Did I forget to mention.......

I'm pregnant. I'm due in Feb. Its a girl and we can't wait. We decided that if it was a girl, Patrick would pick the name and if it was a boy, I would pick the name. Well, Patrick has not picked anything yet; he just likes to come up with silly things to torture me. I do have veto power so I hope he comes up with something good soon. Quite sometime ago, he dubbed her "Marmalade Strawberry" and we (and everyone else) have been calling her "The Strawberry" ever since. At this point, I don't think it matters what we name her because she's stuck with that nickname forever. Here is a picture of us, at the hospital a long time ago, after the ultrasound. My mom came with us because she had never seen one before and it was truly a trip! Patrick was speechless and I was just happy.

Thanksgiving

Patrick wisked me off to Wisconsin for Turkey Day this year. He was so excited to surprise his mother with my giant belly. She was definitely speechless when we arrived. The week flew past. We had dinner with Patrick's family and college and high school buddies, his sister had planned a surprise baby shower for us and we went to a hockey game in Madison. We visited this crazy movie theater with big couch-like seats, where you can get cocktails or even dinner served at your seat. There were many lazy mornings (Patrick loves to sleep in after harvest) and big breakfasts cooked by Dale. It was like a non-stop eating fest; I never got hungry once because someone was always feeding us. I'm sure I put on several pounds, but at this point in my pregnancy, I refuse to look. Oh, and did I mention the snow. Yes, thats right, it was so cold it snowed. Brrr.

Owen - sooo cute

Can anyone stand how adorable he is?!!??! My baby is a genius; he says a million words and even sings at 18 months. Don't you want to eat him!

Parent Visit

My parents have been coming out to help us get organized one weekend per month. My dad does yard work and other labor and my mom cooks, cleans and does other helpful household stuff. In November, we checked out a restaurant called Bistro 29. My halibut was undercooked and Patrick's chicken was bland. However, they served some really interesting chickpea fries and a delicious onion soup finished off with cider. 3 stars (out of 5); the decor was great and we would go there again.

Carly Comes to Shop

Carly and mom came to visit in November. We shopped and went to a chocolate cooking class at Ramekin in Sonoma. The best thing we learned was how to make these edible chocolate pretzel baskets. Mmmmm. Carly told all kinds of wild stories including a particularly juicy one about my mother in college. We ate lunch at this yummy Spanish restaurant and saw a sad movie. Gotta love a Gals weekend. Patrick had to do errands around the house, but he also got to eat my chococlate goodies so don't feel too bad for him.

Halloween

This year was our first year in a house and I couldn't wait to get trick or treaters. I bought mounds of Candy, but only got about twenty kids. It was otherwise a quiet evening that involved Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin and nibbling on chocolate. I made Patrick dress up at home, but he didn't wear his costume to work. I was in Devon's class and he thought I was a flower; another little boy said that I was the color white. In case it is unclear, I am an egg. This is in commemoration of one of the three foods I could eat during the first 12 weeks of my pregnancy.

Contractors

When moving into a new (old) house, there always seem to be a million little projects that need to be completed and never get done. We hired a contractor and tried to get a bunch of little jobs done before all of our stuff started filling up the house.

Things took too long during the closing and our poor guy had to work among our chaos. Many days I would come home from work to find him busy with projects. It was almost sad when he finished all his projects and there was no one in the house anymore when I would returned from work. However, I was not sad to stop hemorrhaging money. Small jobs kept becoming complicated, time consuming ventures with this old house.

Here are my conclusions after this experience with a contractor that we both really liked and who did a great job:

1. Nobody will show up on time.
2. It will cost more than your estimate.
3. Hire someone you like b/c you will be seeing a lot of them.
4. The job will take longer than you expect.
5. Inevitably, the previous owner of your house will have done something wrong that the contractor did not foresee and you will have to pay lots of $ to fix.
6. The contractor will discover 10 other problems while fixing the 1 you hired him/her to repair.
7. Being a home owner is much more expensive than expected.
8. I wish I was more handy
9. Or that Patrick didn't have to work such long hours

Devon

Here's a cute picture I took of Devon about three weeks ago in his classroom. He's doing great (almost no seizures) and is getting adopted soon. Yea! Such a sweetie, Patrick just loved him. I've never met another person as happy as Devon.

Mom and Garrett's Birthdays

The day after my high school reunion, we went out to breakfast with my family and celebrated a few upcoming october birthdays. We are so busy trying to rent the townhouse and unpack at the new place that we may not make in back to Sac any other weekends. I had the best pumpkin pancakes with some kind of maple-y nut fluff. Mmmm. Owen was of course entertaining all of us saying his new words and smiling at the waitresses. Here are some unattractive pictures of us all.

High School Reunion

It was my reunion last weekend at good old Arden Hills. Many of my close friends did not come, but it was a trip to see those who did. It was just like stepping back in time. What is so weird is that when you have a history of friendship with someone, things just fall right back into an old familiar and comfortable rhythm when you are together, even if you don't see them often. All the girls look the same and many were still single. (Patrick said, "These girls are not like the ones who went to my high school in Wisconsin!" Good Ole Cali.) The boys were a little balder and a little rounder and many were married. I found that most of us who expanded our dating pool outside of California were married. And my husband was by far the most handsome (even though he shaved his head right before the big event and I almost had to kill him), but I am biased!

The Pineapple House

We are moving. For many reasons, including storage space, yard size and family, we have bought a new house. We have been working on this deal since the end of June and the purchase didn't close until this Wednesday afternoon. It took forever; I caution those of you tempted by foreclosures like we were. The bank and title company that we were dealing with were incompetent! They lost our contract, had us fill out the wrong forms, never returned phone calls and the list goes on.

