MONKEY BARS

We have been having a humungous amount of strange weather. Sunshine, snow, rain and more snow, now more rain with a patch of sunshine here and there. Due to the weird weather, plus Mimi getting sick last week, we have yet to get out to our neighborhood park. That is until this afternoon. Blake and his family decided that they wanted to walk with Mimi and mama to the park before Mimi had to go to school. Once arriving at the park both Mimi and Blake went running to the playset equipted with slide, bridge and monkey bars. Much to mama's surprise, Mimi is now able to reach the bars without mama giving her a boost up. Now only that, she can cross one bar at a time by herself about half way across the length of the bars!!! She must have been practicing on the bars at school without my knowledge. Needless to say it was the highlight of my day.

THIS IS ME

Although it is springtime up here in the northwest, it is still way too cold for the little tykes to go out and play. Plus it is wet from the melting snow. After taking a bath this morning and putting on her power ranger suit, Mimi and mama sat at the computer to catch up on the e-mails and blogs. We always enjoy reading Samantha's blog and reading about the antics that her and her family are up to these days. It makes missing our friends a little less painful. Mama always like to find out about free learning websites for Mimi. On Samantha's blog it had mentioned Starfall.com. We tried it out and Mimi loves it. As of now, I am getting bugged about getting off the computer so that the girl can play her games. So tootles for now.

STRANGE WEATHER

Within a 24 hour period up here in the northwest, we have experienced rain, snow, sunshine, hail and now sunshine again. I sometimes wish that Mother Nature would make up her mind but as the saying goes, it is a woman's perogative to change it now and then.

GOOD LUCK DAD

Mimi woke up early as usual this morning. Papa said that he was not sure if he would go into the office today as he feels that he is coming down with the same viral infection as Mimi.

So when Mimi could not get the tv channel that she wanted, she came in to ask mama to help her. Mama said that there will be no tv this morning to which Mimi asked the universal question of all 5 year olds "WHY?" Mama replied that papa was not feeling well. "OK then, can I play on the computer?" the girl asked. OK mama said.

Papa decided that he would go into the office today. So when he went to say good-bye to the child her reply was "Good luck dad!" Then sent him off with a smile.

Later in the day mama had called papa to see how he was feeling then hung up the phone. Mimi was quite upset that mama did not let her talk. So therefore she called him back then let Mimi talk. The next thing mama heard was Mimi telling papa "I didn't want to talk to you! I wanted to talk to Blake!" Poor papa, he is the lowest man on the totempole that is until he comes home, then Mimi is all over him with hugs and kisses.

ANOTHER SNOW DAY

It had snowed all last night and into this morning. The sun came out this afternoon and the sky is amazingly a gorgeous blue color with a few clouds This is a picture of Mimi's girlfriends on their way home from school. Left to right is Sidney and sister Janae, Maddie and sister Marissa.

The weatherman says that we are expected to get more snow and rain tonight. So far they have been right on target with their predictions.

STORYTELLING TIME

Mimi is still feeling a bit under the weather. Her appetite is slowly coming back, her energy most definitely has come back. Tonight after dinner Mimi and papa enjoyed quiet time together reading Mimi's monthly edition of "Highlights". I always enjoyed that magazine myself when I was a kid.

CHRISTMAS IN MARCH

While our friends are having BBQ weather down on So. Cal. We are having a snow day. The weatherman was right for once. The past few days have been quite clear. Last night it started to snow up in them thar hills. Then this evening it started to snow at the lower levels. Maple Valley is located at the 500 foot level. It started snowing so much that the neighborhood gals Gabby (left) and Jordan (right) was out having fun having a snowball fight. The snow is coming down harder as I look out our office window. According to the weather report, this snow is to continue for the next couple of days. I'm sure that the kids will be happy if it still snows tomorrow and there is no school.

