LOOK MA NO HANDS!

Tonight the weather was absolutely great for playing in the street. I
love our September weather.

While I was at our PTSA meeting, Mimi, Shad and the rest of the gang
was outside riding their bikes outside. Tonight was the first time she
rode her bike AND scooter without any problem whatsoever. Way to go
Mimi!!!!

SECOND GRADE

For the most part Mimi is enjoying this year. However the part she really dreads is the homework. Can you blame the child? As she has said before her favorite subject is PLAY.

Yesterday was my first day to volunteer in the classroom. I really don't think we pay our teachers enough money for all of the work they do.

There are 24 kids in Mimi's class. Half of them I know from last year class and some are from our neighborhood such as Blake, Olivia and Rachel.

School now is sooooooo much different than when I went to school and now I am having a little hard time trying to figure things out. The grading system is so much different.

Mimi's teacher Ms. Davidson really emphasizes reading and math. Every Tuesday and Thursday there is a minute math test and every Friday is a spelling test. Mimi is on the-2's. It is all review work now. I think Blake told me that if the kids get up to the -3's by the end of October (?) , they will get a 3 on their report card. He said that the teacher does not give out 4's.

Maybe later on in the year she will give out the 4's. Will have to check this out. Anyhoo, parent/teacher conferences will be coming up soon so I can ask then.

MORE LOST TEETH FOR ELSIE

Seems like everytime we see Elsie, she has lost another tooth. Looks like she went 10 rounds with a boxer. In the meantime, Mimi is trying to hold on to hers.

A PICTURE (S) WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

THERE'S A CHANGE IN THE TEMPERATURE

Although the weather is cloudy with a little rain or clear and sunny, the air is getting cooler especially in the morning and night. Therefore much to Mimi's dismay I am in the midst of putting her summer clothes away. This morning she tried to pull the sheet over my head by thinking that she could get away with wearing shorts and a t-shirt in 65 degree weather outside. When I had her change into something more appropriate the girls says "Ah man! Samantha lives in California and she gets to wear summer clothes all the time! She's soooooo lucky!" Sigh.............

DINOSAUR EXCAVATION KIT

This past Sunday we went to Chuck E. Cheese for Porter's 5th birthday. Mimi got this as one of her prizes. I am going to see if I could find out where I could purchase a couple more of these boxes. She spent hours just putting this all together.

It is an archaeological kit. A bit messy but easy to clean. The bones are separately buried in a block of what looks like a block shaped chalk. A small pick and brush comes with the kit. All one has to do is chip away. Once you collect all of the bones, you snap them together. Mimi loved it. Being that it is a dinosaur is a plus too.

The girl has already changed her mind about becoming a doctor or vet. Has come to realize that she can't stand the sight of blood. She decided that she now wants to be a museum curator.

MARBLE SLAB

LA FOGATA AND MARBLE SLAB

Tonight all of the Tahoma school district has Open House. However Lake Wilderness Elementary School where Emma (4th grade) and Elsie (second grade) go to, it is called "Curriculum Night" and only the parents are allowed to visit the classroom. Childcare is provided as long as the parent signs up for it and there is enough room. Personally I think that kind of stinks but oh well.

Rhonda asked I wouldn't mind to collect the girls when gymnastic practice was done and I said that would be fine. So as soon as Mimi's open house was done, we headed over to the gym and picked up the Rochleau girls and headed to La Fogata for dinner and ice cream at Marble Slab. It was delicious.

They were fine at the restaurant and creamery but as soon as we reached home it was Girls Gone Wild on our front lawn. Running and laughing all over the place. By this time Rhonda was here to take them home and they sooooooooo did not want to go. I must say that it is a nice feeling.

Of course it was Elsie who came up with the idea saying "I know, you and my mom can talk, talk, talk, in the house while we play." Unfortunately Rhonda did not go for that idea as there is school for everyone tomorrow even though it is a early release.

The latest news is that Elsie along with Mimi has been losing teeth still. She looks like she went a couple of rounds in the ring.

OPEN HOUSE

Tonight was open at Mimi's school. For the most part she is doing really good so far but it is still only the beginning. Next month the parent/teacher conference is to be held. Unlike the rest of the students at school who are all quite calm and collected, Mimi took us on a super whirlwind tour of her classroom, the computer, library and music room in about 45 minutes and we were done. Phew! This picture that Mimi drew is our fits our Mimi to the "T".

Self portrait, favorite food = steak, favorite colot = red, favorite place = great wolf lodge, favorite subject = PLAY, favorite hobby = BIRTHDAYS.

