Long Time No Blog - Catching Up

This is not my child since I didn't take any pictures of the girls at the museum but they spent 45 minutes or more playing in this "stream" at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in S.F.

It's been a while since I've had the motivation to write anything for the blog. We have been busy getting our house ready to be painted and doing some traveling. Then on top of that, several colds, some books that were just too good to put down, and now a new-ish t.v. show that I am addicted to.

So here is a wrap-up of the haps:

1. The house. Mitch, Elise and Seth took off all of our fascia boards (termite damage) and replaced some portion of the roof. The boards have now all been replaced and we've almost settled on a color scheme for the new paint job. I think painting may start next week. We are leaning towards a sage green for the wood with a tan or grey for the stucco and a dark purple for the fascia and some of the trim.

2. The travel. I went to a conference in Visalia. Pretty darn fun (Cal-IPC, the most fun people ever) except that I had a heinous cold the whole time. A big thanks to Irina for making me buy over the counter pharmaceuticals. Then two weekends ago we went to San Francisco for the weekend to visit with my dad and Sue who were taking a mini-vacation in S.F. We had a great time at the Bay Area Discovery Museum and the Aquarium and some other kid-friendly activities. The girls loved seeing Grandpa Tom and Grandma Sue.

3. The good books. I read Into the Woods on the recommendation of Seth and Elise. It was impossible to put down. Good and spooky! Now I'm reading How Dogs Think which is interesting but less of a page-turner (thus time for the blog). I also read Nurture Shock. Stupid title, fascinating book. All parents should read it. Lots of neat summaries of recent research on child development and learning. Lots of counter-intuitive stuff.

4. The t.v. show. I hate to admit it, but I love Friday Night Lights. How can this be? I hate football (yes Dad, hate). I grew up in a football crazed small town with a football crazed college and a football loving dad and brother. It is boring and violent. But Friday Night Lights is a great show. Really well-acted, compelling stories, interesting relationships. We're watching it via netflix online which means that we can watch several episodes an evening. It wins out over the blog every time (I'm out of town tonight. Thus the blog).

5. Halloween. The girls were both princesses. Lucy dressed up like Princess Aurora and Josie was a Halloween princess in an orange dress covered in spiders (thank you Grandma Jo). They loved it. Josie doesn't understand why we can't go trick or treating every night.

That about catches you up on the happenings around 613 empire.