Gingerbread Houses and a Pineapple Express

Our annual Gingerbread House decorating party/cookie exchange/mayhem was a few weekends ago! It is so much fun and again, a great reminder how blessed we are with such great friends. There is much we are leaving behind this summer... but until then we will enjoy these moments to the fullest!

SUGAR HIGH! I'll let you fill in another caption you deem necessary.


Mike and Ellie making a stellar house. Where is Mommy and Toby? Sick sick sick at home. Bummer.


No worries, he and I made our own tiny house at his preschool a few days before. If you look closely you can see his flushed cheeks and tired eyes: the precursor to a nasty bug that struck that night. (Side note, why do all bugs start at 10pm....?.... poor pumpkin.)


Okay, the next weekend we rode out a Pineapple Express! Totally not kidding, it's a weather phenomenon... or so they tell us. Mind you, Mike and I giggle 99% of the time at the weather guys out here. Central California doesn't have weather. It has fog and sun and 2 or 3 days of showers per year. A "Pineapple Express"??? Okay, hit me! I was totally humbled by the whole thing and wow, it was a doozy. It honestly reminded me of a hurricane. Not freezing, but fierce winds that topple over very scary stuff just down the street from you and a HUGE amount of rain that I am sure you saw on tv. We had over 6 inches in 48 hours. Think of it this way: Ellies sand bucket was filled by the end of Day 1, overflowing by evening and I lost track of the amount after that. Too too much rain for these sandy soils.

How did we spend our time? We played a ton inside, baked cookies and when it let up a bit -- played outside! Here are some pictures of our weekend.

Believe it or not, this picture was taken in the mid-afternoon. We barely saw any daylight.... kind of creepy. After talking with my military mom friends -- this is how it is for 6 months out of the year when they are stationed in Alaska. I am grateful we are stationed where we are! I love daylight and was reminded of this last weekend!

Okay, I thought this was just darling. Ellie hung her sand/rain toys on our bush. It's her latest Christmas tree!

Ellie practicing her vowels in the bathtub. She is on her way to reading!


Meanwhile, Toby is hard at work in the office. His conversations on his play phone are hysterical! That boy cracks me up!

Mike and Ellie getting ready to work in the attic. 2011 is around the corner and we have much to do around the house to prepare selling or renting it! (No final decision what we are doing with our house yet....)