We had our family pictures done on Saturday. There are 14 of us now including two new ones since last year's picture (Jhett and Ellie).We even got all of the kids to pose for a picture; probably their first one all together since Ellie was born. They did really well with jellybeans and promises of ice cream as motivators. Then the kids in each family got their pictures together: Sisters- Bryanna and Ellie Brothers- Carter and Camden and Jhett! This picture was picked up weird by my scanner... Sorry it's a bit cut off and sideways.
For one thing they are just so darn cute. For another they aren't afraid to act goofy. Their imagination never ceases to surprise me. Today Bryanna told me to be a walrus and she would be a giraffe. This was the result: A few hours later Carter announced that he was "Tiger Carter". There are trivial but fun reasons too, like how you feel less guilty about eating chicken nuggets more often. Or how cool their toys are. Today I went into the living room and happened to see this toy sitting on one of the shelves (it's amazing how the house is filled with toys when your parents have five grandkids): Admittedly my brother Jeff has never quite grown out of his love for remote-controlled awesomeness so I'm not entirely sure if this is his toy or his sons' but it's definitely a cool toy. I flipped it upside down and underneath you can even switch the wheel alignment to the left or the right. I don't even know if I understand exactly what that would do but it sounds way more advanced than toys I had when I was little. I've especially noticed this recently, as I've been going through old pictures to make a wedding slideshow. For example: This is my 3rd birthday. Not only is that an obviously fake phone, it's not even cordless. This is Bryanna when she was 7 months old. Note the high-tech, REAL cell phone she's playing with. This was her daddy's but the kids have several real cell phones that we don't use anymore and they love to play with them. I think if we gave them a phone with a cord they'd say, "What IS that?"Here is Kevin opening his presents on his I think 11th birthday (I was 6). In the picture he's opening a new GameBoy. This wasn't one of the flat, colored ones either. It's clunky and gray. I found it in a closet the other day and it was even bigger than I remembered but Kevin and I were both so excited about it. We spent years playing with it. We thought it was amazing technology. I loved my toys growing up but some toys now are definitely impressive. I was with Bree in Costco the other day and saw this:
There was also a dinosaur, a cat and a pony. The pony can hold up to something like 200 pounds on its back and has sensors all over its body so it can "respond" to children with life-like movements. It eats carrots and has sensors so it can be "afraid" of the dark by whimpering. Google "Top toys of 2008" and you get things like this: According to JCPenny, "Mat-free gaming allows you to break outside the 4-step box with jumps, sweeps and crossovers. Motion-sensing technology lets you see your "virtual" dance feet on the TV screen as you dance." Or these: Brookstone says they, "..use a real infrared imager, onboard camera and LCD monocle that lets you see in complete darkness. It has two modes. Close-Proximity Stealth lets you move right up next to your “target” without being detected. Maximum Surveillance lets you see up to 50 feet in complete darkness without being seen." Frankly that sounds a bit creepy to me but you get the point. Nieces and nephews are definitely fun to hang out with. With the holidays coming up it's been fun to see all of the toys out there. Leave me a message if you know of any other amazing technological toys!
Mom, Dad and I went to Town Square last night. It was all set up for Christmas! I'd never been there before and particularly enjoyed the huge Borders bookstore. Santa was warm and toasty in his own house and there was a long line for people waiting to see him. Dad has been working at Town Square, laying the tile inside The Coffee Bean, which isn't open yet. He also did the tile around the outside of the Skechers, which you can see here (in blue). It runs along the length of the building as well.
Kyle had Thursday and Friday off for Thanksgiving. Thursday night Kyle's parent's house was full with Tia visiting and me there and the couple from New Zealand, Adrian and Petrea, staying also for a night. Friday we all went touring in Tacoma. We went through the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, the birthplace of Dale Chihuly, who did the glass flowers in the Bellagio hotel lobby. He has a lot of artwork there. This is the building with the furnaces where they make the glass... And these are the furnaces and demonstrations of glass making. Tia was amazed! And everyone was happy. Even Scott. (Although he doesn't look like it. He's still a little upset about Obama winning as you can see by his Palin/Mccain '08 hat. Yes that's Palin first.) Seven of us went together, Kyle and I, Adrian (taking the picture) and Petrea, Tia, Ty and Scott.
More art outside the museum: After we dropped off Adrian and Petrea, Kyle and I went with Tia and Ty to the Seattle Center. We had dinner in the Center House and it was all decorated for Christmas, complete with a little village and trains running through it.
Kyle and I had our first Thanksgiving together! We went to Kay and Mahmood's with Mike, Jan and family, Uncle Ray and Aunt Bertha, Kyle's family, a couple from New Zealand (living in San Francisco now), two of Katie's friends, and Kirsten's boyfriend for a delicious Thanksgiving turkey dinner. I was up for 10 days total. This picture of the girls at Kolahi's didn't turn out very well because my camera was on manual (oops!) but luckily I noticed right afterwards.
This picture is Juliette, Katie, Kim, Kirsten, Roya, me and Tia: It was Thanksgiving AND the Seahawks were playing so of course there was football! Mahmood (not in the picture), Kyle, Ty, Dennis, Uncle Ray, Mike, Kirsten's boyfriend Brian and I all got to watch them lose (again). The women (along with Aaron who doesn't like football and Mitra's new husband, Reinhard, who's from South Africa so more of a rugby fan) were happier congregating in the kitchen around the food. Kyle took this picture standing on the windowseat right after bumping his head on the ceiling overhang. It looked like it hurt... But the picture turned out great... After dinner of course there were games! I was reminded again that Phase 10 is a really.... Really... Long game. We headed back to Kyle's parent's house around 11pm.Mike took some pictures for Kyle and I:Kyle flies in Christmas eve day and spends the week through New Years with us here. 3 more weeks!
We even got all of the kids to pose for a picture; probably their first one all together since Ellie was born. They did really well with jellybeans and promises of ice cream as motivators. 
Then the kids in each family got their pictures together:
Brothers- Carter and Camden
and Jhett! This picture was picked up weird by my scanner... Sorry it's a bit cut off and sideways.
We even got all of the kids to pose for a picture; probably their first one all together since Ellie was born. They did really well with jellybeans and promises of ice cream as motivators. 
Then the kids in each family got their pictures together:
Brothers- Carter and Camden
and Jhett! This picture was picked up weird by my scanner... Sorry it's a bit cut off and sideways.
