We miss you!

Today would've been Chris Reuther's 39th birthday. I still think of him almost daily and very much grieve the loss of him as I know so many others do.

As was written in memoriam on April 24, 2010, "The world lost a champion and we who knew you lost a wonderful young man."

Happy Birthday, Chris - we love you!



Christopher Glenn Reuther: January 3, 1973 - April 24, 2007

Quality time

I spent some quality time with Sydney last night while her parents took her brother to see his new school. She asked me to bring Rusty along and the three of us played chase until we were all pretty worn out.

What a smile!

Magic bubbles

Dinner with sweet kids and their fab mommy last night. Daddy was out of town so when mommy got a call from daddy I took the kiddies out in the front yard where they kept me RAPT with more information than I ever wanted. Trust me, you'd rather not know, so I'll just point attention to the most adorable kiddies ever.



I brought them each a bottle of "magic bubbles" with which the three of us managed to blow a gazillion bubbles before bed time. See Sydney here with her "magic" wand.

Shiny Happy Burleighs

I had dinner at the Burleigh house last night and thoroughly enjoyed the antics per usual. In the photo below I've barely managed to tear Felton's attention away from his mommy's iphone.



LOVE!

Farewell Caña

I was so impressed by the photos on my friend Blair's facebook page that I felt the need to share.

Sadly, I was enjoying the photos of Caña when I realized she died on Thursday. I met Caña. She was a very sweet girl and entirely lovely. More importantly, I love her owners and my heart goes out to them - deeply.

Photo from shinepetphotos.com.

Buy coffee gifts

I love these gorgeous cards designed for Starbucks. If you have a coffee-loving friend, please consider purchasing a Starbucks gift card for them this Christmas. I know I'll be gifting them to a lucky few! :)

Here's to Bailey!

That's what my friend wrote to me in the card pictured below. I must admit it sent me into a fit of sobbing - calling my mom, who joined me in sobbing - but I do really adore this card. So sweet!

Lobby-bound

Here were are, Jen and I, waiting out a heavy storm in Jamaica. We were supposed to be embarking on a snorkeling cruise, but Mother Nature nixed that. Not to worry, we hitched on to another cruise the following morning.

The photo was taken (by me) in the lobby, which was an open-air lobby, meaning the rain could easily blow inside and soak us. We got a kick out of watching the hotel staff pull down the plastic flaps with their extra-long hooks in order to keep us dry.

Most of the hotel restaurants, bars and seating areas were open-air. In fact, I think the only enclosed spaces were the guest rooms. I found it quite refreshing, except on that last morning when all I could concentrate on was not throwing up. I would've given up a kidney for some air conditioning then.

OUCH!

Our Mystery Trip* to Montego Bay was excellent, but after viewing my photos (many which were not taken by me), I fear I will have little to offer visually. I have a few I like, but they are people shots. However, I will likely upload some pics from our snorkeling cruise. They're not spectacular, but as I was there I can attest to the perfection of the voyage!

Below is the bruise I gained after taking far too much advantage of the "all-inclusive" benefits of the RIU resort. Thank goodness Jeni was there or I might've been even more black and blue.

That's my right hip photographed Thursday night. They always say it looks worse before it gets better. I can't imagine this bruise getting any more purple - or tender.

I also managed to scrape just over a 1/16" of skin off of my right ankle. Oh the dangers of island life!

The bruises and scrapes and hangovers were VERY worth it. Thanks again Jen and Jeni for calling me a dozen times or more to get me to the airport!!!



*I am employed by an advertising agency that plans an employee trip every year to an undisclosed location. We don't find out where we're going until we get to the airport on the day of departure. My favorite destination thus far: Reykjavik, Iceland (2004).

More of the nose knows

What could be any cuter?!

I present Joey, my friend's Whippet. And by the way Joey loves the dog treats I bake for him and his parents are beyond fabulous.

Young at heart

It is ridiculous how excited I get at the thought of hanging out with these kiddies.

I spent a fabulous Tuesday evening with Sydney and Felton eating pizza, playing "try to get me" and hide and seek, answering those odd questions and definitely giving lots of high fives, with both hands and feet.



The love Felton shows me melts my heart - he's always so excited to see me. I'm growing on Sydney - or so I hope!

Don't do that again hmph!

Not sure how this started out, but Sydney just loves to do this on command.

Happy Birthday Ansley!

I very much enjoyed celebrating Ansley's first birthday with her. I love the first picture - check out the kid in the lower right corner making a covert grab for a hunk of cake.


Sydney dutifully wearing her party hat. Eric is next to her and that shirt is fabulous, "too cute for time out."



Icing on the nose



Happy cupcake kids. Cooper, the child standing behind the others, is absolutely the sweetest kid. I left the party to go to the store and when I arrived back at Kerry's for dinner he was yelling, "TRACEY!" What an outgoing little man - and if he continues to grow at his current rate he's gonna end up being at least 6'3"! (He'll be two-years-old at the end of September).



Those Bolstad women sure do make good lookin' kids. Robin has another one in the oven and she's hoping for a girl!

