HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM MIMI AND BUTCH

Today started off with quite a bit of rain. Fortunately by nightfall it had completely stopped. Not as many kids this year as opposed to last year. Around 5:00 was when Halle and Blake came over for a pizza dinner then we all headed out to trick or treat. Mom saw a whole bunch of perfectly carved pumpkins but the ones in the picture here are the most beautiful and endearing ones that she loved because although dad help to cut the tops and gut it out, Mimi drew the faces on them and Blake carved them out. The kids even named each and every one of them. Starting left to right is: Triangle Eyes = mom, Loose Tooth = dad and Big Mouth = Mimi

THE LETTER "N"

Mimi: Mom, do you know what starts with the letter "N"?
Mom; Napkin?
Mimi: No. It's Naomi Bi - Yo - Ni

A SLIGHT DISAPPOINTMENT

This year while other kids in the country went on a field trip to the pumpkin patches, Mimi's school decided not to go. Mom heard through the grapevine that the reason is because one never knows when it will rain up here this time of year and where the pumpkin patches are (old dairy farms), it is usually muddy. This is something that is not far from the truth. Plus that the fact is that the majority of the parents have taken their kids to at least one pumpkin patch on their own. We took Mimi to two of them this year. Maris Farms and Remlinger Farms. In place of the pumpkin patches, Mimi's school is going to take a field trip in December to the Children's Museum in downtown Seattle right next to the Space Needle. She is very excited about that idea. Another big plus to it, is that they get to ride the school bus there and 12 parents from her class can go as chaperons. Mom is hoping to be one of them. So far the teacher told mom that she could go with them but we will have to see.

OUR MISS SOCIAL BUTTERFLY

This morning started of with mom being completely and totally exhausted after last night's wing ding at our home. The kids had a super great time so it was all well worth it. This morning as usual Butch woke mom up and believe it or not Mimi was still asleep at 7:00. Mom went to get Butch out of Mimi's room before she could wake up. She had so much fun last night playing with her chums. Dad came home late after stopping at grandpa's house. When the party was done and the clean up was done, Mimi and dad carved another pumpkin together. Unfortunately there was not enough light to take a decent picture of the two of them. Around 10:30 this morning was when we were just about ready to go for a brunch at Black Diamond Bakery, Mimi wanted to invite Blake and so she did just that and of course he got dressed in no time flat. We always have a good time together. Then it was time to head down to the Farmers Country Market for some Rockridge Apple Cider. Next thing we knew it was time to head for school. While Mimi was in school, mom got together with a couple of other moms to stamp some treats for Halloween. Mom loves doing arts and crafts. This year another mom in Mimi's class Katrina "Kat" invited mom to join her in doing some card stamping. So this year all of our Christmas Cards are handmade by yours truly. Now that school is out for the day, Mimi is over at Erin's house watching.......... a Barbie movie! The surprising part is that she is actually enjoying it too! Plus get this, Mimi said that she did not want to go to the park on this gorgeous fall day. Mimi says "Mom, we don't have this Barbie movie!" Will wonders ever cease. Mom is now at home enjoying some quiet time to herself.

ANOTHER KODAK MOMENT

This is definitely a Kodak moment. This is the very first time Mimi has ever given Ziggy and Marley a pet let alone a hug. In the past she would just look at them and would not even touch them and these two dogs are the most laid back dogs you have ever laid eyes on. Butch must be having some effect on Mimi.

ZIGGY AND BUTCH

As the party was winding down, our neighborhood friend Krista was walking by with her two pure white retrievers Ziggy and Marley. Pictured here is Butch and Ziggy.

PUNMPKIN CARVING PARTY

This evening the kids from Mimi's school had a blast at the potluck pumpkin party. The weather was great. Not too cold well plus we had the heat lamp going and they were all running around in the front yard chasing each other and that kept them warm. After eating dinner they all carved their own pumpkins and of course Blake being the man he is decided that Mimi needed his help with hers.

