Fun Meet

Emily had a fun meet for gymnastics last weekend. She competed at Level 3. They call it a fun meet because it is not official - it is just for fun so the gymnasts can see where they are at. She really enjoyed herself, and she has improved a lot since I last watched her. We were really proud of her!
Her balance beam routine

Her floor routine

Her bar routine. (If she hadn't fallen during her circle, she would have aced this routine! As it was, she still got the top score)

YG at Spash!

We had our annual school sponsored swim night at Splash last week. We really enjoy going each year. We missed Leilani this year, because she chose to go to a birthday party instead, but we hope she will be with us again next year.
The kids like to play under the waterfall.

The waterslide is a favorite too. (although the line can get pretty long!)

The little kids really enjoy the kiddie pool. It is always fun to jump and splash with your cousins.

They also enjoyed the wave pool. I noticed they have changed the innertubes to clear, which makes it look less crowded out on the water.
We had a good time. My favorite thing is soaking in the hot tub - No Kids Allowed! :) I have more pictures, but I will let the rest of the family put their pictures on their own blogs. I wish Splash wasn't so expensive, because the kids would love to go more often, but I guess it makes it a really special treat doing it this way.

Best Kept Secret ?

When my Aunt sent me this info in an email, I had to go into the kitchen and check it out for myself. I had never heard it before, and who looks at the end of their aluminum foil box? Well, sure enough, it was true, LOL. So I am sharing the following with you:

You know when you try to pull some foil out and the roll comes out of the box? Then you have to put the roll back in the box and start over. The darn roll always comes out at the wrong time.

Well, I would like to share this with you. Yesterday I went to throw out an empty Reynolds foil box and for some reason I turned it and looked at the end of the box. Written on the end was, “Press here to lock end.”

Right there, on the end of the box, is a tab to lock the roll in place. How long has this little locking tab been there? I then looked at a generic brand of aluminum foil and it had one, too. I then looked at a box of Saran Wrap and it had one! I can't count the number of times the Saran Wrap roll has jumped out when I was trying to cover something up.

I'm sharing this with my friends. I hope I'm not the only person that didn't know about this.

I know you're going to go and check your boxes, so go ahead!

Japanese Little Mermaid

Leilani's school class put on a performance of the "Little Mermaid" right before Christmas. They did it in English and Japanese, so it was easy to follow, although it would have been easy to follow anyway if you knew the story.
Leilani is on the right in the light blue kimono. She was one of Ariel's sisters. Ariel is the girl on the left in the orange kimono. King Triton is in the middle with Flounder and Sebastion on each side.

The "mermaids" did a beautiful dance with fans.

After the show, Leilani showed us the parts of the set that she painted. They did a great job, and we really enjoyed the show!

In Need Of A Change?

My sister has been giving me some not so subtle hints that my blog is a bit plain and boring. She keeps sending me sites where I can get backgrounds and do cute scrapbooking type things to my page. I maintain that it is what is IN the blog that is the most important, but I am giving change a try. So, there may be some changes going on with this site as I search for something different to frame our news and going ons. And if I go back to my boring old hues of blue, and least I can say I gave it a try. Meanwhile, if you would like to suggest a site that you think I might like to look at, please give me the address!

My Baby is Three

Benjamin celebrated his 3rd birthday this weekend.
Because we had so many things to do, we spread it out over two days. We let him have one present on Saturday morning (his actual birthday), and he was VERY excited! This is the robot of his dreams - it walks, it talks, it shoots, it spins - but apparently he thought it was a transformer and it is not...
He watched me make his birthday cake and enjoyed licking the beaters (yes, I know the dangers, but we live dangerously at our house)

That night we went and watched Emily perform at the Japan Night at the Uof O. Benjamin wasn't happy to eat Japanese food for his birthday dinner, but we had the dinner of his dreams on Sunday.
He did get to ride in his favorite car cart while we grocery shopped for his birthday meal.

He requested car hotdogs, so with a little help from his sisters and cousin, we put some together.

Toothpicks and olives made great wheels!
They also made cars out of celery, peanut butter and raisins.
Benjamin really enjoyed his meal - car hotdogs, doritos, green salad with ranch and kool-aid - just what the boy requested!

Aunt Kim is a cake artist. I made her two 9 X 13 cakes and she sculpted a Lightning McQueen cake from them. It was very cute. I don't know what I would do without her!

Benjamin was very happy to open his presents finally, and had to fight his cousins to play with them.

He blew out the candles and everyone ate cake and ice cream. I can't believe my baby boy is three years old. He informed me that he is not a little boy anymore - he is a big boy. He doesn't need to sleep on a towel anymore, because he does not wet the bed (okay, I'm paranoid), he does not need a pillow at the edge of the bed, because he will not fall off of my bed and he does not need me to put my arm around him when I lay next to him. I guess he put me in my place, didn't he?! He is quite the little man.

Free Admission At The Zoo

If you are willing to bundle up and brave the cold weather, the Portland zoo is having free admission on Monday.



FREE ADMISSION ON MLK DAY!
Jan. 19
Enjoy a free day at the zoo Monday, Jan. 19. Although not required, visitors are asked to bring donations of food or donate the price of zoo admission to benefit the Oregon Food Bank.