Happy 9th Anniversary!

We celebrated nine years of marriage today. Unfortunately we both had to work in the evening, but we carved out some time and enjoyed a delicious breakfast with our little one before heading to work.

We will definitely have an opportunity to celebrate together when my parents come into town and give us a night off. We have had our rough patches, specifically with my sickness and just the natural evolution of being a couple for quite some time (we have technically been inseparable for 14 years, so sometimes our marriage seems longer!). Now, adding a baby into the mix after being just the two of us for so long, we have certainly faced some challenges.

We both understand and know that a successful marriage takes a lot of work and effort. The loving part comes easy, but it's the day-to-day communication and expectations that I think we take for granted.

We've decided to celebrate this year's anniversary as a "rebirth" of our relationship. We have discovered new things about each of us and are working on better communication. You know that whole, "What I heard you say..." and using "I feel" rather than accusatory "you, you, you" and blah, blah, blah, right? If you've ever tried it, it's not as easy as you'd think!

Anyhow, I, for one, am looking forward to the next nine years and beyond with my husband!

Also, when RT came home around 10pm, he showed me a little surprise. On our front door, there were two little tree frogs that obviously came to wish us a happy anniversary! It was quite an unexpected site! We were told that "pottery" is the ninth anniversary traditional gift. I guess RT wanted to go outside the box and deliver tree frogs! What a swell guy!



The happy couple looking perky even after a very long day at work!



Special delivery: tree frogs!

Surprise Sis!

Debbie and her family (she was my master teacher once upon a time!)

My niece, her husband, and sweet little girl!

My sis's boss and lovely wife!

Dad making his rounds.

Cupcakes!

Gotcha!

Little nephew and bro-in-law.

Mom and RT with drink in hand!

Three generations!

And now the 4th generation has arrived! Looking great Granny!

Aw! Siblings can't get enough of each other!

Guests enjoying the montage of the birthday girl!

Miss P with her Aunt Ne-Ne!

My brother-in-law threw a surprise birthday for my sister the weekend before her 40th birthday. Man, was this ever so complicated to try to keep this from her! The hard part was to not tell her that we were coming into town. We were a little nervous that she was going to stop by my parents' house even though we told her that my parents were coming over to Morro Bay with her oldest son. The second hardest part was trying to convince my dad and nephew as well. Dad was confused, wondering why he and Mom were going to Morro Bay (the plan we told my sister), and my nephew is whining that he didn't want to go to Morro Bay. Hello! People, that's the fake plan! Sheesh!

RT and I had about 2 days to throw together a video montage of her first 40 years. It was fun gathering all the photos from throughout the years. We were able to segment the footage into decades and RT chose some great music representing each decade. He did such a great job and in such a short time! We hope she liked it as much as we did putting it together.

The funniest part about this whole surprise was when all of us were waiting at the restaurant and she calls and says, we're here (at a different restaurant) eating some chips and salsa. We all looked at each other and said, "What?????" We thought maybe she did know about this surprise and was fooling us all!

We had a great time. I hope when I turn 40, I'll look as good as my Sis! (Yes, it's just around the corner for me!)

See You At the Slough

While visiting RT's family, we went on an afternoon outing after to Elkhorn Slough Ecological Preserve, in Moss Landing--one  of our favorite haunts. We didn't see too much by way of wildlife since we were out later in the day, but it's always a worthwhile place to see. This was P's first time there, and she had such a good time especially being entertained by her cousin Joe.

3rd Grade Level Together Again

Some of my former teacher friends came and visited and two of them met Miss P for the first time. While there have been many different teachers on my third grade level team, these three are the ones that I have been with the longest. We used to do a lot of really fun things together outside of work to commiserate, joke around, play games, and just de-stress. If there ever were a bunch of competitive, loud (me not so much), attention-deficit-disorderly women, that would be us!

Of all the things I miss about teaching, it was the close friendships that I have made. It was really good to see my "grade level" again and catch up on everyone's lives. It was just a short trip because I had other obligations that day which was too bad. Miss P had a fun time meeting "Mommy's friends"! Thanks for making the trip over to visit. Come back soon!

The gang with Miss P (too bad her finger's up her nose).

Miss Preas...on that phone again!

Mrs. McConnell bearing gifts (as usual)!