WILD WILD NORTHWEST

For those of us who can remember, there was a show called Wild Wild West. Only in our case it is the northwest. This morning started of early as usual with Butch barking to go out and Mimi up and about. It then went downhill after that. Now and then Mimi will go into lolligag mode and mama finds herself having to repeat things over and over and over and over. Things such as clean your room, change your clothes and so forth. Today was not the day to lolligag. We had things to do and places to go. While mom was getting ready for the day, Mimi was downstairs practicing her piano, then she took forever getting her shoes on in order to go to McDonald's for breakfast (mainly because she likes to play on their playset), when it was time to head for the gymnastic class, again she lolligaged putting her shoes on and we were late but not late enough for us to schedule a make up class. After class we had just 45 minutes to get home, change clothes and walk over to the school and again she was goofing off. This time mom was starting to lose it and sent Mimi to her time out sofa. Being the little chili pepper that she is, she ran upstairs yelling NO! Then proceeded to run into her bedroom and lock the door. Needless to say we had a fallout. There is a key to open the door in case that it gets locked. The problem was that everytime mom started to lock the door, Mimi who is on the inside would lock it as soon as mom would unlock it. The little twerp. Finally she came out and mom sent her to the time out sofa. As she was being marched downstairs Mimi informed mom that when she gets big she is not going to be a doctor or vet but that she is going to steal everything from her room to the catapillar. Where that one came from, I have no clue. We did however make it to school on time. After school she was back to being an angel again. When I asked if she was still mad, she says "just a little". I think it is because I told her that this coming weekend, dad is going to take the locks off the bedroom doors. Then I asked her if she was still going to be our doctor and she said "No". "But then who will take card of dad when he gets sick?" mom asks. "Oh alright, I'll be a doctor on Friday" Mimi says. Mimi also said that she is going to teach mei mei how to listen and follow directions. Go figure! By the time the party rolled around she was back to her happy go lucky self. Mom is exhausted though but happy. I tell you it is never ever dull around here and I would not have it any other way. Mimi is definitely the spiting image of my mom.

FUNERAL FOR A CATAPILLAR

There so many catapillars at Mimi's school. Everyday the kids enjoy playing with them before school starts. This afternoon mom was informed by Blake that there is a dead catapillar. The next thing mom knew, Mimi had picked up the dead catapillar with some leaves and had a procession line going for herself. Following in a straight line behind Mimi was Halle, Blake, Zoe and some other kids. Then mom saw Halle and Mimi crouch down on the sidewalk where Mimi had laid the catapillar. They were whispering something but mom could not hear what they were saying. Halle told mom that they were praying for the catapillar to go to heaven. Now tell me, how cute is that?

SUNDAY FAMILY DAY

Sunday morning started off with mom making pancakes and bacon. Mimi's favorite. Then Keri called to say that she is taking the kids for a bike ride over at the school and wanted to know if Mimi would like to join them. Of course the answer was yes and mom and dad had a little time to themselves. Mom did a little cleanning and dad did some yard work. Very romantic aren't we??? Next thing mom knew, it was kick off time for the Seahawks and they won the game!!! Woo Hoo!!! In the meantime the kids went to Blake's house then came back to our house. They no sooner came to our house then Janet called to see if they would like to come down to the park since it was so gorgeous outside. So of course Blake did not want to go since he is more of an indoor person and Mimi did want to go because she is an outdoor kind of gal. Guess who won out?? You got it. Off to the park they went for a couple of hours. Then it was back home again. They no sooner arrived home, when Keri came to take Blake home. Since the boy likes to spend half his life here they were kind of missing him at home. Needless to say he was one sad, sad little boy. As soon as the Seahawks game was over it was time for mom to cook dinner and watch the Phillies beat the pants off the Rays in the World Series. Meanwhile dad took Mimi to Home Depot and check out the new Costco. They no sooner arrived at Costco when mom called to tell them to come home. Although the weather was gorgeous, it was a bit windy too and the wind started to blow off the top of our patio furniture. YIKES! Dad came home and took care of business. Later in the evening he and Mimi got the pumpkins gutted out in time for tomorrow night's pumpkin carving party.