THE END OF MIMI'S WORLD AS SHE KNEW IT

This afternoon, out of the blue she started to wail like a banshee!!! Egads!!! Mama says to her "What is your problem little girl?" She could not tell me, just wailed some more. "Am I your problem?" mama asked. Through her tears that are flying out of her eyes she says "Nnnnooooo, I don't want to wear these pants sob, sob, sob, I wanna wear my FAVORITE PANTS more sob, sob, sob." Mama then tells her that they are earmarked for the washing machine. Can you not see the fumes coming out of them? This brought on more tears. Then she was upset because she could not have 5 more minutes on the computer. We all know where she got that one from (hmmm papa?). Papa is forever and a day saying "In a minute". We finally made it to the market and pharmacy to get our medication. Mama knew that all this happened because Mimi has been fighting a viral infection and we are sleep deprived. Therefore we skipped gymnastic school today. Thank goodness she is over the worst of it. Her appetite is starting to come back so mama will have papa bring home some pizza from Papa Murphy's tonight after work. That is Mimi's ultimate favorite treat.

BLAH, BLAH, BLAH AND KNOCK KNOCK JOKES

It's amazing, our Mimi who we consider an absolute Einstiein and very bright child comes up with something like this. Her new schtick now is going around the house and saying blah, blah, blah while trying to do tricks with her tongue such as curling it.

She also is starting to get into the knock knock jokes.

Papa: Knock, knock.

Mimi: Who's there?

Papa: Orange.

Mimi: Orange who?

Papa: Orange you going to let me in?

Then they both fall off their chairs laughing on to the floor.

WIND STORM AND RAIN STORM

Today is absolutely gorgeous outside. Yesterday was a different story though, It was dark, rainy and windy. We had so much wind that it just blew mama's Hyacinth's right down to the ground. So today she went to pick them and placed them in the kitchen just above the sink. Oh they smell sooooo good!!! They make the whole kitchen smell oh so sweet.

Just in case you are wondering about the picture in the background, it is a picture of mama and papa on their first big date to Disneyland on Saturday July 11, 1994 (papa's birthday). It was a great day that day. Everything that we had planned for that day just fell into place.

CALIFORNIA LICENSE PLATE

Much to mama's surprise, this is what she found when she went out to the garage this afternoon to get the broom. Papa must have put it up yesterday when he was working out there. It most definitly put a smile on her face.

We must soon start looking into getting mama a new car. The lease on our CRV is almost up. Still not quite sure what kind of vehicle to get. I would like to have one that is environmentally friendly, gas efficient, and a roomy SUV but not as big as Keri and Wade's "Dinali".

OUR LITTLE MIMI'S BACK

Mimi says that she is feeling much better today. Her temperature has gone completely way down to normal. However she is vomiting small amounts of clear fluid. So it is possible that she may have a touch of the stomach flu. It has been going around the neighborhood lately. Blake, Bailey and Izzy all went through it recently. Mimi I think just caught the tail end of it thank goodness. Other than the little vomiting she is doing this morning, she is back to asking a gazillion questions and giving mama zerbits. Our plan today is to take it easy and drink plenty of fluids. Thank goodness Mimi enjoys eating the small Japanese Jello that mama buys at the Asian market.

PAPA'S LITTLE HELPER

Today papa decided to put up some shelves in the garage plus putting up the ceiling fan in both of the girls bedrooms. Come this summer it will most definitly get quite hot up here in the Northwest. It feels even hotter especially when we don't get any wind. Mimi loves helping out whenever she can.

Up until this afternoon she seemed perfectly fine. Once lunch was over, she decided to lay down and take a nap. When she awoke, mama saw that her cheeks were quite rosey in color. I guess for most kids it looks good on them but not our Mimi. Sure enough she had a temperature of 101. Therefore papa went to grandma and grandpa's house for dinner by himself.

Mama stayed home with Mimi. Mama then gave Mimi some St. Joseph's aspirin and lots of fluids. The temperature did spike up to 103.1 Mama then put Mimi in the tub and cooled her off with cool tepid water, another dose of St. Joseph's and ice packs and more fluids. Now the temperature is coming down back to 101 thank goodness.

