Best Neighbors in the World!!

We could NOT have better neighbors.  The family that live across the street, The Harrelsons, have been so incredibly thoughtful and generous to all of us... especially to the kids.  This past summer they spent countless hours in their awesome outdoor pool.  They always thought to invite us over on hot days to cool off or really just anytime.  I really believe that is one of the reasons that Benjamin was fully swimming at age 3!!  They always have time for  the kids when they see them in the street and nearly always invite the kids inside to visit for awhile.  They also took such good care of them the night our house was broken into.  So on December 1st, Mary Harrelson comes over with these two huge gift boxes for the kids. They each had 24(!!) individually wrapped and labeled gifts for each of them -one for each day of December.  To say the kids were excited doesn't even do it justice.  So much for that little advent calendar with a couple of M&M's in it!!  The first thing they did each morning was race to the gift box and find the right gift that corresponded with the date.  The amazing thing is that Mary still does it for her own kids, too.  They are 16 and 20!  

On the 14th of December there was a note inside their morning package that said to come over to make some crafts.  It was the best gift in the box.  The kids kept yelling, "we get to go to Stan and Mary's, we get to go to Stan and Mary's!!" and there was a lot of jumping up and down.  I've written before about how they feel about going to Liz and Ed's... this is quite similar.   So the kids spent 3 hours there making cookies, Christmas ornaments, crafts, and even a gift for Marty and me.  Josie thought that they should keep the gift over at Stan and Mary's so that Marty and I wouldn't open it before the 25th.  I assured her that we could control ourselves so it is now sitting under the tree awaiting the big reveal.

Again.. AMAZING and incredibly generous, thoughtful neighbors.  Thank you Mary, Stan, Robert and Sami!!!

Forty Five

My sister, Kim, and I had planned to celebrate our November birthdays in Vancouver, B.C the weekend in between both of our birthdays. Going away for the third time in about a month was truly decadent.  I felt a bit spoiled and guilty but everything was coming together.  Although Marty was slammed with work he finished everything just the night before I was to board the Amtrak train headed toward Canada.  The kids were sleeping well and getting along great which always makes me feel better leaving.  

Everything was going great.  The train ride up was just gorgeous.  I had forgotten how beautiful the view is form the train and was texting Marty photos throughout my ride up telling him that we need to plan a family train trip somewhere sometime soon.  The kids would LOVE it.  Below are a few landscape scenes from the luxury of my 'business class' seat.  I have no idea how I was upgraded to business class but it was nice.  

 Kim and I walked from the train station to our awesome hotel - which she had a free voucher for and chose me to share it with... lucky me!!! We dropped our stuff of and then headed toward downtown.  We walked and walked and then when we hit the shoe department at some large department store we sat down and were just pooped!!  We weren't quite hungry enough for dinner but didn't want to go all the way back to our hotel and then venture out again for food.  We spent some time taking silly photos and resting in this abandoned shoe section. No one seemed to care so we took our time.

Everything at home was going well.  I received several texts and photos from Marty.  The last one I got was a photo of Josie's drawing of our family on a chalkboard of a restaurant near our house. 

Kim and I were having an awesome dinner at a restaurant close to our hotel, laughing, talking, eating... until a dreaded text from Marty which read, "Oh, NO!!  Someone broke into our house!"  To say I felt completely helpless was an understatement. Because I was in Canada and only had my cell phone with no international plan it would've cost like $3.00 per minute to call home.  We did talk for a bit but he was rightfully frazzled with the kids and calling the cops and assessing the damage so I just had to wait to find out the extent of it all.  Kim was an awesome support and could completely relate as her house has been unfortunately broken into twice. 

