Getting Ready for the New Year

Photo 99 - December 31

It will be an enjoyable night spent in at the Matthews household tonight. Kenn had watch last night, so he didn't get home until about 9:00 this morning, so he tried to catch up on a little bit of rest so he makes it to midnight. It's hard to say if Josephine will make it - she's been pretty crabby today. And Kayla? Well being pregnant has taken its toll on her late night stamina, so we shall see. We did go shopping today to get some snacky stuff for tonight, so we will have plenty to munch on while waiting for 2012 to officially arrive in California.




On a side note, my father sent me here at Kayla's a couple very fun camera "doodads" as he put it, to cheer me up while Dale's gone. The lens "cup" is awesome, and looks so much like Canon L glass it's pretty scary. And the Storm Jacket is something that is actually still sitting in my cart on Amazon. Good thing he got an extra one and chose to share it with me! Thanks, Dad - it's always nice to know you're thinking about me.

My California Girls

Photo 98 - December 30

It's sad how fast the time is going while I'm here, but it's been so nice to be able to relax a little and share some time with Kayla and her family. Today Kayla got her Christmas present - an eye exam and contacts! She is very excited, since the last contacts she had were before Josie was born.

Christmas (palm) trees!

Photo 97 - December 29

Since we're in California, I guess it's only appropriate to have Christmas palm trees. Definitely a little bit different than the Christmas trees back home. These are at the entrance to Kenn and Kayla's apartment complex. They were lit up the first night I got here, and I told Kayla that I really needed to get a picture of them lit up before I headed home. Thanks for getting the tripod for me, Kenn!

Sunny and warm!

Photo 96 - December 28

It was an amazing 80 degrees in San Diego today, or at least in the sunshine. It's hard to remember that we just had Christmas, and I know I will have to enjoy this weather before I have to head back to Wisconsin and its winter reality.

Josephine is still refusing to walk more than a step. Her balance is great, and she can even get up to standing without pulling herself up on the furniture. She's just stubborn and isn't ready to do it on her own yet.



She does love music, and when her daddy fired up mommy's piano to play some songs, she was right there playing along.

Killer Cat?

Photo 95 - December 27

Nah...just a big yawn. Holly is really a very sweet cat, who seems to know I'm allergic to her so she's constantly looking for attention from me. I missed an awesome photo opportunity yesterday when Josie was playing with her. Hopefully that will present itself again before I leave.




Here is baby Evelyn. Her momma made me promise to keep her face out of the picture, since it was early and she didn't feel like she was "camera ready." But she will find her way on here before the week is over.



Josie is just too cute to not take her picture. She has acquired such a personality, and I am very excited to try and take more pictures of her before I head out. Kayla and I are formulating ideas of what we want to do.



And this is Kenn's last day of holiday leave - it's back to work for him tomorrow, and it will be the girls on their own, at least off an on with his work schedule.

Breakfast in California

Photo 94 - December 26

I woke up to the smiling face of Josephine this morning, and as soon as she and I started talking, I had a semi-awake Kenny climbing into bed with me too. It was a great wake up. Unfortunately, I only got to see Kenny for a little while, because he flew out to Virginia this afternoon to spend some time with his mother. This is a post-breakfast picture, complete with milk mustache and missing tooth. I think Josephine inherited the wild-haired look from her mother, because her look this morning certainly reminded me of Kayla at her age. I'm sure the week is going to go by way too fast, but it sure is nice to be able to spend some time, since the little ones just don't stay little long enough.

Merry Christmas Everyone (even Trinka)!

Photo 93 - December 25

As you can see from the tag, Trinka has her Christmas gift from her boyfriends down the street - Torque, Coal and Tucker. Of course it will probably take her weeks to decide to chew on it, but in the meantime she will carry it around with her all over the house. She even did a pretty good job of unwrapping it herself.

