Christmas 2009

Start the PLANNING






















We are looking at an album of the 60 Bears y'all sent me back in May.

And here they are on my new 2009 Tree.

Thanks to each and everyone.

With BARB Home ... IT IS A BLESSED CHRISTMAS.

Dawn and Heather vist=Happy baby

This doesn't need an explanation.

Patrick And His New Friends

We had a fun time at the Spur Cross stable with the Schommers after spending the afternoon at Bartlett Lake. And, Patrick found some new friends in Gilbert the pig and Jake the donkey!

Old to New

Unfortunately the '94 F-150 had seen better days.

So we decided to take advantage of the nice folks in Washington who were willing to give us $4500, and upgraded to something that Zachary can now ride in.

The good news is that the new one has an automatic trans, so Amanda now enjoys driving it as much as I do. Well, not sure that is good news for me?!?! :-)

All by myself

A sure sign that Zachary is growing and learning - he is now climbing stairs all by himself. This is only the first step, but he can go four or five before we can get to him. Time to put another gate in place!

We're heading to Kentucky for Labor Day weekend so that Grandma and Grandpa LeFranc can chase him around for awhile!! :-)

Hope everyone is doing well, and hoping to see some new posts soon!!

Carol's expert dye job

Carol had this done at Che Patrice, looks great! :-)

It Looks Like Diane Has Found A New Dance Partner!

I loved watching Diane teach her grandson Zachary some dance moves!

There Was A Whole Lot Of Dancing Going On!

Ray and Megan made a great dance pair at Jean's 90th birthday party!

Our get up and go has got up and went!

I love this picture that Katie took of Barb, Diane and myself back at the hotel after Jean's party.

A new idea for centerpieces!

At Jean's birthday party, we came up with a new idea for a table centerpiece AKA Zachary and Jacoby!

What a cutie!

I had to share this picture of Zachary and Amanda. It was wonderful to finally meet him in person!

Our new addition

Carol & I surprised ourselves by installing a ceiling fan for the 1st time. You all know how handy I am around the house :-) so yes, we did get a little help from our neighbor, David but basically did it all! Looks good & feels good. No, I'm not holding it up in the picture, just pointing at it.

Back from Dearborn

My weekend with Zachary

Sooner or later I will figure out the Camera

LOTS and LOTS of BEARS

Many THANKS to y'all for the BEAR Ornaments...every one was different and FUN.
Let's keep this SIXTY a secret between us.

Love to all ... DIANE

Birthday Bash in Big Spring

Leslie and I surprised my mom this weekend by showing up on her doorstep to wish her a Happy Birthday! Fortunately, she didn't send us away, LOL. So, we took her to one of her favorite restaurants in Midland, Olive Garden. Then off to an ice cream shop for a birthday scoop. Then, the grand finale... James Avery to let her pick out a pair of earrings. She has them on in these photos. We spent the evening with her at her apartment. We all had a great time. I updated her internet security software, so hopefully she'll be good to go for another year. We spent the morning with her before heading back to Houston on Sunday. I don't understand how Texas gets bigger every time I make that trip! Texas is huge!

Web Album - Jags Pics

Lots of pics of our team that made the top 4 in the state. Here are the 4 seniors.

http://picasaweb.google.com/patrick.trapnell/JaguarsPictures02?feat=email#

I'm back!!!

I am back from Shady Creek. I had lots of fun and learned a lot. I got to play Ultimate Frisbee.

I also got to play a huge game of capture the flag with about 50 to 60 people. I learned that a newt is very poisonous. In a bird class my class found 18 species of birds. I had eight people in my cabin and my counselors name was Marco Polo. Thank you Samuel family, Nana and Papa, Rzepecki family, Aunt Carol and Uncle Patrick[AKA the green coach] for writing to me while I was at camp. Love Quillan.

Mail Call

Hello All,

Quillan is headed to a week-long outdoor education camp with his 6th-grade class. He will be away from family and we'd like to think our boy will miss us. His teacher said the kids love to get mail so we're planning to send lots and we thought you all might like to join us. Only flat mail is permitted (no packages) and it must arrive at camp between May 3-7. The address is:

Quillan Perez
c/o Mrs. Smith, Excelsior Elem.
Shady Creek Outdoor School
18601 Pathfinder Way
Nevada City, CA 95959

We'll post some pictures after Quillan gets home (we're sending a disposable camera with him).

