Welcome 2011

2010 was a year of great challenges and great blessings!


Right now, I am enjoying the tail-end of a family get-together in Oceanside. Surfing with my brother and brother-in-law, walking with the kids on the beach, celebrating each other's company and so much more - it has been a great way to end the year!

L's 5th birthday

Our little one turned 5 on Monday, but we decided to have her party today. It was beautiful outside today, so mostly the kids played outside in the yard. (I spent all morning cleaning the house and didn't think to clean off the deck or even pick up the dog poop - oh well!)

L had a Raggedy Ann-themed party, and Jenetta even dressed the part (thanks to a costume provided to us by Aunt Barb.)

Everyone had a lot of fun. Happy birthday, baby!

This is a long video as Jenetta reads everyone a story, and I'm bummed that I turned off the video recorder just before L gave Jenetta a big hug and told her she loved her. (It's recorded in my mind forever!)

Christmas Concert

We have quickly come to another era in our lives - attending functions at our kids schools. I don't know how many of you know this, but Jenetta is no longer homeschooling O. We finally got a place at the charter school where we really hoped she could attend. So either we made the switch mid-year or it wouldn't probably ever happen. There is a person at my work who waited three years to get his daughter into this school, so we jumped at the chance.

The transition has been mostly good for O. She is very tired from 5 day a week all day kindergarten, and she is definitely behind the others in her class (most of them can read already). But she is learning quickly and has adjusted well.

One thing we really like about this school is that it emphasizes traditional values. The academics are rigorous, (who ever heard of homework for kindergartners???) as are the expectations for parents. But we are ok with all these things because we believe it is the best learning environment for our girl. So, with the traditional values focus, it was very nice to attend a Christmas concert that had a nice mix of holiday songs with Christmas carols and hymns. I think that is probably a rare thing in public schools these days.

O is kind of hard to spot - it was a big crowd of kids, but her class comes in last and you can find her to the left of the bass player.

And L got to get dressed up as well - she made a friend in the audience and acquired her toys :).