MORE BIRTHDAY PARTY PICTURES

Pictured with Blake is Zoe aka "the other woman". Bailey absolutely adores Zoe's younger brother Braden and although Blake really adores Zoe, he loves Mimi just as much. He spends just about every free minute he has at our house. At the party mom heard Keri tell Blake "You are not going over to Mimi's anymore tonight mister(he's been over here every single day), you are coming home, but if Mimi wants to come over it will be alright". So of course the boy asked and I had to tell him the answer is no but that we will see each other tomorrow for sure. Weekends are the only real time we get to spend as a family because dad works long hours. In fact he and Mimi are downstairs now watching Madagascar. Mimi saw the sequel but not the original.

HALLIWELL'S BIRTHDAY

This morning was spent with Mimi and Blake having a pancake breakfast then playing more Wii. We then all went over to Sara's house to pick up the Littly Tykes playset that they were giving us. Blake tagged along and that of course made his day. He absolutely adores Mimi's friend Sara I think mainly because she is the "older woman". Sara is all of 8 years old. When all was said and done, we headed home to pick up Keri and baby sister Bailey and headed over to the ice rink for Halliwell's birthday party. Pictured from left to right is Mimi, Erin and Halliwell.

RINGS ON FINGERS AND TOES

We no sooner came home from Grandma's house and Home Depot than ol' Blake showed up at the door. For a while they stayed outside to help dad rake the leaves only that Blake is the one who is a good helper. Mimi would rather just goof off. Next thing I knew they were talking sleep over. Mom talked it over with Keri and Keri gave him the green light. You never saw a happier boy in your life. Most of the time Mimi and Blake spend their time playing Wii or with Butch or just goofing off as you can see here.

DAD'S NEW TOY

This afternoon we went to Home Depot and dad bought new toy and mom purchased a new toy for herself. None other than a screw driver to keep in the kitchen. You find that especially when one has a kid, their toys come batteries and nowadays they come with those doggone screw in panels.

Dad's new toy is the leaf blower/vac. Today the weather has been amazingly gorgeous, so all of the neighbors have been raking up their leaves. We also have pine needles from the Fir trees and they are a real pain in the tuckus to clean up. Dad's new toy works wonders I must say.

BRUNCH WITH THE GIRLS

This morning started off with a lovely breakfast that was cooked by mom followed by Mimi calling her BFF's over to play for a while. Then mom fixed them a ramen snack before it was time to take the girls home and head over to Grandma's and Home Depot.

GOT ICE CREAM?????

Today is the beginning of parent/teacher conference at Mimi's school. While Keri was at the conference, Blake went over to Zoe's. Soon as it was done both Shelley and Keri went to do some erriands while mom took care of the kids, fed them their favorite lunch of grilled cheese sandwich and apple slices. The ice cream sandwiches were desert. Then it was time to drop the kids off at school and we moms got together for our Margarita Friday's. Mom has a standing deal with the girls. Keri provides the place, Shelley makes the drinks and mom cooks something for us to eat. This week mom made cerveche, baked pita bread and hummus. Mom is becoming quite a good cook if I do say so myself. Soon as school let out, we all headed back to Keri's for a evening playdate.

POOPED

Yesterday mom and Mimi had quite a busy day. It started of with Mimi waking up at her usual 6:30 am wake up call. Then mom had to feed the gang cause they were all starving. Nice thing about getting up early is that mom could get started on the housework. Mimi's new thing is for mom to make her a breakfast burrito which takes less than 5 minutes to make. Mom has become quite a microwave whiz. Then it was time to practice the piano for about 20 minutes then head out the door to gymnastics. Soon as that was done, it was time to head over to the new Costco in town to get some necessities and Fred Meyers's for other things. Freddies does make fresh sushi everyday and they know exactly the kind that Mimi likes however it is not gourmet like the ones you will find on Samantha's Blog site. That sushi looks totally scrumptious. But Freddies is good enough for now. To get good sushi one has to go to South Center Mall or downtown Seattle. That is a trek for us.

We got home just in time for Mimi to quickly change clothes and head over to school. While Mimi was in school, mom got on a cleanning kick at home. She was like a white tornado. Dad knows that when mom puts on her R&B music it is time to stay out of the way.

Soon as school let out the kids all wanted to play together. It stopped raining but was "freeze you nunnies off cold". While the other moms, Brandy, Keri and Shelley could not make up their minds as to what the afternoon plans were going to be, the kids were taking off for Mimi's house. Mom was running to keep up with them while she's yelling to the other mom's to call the house and let her know what's going on. We all eventually ended up at Zoe's house, whch is where Mimi has been wanting to go for such a long, long time. Zoe's family does have a gorgeous home. Kind of looks like something out of Home and Garden, unlike our home where there is Mimi's school work hanging all over mom's kitchen cabinets.

All of the kids had a blast, Mimi, Blake, Zoe, Halle, Braden, Bailey, Allyah. 4, five year olds, 1 three year old, 1 two year old and a 8 year old. As Shelley calls it "instant birth control".

For the most part ol' Blake had a good time but then there were the times when he wanted to hold Zoe's hand or play with her but she did not want to hold his hand or play with him. Zoe would rather play with Mimi and Halle, so she kind of gave him the cold shoulder. Poor little fella. It seems that although there are quite a number of kids in our neighborhood, the kids are either teenagers, elementary school age (1st grade and up and they are mostly girls) or babies. There are no boys close by that is Blake's age. It also seems that when he plays with Mimi or Zoe on a one to one basis things go well however when they all get together it's girls vs boys and poor ol' Blake is numbered out. I guess at this age is when the girls and boys start to separate before the teenage years.

By the time 8:00 rolled around last night we were all pooped. Mimi was so tired that she actually over slept this morning and woke up at 7:30.