Scene Selection.....

Hi there! Hope that this finds you well and looking forward to 2008. AT the moment, all I can think of is having to return to waking up in the dark so that the girls can get to school on time! I'm still waking up in the dark with Silas in the mornings, the difference is that, at the minute, we can come downstairs and read stories and have a nice time together whereas from Wednesday onwards it will be the mad rush again!

We have had some very enjoyable days this week; the children are behaving very well at the minute and are fun to be with, which has made it all the more enjoyable. It is also special having Pam and Ken here and so both have combined in some great outings.

On Thursday and Saturday morning, we were at home and on Thursday afternoon we went to Redmond to do some shopping, to have a read in the Borders and for the children to play in the covered play area for a short time.

Once we had finished this and had had a drink, we set off to find some houses that have light displays. These are when the Christmas lights come on and off in time to music, resulting in a great performance and lots of "wows" from us all. The first one was good but the second had over 54,000 lights and was amazing. We all enjoyed it very much! You can see this one on line at http://woodinvillewonderland.com/ if you are interested.

On Friday morning we went to Crossroads mall, where I did some shopping and where Tim, the girls and Pam and Ken went to the park. In the afternoon we went to the Bellevue Art museum which was very good. It is small enough to be enjoyed in about an hour which meant that the children were not bored. Silas enjoyed watching the cars from the upstairs window and the girls spent a long time looking at the photos in the "memories" exhibition, so it was good. We also went to have a quick look at the Chihuly glass sculpture in Lincoln Square as we had seen some of his work in the museum and wanted to show Pam a really good example of his work!

In the evening, Tim and I had a great night out with my friend Lisa and her husband, John. It was the first time we had all met and it was such fun - we all had a great time!

Yesterday afternoon we went into Bellevue again and did some shopping; Pam bought a jacket, Tim spent his Eddie Bauer voucher from Mum and Dad and I bought some make up (also from Mum and Dad, so thank you!!!). The children had a good time on the boat and then we went to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens to see the Garden d' lights show there. We went last year with Hannah and it is such fun! The lights are all twisted around wire to make them look like flowers of all kinds and they are so realistic! It is a visually stunning display and i was so inspired I signed up for a light/flower class in the spring with the idea to go along and make some for next years display! I will let you know how I get on!

Today we had church this morning and then went to the Seattle Center in the afternoon. We watched the train for a while and then walked to see the fountains and the lights for a bit. When we came back to the center we saw that there was a dancing school putting on a display which the girls were entranced by; we were not so impressed as the girls were dancing in a very sexualised way and wearing very provocative costumes, which, we felt was totally inappropriate for a place that is known to attract people from all walks of life. I wouldn't want my children to be part of it!

Naomi has been making us laugh this week! She has learnt that DVD's have something called "scene selection" which (as you all know!) allows you to navigate to the exact place in a movie. Anyway, all of a sudden, she is obsessed with "scene selection" and asks every time we watch a new DVD if it has scene selection and, when we came home later last night and they were able to watch the very end of Peter Pan, she said "it is OK mummy, we can just go to scene selection!" She is funny! It helps of course that she can now navigate herself using the remote control!

Yesterday in the car, she was asking us all questions, just like a proper quiz master and made sure that we all knew the rules and that we paid attention! (Daddy didn't and got into trouble!) She asked some brilliant questions like "how does a car move" and "why do we have months" to give a couple of examples!

Tim and his Dad have been enjoying playing the Rockband game on the XBOX this week and all the children love to join in. Esther can do a marvellous copy of Sting singing "Roxanne" which is very funny and much better than Daddy!

Anyway, going to end it here, will write on Wednesday, all being well!