Year end update

Attentive readers may notice that the pace of updates here on scottlovesjanie has slowed to a trickle of late. There are good reasons for this, but my apologies all the same. It is shaping up to be a crummy end of the year, and we're hoping for a better 2012.

Janie had sinus surgery one week ago, to help her combat the near constant sinus infections she's been facing most of her life, but especially since late summer. The surgery went well, and Janie seemed to be recovering quickly, but complications have arisen since that have necessitated an ER visit to help her deal with the pain. We're still waiting on test results, right now we don't know for sure what's going on, and the easy answer is starting to look less likely. As a result, going home for the holidays is looking less likely.

Violette's doing well, she's simply brilliant, and surprisingly patient with her parents as they deal with all of this.

At the same time Janie's complications arose, I started running into issues at work, resulting in lots of long hours trying to get things finished up before the holidays. It's looking like we may actually get things finished (I'm writing this as I set up for another test), but it has been a pretty bad December all the way around.

I hope everyone else is doing well, and that you have a safe and happy holiday!

Stuff Violette says

Scott: What are you going to do at school tomorrow, Violette?

Violette: I'm gunna play with my friends, and not push them.

Tots Gym

Pumpkin friends

She's so proud of the pumpkin friends she made!

Broken tree

Vi in snow

Our first snow of 2011

Masterpiece

Vi noticed paint on her hands that didn't get washed off the night
before. She started laughing and said "I'm a masterpiece!".

Ooo buttons n dials

Firetruck playdate

How I know I'm still a gamer

I'm watching the opening bands for the Foo Fighters at Pepsi Center. All I'm thinking about is how fun this would be as a level in the new Deus Ex.

PC

I just ordered the most ridiculous set of components for a new PC. I'm honestly a bit uncertain what's going to happen to the PC gaming world, but I think there's enough life left in it for one last hurrah. There are some big titles coming up that I'm looking forward to, especially The Old Republic. The machine I'm going to build might be considered overkill, but I'm a fan of building a beast of a machine that I don't have to worry about upgrading for a long, long time. Who knows, this may end up being the last PC I ever build. But the time this one is out of date, everyone will likely be playing virtual reality games with their brains jacked into their smartphones.

Horse apples

First horsey ride

Gordy

At the library, Vi picked out a movie called Gordy that has a baby pig
on the cover. Worst movie ever! Bad acting, zero plot, and way too
much detail about what happens to livestock when auctioned off in
Arkansas and sent "up north" never to return. Vi was dancing to the
country music and seemed to enjoy the farm animals, so I let it play
even though it annoyed me. At the end, she announced, "I didn't like
that movie one bit"! Scott and I had a good laugh. Neither did we
kid! Next time, we'll stop the horrible movie instead of suffering
through the whole thing for your sake. :)

Porridge

Baby bear loves her porridge! She calls me mamma bear and helps me
measure the oatmeal. We go for a walk while it cools then she
announces that it's just right & eats it all up.

Lil giraffe

Landed safely in Denver

It was a wonderful vacation, but we're glad to be home.

Last night in the bay

We had dinner at the Chez Panisse Cafe in Berkley tonight. So amazing. We've got to get up way too early to head home, and we miss our Violette. But we'll be back to San Francisco.

Nappa Valley Wine Train

BART protest on Market Street

They were chanting "Who's BART? Our BART!" and "Don't shoot me bro!" to the riot cops.

The trip so far

Margs and seafood stew at Tropisueno. Three stars. Dim Sum at City View. Four Stars. Sushi and Sapporos at Tataki. Five stars. Oh my god good. Janie hasn't stopped smiling. Oh, and we have tourist trap overload from Chinatown, and Matisse burnout from SFMOMA. It's going to be a good trip.

SFMOMA

Armani building across the St

Dim sum

Got my dim sum fix!

Four Seasons

So we're staying at a nice place. To the point that we're a bit uncomfortable. Looking forward to dim sum and the SFMOMA tomorrow.

We're here

Flight was delayed almost an hour, but we got an exit row, so I'm still calling it a win. Now waiting for the shuttle to fill up, so we can head to the hotel. Should of grabbed Bart or a cab.

