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.