PARTY OVER HERE

After dinner and saying our good-byes to Auntie Setsue and Uncle David, we all headed over to Daphne's for a New Year's Eve Party. A good time was had by all who was there and then Mimi is staying overnight with Sara who was sooooo happy because it turned out to be a slumber party for her as well. I have a feeling that Mimi will be up all night for the very first time with her friends Sara, Julia and Sara's school friend Samantha.

DINNER AT GREGORY'S

This afternoon while recuperating in between taking down the decorations and laundry, we received a phone call from Uncle David. It seems that they are stuck in Seattle for one more night.

Dad took them to the airport early this morning. Then it was announced that the plane they were scheduled to board had mechanical problems. Another plane was sent from San Francisco and that plane too had mechanical difficulties. So here they are. Therefore we thought that it would be a good idea to have dinner with them for one more time before they head back to Virginia. We miss them already.

CHRISTMAS CARDS AND PRESENTS

I thought that I was on the ball this year but I was wrong. So sorry to all of our California friends. I am late as usual.

After Auntie Setsue and Uncle David left to go and stay with grandpa and grandma, both dad and I came down with a bad chest and head cold. Still got it but getting better.

IT'S TWISTER TIME!

AT LAKE WILDERNESS

This afternoon I took the whole family down to Lake Wilderness. It was a great day for flying a kite however dad forgot to bring Mimi's kite with us but we still had fun anyways.

AUNTIE SETSUE AND MIMI

When the presents were all opened and everything was cleanned up, I thought that it would be a good idea for me to take Butch for a walk. He had been so good all day and was starting to get kind of ansy. Setsue and Mimi wanted join us and so they did. Not much snow yet this year. El Nino you know. We do have extremely cold, dry and windy weather though.

When we got back home it was time for dinner and a game of chess. Lately Mimi has been getting really interested in playing checkers and chess. Here she is teaching Auntie Setsue how to play. She just really loves her Auntie Setsue.

PLAYING SANTA

Mimi likes playing Santa however...........now and then she would start playing with the toys she received and forget to pass out the gifts to the rest of the family. The only dolls she likes is the High School Musical Dolls and so she made dad put up the High School Musical (school) doll house as soon as she opened it. She is also in to the Bakugan (transformers) and SPY Kids movies and gear. These are just to name a few.

CHRISTMAS DAY BRUNCH

Now that it gets dark early around here, grandma is afraid of going home at night. Therefore I suggested that we do a brunch and that is what we did.

The night before Uncle David and Auntie Setsue arrived here safely however the airport lost their luggage. Egads! They made the report and was told that the airport would deliver the luggage to the house when it was found. In the meantime, dad brought them over to grandma and grandpa's house while Mimi and I stayed home. In the morning Keri had taken Blake, Bailey and Mimi to go see the new Chipmunk movie The Squeakquel. Mimi had a good time but was quite tired when she came home. She was up quite late the night before opening her presents with her immediate family. She was quite happy with all that she received exclaiming "Wow! Santa brought everything I asked for!!!"

The luggage finally arrived at 12;30 Christmas morning.

PIANO CONCERT

This is a picture of Mimi, Marissa (blue sweater) and Maddy (gray sweater). Don't know who the girl in the red dress is. Marissa and Maddy are neighbors/friends of ours and both girls play the piano so, so beautifully. Every Thursday little Maddy comes over to the house to help Mimi with her lessons and Marissa helps the girl in red.

About one month ago Rey,the girls dad, told me that he arranged for the girls to play at a nearby Senior Citizen home and asked if Mimi would like to join them and she did. She practiced and practiced her Jingle Bells. When the day arrived (last Wednesday) we all rode together with Rey and the girls. They sat way in the back and just laughed and sang Christmas carols all the way there. They sang the Dradle song, Jingle Bells, Rudolpph and the Batman song. You know, "Jingle Bells, Batman smells....." Then they would howl with laughter. Then there were the made up songs. Then they entertained themselves with about 3 variations of high 5's.

Next thing we knew it was time to perform. They went round robin starting with Mimi. She did pretty darn good if I do say so myself. The residents really enjoyed their dinner performance. They brought a smile to everyone's faces and a good time was had by all.

