What I did on Friday January 29

I went to Petsmart and got Nick his birthday present.

Sad day though, because somehow I lost my wallet and phone in the process. I do not know if I dropped them, or they were stolen, since they were in my pocket, but whatever, it is done now, so I'm starting over with a new card in my phone. But I am using Nick's old phone from what...? 2005? It has an ANTENNA!!!
As soon as my new debit card comes, I am going for the upgrade. It's embarassing!

What I did on Saturday the 23rd

Miles had his birthday party today. Five 13 year old boys came over for board games, pizza and cake. As predicted, it was bedlam. They are all such nice boys, but all talk at the same time, and rather than wait their turn, they just talk louder. It was fun, and they ate almost 4 large bags of chips, two large pizzas, and 2 6 packs of root beer. Oh, and cake and ice cream. Next year they are getting turkey sandwiches and a veggie platter, holy cow that was a lot of junk food!

Miles, Mitso, Tai, Bill, Max.Mitso knitted a tomato for Miles, and also made him a duct tape wallet.

Wednesday, January 20

Today was a big day, Miles turned 13. To celebrate, he had Tai come over after school and we all went out to sushi together. Miles got his served in a giant boat!! They love him there.
They also love Caroline and made her this special roll. She loved it!
Miles and Tai put away a ton of sushi, with this caterpillar roll for the Grand Finale.

Catching up...if possible

Yes, I have been an extremely lame blogger. Many things have happened since Provo, I am sure. I do get tired of waiting for the photos to download sometimes.....

At the end of August, Miles and Caroline's friend Anna wrote a play. She was so excited by the unit they did on Shakespeare at school, she wrote this play called the "39th Shakespeare". It was very well written and staged. Caroline had a small part as an "actor" who always spoke in rhymes, and Miles did some very good scenery work backstage. Caroline is second on the left here:

While the girls of the family went to Provo, Utah, the boys went camping at Mt Rainier and took a fantastic hike up to Panorama Point. They would like you all to know that they are not sweaty, it was so hot they put snow in their hats and it melted on them. I wasn't there, this is the story they tell me.

Caroline and Cousin Stefan share August 18 as a birthday. We take photos every year. Stefan is becoming very elusive when a camera comes out, so consider this a success! She is 9, he is 14 now.
My friend Beth had a baby the first week of September. Here he is! Jackson....
We had a weird year in the garden, due to June-uary and Aug-tober weather issues. Sunflowers were amazing, though.

Another Catch up:

Here's what has happened since Miles graduated:

We went to a Mariner Game:
They lost, of course.
















We went to the Horse Races for Father's Day:














The horses are so pretty, and fast. We did not win or lose, we broke even. We should have listened to the children, they were better at picking the winners!














I had a birthday, we went to the beach for a picnic:







































It was a really pretty sunset, and the kids had a great time:














Walter retired and had a party:














I met Christian Siriano!!!
That's right!!!!! With Kristina and Gary!!! That was an epic-ly fun night!
We went to visit Tommy at his gorgeous Vashon home.
It was a beautiful day, and John made us the most delicious quesadillas EVER. Here is the recipe, you should really make it. YUM!






And we had a 4th of July BBQ!

Birthday Celebration

Today was a laundry day, Miles worked on his website, Caroline did plaster of Paris on the deck, and I went out to do some shopping. It looks possible that my one day in Seattle between this and my France trip will be spent in the Passport office. So I went down to Vintage Oaks to do some shopping, and got Miles some pants, and some comfy walking shoes......When I got back we went down to Indian Valley and had a nice walk. The bay trees smell SO good, and we avoided all poison oak. Miles caught a lizard and it ran all over his shirt, and mom and I both did not have our cameras!! We came home and had a great dinner to celebrate Mom's birthday (tomorrow) and Caroline's birthday (the 18th). We had Champagne to start, which Miles and Caroline both declared disgusting, and then Dad grilled a steak, and opened a bottle of 1985 Diamond Creek Cab. Mmmmmmm, it was delicious. Caroline refused to try it, but Miles did, smelled it, swished it around his mouth and swallowed it. We all said, Well........ And he said "Now THAT I could get used to!" Mom and Caroline opened their gifts, we had dessert and it was time for bed!!

Here they are opening their gifts:
Here is the still life we did with the delicious wine. It was REALLY GOODThe daliahs are from Cathy and Paul's yard. Beautiful!

Rosetta Stone and Irony

I think that I got the worst grade of my life on a paper on the Rosetta Stone in the 9th grade, thank you Mr. Minick! Well, RS (the computer program) is now teaching me and my children some French! I really hope once we get there I will have the chance to discuss whether or not the horse is jumping or running, because I can talk about that a lot!

Le cheval saute!
Le cheval court!

I got some excellent French refrigerator magnets for my birthday...Maybe grandpa will tutor us. We leave for Novato on Saturday. These next 2 days are a whirlwind, of finishing laundry, packing, going to see Harry Potter (hooray! finally!) and then we leave on the 14th.

Tickets Bought!

They may have cost an arm and a leg, but they are not getting my first born child. I just like him too much!. We will be officially gone from August 2-24. Huzzah! We will celebrate not only our 12th wedding anniversary, but also Caroline's 8th birthday in Paris. We all agree that is pretty cool....