SINUS INFECTION

Just when mama was starting to feel like her old self again, what happens I ask? She is suffering from a sinus infection!!! Gawd how I hate getting sick!!! My head feels as though it is about to explode. When I take the Benadryl, I can breath but it knocks you out.

ANOTHER SNOW FILLED DAY

This morning started off with the whole Putney family waking up early. Papa had to go to work, mama and Mimi had a dentist appointment before school starts. Very early this morning more snow had fallen and outside looked just like a Christmas card so mama took a couple of pictures before the sun came up. They came out pretty good I think.

As soon as papa left the house he called on the cell phone to say that the roads were pretty bad and icey along the highway and for mama to be careful when going to the dentist. Mama assured him that things will be fine as we are going to the new dentist next to Mimi's school which is only a 15 minute walking distance. Mimi had a lot of fun riding in her sled all the the way to the dentist office. There is good news and bads news to tell. The bad news first. Mama has a couple of cavities an needs to have a crown put on one of her teeth. Both mama and the dentist discussed a dental regime that will suit her needs to see not only the dentist but a periodontist as well in order to keep her teeth from falling out. Just the way it was done back home in California. The good news is that Mimi has NO CAVITIES!!! Yipee!!! Mama and papa have been working hard to keep that from happening. Lots of brushing and flossing. Fortunately Mimi is not too crazy about candy but she does absolutely love hot cocoa and ice cream.

Since we had quite a good amount of snow fall last night and icey roads, the schools are closed for today (except for Mimi's school). On the way home from the dentist office, all the kids in the neighborhood was out having fun playing in the snow making snow angels, snowmen, snow sculptures, snowball fights and sledding down the driveways. Even the labs Ziggy and Marley got into the fun. Then it was time for a hot lunch and school for Mimi and naps for the little ones. Mama took Mimi to school in her new wagon that she really likes a lot.

Due to the weather, the school meeting that was scheduled for tonight has been cancelled. The teacher says they were going to talk to the parents about the new reading program that the school has just begun to implement. According to the teacher, based on the apptitude test all the students took a couple of months ago, the students will be put into different reading groups. Each group will consist of a book and the students will be given homework to do at home and turn them in when due.

At Mimi's last school the students were given a several different colored books and each book consisted of different things to do such as the red book the students were to practice writing letters, the blue book they were to practice writing numbers and so forth. I think this will be along the same lines. We shall see.

DINNER WITH GRANDMA AND GRANDPA

Tonight we all went to grandma's for a wonderful home cooked meal of chicken and rice. That is mama's and Mimi favorite dinner. Pictured here is Mimi showing grandma how to play the Leapfrog hand game of Nemo and showing grandpa her newly made meteor.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

This morning started off with breakfast at Black Diamond Bakery with Blake and his family. Papa Wade unfortunately could not join us as he had to go to work. After a lovely breakfast we went to Blake's house while papa had a meeting to attend. All morning it was cloudy no rain or snow. Around 2:00 pm mama had gone home while Mimi stayed to play with Blake. At that time thunder was heard then all of a sudden rain came pouring down super hard as if one was in the shower. It was followed by the hail then came the snow. Within 15 minutes we had a snow covered neighborhood. The funny thing is that this only happened in our neighborhood and not anywhere else.

Pictured with Mimi are Gabby (red jacket) and Natalie (blue pants). They had a blast slinging Mimi up and down the street till it was time to go to grandma's house. The girls in the neighborhood treat Mimi like their little mascot.

SENIOR MOMENTS

Come this Feb. 9th is Liam's 5th birthday. Papa decided he wanted to go skiing and get some good runs in. Mama and Mimi decided to go to South Center Mall area to buy some movies and get Liam a birthday certificate as part of his present. We decided to leave the house early enough to get the present and be back home before the rain/snow were to start. So of course we get to the shopping center and bought everything one needs for a rainy day except mama forgot to buy THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT!!! Which is why we went there in the first place!!! Gawd how I hate these senior moments.

