Let the 2012 lessons begin! Nice to be ice skating again!

The girls are ready for their first lesson of the 2012 season!  

The year Pam got sick......Jan 6-15th. Yuck!

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have a super strong immune system (always have) and that I rarely get sick.  When I do get sick, it is a mild cold....nothing that would stop me from going to work or changing what I do on a daily basis.  I don't think I've ever had the flu before.  You might see where I am going with this........I got sick!  Yes, I admit it!  I got totally sick!  It started out with laryngitis...then became a full blown cold with head congestion, headache, cough, and a scratchy soar throat.  That was bad enough.  But it got worse!  6 days into my "cold", my face starting hurting -- really bad!  It hurt from my ear across my cheeks and down to my teeth!  My head was throbbing and it felt like each top tooth needed a root canal.  After getting only 3 hours of sleep on Wednesday night, I rolled out of bed, put on my glasses and my sweats and left for the  Rockwood Clinic Urgent Care. I don't have a primary care physician, so I had no other choice.  I got in right away and after hearing all my symptoms, the doctor said "I can help you".  Music to my ears!  I guess my viral cold turned into a bacterial double sinus infection.  I've never had a sinus infection -- it's terrible -- the pain and pressure you feel is awful!  Anyway, I picked up my prescriptions for an antibiotic (Augmentin), prescription strength ibuprofen, and Musenix D.  After getting something to eat and taking all 3 pills, I was back in bed by 9:30am.  I slept until almost 3pm!  I have to take the antibiotics for 10 days, but the doctor said I should start to feel better by day 3.  Today is day 2 and I already feel better -- not well, yet, but a bit better.  Yah for medicine!

One more note about this....Martin has been the most loving and wonderful husband through all of this.  Making sure I was comfortable, bringing me tea, keeping the girls quiet so I could sleep, getting the girls to all of their after school and evening activities, making breakfast, lunch and dinners, cleaning, laundry....making sure I was doing my salt water gargles and taking my medicine.  He's awesome!

THANK YOU BABE!

Sofia and her glockenspiel! Thank you Kindermusik!

Sofia and her friends......

Sweet friends -- baking cookies!
Sofia got to spend the night with her friend, Sophia Grace, the other night.  She was so excited and had her suitcase and sleeping bag packed very early.  She got to have dinner (mac and cheese and hot dogs), make cookies (her favorite thing of all time to do), and sleep next to her friend all night (stuffed animals and colchita in tow, of course).  She had a really good time and is excited to do it again!

Below is Sofia with her friend from school, Theo.  They are both Montessori kindergartners and spend lots of time together each day at school.  They have become really close this year and we just love Theo's sweet and friendly way about her.  She's a very good friend and just loves her friend Sofia -- and Ginger, too!

And I couldn't forget Sofia's wonderful friend, Addy Lund.  Even though the girls are at different schools this year, Addy remains Sofia's dear friend.  They've got such a strong bond of friendship.  I hope she has Addy by her side for her entire life.  We just LOVE our sweet Addy so much!

Breakfast with the Lunds.....

Our special gift from the Lunds...homemade and so beautiful!

Denise and her mom made us a wonderful bfast casserole, plus yogurt, fruit, bacon and juice.  What a nice way to start the New Year!  

Sofia loves her Christmas gift from mom and dad so much -- she puts makeup on everyday, sparkles and all!  

Dinner with my HS Besties!

I had dinner last night at Saranac Public House with some awesome gals!  Rachel, Janel and Tami! We always try to find a time during the holidays to get together to celebrate our bdays (Janel's bday is in October, mine in November, Tami's in December, and Rachel's in January).  We were missing Klaire Powers and Jill Nelson....it is so hard to get everyone's schedules in synce, so we were pretty proud of the fact that we had at least 4 of us.    We spent almost 5 hours sitting in that booth and chatting and catching up with each other.  We've all got kids and husbands, and schedules -- so you can image that it took a while to get everything out!  I love these ladies so much!  I'm so glad we've stayed friends since our high school days!  Wow...not gonna tell you how long ago that was!  

A New Years Eve get together with family.....

Today we had my Aunt Virginia, and cousin Patty, Chad, and Marissa over for a New Years Eve lunch.  Bryan and Marissa were also supposed to come, but sadly they had to cancel because of Marissa's father's open heart surgery today.  Kristi came too and we all had a great time together.  I made my very yummy sausage and lentil soup (thank you Cucina Cucina!), homemade macaroni and cheese, green salad and sourdough bread.  Chad made his famous Mexi-slaw with tortilla chips, and Marissa and Patty brought a couple of desserts...a chocolate and apricot cake, and a lemon/poppyseed cake.  We had a wonderful time chatting and catching up with each other.  Marissa is home from college (PLU in Tacoma) and it was fun to hear about her first year adventures.   She's having such a good time and has made lots of really good, Christian friends.  Patty and Chad have missed her, but are so happy that she is having a great college experience.  Marissa is a wonderful musician and pianist!  Audriana really impressed us all when she played a few songs for us today on the piano -- Sofia even played a song for us!  They arrived at noon and we spent the entire day and into the evening enjoying each others company.  We had a blast when the girls turned on the Wii and played "Just Dance 3".  So fun!  Everyone left close to 8pm, then the girls and I got our jammies on and snuggled on the couch to watch a Charlie Brown Christmas.  I made popcorn for us, too!
Sofia really wanted to make it to midnight tonight.....and at about 10pm, she said to me "mom, I don't think I am going to make it".   And she was right....drifted off to sleep right after I told her that I loved her.  Audriana will definitely make it.....she was reading Harry Potter #6 and then when Sofia fell asleep, we put in the HP #5 movie.


Martin was so happy that he was able to video chat with his sister, Mayra, in Nicaragua, tonight.  Since they are 2 hours ahead, he was able to ring in the New Year with them over the computer.  His sister took her computer outside, into the streets of San Marcos, and Martin was able to see and talk (!) to many of his neighbors.  He misses Nicaragua and his family and it was so cool to see and hear the fire works that were going on there.  He was so happy -- it almost made me cry -- and I think he did cry.  This is why I love technology.....look at the smile on his face.  What a fun memory to capture.

Video chatting with his family in Nicaragua.....what a way to bring in the New Year!

Bald Eagles in Coeur d'Alene, ID! So cool!

Our first ever outing to the popular spot on Lake C d'Alene to view these amazing birds!  Martin and I thought it would be a fun family adventure -- and it was!  We were already out in the Valley at The Hub for Audriana's  Snowball Tournament (indoor soccer), so after that was over, we drove out to Coeur 'd'Alene.  We were all starving, so we stopped in at Paul Bunyan's Burgers and had hamburgers, fries, tater tots, and ice cream shakes -- healthy, I know, but it was a treat that we don't normally do.  With our tummies full, we drove out on I 90 to the Wolf Lodge/Harrison exit.  Just a mile or so off of the exit you see the parking lot full of cars and people looking up into the sky with their cameras, binoculars, and telescopes.  They even had a makeshift Ranger station out there with educational material about the Eagles.  The bald eagles are there for only a few weeks in December to feed on the Kokanee salmon.  They are majestic  -- huge -- birds.  It was so cold out there, that we couldn't stay for long, but we did get to look through the Rangers telescope and see one of the bald eagles nesting up in a tree (that was so awesome!).  We also got to see about 50 or so of the birds circling up around the lake -- although, we never saw any of the birds dip down to get a salmon.