Noah is home sick today and it was a really long night so we are just hanging out in our pajamas enjoying the rain. I was going through some of my photos and thought I would share a few that bring me joy. I'm not a good photographer by any means, but these shots all speak to me on some level. I would love to know if any of them speak to you.

P.S. You can click on them to enlarge a bit.

This just breaks my heart.

It's a beautiful rainy day so I am feeling energized. I'm going to try and get my laundry caught up. It's a bit out of control right now. {shame} We'll probably head over to the library this afternoon too. Noah is Student of The Week at school so I will make him a celebration dinner tonight.

I just pulled some photos off my camera and wanted to share these because they made me smile today. I love these boys!

This weekend we explored the tide pools at Laguna with some new friends. Noah was in heaven. He took off on his own and navigated the rocks and pools with ease. He was very excited to see a lobster, brittle stars and a giant sea slug. He was really hoping to find a giant octopus though. Ha! Cole was totally freaked out and wouldn't budge a step once we was surrounded with shells. After a small crying fit he explained that he didn't want to "hurt the critters". He assumed every step he took was killing some small creature. He's such a love. We got him settled down and he started stepping around very carefully, but relaxed when I took him back toward the beach. I was having a lot of trouble on the slippery rocks because I was terrified of breaking my camera, but I did get some good shots while we were out. If you want to take a peek, check out my web gallery.
Karen's Web Gallery Link

Hi old friends!
I've been away from this blog since last summer, but I see that people are still checking in every day. Why? I haven't a clue! So I've decided to start blogging again. If nothing else, it might scare off the last remaining readers! Ha!

Let's catch up...
Since last July I have been CRAZY busy. Not "Britney" crazy, I'm just talkin' totally nutso running around like a chicken with my head cut off kind of crazy. We've been fussing with both kids in school, Noah's chess club & science club, cub scouts, Drew's jury duty, selling a car, buying a new car, my 20-year class reunion, Drew's back problems, tearing down my scrap room to make a guest room, my new hobby, the holidays, etc. Just life in general, I guess.

We've had a load of fun too. We took the kids to their first concert to see Harry & The Potters. (We are HUGE Harry Potters fans around here!) The boys were in the summer book club. Noah started 1st grade and Cole started preschool! Drew & I spent a long weekend without kids in San Diego. Halloween was rockin'! The boys got a new telescope and went on their first fishing trip. We went to see Cirque du Soleil, saw lots of movies, took a boat ride during the Newport Holiday Boat Parade and a few nights ago we went to the Improv to see Joel McHale from The Soup on E!. Tons of fun stuff like that.

The holidays were really great! We refused quite a few invitations and spent more time at home just watching movies in our pj's, playing games and enjoying each others company. It was great to turn down the volume on holiday chaos and take it slow. It was really special for all of us this year. Sadly, I ended up getting sick on Xmas eve and spent most of Xmas day sleeping. We had tickets to see a Disney ice show on Xmas night, but i was too sick to go. Our friend, Rich, was kind enough to go along with Drew and the boys. They had a great time and I got some much-needed rest. I was sick the entire week leading up to New Years. That kind of sucked, but we made the best of it.

Enough about us. What has kept you busy during the last 6 months? I really would love to hear about it so share!

It's good to be home.
Love,
K

P.S. Here are some random photos taken during my break from this blog. Enjoy!