Oh Brother

Two of my brothers and their wives came to town to visit. One from out of state and one from a different part of California. My two brothers who live close by also joined in the fun. We were pleased to have the company of three of my beautiful adult nieces.

Highlights included:

My brother recording our 93 year old father reminiscing about his life. (3 hours worth!)

Some live bluegrass music, courtesy of two brothers and some good friends.




Alot of laptops, we are quite a "techie" family.


At one point there were five of us with laptops running.

I love my big brothers and their families. I feel very blessed to be part of this big family. We had a fantastic visit. To check out more photostory friday posts click here.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Drama Mama

I have been neglecting my blog and wine sales, while helping out with my son's school play.

Kudos to all you Soccer Moms and Dance Moms. I have done the Karate Mom thing and now my daughter is in gymnastics, but nothing has been as consuming as this Drama Mama gig. Since I don't sew, I signed up for program duty. I was blessed with a wonderful hard working mom, who is helping me.

My duties include; selling ads for the programs, collecting ads and money, and developing flyers for all of the above. I was also in charge of taking pics of the kids for the program. I took a group shot of the; principals (9), daughters (14) , police (17) and pirates (twenty something). Thank goodness for digital photography! Out of 15 shots of each group I had one or two where I actually had every kid looking at me with eyes open. I also helped out with tracking down feathers for the costumes.

I am so proud of my son, he is doing well with all the rehearsals and memorization of lines. I loved my high school drama teacher and am so excited that one of my children is dabbling in one of my passions. It is a production of the Pirates of Penzance.

My Kids Thoughts on my Bloggy Hobby Revealed

On the way to a friend's house...

...an interesting traffic jam presented itself that was making us a little late.
As I tried to take this photo, my children started in...

14 year old Artist, "Why are you taking a photo, Is this for your blog?"

9 year old Bookworm, "Hey she needs to prove why we are late."

Bookworm, "Why don't you like her blog it is just a way for her to remember good things in our life, like the turtle." "Do you remember the turtle?"

Artist, "What turtle?"

Bookworm, "See you don't remember it, but her blog has it all remembered."

Artist, "oh whatever."

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek For more photo story friday posts click here.

Goodbye 2008

The last day of 2008 a friend and her family were visiting.

We headed to the beach to enjoy the beautiful coast of California.

The Sand at this beach looks like tiny polished rocks.She brought her four kids and added them to my two.
That makes six pairs of shoes and twelve socks to keep track of.

The weather was surprisingly warm.

The kids enjoyed running in the water and getting their feet wet.

Maybe more than their feet got wet.

I love the spirit of children, rarely do they do something half hearted. The kids ranged in age from 14 to 2 and there was little difference in their approach to experiencing the water and waves. In the end everyone was very wet and sandy. The men were flustered and the women were laughing. We were not at all surprised, with lots of laundry and rocks in my dryer.

For me, as someone who loves the beach and enjoys the company of children, it was a wonderful way to say goodbye to 2008. My new year's resolution is simple for 2009...

Try to experience the beauty of life more like a child,

without reservation, jumping in with both feet and eyes wide open.