Menacing

Vacation with Grandpa

Ron's dad came to visit for Zach's baptism and Christmas. We all had such a good time and the kids loved spending time with Grandpa. We will forever remember the past few weeks as vacation with Grandpa. He was such a fun Grandpa to have here. We went to the zoo, the dinosaur museum, lots of walks, had Christmas morning, and a ride on the light rail train. We are so grateful for his sacrifice in driving four days to be here with us and the great opportunity our kids had to get to know him better. He truly is a great man who has lived a wonderful life. I will always be thankful for the way he and Ron's mom taught, educated, worked hard, served, and loved.

Christmas with the cousins

Can I just say it has been craaazzzyy. Way too little sleep and lots and lots of fun.

Zach's great day

Zach has been looking forward to this day as long as he can remember. It has been on his mind for lots of years. He is finally 8 and was baptized on Saturday the 27th. He was so excited. Of all of the great things about being baptized, one of the greatest was that his favorite people were able to be there. Of course there was mom and dad, and brothers and sisters, but the fact that Grandpa drove four days to be here and the Porter's braved the snowy roads to be here on his day were the best. He definitely felt special when he saw his friends and family there. Thanks to all who were able to come. Thanks to Nana for playing such beautiful music while we waited and to all of the cousins for such a great job singing with no practice. Thanks to Lexi and Paige for the accompianment. It was fabulous. Zach really did love it.
After the baptism, he chose to have build your own pizzas back at home. Whew, 27 pizzas later, we broke out Wii fit and had the most hilarious time watching 77 year old Papa twirl a virtual hula hoop. So much laughter and so much fun. That night, he got a phone call from a friend who was out of town wishing him congratulations and that completed one of his most perfect days ever.
It was definitely a great day that Zach will never forget.

Neglected

I think we have all felt neglected at some point. Either nobody talked to us, or someone we really liked ignored us, or maybe we just needed to have a pity party. In other words, I think we have all been part of neglection. Is that a word? Anyway, I feel like I have neglected my blog. The past few weeks have been crazy, stressful, and fun at the same time. Nothing tragic happened. Nothing has really changed. Life has just been full. Events that I have worried about for a long time are over, (pack meeting and visiting teaching conference) and now I feel like I can get back to regular life of lunches, field trips, lost library books, bad hair days, the one missing Sunday sock, laundry, and lost teeth. So, I would like to say it won't happen again, but I'm sure it will. Sorry. That's all I have to offer.

Pajama Obituary

In loving memory to "shark jammies." Born when Casey was a teeny boy, the piranha pajamas from Old Navy, were loved immediately. The first pair was bought when Casey was one. When he got too big and they had worn out to the threads, he only wanted "shark jammies." So, we got him the next size. Well, those soon wore out as well and Casey still wanted to wear "shark jammies." So, thanks to an exhausting look on ebay, we found 3T shark jammies. After a year of daily wear, the 3T shark jammies were beginning to look sad, so it was time for a new pair of shark jammies. After many looks on ebay, we found 4T shark jammies. Casey, still wearing them daily, still loving his shark jammies, was perfectly happy. That is until the vomits came to visit him. The 4T jammies were already on the slope to the graveyard, but when they got doused in vomit, they headed straight for the garbage. They are survived by no more shark jammies and hopefully will be replaced by Santa with big boy jammies.

Only in SF

Ron and I got back last night from a great trip to San Francisco. We love to go there on a short trip because you can see so much in such a short time. There are always hidden surprises, but this time there was the BEST surprise. I guess Kat and Ron have been conspiring since my birthday to meet in SF. So, after we checked into the hotel (which was a very interesting story) there was a knock on the door. I opened it and there was Kat looking as cute as ever. I got a smothering squeeze from her and she got an annoying Gregish index finger wag in her face. Then, it was off to hit the town. The two days was full of eating in small cafes, riding cable cars and other germ ridden public transportation, watching Kat get scared by the bush man, eating a hot fudge sundae at Ghiradelli Square, and LOTS of people watching. We made it to Ashbury/Haight for the first time and to a remote bakery next to a shady neighborhood. Ron got a shoulder pet by the Russian with a mustache that seemed to be following us and we decided that you definitely need to fear the stache in SF. We walked out on the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset and were in awe of the creations of our Father in Heaven intersecting with the gifts of man. Of course Kat had many conversations with stranger people and we laughed and laughed.

All of the kids did well at home and loved having french fries and chili for dinner. I have to give a huge THANK YOU to Nana and all others who helped keep things rolling at home. I am so grateful for a mom who would drop everything to come take care of my 5 crazies. It was so nice to not worry about them at all. They all love and adore Nana and didn't miss me a bit. I'm not sure how to take that. I think they would all love a Nana vacation more often. So, thank you again, Nana, we really appreciate you.

In the end, it was sad to have to go our separate ways at the airport, but luckily we have Zach's baptism to look forward to. Thanks to Kat and Ron for such a great trip full of fabulous memories and great company.

P.S. If you want to stay at a hotel on Geary near Union Square that starts with an A, stay at Adagio and not Adante. That is unless you want purple walls with fish murals to lull you to sleep.