09 is Rolling In!

The last couple of weeks have been a blur. I felt like the days went screaming by. There was so much going on that I really felt more stressed out then festive. It took me longer to get into the Holiday Spirit!

I did however have a free afternoon about a week ago where I was able to meet a friend for lunch, drinks and shopping! I met her on twitter. We would @ each other about our runs; what was a good recipe for a nasty cold! We also figured out that we knew some of the same people... small world.

Randy and I braved the awful holiday airport craziness to head to LA on Sunday. It was worth it, not just because we had the opportunity to see a run thru of Will Ferrell's "You're Welcome America", but because it was great to take a few days and do nothing. It was an early Christmas gift to myself. I literally sat in bed almost the entire day ordering room service, watching movies and donating to the Ronald Mc Donald House in all my family members name! It took me like 2 hours! I have a big family!!

With the end of December around the corner and '09 rolling in, in a few days I always wonder why people make New Years resolutions that they never keep! I don't have any! I do however, in July during my Anniversary weekend, sit down with my husband and write out goals for the year, some personal and some for our family. We have been doing this now for 9 years! It works for us! I usually set my goals realistically! Like family dinners at least 3x a week (with teenagers playing sports that is realistic)!

I do hope '09 is a good year! Not that '08 was bad, because it was not! I just would like to see the economy start to recover. i don't like watching the news and learning more people have lost their jobs or there house.

Nothing is a joy..

Sometimes there is so much happening with 5 boys in the house, holiday plays, celebrations, play dates, church, etc. that the weeks just scream by and before you know it, it is the weekend again. Things seem then to slow down a bit then and sometimes you have a day when you get to do practically nothing - and it is a joy to slow down just for a moment.

Today we did nothing - well not really. We got up early with the boys, sat with them, played with them, cooked for them, made gingerbread cookies with them, sat around the dinner table with them, enjoyed them. It was not all perfect - at times they were totally bored out of their minds and whined to go out and buy some video games or go to lunch but we stood firm - this was going to be a "nothing" day. Our 14 year old complained that he was bored and set a countdown timer to when he was going to get to go to his Grandma's, 18 hours, 23 minutes, 15 seconds and counting. We ignored it. We turned on the TV for a while - it was a Will Ferrell marathon on KOFY - first Anchorman then a few minutes of Taladega Nights.

We took showers late, never left the house and spent the entire day boring our kids out of their minds. Now they are all in bed but the countdown timer continues to tick off the seconds and we're about to head out to a date night in LA tomorrow, but no matter how fun and exciting tomorrow will be, we will always treasure the nothingness of today.

guest post by Randy Adams

Getting Ready for LA!

Randy came home recently from a Funny or Die board meeting and asked me if I wanted to go to LA to see a run through of what will become Will Ferrell's Broadway show where he will be impersonating George Bush!

A Message from George W Bush by Will Ferrell

I looked at him and said "Do you really have to ask?" Of course I would love to see Will again. This not the easiest task to pull off. Randy and I have 5 boys at home so finding care for them is not always easy! We are totally blessed with the best help ever and no I am not giving out name or numbers - they are all mine!!! We now have childcare lined up, and I just receieved a confirmation e-mail that we are dining at Craft at 6PM before the 8:30 show - yummy!

Should be a wonderful time and I am very thankful to be able to do it.

Busy, Busy Day!

I knew earlier in the week that Friday was gonna be a busy busy day! I started to feel a bit under the weather on Tuesday and knew that I better get some rest so I wouldn't miss all the festivities on Friday!

Friday started with the baby waking at 4AM, (thanks Randy for getting up with Nate!) After Nate went down for a nap, Randy made all the kid's lunches and got Nick ready for his 8:10 AM drop.

