Cafe Superstar Award

Katie's school is starting a new incentive in the café. One person each day will receive the "Cafe Superstar Award". They get to hang a fancy sign on the back of their chair for the whole day, they get a prize and get to meet the head of the school at 8:30 the next day to ring the bell and say the pledge of allegiance over the speaker. Katie received this award today!

Happy Birthday Betty!

Betty (Regina's Mom) was in good spirits today as we all helped her celebrate her birthday. Her first birthday wishes came shortly after she got up, from her eldest daughter Sue and her family via Skype. Later, she was treated to a live performance of "Happy Birthday" from her youngest daughter Edy and her family via Skype. Betty opened presents Edy had sent earlier in the week and was especially entertained by 5-month-old baby MacKenzie during their video chat. She's such a cutie. We can't wait to get our hands on her! And later in the day, Betty received more birthday wishes via Skype from her son Jim and his family. For her birthday dinner, we fixed shrimp and french fries, followed up by a grand finale of chocolate birthday cupcakes and ceremonial blowing out of the candles. Oh, and more presents. She had a good day!

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival 2010

Today we decided to drive up to Mt. Vernon to see the acres and acres of tulip fields as well as the beautiful gardens at RoozenGaarde. It was a rain-free, partly-sunny day, so it was a popular destination. The traffic was dreadfully congested, but we hung in there and it was totally worth it. Below are a few pictures from the trip and online I have a bunch more to look at: click here.

Katie's New Bunk Bed

Over the weekend we shopped IKEA and ended up buying Katie a new bunk bed and all new bedding! She's been asking for a bunk bed for quite some time and we decided that now is as good a time as any. It was too big to fit in our vehicle, so we had it delivered today. Regina put it together (with only a little help from Katie and me) and it's ready to be slept in tonight! Katie is so excited!

BEWARE OF IDENTITY THEFT THIS EASTER!

I received these pictures in an email the other day from my aunt and they're just too good not to share here. They're awesome! :o)

Katie's Bunny Pictures

A couple of weeks ago, Katie had her portrait taken with a real bunny at Yuen Lui photography studio in Bellevue.

Happy Easter!

Coloring Easter Eggs

Katie had fun today coloring a couple dozen hard boiled eggs for Easter. But, that's where the fun ends for her! She won't eat a single one of them, even though she used to eat eggs when she was little. She tells us now they are completely disgusting!

Happy Birthday Bonnie!

Katie has a couple of books that teach how to draw things, so I was looking at that and ended up doodling a happy birthday greeting for you. Katie colored in the letters and the fancy floral dot over the letter i.
This birthday greeting was designed and executed by Katie. She divided it into four quadrants. Notice that in the upper-right quadrant is a large lower-case i, in the lower-left quadrant is the word Love, and in the lower-right quadrant is the word You. If you need to, click on the image to enlarge it. Also, in the upper-left quadrant is the word Happy, but she didn't write Birthday - I think she just got distracted. She's such a busy-body. Maybe the little birdie with the party hat represents "birthday".

Katie's Kindergarten Musical Debut

Tonight was Katie's first school musical. It's called Arf and was put on by all the kids in her Kindergarten class. I think it's about 47 kids in all.

The musical is about a place called Doggie Town that is all a-buzz with excitement! Judges from the famous Wurstchester Dog Show are coming to spot new talent and everyone is busy rehearsing for the big show. General German Shepherd is drilling on proper etiquette and discipline, the singing Dalmations are connecting the dots, the Boxers are toning and getting into shape. But why is Rover the mutt so sad? The huskies, poodles, pointers (Katie is a pointer) and others help Rover discover her special talent.

Katie did a great job in her role as Patty Pointer! And I had a part in the play, too. Behind the scenes, of course. I helped construct constumes.

Here is video of Katie in the play:

Hanging Out

Katie and I spent last night with Mel and Court at their home in North Bend. I woke up early with a migraine, but knew I could stay in bed as long as I needed to because Katie would be well cared for until I felt better. Fortunately, Imitrex got rid of the migraine in only a couple of hours and I was feeling pretty good by mid-morning. Later we decided to take the kids out back to play so I grabbed my video camera. Here's what I got of Katie, Jack and Avery playing:

Move-In Day

Finally today, Betty moved in with us! Regina, Katie and I went over to Briarwood late this morning, where Betty has been living since we moved back to Seattle in October, packed up her things, said goodbye to all the wonderful folks there who took such good care of her and had her home in time for us to all have lunch together.

Betty's bedroom is upstairs, which means we had to figure out how to get her up to the second floor. We had a stair lift installed on Friday and here are pictures of Betty taking her first ride on it at bedtime tonight.