getting the sand out of the nooks and crannies is important business!!

The boardwalk looked like fun, but we just watched from the street - my girls are no daredevils! Maybe next time!

Big S took my camera on the ride back to Morgan Hill and caught this view as we headed back up over the mountains near Watsonville...

she really couldn't get over how cool the hills looked - we don't have hills of any size where we live!!

we thought this raspberry farm in Watsonville looked really cool!

It was the end of a beautiful day that started out kinda yucky. We were sad that we missed out with a day at the waterpark with our friends over at Cheaper Than Therapy www.themomjen.com but it was a good day none the less!!

Our first graduate!

Big S graduated from 5th grade about a week or so ago - it's just taken me a while to get the pictures up with all the other craziness going on! Anyway, We were very proud of her and thought I'd share a couple (few) pictures from that morning!

Receiving her "walking papers" from our principle Mrs.P.

The big surprise of the morning was the Principle's Award  It is awarded to one boy and one girl in the 5th grade at graduation.  They have to fill out an application and then write an essay about their elementary school experience.  We were beside ourselves excited when she name was called!  She was so surprised - she never expected to win!  In addition the prestige, she got a check for $250.oo to spend on middle school spirit wear and supplies!  The big check was super cool - the Principal and PTO president presented the awards.

Big S and her 5th grade teacher Mrs.B with the big check!!

Big S and some friends celebrating after graduation!!  They are now middle schoolers!!

How friendships evolve...

I have been thinking a lot about friendships lately.  How different they are in different stages of our life.  I guess this retrospective has come about because Big S has learned some really tough, but important lessons about friendship this year.  The kind of lessons that everyone has to learn, and the sooner you learn them the better off you are, but the kind that a mom hates to watch her kids figure out on their own.  Anyway, our discussions have led me to reflect a lot on the friendships that I have now, those that I had in the past and those rare few that have transcended various stages in my life!

When you are very young, friendship is often about one of two things: those who are quite simply nearby and therefore easily accessible to you and those whom your parents put you with as playmates.  When you reach school, your friends are usually those who are in your class.  The older you get, the more picky you become - you start by weeding out the opposite sex and then to gravitate to those who you may have known the longest, or simply those whom you sit beside!  As I look back on my early friendships, I smile, but quite honestly the memories are very fond, but I am not in touch with any of them any more.  One thing that was unique to my early childhood was that we moved a lot in my first 10 years, so I was always jealous of people who could say that they had been friends since preschool - I never had this opportunity.  We finally settled down halfway through 4th grade and that's when I can actually start "tracking" people that I had some form of contact with over a greater time span.  

It wasn't until junior high that I started to make friends that had the potential to be lifelong friendships.  Kim and I became friends in 6th grade, but came to realize that we had known each other for at least a year prior through dance class!  Kim and I remain friends to this day - our level of contact waxes and wanes, but I will count her as a friend till I die - there is something about those formidable years of junior high and high school that bond you forever!  Treva and I became friends shortly after Kim and I did and in fact they may have been friends before I met either of them, but we quickly became a very tight threesome!  Over the next 6 years, we didn't have a lot of classes together, but we always found time for sleepovers, movies, girls' night out, double dates, hours long phone conversations.....  At some pointed we added a fourth to our group - Liat!  I was never quite as close to her as the other two, but especially in high school we all did a lot together!  I saw Treva and her husband only a couple months ago - they live about 3 hours away from us these days!  It was like we hadn't seen each other in 6 months even though it had been about 10 years!! 

 

In college, the type of friendships you form are quite different - after all you live with these people and the rules of your parents' house no longer apply.  Freshman year is spent figuring out your major and where you fit in both on campus and in the real world.  You begin to reassess the world through your own eyes instead of through your parents'.  Sometimes that's good, sometimes it's not, but either way, it happens.  I made several good friends throughout college, but very few that I stay in touch with today.  The number one of course, is hubby!  We met in college, but didn't date - each other that is!  I was dating one of his fraternity brothers and he was dating one of my sorority sister!  We went to a lot of the same formals and saw each other at fraternity parties on weekends, we even double dated!  Dating each other didn't happen until several years later!  That story is for another day!  Bryan, my big brother from the fraternity where I was a little sister and I are back in touch after a very long time of being out of contact.  There's also Even Dave - funny thing, we grew up in the same town, but didn't meet until college!  Funny, most of the people that I know from college I have reconnected with through facebook!  It's fun to know what paths their lives have taken and chat from time to time, but certainly without the internet I wouldn't be in touch with hardly anyone from my college days either.  Funny thing is that hubby is in touch with a lot of his fraternity brothers - again through the miracle of the internet, but they have done a much better job of keeping in touch than I have!

