It's like this...

Hubby and I decided to spend yesterday down at Pacific Beach and Ocean Shores with the two younger girls. The Boy and The Girl have spread their wings and were spending the day up in Seattle with their friends. (Did I mention that The Boy got his drivers license this week? Yes, we're still reeling) We slept in...and took our time. No rush. Lovely day. The beach we chose is one that is less crowded. It was a little breezy, but not overly windy. I found this sand sculpture created by the wind (I apologize in advance, all pictures were taken by cell phone camera. I did bring the camera, I'd just forgotten to put the memory chip in it before packing it. Yes, I'm quite blonde, thanks for asking) A heart, carved by the wind. It was much more spectacular than this bad pictures shows. Here's Allison looking beautiful. A large piece of driftwood was on the beach, and here's Ashley mugging for the camera for me. You can see off in the background our suburban, with...

I know that parents usually brag about their children (mine is a cheerleader, getting all A+'s, knows quantum physics and speaks Mandarin Chinese in her spare time, yada yada) but I do have true bragging rights tonight. There were nearly 30 piano students tonight at the recital.. After it was all done, the teacher called up a little guy and my Allison. She gave them each a special gift. Allison has moved up five levels this year and the little guy had just begun and had already done three levels. She said that Allison was an example to all the other students. She gave the little guy some books, and she gave Allison a silver heart pendant with a treble clef on it and a necklace. The audience of parents gave an audible sigh and clapped so hard for her after she played Eric Clapton's Tears in Heaven Here she is playing Mind you, she's only ten years old. We're planning on getting a bodyguard for her quite soon as the boys are already flocking. Here she is getting ...

This is our six million dollar kitty. I took a picture of him in his favorite spot this afternoon, looking out our bedroom window at all the things he cannot lay a paw on in the outside world. He's back to his normal, playful self. We're loving every minute of having him around. Our lives would not have been the same had we lost his sweet spirit. The hair is growing back on his side where they shaved it off so they could get a better look at his heart. I was able to snap some pictures of him with my cell phone while we were at the vet when he was so ill. Here he is, having his side shaved in order for them to do the ultra sound on his heart. Lance helped out by giving him some oxygen while the vet was working on him. He's all better now, and the only way he's going to experience the outside world is by sitting on my window ledge.

Talking To Teenagers column for Pacific Publishing May 23, 2007 I'm a firm believer in keeping the lines of communication open between parents and teenagers. If you can't bribe them or threaten them with taking away the car keys yet, then I say sitting down and talking to them should be given a chance. Much to the chagrin of my two teenagers, I do this quite often. Talk to them, I mean. On occasion I've even taken the liberty of doing so in public, clearly violating the unwritten teenage law that parents should not be seen nor heard from in any setting outside the home, unless the teen has been maimed by a runaway grocery cart and is now spurting blood from more than two arteries. Then and only then is it permissible for a parent to speak to their teenager and for the bleeding teen to acknowledge the existence of their progenitors. My son and I have a unique relationship in that when we talk, our conversation is seldom recognized by other adults as communication. It...

First of all, thank you all for your sweet comments about the loss of a beloved pet. I want to let you all know that, for whatever reason, my baby boy is recovering and is not dead. My children have been praying for him, and we have been loving him and two days ago he got up and began taking water and food. We were warned this might be a last rally before he succumbs to whatever it is that he has...but since it's continuing on, I'm hopeful that he's going to come all the way out of this now. Best Mother's Day presesnt EVER!! . I was treated to breakfast in bed by my husband and children. So sweet....I am truly blessed to have them in my life. It's on days like this that I miss my mom, gone these past five years. I miss her....

It's been a rough night and day here. You know how you love your animals...and they become like your furry children to you. You try not to play favorites, but sometimes you just can't help it. Well, my favorite cat, Bobo (aka Uncle Daddy) took a horrible turn last night that hit us out of the blue. We found him under our bed in severe distress. I immediately called our vet and they had us bring him in. His heart was racing nearly three times as fast as normal and his breathing wasn't good. They did an ultra sound on his heart and the vet said he feared he had a deadly cardiac condition. They put an IV in him and we transferred him to the ER vet clinic in Tacoma. We left him there around 7:30, the vet told us she didn't think it was a heart condition, but an allergic reaction of some sort. He seemed to be doing so much better when we left. Got home, talked to the children. The girls were sobbing, but we told them it looked good. The ER vet had given us a lot of hope. The...

A totally boring ride home.....just thought I should bore all of you with it as well. If you look closely, you can see Mt. Rainier in some of them.

My sister and I had lunch with our father by the pond in his front yard today. The weather was beautiful and the two ducks that come to visit there were fun to watch. When I got there, my father was (as usual) working in his yard.

Behold the beauty that is half my family! Now behold the surliness that is 1/6th of my family! And now, behold the surprise that is my father on his 75th birthday, as he receives his birthday brownie after brunch! (Although his surprise wasn't nearly as startling as the surprise of the poor sweet old man who's car I rammed with my suburban this morning on my way to the birthday brunch, or my surprise when I realized I'd forgotten my wallet at home, had no license and no way to pay for my father's birthday brunch, plus my gas tank was low and he had to give me money so I could make it home) So a big Happy Birthday to my father! Isn't it nice to have a really, really blond daughter with no brains in her head lately?