MILK AND COOKIES

Of course no day is complete without home made Snickerdoodle cookies and milk. I was instructed by Mimi on the proper way to eat a cookie which is to dunk it in to milk before eating it. Then she wanted to make sure that I make enough cookies to leave for Santa. Then there is the milk and note to Santa that goes along with the cookies.

OM.......

Tomorrow evening along with Maddie and Marissa, Mimi will be giving her debut piano performance at our local Senior Citizen Home. Therefore tonight she was supposed to be practicing her piece "Jingle Bells" when all of a sudden she turned around and got into position then said "Mom, I need to meditate before playing my song. Ommmm" I then asked her "Who taught you this?" To which the girl replied..."Blake". Duh, I should-da known better.

TALKING TO .....HERSELF

This was taken while riding the Light Rail on our way to downtown Seattle. Mimi was goofing off with dad's phone and my phone. She made a phone call to. . . .herself.

PLAYING HOOKY

Dad has a couple of weeks of vacation and Mimi is loving every minute of it. One time she told dad to ask his boss to see if he could work only on Saturday and Sunday and have the rest of the time off.

Yesterday dad had to go into his office for a meeting and I thought that since this is Christmas week, not much going on in school, Mimi could skip school for the day and we would accompany dad to Seattle. Which is what we did. So of course we had to take the Light Rail. It is now completed and goes all the way from the Sea-Tac airport to downtown Seattle.

Mimi and I went to Uwajimaya while dad continued on to his office. Mimi really likes going to the Kinokuniya bookstore. We spent a good hour there looking at books. Then I tried out Beard Papa cream puff and oh was it deelicious! So very creamy. By this time it was going on 11:30 and we were hungry and I had been dying to go to Todai's. So back onto the lightrail we went. Had to pass the Nordstrom's to get to Todai"s. Gosh! Was there a super long line outside waiting to go into see Santa and have your picture taken with him. Our friend/neighbor Michelle and her family was there but we did not hear them call out to us. To much hustle and bustle in the city.

Todai's was great as always. What I think is a hoot is...a child who is 4 feet and under gets the child price. They have no idea as to how much tuna and shrimp sushi Mimi can pack away. That is not to mention the miso soup too. They make the sushi exactly how Mimi likes it, which is without the wasabi. That you have to put on yourself if you so desire.

Almost forgot to mention that we met up with dad at Todai's. When lunch was done, it was time to head over to the monorail. We got onto a two door elevator to take us up to the monorail and Mimi kept pushing the button to close but the backdoor kept opening. I did not realize that she was pushing the button till another passenger mentioned this to me. In the meantime there was another gentleman trying to get on. So there we were, this man pushing the button for the door to open and Mimi pushing the button to close. Needless to say we finally made it to the Space Needle and Mimi had a short lesson in elevator etiquette.

The Seattle Center has a 20 year plan to re-vamp everything there. They have already torn down the Fun Forest in the Children's Museum which makes me happy that Daphne and I took the kids to play there before all of this happened. The majority of the rides will be gone by next summer and the outdoor arcades were closed. However Mimi got to go on a couple of the rides indoors then it was time to head over to South Center for a business meeting with the banker. We are in the process of refinancing our house. I must say that Mimi did pretty darn good for the amount of time we spent there.

By the time we arrived home it was evening and we were all quite tuckered out.

SUMMIT GYMNSTIC PIZZA PARTY

TUMMY ACHE

During the winter time, Mimi loves two things......powdered doughnuts
and hot cocoa. This morning when I came downstairs to cook breakfast,
Mimi complained of a tummy ache.

Mimi: Mom, my tummy hurts.
Mom: Uh huh, and why is that?
Mimi: Well....I went into the pantry and got my doughnuts. I thought
that I could eat 4 doughnuts, well actually 5, no, actually I ate 6!
Mom:Well, there you go.

She got well just in time to go to the pizza party.

AHOY MATTIE!

