Van Damme Had a Heart Attack!

Don't worry it was just a minor one... when doctors went into his hospital room and saw him like this they knew it wasn't too serious.

School Pictures

I think that my scanner was actually carried across the Siberian Land Bridge and passed down to me so the quality of the pictures are horrible but aren't they cute?

Gracie Gave Herself a Pedicure

The girl likes a little bling...

Pumpkin Patch

This week our sweet friends invited us to go to the pumpkin patch up in Carnation with them. We had great weather this week and Carnation is beautiful! We had so much fun playing in the teepee, making s'mores, finding our way out of the corn maze and filling up on pumpkin pancakes! On the way back to the car the path was lined with these chestnut trees and chestnuts were ALL OVER. Our friend Jim told us how when he was growing up on the east coast that they would gather them and roast them and that they were delicious. So the kids started gathering them and Collin had a whole bag full! Right before we left the guy working there told us that unfortunately they were not edible, that they were horse chestnuts! LOL... Oh well. Collin came home and just dumped them right on our porch. The squirrels came and got them and they were gone in just a few hours! At least someone can enjoy them.

Crazy Wacky Day

This is how the kids dressed for Crazy Wacky Day at school. You can't really tell in this picture but Collin's hair is spiked up with red hair gel. I was volunteering in Collin's class that day so Quinn got to dress crazy too!

Collin's Concert

Last week Collin had a concert at school. For weeks leading up to this he had been complaining to me that he was going to have to brake dance and that he didn't know how and he didn't want to do it. I didn't blame him, I wouldn't want to brake dance in front of the whole school either lol. Come to find out it was a little square dance he was supposed to do. It was so cute and he said afterwards that the square dance was his favorite part even though he had to dance with a girl. He was so nervous that when they first came out onto the risers he actually turned his back to everyone and stayed like that for a few minutes. He eventually calmed down and sang his songs and said his line. Doesn't he make a cute little flower?

Here's a picture of the girls before the concert. As usual Quinn has as many "accessories" on as she can fit. The little bangle she is wearing is one Mark brought back from India.

Time Out

We do our time outs on the top stair. Quinn decided to wriggle through the bars and got stuck! It was so funny. I actually was able to just turn her a little bit and she came right out.

Speaking of Quinn, she had a landmark event happen today! We were able to pull all of her hair up. I couldn't get it into just one ponytail but still...this is progress.

Night in Dubai

I was jealous that I couldn't go with Mark on his trip so I decided to surprise him with our own "Night in Dubai". I know-I'm a dork! I bought all the things I needed from the dollar store and decorated with paper lanterns and tissue paper. I used some old gold fabric that I had to drape over the chairs and an old tube of puff paint to make the designs on the edges of the placemats. We even used our china for the first time in our whole marriage!

I had arranged to drop the kids off at Rosa's house and be home and have the chicken tikka masala made before Mark got home. I made it to NE8th in Bellevue when the suburban just died. Luckily there was no traffic and I was able to coast to the side of the freeway. I had to ruin the surprise and have Mark come rescue us. I traded cars with Mark and drove the rest of the way to Bothell and home again, in the mean time Mark had the suburban towed to our house.

We got a late start on our date but Mark was able to help me cook and it turned out delicious. After dinner we watched Slumdog Millionare while we ate oreo truffles - yum! It was the next best thing to actually being in Dubai together.

India

Mark had the opportunity to travel to India for work last week. He spent two days in Dubai and eight days in Hyderabad. Mark had an amazing time. He said the people were so kind and the food was awesome. Hyderabad is sort of the technological hub of India and has grown up out of the slums. Juxtaposed between the skyscrapers and landscaped lawns of Microsoft, Google, Oracle and Dell is the squalor that existed before the city became what it is today. Hyderabad is notorious for their crazy traffic. Mark saw a man driving a motorcycle with his wife sitting behind him "side saddle" while holding a toddler on her lap - none of them wearing helmets!

Mark had a 24 hour lay over at the beginning and then again at the end of the trip in Dubai. Unlike Hyderabad which is mainly Hindu, Dubai is a mainly Muslim country and has a much more anti-western feel. Dubai is like the Las Vegas of the East. It has beautiful hotels, beaches and malls. Some things you can do in Dubai are indoor skiing, drive a formula one race car, visit the tallest building in the world or lay out on the man made beach shaped like the palm of a hand.

Ten days was a long time to have our Daddy gone! We are so glad that he's home now! He brought Gracie and Quinn home some sparkly bangles, Collin got a hand carved chess board and I got some carved elephants and some beautiful shalls. Let's hope it's a long time before he has to leave us for that long again!