Merry Christmas!

Wow, it's been a very full couple days! We did our Christmas here at home with the kids, then we went to Mike's mom Patty's for a couple days, then Patty and I went with a big group of her friends into Seattle to have dinner and see a huge, wonderful production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It was amazing!!! I mean the whole Christmas was wonderful, but this musical was outstanding and I'm still sort of on a high from it. LOL It's hard to believe there's people in the world...right here in my own area, in fact...with that much talent in that many different disciplines. They were all singers, dancers, and actors at a very high level.

Anyway! Where was I? Oh, Christmas! So Baylee got a MUCH desired, MUCH talked about for the last several months pet of her very own. We got her all the things she'd need for a hamster, but then when Mike took her to the pet store she fell in love with a gerbil, so that's what she has now. There's no real difference in the cage or anything that it needs so it was fine, and I have to admit that little guy is adorable. It's tiny and friendly as can be. Zach got the latest Tomb Raider game and Drew got his own waffle iron. That's what he wanted! It's one of those professional waffle makers that's up on a thing that looks like a spit and you turn it halfway through. The kids got other stuff, too, but those were their "big" gifts. Then we got to spend such a fun, nice time with Patty. We're blessed to have her in so many different ways.

Now I seriously need to get back on my diet!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sue

Winter Wonderland II

Winter Wonderland

Christmas with Grandpa

Today we braved the weather and drove to Mike's dad Danny's house for a great Christmas dinner and gift exchange. We only had to back down one hill because the car couldn't make it to the top. Well, not including Danny's very long, hilly driveway, that is. I suggested to Mike that perhaps we should park at the bottom of the driveway because the car wasn't going to make it up that either, but Mike told me that OF COURSE it would make it up. In fact, it was as he was saying, "Trust me. I can get this car up this driveway no problem..." that we totally bogged down and got hopelessly stuck.

At first everyone in the car was completely quiet, then I started to say in a very small voice, "I told you..." when Mike held up his finger. "Shh! Don't even say it! Everyone out! Get out and walk up the driveway! Out! Out! Out! I have to focus!" Yup. He totally kicked us to the curb and made us walk the rest of the way so he could focus.

Finally with Danny's help the car was all squared away and the rest of the day was so nice. And bonus! Danny got a foozball table! I LOVE foozball. I mean, I can't even fully describe how much I adore that game. It all started when I went to Bible college for four years and there wasn't always a whole lot to do on campus. Several of us would play, even having organized tournaments and stuff. Wow. I was such a geek. Typing that sentence about foozball tournaments really brought it home in a unique and powerful way.

Anyway, all that to say, we enjoyed our day with Danny very much!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sue

Baylee lost a mitten, so today I sent her out to play in the snow with a pair of Mike's wool socks on her arms. The phrase "white trash" comes to mind.

In other news, I joined Weight Watchers again. I know I said I wasn't going to do WW anymore because I'm sick of the whole points counting thing, but what can I say. I changed my mind. Besides, they have a new program called Momentum. Anyhow, I went to the meeting and mentioned to the woman at the desk that I'm a lifetime member but I didn't have any paperwork or anything to prove it, and she told me that was no problem. All I had to do was call the corporation at some point during the week to get the information needed, then come back to the next meeting with it.

I called the number yesterday and talked to a nice woman who informed me that they have no record of me in their system, but that all was not lost. All I had to do was answer a few simple questions. "Oh, okay," I thought, "she's going to ask me stuff like what's your full name, how long ago were you member, and what was your address back then." No, that's not what happened at all. Nope, it sure wasn't.

This woman proceeded to give me what amounted to a Weight Watchers Final Exam. The questions started out fairly simple: What are the benefits of lifetime membership? What are the obligations? Then they got a little more complicated: What award do people receive when they finally reach lifetime? That might seem easy, but this was six years ago for me and they give out a lot of little trinkets and do-dads along the way. Visions of bookmarks and stickers and keychains were dancing through my head, and I started to feel a little warm. "A charm, like a star or something, for the keychain?" I replied. Luckily I got it right and I was on to round three: What was the color of your weight record booklet once you reached your goal? Holy cow, seriously??? The color??? Now I wasn't just warm, I was hot and prickly and I could feel sweat trickling down my chest. ".........White?" Yes, another one right! It was crazy I tell you. I practically needed to change my clothes by the time it was all said and done. In the end, though, I did pass and now....drum roll...I don't have to pay the joining fee. Woo hoo!

Huh. Actually, that was sort of a white trash story, too, wasn't it.

Sue

When It Snows Here...