FRIDAY VOLUNTEER DAY

From left to right is Hayden, ???, Mimi, Emma and Rachel. The kids were doing their math problems while Mimi goofed around. When I asked if she was done, she whipped out her book and showed me that she was and the answers were all correct. Same thing happened in the computer lab. One day last week she told me that she no longer has much interest in school because it is "boring". I"m not sure if it is because the work is too easy or what. We will have to see how this plays out. Mimi says that she liked kindergarten better because they had more fun. However she had more playtime too which is her A1 subject in school.

DECORATING THE TREE

OLYMPIC TICKETS

Last night we recieved a phone call from our dear friends Allyn and Teri from California. We are planning to go to the Olympics together next year along with their darling daughter Samantha. Teri asked if we received our tickets to which we answered "not yet". Dad checked the UPS website and it said that we were to receive them today. Except for going out for a couple of hours this morning, I was home the rest of the day. With the weather being cold and gloomy and me feeling sleepy, I fell asleep on the recliner with Butch and Stanley on my lap. I was awakened by a knock on the door. I got up as quick as I could only to have poor Stanley get his head caught in the foot part of the recliner meanwhile yelling for whoever was at the door to wait. It was a sight to see. When Stanley's head was freed, he gave me such a pissed off look before he took off to go outside. By the time I got to the door, no one was there. No note, nothing, darn it. Maybe we will get out tickets tomorrow.

MORE KODAK MOMENTS

A KODAK MOMENT

Yes folks it is true. Our dear beloved Ollie is still missing. IMHO, I think that he went to kitty heaven. On the other hand, Stanley here has never ever gave Butch the time of day let alone sit next to him. However, ever since Ollie went MIA, Stanley has been much nicer to Butch. Most of the time Stanley is quite affectionate toward Butch but now and then he will give Butch a whack with his paws if Butch starts to get on his nerves.

OUT FOR A STROLL

This afternoon dad was up at Snoqualmie for ski instructor lessons, Mimi and I went to Alex's birthday party down by the South Center Mall. When the party broke up, Mimi went home with Keri and I did some last minute shopping. Then about 4:30 pm we all arrived home about the same time and we all thought it would be good to go for a walk while it was still light. Butch really liked it too as he was stuck in the house all day. By now the snow has stopped falling and is starting to melt. I have a feeling that since it is El Nino this year, we won't get as much snow as we did last year. Boy did we get a lot.

ACME BOWL

Today we celebrated Alex's 7th birthday at one of the few remaining
bowling allies in our beautiful state of Washington. As soon as the
party let out Mimi went home with Blake while I went out to do some
last minute shopping for Grandpa. Last night at dinner I was able to
worm it out of grandpa as to what to get him for Christmas. It was
really hard fore to know because they just moved to a smaller place so
I think that he will enjoy his present very much. Then it was time to
head home before the snow came down.

STORM CLOUDS

Picture was taken around 9 this morning. Will see if the weatheman is
right. He says that we shoud ne getting a mixture of snow and rain
today. Tonight Mimi will go to Halli's for a Christmas party while dad
and I will have dinner with grandma and grandpa.

FREEZING TEMPERATURES

Although we had just a small teasing of snowfall lately, it has been super duper freezing cold outside and no snow yet. One thing that I recently learned about living up here in the northwest during this cold weather is that not only do you have to cover your outdoor faucets but you have to remove your garden hose from the spiket at well. In California we always left our garden hose hooked up. Not here. There was a lady on the news last night that did not do that and the weather went down to the freezing temperature and her water pipe burst and flooded her whole downstairs.

This morning when I went to sign in for my volunteer work, a teacher who also teaches at Shadow Lake Elementary (same as our school district in our town) said that the other day their propane tank burst and the school was without heat. The kids had to keep their coats and jackets on and everything else while school was in session. They were still deciding whether or not to have the kids go to school today. In all honesty, since I hit early menopause, I choose the cold weather over the hot cause when it hot here I am so miserable.

IN THE CLASSROOM

Today was my day to volunteer in the classroom. Last Friday I totally forgot about it till 11:00 at night while discussing my day with dad. Today Mimi and Emma were working on their threading all the while pretending that the ribbon they were using to thread through the netting was Repunzle's long, long hair. Amidst all of their laughing and giggling they somehow managed to get their work done.