CHINA GET TOGETHER

We all had a good time at Godfather's Pizza. Mimi always has a good time playing air hockey with the girls. Here she is sharing Butch with Emma (left holding the pup) and Shay Lynne. After all was said and done, it was time to go home to put a sleepy Mimi and Butch to bed.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

After the soccer game and lunch, Mimi and mom went with dad to his office. Butch tagged along with us. While dad was working Mimi watched Brother Bear on the car dvd while mom slept. After a wonderful nap, we headed up to dad's office and hung out with him up there for a while. Then it was time to head out to Godfather's Pizza in Auburn but not before stopping at Uwajimaya for sushi for Mimi and mom. We were kind of tired of pizza. This is what mom found while shopping for Mimi's "treasures". You can barely read the top of the label but it says Transylvania and Dracula's Castle.

LAST SOCCER GAME

Saturday morning started off with mom fixing breakfast for everyone including the four legged ones and getting the kids ready for their last soccer game. It was the last game of the season for Mimi and Blake. Although Mimi and Blake are in the same league they are on different teams. Mom was still exhausted from the day before and we still had our China family get together to go to in the evening and dad wanted to go into the office to get some work done. He really has a whole lot to do now. Usually he gets real busy around the holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. People are trying to get out of town you know. So even though mom was super tired she and Mimi went with him but not before stopping home to change Mimi clothes and have lunch at Red Robins.

MIMI'S FIRST CONCERT

Finally mom is able to get around to updating the blog. Last Friday started off with getting ourselves to school by 9:00 a.m. It was early release day and so it was the afternoon kindergarten's turn to go in the morning and it was mom's turn to volunteer and help the teacher with whatever needed to be done. The kids were just besided themselves because it was the day when they could have lunch with the "big kids" and eat in the cafeteria. They were ready to eat lunch at 9:30 in the morning just after arriving at school. They had a choice of bringing a sack lunch or paying $2.25 for pizza lunch.

Mom only had to stay one hour. So when her time was up she did a little grocery shopping then skidaddled back to school in time to give Mimi her lunch money. At first mom prepared Mimi a sack lunch until she found out that her friends were going to eat pizza and she did not want Mimi to feel left out.

As soon as school let out at 1:10 p.m Blake and Halle came over to the house to play. Next mom knew Blake had asked to call his Mom. This is what mom heard on the phone, "mom, can I sleep over at Mimi's??? Dottie said it was ok" I had been bamboozled!!! So of course Halle wanted to sleep over too. What the heck! What's two more kids? They all had a blast playing Wii and playing with Butch.

By dinner time mom had ordered pizza again because we had a concert to go to that night. She was also taking all three kids by herself. Man is she brave or what? It was a chance for her to give Wade and Keri a chance to attend Dominick's (neighbor) birthday party plus it was also Wade's birthday. Also it was a chance for Brandy to have a semi date with her husband John and baby Mac Callister. Before going to the concert mom sat all the kids on the sofa and laid out the rules.

This concert was given by all of the music teachers in our school district including Mimi's teacher Ms Hinami. All of the nights proceeds were going to a scholarship. When mom saw the list of pieces to be played she thought to herself "First of all, how long is this concert and will the kids be able to sit still for the concert". It was great. They kept things moving fast. The songs were short and sweet too. Mimi and her friends had a blast watching their teacher perform and seeing her in a different environment other than school. The main reason for mom to take Mimi to the concert is because Mimi enjoys music and mom wanted to get her exposed to as much music and musical instruments as possible. They also got a kick out of seeing the school superintendent play and instrument on the stage and they also saw their principal too.

By the time we arrived home it was 8:30 p.m. and our Buddhist study meeting was letting out. The meeting was held at our house and we had an out of town guest attend (Bobbie Debozi). Mimi's other friends Ling Ling and Sara were there also. So now we truly had a housefull of kids.

By the time everyone was gone and the kids were in bed, mom was totally exhausted! Unfortunately this was Halle's first sleepover ever and she decided that she wanted to go home and so she did. Mom then asked Blake if he wanted to go home and of course he says "No" then mom asked if he misses his mom, again the answer was "NOPE". I think that the boy would live here if he could.

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN

That's the song Mimi has been singing lately. Usually Mimi is polite but lately mom noticed that she has been more polite than usual. She says "thank you" "please" "may I" and so forth. Just out of curiosity, mom asked if she was being extra polite because Christmas is coming. "Yep" says Mimi.

