Caroline's first posting & pictures...

I took these pictures with my very own Barbie camera. Santa Claus gave this camera to me. And I LOVE my camera!



I love to sew pillows and stuffed animals. Mommy and Daddy gave me this pretty Christmas present.


Margaret, I know, got this present. It's about weaving. I think she loves it.
Love, Caroline (typed by Mommy).

How did he know?

We went over to our friends the Barrettes last night for a Santa Party--along with a couple dozen other people! It was a very festive occasion, highlighted by a guest appearance from the Jolly One himself. And he even brought along a bag of gifts for all the good little girls and boys. Caroline seemed thrilled with singing "Island Princess" Barbie, and Margaret is quite happy with her new "Pet Shop" diary with an electronic password that she can set and reset, and reset, and reset, and reset... Although it's a crazy, hectic time as parents, the girls seem to be having a wonderful holiday season, which makes it all worthwhile. Only 8 more days 'till Christmas... :-)

Santa Pix

Here's a snapshot I took while the girls were getting their picture taken with Santa on Saturday. We went as a family to the Tacoma Mall and did a little shopping after the pictures before coming back to Olympia to take in our annual viewing of The Nutcracker. This year, due to my lack of planning, we ended up way up in the back row of the first balcony (that's what ya' get for buying the tickets the day before...). It's a little different perspective being up so high, but the girls still seemed to enjoy it for the most part--at least for about the first 3/4 of it. We were lucky enough to talk Karena and Chloe into joining us at the last minute, so that made it special for the girls to be with their buddy Chloe.

Christmas pagent

Last Thursday was the school Christmas pagent. Margaret was a cute bunny rabbit in the stable of "Unfriendly Beasts" performed by the 1st and 2nd graders, and Caroline was the Star who led the wise men to the baby Jesus in the Kindergartner's play.

Budding authors

I'm not sure you can read these latest stories from the girls, but I thought I'd try to post a copy of the "original" works. Margaret wrote hers first in longhand and then painstakingly typed every letter herself on the computer. Once she had finished, she colored the illustration to go along with it. Not to be outdone, Caroline asked if she could type a story too. So we opened a blank document, left the room, and this is what she produced...

Christmas in Seattle

We celebrated our first Christmas of the year this weekend, with my Dad's side of the family. Fourteen of us squeezed into his & Lourdes' little 1 BR condo on the Seattle waterfront for a very cozy Christmas celebration. Greg, Rose, Molly & Andrew, and my Grandma Dorothy were all there, as well as some special guests of Dad & Lourdes'. They had invited their newly "adopted" family from Mongolia, including a wonderful 10-year old girl, Namuna, who has been here in the U.S. for just 4 months. The girls played very well together, bonding over beads and barbie dolls. Namuna's parents have been here for closer to 5 years, and we enjoyed talking with them about the differences in holiday traditions.

And the walls came tumbling down...

Jeff has gone wild and cut down the wall between the living room and stairwell.  It's all part of the master remodeling plan, but it's a little weird to see it happening for real.  We're in the process of reviewing bids for the kitchen phase, and will be starting the next major work after the new year.

Christmas tree hunting ain't what it used to be...

We made the annual trek to Hunter's this weekend to pick out our Christmas tree.  Funny how different it is than when I was a kid.  Basically Margaret & Caroline checked out the petting zoo animals (including the mountain goats that climb high up a ramp to a tree fort) and slid down the twisty slide while Jeff and I picked one of the pre-cut trees.  Then we rode the tractor/wagon around through all the live trees--with no intention of getting out and cutting our own...  Oh well.  We found a beautiful tree, the kids had fun, and it was a great family bonding experience.

Super Spies

Jeff and Margaret have started a super sleuth game, where they secretly follow Caroline and me to the grocery store and "spy" on us while we're shopping.  They've done it twice now (as far as we know...)--once we discovered them in the parking lot hiding behind some cars, and last weekend we spotted them just as Caroline was finishing her cookie from the bakery.  Here's a couple of their spy photos.