On the way home mama decided to check in on grandma and grandpa. This morning mama had called to see how they were doing. Grandpa says that their power went out last night and they had no heat. The temperature last night was down to 25, do you think they would call and tell us? Hm? Heck no they did not!!! When we got there, the power was on but not the heat. They were waiting for the furnace man to come and light the pilot light. While mama and Mimi were there, the power went out again. Mama had tried to convince them to come to our house but grandpa refused. Said he wanted to wait to see if the power will come back on. Mama says that she married into a family that are a bunch of hard heads including her own immediate family!!!

Mama could not take the cold any longer so she left them her cell phone and said that she would call them in about an hour or so to make sure they were alright. In the meantime after arriving home, she called papa and asked him to go check on grandma and grandpa before coming home. He was in Enumclaw by this time. Enumclaw is not far from us so he did. When papa got home, he said that when he arrived at his parents home, the power was on and the furnace guy had just left their house. So now they have heat. Thank goodness.

MIMI'S METEOR

Mimi's class is studying the solar system at school. According to Mimi, Liam had made a meteor just like the one she is holding. Both Liam and Mimi had a good time tossing it around after school this afternoon. Mimi decided that she wanted mama to help her make one at home just like the one Liam has.

MIMI aka THE GAMBLER

Mimi loves playing cards. We have been playing for quite some time now. She loves playing old maid and go fish.

Mimi: OK mama, let's do ja-ken-po (rock, paper, scissors) to see who goes first.

Mama: Mimi, do you have a 5?

Mimi: Nope, go fish!!! Mama, do you have a 7?

Mama: Yes, here you go.

Mimi: BOO-YA !!! I won, I won, oh yeah, yeah, yeah!!! I won the Piston Cup (plastic bottle)!!!

Mama definitely needs to get a new camera sometime this year. The one she has now is pretty good for the outdoors but not inside.

GOOFING OFF

If there ever was a class in goofing off, our Mimi would most definitely get an A+++.

BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

Brrrrr!!! Is it ever cold outside!!! The weatherman says that it is suppose to get up to 41 degrees today. We'll see.

Mimi and mama have a busy day ahead of them today. We will go have breakfast at Black Diamond Bakery. Then it is off to the doctor office, then gymnastic school. This is the first visit with the new doc. After moving up north, mama found a very good doctor here. Then what does he do? He moves down to California where we are from!

Therefore mama had to find another doctor. She then tried to make an appointment with the new doctor and was told that the only way she could see Dr.so and so was that she needed to be sick. Now the time has finally come. Mama is not sick but does need a prescription for her thyroid medication. I tell you, moving out of state is a pain in the a_ _!!! Now they (political people) are trying to get the state of Washington to go Universal Health like they do up in Canada. This should be quite interesting to see how it plays out.

39 AND HOLDING

These are a few of the presents mama received for her birthday this month. The red roses and Seattle Seahawk sweatshirt are from Mimi and papa, the black purse is from grandma, the small white purse from Keri and the white rose from Janet. Not pictured is a Judy Garland dvd collection and book from Jim.

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Today is another gorgeous day outside. Enough so that mama decided that it was time to get out of the house. She is starting to get a little bit of cabin fever. Still it is quite cold outside. It got down to 23 degrees last night. It got so cold that the water on the school grass turned to ice. Only in the picture it looks like Mimi is standing in sand. It is so clear that one could see Mt. Rainier real good but unfortunately it did not come out well in the picture.

Back home in California mama was seeing a dentist and periodontist every six months regularly in order to keep her teeth from falling out. Since moving up north we have had to find a new dentist. About six months ago mama went to see a dentist group that came highly recommended. They took x-rays and the the whole shabang and recommended a periodontist. Mama made an appointment with the peiodontist then proceeded to forget to mark it on the calendear. As a result she had to re-schedule the appointment. The appointment was set for 7:30 in the morning. So Mimi and mama left the house at 7:00 and arrived on time. Filled out all of the paperwork and was sitting in the dentist chair only to be told that she would not be able to be seen that day because the previous patient had taken so much of their time. Mama had also hand delivered the x-rays to their office so that we would not have to take them again.

