We had winter come early this year… last Friday we had our first Snow Day!  They cancelled school, Christmas Break started one day early and the kids made good use of the snow… Max was sledding in the yard before breakfast!  They had a good time playing in it and even made a few snowmen! It didn’t stick around for too long, which was ok as we had our traditional plans of heading up to Bellevue Square for the annual dumpling feast and then watching the crazy festivities of Snowflake Lane.  Checkout the pics and videos below… a good time was had by all!

Well, we made it once again through another birthday party! Mark and I kind of lucked out in that Max got his days confused and so on Saturday, the day of his party, he thought it was a school day so he wasn’t bugging us to open presents until I decided to let the cat out of the bag at about 2PM… only an hour before everyone showed up.  Just thinking about the girly giggles that came out of him then still makes me chuckle. It was pure glee and delight from him to finally get to have HIS day after waiting what seemed like forever after Sophie’s party.  Needless to say, he ripped through his presents in record time and then we surprised him with a piñata!  This one was indoor approved with little ribbons you pull, one at a time, and only one is connected to the secret trap door to release the chocolate I had tucked inside.  And better still, the thing doesn’t get bashed to smithereens so now he has a 2 foot tall Optimus Prime to have chats with.  Anyways- take a look at the pics from the party… not too many as both Mom and Dad we too busy enjoying themselves after what was a very long and trying week.  Thanks to everyone again for the presents… he really loves everything he got!

It’s hard to believe, but Sophie is now SEVEN!!

I made a bargain this year with Sop… instead of having a party with a bunch of kids, I told her we would do something REALLY fun that she would LOVE.  And that was a trip up to the American Girl store to buy her an American Girl doll.  For those of you who aren’t sure what this is… it’s a BIG FREAKING deal for little girls everywhere… and it’s a pretty massive empire of merchandise.  You can take a look at the insanity here.  Sophie was pretty excited (she nearly cried when we were standing at the entrance of the store and I told her what her surprise was…) and we had a fun time shopping for her doll and then we ate lunch in the American Girl Bistro.  She named her doll Annabel, but decided to call her Anna for short. They became fast friends to say the least.  Afterwards, we headed home to get ready for the family party.  Snack, present opening and then dinner followed by of course… birthday cake!  Oh, and the birthday girl requested  a “Rainbow” theme, and I had some fun with that.  Take a look at the pictures and then scroll down for a short video of “happy birthday” around the cake!

Sometimes when kids get into your stuff it can be really annoying.  And sometimes… hilarity can ensue.  Take a look at a little “infomercial” Sophie made one night not too long ago when she went to bed.  Unbeknownst to us, she had snuck the MacBook up to her room.  It has a camera built right in and since she taught herself how to use the record function, I sometimes find little gems like this in the video folder.  Take a look.  And yes, I now HIDE the computer so they can’t find it unless I want them to.

The day has finally arrived!  Sophie has only been either worrying about it or eagerly anticipating it or a combination of both for about 2 months now… and at long last the day has arrived! Her first day of first grade!  It was a long one… she got on the bus at 8:22 this morning and didn’t get off the bus until 3:30!  Max and I had LOTS of time to get things done and play and have lunch and a snack, and play and eat yet another snack…. he kept asking me “Is it time to go get Soph (from the bus) yet?”  I think he will enjoy some extra Mommy time (and he starts Pre-K next week, 4 afternoons a week) but I also think he’s going to miss his big sister, too. Her teacher this year is Mr. Romano, and he is who I was hoping we’d get as everything I hear about him sounds just fantastic.  He has a reputation as being very on top of it, having high expectations for his students but also really making sure they are set up for success, too.  So, take a look through the pictures to see what I mean and check out the pics I got of Sophie’s day.  She rode the bus but Mr. Romano requested parents come up for the first few minutes of the day to hear about the daily schedule, etc.  So, I got to get some photos of her starting off her day in her classroom which is pretty cool.  Next up… Max’s start next Monday!  Enjoy!

“Summertime,
And the livin’ is easy
Fish are jumpin’
And the cotton is high

Oh, Your daddy’s rich
And your mamma’s good lookin’
So hush little baby
Don’t you cry”

Thank you George Gershwin for the kind words, even if they aren’t all true. We have, however, had a very easy summer.  The weather has been dry, warm, clear and all around great.  I can honestly say I will be ready for “Sweater and Boot Weather” (this is almost an official phrase among us women here in the Pacific NW…) when it arrives-sooner than later most likely.  What have we been up to, you ask?  Well, a whole lot as it turns out now that I have finally had a chance to sit down and go through all the random pictures I have taken this summer.  Most of these are from my phone, something I usually have on me, and since Markie got me a new fancy one with a 41 Mega Pixel camera that takes pretty amazing photos, these are pretty good!  So, hopefully this will help with the blogging down the road.

Anyway, go through the slideshow below.  Click on the first picture to start the slideshow. I have included captions with all the pics so you can know a little bit about what you are looking at.  Next week Sophie heads back to school…so we’ll have new posts about that soon enough!  Now, we are off to enjoy the last 7 days of summer vacation!

So, technology can be a wonderful thing.  It can also be a curse.  Especially when you have little kids at home and also a lot of “gadgets.”  Max seems to think that “screen time” is a food group.  Sorry kiddo, ain’t happening. Anyway, since I’ve started putting a password lock screen on my PC, they haven’t been able to sneak into the office to play on the computer.  But, a few days ago I got out the MacBook in hopes of eventually getting around to going through our Hawaii videos, and they managed to figure out how to use the “Photo Booth” tool to film themselves. This I don’t mind so much as they are using it to amuse themselves with themselves.  And, when the results are as entertaining as this…well, you’ll see.  (Turn up the volume so you can hear, she’s trying to be quiet.)

In other news, Max has finished preschool for the year and next Wednesday is Sophie’s very last day of Kindergarten!  Bring on Summer Vacation-we are ready!! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go wash someone’s hair!

Oh boy does she ever…. Here’s a quickie for some enjoyment over the long weekend!

We’re back and browner than ever.  Good weather abounded for our vacation, thank goodness! We had sunshine everyday, only a little rain overnight one time and a LOT of fun!  We saw whales nearly everyday, went on a whale-watching 2 hour excursion where we saw a mom, her baby and an “escort”…who was most likely hoping to get lucky, but mom was too busy teaching her baby how to leap out of the water.  Sorry Charlie!  We took a morning off from the sun and went to the aquarium which was pretty cool…sharks, rays, and lots of info about the fish in the waters.  There was even a glass tunnel to walk through and see the fish from all angles- it was neat! We also got to do a little snorkeling and Sophie did it too!  She was a very great swimmer and became a true water girl this trip- body surfing, boogie boarding and went out on the reef with me a few times like a real swimmer (no floatie as backup!) – it was cool!!  Max also finally got into the swim of things and seemed much more comfortable in the water than last year as well. He liked body surfing up the beach and was even doing it under water by the end of the trip. We ate a lot of BBQ chicken that Grill Master Mark cooked, so much in fact the kids protested loudly “NOT MORE CHICKEN!” by about day 8 but it was good and left us plenty of time and money to buy rum and fresh guava juice to refresh ourselves after a long day at the beach! So, take a look below at the pics… we have some video to put up soon, too… so stay tuned!