MAKING SNOW ANGELS

HAVE SLED WILL TRAVEL.

Lately this is our mode of transportation around the neighborhood these days. The day before yesterday, mom shoveled the driveway and dad put rock salt on it. Worked great until today. Mom spent all morning wrapping gifts for all of Mimi's friends. Then it was time to go and deliver them. Mom put the gifts in the plastic bags so as to not get them wet. Therefore it is presents that we are delivering and not trash. After delivering presents to Halliwell, Blake and Zoe. mom pulled Mimi in the sled on the way to Blake's house and bring him back home with us. Mom thought it would be a good idea to shovel the snow again and this time since the snow was still new, it was not hard at all. While at Blake's house, we saw Wade out there with the Mac Daddy of them all. I'm talking about the snowblowers. I guess that is one of the pluses about being manager of Lowe's. You can get a discount on their machinery. Wouldn't you know it!? Just when mom finished shoveling the snow and cleard the driveway, IT STARTED TO SNOW AGAIN! Egads! I can't win for losing! By this time Zoe had come to the house and joined Blake and Mimi for some snow fun till it was time to go to Alex's house for a Chrismas party. Then it was over to Coach Derek's for a while. Next thing we knew, dad was there after picking up Uncle David and Auntie Setsue from the airport. We all then headed over to grandma's. While at grandma's, we noticed Mimi was awfully quiet. Come to find out, she and grandma was writing a letter to Santa. After coming home, we let Mimi open her presents. "Wow!" says Mimi. "Santa works quick! I got everything that I wanted!" "Thank you mom! Thank you dad! You are the best mom and dad in the whole world!!!" Kiss, kiss, kiss. Tomorrow we are headed back to grandma's.

PLAYDATE WITH JESS, SCOTT AND NATALIE

So sorry to bore everyone with the news about our snow but that's all we have to deal with now at this time and place. Since the snow stopped for the day yesterday and after mom finished with her errands, it was most definitely some time to sit down and have some fun with our neighbors Jess, Scott and their 8 year old daughter Natalie. A good time was had by all. Just before leaving the girls gave us a concert on the piano. This is something that Mimi really likes to do lately.

DOING ERRANDS WITH MOM

Well today started off to a bit of a late start. However we did leave the house at 10:00. It's a good thing that mom shoveled the driveway yesterday. The only thing is my muscles are quite sore today. Last night after coming home, dad put some rock salt on the driveway which helped even more. Now we can get in and out of the garage easily. Except for the neigh borhood streets the highway and freeway was not too bad. We did make it to the bakery which is about one mile from Uwajimaya in downtown Seattle. They have the best cakes around. Mimi picked out a tres leche cake with bavarian icing (tastes like heavy whip cream) and strawberry filling. The theme is Madagascar. She has always loved wild animals as opposed to dolls. As soon as we were done with the bakery we headed over to Uwajimaya to meet with dad for lunch. Traffic was going at snail pace. What should have taken 15 minutes, took almost one hour due to the snow and ice on the street. Finally we made it. While at Uwajimaya we bought all of Mimi's "treasures" favorites food and drinks. Then it was time to head back toward home and pick up a few more Christmas items for the family. Of course there was an accident on the freeway so that slowed things down. Finally at 6:00 p.m. we made it home in time for Mimi to take a bath, dad will arrive home around 7:00, then Jess and her hubby Scott will come over for a big kids playdate. Their daughter Natalie who is 8 will come too. She and Mimi get along swimmingly. Then tonight it is supposed to start snowing again. It is supposed to snow till the end of the month I think.

DAD'S EARLY CHRISTMAS GIFT

Mom decided that today she would give dad an early Christmas gift and shoveled the snow off of the driveway. Even Butch and Mimi decided to get in some fun in the snow. Mom was thinking to herself today that during her lifetime she has shoveled a whole lot of hullabaloo but this is the first time she has shoveled any snow. Took her a whole half day to do it too. Who needs a gym? Just shovel some snow. I am now feeling every muscle in my body. Mom saw everything while shoveling today. Since there is so much snow, this is the one time Mimi is allowed to play in the street. Not many cars go by however this morning there was a guy driving a snowmobile while pulling some kids in a sled. Lots of people actually walking and one guy did some some cross country skiing. In the meantime a couple of mom's friends stopped by (Janet and Krista) and helped mom by shoveling some snow while their kids Xaunder, Erin and Liam played with Mimi. Mimi also played with the kids kitty corner from us. Mimi did not know who they were but they knew Mimi. Hmm I wonder if that doesn't sound surprising? Later in the afternoon Mimi went over to Erin's to play while mom finished shoveling. We are not scheduled to have anymore snow till Wednesday. Woo Hoo! Mom and Mimi are planning to finish up our Christmas shopping tomorrow and make a trip to Borachini's Bakery to place a order for Mimi's birthday cake next month. Mimi is already licking her chops. Can you believe it? She will be 6 years old. My how time flies when you are having fun.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

What can I say? We love those Seahawks!

MORE SNOWFLAKES FALLING

Oh man did it ever snow yesterday! I went out to measure the snow last night at 9:30 pm and we have at least 5 and a half inches of snow and still the snow was falling all the way until the wee hours of this morning. Dad was debating whether or not to go into work today. Unfortunately he has the kind of job (architect) where you have to go to in order to get any work done and there is a meeting that is scheduled up in Everett where there is even more snow than we have that he needs to go to. Poor guy. Mom looked out the window and saw tire tracks leading down our driveway so apparently he went to work and he just now called home so I know that he made it there safely. Now on the other hand there are a whole bunch of people up here who work for Microsoft (Erin's dad being one of them) and those lucky duckies get to work from home during this bad weather we are having. Even the Sea-Tac airport is having a hard time. Many of the airlines have cancelled their flights due to the de-icer solution shortage. It is a solution that the airlines use to get rid of the ice on the planes and runways. Apparently a short while back there was a strike up in Canada involving the company where the United States get their solution from and now we are dipping into what's left in storage. Since we are pretty much stuck inside mom decided to get her baking done and boy howdy did she ever bake yesterday. May do some more baking today. Mimi spent the day across the street at Halliwell's house playing with Halle. Dad spent all day yesterday putting up blackout curtains in the upstairs bedrooms. In between time we watched the Seahawks beat out the New York Jets 13 to 3. YIPEE!!! Although it is not the last Seahawks game but it is Mike Holmgrens last home game at Q-West field. So when the game was over and the Seahawks won he ran around the stadium to thank all of the fans.