Ready for Jessica’s wedding

I am trying to catch up with photos — I just realized that I am a year behind with my Flickr uploads. I appear to have stopped around the time that I was getting ready for my East Coast interviews. After the interviews, all hell broke loose as we were getting ready to move back to Philly.

So far I’ve put in a few snow photos.

And I’ve put in some photos from July 09, including Jessica & Ethan’s wedding.

Bee in the snow

Check out a few pictures of our first winter in Pennsylvania.

A chaotic affair, with a Mummer’s string band and everything!

I can’t imagine what we’ve been doing since February, which was the date of my last post on this site. After job hunting, packing, moving and getting settled in PA, I can finally post a little something on this site.

Here is a little video of the kiddos at their Halloween school show and parade. You can’t really see them too well in the show, but you can see them much better at the end of the video in the parade.

More Halloweening to come!!

Award girls, originally uploaded by applesandcheeses.

The girls’ school had their “Spotlight Awards” today. Everyone gets one sooner or later during the year, but this didn’t stop me from being super proud anyway.

Djuna is on the left; Dinah is on the right. Djuna’s certificate says that she is being honored for “her kindness toward others and wonderful writing.” Dinah’s says she is being honored for “her sweet disposition and excellent work all around.”

This year’s Sierra Madre float, originally uploaded by applesandcheeses.

This is a photo of this year’s award-winning Sierra Madre Rose Parade float on its way to the parade on New Year’s Eve. The tall parts of the float were folded down because the float has to go under bridges on its way to the parade route. It was a really beautiful float.

We’ve had a pretty fun holiday so far. Here’s a link to our holiday letter: click [ here ].

My mom was here for a week over Christmas. While she was here, we visited friends for holiday meals, went Christmas shopping and had lots of down time at home, too. Christmas Day was rainy, so we stayed in the whole day and watched Dinah and Djuna play with their toys. My mom cooked a delicious African peanut soup recipe from my friend Lisa, and that was a perfect cozy finish to a peaceful, relaxing day.

My friend Lisa gave Dinah and Djuna snow boots and sleds for Christmas, so on Tuesday (after a fun morning playdate with a friend from the girls’ school) we drove up the Angeles Crest Highway into the mountains and went sledding. What a great time! There are lots and lots of pictures, so I’ll get those sorted soon.

Yesterday we went to the zoo with some friends to see the reindeer, which have been visiting the zoo for a few weeks. Today, we’re going with friends to see the Rose Floats on display near our house.

Monday, of course, it’s back to school and work for everyone. Actually, it will feel good to get back to our usual routine in a new, cancer-free year!

The quality of the previous video I posted was so horrible that I have been trying to figure out how to improve it. These clips are a little better, I think.

Here’s the second clip:

Dwayne and I thoroughly enjoyed the holiday show at Dinah’s and Djuna’s school. Here are a few video clips, just to give you an impression. The principal played the piano, the whole event was sweet and simple, and the kids seemed to be enjoying themselves. The funniest part was when the Kindergarteners came out and the parents all went wild, standing up and scooting around to get videos and photos. The principal said, “Ah, there’s nothing like a Kindergarten parent. Turn around and look at yourselves.” I did what she asked us to do and saw that there we were all standing, craning our bodies in awkward positions to get the best shots of our little sweeties.

Balloon flower, originally uploaded by applesandcheeses.

As promised, I am trying to update my online photos. So, at long last, here are photos from the girls’ 5th birthday party (which was in July, though their birthday is in August). We had a great time at a lovely indoor playground called Amy’s Playground. The theme was “Go Wild,” and we had wild music, wild animal decorations, a pull-apart cupcake cake (in the shape of a lion), wild fun on the play equipment, and a wild balloon artist. Oh, and most importantly, a big bunch of happy, wild kids to enjoy it all.

Click [ here ] to see the pics.

I haven’t updated in awhile — I feel so bad about it! I’ll have to catch up with picture posting over Winter Break.

We have been thoroughly enjoying the holidays so far. We had a very nice Thanksgiving with my cousin Alison and her boyfriend Gavin, and now we are rocketing toward Christmas with lots of excitement.

Dwayne and I bought one of those advent calendars that has a little door for each day, and Dinah and Djuna love to open those doors to see what little goodie is inside. It could be anything from a piece of chocolate to Christmas socks, so that is a fun moment each evening after dinner.

We got the house decorated and our tree up this past weekend. It’s our first year with an artificial tree. Dinah in particular sniffled all last December while the tree was up, so we figured we’d try a fake tree. Artificial trees are so expensive that we went on Craigslist and found a very nice 7.5 foot one for a great price. It actually looks pretty good!

Soon, we’ll do our annual trip to Travel Town (a part of Griffith Park that has been set aside as an interactive train museum) for a Train Ride to Santa. The park staff decorates the park with lights, and they blare Christmas music. We go at nighttime, ride the train, enjoy the lights, visit with Santa, get our pictures taken and then dash back to the car to warm our fingers. Yes, it actually does get pretty nippy at nighttime in the winter here in So. Cal.

I feel great and grateful to be able to move on with my life after cancer.