Mimi does say that she feels much better. She is now sleeping peacefully. Mama in the meantime is still up and checking in on her every 10 minutes changing the cold washcloths to her neck and head.

There will definitely be no school for tomorrow.

EMERGENCY

For quite some time, papa had been wanting to try out this Thai restaurant in nearby Covington. It was ok, nothing to rave about. We were so spoiled by Siam Best in Marina Del Rey.

Usually when we get ready to go out, this is mama's conversation with Mimi.

Mimi: Mom, are you coming or what?!

Mama: I'm coming Mimi.

Mimi: If you don't come, I'm going to have to call 911. That's an emergency you know.

You never know what she is going to say next.

MAMA'S GARDEN

For the past two weeks, mama has been hard at work getting her flower garden started in between taking Mimi to gymnastic school and pre-school and between the rains and drizzle that we have been having lately.

First she is getting the perrinials started then maybe once everything is set the way she wants it, she will work on planting annuals.

Papa had suggested that mama should line the flower bed with some type of border. Since becoming a stay at home mom, mama is having to be strict with the finances. So therefore on the way to taking Mimi to school one day she saw quite a few rocks. They are still in the process of building more homes here. So there are plenty of rocks to go around. Mama has come to be known as the "Rock Lady". She has been hauling rocks in Mimi's wagon and linning them all around our huge backyard flower bed.

Today while shopping at Home Depot, mama saw some cobblestones for sale for almost $3.00 a piece. She figured that she saved approximately $500.00 worth of stone.

The hard part about planting is when I dig about 3 inches into the dirt, I hit rock and stone. Papa says that since we live quite close to Mt. Rainier (volcano that no longer erupts), is the reason for the stone and rocks. It is hardened lava from the past.

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS

The good news is now Mimi and Blake are back to playing like brother and sister again. Just as goofy as can be. After coming home from the movies, Mimi took a two hour nap then dinner then it was time to play with Blake again. This evening after dinner Blake came over to play for a while then we all went over to Blake's. When we arrived at Blake's we found out our other friends Lisa and her family plus Ben and Brian were there also. Mimi was in 7th heaven. Not only did she have Blake to play with but Bubba as well.

The bad news is that this evening mama found out from our good friend Maggi that another one of our good friends Mary Ann has Lymphoma of the neck glands.

HORTON HEARS A WHO

Today there is no school for Mimi due to the fact it is teacher enhancement day. Therefore all the kids in our school district has the day off.

This morning while Mimi played at Blake's, mama took all of the forms to Mimi's new school for this September enrollment into kindergarten.

When that was all done, Keri and mama took the kids for lunch at Johnnie Rockets and a movie at the Kent Station AMC theater where we saw Horton Hears A Who. Cute movie. The kids seemed to like it.

Everyone was quite tired and grump butts by the time it was time to go home. Blake is our adopted son and brother to Mimi. They play hard and fight hard. On the way home, Mimi was keeping herself entertained with a Christmas gift wrap roll and Blake wanted to take it away from her. Mimi says to him "Leave me alone!!!" To which started him crying and whinning. Then one could hear Mimi say "Oh alright! What's your problem?!"

In the meantime baby sister Bailey started crying because she had lost her Binkey somewhere in the car and we could not stop to find it. Mama Keri says that as soon as she gets home, she is taking a trip to wineville which is what this mama will do tonight.

FUNKY TOWN

Mimi still loves to listen to Alvin and the Chipmunks and their version of "Funky Town". Whenever we get ready to enter Maple Valley from any of the nearby towns , Mimi will say "Mama, we're going into Funky Town!!!"Then she'll say "Mama, say, you got that right babe!!!" Cracks me up everytime.

WHAT THE HECK.....

What the heck... is Mimi's new saying now a days. When gymnastic school was over, we stopped by the local Safeway market to pick up a few items and Mimi was hungry for a corn dog.

