Faster connection means more pictures

Last week was kind of busy. At the House in Seattle, it seems like we're all busy all day, but at the end of the day, it's hard to figure out what was accomplished. It's a good day if routine and structure were maintained for the family. It's a good day if we all ate healthy, and were well-rested. It's a good day if we got to exercise.
Parents just worry a lot, making it hard to concentrate on other things. Someone thought that everyone where we're staying in Seattle can just relax and read all the time. I have read a LOT, but haven't retained much and I definitely have not been able to relax when I worry all the time about everything. Health, family being separated, etc.

Andy, Daniel, and Kelly visited last weekend. It was rainy so we didn't go out much. Daniel built a marble tower while waiting for me to get ready. We finally got to go to the Northgate Mall. I think Kelly liked it, but not too sure about Daniel. But, I tend to just look at girly things and the boys tend to be forgotten at the store. I have to force myself to try to be fair when buying things for the children.
After the mall, Maggie really wanted her hair curled with my new hot rollers. She was devouring the Sbarro pizza while waiting for the rollers to cool.

Here she is with her curly hair. She looks just like Holly, our neighbor in Seattle.

Holly was at our room and we were all watching a movie. Maggie was standing in front of where Andy and I were sitting. Andy kept saying, "Holly, down in front." But, it was Maggie, and it took him a while to figure it out. Holly's hair is curly with the humidity in Seattle. :)

Kelly got new sunglasses.

The children wanted to make elephant's toothpaste later in the week, so we did. The other kids at the house wanted to watch, and they thought it was fun too.

Maggie now has a pretty rock collection of polished rocks. Her teacher, Eileen, gave her some and helped her organize this homemade box for them.

Andy came later in the week, again. We went to the Seattle Public Library. As I put on a postcard to my local librarian, it was a jaw-dropping experience, but nothing compares to our local library!

The picture below has some children's books to the right, and the storytime room to the left, behind the funky wall.

Ok, in our medium-size city (or in any other cities I've lived in), I've never seen more than 20 kids at a story time, maybe 40 if it was a summer program for older kids too. Check out the maximum occupancy for the SPL's storytime room!

The picture below is JUST some of the children's section.

The blue bull, but I forgot its name.

Below this next picture is the awesome conveyor belt that takes items left in the book return box outside to where they are processed. You can watch the books you're returning. Or, if you're returning them inside, the books go in the central conveyor entry in this picture.

The book return that is inside.

We went to the SPL to see Josh read a poem that he wrote. Andy and the girls got to watch. As soon as the program started, the baby started fussing (chemo earlier in the day). Josh did a great job, according to Andy! I asked Josh if he felt famous, and he said when everyone was clapping for him, yes. He said he felt even more famous when he and the girls performed at Seattle Center the first weekend in May.

My children are getting such a neat experience in Seattle! We are meeting neat people, learning to have more compassion for those who are struggling to survive even more than we are, and just taking the opportunity to find some good in the leukemia battle.