After having to get a little nasty with Ritz camera it looks like we should have our digital camera in a week or so.  (Now that the kid learned to crawl and walk in it’s absence)  I am more than a little miffed about that one.  Anyway, nothing can slow her now.  She goes where ever she wants and gets upset if we try to help her.  She will even hang onto things when she doesn’t want to go where we are taking her. 

Serra’s birthday party will be on April 19th at around 4:00pm for any and all who wish to be a part of it.  It will be mostly adults and a few cousins.  That means good people food and desert that we like. 

Julie, your birthday present is far to valuable to send by mail and so will be hand delivered with the folks.  Mom wants to have the unveiling video taped as well.  That should get you wondering. 

Serra your present will be hand delivered as well. I don’t know if mom want’s that one video taped or not.  Either way, I wish I could be there for both your birthdays.  Hope you get oreo pie, even if you have to make it yourself. 

These are the first images although not the best.  Unfortunately without a digital camera we don’t have the capability of putting up pictures everyday.  Believe me, it is frustrating.  Especially when Serra~V~ is making progress by leaps and bounds now.  Here is the rundown on all her new talents. 

Walking.  Nothing can stop her now.  A week ago she took her first solo step.  Now she is nearly off and running.  She can turn around and head in a different direction.  She is letting go of furniture on her own to get to other locations.  Sometimes she gets so excited by what she is doing she gets the giggles and falls down. 

Musician.  Serra is now a full fledged musician.  With her new mobility there is also a new sense of freedom.  You can tell what she is up to by what you here.  She is often times heard tinkling on the piano and singing along to her music.  Her favorite practice time is when Uncle David is practicing.  She goes in and adds her own rendition while he is working over the rest of the keys.

Menace.  Toilets and toilet paper are new found wonder.  She has always loved water and she has discovered the little pool in the bathroom that always has water that one can have hours of splashing enjoyment in.  Toilet paper is also great.  It rips easily and  tastes wonderful too.  Video tapes and DVD covers are wonderful as well.  She has destroyed a few with her sharp little teeth.  She is starting to understand the word no, but doesn’t listen very well yet, and has been known to throw a temper tantrum on occasion (She gags herself until she spews).  She has gotten stuck behind the dryer a few times trying to reach the neat things back there as well. 

Princess.  Serra~V~ loves to hand out kisses and is starting to get the hang of the smack on impact part of the process.  Right now it is usually an open mouth, wet, slobbery smack right on the face.  She is always dressed really cute and still gets lots of comments on her adorableness where ever she goes.

Brian is actively getting ready to start the long road of grad school. He has a new palm pilot, a laptop is on its way, and is shopping for a bag to hold all his new toys.  I am a little concerned that we may never see him again once he starts all this.  He registered for the upcoming term and we are still waiting to get the financial aid we need to make all this possible.  It is so expensive, there is no way we can afford it without the loans. 

Our house is definitely sold in Las Vegas and we have received all the monies for it.  Of course, it is already spent.  It feels good to not have that debt hanging over us.  Now we are going to rack up a whole new slew with school.

Mom reminded us yesterday that it was the first day of spring.  It sure has been beautiful.  I love to walk outside and feel the cool breezes.  And with all the new flowers it smells so good.  Serra~V~ would stay outside all day swinging if I would let her.  She is a little wary of the cat now since her last run in.  Moo got a little over affectionate and bit her the other day.  It didn’t break the skin or anything but scared her a little.  It’s is a strange way that cat shows he likes the attention.  Someone should tell him. 

We are waiting to hear when Mom and Dad are taking off for spring break to announce the best birthday bash of the year.  Serra~V~ turns 1 on April 18th and we will either party Thursday or Saturday of that week.  All are invited for cake and some good food that we haven’t decided on yet.  As soon as we know the day and time we will make the official announcement.   

Hey all…we’re back home and getting back in to the swing of things. Here’s the pictures of little Serra doing her thing.

Well I got two up before Xanga stopped working. Curses!  More to follow.

Brian here…reporting from Las Vegas.  It’s strange to come back and feel like it’s home but knowing that it’s not home anymore.  The oddness of it all culminated when we drove by our old house, parked in front of it, and realized that we couldn’t just go inside anymore.  Pam summed it up when she said “It feels like someone is wearing our underwear.” Not a good feeling I assure you.

