New principal at IVE

Our new principal started at Issaquah Valley Elementary this summer.
She had the PTA board members and their families over to her house for
a homemade lunch. The kids loved meeting her plus she had a
professional sized trampoline and 3 young pygmy goats. Monti decided to

skip her last day of choir camp to go to the luncheon. She explained to Joe,

"Dad, how often do you get to go to the principal's house?" We all had a good

time. Her yard was gorgeous — full of beautiful trees and fresh herbs. For

dessert she served us lavender shortbread cookies containing fresh lavender

from her garden. I was excited to hear about some of her plans for the new

school year. I am very optimistic we will see some positive changes at IVE

with her at the helm.

Monti goes first

She tries to put on a brave face but she is so very worried and
scared. I hated the waiting but I knew once you get it done you don't
have to worry about doing it again.

Torture

This series of pictures just breaks my heart. The girls really wanted their ears pierced. After deciding to do it they had to wait a couple of hours so that Claire's would have 2 employees able to pierce at the same time. I know Monti was just stressed waiting all that time. She decided to go first. She did a really good job being the brave big sister. She simply looked stunned afterwards and said "that really did hurt." Dahlia had a tougher time keeping the tears in but both said they would do it again if they could go back in time.

Hoh Rain Forest

We hiked through the Hoh rain forest in the Olympic National Park.
This area of Washington gets about 12-14 feet of rain. Overall I
thought the rain forest in Mt Rainier's national park was more
impressive than this one.

on the coast

We made it to Washington's Pacific coast for the afternoon. On our way
home Monti collected the remains of a variety of sea creatures while
Dahlia enjoyed writing her name.

Modeling

The girls did a little modeling for me when we went to the temperate rain forest.

strep throat

Poor Monti had fever and a horrible headache. She also felt sick to
her stomach so she made her home in our bathroom. Our camping mat
works as a great temporary mattress. The next day she tested positive
for strep throat at the doctor's. The doctor only tested her for strep
because it is the only sickness she could give me anything for.

Deal with the face painter

The farmer's market had lots of other vendors. One of them is the face
painter lady. Monti drifted on over there and started talking to the
lady. I was determined to not give her money for any face painting. I
wanted her to stay focused on her goal of selling baked goods. After 5
minutes of conversation the lady started painting her face for free.
Monti came back beaming telling me she had made a deal with the lady
to help promote her face painting in exchange for free face painting.
Monti did live up to her end of the bargain.

2nd Grade Bake Sale

Monti's 2nd grade class has been learning about the rain forest. Her
friend Knicole had the idea of having a bake sale to raise money to
protect the rain forest. The moms baked the goods while the kids put
on their cutest faces and sold the goodies at the Issaquah Farmer's
market. The kids had a lot of fun and they made $500 which was enough
to protect 10 acres of rain forest.

the Froghopper

I took the girls to the Family Fun Center. They couldn't get enough of
the froghopper ride.

Lockdown at IVE

Thursday at 11:15 am Monti and Dahlia's school received a call from
the Issaquah Police Department telling them they needed to go to a
level 4 lockdown. An armed man had threatened another man at a
business near the school and fled before he was apprehended. They
feared for the safety of the kids with the angry man at large. In a
level 4 lockdown blinds are closed, doors are locked, lights are out,
kids are on the floor and there is no talking. The lockdown went on
for 2 hours before it was lifted. None of the kids were able to eat
their lunches. For those classrooms without bathrooms the kids had to
use waste paper baskets behind the teachers desk to relieve
themselves. I was on the way home from a field trip with Dahlia's
class when the bus driver received a message that we were supposed to
stay clear of IVE. They took us to the transportation center where we
sat for 30 minutes trying to figure out what the heck was going on.
The bus was full of very hungry kindergartners and parents so they
drove us to another elementary school in the area where they fed us
all lunches. With my iPhone I was able to find out what was going on
but I was still very concerned that Monti would be really upset. When
we returned to school I immediately went to check up on Monti who was
finally eating her lunch. She wasn't too upset with the whole thing — in
fact she seem downright excited to inform me that she had peed in the
garbage can.