BEDTIME STORIES FOR BUTCH

MIMI'S MENAGERIE

It all started way back on Oct. 7, 2003. That's the day mom and dad got married. Just about the same time was when Ollie and Stanley came into our lives. Then in Oct. 27, 2004, came Mimi. Around July 2008 was when the guppies arrived followed by two catapillars one week ago and Butch the pug who arrived this afternoon at exactly 2:45 p.m.

THE PUTNEY'S NEW ADDITION

It has been five years since mom's best little buddy "Rocky" passed away and mom just could not bring herself to get another dog. Then not very long after coming home from China with Mimi, we went over to Uncle Jim's house where he has two huge heinz 57 kind of dogs. Rosie playfully just bowled Mimi right down to the ground. Needless to say Mimi was terrified of dogs until about one year ago when our neighbors back in Calif. had to pugs named Lady Bug and Beetle. It was only then that Mimi was ok with small dogs.

Just the other day while at Safeway market, mom saw a couple of Shitzu's up for sale and when mom called dad on the cell phone to tell him, the phone went dead when mom told him the price. Needless to say mom did not buy the Shitzu that she wanted.

This afternoon after dropping Mimi off at school, mom came home to find a message from her friend Rheanna (Liam's mom). Rheanna said through her tears that she has a purebred pug that she is not able to keep and does mom know of anyone who would take it. Mom asked the price and Rheanna said that the dog would be free to a good home. Mom called dad and it was ok by him so mom gave Rheanna a call back and as you can see we now own a pug. The best part is Mimi absolutely adores him and the cats are ok with the new addition. Mimi has decided to change his name from Cole to Butch. Personally I like the Butch also.

LUNCHEON WITH THE GIRLS

This morning Halle's mom Brandy had a MD appointment and so she asked if we could take Halle to school. Of course we said sure no problem. Mimi and Halle played swimmingly together. Then Lindsey and little sis Ashley came over to join us for lunch and mom made everyone's favorite grilled cheese sandwich along with apple slices and peanut butter. YUMMY!!! The girls entertained mom and Nikki with a whole slew of knock knock jokes. The thing of it is only they think their jokes are funny.

MIMI'S FIRST PUMPKIN CARVING PARTY

At the beginning of the school year Halle and her family moved up here from Orange County, California. Mimi and Halle became fast friends so of course she introduced Halle to the rest of the gang and now they are all BFF's. Brandy had said that back home in California they had pumpkin carving parties and we all thought that is a great idea. Therefore Mimi, Halle and Erin are the hosts for this year's pumpkin carving party. According to Brandy, the only reason why our place was chosen to have the party was and is because we have the cleanest garage. At first we were discussing the party, mom thought that it was only going to be for the gang and their siblings (which totals around 10 kids) that is until Halle brought over the invitations this morning. Now I'm not sure how many kids we will be hosting. YIKES! I'm sure everything will turn out great and the kids will definitely have a blast.

Yesterday Keri kind of hinted around having a Halloween party liked Mimi had last year. I said that the thought has crossed my mind but that the only difference is I want to invite only Mimi's closest friends this year. Last year's party was great but way too stressful for mom.

KICKED TO THE CURB

Now and then Mimi will kick dad to the curb, meanning that if we have to go somwhere where we need to take two cars, Mimi will always choose to go with mom. This morning after gymnastics it was mom who got kicked to the curb. Mimi was sitting in her booster seat nearly on the verge of tears asking "Why doesn't anyone want to come pick me up???" Mom says "Whut?" again Mimi says "Why doesn't anyone want to come pick me up???" After doing some detective work, mom realized at one time or another each one of Mimi's friends had someone other than their own mom pick them up from school. One day it would be Keri (Blake's mom)who brought Zoe home from school or Brandy (Halle's mom) who brought Erin to school. Poor, poor Mimi so far she has no one to pick her up from school although I just remembered that last Friday Janet brought Mimi to school.

"THE ARTIST" aka MIMI

Well I'm sure you've heard of Prince aka The Artist, in our family the artist is known as Mimi. This morning while mom is on the computer catching up on the latest news, Mimi came in very quietly and stole a piece of paper and was doing something very quietly (which is a contradiction in terms). Next thing mom heard was Mimi yelling "Mom! Come in here! I wanna show you something! I'm artisting!!!" Mom goes to look and sure enough Mimi is doing what she calls "arting".