Life is seriously disrupted. This past Sunday there was a dusting of snow on the ground and the church was half empty. The people who did manage to brave the weather could hardly talk of anything else. It was like a Sir Edmund Hillary Convention. On Wednesday there was only the threat of more snow, it hadn't actually snowed yet, and schools were shut down. It did end up snowing, though: A whole inch. Now schools are closed for the second day in a row, because the idea of driving around on an inch of snow is just crazy talk.

To be fair, though, there are no plows...at all. At least I don't think there are. I've never seen a plow or a plowed road. Neither are there any trucks laying down salt or sand. Drivers are just on their own until the snow and ice melt, and it can get a little hairy. Last night I was trying to drive to the store and I came to a street with a stop sign at the top of a hill. I got up the hill fine, but I could not for the life of me get the car going again from a stopped position. I just couldn't make it over the last hump and out onto the next street, and finally I had to back down the hill and go around the block a different way. Good thing there was nobody behind me! This is a hilly area, and sometimes entire streets are closed off with blockades during snowy or icy weather. Once I even saw a police car stationed at the bottom of an especially steep road to keep fools off. So there is reason for some of the extreme timidity.

Whatever. I'm just really enjoying it. It's pretty.

Sue

Happiness Is...

Good friends, fast sleds, and getting to stay out 'til dusk.

Sue

Cooper's Tribute to William Carlos Williams

so much depends

upon

a patch of bright
sunlight



warming a stair
step



beneath the striped
kitten

Sue

PS: "The Red Wheelbarrow"

It Snowed!

The Comedy of Errors That Has Been My Last Few Days

So. Tons of Christmas stuff happened this week and with every different thing something has gone wrong. First of all we had a Christmas party with our Thursday night Bible study group. In attendance was our normal group, plus we invited a couple more families, so the total was around 23 or 24 people. A few of us regulars provided the food and I was told to bring a vegetable tray and a jello salad. Now I'm not even going to speculate on why I was only trusted with the cold, doesn't-even-involve-an-oven, any-fool-could-succeed-with foods. No, I'm only going to talk about how even though we were all sent an email SPECIFICALLY detailing what we were to bring, one of the women in the group brought a vegetable tray and a big bowl of jello. I was like, "Wha?! You were supposed to bring an appetizer and a dessert!" She was very nonchalant about it, though. She just said, "I was? Hahaha. Oh, that's funny. I never really read the email!" So since I came after her my LEGITMATE crudites and jello-related food item looked like overkill.

Secondly, I told you how Baylee and I went to the ballet, right? And actually, seriously, that was the best thing I've ever, ever seen on a stage. I loved every second of that performance. HOWEVER, I had to park three blocks away, which is still fine, but I'm too stupid to do things like keep an umbrella in my car or even wear a coat. And it was pouring out AND there was a line at the door. By the time I got in there I looked like a drowned rat. Of course, this has to be the day the beautiful missionary woman whom I vaguely know from ties to college and our church in Michigan sits right next to me and decides we're going to catch up on old times. I could hardly form a coherent sentence for wondering what my hair looked like.

Thirdly, this morning Mike fell out of bed. This has nothing whatsoever to do with me; I just think it's hilarious. Baylee had a bad dream last night and crawled in with us, and she ended up taking up about half the bed, leaving me with most of the other half and poor Mike with a sliver on the edge. Remember when she was five years old and wrote this letter?

Dear Mom and DaD

I am sore for Getin in to yowr beD evre Dae. I shod stae in my own beD. I Love you and I dont wont DaD to fol off.

Baylee

Well, it finally happened.

And lastly, tonight we went to a progressive dinner and had such a good time. We laughed a ton and the food was wonderful, but on the way home Mike was stopped by a policeman for not signaling to change lanes.

But you know what? Despite all that, this has really been a great Christmas season filled with friendship and fun. And truth be told, I'm feeling more and more like this is my home now.

Sue

Christmas Continued

There's no real point to this post except to show you a picture of my baby by the Christmas tree. Isn't she cute?

Well, and to say that Baylee and I just got home from watching a performance of The Nutcracker, because our friends Candace and Kevin have a couple kids in it. Oh my gosh, it was amazing! I've never been to a ballet before and I was totally spellbound. I even teared up at the end when so many of the dancers were on the stage and they were doing their grand finale. I was just so proud of all of them! LOL I'm such a dork. You'd think they were my kids or something.

It's been a marathon of Christmas events here lately. Yesterday we had the party with our Bible study which involved lots of people, lots of good food, and white elephant gifts. I'm now the proud owner of a package of swimming diapers for babies. Tomorrow we're going to a "progressive dinner" with our peer group at church. You know what that is, right? Or is that just a thing with our denomination? It's when you go to several people's houses for different courses of a dinner. I think it'll be a good time. Unfortunately I feel a cold coming on...scratchy throat, tickly nose, a little aching in the joints...but I'm powering on at this point.

