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.

ON OUR WAY TO SCHOOL

FASHION MODEL/SPY/ROCKSTAR

Believe it or not, every now and then Mimi likes to dress feminine. Being that it is so cold up here, she has to dress in layers which is something she is not too crazy about. She always asks "Why mom?" and I answer "Because it is not like California where it is around 75 degrees most of the time. Here it is darn near freezing temperature" Next thing I knew she was walking around with my sunglasses saying this is her fashion model/spy and rockstar look. It is most definitly never a dull moment around our house.