Martha helped Nathan search for more bugs for his collection, finding this bee in our front yard.

Leah's speech

Leah was so inspired by her mother's public address at the Mercer Island School District board meeting last night, that she wrote her own speech afterwards.

"I have a dream," Leah's speech begins, and she lists her arguments for why daycare centers shouldn't be closed. "For an example, we'll start with Barbies... Say you like pink." But you go into the store and buy purple instead and later change your mind. Should you complain? No. "You have to be thankful for what you have...Everyone, I have a dream."

Unseasonably warm weather in Seattle is causing our trees to bud.

Leah's Religious Education
She's either a little mixed up, or they are not teaching her well. She says she is going through "condemnation” as part of the process leading to “First Reunion.” The priest told her a story about how much harder things were in the past, when the “numbs” used to whack the children whenever they did something wrong.

Leah and Daddy went on a date this morning to the Uwajimaya Japanese store in Seattle. We bought some food to cook a nice Japanese dinner tonight, and we also got Leah some flash cards to help her study her kana characters:

What is this bug? Nathan found it around the house and we pinned it into his collection, but we're not sure what it's called.

Mercer Island School District Community Forum

I'm glad I attended last night's MISD Board Governance Community Forum . The school board members presented their proposal for changing the school mission and high-level strategic plan for the district, and then we discussed it. They divided the audience of roughly 100 people into small breakout sessions where we discussed specifics about two "ends policies", high-level statements of what MISD thinks students should be when they complete their education. Generally the discussion is very motherhood-and-apple-pie (who would disagree with the statement "students will demonstrate good character"?) so the proof will be in the follow-up meetings where all this gets translated into specific policies.

The best part was interacting with school board members, and I feel now that I know Leslie Ferrell, who was the board member who moderated my small group.

Martha on Hello Kitty

I was surfing my blogs when this photo came up:

and Martha immediately said "Hello Kitty!"

Now come on, how does a 2-year-old know these things?

Nathan and Martha are hard at work with their playdoh.

Anniversary night dinner's menu. In New Orleans.

Our first day on real snow, at Snoqualmie. Here's Leah going up the "magic carpet" to the bunny slope.

There's Nathan, with his mother far behind him.

Our driveway was steep enough, slippery enough for a challenging ride.

Enough wet snow to make a snowman, but not enough persistance to make him 3 balls tall.

We woke up this morning to our first real snowfall! Can't wait to get outside!

Nathan amazes us with his new paper construction projects. Here -- totally his own idea, built and designed entirely by himself -- he shows off his latest: an elevator. It really works too: pull the string and the elevator car goes up and down.

The kids had school, but I had a day off from work, so I lunch with Nathan at his school.

Leah's school had their annual Hoe-Down dance party last night, and boy did she have a good time. (See her in the middle of the photo, with her cowboy hat).

BBC NEWS | UK | Mohammed enters top boys' names

BBC NEWS | UK | Mohammed enters top boys' names

Mohammed has become one of the most popular names for baby boys in England and Wales. It entered the top 20 most commonly chosen names for 2004 baby boys for the first time ever, according to the Office for National Statistics.

But there was little change at the top with Jack and Emily retaining their status as the most popular name for newborn boys and girls.