After college, was a year of grad school (I do keep in touch with my roommate from that year, but no other classmates).  Then off to a different school in a different state for nursing school - I am still in touch with one of the 25 classmates, again through the internet!  Man, I'm pathetic!  

Once hubby and I were married, friendships took on a different perspective.  Although we often did things with other couples, usually one of us was friends with one of them and the other one went along for the ride!  Don't get me wrong, usually everyone enjoyed each other's company, but you meet through one spouse.  The exception being neighbors - especially once you buy your first house!  One friend that I stay in touch with from those early years we actually met the week before we moved into our first house!  We were doing some painting and they walked by on their way to a block party and introduced themselves!  We saw her just last weekend when she came out for Little G's First Communion - she's her Godmother! 

 

The other close friend from those days I met shortly after Big S was born.  The next phase in friendships - those you meet because of your kids!  We saw her just a year ago when she came out for Little S's First Communion - you guessed it, Godmother!!  Kids are a great ice breaker when it comes to meeting people.  Those same people become your support system as you journey through parenthood with all it's ups and downs!  By far the strongest friendships that I have formed throughout my lifetime were my playgroup friends that I made before any of my kids started going to school (real school, not preschool).  Although we are all spread out over several states now, there are five of us who first met through playgroups we were in when are kids were teeny tiny and now we get together once a year, just the five of us, for a long girls' weekend.  These women are the ones who were there for a lot of my kids firsts - even through my last pregnancy and Little G's birth - and they will be there for weddings, grandbabies, and probably some funerals.  THESE women are the definition of friendship!  Lisa, Jen, Molly and Heidi - we call ourselves the ToeTat5 and we are bonded for life through some fabulous cosmic connection that none of us quite understand but are thankful to God for it's existence!

Then there are the "community" friends.  Those you meet through your kids' school, work, neighborhood, volunteer organizations, church etc....  They are important to have and serve their purpose - some form stronger bonds than others and there are certainly several in my life right now who are very important to me (most of whom I met through church) but because life is so busy it takes a long time for these friendships to really become strong and more often than not you part ways due to simple circumstance and you drift apart.  These types of friendships are important because we need people who know each aspect of us: the parent, the school volunteer, the church member, the community volunteer....  They learn bits and pieces of the other sides of us, but they really shine in the area where you first met! Sometime those friends cross paths - a mom from school may also go to your church, and so because you see each other more often, you get to know each other better and the friendship grows stronger (or you figure out that you have nothing in common and decide to keep it on the surface!!).

Regardless of your stage in life, it's important to remember that your true friends are the ones who know you from the inside out, share not only interests, but also values and priorities, know when you need a shoulder to cry on and when you need some time alone.  These people will show themselves to you if you give them a chance - the others will show their true colors in due time as well.  Not everyone was meant to be friends with everyone else - love thy neighbor?  Absolutely, but you don't have to be their best friend too!  Take a moment and reach out to those true friends in your life - they are a true gift from God!

Finally, the girls' weekend report!!

The destination this year?  Reno of course!!  We rented a house up in the hills with a very nice view of the golf course below and the hills beyond.  Of course all we really need is a place to sleep, a compfy living room with enough space for the 5 of us to sit, chat, eat, drink....  and a decent kitchen for Miss Bloom to work her magic in!!   It really doesn't matter where we are as long as we are together!! 
  and of course we always have our needles going while we do all the rest!!
 I believe that Miss Bloom may have started this one last year!!
 H doing her magic with the needles!!
 The ToeTat5 on the rooftop over Reno!  Friends are one of our greates gifts from God!
 Me and Ranch Girl
 H, Miss Bloom and Ranch Girl
 Jen, the Mom from Cheaper than therapy - one of the few times that the camera caught her before she caught the photographer looking her way!  I believe that she was playing "Butterfly Kisses" on the bottle!!

The trip is always too short and the time in between them too long.  The thing about the weekend is just being together, catching up on all the things that have happened during the year that never seem to warrant a seperate email or phone call, but always seem to come up in conversation when we are together.  It is knowing that there are four other women in the world who love for who I am, just the way I am, fat, thin, happy, sad, crazy...!  It is so great to just be together and hang out without any other distractions!  Those 3 or 4 days together are worth the 12 month wait each year!  Love you girls!!  See you next year in SB!!!