       We have had a great couple days up here.  We arrived Thursday afternoon and ran out to the Library to see Grandma Anderson at work before heading home.  We had wondered how Serra V would react to her Anderson Grandparents since it had been several months since she had seen them. Our questions were answered when we tried to pry her away from Grandma Anderson when we were leaving the library.  Little V screamed and reached out, a reaction usually reserved for Pam only, and shrieked till Grandma was out of sight.  Needless to say everyone has enjoyed the mini reunion, especially the grandparents.  

      Serra V has made some exciting advancements the last couple days.  Before we left Calabasas she had just started crawling and gaining a tad bit of independence.  We’ll she’s certainly nurtured that small seed and it’s now in full bloom.  We sat her down for a second and next thing we new she was actually climbing the stairs!  She had somehow learned how to hold on to the railing and had succesfully navigated up about six steps.  She has also taken several steps on her own but is still fairly wobbly.  Mom and Pam stand about four feet apart and Serra is able to make it back and forth without a lot of trouble.  She’s also discovered how to open cabinets and pulls pots and pans out on to the floor.  I’m afraid we’ve awoken a sleeping giant. Here’s some pics of the little lovely menace.

-Xanga’s not accepting the pics…I’ll have to include them tomorrow. They are good though.-

       I have three very close friends that live here in Vegas and it is always a treat to spend time with them.  We weathered some good natured ribbing about abandoning them and moving to California without as much as leaving a phone number or address.  The truth of the matter is that we rarely took advantage of the fact that we lived nearby so we’ll likely see each other just as much as if we’d lived here.  I miss them being close though.

       We’ll be here one more day and then back to Calabasas tomorrow night.  We’ll miss Mom and Dad Arnell as they’ll be making their way to Palm Desert to enjoy a short vacation.  We’ll certainly hate leaving here as it’s doubtful we’ll make it back anytime soon with school starting up April 28th and work heating up for the summer.  I’ve tried to lobby some of the family to come down and visit us but everyone has very busy lives.

       Enough for now…love you all and hope to see you soon.   

Brian was nearly the victim of yet another scam.  Someone attempted to get him to send them the money while posing as the seller.  The actual seller was, in reality, slower than tar in contacting Brian which was almost his undoing.  Luckily there were some complications in the transfer of funds to the crooks and Brian was able to stop it before we were out $1500.  We did lose the wire fee of $100.  An expensive lesson (that could have been even more expensive) learned.  We will never use E-bay to buy anything that cannot go through Paypal.  It is too risky and wrought with fraud. 

In the meantime we had a nice time yesterday with the family.  Gary and family were up and the kids entertained Serra~V so well she just had to be in the thick of things.  By the end of the evening she had gone from her weeble wobble version of crawl to the actual thing.  She is still a little slow at it and would rather find furniture to help her cruise but is making progress in that direction. 

I have had the impression of late that our country is in the calm before the storm.  Life seems to keep going rather normally at present but at the same time things are building rapidly toward conflict.  I wonder where our worlds will be in a year.  Our brother in Law, Ian, who is Holly’s husband was shipped out last Wednesday to Turkey.  He is in the National Guard.  He was given only a few days warning and now he is gone for a year they are told.  A YEAR!  I can’t imagine sending my husband away for that long.  Imagine those that have children.  If only those intent upon doing evil would “disappear.”  We have people trained to make that happen.  There are too many prophesies about what the future holds to really hope for a peaceful outcome to the events that are mounting. 

There were some problems with our payoff check.  There was $500 missing.  I realized it as I went through the statements that were sent with it.  Remember the silly little fix-it things the buyers wanted done at the final walk through.  Well in order to have escrow continue on closure, we agreed that until we addressed the disposal, and that was it, they could withhold $500.  Well, Dwaine went over the very next day and did everything, including the smoke detector and and bathroom floor, even though we told then to stuff it.  The buyers realtor went over and ok ed everything and escrow closed.  Someone didn’t clue the title company in to what had been arranged and so they just automatically deducted the money.  I think most people just don’t want to deal with the last minute things that may hinder a closing and so they just say take the allotted money out of our cut and be done with it.  We did not want that to happen because $500 is substantial to us.  I have been trying to get someone to return my calls from  the title company about this matter and they have been rude and haven’t called me back.  We got our well paid realtor involved since he was given explicit instructions to not let this happen, and after a few days he finally addressed it.  I am expecting that last check today.  This puts our profit $200 over what we said we MUST have in selling. 

Now after all that, Brian feels really rich and so he went and bought a laptop.  He says he needs it for school.  I am beginning to wonder if school was just an excuse to get really cool electronics.  Just like Jeffrey’s job is a good excuse for getting new tools.  BOYS!