Love,
Paula

Cheryl and Jacoby

I loved this picture of Cheryl and Jacoby taken on Easter. He is such a cutie! Cheryl is such a great mommy in addition to Larry, Matthew, Megan and Ayanna being wonderful helpers!

My Harley Experience

I wanted to share with all of you most likely my one and only time being on a Harley! This was definitely a photo-op time when we were at the Harley Davidson Restaurant in Las Vegas.

Congratulations to Larry L & Katie R

Congrats to Larry Langdale & Katie Rzepecki for coming in 1st in our family & friends March Madness tournament!!! As always, another great tournament, so many good games & an oddity in that I found myself cheering for Michigan State...for Brian's sake. Have to give kudos to the Spartans for a great tourney. Hope everyone enjoyed it as it's a small way of connecting while being spread out around the country. Thanks to all who participated and we'll do it again next year!
PT

So close - and yet so far

This was a picture of Zachary and myself on Saturday, right before I left to head downtown to the Final Four. Zach brought luck to State as they took care of UConn. The crowd was unbelievable, and it was a riot being there.

Unfortunately the luck didn't last through Monday night as UNC whupped State, but it was still one of the coolest things I have ever been to. Got to see them hoist the trophy and cut down the nets, so even though it wasn't the team I wanted, it was still quite an experience. One more thing I can cross off the list now! :-)

Sorry Pat, Bob and HB, but Go Green!! Can't wait until next year!

To the "Green Coach" and Uncle Fred: I know you didn't teach her this way in her lesson, but here in California we play tennis with helmets on.

When she picked up her scooter to leave we had her take the helmet off. We're not completely unreasonable!

And the Oscar goes to...

For those who did not see our 4 year-old little actress on Facebook, here is Tawny doing her impersonation of Mushu from Disney's "Mulan." We are taking her to see Disney's stage production of "The Lion King" in June and, since she loves the movie, we really think she will enjoy the performance. She and mommy saw a local children's theater company production of "Alice in Wonderland" several months ago and even at 3 years old she sat through the whole thing. We think we either have a budding star on our hands or we are just in for a LOT of drama in the teen years...

More of the New Girls

As you can see in the photo with Ryan, these girls are tiny! Randy and I got to visit with Gabriella in the hospital, but only saw Isabella through the window the first day. She was then transferred to Oakwood for a week. They are both doing well and are home now. The weather has been cold and rainy here, so they have not been taken visiting yet. We look forward to seeing the girls and their parents sometime soon.

New Babies

Well, Randy and I are now grandparents! Ryan's fiance Ashley had a c-section today. They had identical twin girls. The names are Gabriella and Isabella. I think one was 3lbs., 50z. The other one was 4lbs, 3 oz. They are breathing on their own and look healthy, just tiny. Lots of prayers for the new parents would be great. I think they will need them. They are excited, but I know they have a lot of work ahead of them.

Still smiling (at least Zach is!)

Even though Zachary is just getting his first tooth, he is still smiling and laughing. Unfortunately that is only during the daytime - the crying at night keeps Amanda awake most of the night for the last week or so.

He had his first "bites" of food on Tuesday night. A little bit of rice cereal mixed with milk - it was more of a soup than anything, but it was the first time he got to eat from a spoon! We videotaped the whole episode, but other than him learning to spit everything out by the fourth spoonful, there wasn't much to watch. :-)

Hope everyone is doing well, and we'll upload some video as soon as I can figure out how to use the computer to edit it and make it small enough to post. (You'd never know that I work with computers for a living...) hahaha

The Oscars Party

Arriving to a red carpet, decorations, lots of food, contests, games & some costumes, a good time was had by all! Was pleased that Slumdog Millionaire won for best pic & 7 other awards...if you haven't seen it, it's fantastic. Very cool that the 9 kids that played the three main parts (at different ages) all attended the show as a couple of the younger ones had never acted before & actually live in the slums of Mumbai. Loved Kate Winslet winning & her speech (& her dad whistling)but would have liked to have seen Mickey Rourke win in his comeback role. The best idea in years for the show was having 5 former winners speak about the current nominees in that category. My useless knowledge came in handy as I picked 19 of the 24 winners. March Madness is not far away....bring on the brackets!!!