I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful and blessed Christmas. With all of the family gone, it was pretty uneventful here. But I am happy that I will get to spend some time with Kayla and her family this next week, and I will even get there in time to wish her a Happy Birthday in person.

Merry Christmas Part II

Photo 92 - December 24

Merry Christmas, everybody! By the time I have this posted, it will officially be Christmas Day, after celebrating Christmas Eve with Candlelight Service at church and then festivities at my mom's house, I have just gotten home, and it's after midnight. There were a lot of missing bodies this year. Even though we've had Christmas without Dale, this was the first Christmas that I didn't have all of the kids home. I had a great time with Laura and Andy and the rest of the family, but it sure wasn't quite the same. Here's Laura with her missing siblings (a la Rebecca of a couple years ago, with her "imaginary friend").



And this shot was referred to (not by me) as the "lame cousins picture" since Laura was the only cousin there.



And some couples pics...





And this last picture I didn't take - I will credit that one to my nephew, Joey, who probably spends more time with my camera than I do at family gatherings, if he can get his hands on it. I promised Dale I'd include a picture of me too. Love you lots, sweetie - missed you tonight. Long distance Merry Christmas wishes are being sent your way - hope you can feel all of the love that comes with them!

Christmas Part I

Photo 91 - December 23

Ever since we moved home (has it already been 20 years? Yikes!), Christmas has come in parts. This year is a little bit different, with Dale deployed and James and Kayla not being able to make it home, but the family celebrations continue. Tonight was Christmas with Dale's side of the family, at Sheila's house.

Dale's nephew, Trent, and his wife are expecting their first baby the end of January. Apparently Trent is confused about what you do with baby clothes.



Dale's mom made it down from up North.



Poor Laura has been working too much and is spending Christmas with a virus and totally exhausted.



And the aftermath...

Ready for vacation

Photo 90 - December 22

Time to take a deep breath and enjoy it...that feeling of not having to be back to work for 12 days. And here is my clean desk - to prove that I didn't leave a huge mess for Cindy. Hopefully everything will stay calm for her while I'm gone and the crazy customers will be too busy enjoying their own holidays to give her grief.

Decorated for Christmas

Photo 89 - December 21

Besides the Christmas tree that Cindy gave me, there is only one other Christmas decoration in the house, and it was a "this season" find. Joey and I were shopping at the Hallmark store in Mequon, and like any other kid, he was going through the store finding everything that made noise. After I checked out my ornaments, he told me I had to come and see what he found. And they were too cute to pass by - four Peanuts musicians - Snoopy, Lucy, Schroeder and Charlie Brown. You can buy one of them, and it will play all by itself, but when you have all four of them, they wirelessly play together. They're fun to watch. Dale's even been forced to watch them over Skype (although he did smile and say he liked them). And it's a little bit of Christmas.

Floor Project, Part TOO MANY TO REMEMBER

Photo 88 - December 20

Jeff stopped to chat last night while he was walking the dogs, and I had to have him come and look at the hallway. When Jesse came over for the latest floor inspection on Saturday, I asked him if he wanted me to put post it notes on the floor to mark where the varnish problems where, and he said yes, I should. It gave me a good giggle to look down the hall, and somebody needed to share it, and Jeff appreciated it, too. Here's hoping that when I look at the floor tomorrow (again - being a careful homeowner, I am not walking on the fresh varnish until the next day), it will be good. I am definitely keeping my fingers crossed. I have lots of other projects that need to be started and this forever floor project is really delaying the schedule.

Volleyball cheer

Photo 87 - December 19

Monday night volleyball in the fall and winter is my favorite volleyball. I would much rather play indoor on the hard floor than play outside in the sand. And Monday night is our coed night, where Dale and I get to play together. With him gone, though, I had to find myself a substitute partner. And in stepped our friend Bryan, who has been a great addition to our team, and is a lot of fun to play with. Tonight the team decided that we needed a holiday celebration, so we went out prior to volleyball for a couple of drinks and Harbor Hills cheeseburgers. Drinks and volleyball can have disastrous results, but we ended up going 2-1 tonight against a pretty good team, so we did OK. And now it's the holiday break - no more Monday night volleyball until the New Year!