Dentist checkup

Both girls have very small mouths for all their teeth. After looking
at an xray of Monti's front teeth the dentist is pretty sure that
Monti's front teeth won't come in for a long time. The two lateral
teeth are blocking the way for her 2 adult front teeth to come in. She
is recommending that we extract the next two baby teeth so that the
adult teeth will have a clear path. If her jaw doesn't start catching
up with her teeth we will have to do more work to expand her jaw. This
can be done using retainers.

Mr. Mistoffelees comes to Talus

Monti and her teacher

Hansel and Gretel field trip

at the Vegan restaurant Squid & Ink

Audition for Northwest Girl's Choir

Monti auditioned for the Northwest Girl's Choir here in Seattle. In
the audition she worked with an instructor to find her range. Monti
explained to the woman that her goal was to be able to reach the
highest note on the piano. The woman told Monti that no one can get
that high but she did offer Monti some words of encouragement. She
said that Monti was only 5 notes away from the highest note she had
ever heard someone sing. After Monti sang her solo the lady said they
would love to have Monti join their choir in the Fall. She will do a
summer day camp with the choir in Seattle. After the camp we will be
able to better decide if joining the choir in September is the right
choice for her.

Hukilau

Planetarium field trip

Monti's class went to the local community college's planetarium. Monti was pretty disappointed to find out it was simply a domed classroom. It was not like the planetarium in Chicago. We did, however, enjoy the presentation given to us. In the end we ended up with more questions about space than answers. At home we brought out the telescope to look at some planets but our Seattle skies would not cooperate. Instead of looking for celestial objects we have been viewing the neighborhood cats and movie listings at the downtown theater with our telescope. I have unintentionally distracted my child from her astronomy aspirations and have created a young "peeping Tom" instead.

Cats

I took Monti to see Cats in Seattle. At intermission Monti was so tired she asked if we could just go home. We had a little treat and decided to stay. Luckily we did because the 2nd act included our favorite song "Mr Mistoffelees". 

HSM3 tryouts

The play they are doing at school this time is High School Musical 3 . At the tryouts the drama teacher encouraged everyone to try out for every role. He was able to get a better idea of what role he would give each of the kids. Dahlia finally decided she would try doing one of the plays. Monti, for some reason, decided to act like she was terrified to talk in front of people. Seeing Monti act this way completely worked against Dahlia getting up there. After a little threatening conversation from mom, Monti went up and started saying some lines.  I literally had to walk Dahlia up to the stage and stand next to her while she did her audition. Dahlia was thrilled to find out she was cast as one of the Wild Cat cheerleaders. Monti congratulated her with ,"I'm happy for you that you got a better part than I did." Oh... the drama of having 2 girls so close in age.

The golden egg hunt

After an extensive scavenger hunt through the house the girls and I packed up to go to a friend's house for Easter. Chelle had several families over for brunch and an Easter egg hunt. Among all the hidden plastic colored eggs there was a golden egg with a special prize in it. Monti had seen all the plastic eggs earlier and the week and she was very curious about a certain large green egg that had a good rattle when you shook it. Unfortunately for Monti it was the egg the dads decided to cover in gold foil. She was so determined to find this one egg that she didn't get many eggs in general. When she and another boy spotted the golden egg it was too high for her to get. The bigger boy rushed in and retrieved her egg; Monti was crushed. She came in the house in tears sobbing about how she hated being small. Later that day I found her standing outside in the rain without a coat. I tried to get her to come inside but she said she was punishing herself for being so single focused during the egg hunt. 

Last minute egg coloring

We were so busy spring break going from one play date to another that we never had time to color eggs. Saturday evening 20 minutes before bedtime we quickly colored a dozen eggs for the Easter Bunny to hide. 

Gilman Village egg hunt?

In the downtown shopping area of Issaquah they hold an Easter egg hunt for kids and adults. For the adults they add coupons and free samples to their eggs. This year we decided to go. I believe calling it an egg hunt is mislabeling the event. Kids stood in line at store doors to collect their eggs. It was more like trick-or-treating for Easter eggs but the kids had fun loading up their baskets.

