Andy Turns 5

On Saturday Andy turned 5 years old. We forget what a big step is 5 years. In the fall he begins Kindergarten and it hardly seems possible to this grandmother. In any case, his Mom made sure that this was a birthday party Andy would not soon forget. She invited 17 of his friends, surprised him with a Scooby Doo bouncey house, painted dog faces on everyone, staged a wonderful series of mystery clues to find the missing cake (stolen by the masked bandit -- his dad) which led them through a lot of fun stomping balloons, wrapping themselves as mummies, knocking candies from a pinata, tossing balls into the bat hole and finally to the cake. Great birthday party Mom!

Old-fashioned theater

We took the grandkids to the Northwest Puppetry Theater located in the Maple Leaf area. Three generations do all of the work behind the curtain. We've taken Andy before but not Sylvia. This production was an adaptation of a Sicilian fairytale using authentic wooden puppets. We sat on the stairs in the very front and despite fire-breathing dragons, turkey-flying witches, and lots of sword fighting knights....and crying from a few frightened kids in the audience...Sylvia and Andy were quite enthralled. Afterwards, they made their way to the stage to make sure they touched and admired each puppet. The playground in the theater's front yard allows their patient pint-size audience to let out steam after the performance. We love this theater (www.nwpuppet.org).

Gymnastic fantastic

Turns out that Sylvia is a natural gymnast. Fearlessly balancing on the beam, swinging from bars, and bouncing on the trampolines. In fact, she's very bouncy. And cheerful from start to finish. Like I said, a real natural.

Snowcation and sleep over

We all took Friday off to head to the snow for some sledding and adventuring. An icicle that looks "just like a dinosaur" (Tom/Papa) and a snowball that "can't come home with us because it would end up as a sad little puddle" made Andy's day. Andy's close call with a creek and boots full of wet snow ended the outdoor adventure pretty quickly but not before we had hot chocolate and lunch. We ended the day with Andy's sleep-over favorite, a bath filled to the brim and beyond with bubbles.

Christmas 2009

A cheery Christmas Eve.
























Christmas festivities at pre-school,

The Nut in the Nutcracker

While dad and mom took a much needed, albeit brief, respite in Hawaii, Tom and I tried our best to entertain the little ones. We thought they might be old enough for the Pacific Northwest Ballet's annual uber event, The Nutcracker Suite. While the oversized replicas of the various main characters entertained, both of the children fell asleep almost the moment the lights went out missing all the really small-child fun stuff in the first act. At intermission both woke and then it was a grueling second act I assure you with Andy saying "I want to go home" every 10 minutes as he quickly tired of the more serious dancing that comes in the second part. One bright moment, when the rats came on stage and I delicately said, "see the mice", she processed it and said - REALLY LOUDLY -- "those are rats, those are rats" pointing to the stage. Even though I think it could have been funny -- no one was laughing or even smiling at this. Suffice it to say it will be a couple more years before we try this again. I really enjoyed the stellar performances and the wonderful tradition. I'm sure Sylvia and Andy will some day too.