The way our blog looks during the past year I think you’ve heard this song before. We never intended for our stay in Portland to be short, but we went into it seeing what could be and what would happen. After 10 years selling real estate I knew that I didn’t want to spend another decade doing it, even if things were going pretty well in Portland. After months of waiting following my application, a whirlwind of interviews in March led me to accepting a job with a global IT/business consulting company, Accenture, and moving at the end of April to San Jose, CA. After several weeks of training and finally gaining Andrea’s acceptance to move here, our family is together and just moved into a house in Fremont, CA, in the East Bay about 15 miles north of San Jose and 35 miles south of San Francisco.

I hope we can post some pictures soon of the journey…I definitely have some and I know Andrea has many more. Thank you to our friends on both ends who helped us load and unload the truck. It all worked out and at least the inside of the house is coming together although we still have a garage full of boxes.

7 years and 364 days ago Andrea and I were married in Las Vegas. Last night we celebrated with a great Thai dinner in San Francisco followed by seeing Wicked. Dinner was rushed  complimentary of Bay Area traffic adding an extra 30 minutes to the drive, but we stuff ourselves with chicken Pad Thai, beef pumpkin curry and other treats before rushing off to see the show. The parking gods smiled upon us and we made it into the show in plenty of time. The kids were good for our babysitter, and so another great anniversary outing is complete. Tomorrow night on our anniversary day I’m sure we’ll crack open a great bottle of wine to go with whatever wonderful food we decide to whip up. Maybe a good barbeque roast should be on this menu.  Yummm…

Tommy starts school in just a week, and we got him enrolled here in soccer too so he gets to play each week with his friends. It’s not competitive at this point, but still lots of fun. Annalise is itching for dance classes, so we’re exploring our options and trying to find the right place for her.

I promise I’ll write more soon and include some pictures next time!

I decided to wait until the Chinese New Year to really ring in 2009…the year got off to a rocky start for us and I found it difficult to put a smile on my face and type a happy, bubbly update. It would have come out “Tommy is climbing up the walls and watching WALL-E for the 873rd time,” and “Why won’t Annalise stop teething/whining already?” Who really wants to hear about that?

One at a time, starting with James. The leader of the pack has been a busy, busy man. He’s been working his tail off in real estate, which is no small feat considering the state of the economy. Prior to the holidays he was studying like mad for the GMAT exam, which he passed in mid-December with a promising score. His first days of ’09 were spent writing application essays for MBA programs at UCLA, USC and Stanford. He’s also working on an app for UC Berkeley. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that he’s accepted into at least one program, but feeling confident as he’s already received an interview request for the Anderson School of Management at UCLA. Hooray! This is a very exciting time for our family, and we’re looking forward to figuring out which part of California will be our next stop.

As for me, when I’m not editing James’ essays, tending to the kids or mopping the floors, I’m dreaming about Annalise’s quilt. I’m so excited to have finally started this project for her. That makes me an honorary granny long before my time, doesn’t it? I completed Tommy’s right before Christmas and it really was a fun endeavor. There were never enough hours in the day for me to work on it…if only the house would clean itself! I put together a design for our little lady’s quilt last week, shopped for fabrics (love this local boutique) over the weekend and this week I hope to get started on cutting the pieces (which is my least favorite part). In other news, my dad was very sick upon his return home from his Christmas visit with us. It was really hard to be so far away while he was ill, but he’s on his way to healthy now. Thanks for all the prayers.

Now onto the kiddos (the real reason you check this page!). Tommy started at a new school earlier this month, Faith Lutheran Preschool. It is much closer to our house (3 miles and no traffic instead of 10 miles and a million stoplights), and he’s fitting right in like he’s been part of the class all year. The program is much more tolerant of his wiggly nature and we love that it is a faith-based program. It’s like he’s going to Sunday School every day! Instead of three 6-hour days per week he now attends for three hours each morning. It’s shaping into a nice routine and he is genuinely happy with the change. He’s still obsessed with planes, mac & cheese and a new fave, WordGirl. We anxiously await his 4th birthday…they magically become obedient and pleasant at age 4, right?

Annalise is still grins and giggles 90% of the time. She’s been dealing with a rough bout of teething this month…#11, #12, #13, #14, #15 and #16 have made their appearance since Christmas (those numbers don’t correspond to a teething chart, all you dentists, just calling them out chronologically). It’s been a misery for our poor girl (her only relief is a splash of Tylenol and teething tablets), but now all she has left are her two-year-old molars. She’s pretty much running at this point, gleefully chasing Tommy from room to room. We need to invest in some climbing gear for her (think carabiners), as her newest hobby is scaling the couch like a nimble ninja. She loves to climb up there with her brother, notably standing on the end tumbling distance to the tile/head injury. And she grins. The sense of pride that beams from her face is absolutely amazing. She’s picking up a new word here and there, too. Lately she’s been focused on “D,” such as doggie, duckie, daddy. Oh, and she’s very good at “No” while shaking her head. I think Tommy had more words by this point, but this girl is too busy laughing at her brother’s antics to worry about what to say.

That’s 2009 for the Wedewers thus far. I’ll work on posting some recent pictures in the not-too-distant future, and I’ll try to do so thoughtfully. The picture purges are a great way to get it done quickly, but not the best way to document our family history, which is the primary purpose of this site. Making a note to add “historian” to my list of hats. Nighty night!

What an amazing holiday…and how quickly it went by! Tommy really “got it” this year, and Annalise enjoyed joining him in all his revelry. Once again, I’m feeling very lazy, so my update will be mostly pictures. Hey family members, if you have more pictures from the holiday please send them my way…I was too busy in the kitchen to snap very many photos. I know there are more out there! Enjoy…and have a blessed 2009!

Super Wedewers! Tommy wanted to be a superhero this year, and since the rest of us didn’t really have a preference we followed suit. James and I were Super Lame and just got t-shirts. Here are some pics from this year’s festivities.

Here are some pics from our trip to Portland in early October. We were all over the place! We stayed with Aunt Donna & Uncle Gary. Went to Bradi & Josh’s rehearsal dinner and wedding. Got to see Great Grandma Lucille. Had a fun visit to OMSI with Jess, Henry, Sarah & Kelton. The kids went to Grandpa Rick\’s farm for a night so James & I could attend the wedding. We also had a nice visit with Grandma Renee, Great Grandma Rosemary, Aunt Denise & Uncle Joe. And we rounded out the trip with a nice lunch at Izzy\’s Pizza, which was a huge hit with Tommy & Annalise.

I’ll add captions as time allows, but seeing as it’s taken me a month to post this much it might not be right away!

Sunday we enjoyed a very lazy morning and lounged in jammies until nearly noon. We made a big, lingering breakfast. We started with Cheerios and ended with Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Annalise chowed on favorites and new treats. She dined on baby-sized pancake pieces, quartered blueberries and egg yolk. She and I make a great team with eggs…I *try* to stick to the whites and she eats the yolk (no whites until she’s 12 months old).

Tommy saw me snapping a pic of his sister and insisted I commemorate his breakfast, too. He munched on silver-dollar pancakes, scrambled eggs and OJ.

None too amused when I pointed the lens in his general direction, our chef glared at me with a mouthful of syrupy cakes over the morning paper. If he drank the stuff, I’d say he needed some coffee!

When the tables turned I HID! No way would he get a shot of me that early in the morning! Annalise thought I was playing peek-a-boo and started to giggle.

And here are the Chocolate Chip Cookies we ate after our real breakfast. Click on the link and try this doggone recipe. It’s well worth 36 tortuous hours of dough chilling.

I love Sundays!

June 11, 2008. At Dillon’s high school graduation party.