December 11th, 2010 by Busy Mommy

I went for a walk with my brother at Lake Chabot today.  It’s so BEAUTIFUL there right now.  The leaves are brilliantly yellow.  It occurred to me as we were walking that I will be 30 in a few more months and my brother is already 26.  Where is the time going?  I seem to always think of my brother as being 20, but somehow another 6 years have gone by. This wasn’t really part of the photo shoot- but I just had to take a picture because if you’ll look closely at my brother’s sideburn- yes that’s what I said, sideburn, you’ll notice it’s red.  His hair changes color at that point to a brilliant red, so if he ever grew a beard we’d have a redheaded, I mean redbearded irish ruffian on our hands.  Just kidding about the ruffian part of course.

December 7th, 2010 by Busy Mommy

Wow- it’s obvious I have been totally brainwashed by the idea that weddings are all about the bride because I didn’t get even one picture of the groom!  How terrible, after all it takes two to pay for a wedding!  The “girls” were privileged enough to get a sneak peak of Shael before the ceremony began.  Our very own Bibi Elyse was responsible for making the wedding jewelry- gorgeous isn’t it?It was at a vineyard in Livermore called Casa Real- all of it was just so beautiful- the banquet hall was ENORMOUS and yet the materials used to make the room created a cozy atmosphere somehow still. I missed out on tasting this cake…poor Nolan was just so wiped out that we finally left early so he could get some sleep.  He’s just not a kid who can sleep anywhere and everywhere. Only 3 more weeks!  Yikes! “I want YOU to hold me mommy….”

December 2nd, 2010 by Busy Mommy

My wonderful parents-in-law just celebrated their 40th anniversary this year.  40 years!  10 more years and that would be half a century!  The great thing is they sure look pretty happy still.  These are the photos from the lovely family vacation we had in October to celebrate.  Isn’t this a great photo of them?  Actually their anniversary is August 1st, but coordinating the schedules of basically 4 separate families is always a job.  Sorry it took so long to get these up- there were so many photos to go through!

I have to share the photo of the “cake” i made.  It’s carrot cake, as it’s said to be Joe’s favorite, but notice the red “frosting” that looks remarkably like blood splatters. Ben and I literally laughed out loud when it was completed. I think I’ll stick to quilting.There was a peaceful manmade lake a short walk from the cabin we stayed at.  The water was nice and clear and we saw frogs and tadpoles in it. Nolan found the gate at the cabin and kept trying to squeeze throught the 2″ slats.  When that didn’t work he jiggled the latch (he loves those things!) Man does he look like a tiny muscle man or what?? And what did we find by the lake but Eldberries! Nolan seemed to like them which proves he is a true Castner.Elyse and I played ping pong and then some other game I forgot the name of and we laughed so hysterically we could barely carry on much of the time.  It was belly-aching. Hmmm, let’s try grammy’s glasses on for size shall we? Nolan wasn’t walking in Ocober yet, and Elyse was helping him learn by dragging the cooler around with Nolan attached to the cooler. A hike was in order- it was freezing and a bit rainy, so we majorly bundled up, garbage bag clothing and all. The view from one of the cliffs was breathtaking- honestly I felt it was almost more beautiful than the view at the top of Half Dome because it was completely uninhabited which really adds to the beauty. Our stopping point was at a foggy still lake here we had lunch in the frigid cold but loved every minute of it! On our trip out it was pretty cold, so we bundled nolan’s hands up in an extra pair of Ben’s hiking socks and he fell asleep. Monday on our way out we had a great afternoon at Cover’s Apple Ranch. Look at these guys!  Aren’t they handsome? These are my favorite pair of work-worn hands…they’ve done so much for me. Here we all are!  It was a lovely way to commemorate such a special anniversary of 40 years.