January Happenings

What a wonderful month we've had this January!  It's been full of soccer tournaments, Anna and Evelyn's performance in Aladdin, holidays off from school, all sorts of adventures and most importantly a month long visit from Grammy and Papa!  The highlight of the month for sure.  Since Papa is retired, my parents have decided to come out a few times a year and stay for longer stints rather then the 4-7 day trips they had planned before.  It's been heavenly to have two extra sets of hands to help out with the kids, preparing dinners, picking up kids from all over the place, homework, cleaning, playing games, planning projects, and providing special one on one time for each of the kids.  In fact, I was getting so used to their help, it's been quite heartbreaking to have them gone!  I think they need to move here permanently!!!  One of their big goals was to take each child out individually and do whatever that child wanted to do.  Anna's special day entailed ice cream, manicures and Get Air bouncing gym.  Grant went to McDonalds for pancakes and chuck e cheese for the afternoon.  Dane had a longer day-- he spent the night at my parents little condo and went down to Balboa Park to visit the Museum of Man and then out to eat, of course, at Pick up Stix- his favorite.  Loved that each child had their own special day-- it was so great.  Evelyn (our homebody) didn't necessarily want an outing -- she just wanted to learn how to sew snuggle sacks and make lemon souffle.  Afterwards, Grammy set up Evelyn's on-line Personal Progress account and helped her get started on some of her value experiences.

Of course there was all sorts of baking-- we made granola, cakes, cookies, brownies!  Papa played endless hours of baseball and soccer with the boys.  It was so fun to have them here to watch soccer and basketball games and practices.  They were even here for a tournament down at Ocean Beach.

If it weren't for Papa, we wouldn't be the new owners of a cute little hedgehog names Barry.  The kids came back from Tucson just absolutely obsessed with the idea of getting a hedgehog.  But they are hard to find in California because they aren't actually legal to sell and bread!  But the kids didn't give up-- they searched Craigslist every day and finally found a cute little baby all the way down almost at the border of California and Mexico!  There was no way I was going to drive all the way out there in the pouring rain.  Papa to the rescue!  He was willing to take us all down and check it out.  The cute little guy was legit and so the Marston family now has their first real pet.  Beta fish don't really count, do they?

Loved so many fun outings we enjoyed while my parents were here, despite the CRAZY weather that occurred almost daily! We did have a few sunshine days sprinkled here and there.   On those days, we hiked Annie's Canyon, visited Belmont Park down at Mission Beach and played mini-golf and arcade games.  We visited Old Town and The Haunted Whaley House!  We ate out at all sorts of yummy restaurants and enjoyed pizza movie nights. All in all, it was a wonderful month and we were so grateful for the chance to spend this extra time with Grammy and Papa.  Felt so blessed to be with them all month.

On a sadder note, last week our beloved Betty Jean Brombach (Blake's great-aunt) passed away. She had suffered from Parkinson's Disease for years and it was always so troubling to see her in the pain and discomfort she endured.  That being said, she was one of the most lovely, charming, kind, thoughtful, beautiful, warm, clever and caring people I have ever met and she meant the world to us.  Our hearts have been heavy as we've grieved for the loss of such a wonderful woman in our lives.  We will attend her funeral this upcoming weekend. She was one in a million and will be so very missed.