Whoever it was came in through the back play room door (ruining the most expensive and only custom made door in the house) then went up stairs to the master bedroom I presume looking for jewelry.  Anyone who knows me would know that they left empty handed.  I have NO jewelry other than some basic earrings and necklaces.  Nothing of value.  They dumped my entire side of the closet leaving Marty's side fairly intact.  They rummaged through some hall closets and Benjamin's room.  They left through the downstairs studio "only" taking Marty's really nice camera, a computer monitor, a few pairs of old headphones and some old cameras that Marty uses for the podcast.  Obviously, everyone was shaken up but Marty handled it VERY well.  The kids went over to our awesome neighbors and played their while Marty cleaned up and talked with the police.  By the time I got back the following day everything was pretty much back in order.  Our insurance company, Pemco, has sent us a check covering all of the stolen goods and for repairing/replacing the door and house damage.  

 The feeling that someone unknown to you was rifling through your things makes you feel very violated.  Although the more I talked to friends the more I heard story after story of when they had been broken into once or even twice.  I guess we have been very fortunate to have this be our first time and to remember to be thankful that no one was home or harmed during the incident.  The only thing they took were things that are easily replaced and our sense of security that although has not fully been restored is coming back bit by bit.  It helps that we now have a pretty high tech alarm system on the house.  Although it pretty much ruined my weekend away - I felt guilty having fun on our final day in Canada knowing that something traumatic happened to my family and I couldn't be home to help but also a bit wasteful knowing I had spent money to get away and I wasn't enjoying it.  It was a small price to pay.  In the long run I think it was probably better for everyone that I wasn't home.  I would have been a complete mess and Marty somehow handled it all much less emotionally than I ever would have.  Plus, I didn't have to see it all first hand and since everything looked normal when I returned it didn't take the same toll on me that it would have had I really seen it.
And the police even mistakenly left their finger printing kit... I guess just in case it happens again we can take the prints ourselves next time ;-)  Here's to a better 46th birthday!!

Pacific Science Center, Zoo and the Library

When you get a membership to one of the many cool, kid places in Seattle you never really know on the outset how much you will really use it.  We have had a membership to the Pacific Science Center for over a year and have definitely used it way more than we have used any other membership.  Benjamin used to go with Franziska at least a couple times a month, the three of us went many times over the summer and now Benjamin and I continue to go every other week or so.  He LOVES it there.  Last time we were there they had a robot circuit building lab.  Unless there is a large school group we pretty much have the place to ourselves which meant that he had the expert helper making this cool robot with him for about 30 minutes.  He kept wanting more wheels and more batteries and in the end he built this cool wheeled thing with a pen attached.  He was in heaven

We put our Woodland Park Zoo membership on hold for over a year and didn't really miss it.  Late last summer we renewed and although we don't get there much we always have a good time when we do.  Below are Benjamin, Josie, Reagan and Dawson. 

Digging for fossils

 
The library doesn't require a membership and it is free, except for the occasional lost book or late fee, but sometimes it feels like they should require payment given how much time we spend there.  On the weekends we often all walk up together, the kids check out books and then we head to a nearby restaurant.  It is always fun to see them read together.

 Benjamin chomping on a pakora while Josie reads to him.

Toothless Jo

For Josie's 4th lost tooth the Tooth Fairy was a bit creative and got Josie a pair of Twinkle Toes high tops instead of money.  At first when she woke up she was a bit disappointed because there was no money under her pillow.  She had completely missed the small note that told her to look on the couch for her gift.  She was VERY happy once she found them and put them on.  

We have started to call her "Toothless Jo"


 Josie continues to write stories and do art ALL DAY LONG!!  Here are a couple of her drawings

And she fills her white board easel with either book title ideas or characters or plots... she was really into the Ivy and Bean books for awhile... obviously. 

 She had a birthday gift card to Barnes and Noble from the Wileys.  She has a VERY difficult time with gift cards because she can never decide.  Here are her choices after a full hour of indecision.

