Saisho to Saigo**

**That means "First and Last" as in first time and last time.

I remember screaming "Saisho to saigo!" over and over while I was in labor with Asia... While partaking in Black Friday really wasn't nearly as painful as that experience, it was rather painful in it's own way :)

My friend Michelle suggested a few months ago that we do the Black Friday thing and I figured since we didn't have any family in town this year it'd be the perfect time to see what all the hype is about so off we went at...

4:09 A.M.











(can't see the thermometer in this shot, but it said 29 degrees. Brrr.)
Here we are, tired, cold and giggly. Me, Ashley (she's a friend of Michelle's visiting from Hawaii) and Michelle. Tara joined us about 20 minutes later.

ToysRUs was our first destination, we stood in line for 45 minutes before they opened, the line went down and around and across...



















See all those people? I wonder when these first-in-liners got there?!

Oh, and surprise, surprise, we didn't even end up getting the one thing we went to ToysRUs for (they had Zunes for cheap and Michelle's husband was hoping for one...).

Then we headed to Kohls but walked right back out after seeing the line for the cash registers. The line literally wrapped around the entire interior of the store. ALL AROUND THE STORE.
No thanks.







Then we walked into Old Navy and again, crazy line. No thanks. Took this picture and walked back out.











Right before this we happened to be at Bath and Body Works right at the very moment it opened so we were first in line--and, well, the only ones in line :) and THAT was a fun shopping experience. Much more my speed. Some nice sales, relaxing, no lines.

Same deal at Pier 1 and Cost Plus World Market so we did end up scoring some good deals today without having to deal with long lines.

After hours and hours (see the last photo to find out exactly how many hours!) of random shopping and being shocked by the sight of long lines we were a tad bit loopy.

Here's me kissing Michelle under some mistletow at Target.







This photo is a bit blurry, but that's exactly how we all felt at this point!

3:17 P.M.

Remember the first picture with the departure time? Yeah, you do the math. It's embarassing.

We were all tired, but really we had a fun time together. Will I do it again? Nope.

Then again, that's what I said when Asia was being born and she *does* have a younger sibling... ;)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble Gobble!

We had the quietest Thanksgiving EVER! Just the four of us celebrating together. As much as we love our friends and family, it was a treat to have such a mellow day.

I said I was thankful for TIME, it was nice to have a day with nothing at all planned except for being together and, well eating.

Andy cooked up a fine turkey. Yum.













The annual "Cynthia loves meat" photo :)

Wii Time

I love this picture of Ezra and three of his buddies playing Star Wars on the Wii.

Weekend getaway

We spent the weekend with Andy's family in a nice little rental house on a random lake just north of Seattle. I hardly took any pictures this weekend, oops. Here's Asia being a wonderful big cousin babysitter to Day--enjoying the view out the window.




















We were basically on vacation in our old neighborhood which was really cool! We ate at the wonderful breakfast place right next to our old apartment, it was really nice being back there after several years.
We used to be such regular customers that we were in photos on the wall! We found a picture of me with the owner's wife and Ezra when he was about a week old. My, how he's grown!



Then we all went to the aquarium and the kids had fun being brave by touching the star fish and other sea creatures. Good times.

School Assembly

I love how the kids' school could be an ad for the United Colors of Benetton (is that even around anymore?!). In that way it reminds me of my childhood...

I went to the end of the first trimester school assembly. I managed to get both kids in this one shot, can you find their blonde heads?!



















Ez got an extra certificate from his teachers for being an extra good kid. Aww, he sure fooled them! Er, I mean, he sure is a good little schoolboy!!

Error Message

This is what you do when you get an error message on your new computer when you are married to a computer nerd who (gasp) doesn't answer his cell phone on your first try. You panic, take a digital picture so you can relay the info to computer nerd husband when he's available then you restart the computer and hope for the best.

How do people survive without computer nerds in their lives?!

Portland

Late Friday evening we headed off for our long weekend in Portland. What would we do without the portable DVD player?! Makes for such a peaceful car trip :)















Off we went to taste lots-o-pinot noir in the Willamette Valley, our favorite wine country.



Mmmmm, Pinot Noir


































The kids have fun too, we always have plenty of activities and treats for them along the way.















Such good kids!! (most of the time ;)












We stayed with our friend Karen who came along to the wineries with us. We always have a great time together.














Maresh Red Barn is one of our favorite tasting rooms. We've stayed at the lodge next to the tasting room a few times.














Sam, the pourer at the Red Barn who always wears overalls, gave the kids their own wine tasting (psst, it was actually Sierra Mist :).


















That night we had dinner at the Kennedy School McMenamins. We told the kids this was the closest they should ever get to a detention room!













We love the Willamette Valley! Look closely, you can see Mt. Hood in the background.

A Girl's Night Out of a Different Sort...