Christmas Program

Photo 86 - December 18

After being able to take pictures of the dress rehearsal for the youth Christmas program at church, today I got to take pictures of the final performance. As always, it came together wonderfully. The kids did an awesome job. I think they might even be ready for Christmas to come.

Efficiency

Photo 85 - December 17

The military is known for its efficiency, and that efficiency has definitely spilled over to the military families. Today I got to help demonstrate that first hand as I got together with a bunch of military family members and put together holiday goodies for our deployed. It not only gives you a good feeling of participating, but we hope it puts smiles on the faces of our loved ones far from home. Wish we could be there to see you all when our packages arrive!




I'm also very fortunate to have good friends taking care of me when Dale's gone, and making sure I'm not forgotten. Thanks to Rick and Joyce and Dan and Julie for a wonderful evening.

How many?

Photo 84 - December 16

As soon as I saw this tree, all I could think of was "how many lights are on there?" and "how long did it take them to string them all?" I really love fully lighted trees, though, and this one is exceptionally well done. On a side note, one of Saukville's finest was pulled over on the side of the road as I stopped and pulled out my camera (complete with tripod) to take my pictures. I half expected a tap on the shoulder to ask me what exactly I was doing. Happily that didn't come.

Floor saga continues

Photo 83 - December 15

Really? Will the floor saga never end? Just when I thought we were done with it - they came and replaced the board in James' room and supposedly fixed the hairs by the front door. When I went to look at it this morning (yes I am good, and left it overnight to dry), I found that when they were doing James' room, they apparently set the receptacle for the varnish down on the bare wood floor. So now what remains are splotches where it looks like the vanish ran down the side and puddled on the newly finished floor. Yes, I am picky, and no, what I am finding now is not acceptable. So another email (with pictures) will be sent out to the contractor, and he can decide where we go from here.




On a more positive note, a couple of weeks ago, our friends, Jim and Nancy Kinscher, had invited me to go to the high school choir concert with them tonight, where all of our kids performed at one time. This is the concert where Dale pretends he is a Port High School alumni so he can go up on stage to sing the Hallelujah Chorus (and the director actually invites him...by name). It was sad to not have anybody up there singing, but it was a wonderful concert with good friends. And the margaritas afterwards weren't bad either.

Patiently waiting

Photo 82 - December 14

My guard dog. Good thing she looks vicious, because she would probably show anybody who walked into the house where the good stuff was, as long as they fed her or threw her ball. As I run around in the morning, trying to get ready for work, it seems that she takes up residency where I will be sure to have to pet her on the way by. Since I've been "living" in the basement, she spends a lot of time waiting for me at the top of the stairs.

Leftovers

Photo 81 - December 13

No, they're not my leftovers...they belong to one of the many squirrels making meals out of the apples falling from the tree in the backyard. They're even eating in comfort - on the cushion on my swing. It's pretty funny to see them trying to run off with an entire apple in their mouth when I surprise them coming out the door. One day I'll be quick enough with the camera to get a picture of that.

Me and the girls

Photo 80 - December 12

Mondays have become my "get together with friends" day, and I've really started looking forward to it. This is actually the third Monday in a row I've had dinner with friends. Tonight I was at Water Street Brewery with Kay, Maggie and Dawn. Too bad volleyball got in the way - I could have stayed longer! Thanks for a great evening, ladies! Hope we can to do it again soon.

Rehearsal time

Photo 79 - December 11

One of the Christmas traditions at our church is the children's Christmas play. It has been held the Sunday before Christmas for quite a few years now, and even though the rehearsal time is short, the program always comes together and the kids do a great job. Even though I know better, it doesn't seem that long ago that my kids were a pretty big part of it.