I've been tagged!!

Finally!  I've been tagged!  My dear friend The Mom tagged me (I guess I was on her mind after our girls' weekend) and apparently I am supposed to share my quirks with the world - my personal philosophy is that you can't figure them out, I shouldn't have to tell you about them!  However, I have whined about never having been tagged, so if I don't step-up and respond, then I will never get tagged again - and I REALLY want to be, so here it goes!!

1. I have a very specific order of how I do things in the shower.  My rationale is that you start at the top and work your way down so that you don't rinse dirt over and area that has already been cleaned - smart I think!  Shampoo, rinse, conditioner - hair up in a clip to let the conditioner soak in and do it's thing, wash face, wash body (top to bottom of course), shave (pits then leg - the whole top to bottom thing - and you don't want to shave before you wash and get dirt in a potential cut) then go back and rinse out conditioner.  Drying off is the same way - hair in a special super absorbent hair towel then dry top to bottom on front, then top to bottom on back, wrap towel around me and step out!

2. that's it, my only quirk!!  Just kidding!!  I like to have my closet organized in a very specific way - the shirts for example - all tanks together, then short sleeves, then long sleeves, then cardigans and sweat jackets - during the cold weather the order is reversed!

3. I must have milk in my coffee (preferrably 1%), not half and half (yuck) or creamer or worst of all powdered creamer!

4. I have no problem hanging out in my pjs all day if I'm not going anyway - they're so comfortable, who said that you had to be in bed to wear them?

 

5. I love taking pictures or regular things from irregular angles - trying to make it look abstract - my art form!

I am sure that there are plenty more - perhaps this will just be the first installment!! 

Off to watch another episode of Ace of Cakes - my favorite Food TV show!

countdown in single digits!!!

I can hardly believe that another year has passed and it is almost time for out annual Toetat5 girls' getaway!  6 days from now I will be relaxing with a cup of Joe eating someting fabulous from Miss Bloom's kitchen and celebrating my 41st birthday with 4 of my dearest friends in the world!!  I spend a year looking forward to these 4 day escapes!  The 5 of us have been through a lot together: births, deaths, lots of moves, diapers, potty training, first day of preschool, first day of elementary school, surgeries, illnesses, weddings, all night scrapping, stamping, knitting, drinking, eating laughing, crying, quiet time doing nothing.... the list is as  endless as our friendships!  I love these women with all my heart and am so blessed to have them in my life.

  When we decided to plan a getaway 5 years ago, I was getting ready to leave our small CA town to move to the midwest where I knew no one and the first of these trips was a lifeline for me.  Now I have visions of us years from now, gray haired (ok, more) sharing graduation pictures, wedding pictures talking about retirement...  We know that no matter how hard life gets, we are there for each other and that when life is too wonderful to imagine, we are there to share and rejoice together!  I raise a glass (or rather a coffee mug) to the Toetat5!!  See you thursday ladies!!

Ranch girls rocks!!!

My dear Ranch girl - it really says how much you love someone when you spend time halfway accross the country looking for hangers for your friend's daughter!  You win the best friend prize of the day!!!  Love you and can't wait to see you!! 

a few words...

I stole this from a friend's blog http://aranchgirlsramblings.blogspot.com  (thanks Lis!!) and thought it would be fun to share!!

One word answers...

1. Where is your cell phone? phone
2. Your significant other? work
3. Your hair? shoulder-length
4. Your mother? Gwen
5. Your father? Bruce
6. Your favorite thing? depends
7. Your dream last night? Nazis
8. Your favorite drink? diet coke/wine
9. Your dream/goal? unsure
10. The room you’re in? office
11. Your friends? loving
12. Your fear? depends
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
14. Where were you last night? home
15. What you’re not? skinny
16. Muffins? yum
17. One of your wish list items? wide angle lense
18. Where you grew up? Virginia
19. The last thing you did? laundry
20. What are you wishing? longer days
21. Your TV? off
22. Your pets? 8
23. Your computer? Mac 
24. Your life? content
25. Your mood? content
26. Missing someone? sister & friends
27. Your car? Nissan Armada
28. Something you’re not wearing? jewelry 
29. Favorite store? depends
30. Your summer? over
31. Loves? lots
32. Your favorite word? bedtime 
33. Last time you laughed? this morning
34. Last time you cried? last week 
ok, a couple were more than one word, but close enough!!!