What a different week this is!

Last week we watched this little man while his parents went on a little vacation somewhere sunny!

We took him on walks, to Bass Pro Shop, and to the Stars hockey game.  We also spent a good bit of time watching him run circles around us.  He isn't quite two yet, but he sure can move quickly.  It was great fun practicing being grandparents.

And this week, it's no more of this....

Louise and I are giving up sweets for Lent.  40 Days and counting!

The whole 40 day thing reminded me of when our church back in NC did the Purpose Driven Life study by Rick Warren and I decided that in addition to giving up something...sweets; I would also add in something extra for 40 days.  I am going to spend the next 40 days re-reading The Purpose Driven Life.  It will be interesting to look back at my comments and see what jumps out at me this time around.  Here I go...

Napa - One of my favorite places.

In January we met some of Steve's Phytel team and their spouses in Napa.  It was a short weekend, but that's not a bad thing when most of the itinerary is wine tastings.  We really enjoyed ourselves and it was nice to enjoy the beautiful weather.  Years ago when we were there in January, it rained every day, so this was really a treat.
Here are a few pictures.

.Napa is such a special place.  I don't think I will ever get tired of going here.

Here's a glimpse...

After meeting up with 6 other college friend couples in Miami, we set sail on Norwegian Sky for a 4 night/3day adventure in the Bahamas.  We saw Freeport, Nassau, and the private island that Norwegian cruise lines owns.  That was our favorite stop as it was the only place that we were not bombarded by "solicitors".  I don't know about you, but I do not need one more beaded necklace, scarf, t-shirt or shells.

We had such a blast with our friends.  We laughed so hard we cried and even hit the dance floor on board a couple of different nights. 

The length of the cruise was just about right for all of us as most of us prefer the "fly by the seat of our pants" type vacation, but so glad we did this at least once.

View from our balcony.

This was just a fellow cruiser that wore white socks instead of sandals.  Hmmmm......

The D... Cruise!

I can't believe that I have not written a blog post since December. Obviously blogging was not one of my resolutions. I still hope to recap some of the "goings on" over the past 3 weeks, but in the meantime I just need to mention that we are going on our first cruise and my hubby is not all that enthusiastic about it. Truth be told, this tragedy off the coast of Italy won't help. Lefty's best friend from college started this whole "show" by surprising his wife with the trip. She immediately directed him to invite some other friends along to make it really fun. And he did!  As it turns out, there are now 6 couples jumping on board, all friends from college. Although Lefty is not overly enthusiastic about the cruise ship experience, Dean reminded him that he will be experiencing it with "the dream team"... Lefty's hilarious college buddies and their wives, who are all, flat out fun. I, personally, can't wait. There are bound to be some great stories coming out of this trip. Look for pictures and updates in early February. 
In the next couple of days I will post some fun pictures of our time in Napa.  One of my favorite places to spend a long weekend. We had perfect weather and some of the best food and wine pairings imaginable.  Now I am trying to lose a couple of the pounds I gained so that I can fit in my spanx for the cruise.  Ha Ha!

Tine's Half Birthday

Today is C's half birthday and since she is here in Dallas, Z and I put together a little surprise for her this morning.  Who celebrates half birthdays you ask?  Well, Christine did one year back in middle school.  The whole idea came as a result of her feeling like she missed out by having a summer birthday when everyone seemed to be on vacation.  That year we had a big birthday party for her on December 22nd.  She loved it.  So this is what we did this morning before she woke up...

The sign says, Happy 25 1/2 Birthday!

Birthday crown..Thanks to Z.

And to top it off, a treat.

Monkey Bread!

Entertaining made easy.

Last Friday night we hosted a Christmas party for Lefty's management team and their spouses.  A good time was had by all and I must say that entertaining can be fun and easy.  It has always been fun for us, but not always easy.  Lots of decorating and then lots of baking and cooking.  The last 2 years we have turned the whole thing over to Lefty's assistant M, and boy does she know who to work with.  I wish I had taken pictures of the the food, but I was too busy eating it to even think about that at the time, but here are some pictures of the flowers that arrived for the party.

Occupy Sonoma

Lefty had a great line this morning.  Let me back up.  After Cookie and Pepper danced a jig to earn a treat, scratched the door to be let out, scratched it again to be let in, carried some leaves along in with them to be strewed about the house, whined to be fed and given fresh water, THEY PROCEEDED TO GO RIGHT BACK TO BED!  Lefty looked at them and shook his head and under his breath said: "It's like these dogs are occupying Sonoma!"  It cracked me up.  After a morning siesta, it looks like they will now get on to their daily tasks.