Lindsay & Katie's visit

We also had a great time when Lindsay & Katie visited...nice to have some young people here after the Loonies visited (just kidding Barb!). We played tennis, visited, again went to Buffalo Chip which was too crowded for us to dance. I was disappointed though I think Lindsay & Katie felt like they dodged a bullet not having to dance w/ me! The highlight was probably our 3 hr hike w/ Patricia, Angela, Katie, Lindsay & I which I'm sure you've all seen the pictures...very cool! Anyway, attached is a group pic from Buffal Chip.

Visit from the Loonies

We all had a great time when Barb & the rest of the "Loonies" invaded our home for a few days! We got a lot in as we played tennis, went to Buffalo Chip, danced (Terry was the only one who knew what she was doing), they went to Sedona, we visited Fred & Pat's new house & played games over at Dawn & Heather's. Also, a good game of Catchphrase here. Yes, somehow I survived but sure could use a visit from a MALE friend sometime. Although, it was kind of nice having all those women around except two of them were my sisters! Pics will be coming soon but here is one of the group & one of me serving "room service" to Ruth Ellen.

Arizona trip

I had a great time in Arizona. The weather was perfect, a nice break from the cold Midwestern winter. We fit a lot in the weekend, as you'll see from the photos: tennis, a long hike, visiting, Catchphrase and hanging out and catching up. I saw javelinas for the first time, an experience I could've done without - they are not very cute!

arizona: feb 09

Scenes of an ICE STORM

Ice covered Birch Branch

Icicles are getting longer

Branches are starting to break and fall


Our poor River Birch is DROOPING

This is all we can do on a STATE of Emergency Day.

Utah trip

I recently returned from Park City/Deer Valley, Utah trip with friends. We've gone every year for the past 7 years or so. It's a nice break filled with snow, games and this year we timed it with the Sundance Film Festival (as we have a couple of other years too), so I got to see some great, not-so-great, and almost always very interesting films.

I usually snowboard, but this year I skied for the first time. Skiing was a lot of fun, and I managed to stay upright...though I wasn't always in complete control, but that's part of the fun, right?

The trouble with Patrick cleaning

Well, the house is clean but Carol's rooster collection is now one less. Actually, it's only one feather less...something about the shop vac falling from the kitchen counter into the kitchen sink. If the darn things were quicker they could've gotten out of the way...but nooooooooo. So, to me it's an easy fix, that rooster now has to face the other way so the missing feather is hidden in back. The attempt w/ crazy glue didn't work but the alcohol to remove the paper towel particles stuck to the counter went quite well.
So, the Loony ladies will be coming to a clean house & if they encounter any animals, I'm the guy to take care of it now that i have my first kill under my belt!

Dr Angela Trapnell

Even though Angela is technically a nurse, just wanted to let you all know she'll be performing her 1st surgery this Sun as she attempts to remove a wood splinter from Uncle Pat's palm that I received the first day of moving Fred & Pat. Which was the same day that part of the entertainment center fell on Will's head, I stuck a nail in my finger, Will twisted his ankle carrying a couch & I smashed my thumb as Ashley & her friend were putting the TV stand together. But other than that, a good time was had by all. GOOD LUCK ANGELA & hope the surgery is a success!

If anyone cuts off a limb, I'm your guy!

K, if you actually cut off a limb, I have never actually attached a limb, and it is still not in my scope of practice but if you promise not to tell anyone I did it, I will try to sew it on. Anyway... for the real news.
Well, I am finally done with Nursing school which ended in Nov. and on Dec. 29th I took my Arizona State license exam, and passed. I am now officially a nurse. Up until this point, when a patient asked me something I did not have the answer to, I would tell them, 'I dont know, I'm a fake nurse, I'll go ask the real nurse'. So... I am not quite sure what I will say now if I don't know the answer so let's just hope I know EVERYTHING (I did say hope). I am working at Phoenix St. Luke's hospital in downtown phoenix. Not only am I a nurse, but I am a telemetry nurse (I work with heart patients). I told the director on the floor, where I was a student, that I would like to work on her floor and she said she would love it. To work on that floor though, you have to have an ACLS certification, which I actually got before I took my exam to be an RN. I am very excited, I was dreading the thought of working as a med/surg nurse which is a typical entry level position.

