March: Highlights

• San Jose, here I come

I took a weekend trip by myself to visit my high school gal pal. It was my first trip away from Natalie since she's been born. Finally, huh? It was a wonderful weekend get away. My friend, Suzanne, lives in San Jose so the warm climate was a great welcome, especially after our Spokane winter. I told her I just wanted to relax and hang out, and that's exactly what we did. Although we did seem to do quite a bit of stuff, it wasn't hectic at all, and it was just what I needed to recharge my batteries.

We started out Friday night at Santana Row, a great community of upscale shopping, restaurants, hotels, and condos. We enjoyed some wine tasting and then a late dinner. On Saturday we ate breakfast in Saratoga, a quaint little town at the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains, then enjoyed the rest of the day wine tasting at the local wineries. We ended the day back at Suz's condo with a crackling fire and sushi take-out (which by the way was awesome!). On Sunday we drove over the hills to Santa Cruz and enjoyed the ocean and pier before heading back to the airport. It was a quick weekend, but oh so worth it. I can't wait to do it again!

Dinner at Village California Bistro and Wine Bar

Wine tasting at the Ridge Winery

The Pier at Santa Cruz

• Bathtime = fun time

• Silly kids

February: Highlights

• Henry started pre school.

His speech has always been a bit delayed so I had him evaluated at the beginning of the year. Well, since he is 3, the school district picks up the tab for any needed speech therapy. Well, it was determined that he needed it. So, his options were to either meet with a speech therapist twice a week for a 15-20 minute session, or to go to pre-school 4 days a week for 2.5 hours a day and meet with a speech therapist twice a week for a 15-20 minute session. We opted for pre-school. What a great decision that was. His speech is slowly improving and he is having a great time at school. He is more social and really enjoying all the kids, teachers and activities. The best thing....it's free! (or at least paid by the school district, aka, our taxes). Henry is really enjoying it (and all the fun things they do....I want to go back to pre-school...FUN!)

First day of school...and sis is giving him some confidence

Sporting his chef hat (which he made at school) and ready to get to work in the kitchen

• Best of Buddies

• Henry the photographer

and no, this picture was not planned (I actually do housework once in a blue moon, believe it or not)

Finally, pictures from our AZ trip in January

Enjoying ice cream at the kiddie pool at Pebble Creek

Picking oranges from Nana and Papa's fruit tree


Sitting pretty in pink




Natalie and Papa strolling the ledge





Henry and Nana strolling the ledge