First and most important – my note of appreciation to all those who have and will serve in the armed forces, protecting the peace that I hold so dear in my heart. For those men and women and their families, I am thankful. For their willingness to risk and give their lives defending our country and ideals, that is the greatest gift and one that I can never express enough thanks for.
The holiday season is here, and I have more than most to be thankful for. So much, in fact, it’s almost impossible to put into words everything that is in my heart and mind. I have a beautiful, loving wife, two daughters that mean more to my very being than any words could ever express, good health, and more of life’s basics (clothing, food and shelter) than any one person deserves. These blessings are with me throughtout the year, and thanks to my daughters the ones that really matter will be with me, in their words, too, “always and forever.” Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve decided, as we get closer to the end of the year, that I am going to make every effort to write about the holidays that have passed in 2009 before they come around again in 2010. That said, I was looking through some of the pictures that we had from Mother’s Day 2009 and realized that I hadn’t shared a wonderful experience brought along by my beautiful wife, mother-in-law, and my two daughters. If you don’t see it, the symmetry in those three things is that combined they are my joy.
With the new school year started, many of us have already seen our fair share of fundraisers, but I wanted to take a moment and encourage you to consider supporting Sofi and Braly Elementary in their effort to raise funds for special programs and materials that aren’t in their regular budget. The school earns a large percentage of every dollar you spend, and, of course, Sofi has a chance to win some really great prizes.
Fortunately, with the power of the internet, you don’t even have to leave your home. Simply go to www.cherrydale.com to see the exciting collection of gourmet chocolates, beautiful giftware and assorted gift wrap and accessories. If you like, you can buy or renew one of your favorite magazines too. By clicking the above link all the school’s information should be entered automatically, but just in case the information you will need are as follows:
Student ID#: 61043
School ID#: 157806
www.cherrydale.com
This fundraiser will be running from September 25th through October 9 and your support is greatly appreciated!
Papa
I’ll have some photos coming up to the site sometime really soon, but I wanted to share with everyone that we have actually completed the unwrapping (not too out of control this year) and right now Mama, Sofi and Natalie are all playing with the new Cinderella game (complete with battery powered musical, lighted shoe) trying to understand that not everyone can win every time.
In the meantime and especially for those waiting for pictures, I’m attaching another short video clip to share some of the unwrapping.
Papa
Christmas is off to a rip-roaring start this year and the girls are as excited as can be. So far they have found the bicycles that Santa left and cleaned out their stockings. The first gift, from Grammy and Grampy has caused quite a stir. They each got a barbie doll that includes a golden retriever. The excitement from this comes from the fact that you can actually feed the dog. Parent’s will get a chuckle from the fact that this dog also “poops” the biscuits and barbie comes with all the appropriate attachments for cleaning up the poopie. Brief video attached for those that really must know.
Papa
This past week was a blast -- going by way too quickly. I can’t believe that there are only 5 more days until Christmas! This past week we went to see the lights and fun at Christmas in the Park in downtown San Jose (pictures coming in a later post). Mike, Lisa and Audrey joined us to enjoy this annual fun-fest. Best of all, this year we got to see Santa!! Check out the video for an idea of how much fun we had.
Papa
The Downtown Livermore Christmas Parade was one of last years highlights. So much so that this year we decided to get involved so that we could be a part of the fun. After decorating the J. Rockcliff mobile and trailer – complete with Snoopy and Woodstock – we toured through the parade route in spot 49 and enjoyed the thousands of people that came out to enjoy the festivities. As a wonderful bonus, the girls got to spend a little one-on-one time with Santa!
We’re already looking forward to something bigger and better for next year!
Papa
I think I waited too long – especially conidering that it’s almost Thanksgiving 2008, but I wanted to post a sound file of the girls singing some of their halloween songs. We tried recording video, but they get too excited about the process and forget to sing, so we’re really hoping that the sound file will be fun enough and give you an idea.
Enjoy!
Papa
My earlier posts on Halloween 2008 already showed some of what we did at Braly Elementary and Boo at the Zoo, but we didn’t really go into the Halloween Happenings or the actual trick-or-treating that we got to do. Everything was wild fun, but man can it be overwhelming. I can hardly imagine how larger families do it, even while knowing that the rewards must be tremendous.
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