Our Mexico Getaway!

David & I left for 6 days in Los Cabos, we stayed at the Hilton Los Cabos Resort - it's beautiful!

We had lunch one day up in San Jose del Cabo, the smaller town, closer to the airport. To me it is more "old mexico" style, than down in Cabo San Lucas, which is about 30 minutes south.

That was our one day of rain.

Most of our time there was hot and sunny! This view is from the beach/pool side of our resort, looking to the north toward the Westin up on the cliffs.

the night prior to my b-day, David and I arrived back in our suite to the surprise of balloons, wine & cheese, chocolate dipped strawberries, a bubble bath, and rose petals EVERYWHERE! Talk about "turn down service"... what a birthday treat! Who knew he was that romantic!
on my 41st birthday, on 12/3, I got my first tatoo - okay, it was only henna, but it looked pretty cool for about 2 weeks! and.. it didn't hurt!
Who's "Lina"??? one of the "pool boy/bar servers" brought me this decadent chocolate cake surprise while we lounged on the whale watching deck just over the side of the infinity edge pool at the resort. I could get used to this lifestyle!

My mom was home with the kids, so since she had to fly back to Vegas, we had to get home. We missed out on snow, wind, heavy rains, etc. Lucky us!

Jordan helped with T-Day

Jordan got a bit messy while helping me get the herb butter under the skin on our turkey. We had 6 adults and 6 kids here for a lovely holiday. So glad my parents could make it up here! Yay, Nanna & Poppa!

Halloween 2007

On the weekend prior to the "big day", David helped Marina & Jordan 'gut' the pumpkins and then they set out to creatively carve one each. Ryker wasn't into it, so I only have 2 pumpkins rotting out on the front porch.

Marina & a couple of her girlfriends all love the character of "Dwight K. Shrute" from the TV show "The Office" (go figure???). 3 of them decided to be "Dwight" for Halloween. They shopped at Value Village for ugly 'man clothes' and purchased wigs to attempt to cut into Dwight's very odd hair style. Thinking they still might not be recognized by the majority, they printed his photo from the web and make a 'stick mask'.

Jordan got creative selecting odd clothes at the same thrift store and adding a few additional items to become a wild and crazy clown. During the class party at school, he got 2nd place in the constume "fashion show" - losing out only to "James Blond".

By 7:30, there were 7 crazy girls trick-or-treating at our door, then deciding it was time for a water break. Convenient that I had just put popcorn in the microwave... I handed that over to them. Parts of costumes were peeled off and the decision to stay in and watch a scary (really scary!) movie was made and they got picked up by 10pm to finish off the night.

Pictured here are: Tess, Steffi, Maddie, Marina (back row), then Casey, Natalie & Bailey (front row).

You should have seen them all hiding under blankets and screaming when David appeared outside the front window with a mask, a saw and a flashlight uplighting his image. I almost wet my pants!

Prodigy Hip Hop Team

Here's Marina with full "hip hop style & attitude"... their Prodigy team choreographer, Matt, asked them to show up to rehearsal this past Saturday looking 'like him', vs. the sometimes lacey cami tops and tiny boy shorts they usually wear for dance rehearsing. They don't have costumes yet for this year's team competition routine, but that should be coming soon, as the first competition will be in early January.

left to right: Chelsey, Tess, Lindsey, Allie, Matthew Kim (choreographer), Brooke, Natalie, Marina & Bethany. NOTE: the white headband thingys that Natalie and Marina have on are the cut off sleeve from "dad's t-shirt" - Matt's not sporting that in this photo, but it's a common accessory for him!

Inglewood Spirit Day!

Today is the finale of "spirit week" at the Jr. High (7th - 9th grades) - Ryker likes to remind us he is actually a high school "freshman"... they just take their classes at the Jr. High campus!



Since the week began, we have had "pink day", "wacky-tacky day", "retro day", "costume day", and now finally "Inglewood Knights day" with the school colors being blue and silver if you couldn't tell.
This photo is from a year ago... they were 8th and 7th graders then. Still spirited! Marina has been lucky that the soccer jersey from the team she played with thru 6th grade had the blue/white stripes before they went black! We've gotten some mileage out of that one!

Happy Birthday David!!!

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David's birthday was celebrated tonight by the 5 of us, who enjoyed a delicious meal at DC's Grill, here in Sammamish (convenient that Thursdays are "half-price bottled wine" nights!) where 3 of us each had different steaks - mine was the best by far!, Marina had a grilled chicken & brie sandwich, and Jordan had pasta. Nice treat!

Once home, we got into our comfy clothes, had David open a few gifts, and then did the Birthday Cake ritual... candles, singing, etc. His request was chocolate cake with white/vanilla frosting. Not bad if I say so myself! Really, anything looks good on a glass pedistal!

I need an easel!

So, I've tried to be resourceful since I don't have an easel in my art room, and I either paint flat on the table, (there's hardly ever room!) or on my lap, or yesterday, I propped the painting up against the backside of one of the chairs using a heavy bin of paints to keep it in place.

One of these days....