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Hobbies

Katherine’s First Basketball Game

What can I say nine year old girls playing basketball is a new experience for me. Lots of screaming and parents saying ohhh. Katherine is having a great time but I need to spend some time with her on the basics. In the first half she got a rebound and shot attempt. With 3 minutes to go in in the half the score is 22 to 0, OWS losing.

In the last 1 minute in the half Katherine scored the first OWS basket. She posted up and was wide open. The crowd roars! Mom and dad are so proud. Grandma Dottie and Grandpa Bill exclaim to dad: that’s our granddaughter.

With 10 minutes to go the score is 36-8 Hebrew Academy ahead. Katherine has the responsibility of passing the inbound pass. I need to remind Katherine to keep her hands up and to follow the ball.

Overall, it was a good game though the OWS team lost. Katherine really enjoyed being part of a team and the ups and downs of competition.

Mother’s Day 2012

On Sunday we celebrated Mother’s Day as a family. We started out the morning with breakfast in bed. Dad and the girls produced a smilie face breakfast plate for Christine. At 10A, we met Agnes at Din Tai Fung in Lincoln Square for Dim Sum. Afterwards the girls played arcade games to earn tickets.

In the afternoon, we attended a Seattle Storm pre-season game. On the way to the game, we passed a runner doing pull-ups using a bus stop overhang. We discussed whether or not any family members could do that. Allison exclaimed: “I could pull up my pants!” that many times. We all chuckled.

On the way to the game, Allison said, “Look, Raffi on the sign”. Christine and I said, “huh?”. Allison exclaimed again: “Over there, Raffi on the sign”. Finally, we connected the dots. Allison was talking about graffiti. The family had a good laugh.

Our season tickets seasons are new this year. We moved to center court, three rows back. The people around us are nice and we can see both sides of the court. The girls also love the “bottomless” popcorn though we’ve limited it to one bucket per half.

Allison’s Violin Recital

Allison’s violin recital on March 24, 2012. Allison’s violin teacher is Anna-Ruth Boyce. Allison played Duckie’s song.

Suzuki Concert

Suzuki Concert

Allison was very excited to perform in her first concert – “up like a rocket” and the “A String Concerto.” She was on the cusp of playing Twinkle (on the E string), but had some difficulty sustaining a tricky rhythm (actually two rhythms of five). Needless to say, it was exciting to go on stage, perform and bow.

Steve taped the concert on the G10, so we have a movie of the performance.

Grandma Chang tailored the skirt, and we bought the little black shoes yesterday just for the performance. Hopefully, seeing other kids play will motivate Allison a bit — and she’ll get to wear her little concert outfit again.

Second Tooth Gone!

Second Tooth Gone!

We got home tonight from a late work day and dinner. Patty informed us right away that the Tooth Fairy needed to visit. Katherine’s second lower middle tooth has been very wobbly for the last month or so. After bath, Katherine pushed the tooth back and forth with her tongue, and Patty pulled it right out! Steve and I decided that the second tooth going rate is $2 (as opposed to the $5 first tooth rate).

Katherine is on a tear to accumulate money. Yesterday she asked hopefully if she could earn extra money by helping with laundry. I informed her that laundry is part of base chores, but that I would talk to Dad about extra work around the house. We’re still brainstorming…I’m not sure what she’s saving her money for, but she sure seems motivated!

Allison Stories

Being around Allison is always very interesting. On Monday, coming home from her violin lesson, we stopped by Chevron to fill the hybrid with gas. As we pulled away from the station, Allison asked, “Where does the gas go?” Unfortunately, I didn’t have a very good answer right away, but it was thought provoking. She essentially was wondering why we keep filling the car with gas.

Earlier this week I walked by the fish tank and noticed a new addition. Allison had assumedly found some old goldfish stickers in her arts and crafts area. She picked the gold colored stickers and put them directly on the fish tank. Katherine walked by later and immediately started to peel them off. ๐Ÿ™‚

Fourth Place in PuzzleHunt

Burt’s Bees

Every year Steve and I play in Puzzlehunt with a team called the Killer Bees. This year we placed a respectable fourth place, with a team of core and new players. I explained to Katherine that we were very pleased to place fourth, thinking this was a good way to reinforce the whole “have fun, its not about winning” message.

Here are Katherine’s remarks about PuzzleHunt:

“Maybe you should consider calling your team the I Want to Win Bees”

“I accidentally called your team Burt’s Bees…not the Killer Bees..” (to gales of laughter)

“Mama, staying up all night is crazy.”  (Yes, I know she’s right)

Katherine also proclaimed today that she had a dream come true today. She learned about the pbs.org web site, which has little games based on PBS show characters for young children. Katherine spent her 10 minutes of computer time tonight clicking around the site and playing the Clifford game. She was very focused, checking out the site by herself. Allison told us, “Katherine, it’s not fair. You dont let me use the computer at all!”