February 8, 2009

Not a lot has happened since a month ago, but I wanted to update our online albums for 2009 so I figured I might as well do an update here.

I went back to work on January 5th, just 2 weeks after my shoulder surgery. It's still hurting, but on the mend. I'm in physical therapy, but I'm in that "plateau" time I remember from my knee surgeries where it's healed a lot since the surgery but is still not as good as before the surgery. So I'm having doubts about why I did the surgery at all. I know this will pass, but it's a tough place.

Val continues to have some trouble with her eyes. The opthalmologist says it might be as much as 2 years before the blurriness and halos disappear. So she continues with her eye drops and tries not to get too many headaches from eyestrain.

Haley started Irish Dance classes through the Whelan Academy in San Francisco, which she takes weekly at Tiffany's Dance Academy in South San Francisco. She's wanted to take Irish Dance for a while, so it's great that she can now. She just got her shoes and loves them.

Katelyn continues to do well at Karate as a green belt, and we're hopeful she can graduate to her blue belt soon. Yesterday they were practicing falls after being pushed by black- and brown-belt "bullies". Looked like fun!

Katelyn also transitioned onto the alto sax. After a few separate sessions with Ms. Shore and a lot of practice, she'll rejoin the "Bulldog Band" on the 17th in her new section.

Speaking of music, Haley is grudgingly continuing piano lessons with Grandma. She gets to consider switching instruments when she's eligible to join the band at Spring Valley in the fall, as a 4th grader. Not sure what she'll pick but Kathie thinks it might be the drums. Yikes!

We're continue discussions about our kitchen remodel, although with the economy in the state it's in we're wondering about spending the money. I guess it's the same everywhere - people not spending so the economy worsens. Almost makes me feel guilty about not doing my patriotic duty and spending! :-)

I'm continuing to have monthly meetings with Nancy, my new mentee from the Menttium program. We have a lot in common, and she also has a lot in common with Val so I get to learn things about Val by helping out Nancy. Two for one!

I had a fun night out (thanks to Val taking care of the kids for the evening) on the 27th. Kelly, one of my colleagues from Genentech, invited some of us to The Supper Club. What a very fun adult evening out!

After Haley had a field trip to see a part of a local production of Peter Pan, I took the kids to see the whole production on the 30th. San Mateo High School's drama department presented it at the San Mateo Center for Performing Arts. It was great, although a late night for the kids. You'd think for a kids' production they'd start it earlier than 8:00 since it runs over 2 hours. But it was still fun, and I'm glad we went.

Adrian slept over on the 30th, and the following morning the kids played hooky from religious school to attend the Lunar New Year Parade in Millbrae. We walked with the contingents from the kids' schools, and bought a few things at the booth afterwards.

On February 1 we had an intimate gathering of friends to watch the Superbowl: Glynis, Susan, Rio, and Ray. Lots of fun, funny commercials, good football, and way too much food!

On Friday, February 6th many of us attended Shabbat services at temple, as Haley's class was leading a bunch of it. Dinner beforehand makes it an easier evening to schedule, and not as hectic. Haley did great!

Yesterday while Katelyn had a play date with her friend Brianna, I took Haley to go get more fish. You see, her hermit crab died suddenly this week, as did one of her fish. So she was left with just the 3 "skirts" as they're called. We got an albino catfish, a scissortail rasbora, and a paradise gourami. We picked those because the aquarium guy said they would get along with the skirts and were relatively hardy.

Val has continued to indulge her passion for puzzles. We've started a photo gallery of each as they're completed. Check it out.

We had various visits from friends:

• Jay and Timnah visited on January 10th for a fun evening of steak and games. We hope to have them over again soon!
• Judy visited in January, but it was because she had to make an emergency trip back to Missouri when her niece's husband unexpectedly passed away. :-(
• Christopher joined us for dinner on January 13th before heading back to Ithaca. He has a year and a half to go at Cornell.
• Pam babysat for the kids on the 16th, then joined us for dinner on the 3rd.
• Jann joined us for bagel brunch, delivering our big family supply of bagels, on the 17th. We got to hear all about the Mexican cruise she went on over the holidays.
• Jennifer & Selena joined us for games and chit-chat on the 24th.

So life has generally been calm and fun, with the occasional pre-teen attitude from Katelyn and whining attack from Haley. Hope your 2009 is going well!