THE AFTERMATH

After cleanning up that horrible mess yesterday. We were too pooped to do anything else. Dad was not yet home. Mimi and I decided that since we were famished, we would go out to eat. Thought about Red Robbins but I just was not up to dealing with all the noise as it was 7:00 (dinner time) and I knew that place would be quite noisy. So we settled on a delicious steak dinner at Rooters. On the way to the restaurant Mimi looked at me very sternly and said "Mom, there is no more playdates with your lady friends! Ok?!" Can you blame the girl?

TRASHED

This afternoon I got together with the ladies in the neighborhood. I made the mistake of letting the little kids play in Mimi's room while she was in school. They thoroghly trashed her room. It's been 2 hours now and we are still cleanning. What you see here is only half of the mess. It is definitely the LAST TIME for a get together at our house for quite some time. As soon as it's cleanned and dinner is done, Mimi and I are going out for some ice scream!

CHINESE MOON FESTIVAL

Years ago while we were in China picking up Mimi, we purchased a nice little Chinese outfit for her. She wore it only once. After that, she never wanted to wear any kind of Chinese attire. Not sure what happened this year. After finding out that our monthly get together was to be held at Lori's and all the parents wanted to take pictures of the kids in their Chinese attire, Mimi decided that she wanted an outfit too. So off to Little Shanghai we went down at Pike's Place Market.

I'm not sure if it is because we have become good friends with Rhonda and her family and Elsie and Mimi are pretty close friends that Mimi is starting to become quite interested in her heritage now. Mimi has shared with me that she and Elsie do talk about their adoption now and then. That is when I feel soooo appreciative of my China family both near and far.

Mimi now loves wearing her Chinese outfit to bed everynight. She also paid me a compliment the other day by saying "Mom, you make the best Chinese and Japanese food ever!" I don't think I do but I'm happy that she enjoys it.

Come this Saturday night, together with Rhonda, Emma and Elsie we will all go to downtown Seattle to a Chinese restaurant (can't remember the name) to celebrate the Moon Festival with our local FCC family. Only this time along with her Chinese outfit, Mimi wants to wear Zori's (Japanese flip flops) so we may take a trip to downtown Uwajimaya tomorrow after school. The other day I told her that I could make her hair look like Ni Hao Kai Lan but it was a no-go.

This is where the heritage part comes in. Mimi says that although she was born in China, she now lives in America so she is a Chinese - American and plus her dad is white so she is part white too. To Mimi, Kai Lan is 100% Chinese because she lives in China. I'm not sure where she is coming up with all of this but I am assuming that this is part of some discussions she is having with her friends.

WASHINGTON APPLES

I purchased this sapling of a tree about 2 years ago from Costco for $12.00. Greg planted it for me and this year I am starting to get a pretty good harvest. Last year the tree produced a few apples but Butch being Butch and in the biting stage of puppyhood ripped the vast majority of my apples off the tree and played with them like they were his toy balls. This year the tree is a bit taller and Butch is a bit older. Therefore he did not pull any off the tree and we could enjoy some nice Washington apples.

BLAKE, MIMI AND XANDER

I think that I may have posted earlier about our sleepover guest Xander. If you think that Mimi has a ton of energy, well let me tell you, she has nothing compared to this little fella. We brought him home last Saturday night and I am still wiped out! Phew! My friend Amy says that this is practice for out next one to see if I would be able to survive.

SLEEPOVER AGAIN

This time it is Xander's turn. His mom Krista has always been such a great neighbor of our by taking care of Butch whenever we go out of town. This time it is our turn to help her out. She is from Holland.

Her parents 40th wedding anniversary is coming up and the family is planning a celebration. Together with her husaband and kids, well....they would like to go back to Holland and celebrate along with the rest of the family.

There is two huge problems though. One is called a..........passport. Unfortunately she had let hers EXPIRE! The second huge problem is the only place in our US of A to renew another Dutch passport is in San Francisco, California. Another place is is Vancouver, Canada, but she let hers expire. So therefore Canada is out.

Between a couple of other neighbors and us, well we are all chipping in to help with the dogs, cat, turtle and kids while she and hubby Sean are taking a somewhat 2nd honeymoon to S.F. Ca.

Xander was supposed to come over to the house at 9 tonight, however Krista brought him over at 7 cause he was soooooo excited to sleepover here with Mimi.