Obsessed with the planets

Monti has been obsessed with learning about space. She drew pictures of all the planets and taped them to the patio door. We went to the library so she could check out a book of every planet. At the park she had one of her friends play the sun while Dahlia was Saturn and she
was Uranus. Dahlia was thrilled because she got a chance to demonstrate her ability to walk (orbit) around while hula hooping. Monti explained that she would spin her hula hoop on her arm because Uranus is tilted so it's rings look different than Saturn's which is convenient because Monti still can't hula around her waist.

Monti's new smile

Two front teeth gone

finally a nice day

Trying to recreate a album cover idea

I had found this image when I did a search on the term "sole man". I wanted to see how feasible it would be for me to try and shoot students from IVE in the same way. I couldn't think of where I would get the glass for people to walk on. I pulled into the driveway and it hit me... I could use the Prius sloped glass to try and shoot the kids from underneath. Monti and Dahlia were as usual excellent participants in one of their mom's many crazy ideas.

Monti singing Dites Moi

Monti at the variety show - Lunchbox

Danny Boy practice

A group of kids from school will be singing "Danny Boy" for the multicultural night at our school. They had their first practice at the coffee shop with a gelato treat afterwards.

Irish festival

We were looking for something to do on Sunday so we headed down to the Irish festival at Seattle Center. I'm not sure how balloon creatures are related to Ireland but they were a huge hit especially the highly requested octopus.

Monti's photo shoot

Monti set up the upstairs hall to be like a photo studio. She had paint cans for some of us to sit on. She was emulating the Disney Cruise photographer's setup. She took about 20 pictures and I swear my Dad looks like he has his eyes closed in every one of them.

Katie's birthday party

Monti watched a movie with her friend in their car out in the parking lot while Dahlia played inside the Kid's Bounce. Dahlia is usually the one who has to sit on the sidelines while Monti goes to fun birthday parties.

Painting the bathroom

While I painted the bathroom the girls did their own painting. Monti
switched from painting to making figures out of clay.

Joe and Monti

We received the photos form the Father-Daughter Valentine's Day dance. I love this picture but Monti may need to buy better quality accessories to go with her outfit next year.

 

group shot

Shedd Aquarium

At the Shedd Aquarium we saw the 4D version of "Planet Earth - Shallow Seas". I am not a big fan of 4D. I must have been sprayed 8 times during the 15 minute film and I jumped out of my skin when a poke in the back coincided with the sea snake scene.

Miniature rooms

Monti wanted to go to the Art Institute specifically for the miniature
rooms. The rooms are scaled one inch to one foot and show European and
American rooms from the late 13th century to 1930's.

Young artist at work

Monti learns how to duplicate artwork by using a grid system. She spent about 20 minutes working on her picture.

The girls worked on illustrations for their own story book. The picture behind them is a replication of "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte"done by Japanese high school students using punched out paper dots.

Water park fun

Chip and Kim belong to the YMCA in Plainfield. Inside the YMCA there is a great water park which is the perfect place to have some family fun time. The water and air temperature is warm enough for even me. It has a range of water slides and sprayers along with my favorite — the lazy river.

Power of mad

To be able to go down the large slides all kids had to pass a swimming
test. The swimming test included jumping in at one end and swimming
the whole length of an Olympic size pool. Monti at first did not want
to do the test but she watched Gwendolyn go up and down the water
slides while she just got more and more angry. She finally decided to
go take the test she was so nervous about. She explained to me that
she used all her mad energy to make her strong enough to swim. After
passing the test she told my mom she didn't care if she drowned she
was going to pass that test.

Party crafts

Lesa would never have a party for young kids without including some
type of craft. Each of the kids beaded a necklace and then they
decorated a jewelry box to take their necklace home in. The boys,
Lucas and Brecken, were especially patient and thoughtful when putting
together their beaded creation.

Wedding dress

I tried on my wedding dress for the girls today. They loved seeing it
in person.

Snow Fest Chicago

In Grant Park the City of Chicago was holding an event called Snow
Days. There were about 20 snow artists working on a variety of
intricate sculptures. Unfortunately Chicago had some unseasonably warm
temperatures earlier in the week. All the artists were extremely
behind on their work which needed to be done by noon the following
day. The artists told us they would have to work through the night and
that they hoped for colder temperatures so they could achieve the
amount of detail in their sculpture they needed to win the contest.