FAMILY DAY

Every Sunday is our family day at the Putney household. This past Sunday was spent at home doing what mom and Mimi likes doing the best which is hanging out in our pj's and doing nothing at all. The weather here is in full swing of Autum. It is absolutely gorgeous with the changing of the colors. The trees are colored with amazing yellow, orange and gold. The air is cccoold and crisp. It reached a whopping 54 degrees outside. Ol' Blakey was feeling a bit lonely at home with no one to play with so he came over and spent the day with Mimi. They played the piano, Wii sports and of course no day is complete without playing with the Lincoln Logs. It is actually made of real wood just like the ones Uncle Jim played with back in the day for those of us who can remember. Blake and Mimi play just like brother and sister. Now and then he would get frustrated with her because she has her own mind and won't give in to his demands. He would say "Mimi, if you don't do what I say, I'm gonna go home!" Either Mimi would eventually give in or Blake would give in and they would go back to playing happily again. Finally when Blake made his threat to Mimi again, mom being the little devil and knowing how much Blake loves coming here said "OK Blake, good-bye. We'll see ya tomorrow". He just looked at mom with his big brown doe eyes and said "I don't wanna go home! I'm not going anywhere!" Mom loves to tease Mimi and Blake. Cheap thrills and cruel I know, but hey, I gotta have some fun sometime.

WHEN I GROW UP.....

Mimi: Mom, you wanna know what I'm gonna to be when I grow up?
Mom: No, what?
Mimi: I'm going to be a doctor.
Mom: Really?! Does that mean you will take care of me when I get old?
Mimi: Uh huh.
Mom: How about dad?
Mimi: Uh huh.
Mom: How about Blake, Erin, Zoe and Halle and their families?
Mimi: Uh huh them too.
Mom: Wow! How about Samantha and Katie and their Families? Are you going to take of them too?
Mimi: Uh huh. Mom, does Samantha have our phone number? We have to tell her that our number is (***) ***-7702.

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS.......

About once a month mom and Mimi will make their trip to downtown Seattle to go to Uwajimaya Market. Now and then dad will tag along with us. If dad comes with us, we will have lunch in the food court then he and Mimi will hang out in the Kinokuniya bookstore while mom shops otherwise mom will put Mimi in the shopping cart and Mimi will shout out "Mom! These are are all my treasures!!!" The jellies are a special favorite with Mimi and her friends. They go like hot cakes! Now whenever I go to the market I end up buying the jellies for Blake and Bailey. Mom used to buy all these things at Mitsuwa when we lived in So. California. The nice thing about the jelly container is that it doubles as a coin bank too.

UPDATE ON THE WINTER OLYMPICS

Dad wrote in and our names are officially on the list for the various events. The only problem is... mom is having a brain fart and can't remember what the events are!!!!!

BAD NEWS

This picture was taken yesterday morning on our way to the soccer game, Mom and dad were discussing the plans for the day. Mom says "As soon as the soccer game is over, we can go to Pet Smart to get a small cat tree, then head over to Ivar's for lunch (They have very good clam chowder that Mimi loves to eat), then it will be time to go to the study meeting at Daphne's, when that is over we can head over to Lowe's to check out the curtain rods that dad is thinking about getting, then go have dinner". When mom finished laying out the plans she looked over her shoulder (while waiting at the stoplight) and said to Mimi "I'm sorry that we did not consult with you about our plans for the day, but you are just going to have to tag along with us" to which Mimi replies "This is bad news!" It was apparent that Mimi had her own plans for the day. As it turns out, we had to head back home after the game so dad and Mimi could change clothes and shoes. It rained the night before and the field was sopping wet. We were able to get everything done except for the cat scratch post. Way too much traffiic and it is a two lane street. After getting the curtain rods we went back to Daphne's house where she and Sonja made some homemade enchiladas (chicken and cheese). Oh mama!!! Does it bring back memories. I love living up here in Washington but the only problem where we live is there is no good place to eat unless one drives into the city 35 miles away. Therefore all the good cooking is done at home.