HOWLING

For quite some time Mimi loves to pretend she is an animal of some sort. Usually she is a dog.
A couple of months ago, around 9:30 at night, I heard Brandy's dogs barking from across the street. I also heard some howling going on. I started thinking to myself "Hmmm.....I wonder whose dog is that, that is howling and making the other dogs bark? Don't THOSE NEIGHBORS hear the howling and barking? And don't most people get ready for bed around this time of night especially when they have kids?"

It was not long afterward when I realized where the howling was coming from.................it was coming from MIMI'S BEDROOM!!!!! I was downstairs and heard the howling coming from her bedroom window. Needless to say, I ran upstairs only to find her sitting by her open window and howling at moon. The girl was supposed to be in bed. Egads!!! No wonder I have a whole headfull of grayhairs.

This afternoon I have the backdoor open because it is quite warm outside. I can hear the birds chirpping and the children laughing and playing on the school ground behind our house. When what do my wondering ears I hear? Some kid just howling away like a hound dog. I swear it must be Mimi.

SASSY SEVEN

That sassy girl is back. Thank goodness it is not with a vengance but still bad enough. This afternoon I took both Mimi and Olivia to the park where they met up with Zoe and Erin. Being that the weather was so gorgeious, other kids came to play there also. I was having a wonderful time visiting with Janet. I looked up in time to see Mimi blatantly kicked a bigger boy. Don't know who he is. Needless to say she was reprimanded accordingly. Then this evening came a string of other events such as acting like a real smart mouth, talking very bossy to Shad, spitting into the fruitbowl at dinner. I am pretty sure that it was Mimi who made Shad cry the other day. Then tonight dad said that she was talking really, really bossy to him when dad went over to the house to pick her up this evening just before dinner.

As her punishment, I had her march over to Shad house and appologize to him and explain WHY she will not be going to his birthday party this coming Thursday after school. I had her appologize to Cory as well. The girl bawled all the way home. It really sucks to be a parent sometimes but I feel that I would rather nip it in the bud now than wait till she is in her teens.

AT THE PARK

I love our September weather. It is soooo gorgeous at times. As soon
as school let out we all headed for the park.

BUTCH AND ROXY

This was taken on the way to school to pick up Mimi.

ANOTHER SLEEPOVER

Olivia is in Mimi's class this year. They have been friends since kindergarten. This past Friday which is one of the few days where we don't have to be anywhere after school, Mimi asked if Olivia could sleepover. So we had the whole family over for a pizza dinner. I thought that I would try a new place. Dad thought that the pizza was good but not me. I thought it was a bit doughy but it was just OK. Don't think I will use them again though. Note to self. Never try anything new when having guests over for dinner. At least the wine was excellent and so was the company.

If I have learned anything from sleepovers is that no one sleeps. Let the kids stay up as late as they can. Mimi passed out around 11:30 and Olivia soon followed.

Come Saturday morning, dad took the girls out to breakfast at Testy Chef while I got some R&R at home. As soon as they got home, the girls only about a half hour to play before Mimi and I took Olivia home via wagon before walking over to the dentist office.

Boy did I ever get my workout that morning! Hard to imagine that two skinny girls could weigh so much! But they do!

Last Saturday was sooooooo nice outside that as soon as we got home, Cory invited us to go to the neighborhood park with her and the kids. We did, but because of the sleep deprivation from the night before, Mimi was a bit cranky and so were the other kids. A nap for the both of us shortly ensued as soon as we got home. Felt so much better by night time but then it really was time to go back to bed because it was actually night when we woke up! Egads!

THE CULPRIT

The other day while Mimi was practicing her piano, we noticed that a couple of keys were stuck together and now we know why. Somehow this quarter got wedge in between the two keys.

PIANO TUNNING

Boy oh boy did our piano ever need some tunning! Holy Crap! I am just happy to finally getting around to having it done.

AT THE DENTIST

Last Saturday was Mimi's time in the dentist chair. Yesterday was my
turn. It was a whole lotta un-fun for me :-( and I love, love, love to
have fun.

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS...........

Mimi started her Christmas letter to Santa way back in June of this year.

Mimi: Mom, you know what a iPod is?
Mom: No, what is it?
Mimi: (big wide open eyes) You don't know what an iPod is ?!!! Blake has one. It where you take these two thingies and stick them in your ear and you listen to music.
Mom: You also asking Santa for a cell phone? Why?
Mimi: So I can text you!
Mom: You can just talk to me you know.

Last month when dad did the bills he asked if I had been texting a lot as we were $50.00 over our planned payment. "Nope" I answered. Then we both pointed our fingers at Mimi who sheepishly said "But I NEEDED to text Sara!"