However, in the end, it was a great deal in a really nice part of town. I am not excited about the packing and moving part, but I am excited about the more rooms part. We have to rent our current place because the market is too bad to sell - it may never sell for what we bought it and it definitely won't rent for our payment.

So, mom has been here for two weekends helping us pack, unpack, line cabinet, buy appliances, etc. She is cooking dinners and baking cookies, lucky us. We are so thankful for all her help because Patrick is exhausted from harvest and I don't have as much energy as I used to.

The new house is great; it needs work in the kitchen, yard, roof and a few other small projects. Nothing too hard for us to handle and a place we can stay for many years. Yeah! Come visit soon- y'all can help us unpack boxes.

Crash

I was in car accident last week. I was attending an autism testing conference in Berkeley. It was kind of fun because I got to see an old friend from graduate school, Michelle.

So I had to stop and get some gas and as I was driving around to get on the freeway and got crunched from the behind which led to me hitting someone else. Of course the person that hit me drove away and the person that I hit didn't speak English. It was really weird; he wouldn't give me his name, number, Driver's License or insurance information. I don't think the guy who was driving was actually the truck owner.

Anyway, AAA came to the rescue and took care of the car. I am still waiting to hear if I will be found at fault. I hope not, but I have no proof that I was hit. Hopefully my dented bumper and broken lights were enough proof. GAG, such a waste of my time! At least no one got hurt.

Blackberries

We went blackberry picking this weekend. About five blocks from our house is a state park and lots of overgrown bushes. Patrick has been bugging me to make him a pie so we finally went to collect our ingredients. Not surprising at all is that our hands turned red - partially from berry juice and partially from blood. I was too tired to cook so I froze the berries. But they are waiting for his pie, maybe next weekend.

Southern France

So, since we were already in Italy, it would have been a outrage to go home without stopping to see Neale Ann's new house in Pollestres, near Perpignon. We swam on the Mediterranean Sea, saw a Fauvist museum and wandered through an artist colony in Collioure. There was lots of delicious food and pain au chocolat! We were so lucky to have Alain as our personal chef and chauffeur. (The food in France is soooooo much better than that in Italy!) We even had a day wandering around Barcelona and seeing the Picasso Museum. It was a long, but good trip. Poor Patrick, I was gone for so long that we didn't have time to take a vacation before school started. Well, we are going to Wisconsin for thanksgiving; lets hope he doesn't pass out with exhaustion before then.

Italy

I went to work with a family in Italy for a few weeks in July. My mom came along as company and she wanted to tour around Florence. She invited my Auntie NealeAnn to meet her at my apartment in Florence and they ran about together for about ten days while I worked. It was really exhausting trying to work with Jet Lag, but I was lucky to have someone make me dinner each night. Here is a picture of a street, the synagogue and us touring around. Oh and did I mention that the food in Italy is HORRIBLE! Its been a few years since I was there so I must have forgotten, but GAG! The most abhorrent is their pastries, but I don't understand how that can be with France so near by. The only thing that they so well is gelato; there are many more original flavors than here. At least the people are friendly. Although it is basically impossible to get dinner before seven pm and all the stores close in the middle of the day. Such a slow pace. At the end of two week I was so ready to come home and get a big BLT and rootbeer float.

Jambo's Wedding

Where do I begin? Jaime got married; Steve is one lucky guy! Patrick and I flew in a few days early to help her get ready. There was much driving between parents' houses and carting people and to and fro. Patrick and I stayed at the Four Seasons hotel in Westlake - really swanky! He mostly slept (anyone noticing a theme here) and didn't get to see much of the hotel, but we ordered some tasty (and expensive) room service one night.

The rehearsal dinner was at Steve's parents house and the the big event was in a secret garden/barn, behind a golf course in Ventura. Jambo was so gorgeous (and calm, can you believe it?) The reception went very smoothly, until the power went out. That was actually kind of fun! I gave a great speech - of course - and almost cried several times. It was a beautiful night!

Dad Retires

So he decided to leave on a pleasant note and retire after his great year at BV. Finally, normal staff, secretaries and other administrators! Dad threw himself a BBQ in the backyard and invited many old and new friends. The speeches, Jimmy Buffet and frozen drinks flowed. Lance was the MC and everybody kicked back. A perfect party for dad. He has inspired his students through dramatic and creative, historical projects such as building a Life Sized Jurassic Park, Slave ship and Time Odyssey. He coached womens basketball and generally shared his passion for social sciences. Farewell to GATE.

Mom Retires

After a long and illustrious career as Head of the English Department at Rio Americano High School, my mom is retiring. She has been in the same classroom for over 30 years and she ahs sent thousands of kids to college with the ability to write a five paragraph essay, with eye catching openings, topic sentences and good transitions. I should know, I took her class. The teachers threw her a great farewell party, complete with a life sized, June cut-out, Readers' Theater skit and WWJD - What Would June Do? posters. She already misses her job and although the students may not miss her extensive homework, they are certainly missing out on something special.

Margaret

I'm up to June!

Patrick's cute cousin cam to visit friends in San Francisco and squeezed in a dinner with us. We found out that Abby (her sister) and Eric are expecting their first baby in November. They ahve come up with some truly unique names. I think I remember 'Thor' for a boy. Too many comic books Eric! Here's a yummy dessert I ate in Sonoma. Mmmmm, I love sweets!