A girl's night out with actual girls, not women :)
I was given four tickets to the pre-screening (or would it just be the screening?) of the movie, Enchanted, so I took Asia and two of her best buds out for a fun evening. But when we got to the theater there was a huuuuuge line and in the end we didn't get in. We were disappointed but decided to still have a night out so we went to Rainforest Cafe. Cheers!



In the end the girls said they were glad we didn't get in to the movie b/c they had such a fun time having dinner out--and on a school night even!

Little Greta Faye

We went to meet Greta Faye, what a doll! She's sort of like a new cousin for Asia and Ezra... An extended family kinda thing.

Greta's big sister, Jade, is one of Asia's very favorite people in the whole world.

More Mommy Bonding Time

Thumbs up!
Since Asia and I had a few fun outings together this weekend, Ezra pitifully asked "What about me?! Don't I get to do something special with you too?!"

So off we went... He has been sad missing me on the school bus a few times (aww) so I had the idea of letting him pick out a funky little thingie that he can keep in his backpack and hold when he's missing me. I know, cheesy. But it works, he loves it! He named the little green guy "Fluffy".

After shopping for funkie little thingies we went to a coffee and cupcake shop (the same one I went to with the ladies on Friday). Thumbs up all around!

Mmmmm, yummy cupcake

















Then Asia and I went to watch High School Musical at the Seattle Childrens Theater, it was awesome!! I enjoyed it just as much as she did.

I may have taken a few illegal pictures... (no photos inside the theater ever. Come on, that's a bit harsh when a mom and daughter are off on a special evening together!)





Wild Cats everywhere, wave your hands up in the air! We're all in this together...








Good night, Seattle

Mad Hatter Tea Party

Asia came to a work event with me again today, it was a fundraiser for a parenting organization. It was a Mad Hatter Tea Party, to be exact, so the kids made hats (our craft was making beaded bracelets since I was asked to do a craft that didn't require scissors or glue--rather limiting!).

Asia thought it was really cool that we were at a hotel for this event and she was fascinated by the auction.














The (weird) hat auction. The auctioneer/emcee was John Curley who is a local celebrity. Check out the clip below of him doing his auctioneering. Cool! And one of my ParentMap co-workers won the hat being modeled in this picture for her daughter. You see her in the video clip too.

More good times for the moms

Cheers! Michelle, Tara and I went to a cool gift store we'd been wanting to check out then we got a cupcake at a cupcake store we'd been wanting to check out then drinks and food. Good times! I love mom's nights out!!














And I love a little late-night grocery shopping at WinCo! I mean seriously. THAT is good times.

A day off school...

...means fun for all!














A lovely fall afternoon at the park with friends. Taylor's dad, Tim, was nice enough to push the girls higher and higher. Giggle giggle.














...and hey, us moms can have fun too! Faster, faster! No, stop, I'm gonna puke!! Spinning around and around just ain't what it used to be. I'm just sayin' :)

Happy Halloween!

Ready for the neighborhood pizza party in our garage before the trick-or-treating! A is a baby, E is a Storm Trooper. Click on the picture to make it bigger and you'll see what A's bib says :)



















Our cute almost-one-year-old neighbor, Michael, (wondering why on earth he's dressed like a pumpkin) and his Pink Mom, Nisreen.



















Sol and E--the Storm Troopers.














Most of the gang--it was impossible to actually get them all in a picture at once. There were like 25 kids and almost as many adults. First we had pizza (and carrot sticks!) in our garage...



















...then off they went trick-or-treating. Imagine opening your door to that huge gang of kids!!














...and they're off.



















That's called a Candy Coma. After we got home she sorted out all her candy into piles of matching kinds. Tomorrow we'll have to figure out how to get rid of most of it! Our dentist bills are high enough already, thank you very much ;)

A fun night. Happy Halloween!!

Another event

The kids came along to supposedly work with me at an event at a cool kids museum near us, but they actually spent most of the time having fun at the museum and watching the magician.














Look! Dads read ParentMap too! :) I love this shot of the dads reading the magazine while their kids do a craft at my table.

Event at the zoo

ParentMap had a booth at a very fun Halloween event at the zoo in Seattle. There were like a trillion pumpkins carved with every design you can imagine. A and I decided this was our fave.














Nothing wrong with a little child labor, right? Here's A being super helpful handing out my magazines at the event. My friend was there working with us and her daughter was along also. The girls had a great time helping us. We gave out candy to literally thousands of kids. Happy Halloween! A wore her costume--she's a baby and her bib says "Does this diaper make my butt look big?"














The boys came to visit us at the event. Here they are at the (totally little kid friendly) haunted house. For those of you who know E at all, you know he's, well, a scaredy-cat. I LOVE this "um, daddy, I'm not so sure about this place!" expression on his face. But he said he really wanted to go to the haunted house...














...and look at this--he's all proud of himself b/c he wasn't too scared afterall! I mean really, what Storm Trooper is scared of a silly haunted house?! ;)