Fall Fun with Friends

Each one of us at our house is blessed with a variety of wonderful friends.  I'm so thankful for my friends and for the really great friendships that both Benjamin and Josie have developed with classmates, "pepsmates" and neighbors over the years.   I have always wanted our house to be the house where kids wanted to hang out.  It is sometimes more work and sometimes less but I feel like if I develop that feeling of "everyone is always welcome" at a young age it will carry over to their teenage years.   We shall see if that actually transpires and if feel the same way about having a house full of kids in about 7 years.  But I do know that the kids often have friends over and more times that not it is fun.
Above is a photo of Josie's new neighbor friend, Ariana. Below is one of Josie's best friends, Bryn, and her sister Ansley on the morning after a sleep over and before we all rushed off to German school together.

 Benjamin has been a bit slower in the friendship department or maybe Josie was just really fortunate to have met one of her best friends, Bryn, at such a young age.  it started slowly and with quite a bit of hesitation and some fear but now Benjamin has regular playdates and has developed a few really good friends.  Three times a week Benjamin has some play time with his friends Charlie and Henry.  They all go to co-op preschool together.  We all work different days at the preschool so whichever mom works that day brings all three boys to school and then home as well as has them all over to their house for lunch and some play time afterward.  This gives us three moms a nearly 4 hour chunk of time twice a week!  Such a luxury - that we mostly fill with volunteering in our older kid's classrooms, grocery shopping or cleaning the house.... such is life with kids at this age/stage.
Below are Charlie, Benjamin and Charlie's brother Will playing a very favorite game "rampers"  a birthday gift from Liz and Ed that has seen a resurgence of play in the last few months.

 Henry and Benjamin

Charlie and Benjamin's friendship started off a bit rocky and rough but as of late has become pretty solid.  I think it was kind of that Alpha Male thing and Benjamin felt threatened.  They are both strong willed and and stand their ground so neither one would budge but somehow it bothered Benjamin more than Charlie.  As they grow up they are either going to become best friends or intense enemies... it is loWhat started off as a bit of a hard relationship for Benjamin has grown into a really fun one.  I think both Charlie and 

Below are Henry and big sister Lilly (who is in Josie's class this year) Josie and Benjamin.  It is really nice because a lot of Benjamin's friends have older siblings in Josie's grade.  Group playdates have become very common lately.  

Josie had a couple of her good girl friends over a few weeks ago when there was a day without school.  They spent hours in the back yard on the pogo stick and stilts. The interesting thing about these girls (Eva in the middle and Elliott on the far right) both have connections to Madeira Island as does Josie. My maternal grandmother is full Portuguese with her family originating from Madeira Island.  Eva's mom's side is also from Madeira Island (she is half and Eva is a 1/4) and Elliott's dad is 100% Portuguese making Elliott half with his family coming from Madeira Island.  Such a small world.  All growing up I don't think I knew anyone whose family was Portuguese let alone from Madeira Island.

Detroit

A few days after I got back from Leavenworth, Marty took off for Detroit.  This fall has been one of our busiest travel (both for work and vacation) seasons we have ever had.  Michael Stusser and Marty worked endless hours on the film "Sleeping with Siri" then spent hours traveling around together to promote  the film and attend screenings at various film festivals across the country.   Recently they have started giving presentations on technology and the benefits of putting a bit of balance in your life regarding when and how much you are using technology, digital devices, etc.   There was a big conference in Detroit with a bunch of bigwigs from Microsoft, Google, and other technology companies about... technology.  

Marty created this helmet with the attached gopro camera to simulate the upcoming

Google Glasses experience which they use as part of their presentation.

The presentation went really well and Marty and Michael even had a day to explore the Detroit area.

Love this shot from inside the General Motors building. 

Leavenworth

Just after Halloween I was able to get away for the weekend to join some of my dear college friends in Leavenworth.  We don't see each other much but it is nice that we can pick up right where we left off when we do.  We hardly ever plan anything for our weekends as getting away is fun enough but almost always go on a long walk or hike and go out to dinner... which is pretty much what we did this weekend too.