It's Off to Work I Went

Spent most of last week at the RBMS 53rd Annual Pre-Conference for work. It was an amazing gathering of minds and a treasure trove of rare books and manuscripts. Sometimes, I just love my job. And last week was definitely a high point. I had a wonderful experience, plus I got to enjoy some time (and lots of good food) with colleagues and friends in San Diego. :) Next year, Minneapolis! ;)

Rare treasures at the ABAA Booksellers' Showcase

The impressive Geisel Library, UCSD

8th Birthday, Part Two

The Monkey turned 8 yesterday. 8th Birthday AND last day of school!! What could be better?! After waking up to a room dotted with birthday balloons, he found a box of new Legos and a Lego birthday card, handmade by awesome Daddy. The last day of school was a brief blur, but what followed was a ton of fun. He played with his new Legos for a bit before we headed to lunch at Shakey's Pizza then Mecca Toys 'R' Us. Determined to expand his Lego empire, he picked up 8 more mini figurines and a building pad with the gift card that's been burning a hole in his wallet. He was thrilled!! :) We rounded off the day with a movie (my sis, Bean, joined us), dinner, and an Oreo birthday cake with the rest of the family. A wonderful, blessed day. :)

Legos are happiness.

Lord Stanley in the House!!!

Once upon a time, there was a girl who dreamed that the Stanley Cup would come to Los Angeles. The girl was a total dork and taped nearly every single Los Angeles Kings game on a VHS tape so that she could watch them as often as she liked. One day, the girl had the chance of a lifetime to sing the national anthem at the Great Western Forum. With that dream realized, a new one has finally come to pass. Crying out in a thunderous roar, the girl rejoiced as her Kings took hold of their long-standing dream. Congratulations to the 2012 Stanley Cup Champions, my Los Angeles Kings!!!!!

Mid-'90s, L.A. Kings at the Great Western Forum

8th Birthday, Part One

The Monkey celebrated his 8th birthday with his class today. They enjoyed ice cream cone cupcakes before recess then I had the chance to see him in action on the playground. I love these days....Happy Early Birthday, Bubby! T-minus 2 days 'til the real deal! I love you so much! :)

Ice cream cone cupcakes

A Mom and her Birthday Monkey

To Infinity and Beyond

Wonderful day at the Jet Propulsion Laboratoy (JPL) yesterday. Met up with some of the other Cub Scouts and enjoyed the annual open house. Looking forward to next year! :)

Checking out the surface of the moon in 3D.

The Reset Button

It's been so long that I couldn't remember how to log into this account, haha!! So let's hit "reset" and call this my New Year's post...

So much has happened since last Fall. The Monkey made both his First Reconciliation and his First Holy Communion. He's had two solos--one for his First Communion mass and the other for his choir concert. And I can't believe he has less than 2 weeks left of 2nd grade! In 11 days he will be eight years old!

We headed down to San Diego for a nice little Spring Break after Easter. The Monkey was (and still is) majorly obsessed with the Titanic, so we headed to the Natural History Museum to experience the artifact exhibition. A nice respite from the madness of early morning work and school prep. Just some good old family togetherness.

But not all fun was had away from our local haunts. The 17th Annual Festival of Books was at the University of Southern California for the 2nd year and we headed in to see some of the Monkey's favorite authors. We had an amazing time listening to, meeting, and getting autographs from Marc Brown (of the Arthur series) and Diary of a Wimpy Kid author, Jeff Kinney. Wow!

Most recently, our days have been consumed by end-of-the-school-year preparations, birthday planning, and Cub Scouts activities. Over the Memorial Day weekend, the boys participated in the flag placement at a local cemetery. This was their second year and it really helps to remind them of what the holiday is all about.

What's in store for the rest of the school year? Well, if I can muster up the energy to remember to post, I'll show you what I'm planning for the Monkey to bring in for his class birthday celebration. Fingers crossed! :) So.......that's it for now. Let's hope it's not another 7 months before I post again. 

She Has Risen!!! Hallelujah!!

Good Lordy, it's been kind of a while, huh?! Bad blogger! BAAAD blogger!!! ;) Well, I can tell you that you don't want to see what I've been up to the past 4 days, because I have been sick as a dog and looking like one, too! Instead, I thought I'd spread out a few posts to re-cap the wonderful madness that's been going on with the fam--from our summer vacation in Hawaii to the first day of 2nd Grade to Halloween costumes and everything in between. Hope you enjoy the first installment! :)

HAWAIIAN VACATION