Zoe at Chez Mason

As I mentioned in Saturday night's post, the change in our beach plans left Zoe off the guest list. I was so lucky that Caroline was willing to keep her for the week. As you can see, Zoe had no problem making herself comfortable in her temporary home.



In Caroline's words, "She loved laying on David's work pants every morning, hanging out in my closet and licking my legs after my shower. Oh and we can't forget the night I went to the gym and Winnie helped get the food and treats off the counter for dessert. They both came up to Ansley's room after the feast like nothing was wrong."

All of the above actions fall into Zoe's typical behavior, so I'm certain she was just fine without me for the week. It was good practice for her upcoming stay at Chez Mason in October! Thanks again Caro and David!

Sunday night with the munchkins

I gave Robert and Kerry a well-deserved date night last night. I had so much fun with these little angels.

Let me say first that I am in love with Sydney's new cute bob haircut! Absolutely adorable, don't you agree?


Enthralled by Dora the Explorer.


Sydney's "cheese" face. Check out that belly!


On the swings. Felton is so proud that he now knows how to propel himself. Sydney still needs help, but she likes to go high just like her brother!


I loved that when Sydney got off her swing to play elsewhere and Felton was still swinging, he kept saying, "Be careful Sydney," meaning that he wanted her to stay out of his way so as not to hurt her. I LOVE these kids!

Please place your vote for i found happy

A good friend and co-worker of mine is entered in a calendar photo contest for the Children's Eye Foundation. Her daughter was born with Septo-Optic Dysplasia, a condition which has left her with no vision in her left eye. The photo she entered into the contest is of her daughter and husband and it is quite cute.

You can read more about it here, including instructions on how to vote. Voting does NOT require registration or entering any personal information. Your help is appreciated!

Bathing Cutie

The girls and I went out for dinner last night to celebrate Kerry's February birthday - but like she said, that means she just now turned 3X-years-old. :)

She and I both enjoyed seeing Miss Ansley after way too long. Ansley is such a happy baby and she loves bath time! One of her favorite parts of the bath is apparently catching "shower-drops" in her mouth via the removable shower head, as you can see below. Bathing beauty indeed!!!

Blast from 1985

On Friday night, my parents and their best friends stayed the night with me before embarking on a week-long beach vacation Saturday morning.

My dad found the photo below in my room and brought it down to show Kathy and Roger. As he handed over the photo, he commented, "Does this make you feel young?!"

I'm pretty sure it's from our vacation in British Columbia during the summer of 1985. My dad must've taken the photo because he's not in it. I'm second from the left and my brother is in the middle, with my mom on his left (right in the photo). It is quite strange to see my brother, who is now a bit over 6'1", shorter than my mom who is now shorter than I am!


Having Kathy and Roger around is always so wonderful - they make my parents so happy. They've all been friends since 1972, and while they don't get to see each other as much as they'd like, they've managed to remain very close for almost 40 years!

A day of remembrance

Today I grieve for a wasted life: Not a life less-lived; but a life cut short of its true potential.

Three years ago today, a horrible and random act of violence took place. Christopher Reuther, a crusader for the environment; a colleague who daily brought smiles to those around him; was senselessly murdered. I hope he knows how deeply he is missed.

The photo below was taken at a museum in Washington D.C. about 7 weeks before he was killed.



I think of that kid every single day. I know I always will. I'd give anything to see him sail by my doorway on his path to collect his daily mail. I know I'm not the only one who wishes he'd somehow appear at our next staff meeting.

Love you Chris!!!

Toddler bribery

I stayed with my godmonster goddaughter last night while Kerry took Felton to Little Gym. Sydney isn't really a monster, but she often acts like she thinks I am one.

Despite Kerry's attempts at preparing her for being left alone with me, once she caught on her face turned down and she began to wail. She continued for several minutes after Kerry left and I wasn't sure what to do, but my course of action must've been genius because it instantly silenced the child.

After reading one of her books to myself (I could barely hear myself over her pitiful weeping) I ignored her for a minute and walked over to the couch to find the remote. I found Monsters Inc. on the DVR playlist, turned around and said, "I'm going to watch Monsters Inc. Do you wanna watch with me?" She replied with a choked sob, "yeah." So I called her over, brought her favorite blanket along with her milk, and she didn't make a peep for a long while.

Thankfully the next sound she made was giddy laughter. I loved when at the end of the movie, as Boo was beating up Randall and I yelled, "Get 'im Boo!" Sydney repeated my cheers. It was too cute.

Here she is in a much happier mood than when I arrived:


After the movie was over, Sydney wanted nothing more than to watch more television and continuously apply my chapstick to her tiny lips. So I bribed her again by telling her that if she let me get her ready for bed she could wait up for mom. Although Kerry wasn't due back much later than Sydney's normal bed time, I'm sure she would've preferred that Sydney was in bed on time, but I really didn't want to suffer through another bout of crying. It honestly breaks my heart to see her upset, so the bribes served both of us in my opinion.

Aren't babysitters allowed to fudge on the rules a little bit every now and again?