Look how they grow...

We came out here to visit in May of 2005 when we lived in Montana. Here's Gabby then and Gabby now:

Seattle Aquarium

Robert's folks have been here visiting this weekend. On Friday we went up to Seattle. We looked around Pike Place market for a few minutes and then headed over to lunch at The Crab Pot (Thanks, Betsy!) They steam a bunch of seafood and then dump it on your table for everyone to eat. Gabby loved using the hammer to break the crab legs, although she wouldn't eat them.

Then we went to the Aquarium. Gabby and Sam both loved the touch tank. Gabby would have spent all day touching the anemones and nearly did. It was fun to see her finally come up with questions to ask the workers and be curious about how the animals worked. She is getting in to science (partly owed to Sid the Science Kid, a show I find a little strange but she loves). Sam had fun running around and seeing all the fish and seeing how many of us were chasing him. We watched them feed the fish in the big tank.

Jaywalking Tickets Alive and Well in Denver

This is for the folks who went to Arapahoe HS or lived in Denver and remembers the rabid jaywalking tickets. Apparently they are still at it!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090226/ap_on_fe_st/odd_good_samaritan_ticketed

I forgot one thing in Sam's Update

I forgot one thing yesterday in my update about Sam. On Sat we uncovered the potty chair in a box and brought it in. He saw it and wanted to sit on it. He had asked to sit on the potty upstairs a week or so ago. So I stripped him down and plopped him down. He sat there for a while (while I asked Robert for pointers on training a boy since he won't be around) and then played in the bathroom for a while. We all walked away and went back into the den. A few minutes later he came and got Robert and led him back in the bathroom. And there was peepee in the potty! I'm sure we just got lucky and he hasn't been interested in doing it again but at least he knows what to do in there. That's half the battle!

Sam Update

I just took Sam to get his final baby immunization. We got kind of messed up when he had that bad virus back at 12 months. So when I took him for 18 months, he was not yet ready to get the last Hep A vaccine. But of course he needs it to go to the CDC. We were able to get it today. He's 26.7 pounds and 35 inches with an 19 inch head. He's 21 months. Everything was good and now I can get him registered for the CDC so I can use hourly care. Hooray!

100 Days Project

After enjoying everyone else's tales of 100 Days Projects and admiring the pretty things made, Gabby came home with her 100 Day hat last week and I figured the whole thing was over. Boy was I WRONG. Last Thurs and Fri were Parent/Teacher conferences which meant no school Thurs, Fri or Mon. Five day weekend. Nice, huh? Then we went to our conference on Thurs and the very first thing they had to do was cut out a huge red heart to take home and put 100 things on for said 100 Days Project. And return it on Tues. They have three days off from school but now we have this project to do, which I would have enjoyed had I had time to plan. Really nice.

So, of course, we are having too much family fun to work on this crazy thing until Monday evening at supper time. (Please don't let me turn my child into the procrastinator I am!!) So I set her to stickering, stamping and gluing on this thing so we can get it done. No time to plan something fun - just get it done with what we have. BIG mistake!! For those of you that have not entered the fun world of school, please heed my warning: Count the items BEFORE you place them on the heart. It's a pain to try to count random stickers/stamps/glued items afterward. I never got the same number twice. I wanted to pull my hair out. I yelled at my family. I have no idea how many things ended up on that heart. I counted 100 once and called it good. Hope the teacher does no better.

After all that, I did plan to take her picture with the project and the 100 Day hat before it was sent to school. You know that didn't happen!

Father/Daughter Dance

Gabby and Robert went to the Father/Daughter Dance last night. Gabby picked out her own outfit and I'm sure she was the only one there in it. She was so excited she got dressed at 3, even though the dance wasn't until 7. Daddy wore his dress mess and looked very handsome.
They had each table decorated like different fairy tales and a wonderful array of sugary treats! Gabby loved every minute of it!

Snow!

Here's some pics from yesterday's snow. It started out in the morning as just little flurries but by noon was huge wet flakes. Gabby, Sam, Jordan and I went out the play in the afternoon after it stopped falling. We sledded down our little driveway and made snow angels.


















Then after supper, Daddy, Gabby, Sam and Jordan went out and made a snowman and had a snowball fight. Yes, the snowballs got a little out of control.

Valentines

Gabby had to take her valentines yesterday because today they are going on a field trip and they don't have school tomorrow and Friday. Here's what we did:


We took the box of left in the car in the summer half-melted crayons and made fun heart-shaped multi-colored crayons from them. I got one of those silicone heart pans from Target. Take the paper off, break them up and put them in the pan. Put them in the oven on 250 for about 10 minutes. Then let them cool for about 30 minutes or so and pop them out. They were really cute and we used up a box of broken and destroyed crayons we already had. We put them in these little goodie bags with a note that said "You color my world" in a crayon font. It was something I'd been meaning to do for a while. They turned out cute, I think.

Disneyland

We went to Disneyland for Gabby's 6th birthday. No, we wouldn't normally plan something so elaborate for her birthday but it just happened at that time so we went with it. We kept it a secret until the day we left, which was the day before her birthday. I led Gabby on a little scavenger hunt that ended with the packed suitcases and some new Mickey ears. She wore her new ears all through the trip - the airport, the plane, etc.

We got there too late in the day to go to the parks but I had planned dinner at Goofy's Kitchen to get us started. Sam had a big time with the characters. He loved their noses. We saw Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, the Mad Hatter, the Fairy Godmother, Chip and Dale.

They brought Gabby a birthday cupcake and sang to her. It was a great kick-off to the birthday celebration.

Tough conversation

We had to tell Gabby today about the upcoming deployment. When we arrived, we thought Robert would be leaving later this year. After we got here we found out he would be leaving soon. We put off telling Gabby until after Disneyland and until we knew a little more about it. But we had a deployment briefing today and had to tell her before that. She took it about as well as you would think for a 6-year-old Daddy's girl. She told him he couldn't go and got a little upset. I'm sure the big tears will come as it sinks in and gets closer. She was very worried about missing his birthday - she's all into parties and big birthday celebrations. I assured her we will celebrate his birthday before he leaves. Then she decided we could celebrate it before he leaves AND after he comes back. That helped a little.

I am so embarassed to admit...

that I cannot remember my new phone number. Not even a little bit. Not the cell number. Not the house number. I cannot tell you how many times I have had to admit it all over town. It happened three times today. Once at PWOC, once at Daisy Scouts and once on the phone to the people who keep calling for the previous owner of the number. They have no trouble with the number. But me? Can't remember it. It's driving Robert crazy. Usually I am on top of these things but I think four moves in five years has just muddled my brain. I have cards and things all over with phone numbers from three houses ago. Maybe soon I can report that I have, indeed, learned it. Until then, please don't ask for my phone number. I can't give it to you anyway.