MOM'S GET TOGETHER

Almost everyday our daily schedule is jammed pack full of stuff to do. Fridays are just a smidgen less hectic. The other day while talking with Keri and Shelley, it was decided that they would make the margaritas and mom would cook up some hot wings and we would have a get together while the kids were in school. That is exactly what we did. This morning while mom was cleanning the kitchen and cooking up the hot wings, Mimi went with Erin and her family over to the indoor playground but unfortunately it was closed. Therefore Janet took them to the nearby park that is close to the indoor gym. Next she fed them lunch and brought them all to school. Bless her heart. While all the kids were in school, we all met at Keri's and had a grand time just laughing, eating, and a little drinking of the margaritas. Next thing we knew, it was time to go to the school and get the kids. Aw shucks! Oh well, I guess it was something that had to be done. Now besides Blake and Erin, Mimi likes to play with her new school friends Zoe and Halley. The good thing is that they all get along so well together. They all wanted to go over to Zoe's but her dad was home and was wanting a bit of peace and quiet so instead we all headed over to the park after stopping home to get some snacks. Somehow it seems that other people's homes and their toys are more fun than the ones that you have. None the less a good time was had by all. Of course mom did not get much housework done today.

PAW PRINTS

Our Mimi is growing up in more ways than one. Last year she could not even reach the monkey bars. This year not only could she reach the monkey bars but cross them as well all by herself.

This past Tuesday and Wednesday, mom voluteered her services to help out with the health screening at Mimi's school. Her job was to do the eye exam for the kids k-5. Mom did not get to test Mimi's eyes but she did several of Mimi's friends. Mimi did however pass mom in the hallway when her class went to their music class and mom heard a loud "HI MOM!!!" from Mimi or "HI, MIMI's MOM!" from her friends as they passed me in the hallway. It warmed her heart. The fish is what the kids used to cover their eyes and they were all quite pleased to know that they could keep them. Mimi has more than one (since mom forgot that she still had them in her pocket) so she has decided to color the other ones a rainbow color.

When the testing was done for the day, mom went to peek into Mimi's classroom only to find that they were out on the playground, so mom tried to be quiet as a mouse and peek around the corner of the building to watch the kids play. She found Mimi playing jump rope and much to mom's amazement, Mimi is very proficient in jumping rope! Today after school Mimi handed mom this note from her teacher at school. Apparently our Mimi not only has been working hard at practicing jumping rope but is encouraging her friends also. We are so proud of her.

CONCERT PIANIST???

Yesterday before school Mimi invited her two best friends over to the house for lunch. Before lunch started she wanted to show them what she has been learning from her piano teacher Ms Celia. Therefore she put on a short concert for us all. She did pretty darn good if I do say so myself. The only problem we had was there was not enough room for Bailey to sit on the bench along with Mimi, Blake and Erin. Boy did she wail like a banshee!

S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G B-E-E

Until school started mom could get away with spelling words out such as N-A-P. Mimi has completely stopped taking naps. Now and then mom could tell when Mimi is exhausted but she will fight it and try to stay awake. In the meantime she is more wired than usual and real grumpy.

Last Sunday while at grandma and grandpa's house, mom could tell that Mimi was super tired so mom said "I think Mimi needs a N-A-P" to which Mimi replied "N-O, do you know what that means mom? It means NO!" Dad says that now mom should spell it S-L-U-M-B-E-R. Hmmmm, what do ya think???

CARD GAMES

Mimi loves to play card games especially slap jack. Like her cousin Mari, Mimi can play like cut throat. Each time she saw the jack, she would slap it fast and say "Come to Mimi! Ha,Ha, Ha". All mom could do is hang her head and cry.

