Sac-Town Update

Hey All!

Hope everyone is doing well...I'm going to break the Blog Dry Spell! :)

It's a good Friday: Sofia and I are snuggled up on the couch watching Lion King 2 and waiting for the killer storm to roll in this weekend. We are going to have a lazy weekend and just chill out, I think we both need it.

Sofia is *almost* ready for big girl panties on a permanent basis...NO accidents this week (at home, school or Mike's!) and is down to diapers at nightime only. Yeah! However, the new issue is when I'm on the road and suddenly hear from the backseat "I have to go potty." Fantastic. Bathroom no where in sight. Haha, we make it work. Her teachers say she is going to be moved to the preschool when she is wearing underwear for 30 days without an accident. I am actually a little saddeneb by this: she is finally ajusted to her classroom and teachers. :(

She is quite the little diva - she sings and dances ALL of the time, she knows I Kissed A Girl (see prev post), Twinkle, Twinkle, Row Row Row Your Boat, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and well, a lot of songs by heart and she breaks out in song all the time. It's pretty adorable.

Work is going well for me. I'd love to take some time to jet down to CR for a vaca, just don't think I can. Maybe an extended trip in November when my contract is up? IDK. We'll chat.

Steve- b-fast with you and Mei was awesome last week, let's do that again soon!

Love to ALL!

PS - Still missing Llanya!

news from the jungle

All good here. Marco shoved a coin in my camera card port so it will be a bit before I can upload pics. We have had crazy winds for about a week, really did a number on our tomotoes. We will try to upload pics from Papa's computer with photos of the garden before the wind. Chickens did ok but I was kinda worried about them as the winds were so cold. It is just starting to warm up here. The pool is only 78 degrees -- I know that seems warm to you folks in the north -- but when you get use to the really warm weather. It is a bit NIPPY!

We are about to head out for a daily walk around the ranch. Kate - i can't wait for you to see it here. It is so peaceful and beautiful. We are going to probably head to the big city with Gran in the next few weeks. She is doing super good...really having a lot of fun it seems.

Grandpa went home in mid January after a month here on the ranch. He build us a really big trailer we can pull around with the quad. We will take the kids for a ride when we are all together next time.

Glad you all like the pics. We will send some more goodies sooon.

What A Day!

From sad to funny and everything in between...it was quite a day at the office. Let's begin with the funny. Ok, I get some pretty comical names working in the Sac-Town...Bzennifer, Myjoy, Johnny Walker...no, those are no joke, not typos. I often sit at my desk and giggle, thinking, really? Really? That's what you named your kid...nice. BUT today is definitely the topper. The Mom's name (born in '74 mind you) is Psychedelic Bloodgood!! So, of course, we want to make sure this isn't some awful human error in our system, and we ask, "So what do you go by?" And she replies as if she doesn't have the weirdest name on the planet, "Psychedelic." Ya....wow! Don't even get me started on the last name...Bloodgood (WTF?!). Ok, THEN we get into her son's file....oh yeah folks, we are now screaming CULT! She named him Temple Bloodgood. All I have to say is wow right now...

Then the day took a sad turn. A mom came in today to turn back in her WIC vouchers because her infant had died of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) this week. Ugh. I think the office had a somber tone for the rest of the day. It is our fourth SIDS baby in four months. We all wonder if maybe we had just educated her, or handed her a pamphlet, or warned her better, it could have been prevented. The majority of our participants have an environmental risk factor (smoking in the home, either themselves or someone else) which is a huge contributor to SIDS, along with alcohol and drug abuse, co-sleeping without taking precautions and sometimes, there is no explanation. And because of the budget crisis we lost our major funding for our SIDS prevention education. The UCD health care system saw a huge decline in their SIDS cases when we were doing our preventative classes. BUT, I guess other things were more important, can't really think of WHAT, but that's life I guess.

On a final note, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the pics and card. They were awesome. Sofia had a great time going through them and naming everyone.

We send our love!

Ok so for the past month I have been sitting at my kitchen table starring at the ocean and eating waffles.   What have you guys been doing? I just got all those photos you guys sent, thanks they are awesome! Marco's beer shot and Sofia n Marco rummaging made it on the fridge.

KP can't wait to BBQ it up on the 15th! DNA can't wait to see you guys, here or there doesn't matter! Thanks for the water bottle, use it all the time on my bike. love you guys!