GARDENING

Little by little my backyard is starting to come together. It has been
rainning off and on for quite some time now. Oh but let me tell you,
in between the rain it has amazingly gorgeous! We have the most bluest
skies and cool weather. The one thing I don't miss about California is
the HEAT. I just cannot tolerate it. This morning was one of those
mornings where it was
Super gorgeous. The one thing I have learned since being here is that
the weather can turn on s dime so I thought that I would get some
gardening doe this morning. before the clouds come rolling in as they
are doing at this very moment while I am doing laundry and relaxing in
the backyard listening to the kids play at recess.

VOLUNTEER LUNCHEON

Every Friday I volunteer in Mimi's classroom by assisting the teacher
with whatever needs to be done. So this afternoon as a gesture of
appreciation, the school gave us a luncheon with a performance by our
school's choir. It was very, very lovely. We also received the flower
pot along with card and bookmark.

ADOPTION UPDATE

I had a really nice talk with Norman Niu. Surprisingly he still remembers us. Long story short is that group 121 just recently came home. That was something I already knew since Audrey's family was just there getting her little sister. What was also surprising was that they stayed in an apartment as opposed to a hotel. Imaging that! Any hoo, Norman said that group 122 is getting their referals now and that most likely they will be going in 2 months and that we may be going in 4 months from now. If that is the case, it will put us in the area of Sept/Oct. That would be awsome as that time of the year is really special for us. Not only is it our annivesary for our wedding but family as well.

SPLISH SPLASH

Last Sunday our plate was quite full. Our day started off with a visit to the Seattle Culture Center for our monthly world peace prayer meeting in Tukwila. Also we made our payment for the Rock The Era youth culture festival to be held in Long Beach Arena on July 10th. Unfortunately as of now dad will not be able to come with us as he has other obligations that need his attention. Therefore it will only be Mimi and myself from our family. We will arrive on July 8th. Just do not know which hotel we will be staying though as they have yet to give us that information.

Next on our plate was a short visit to see grandma and grandpa. For the most part they are doing pretty good. Grandpa had some dental work done and also it was found that he had a bit of skin cancer on his nose and so a bit of skin grafting was done from his ear to the nose. Can't even tell the difference they did such a good job.

Mimi had a chance to go swimming with dad in the pool. This is something she loves, loves, loves doing. Had a very nice visti with the grandparents then it was off to Rachel's birthday party at the Covingtton Aquatic Center for a pool party. Again, another hour of swimming for Mimi.

If you watch the video, you will be able to see how much Mimi has grown in this past year. Last year June she could barely touch the bottom of the 3ft pool. The water came up to her nose. Now she can play in it without a hitch.

Most of the girls in the picture are from our neighborhood and school. In the top left pic is Mimi and her classmate Chloe. The group of girs are from left to right - Erin, Mimi, Rachel (birthday girl) and Mari. More kids showed up later. All of the kids had a blast. Mimi was realllllly exhausted by the time we got home.

As usual, the kazoo from the goody bag ended up in my secret noise maker drawer. All the way home she would sing "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport" on the kazoo. Drove me bonkers!!! So needless to say, the kazoo went MIA.

MUD aka MOVE UP DAY

I was informed by Mimi this afternoon that next Tuesday is MUD day and
the kids get to meet their teacher and classmates for the next coming
year.

For the past couple of months the muckety mucks of our fair city have
been busy revamping our school district. Not only is Glacier Park
Elementary (Mimi's school) getting a new principal but the boundaries
are changing too.

Some of the re-routing of boundaries has some parents highly upset. As
of now they are taking some kids that live right next to Rock Creek
Elementary and busing them way down to Shadow Lake and taking kids
from Glacier Park and busing them to Rock Creek. Mimi has already
emphatically told me that she does not want to go to Rock Creek. Being
that we live right behind her school the change won't affect us but
she will definitely lose some of her friends.

Sent from my iPhone

WALL BALL

For quite some time now Mimi has learned to play wall ball at school and is loving it. Today the sun is trying to peek out from behind the clouds, so at this very moment is is soooooo gorgeous outside with the bluest sky and the whitest of white clouds.

This afternoon I learned that the dog Brandy is taking care attacked her cat and the cat had to be sent to kitty heaven. I figured that she was/is not in the mood to cook dinner so I brought some over to her and her family. On the way back to my house I met up with Scott and his daughter Natalie who is 9yo. They were on their way to the school to play wall ball and invited Mimi to join them. Of course dad wanted to go to since Scott is dad's playmate. They have their own playdates sometimes too.

So now the girls are with their dads and I get some "me time" Woo Hoo!

MEMORIAL DAY GET TOGETHER

Last night Janet invited all of us over to their house for a Memorial Day BBQ. Not pictured are the 6 boys all under the age of 5. All of Mimi's friends (L to R, Mimi, Olivia, Halliwell, Erin) have at least one other sibling. Hopefully by December of this year Mimi will have hers.

What happens when you put 2 girls + 2 girls together? The claws come out and someone's feelings get hurt. That's what. For the most part the girls play beautifully together. The boys were being boys. Rambunctious would be the best word to describe them.

Just before going home, I saw Halliwell crying. Did not know why though, so I asked Mimi "what happened?" Of course I got the usual answer "I dunno" Finally the story came out. Not sure of who said what but apparently someone ( I'm pretty sure it was Halli) had mentioned that she was having a sleepover with Erin after dinner last night and it was just going to be those two and not anyone else. Then Olivia said that she was going to have Mimi sleepover with her. Halli who can at times get very jealous of Mimi started to cry to her mom "Olivia said she is going to have Mimi over for a sleepover and not me.......". It's getting to the point now where Mimi does not share much info as to what she does in her free time because somebody somewhere ends up with hurt feelings.

The parents were having the time of their lives downstairs swapping stories about our wildlife out here in the country and catching up on the latest gossip and such. Mimi was quite pleased when she found out that her other friend Alex will be taking Karate this summer along with her and Blake.