SCHOOL DAYS

So far so good. This week up till now has been puurrrrfect. Last week, Mimi worked real hard at practicing her piano and theory lessons. In the beginning mom would have Mimi practice the piano after school. That turned out to be disasterous. All Mimi would do is goof around. In turn mom would get quite irritated with her. Last week mom decided to try and have Mimi practice in the morning before school and gymnastics and the result was soooo much better. It works great for Mimi because she is a early riser. It just about kills mom though. So now mom gets up around 7:30, fixes breakfast, shower, then by 9:00 both mom and Mimi sit down at the piano bench for a 15-20 minute practice. Then it is on to gymnastics and kindergarten. After school Mimi will have a snack then go play with her friends for about one hour then come home and then it is time for bath, dinner and piano theory lessons. By the time all is said and done, it is 8:00 p.m. and both mom and Mimi are pooped! Mom now thinks she has a handle on the situation. Because of this schedule change Mimi is able to focus on what needs to be done. As a result, Mimi had a great lesson with Ms. Celia this past Monday. Ms Celia was quite pleased with Mimi's progress. This morning, Mimi's gymnastic teacher says that Mimi is doing much, much better on focusing and doing great in class. She seems to think that it is due to the fact that Mimi is in kindergarten now and is much more mature this year. As soon as gymnastic class was over, it was time to rush home while eating lunch in the car, change clothes and walk to school. This afternoon mom helped the school nurse with the health screening this year. It was quite fun. I was able to give the eye exams to Mimi's classmates and friends. Mimi was tested by another mom. It just worked out that way. As soon as we finished, mom was on her way home but not before stopping to watch Mimi and her friends play in their playground. Much to mom's surprise, Mimi is an excellent jump roper!!! Mom has never seen Mimi jump rope before today. So now, not only can Mimi cross the monkey bars without any help, she can jump rope too!!! My baby is growing up way too fast for me!! :-(

TEXAS

Usually Mimi will say that she is "relaxing in Mexico". Lately she has been on a cowboy kick. She will dress dad up to be a cowboy or she will put on her bandana and yell "Yee Haw cowboy!" all around the house. Yesterday while at Remlinger Farms, she no sooner rode off into the sunset on her pony, she turned to mom and dad saying "I'm go'in to Texas!" Without skipping a beat, dad yells back to her "Say hello to o'le George for us!"

FAMILY FUN DAY AT REMLINGER FARMS

This past weekend was spent with trips to the farm. Mimi absolutely loves having fun with her friends. So mom decided that Saturday would be spent with her friends at Maris Farms. It is a little more subdued there than it is at Remlinger's. Our Mimi bless her little heart still has oodles and oodles of energy. Plus she can and does bring out the energy that is in her friends not that they don't have any themselves, they just have more when Mimi is around them.

Yesterday after the ESD (elementary school division) meeting at the Seattle Culture Center, mom and dad decided to surprise Mimi and take her to Remlinger Farms as part of our weekly family fun day. If you believe in the after life, our Mimi is soooo much like her grandma (mom's mother). She has to know everything. Mimi kept asking "where are we going after lunch?" All we would tell her is that "We Are Taking Care of Business" like the song says. We even had her watch the dvd in the car in order to distract her from looking out the window. When we finally arrived at our destination Mimi exclaimed "Are we at Remlinger Farms? WE ARE!!! WE ARE!!!" She was totally surprised. Mom loves to surprise the people she loves. We all had a blast. It is a great place for the little ones and their families. Mimi rode on all of the rides, then while riding on the steam engine train, we saw a real live black bear on the other side of the river that outlines the farm. We all got a real kick out of that one. As the park was coming to a close, it got real chilly so mom decided that she would wait for Mimi and dad in the market where it was a little warmer while they finished up on the rides. When we all met up with each other, dad shared this story. It seems that the pumpkin ride was getting ready to close for the day and was in the process of lettting the kids off the ride. Our Mimi entered through the exit and had a talk with the operator and he was so charmed by her that he let her on the ride plus a couple of other kids that were there also. Like I said, Mimi is just like her grandma. Mom's mother was a real charmer too.

MARIS FARMS

While our friends the Fratkins were having a grand time at Disneyland today, Mimi and her friends Blake and Halle (and their families) were enjoying themselves up here at Maris Farms. It's a great place for the little tykes. The roasted corn and kettle corn are so yummy as usual. The kids had a blast riding the cow train, going down a tube slide and playing in the pile of corn kernels. Wade, Keri and Bailey left early so that Wade could get home in time to watch the Nascar Races. Wade is the manager for Lowe's and so everytime Jimmy Johnson wins a race, Lowe's employees get a nice bonus since Lowe's is one of the sponser's. Therefore Blake hung out with us and as usual we made a stop at Wally's on the way home. A good time was had by all.