Taking a vacation

Tomorrow morning, we're shipping Violette off to Papa David and Grandma Bonnie's, heading for the airport, and taking the first vacation for just Janie and I since we went to Spain seven years ago. Nothing so fancy this time, though we're staying at a nice place. We're heading to San Francisco till Thursday. I'll post pictures when we get back, or as I can, depending upon how motivated I feel.

For those that weren't aware, I lost my job at the end of July. My company, which I loved very much, was struggling, and they were forced to cut staffing. My new job starts towards the end of this month, and as Janie and I very rarely get to be outrageously irresponsible anymore, we decided now was the time.

Anywho, looking forward to some dim sum in Chinatown, a train trip through wine country, and at least one fancy dinner (though it's only at Chez Panisse Cafe).

Vi loves Daddy's glasses

Engineer

Gears

Children's museum

Lil cow was picking turnips at the garden of the children's museum.

Vi's horsey

My mom and dad brought this up. Some of my earliest memories include playing with this toy. I think she likes it!

Gorilla

Grampo & Gramma Deer

Maked

Maked

Who likes ice cream?

New dolly

Sunny day

2 years old

Vi had so much fun playing with her cousins and friends & eating
"happy cake" at her 2nd birthday party. She's growing up so fast.

Roaring Creek backpacking trip

IMG_0523, a photo by solarvvind on Flickr.

This was from the last weekend in May, but I forgot to post anything here. The full set can be found here.

First swim lesson

Swim footage

Hold on tight!

That is our Vi quote of the day. This is the announcement she made as
mommy prepared to make a U-turn. :)

Exploring gardens

Vi loves the Gardens at Spring Creek. She planted Swiss chard in the
children's garden today and had fun watering plants with a watering
can.

Smell the roses

Going to a party!

And we're back

Trip went well. Got snowed on last night at about 9500 feet, but everyone stayed warm and safe. We probably only did just over ten miles the whole weekend. I still need to work on figuring how much food to carry, I hauled home plenty I never used. Looking forward to a shower!

Finally...

Third try to go backpacking this year. Last two cancelled due to bad weather. Tomorrow night, I plan to sleep outside.

Playing with Papa & Mama

Roar!

My lil lion cub playing at Cool Beans.

Having an off day

Long weekend, Sunday included visits with both Janie and I's parents, got home late, and have a cold coming on. Work this afternoon is a three and a half hour meeting, that I don't feel comfortable attending remotely, in a conference room that's decidedly too warm. I may work from home tomorrow, barring quick recuperation. Hope everyone is doing well.

Grandma time

Playing kitchen

Vi deconstructed the sink piece by piece then climbed in to get a
better look and test the structural integrity of the shelves. Yep,
that's my girl!

I found me!

I didn't think it was possible to play hide-n-seek alone, but Vi just
did. She climbed into a cabinet, closed the door, counted to 10, then
came out, uncovered her eyes & said "I found me!".

Moments

Sometimes she does things that just melt my heart. I love my baby so much!

Butterfly

Butterfly pavilion

This is serious

I heard something fall down in the kitchen and then Vi said "Uh-oh!
This is serious." (a la her Wonderpets cartoon) I went to see and
there were two broken eggs splattered where she had pulled the egg
carton off the counter. Sure enough, she was right.

Violette & Daddy at the aquarium

Aquarium

Popping bubbles outside the Denver aquarium building.

Stroller

Vi doesn't like to ride in a stroller anymore, but it's great fun to
push one. This is her new favorite toy.

Slide

She can climb the ladder all by herself

Cute baby goat

Our little artiste

Thanks for the easel, Val!

Adorable sweater

Sara Hansen made this sweater for Vi. It's beyond adorable!

Playtime

New hat

Finally broke down and bought a Tilley hat, long desired, but spendy enough to give me pause. Seen here modeled rather indifferently by Violette.

Look what I made!

It's a Minty Boost 3.0 kit from ladyada. It's the first time I've ever soldered something that worked, and it worked the first time! Thanks AB for the soldering lesson and the help!

Sliding

It was a beautiful spring day. Here we are playing @ Lee Martinez Farm.

At Roses house