When we got home, she went to lie down. Mama thought that she was through with the corn dog since she saw Mimi throw the stick away. When mama realized how quiet the house was, she went to check on Mimi and this is what she found. So she gently took the hot dog out of the mouth. Not to worry folks, she was breathing fine during this whole time. Scared mama for a few minutes though.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY TO EVERYONE

BIRTHDAYS AND HOLIDAYS

This week was Erin's 5th birthday so this afternoon was her party. The kids had loads of fun playing in the bouncer that Keri provided and playing Treasure Hunt.

Tonight we will be going over to grandma and grandpa's to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with corn beef and cabbage. YUM YUM!!!

MONTHLY CHINA FAMILY PLAYDATE

Last night we got together for our monthly playdate at Godfather's Pizza in Auburn. The girls and Tai (the only boy in the group) really had a good time especially when playing air hockey. One of the mom's there (Angie) had mentioned to us about a private Mandarin class very close to Green River College that we are going to check out this next Saturday. Mimi really likes watching Ni Hao Kai Lan in the morning before going to school. So she is learning a little bit of Chinese. So now we'll have to see how this Mandarin class will play out for us.

On the weekend of July 11th (papa's birthday) the FCC up here is going to sponser their annual Heritage Camp weekend. We possibly may go and meet together with other China families. We already know that our new friend Rhonda and her two girls will be going again this year.

LIQUID LOVE aka MOTHER'S LITTLE HELPER

Our Mimi bless her little heart has the energy of 5 kids. She is still in the "Why" phase. She will ask a gazillion questions then when you tell her the answer she will ask the universal question "WHY?" Mama then answers with the universal answer, "Because I said so!" Therefore by the end of the week after everyone is in bed, mama settles down with her friend (a glass of wine) and unwinds.

I'M SINGING IN THE RAIN. . . . . .

Today is a rainy day so mama brought Mimi's boots and umbrella with her when she went to pick Mimi up from school. Of course as usual, Mimi did her rendition of "Singing In The Rain" all the way home. She loves splashing in the curbside puddles.

MEI MEI'S ROOM

Mei Mei's room is finally done!!! YIPPEE!!! The only thing left to do is put up the curtains which is something that needs to be done throughout the whole house.

MD VISIT

This morning Mimi had her 5 year old wellness exam and immunization shots. Everything was going so smoothly UNTIL the nurse brought in the injections, 4 shots in all. Being that our Mimi will most likely always be petite (40% range in both height-41.5 inches and weight-37lbs), the nurse gave all the shots in her thighs (2 for each thigh). Mimi wailed like a banshee. Mama had to hold her down tight and it nearly broke her heart to see her baby cry like that.

As soon as the visit was over, we headed right over to the Dairy Queen for a vanilla ice cream cone. Mimi soon felt much better.

NEW ADDITION

There is a new addition to the Putney household as of today. Baby Jagwa has a new brother who has yet to be named. Today was Mimi's sharing day at school so she decided that she wanted to share the Diego backpack, Baby Jagwa and the giraffe. Any suggestions for the name is welcomed.

MAMA KNOWS BEST

At 5 years old, mama still has Mimi taking a nap at least 90-95 % of the time. Reason is because Mimi will wake up early (approx. 7:00 or earlier) and if she does not nap, she is a real super duper lunatic by nightfall.

This was our conversation on the way home after gymnastic school and a trip to the Covington Nursery.

Mama: Mimi, when we get home I would like you to go upstairs and go lay down and take a nap for a while OK?

Mimi: But I don't want to. I'm not tired.

Mama: Yes I know but I would still like for you to lay down for a while.

Mimi: But I'm not sleepy.

Mama: You have a choice, either lie down on your bed or sit in your time our chair.

Mimi: I want to sit in YOUR TIME OUT CHAIR.

Looking at the picture, I rest my case. Mama always knows best.