Meeting Willlow

Monti and Dahlia traveled a long way to meet their new cousin Willow.
It was worth every penny. Monti kept saying, "She is just so
adorable." Dahlia was just in love. I asked her what she wanted to do
while Brecken napped and she said , " I just want to stand here and
watch Willow sleep."

Father-Daughter dance outfit

There are times when I can allow Monti to put together her outfit. I
dressed her for the Coraline premiere but the "green princess' outfit
she wore for the Father-Daughter Dance was all Monti's creation. Once
her wig and shimmery fabric remnants came off it looked as if she were
wearing green pajamas. Some father and daughters came in tuxes and
formal dresses. Regardless of what she was wearing she had a great
time dancing the night away.

IVE pancake breakfast

We made it back from Portland in time to go to the IVE pancake
breakfast Saturday morning. Even Junior supported Monti and Dahlia's
school by attending the event and eating a couple pancakes.

OMSI

We love OMSI - Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. It has great
activities for all ages. I was surprised when I realized our previous
favorite area of the museum was filled with babies and toddlers. My
girls looked like giants compared to all the young kids in the
Scientific Playground. It hit me that my little girls have grown up so
we headed to the "big kid" section. We had the best time doing
chemistry experiments, designing flying objects, perfecting sailboat
building and experiencing a simulated earthquake. We had to miss
school to come here but I think we did a pretty good job experiencing
lots of new things that day.

Embassy Suites Portland

We had the whole pool, hot tub and sauna to ourselves at the Embassy
Suites in Portland. We used all three.

After party

To get into the Corlaine after party each individual needed a special
key. They had scenes from the movie set up including props and puppets
that people could touch and interact with. After seeing all the
details behind the movie Monti totally understood why it took Laika 4
years to make the movie.

Coraline

Joe and Monti headed out to the Coraline movie world premiere in Portland. Joe was offered tickets by his customer - Laika - who created the movie. It was Monti's first opportunity to walk the red carpet. If I know her it won't be her last time.

Ski lift

The girls have now mastered the ski lifts. Joe and I got a chance to
ride up with each of them on Sunday. Dahlia is so comfortable that she
told me she almost fell asleep on the long quad lift up the hill.
Their legs are so cute in the way they go straight out instead of
bending at the knees.

Spoiling the girls

While we were away the girls were totally showered with attention. Above they made cutout cookies. They also had formal introductions announced. Monti was quick to tell me that Rosa would make 2 half sandwiches for her lunch. One was a cheese sandwich, the other one PB&J. She could eat whichever sandwich she was in the mood for at lunch.

Dites-moi

Monti sang the song "Dites-Moi" from the musical South Pacific at the
IVE Variety Show. She sang her little heart out. In the musical this
song is sung by a couple of Polynesian children. Monti and I searched the
internet to find an appropriate costume. The dress came all the way
from Guam — we found it on ebay. I will post video when I get it.

Nerves

Monti woke at 5:30 am the morning of the Variety Show full of nerves.
When asked what was making her so stressed we found out it wasn't the
fact that she would be singing a solo in front of more than 300
people. Instead she was terrified she would hold up her sign the wrong
direction during a skit act she performed with her friend Morgan.
Right before she went on stage for the skit she started to tear up
regarding the issue of the dreaded sign. I quickly resolved all fears
by volunteering to walk out on stage myself carrying the sign when the
appropriate line was read. During the daytime performance I walked out
with the sign covering my face. Lots of kids in the audience were
whispering things like "That's really her mom." After the performance
Monti asked that I not cover my face with the sign. She wanted me to
really act mad which she said I should be very good at doing.

Grandma at the bus stop

Joe's parents came to Issaquah several days before we left for our Mexico trip.

1st Variety Show practice

The first practice was filled with lots of chaos and drama. Kids would
just create acts on the fly including Monti who decided at the last
minute to join her friend in a poetry reading act. There were also
tears when one girl was dropped from an act by her so-called friends.
We have a lot of work to do in 4 weeks.

Shamu's Happy Harbor

Shamu's Happy Harbor at Sea World area was perfect for our girls. It
was full of little kiddie rides that even Dahlia would get on. We
would not have even made it over to this area of the park if our
flight hadn't been delayed for 2.5 hours. It worked out great with the
delay except for the fact that we didn't make it home until 2 am after the 6 hr, 4 minute flight.

