Here it is Mother's Day! It really seems silly to celebrate this day when everyday is mother's day, right? As you can tell from the photo, it is pretty typical...me still dressed in my pjs without having had a shower yet, no make-up, in my glasses. Yeah, pretty glamorous, that about sums it up!

But, this was a very special day because I had the whole day to myself! RT had a end of the year party with the Cuesta Biology Dept at the Ken Norris Rancho Marino Reserve (UC Santa Cruz-managed Nature Preserve in Cambria), so he decided to take P so I could have time to myself.

H-E-A-V-E-N!

They were actually gone for quite a long time. I was busy with a sewing project that took the entire time. It was nice to have that big chunk of time.

I love being P's mom. I am so thankful that she is in my life. I am loving her personality, her spirit, and everything about this little person that she is becoming. Most especially, I am thankful for my mom and all the sacrifices she made for my sisters and me. I strive to be the kind of mom that my mom was for me, unselfish, giving, and kind to everyone. I love you P and I love you Mom ♥!

We had promised my mom a trip to the aquarium for her birthday last year. Well, we finally made good on it this year! Besides my mom, my dad,  my sister and her family joined us, so it was fun-filled weekend with the family.

It was a good chance to hang out and catch up with my older nephew, while it was great for P to hang out with her younger cousin. They sure were delirious together! It was fun to watch those two.

It was a first visit for my folks, my brother-in-law, and my nephews. I think everyone had a good time and were definitely amazed by all the sea life.

Welcome to our family! We just adopted four baby chicks from our local farm supply shop. RT has just about finished our chicken coop and the spring chick days are here, so as part of P's "birthday" present, we got some baby chicks.

They are so cute, fuzzy, and adorable! We got three different breeds, a Cuckoo Maran, two Black Sex-Links, and an Australorp. 

Right now they are housed in the garage until 6 weeks, when we will transfer them to their new home. Jannu is really into the chicks and whines and cries to go out to see them. P likes them, to,o and likes to tell people that she has some "baby chips"!

I'm sure the day will come when we'll be painting RT's toes! For now, we tried the hair thing. I must say, "Darlings, you look mah-velous!"

We finally did it! We had been talking about camping with the Schiros forever. This past summer, we talked it up big and nothing happened. RT and I decided to get away during the Presidents' Day weekend and thought by chance maybe the Schiros would meet us at Big Sur. They did! Unfortunately, we couldn't eke by with a cheap campground and had to book a private one at Riverside, but it was very nice and not too crowded for a busy weekend.

It was a very relaxing weekend with no plans and no agenda. Thankfully, because it was so cold! Don't let the sunny photos fool you, it was freezing. The entire weekend, my feet were frozen even with 2-3 pairs of socks.

It was also very fun to see our daughter hang out with the Schiros daughter who is almost 2 years older. For the most part, they got along great--just P is in her "mine" stage and had some difficulty sharing!

The girls had a great time playing by the river, throwing the rocks in the water, and just being outside.

At nighttime, it was so cold, that to hang out by the fireside was not an option, so bedtime was pretty early for us. Plus the fact that P wouldn't go to sleep unless I was in the bed with her, so it didn't leave a lot of adult time to hang out. Oh well, next time!

That's [so-ers] not the stinky kind! We have finally gotten together to do some crafting. A couple of gal pals from work have decided to start a sewing/craft club. We'll see how long this lasts! So far, we've only had one successful meeting. I seriously would like to continue because it's a nice time to get away and chat. Since we work together, we definitely had a gripe session about some stuff from work. It's a great tension release to verbalize all the complaints and have that comraderie. Bonus, we get some sewing projects accomplished!

Of course, I always strive for the complicated (not purposely). What started out as an easy stocking project has turned out to be a nightmare. I kept making mistakes and did so many seam ripping. I've decided to pack this away and attempt this again next year!

Let the crafting begin!

We spent Thanksgiving with RT's family this year. Along with Turkey Day, RT had his 20 year high school reunion that weekend. We had a very nice, relaxing time for Thanksgiving along with a very delicious meal. We walked off some turkey along the Aptos pier and looked at the infamous Cement Ship, which is getting more stinky each time we see it!

Finally, we had the reunion.I got roped into going to RT's BFF and his wife. Us girls had a great time spending the evening chatting and catching up on our lives! We also had a few laughs as some girls made complete fools of themselves on the dance floor. What were they thinking???

It was very interesting to meet a lot of RT's past friends and hear what they had to say about him. Apparently, I married a "legend". I'm sure alcohol played a part in some of these guys' trips down memory lane as they rehashed stories to me. At one point, some guy took me aside to explain how lucky I was to have married this "Aptos legend" and do I understand that I married a legend? Someone else said he was honored to be in RT's presence. Frankly, I was getting a little tired of all this sycophantic behavior and being told how I should understand what I got.

It was funny, though. RT never let on about this, and maybe he didn't know about this legendary status. He also told me, "Did you notice that none of the girls said that about me?"

He did have a point. I teased, "I didn't have to worry about you rekindling an old flame with a girl. I probably had to worry about one of your guy friends wanting to take you home!!"

So, behold, we have a legend in our midst. Note: no one really said why he was a legend.