Later I begged Evan to wear nice clothes for his Holiday Sing, he said "No" because Nick wore sweats! I said "Ev, go put this on now", and ran and packed Nick a change of clothes which I later gave him to change into at school. Nick was so cute "But Mom, I wore a khaki shirt! "

So Randy and I went to Evan's sing at 10:30AM, it was fun, Evan's favorite song was Feliz Navidad! Then we ran home and changed. Then headed to the Searchme Holiday Party.

The Searchme party was GREAT! I felt it was so important to get us all together for once, since we have two offices one Mt.View and another in SF. We had about 45 people there, with great wine and great food! Randy told me to interview everyone, but I didn't have time, I had to hightail it to Nick's sing, where he was so happy to sing along with his classmates. Even though this is probably my 20th Holdiay Sing between a blended family of 7 kids - it was still so special!

I was a little sad I missed Randy's Holiday toast back at the party, but I was able to get back to the party while everyone was just sitting down to eat! There were great conversations of both work and personal life. It was a very perfectly planned event, Thanks Dinah!

Our day was not over yet, next we needed to get Nick, take him to a birthday party and Randy still had a one hour radio interview to do! Nick had a great time at his party and Randy nailed his interview and now we have put all the kids to bed (by 10:48PM) and although our day was full and wonderful, it's time to call it a night and be thankfull for all the great things today!

My fish died!

So this posting is a little personal! I bought fish for all the kids almost 6 years ago this Christmas! I remember bringing the tank and picking our fish and taking them to the checkout stand like it was yesterday.
The reality is that yesterday our family fish died! The worst part is, it is my fault, Nathan pulled out the plug to the filter (how they get their oxygen) and I plugged it back in. I accidentally plugged it into the timer, not into the actual wall socket!
When i woke up the next day they were no longer living! Randy woke up at, 4AM and tried so hard to get them to respond like he had done several times in the past. This time there was no response. I have to say I am really bummed! We loved our fish, they were part of our family!

What do you want for Christmas!

I have received several calls in the last couple of days from family members asking what we want for Christmas. We for several years have been asking our extended family to please not buy us gifts. The amount of stuff (plastic) we get is ridiculous. Last year we asked our family to donate money to the Ronald Mc Donald house under our name. We decorated our tree with pictures of the kids and their families. We placed all the receipts and letters when people donated in our name on our tree!

It was great to see our children share there blessings with others. The Grandparents still bought a educational gift for each child and we obviously still bought them some gifts. It brought tears to my eyes when my 7 year old asked can we give our gifts to the kids at McDonalds again.

Since the economy is down and we are all feeling it, Randy and I will donate to the Ronald McDonald house in Everybody's name who donated for us last year as their gifts!

We will ask this year for the Grandparents to give family experiences instead of individual gifts! A trip to the movies, or a lunch out. No matter what, when we say no gifts, they buy them anyway, and say that's what Grandparents do!

Holiday Parties Have Arrived!

Last night Randy and I attended the Kleiner Perkins Holiday Party at the Circus Club in Atherton! It was a beautifully planned event and it was an honor to be invited! The food was great, and bars were set up in every corner. Decorated Christmas trees invite you in, but the question of who is in the room keeps you there. Wine and champagne were flowing. All the valley luminaries were there and I wondered who would I run into next, would it be Al Gore, or would it be my husbands poker buddies?

It was great to see Vice President Gore , but really it was great to see the poker buddies standing in a corner laughing and not caring who might be walking by! They enjoyed each other and catching up, asking each other about the kids and the family. The beauty is they see each other often. Once a month they will meet up and play a few games of poker and they've been doing it for the last 22 years!

I was really happy to run into Ron Conway, because I think he is a man with integrity. Being around the Valley for last 12 years I have learned there are some really amazing men here, and Ron is one!

I was a little sad there was not a gift bag like last year. Yes, I am shallow! I use my Bloomenergy mug from last year almost everyday! I also loved our matching KP scarf and KP tie that we got last year too, oh did I mention they gave us wine too? No really it was a great party this year, but last year was hard to beat!