Universal Studios

Monti enjoyed several aspects of Universal Studios while Dahlia was
terrified of everything including The Cat in the Hat. Both girls need
about 5 years before they will really be ready for what Universal
offers.

Peacocks

After the horses we went to check out the peacocks that lived at the country club. The girls were showing pretty good restraint by not chasing them across the yard. 

Falling in love with horses

After spending some time with these horses Dahlia and Monti were both trying to work both of us into buying them a horse as a pet. I must admit they were pretty easy to love but I'm not sure they would play ball like Dahlia wanted them to do.

Hotel fun

Joe's mom took the grandkids back to the hotel while we grabbed some dinner. She had bought a box full of funny teeth so all of them could have a set. Dahlia had a hard time keeping her teeth in she was laughing so hard. 

masks at Billy and Lori's wedding

Billy and Lori did a really nice job making sure their reception was fun for everyone. They had a large craft table set up near the pool where people worked on making custom masks for the evenings. The masks turned out really great and it entertained the kids for a long time. 

Digging to the center of the earth in Ft Lauderdale

Monti, Dahlia, and their cousins started digging a huge hole as soon as we arrived at the Ft Lauderdale beach. The hole was quite large and it gathered a lot of attention from passers-by. Dahlia was very protective of the hole especially regarding a 3 year old boy who just kept coming over to help. The next couple hours were spent converting that large hole into a home. The weather was great and none of us ended up getting sunburned.

Waiting for FedEx

Everyone headed off to Ft Lauderdale while we waited for our box of
clothes and shoes to arrive from Seattle. We had shipped them 13 days
prior but due to weather and the holidays they hadn't arrived. The
girls and Eliza used the extra time to skinny dip in the hot tub while
the boys were gone. After the hot tub they headed to the garage where
they created mock packages to put at the front door after ringing the
doorbell. We were so anxious to get the package that we fell for it.
The real package did not arrive until 6:15 PM. We still had a 4 hour
drive ahead of us.

Girls hanging out in The Villages

We enjoyed a day out in The Villages. We shopped, had pizza for lunch
and saw Bedtime Stories. Each girl went home with a mood necklace.
After picking out hers Monti said to me, "Mine will always be colored
grey because that means nervous and I am always nervous." I have 2
nervous children. Monti bites her nails and Dahlia has started to
twirl her hair till it knots and then she pulls it out. Her hair is
completely shorter on her left side because of this bad habit.

the wedding of frogette and froggy

Sunday morning is a great time for a wedding and the girl's were busy planning one. They had found 2 little frogs just waiting to find someone to perform the "froggy" nuptials. 

time to shovel

We had crazy Chicago weather while we were in town. We arrived to
nearly 0 degree weather and left for FL in 60 degree temperatures. My
parents were getting water in their basement due to the rapid melting
snow. Monti simply disappeared from the house and I found her outside
shoveling her heart out. She was just trying to do her part in
relieving the flooding. The water in the basement made both the girls very nervous.

Ryan

Our friend Ryan met us at the zoo. He lived with us for 2 years when we were first married so he knows all our dirty secrets. Monti and Ryan spent some time discussing guitar playing. He explained to her that he  started playing at age 11. If he lived with us now we would all be jamming together and laughing a lot more.

holiday lights

Brookfield Zoo had a holiday lights program that kept the zoo opened late into the evening. Gabe was working at the zoo but he was dressed in a costume. At the entrance of the zoo I kept noticing this bear waving our direction. We shouted out Gabe but the bear only shrugged his shoulders. It was Gabe but he was not allowed to talk while in costume. The only way you could identify the characters was by looking at their shoes. When we took this shot Monti didn't know that was her cousin behind the mask.

Christmas morn

Christmas morning was low key but enjoyable. Dahlia and Monti each received American Girl horses. It was the one item that Dahlia said she wanted from Santa in the ER room before she was stitched up. They both have already begged me to let them ride home on the airplane with them in their laps. I convinced Monti to let me crate them up for the plane ride if I added a carrot to the box in case her horse gets hungry.

cousins and presents

A bird's eye view of the kids before they opened their presents.