SITTING IN THE HOT SEAT

For months and months I have telling Mimi to brush her teeth longer
only to get the rolling of the eyeballs and her saying with a long
heavy sighing voice of "I know mom!"

Well let me tell you, she now knows why I have been nagging her all
these months. She now has one cavity. Fortunately it was not so bad.
The doc did not have to numb her up. She did feel a bit of mild
discomfort though. The bad part was that it is on her adult tooth. So
it will be there permenantly.

BUTCH AND TEDDY

Butch is happy that school has started cause now he gets to see his
old friends again too. This is Teddy, then there is Lola the Princess
Pug, then there is Rex the Pugle (Zoe's dog) and then some. Come this
Sunday he will have a playdate with Ziggy and Marley as both he and
Mimi will be staying with Krista while dad and I attend dad's company
picnic at the boss's home up in Clyde Hill.

THE THINGS THAT COMES OUT OF MY CHILD'S MOUTH

This was this mornings conversation.

Mom: (reading fb) Wow! Brandy says that Halliwell is going to school by herself today.
Mimi: Well then, if Halli's going to school by herself WHY can't I go to school by myself?!
Mom: Because I'm going to walk with you that's why.
Mimi: Well.......I know that when I get college age, I'm going to walk to college BY MYSELF!
Mom: I hope so.

Then this evening Krista stopped by to see if her little boy Xander (5 yo) could spend a couple of days with us next week while she and her husband go to San Fransico to take care of some personal business. And as a whole lot of us know, Mimi has been dying to get a brother along with a sister.

Mom: Hey Mimi, now's your chance. Your going to get a brother for a couple of days.
Mimi: SEND HIM BACK! I CHANGE MY MIND!
Mom: But why??? You said that you always wanted a brother.
Mimi: I know but send him back. He is going to mess up everything in my room.

Like the girl has never done that before. Krista and I just busted up laughing. Krista says that this could a trial run for Mimi to decide if she really wants a brother.

THE PROPER WAY TO SWING ON A SWING

When the parade was done (only about one mile), we all met up at the Black Diamond Elementary School. Although there was a small carnival going on there we did not stay long as we were all quite famished. So on to El Corpral we went and boy did they ever make some good strong margaritas. Just the way I like it.

LABOR DAY PARADE IN BLACK DIAMOND

Mimi has been on the team one full year now. It just seems longer though. Maybe because she has been doing gymnastics since she was 4. Last year Labor Day in Black Diamond was her very first parade ever.

She really hates her leo and cried all morning long. "I wish the parade was yesterday", cry, cry, cry "I wish the parade was tomorrow" followed by more crying. They purposely make the competition and parade leos a smidgen tighter than the practice ones so that when the girls go to do their stunts nothing and I mean nothing is showing.

She also detests being a "twerp" as the girls are affectionately called by their teammates. Can't be helped though I tell her. She comes from short people. Even Elsie is a smidgen taller than she is now. I told her that the upside of being short is that she gets to be in the front and hold the banner and won't have to do any stunts down the street. That made her smile. I think that Elsie may have been a bit jealous of Mimi though because in the past it was always the other way around and Elsie loves being in the front. I say this because Elsie had made mention that half way down the parade route she was going to trade places with Mimi. That did not happen.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL/SECOND GRADE

Today is the first day of school for Mimi. Some kids started last
week, today is Mimi's turn and tomorrow will be the rest of Washington
state kids.

Mimi was excited about school so much that she was ready to go by 7
this morning. On the other hand she was a bit apprehensive because she
was afraid that she wouldn't know many of the kids. As it turns out
she knows about 3/4 of her classmates in her room.

Pictured here from left to right is Briella, Mimi and Kaiya. They were in Mimi's first grade class. Then there is Devon, Caleb, Rachel, Maddie, Blake, Olivia, Hayden then plus some more. Too many to mention.

CHANGE OF PICTURE

I thought it was about darn time to change the side bar picture so I did. Only thing is......Mimi looks as if she is choking Butch. She is not. His tongue normally hangs out like that.

CRAZY BOY

What happens when a certain 7 year old girl butts head with a 7 year old boy? I'll tell you what happens. The girl unbeknownst to her mom, swipes her mom's iphone and sends a recorded song via e-mail titled "Crazy Boy" that's what.

COMPANY PICNIC

Next weekend is dad's company picnic at his boss's home and although I did not hear anything about no kids invited I figured that it would be best to leave Mimi at home. She would have more fun playing with her friends anyways as opposed to going to a party full of "boring people" as she puts it.