Sue

Zach the Showman

Zach did two funny things recently that I had to capture on film. The first is this levitating bit. He can arrange his legs in that "Om" pose, and then sit his bony little butt on the very, very edge of a chair so that it looks like he's floating.

And the second is an impression he does of my mom. Now don't get me wrong, we all love my mom to pieces. She's a truly wonderful mom and grandma. The thing is, my mom has the world's strongest Michigan accent. I mean, I listen to myself on these videos and think, "Dang. I had no idea my Midwestern twang is so pronounced and nasally!" It's embarrassing! As bad as I am, though, my mom's accent puts mine to shame, people, and it's especially noticeable to us now that we live in a different part of the country. See, here's the difference between living in Michigan and living in Washington:

The vehicle you travel around in:
Michigan: cahr
Washington: cawr

Your mother:
Michigan: mahm
Washington: mawm

See the difference? It's subtle, but let me tell you. The first time I was here in Washington and a bunch of people in church were talking about how we needed to pray for some guy named Dawn, I was a little taken aback. It took me a good solid five minutes to figure out they meant Don.

Anyway, here's the video of Zach's impression of my mom and her wonderful accent. (Don't tell her, okay?)

Our Budding Guitar Player

Here's our 10 year old guy after three months of guitar lessons. I'm pretty proud of his determination! He and Zach just finished their last group class tonight, and we already decided to go forward with learning using an award-winning program called eMedia Guitar Method. I think Drew especially is really going to love it!

PS: This is the song Drew's trying to play. It's called Day Tripper and it's sung by The Beatles.

I was totally robbed.

Yesterday Mike lost his keychain with the keys to his truck and his office. He was slightly panicked to say the least as he searched the house for a good half hour, all the while muttering about "people" who are always squirreling things away when "other people" want them left exactly where they put them. Which, I mean, okay. I admit I do have a reputation among, well, every one of my family members and that includes extended family, for being a little obsessive about the whole "place for everything and everything in its place" philosophy. Is that such a crime? Some folks think neatness is a virtue. Anyway, I didn't have anything to do with it this time and told Mike so in no uncertain terms. That's when he decided to force all of us to start looking. In fact, he offered a $5.00 reward to whomever found the booty. Still, nothing turned up all evening.

This morning I had to get something out of my purse and lo and behold there were the keys! It seems I distractedly put them in there sometime yesterday morning, thinking they were mine. Who knew, right? So I told Mike that it was his lucky day because I found his keys in...ahem...my purse, then I asked when he planned on paying me the reward money. And here's the thing: He said he's not paying! Can you believe that?

The nerve of some people.

Sue

Two Completely Random Things

The other day Mike was thinking out loud. "I wonder why He-Man always yelled, 'By the power of Greyskull, I have the power!' It makes no sense. It's like saying the same thing twice in a row. First he says he has power that originates from Greyskull, then he turns right around and says he has power again. It's lame."

Which is true and something I've never considered. However, He-Man also had a pageboy haircut. I think that explains a lot.

On a completely unrelated note, this was the sunset here recently.

Sue

Going to See Santa

Tonight we went out with two other families to Seattle to see Santa in Nordstrom. He was so great! He played the part perfectly, making sure to spend quality time with each child who came up to talk with him. After that we went for a ride on an outdoor carousel, then out for dinner, and finally to a cool gingerbread house display. It was all fun, especially for kids, and especially for Baylee who still very much wants to believe in Santa.

Sue

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Hooray!

I had the single weirdest experience of my life today. I swear I felt like there had to be a hidden camera somewhere. In fact, I'm still not convinced there wasn't. I was on my way to the clinic with the kids and as usual I stopped at Starbuck's to get coffee. This was the conversation I had with the woman manning the drive-through:

Crazy Lady: Hi!!! What yummy thing can I get for you today?!

Me: Umm. I'll have a grande caramel macchiato, please.

Crazy Lady: Yummy! Okay! That'll be $3.49. Hooray!

By this time all the kids and I were staring at each other, trying as hard as we could not to laugh while she could still hear us over the two-way speaker. I had to pull the car up to the window as slowly as possible to give us all a chance to stop DYING and regain our composure before meeting this woman face-to-face.

Crazy Lady: Do you want a receipt with that?"

Me: No, I'm good, thanks.

Crazy Lady: Hooray! Let me go make that yummy coffee for you!

Which she did. And when she handed it to me she fit in one last yummy, another hooray, and for good measure she called me "my fair lady." I'm dead serious. As we drove away Zach, Drew, and I all tried to figure out what her deal was. I thought perhaps too much caffeine. Zach surmised that she's being paid ten cents for each "hooray" and "yummy." Drew offered that she's in the middle of anger management classes. Maybe I was right in the first place, though. Maybe one of these days we'll find ourselves on Ellen.

Sue