Christmas Eve

Joe is doing his best to tease the kids. We all went to Chip and Kim's house for a Christmas Eve party. 

at American Girl

Each girl received a gift certificate to get one outfit for their American Girl doll. There are probably well over 300 outfits available there so the decision took some time. They came home with a riding outfit, a beach outfit, and a ballet ensemble.

Passed out

A snow storm was predicted to roll through on Tuesday so we moved up our plans to head downtown Chicago to do some Christmas shopping at Water Tower Place. We left after dinner and all 3 girls were dead asleep within 10 minutes of leaving the house. It was good because we stayed out till about 11:00.

at the Nutcracker ballet

Once inside the theater we could relax and enjoy the show. Ten minutes into the ballet Dahlia leaned over and whispered to me "Mom why aren't they singing?" I must agree with Dahlia ballet seems to be lacking a certain something when it comes to telling a story.

Capes made by grandma

Each of the girls received a black cape to wear to the ballet in
Chicago. Each cape had it's own unique colored lining. The problem was
that the temperature in Chicago was -3 before you considered the wind.
We were all so chilled to the bone it was just simply hard to move.
Long capes are a little more difficult to maneuver in and
they can catch the wind very easily. Both Dahlia and Gwendolyn fell
between the parking garage and the Auditorium Theater. Even with the
problems I loved the image of three little girls in a row walking in
their black capes with Mama following in her black cape. It was such
a great dramatic effect.

Tea party

The adults and Gabe were playing Apples to Apples while the smaller
kids enjoyed a tea party at my mom's house. This was the first bit of
a smile we had seen from Dahlia since her accident at home.

Sledding in our neighborhood

Our neighborhood is great for snow days. There are lots of kids and a
endless amount of places to go sledding. Of course safe sledding
places become more limited so supervision is important. Parents would
take turns staying out with the kids who wanted to keep sledding all
day long.

Mounting mirrors in the playroom

We added mirrors to two of the walls in the kid's playroom in the basement. Joe went to four Home Depots in the Seattle are to find the 7 large mirrors we needed. The kids enjoyed helping press the mirrors to the wall until the mastic stuck. This mirror slid slightly off square when we pressed it on which created quite a challenge to deal with when we mounted the 4th mirror onto this wall.

Performance Day

Our caroling group sang at the main cottage of the memory area of the nursing home. We had an audience of about 15 people. Quite a few of them were pretty unresponsive to the singing. Monti was very comfortable and good at interacting with the residents at the nursing home. She left with a strong desire to go back and help out a couple of her favorite residents.

Posing in their gowns

After Dahlia's trip to the emergency room the pediatrician nurse reminded me the girl's were overdue for their well-check.  Once at the doctor's office the girls did their best to make their gowns fashionable. The nurse checking us in had the same heart condition (SVT) as Dahlia does. Everyone checked out fine and no shots were required.

Photo shoot for our Christmas cards

We all got into a rockin' mood by watching ipod commercials before
trying to get some live action dance shots for our Christmas card. We
put U2's "Vertigo" on repeat and everyone danced to it while Joe
and I took turns snapping tons of shots. After that I had a date with
my old pal Photoshop. Joe told me I could only work one day on the
card because he knew I could get very hung up on the details. (I kept
it to one day too).

Swings in the garage

Dahlia has been begging for a playground and our yard is just not
right for it. Last weekend we started thinking about adding some
swings to the garage. I bought the stuff and Joe hung them up. They
LOVE the swings! To quote Monti, "She is the luckiest girl in the whole world."

Denny's for our Thanksgiving dinner

After leaving the water park exhausted we realized we were also
starving. Nothing much is open Thanksgiving evening off the
interstate except Denny's so that is where we had our Thanksgiving
celebration with Boca Burgers and mac n' cheese. Monti added a bit of
traditional Thanksgiving by getting mashed potatoes as her side item.