Although it would be fine if Keri took her for a couple of hours, I decided to ask Krista instead. I love Blake and his family a whole bunch but I think that Blake is growing up way to fast for me. I noticed several months ago that whenever Mimi would go over to play with Blake, she would come home and be very aggressive with dad and myself. She would say things such as "YOU'RE GOING TO GIVE IT TO ME NOW!!! I WANT IT NOW!!!" Sort of like Verucca the brat from Charlie and the chocolate factory. I had a talk with a male friend about it one day and he told me that it is because Blake is a boy and he is trying to exert his dominance over Mimi.

One day I heard her blurt out "What the hell?" "Oh really? And where did you hear this?" I asked to which she replied "Blake". Now I know that one day she will learn all of these words but I prefer she not use them at 7 years old. Therefore I have cut down her playdates with Blake. She still plays with him now and then, but a couple of days ago they butted heads and she crossed him off of her friendship list.

So now we have this picnic coming up and I got the idea to have Krista watch Mimi and Butch for us to which she agreed. Cause although I know that Keri would watch Mimi, it would mean that I would have to lock up Butch for quite some time and I cannot bring myself to do it.

At the picnic today, Krista told us how excited Xander (who just turned 5) is. "Is Mimi going to stay overnight?! I have tons of room in my bedroom for her! We can sleep together!" I just cracked up laughing sooooo hard. I am sure Butch will have loads of fun with his friends Ziggy and Marley.

LABOR DAY PICNIC IN THE PARK

When Mimi and dad were done with their hike, they came home just in time for our neighborhood Labor Day picnic in the park. Of course Mimi had to play with her boys Blake and Shad till they decided to go for a bike ride with Patrick (Shad's dad).

Then Mimi was left to play with Noah (pictured here with Mimi on the slide), while her girlfriends Halli and Erin played together.

In kindergarten there was a boy who would bully Mimi at times but somehow she has the knack to turn things around and this particular boy became her friend. Same thing happened with Noah here. Mimi would tell me from time to time how Noah would bully her at school and we would talk about it and now Noah is her friend and they played all afternoon together till it was time to go home.

I found out from Erin that the girls gave McCallister a new name. They all now call him "The Calli-nator". Where that came from I have no clue.

Even ole' Butch got to have a playdate with Reno at Reno's house.

HIKING WITH DAD

Since dad doesn't get to spend much time with Mimi during the week as his job keeps him busy and the project is so far away, I try to make sure he spends his Saturdays with her as their special father/daughter day. Today was not as nice as last Friday but still nice enough to go hiking and we have so many nice places to go hiking, that is exactly what they did. Butch even got to tag along much to his delight.

SLEEPOVER WITH HALLIWELL AND SARA

We are trying to get in as much summer fun as we can. So after lunch with dad we headed for home just in time for me to get our house in order and dinner cooked before our overnight guests were too arrive.

The three of them had loads of fun. I think that Sara who is the younger sister at her home really enjoys being like the older sister when she gets together with Mimi and her friends.

Pictured here the girls are having a movie marathon watching "The Pink Panther" cartoons and laughing themselves silly.

AT THE OFFICE

After lunch we brought dad back to his office. Mimi got a real kick out of that. She loved seeing how dad could have two monitors hooked up to one computer and how the items on the left screen with the help of the mouse could shift over to the right screen.

CALIFORNIA DREAM'IN

Last Friday was like any other day in Southern California except we are up here in Washington. It was clear blue skies, 85 degrees outside, traffic jam on the 405. The only two things that California has that we don't have is the aggressive drivers where they flip you the bird and honk their horns the nano second the light turns green. Don't miss that about California.

I thought that since it was such a nice day and nearing the end of Mimi so-called summer vacation, we would make a surprise visit to dad's office and go have lunch with him. Before she hit first grade we were able to do it quite often but now it's a whole new chapter in our lives.

Dad took us to a place called Anthony's down by the water. It was sooooo good to be out in the sun again for once.

TOTEM POLE

While up in Everett the other day, I spied this totem pole in someone's front lawn. As I got a closer look at it, I saw that it is a Jewish totem pole and thought "How cool is that?" If you blow the picture up you can see the menorah and the star of David. Just not sure what the three people represent though.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

MIMI AND JORDAN

Today was beautification day for Mimi and myself. When we arrived at
the shop it was nice to see Mai back at work and today she brought the
baby.