EVERYDAY MATH

Since the beginning of the school year, Mimi has been coming home every Friday with a whole bunch of papers in her backpack. Usually it is stuff that she has done in the classroom, or clubs that kids can join such as the birthday book club (which mom signed her up for that one), basketball (which we did not sign up for as she already is busy with other extracurricular activities), plus the parents have to pay for everything including PTA or PTSA (as it is called here) membership. I say that one may as well hand over the checkbook to the school once the kid starts cause you (the parents) end up paying for a whole lot of odds and ends. This is not to mention the stuff we parents now have to sell to help the school make money. Is there anyone who would like to buy some Christmas stuff such as chocolates right about now?????

Last Friday amongst all the usual papers, the teacher sent home a paper that talks about the stuff that the students are doing in class at this particular point in time. The kids are now using a computer math program called Everyday Math and we the parent can play these games at home along with kids. It is called http://www.everydaymathonline.com Mom and Mimi played a couple of the games this morning and it was not too bad. A little boring for mom though. I guess that we will continue doing this since this is what they are learning in school.

MOTHER/DAUGHTER DAY

Today there was no school for Mimi due to the fact that it is staff developement day. Mom decided that she would make it into a mother/daughter day. Therefore since we are now in the 'po' house this month, mom tried to come up with ideas of things that we could do on a dime. First we slept in (at least mom did, Mimi played on the computer), had a late breakfast when Mimi noticed that there was a leak in our downstair guest bathroom. Sure enough there was a huge puddle so the plumber had to come out and fix the leak. There goes our day mom thought. A while back, mom had noticed a stain on the ceiling and made mention of it to dad. He noticed it too. Then things got rather crazy busy around the Putney household and dad forgot all about it until last Friday when mom told him to go into the bathroom and take a look at the ceiling. Something to the effect of "Oh my god!" came out of his mouth. The ceiling plaster to where the stain was broke through. Dad called the plumber and he came out to the house on Monday morning and sure enough the leak was due to the shower in the master bathroom upstairs. Apparently there was work done to the shower prior to our moving in last year June and the seal that was used was made of plastic instead of brass therefore it broke. This time the plumber put in a brass seal but did not put it in tight, that is why we had the leak again today. So again the plumber had to come out and fix our leak. I kind of feel like the people in the movie "The Money Pit". The whole process cost us $465.00 and that is not to mention that we still have to get the dry wall done to where a nice size hole was drilled into the ceiling. Mom nearly had to give dad CPR when he found out how much it all cost. This is right after coming back from Virginia where Mimi had a parking lot accident. We had gone back to Joe's house to give Mari her travel pillow that she forgot in our car. Mimi, who is in the process of learning to open doors carefully, opened her door not so carefully at the time whacked the car that was parked next to us and put a small dent into it. Fortunately for us we knew the person who owned the car. The owner turned out to be one of Mari's friends by the name of Ryan. Justine (Ryan's fiance and Mari's best friend) said that we did not need to pay for it. Both mom and dad felt real bad about it and felt that it was our responsibility so we did give them a check to get it fixed. Blake called this afternoon and so Mimi is over there now. Poor, poor mom, she got dropped like a hot potatoe. So much for our mother/daughter day. We will definitely make up for it though on Sunday maybe.

THE HEAT IS ON

Brrrrr!!! Is it cold!!! Top number is the inside of the house and the bottom is the temperature outside of the house at this time (8:53 am). I think it will be a great idea to go turn the heat on in the house. Don't you???

A DOZEN RED ROSES

Tonight dad came home and surprised mom with a dozen red roses. Why??? You may ask??? It's because 13 years ago we got hitched together for life. Thirteen years ago was also when mom went out to the local pet store and adopted our two kitties Ollie and Stanley. Five years ago today, we were in China filling out more paperwork for our Mimi October is a very auspicious month for us Putney's.

BALLARD LOCKS

Today after Kosen Rufu Gongyo, the members of SGI went to Ballard Locks to take a group photo commemorating Pres. Daisaku Ikeda's visit to Seattle in 1960. While there we met up with Ling Ling and her family. Mimi and Ling Ling always enjoy each other's company a whole lot.