MagiQuest at Great Wolf Lodge

Throughout the main areas of the hotel were kids running around waving
wands at anything and everything. It was absolutely killing Monti not
being involved in whatever they were doing. We headed to the gift shop
to see what it was all about. The game was called MagiQuest and it
required the purchase of a wand and a game. Once we had a wand we were
able to activate quests that sent us throughout the hotel trying to
find symbols or hidden objects. When you came across one of the
objects you needed you would wave your wand at it. The game kept track
of what objects you had collected and what quests you completed. The
objects could be found on 5 different levels of the hotel. We played
for a total of 3 hours and we walked a countless number of stairs. It
was a big hit with the girls. On a personal note I am still having dreams involving my unsuccessful search for the howling stone wolf.

After a long drive

We left right after caroling practice on Wednesday for Great Wolf Lodge. It is only 82 miles from Issaquah but due to holiday traffic it took us over 4 hours to get there. Monti must have asked "When will we get there?" thirty times before Joe told her no more. Once there we were able to play in the water park for an hour before heading to bed. The girls thought they were so special sleeping in their own private Wolf Den in our room. It contained bunk beds and their own personal TV to watch the Disney channel on. Of course they slept in those wonderful bunk beds for about 2 hours only before joining us in our queen sized bed.

Organizing Christmas caroling performance

We had our first practice and organizational meeting for the school
caroling group. A group of 50 students will be performing  
Christmas carols at a two of the assisted living homes in Issaquah.
The woman organizing the group had a subset of us over to her
house to figure things out before the entire group would practice together.
Monti is one of the kids singing a solo. She is doing the first verse
of "When Christmas Comes to Town" from The Polar Express movie.

Out to dinner

After the musical I took the Dahlia, Monti and her friend Samantha out to dinner. We had a good discussion about all the fun elements of putting together a play including everyone's favorite - costume design. All I heard about was how much they loved the full yellow gown that Belle wore during the show.

New fashion accessory

As soon as I came home with the Breathe Right strips Monti found the
idea very appealing. She wanted to wear the strips to school but I
told her they for bedtime. That night she opened them up and put one
on. She took it off in the morning and snuck it back on right before
we went to the bus stop. She came home from school still wearing the
Breathe Right strip. Hopefully it at least helps her breathe through
her nose.

at the new park

The girls try out the new equipment in the park. We counted the steps
to the park from our house. It is 328 steps. The kids were
disappointed that there were only baby swings but they found a
workaround.

Day off school

We headed down to the Pacific Science Center on one of the days off this past week. We saw a great live show on combustion and an IMAX film about the first completed expedition from source to sea on the Nile. The highlight for the kids, however, was getting ice cream afterwards of course.

Monti's getting a cavity filled

On Monti's brand new molar they found a small cavity. The dentist told
me her molars are really "groovy" and not in a cool way. She told me
there was a good chance that the cavity could have formed before it
erupted fully from the gum. Not sure if this was true but I sense she
was trying to ease my guilt. After they filled the tooth without
novocaine the dentist added a sealant on the molar.

Self-portrait

Hanging outside Monti's classroom are the self-portraits the students did of themselves. They were told to put something in the background they liked so she added the text "I love myself." I also found it amusing to see how she represented the scratch mark she received from her sister as a large black scar.

Picking out their sticker after flu shots

I did not tell the kids what we were doing until we pulled into the
doctor's parking lot. Dahlia immediately started panicking, kicking
off her shoes and crying and I thought we were going to have a repeat
of last year when it took 3 adults to hold her down for her flu shot. I
told her I would carry her if she refused to go in. She took a
moment, asked for me to give her her shoes, and she told me she would be
brave. They were both very mature about it. Monti said it felt like
they hit a bone and Dahlia cried for a minute after. I am so glad we are
done with flu shots this year.

Odama in 8002

We were very excited at our house on Election Day. Monti made posters
and hung them up all over. Here are a couple of them. I love how Obama
looks like he is in drag.

Monti's choice for hiking clothes

I told the girls to dress for hiking in the morning. Dahlia actually
put on jeans and was so excited to discover she "looked just like a
teenager" in them. Monti chose this ensemble to do her hiking in. I
guess I was just happy she was wearing boots instead of dress shoes.

Posing for pictures

The angel and bride

The theme this year was white. Dahlia was an angel. Monti wanted to be
an ice princess but settled on wearing the bride costume I brought
home with full intentions of adapting it to be an ice princess. I
found out later that Gwendolyn, Monti's cousin, was an ice princess this
year back in Chicago.