It takes a lot to get mama really ticked off and that took the cake.

Mama is now changing her dentist group. The periodontist group that I was refered to states that I never came to see them and never brought the x-rays to their office. In order for mama to see the new dentist, she has to go back to the other dentist office and get a copy of the x-rays and pay $25.00 or have the new dentist take another set of x-rays and pay $142.00 because the insurance will not pay for it since it is less than one year of having a dental exam. This whole experience is a real pain in the behind.

NEMO'S NEW CONDO

Mimi's Nemo (Blue Beta fish at the top of the tank) has a new "crib". Mama bought a couple of weeks ago mainly because she got tired of cleanning his apartment every other day. He seems to be quite happy with his new digs. Now and then our Stanley (kitty cat) will watch Nemo swim around. Nemo himself feels much safer now too knowing that Stanley will not be able to attack him.

Last night Mimi had her first sleepover at Blake's house. She did pretty good. Keri said she did have one small crying moment during the night so she (Keri) gave her some TLC and things were fine afterward. Mimi just loves Keri a whole lot. She will get upset if I don't let her talk to Keri on the phone whenever she calls. I feel so very fortunate to find some good friends up here.

The reason for the sleepover was that Greg's office had their holiday party last night at Sam's Olympic Sculpture Park. It's located not far from the Space Needle. We weren't exactly sure what time we would be home so therefore Keri took care of Mimi while we were out for the evening.

It worked out just great. Blake and Mimi get along real good and little sis Bailey just loves to tag along after Mimi and copy everything that Mimi does. In a way it is a good practice for Mimi especially when her mei mei comes to live with us.

UPDATE ON THE PUTNEY'S

Slowly but surely mama is feeling like her old self again. This past Christmas really knocked her for a loop. She is still sending out her Christmas care packages in time for the Chinese New Year.

Mama found a great website yesterday called Mandys Moon. It has a bunch of stuff you can purchase online regarding multicultural adoption items including Chinese.

One thing about moving is that once you put the furniture in place in your new home, it starts to look rather crappy. Our old green sofa and recliner looked good in our old home but not this new home. As a result, mama's Christmas present this past year is a new leather sleeper sofa and two recliners. It should be arriving at the end of the month. Ollie and Stanley got two new kitty sofas too.

Another new item we will mostly likely lease this year is a new SUV. It was very interesting reading Princess Teri's blog on how much she loves her new SUV. For several years now mama and papa have been considering getting a hybrid and now since the lease is up on our Honda, it's our chance to do it.

IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.....

We actually are experiencing a break in the gloom. These past few days have been amazingly gorgeous. It is still freeze you nunnies off cold (38 degrees). At least one could see the most amazing blue sky with patches of white clouds.

Mimi's new saying of the week "It's going to be a busy day today!" Mama says "No kidding!" EVERYDAY with our Mimi is BUSY!!!

One good thing about our Mimi being a early riser is that mama could go out and get some errands done before school. After school is the time for her playdates.

Pictured here is Mimi and Ollie. Ollie loves being outdoors especially during the summertime. Now that it is winter, he stays in more often. The good thing about him staying indoors is that he does not go out and eat the cat food that the neighbors put out. Therefore he has lost a considerable amount of weight and breathing easier. He has asthma and I don't have to use that darn inhaler as much. Plus the air smells very clean up here in Washington.

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF BABES

Mimi: Mama, how old are you?
Mama: 39 years old.
Mimi: You mean that you are not 80 years old anymore?
Mama: Gee thanks. My family is so wonderful to me. sigh.

MARRIAGE AND BOYS

Mimi: Mama, you are married to papa.
Mama: Yeess?
Mimi: Grandma is married to grandpa.
Mama: Yeess?
Mimi: Keri is married to Wade.
Mama: Yeess?
Mimi: AND I AM MARRIED TO BLAKE!!!
Blake: But Mimi, I already married you. I am married to Emery now.
Mimi: If you are married to Emery, how come you spend so much more time with me than you do with Emery?