I am also incredibly excited to have so much more time with Allie. I am sure my mom is thrilled, not that she does not love allie, but I'm sure it will be nice for her to maybe have two minutes free to herself a day. We probably won't give her much more than that, I would not want her to get bored. :) I love my days off when I wake up and just hang out with my little girl. A problem we have always had is that everytime I tickle her, she gets the hiccups, so with all my time off I have discovered that if I tickle her upside down (her upside down, not me), she does not get the hiccups, so now every day I walk over to her to give her a hug, I pick her up, and I softly tell her, don't worry Allie, I won't tickle you, I only tickle on Thursdays, or whatever day it is. The first time, she actually fell for it :) The second time, well she is smart, but she still loves to be tickled!

The other thing I am excited about, I told Marge and she told me she doubted anyone else had those same thoughts or looked at the walls of a bookstore the way I have, so I will try to paint a picture.
If you can imagine, a single mom (unless you count my parents who have doubled, and tripled? as parents), in school for two years, working most of that time, and just about every free second I had was spent at the local Barnes and Noble (which was not really free, although I do enjoy their comfortable chairs and starbucks, I was studying). My friend Rich and I would go several days a week. We would study for hours, get up to get a cup of coffee and back to studying while we drank the cup. And with books open all around me, at least a couple on my lap, one on the arm of the chair, a couple on the little plant holder thing in front of me, and probably one where my feet should go, but I sit with them in the chair, and as I would sink deeper and deeper into the chair, I would stare up at these sort of poster paintings of all the classics (books) and dream about the day I would come to the book store, grab a cup of coffee, and read a book for enjoyment, and not because if I didn't find out what drug you give for superventricular tachycardia I would surely flunk my test. Then, when I was too tired to study even after the coffee, I would go home and go straight to bed, wake up and repeat. Rich and I would joke that we would meet back at home the next day (the bookstore), or that we should just bring a pillow and a change of clothes. Anyway, so now, I can't wait to pick out a book, go to the bookstore, and read it. I am so excited I am having a hard time deciding which book to read!
Anyway, on to my next adventure, I am going to teach myself Spanish, read a good book, and spend time with my amazing daughter.
P.S. I will post holiday pictures later.
Love you all, Ang.

Light Rail Opening Day!

We all probably know that Lanny has been counting down the days pretty much from the first day of construction. And so, it was very exciting to share the day with him in addition to Sharon and the Perez family. Seeing that familiar face at the information tent at the Encanto and Central station, who wouldn't have confidence asking questions of this "Light Rail Opening Day Ambassador"? We also had fun riding on the train on opening day. Since, we were packed in like sardines we only rode from the Encanto station to the Thomas station. But hey, we did it! A great time was had by all!

Carol's Christmas Homework Assignment!

Here I am by our Christmas tree. And, misting our wreath on the front door. So far no one has opened the door while I was spraying it. Diane pointed out that in Michigan or Kentucky you could probably depend on snow for the moisture. But, I like it just like this!

Our Holiday Happenin's

Our holiday so far - see if you can keep up:

-Rode Amtrak from Sacramento to Flagstaff, AZ.

-Rented a car and drove to Phoenix on Christmas Eve morning.

-Went to the Christmas Eve service then stayed up until 3:30ish AM on Christmas Eve/day wrapping gifts with Nana and Papa.

-Children thankfully didn't wake up until 9:00AM to unwrap all those recently wrapped gifts.

-Had Christmas steaks on the grill. That was the best Nana and Papa!

-Rode Phoenix light rail with an excited Papa on opening day (thanks Dawn and Heather for letting us park at your house).

-Finished the evening with a wonderful dinner at Cibo.

-The whole AZ family, plus Karen and children from VA, and Jason and family from West VA gathered for Jal's 13th birthday party with the Game Truck (the ultimate video game party parked right in front of Nana and Papa's house).

-Got tennis lessons from Fred and Pat (Tawny now calls Uncle Patrick "The Green Coach.")

-Went to see Tawny's first theater movie, "The Tale of Desperaux."

-Toasted the new year with Nana and Papa while watching "Hitch." (From this trip we also recommend the chick flick "The Holiday").

-Continue to enjoy fun and family until we leave on Jan 3rd.

We're not looking forward to leaving but we will enjoy the sleeper car again on the Amtrak ride home. We've been enjoying all the family updates. It's so fun to read what this big group has been up to!