Happy Birthday little boy...too bad you were too sick to enjoy a single part of the day.  Not into cake, the fish ("Blue-y" is his name) or the wide assortment of Thomas themed gifts and cake. 

And is this a sign of the times or what?  Milo thinks it's hilarious to say a phrase such as "I need a drink of water" but bracketing it with "www" and ending it with ".com"  Um...OK, hilarous, right?


Geez...I look tired!


No...I had no intentions of trying to make a Thomas cake...this one is store bought though Aunt Kristin did have some aspirations of getting a kit and doing it. 

OK...he did have just a taste of frosting but all-in-all he really wasn't into the celebration because he was so sick.


Zoey graciously ate his share of cake.

Desa's birthday party was 80's theme so I took my awesome friend Chris who agreed to dress as Robert Palmer to my "Simply Irrisistible" girl costume.  That's the lovely Desa on the left.

Rowdy pic of the some of the girls.

Last girls night out with Desa.So much fun I didn't get home til 4AM!  Really?!  I'm way too old for that kind of outing!
 
Last night out with Becky and Billy at the Four Seasons
 
At our first local function...a charity for the music scene out here...made lots of connections.  Thanks Dana! I could not believe the one of the silent auction items was 8 lessons with my old piano teacher.  After some aggressive bidding on Vince's part...I will be taking those lessons for myself!


I hesitate to say this...tongue in cheek of course...you know you're in Wisconsin when Duct tape is a perfectly acceptable way to mend evening wear.  LOL

Milo masquerading as Captain Morgan?


Cutie-patootie!

 
One is my cute girl pose and the other is my...uh, I'm not sure how to label it? OMG and BTW, this camoflage jacket is also an heirloom worn (originally?) by Becky Hogan circa 1970.


Everything but an "I Love Mom" tattoo.

Well, I'm pretty sure everone knows by now...we moved.  Let's hope that the Packer's luck in the SuperBowl is indicative of our new life out here.




Welcome to Wisconsin!  Now get up and shovel your driveway!  Milo's a natural although he's not too fond of the cold.
 

Our first guest was Chris...we went sledding, snowmobiling (ask Chris to tell her story) and ice fishing.

The kids didn't actually go snowmobiling with us but they loved to try 'em out at the expo. 

OK, I hesitate to post this because....OMG, in the obvious abdominal comparison, I will undoubtedly suffer!  LOL  This was one of my LAST and most memorable days in CA.  Desa and her family showed us an amazing day at the beach in Santa Barbara.  They practically adopted us for the day.  My back was a mess and I could hardly breathe without pain but we we all so well cared for...literally...Desa rescued each kid from the waves (on separate occasions) before I could even will my injured body to react.  Milo is COMPLETELY enamored with Desa and both kids still, to this day, talk about the beach with GIgi (Desa & Bill's daughter).



Sherpa-ing all the beach crap back to the Mandarino pad (that's Billy, Desa's husband)....going to bathe the kids en masse and make dinner.

SEE!  Look how he's adoring her!  LOVE IT!  So cute!
OK, so now he's closer to Momma this time but can't be too far away from Desa!  LOL


The girls after dinner with dessert (wait, did they even eat?  I don't remember).  This is Zoey and Gigi.


I still need to pay tribute to Zoey's very first friend, shared birthday (and first kiss...I think there's a pic of this in a post a couple years back), Charlie Balcom.  ( We really miss you guys too!  This will be the first year without joining the Balcom family for March 9th.

 
First school pictures,  I need to note that Milo's sweater is vintage (circa 1966)...yep, it was Vince's.

I found it amazing how both kids could laser focus on me out in the audience!
When Milo noticed that I was watching he got this (guilty?) smirk on his face.  I think he likes to perform but can't quite decide what to do with how he feels about it.

  
I actually did pretty good at the Santa Monica Christmas Run.  First the 10K then the 5K . 45 minutes flat for the 10K (a PR! pace of 7:15) put me 37th over nearly 1300 women and 7th in my age group (why are the old ladies so damn fast?!).  Then 1st in my age group for the 5K out of 93 women and 35th over 950 women).  I chased that purple turban for at least a mile! Finally, the 1 mile holding/cheering for Zoey while carrying Milo who wanted NOTHING to do with this race.  I remember just before the halfway turnaround Zoey said, "Momma, I can't find my breath and my legs are hard to move!  I wanna walk!"  My reply, "I know baby, it's normal to feel that way but we're halfway there.  Gimme all you got!  Let's keep going!"


Third from the right is Nina.  I REALLY miss her and her sister Cheryl too (aka "Sherpa Cheryl)!

New location...new kinda race.  On my way to a snowshoe race...a MUST as a local?  I tried snowshoeing when I was 12 so it can't be that hard, right?  Mtn Dew in hand of course.


At the start....

That's me in the middle...purplish shirt.  VERY cruel to have an uphill finish.  This was one of the hardest "running" races I've ever done and will definitely pencil the entire series into my calendar next winter.  It made running on real ground in mere tennis shoes feel like a cake walk!  EXCELLENT training opportunity! 

The front...
 Up the streetDown the street
 Kitchen
 Informal Dining Room?
Out the back porch The other lot
 Entertainment Room
 And kitchenette
 Game Room
 Expansion 1 Expansion 2
 2nd Master 2nd Master closet
 Milo's Room     Zoey's Room
 Music Room.  Stairs up loft office 2
 Vince's office Vince's office fireplace Guest Room
 Dining Room
 Master Sitting Rm
 Master
 Master Bath...missing pic  shower and master closet.


Furnished pics soon to come...the last bit of furniture should be here soon.