On the other hand Mimi says to mama that "boys are ugly!" Mama tells her to keep thinking that same thought for the next 20 years.

HUMUNGUS

HU - MUN - GUS. That is Mimi's new word for the week. It is also the loss that our beloved Seahawks suffered in today's playoff game agains the Green Bay Packers. Mama is so, so, so very sad ;-(

Mama watched the game along with other Seahawk fans up at Crystal Mountain while papa and Mimi went skiing. Kids under 6 can ski free so we decided to take advantage of it this season. According to papa, Mimi did pretty darn good coming down the slopes. She also made sure papa pulled the bar down on the ski lift. Thank goodness she is a cautious little girl.;-)

LITTLE RED WAGON

Since our Mimi is a early riser, we went to the indoor playground before school and without Blake. Blake likes to sleep late. While there we saw several of our other neighbors and friends. Mama and her friend Krista were talking when mama mentioned how much Mimi loves wagons and that she wanted to buy one for her for her birthday. It will come in handy this coming summer when all the kids stay outside 95% of the time.

Krista told mama that Target in Issaquah had some on clearance sale for 70% off. Mama and Mimi hightailed it out of the gym and went to Target. We had just enough time to make the trip to Target (60 miles round trip), go to the pet shop for a filter for Nemo's condo (fish tank) and barely make it on time for school. Believe it or not there was only two left.

Mimi was quite happy with her new surprise toy.

WISHFUL THINKING

Now that our Mimi is a BIG 5 year old, she not only talks like a big person, she thinks like one too. On occassion mama will have a surprise (balloon or some such small gift toy) for her when she comes home from school. Our Mimi absolutely LOVES surprises. This was the conversation at breakfast.

Mimi: Mama, will you have a surprise for me when I get home from school today?
Mama: Maybe. It's possible.
Mimi: I know what kind of surprise you could get for me. You could surprise me with a GIANT HOUSE!!!

Mama hung her head and was speechless. Sigh.

BREAKFAST AT BLACK DIAMOND BAKERY

This morning mama had a real hankering for some pancakes, also she wanted to just get out of the house. This rainy weather that we are having can really bring some people down.

Therefore mama gave Keri a call and we all went down to the bakery for breakfast. Wade is off work for part of the day so he was able to join us. Then it was off to school for Blake and gymnastics for Mimi. Later this afternoon the kids may get together to play. It was just way too quiet last week when Blake was gone. Mimi especially is happy that he is back.

Blake is now on a basketball team and their first game is this Saturday. Unfortunately we will not be able to go see him play. Papa, mama and Mimi are planning to go up to Crystal Mountain for skiing. Since kids under the age of six can ski for free, papa wants to take advantage of it.

THE CELEBRATION CONTINUES

Today the celebration continued with Mimi two best friends Erin and Blake and their siblings Bailey and Liam. Erin's other friend Kaitlyn also joined us for the pizza party. Then it was off to school for Mimi and errands for mama.

Sorry that the pictures came out kind of blurry. It's hard to take a picture of the little tikes when they are constantly moving and you are holding a baby (Patrick).

MIMI'S BIG DAY

Today is Mimi's 5th birthday. The day started off with Mimi waking up to a snow covered home at 4:30 in the morning. After about a half hour, mama was able to get her back to sleep. Then at 6:30 it was time to get up and get ready to make the one hour trip to Tukwila Immigration Center to get our fingerprints done. By the time that was all done, mama and papa decided to drive to downtown Seattle's Uwajimaya market for lunch. Mimi was able to eat the tuna sushi that she loves so much.

We each drove our own cars so that papa could drive to work afterward. When lunch and a bit of shopping was done mama had just enough time to get Mimi to school. We were about 10 minutes late. Unlike Pacifica Montessori school, the school that Mimi goes to now allows a limited amount of sugary goodies. While Mimi was in school, mama made a short run to Safeway market to buy cupcakes for Mimi's birthday party at school.

Pictured here are a few of the cards and presents that Mimi recieved from our friends and family.