January and February Fun Stuff

My birthday was January 13th and it was a week of fun.  January 11th was Peter's birthday (our neighbor from Germany) and we went over there for a yummy dinner.  On the 13th Hank took me to PF Changs for a great dinner.  On the 14th I got together with Joan and Karen for a girls night out at Karen's house.

 

SNOWSHOEING WAS FUN!!

Joan, Karen and I took a day trip to the Tahoe area and went out for a day of adventure.  Of course I was completely clueless on not only what to expect, but what to wear and what to bring.  Karen is the experienced person of the group so I leaned on her for guidance.  I had so many stupid questions that we were peeing in our pants over my lack of knowledge.

The first thing I had to get was a good pair of snow boots, so we had to wait a few weeks before I found a great pair on Craig's List.  Once I had those, we planned out our day.  I had a pair of snow bibs from the 70's ... LOL!!  After finding them and dusting them off, the great thing is that they still fit!!!  A little snug, but I could wear them.  I had 2 layers of thermal underwear, a turtle neck, a heavy fleece pullover, gloves, & a jacket; I also wore jeans under my bibs.  WTF was I thinking?!?!?!?  Karen said we would work up a sweat and she meant it... guess I didn't believe her... the fool I am.  It was a beautiful day and I quickly found out that snowshoeing is HARD WORK!!

 

This is right before we left for the snow

We had "girl" food and it was yummy

 This was the first hill we walked up.  It was a lot steeper than it looks in the picture.  I was afraid of it, but I did it!

 Our prints after walking down this hill

 Karen, our leader

 Karen's puppy wanted to go with us to the snow

 

Here's our gear and we were ready to go!

 The week of February14th we babysat Joey in San Ramon.  The poor kid was sick and he couldn't go to daycare.  We made dinner for the kids every night so they didn't have to worry about it.

 Tuesday morning we had a flat tire... bummer, but thanks to American Tire Company they fixed our tire for free.

By the end of the week Joey started feeling better and was "helping" in the kitchen

 GNO ROCKS!!!

We had another Girls Night Out at my house on February 18th.  Karen brought over this interesting bottle of wine because it reminded her of me being called "Vovo" by my grandchildren.

Bubo is close to Vovo; it's the Latin word for owl... what are you trying to tell me Karen??

 Joan & Karen are so much fun to hang with

 This is the wine that Joan brought over to share.  I actually custom made the labels.  The name "Joanercise" is what we call our weekly girl workout derived from Jazzercise.  Same thought of working out hard, but Joan creates the routines and we follow her lead.

Here are a couple cards I made this month

Here is a video clip of Joan right after she slipped and scooted down the hill into a tree.  By the time I got the video going, she was already getting out of the hole.  No, we didn't laugh... nothing like that!!!  Hee-hee-hee

This is a video clip of us snowshoeing

Here we are resting during our lunch

Fun in December

We spent Christmas morning with the Schnell's and had a wonderful brunch at our house.  Peter & Kaija had a very nice young man, Helge, staying with them from Germany and he joined in the celebration.

We headed out to San Jose on December 26th to spend a couple days with all the kids & grandkids.  We celebrated Christmas at Rae's house.  Michele, Matthew & Lauren came out from Arizona, Jan was there too, so we were all together... lots of fun.

The kids were bouncing off the walls with their new Buzz Lightyears that Santa brought to them because they were such good little kids all year long (that's the story and I'm sticking to it!!!  hee-hee-hee).  Joey actually got his for his birthday and Lizzy & Charlie were SO happy to get their own Buzz.

Here we are with our 5 grandkids.  Matthew is way taller than us... the kid is growing like a weed!!

Here's the gang from left to right:

Jimmy, Michele, Mike, Jessica, Matthew, Pami, Rae, Joey, Hank, Kathy

Front: Lizzy, Charlie, Lauren

Opening presents was nothing less than CRAZY!!!!!  The kids couldn't open their gifts fast enough.  I think I missed half of the gifts being opened because there was so much going on... LOL!!

We also celebrated Pami's birthday as well as mine.  Of course my dear children got this "Geezer Crossing" card for me... they love rubbing it in!

Joey was trying out his new 'tools'... isn't he just the cutest!!

Papa, Lauren, Vovo & Matthew.  The next day we had fun with the kids by taking them out to lunch and a movie.

We had a painting done of Codi and it turned out GREAT... it looks just like her.  Everyone that knew Codi says the painting really captures her expression and are very impressed with the artist, as are we.  We have it hanging in our family room so she can be with us every day.  (There is a glare from the glass).

Here is the photograph that the artist used to paint Codi.

 

Here I am creating in my craft room.  Below are a few more cards I've made.

I just love this girly "purse" card.

This card is amazing.  I made it as an anniversary card for my sister.  As you pull the tab, a new photo folds out and finally the Happy Anniversary message inside on the pull tab.

(I was not able to turn this picture... this software has a mind of it's own!!)

Here's a video so you can see how it works.