First Grade Patriotic Program

Last night was Emma's school program. The kids were all so excited and have practiced for weeks and weeks. Emma was honored to be chosen to play Sandra Day O'Connor! Supreme Court, here we come!
Emma with best friend, Makenzie, and classmate Morgan aka Betsy Ross before the show.
My camera is really low-tech, no zoom. But here's a fuzzy picture of half the show.

The boy with the red tie on the right recited the entire Preamble to the Constitution, which I thought was pretty impressive for a six-year-old.

Truman's birthday!

We celebrated Truman's 2nd birthday on Sunday. He seems so little to be leaving "one-year-old" behind. Actually, he is little. I just took him to the doctor and he is in the 7th percentile for weight and the 12th for height. Midgie! He's too cute, though. The doctor also referred him to a speech therapist because he only says about 10 words. We'll see what happens. I think he just doesn't feel the need to speak all that much. We love having Truman in our family. He entertains us all and is such a quiet ham!
Truman loves to draw, color, and sometimes is satisfied just to be holding a writing instrument. He really likes this water drawing mat picked out by Daddy and Parker.
Our friends, the Yoshidas, came over for Truman's birthday. I think he's making this face because he blew out the candles too early and we had to re-light them. That seemed to confuse him about what exactly he was expected to do. He got shy when he felt like he'd made a social blunder.
Also, please ignore the cake. It was a busy day, and I still hadn't decorated the race track cake (yes, race track) when our friends arrived. I don't perform well with an audience or time crunch.

More family, more fun!

I'm sorry. Disneyland is really the only place where I think to take my camera, besides school programs. We really don't spend all of our time here.
Yesterday, Emma had no school (along with most of Southern Cal. we later surmised) so we went to Disneyland to meet Aunt Michelle, Chloe, Emerson, Maia, and their neighbor, Sarah. It was crowded and crazy, but worth it to see family. Luckily, Michelle and the kids have three days there, so we'll hope it empties out for them.
These few pictures are from a coronation ceremony that we attended. Parker really got into it- out in the middle of the crowd, following all the directions. Funny.

Truman exploring "Pirate's Lair" at Tom Sawyer Island: the kids' favorite place.


Emma has been wanting to go on this river run with me for a while because I'd never done it before. Unless I am wearing a parka that covers my entire body, I will probably not do it again. I think our mistake was waiting until the sun was going down to have buckets of water poured on us. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but Emma's whole lower half, her hair, plus all her of her back was soggy. When we got to the car and I took off my socks, my feet were pruned.

The Woods in the hood

Holly, Steve and little Trevor came to visit last week. They took a break from hibernation in lovely Cache Valley to enjoy eighty! degree weather last Friday. It was nice for us to warm up, too. January was unusually cold and rainy. It was so great to have them here! Best wishes on your fifth anniversary, you guys!
Trevor - safe inside a two foot germ-buffer zone! LOL
We went to the beach on Saturday. The air was perfect. The water was freezing!

Dreaming of a white Easter.

The birthday boy

Parker turned four on February 1st. How well I remember the evening he was born. It was during the Superbowl, also the Patriots I believe. The Superbowl made memorable by Janet Jackson, and yes, I heard about it during labor. The doctor who delivered Parker was not the one I had seen during my pregnancy, but she was really nice. Well, as nice as anyone can be who has said the words, "There's no time for the epidural now."

Anyway, Parker was born, and now four years have gone by already. Although, don't you think he looks like a six-year-old in this picture? He is slowly stretching out his little wings to find his place in the world. I love him. He is my funny, sensitive, little friend. He teaches me a lot about myself.

More news

Okay, I just realized that after a great, two-week visit from Grandpa and Grandma Rudd, we have exactly zero pictures! Clearly I'm not cut out for this blogging business. Their visit was so nice. Mom finished up many of my unfinished projects, Dad played at least twenty games of checkers with Emma, and they both generally helped out while I was still sick.
Todd and I were able to get away for one night alone while they were here. We went to Newport Beach and stayed at a pretty hotel off PCH. Wonderful. Thank you, Mom and Dad!
In other news, Todd's company had lay-offs last week and we got the lucky number! It's the pits, but we trust that it will all work out for the best. Todd has an interview tomorrow, so cross your fingers!
I also should report that I've now had three violin lessons, and I really love learning something new. It's fun. I can play "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and a few other little ditties.

What Santa brought

We weren't the best photographers this Christmas, but here are a few. We really enjoyed our holiday together. It was nice having some friends over on Christmas Eve to make it feel a little more festive, since we didn't have any extended family around this year.
The kids, of course, were so excited. Emma survived her 'Butterscotch Pony' unmet expectations, and was happy with her scooter and other heavily advertised toys. Parker rode his Diego bike around and around the kitchen island, leaving black skid marks on the floor. Truman's marble run was the hit of the holiday with everyone.
We actually drove to the beach at Oceanside on Christmas Day in the afternoon, just to get out of the house for a bit. It was so beautiful - 70, sunny. Actually, the day remains slightly fuzzy in my memory because I was dealing with a bad sinus infection that turned into bronchitis later.
But, it was nice.