Thank you, Santa!

With Catalina

In my new outfit

Playing my new Candyland game with Catalina and Daddy

Now I'm an engineer just like Uncle Peter!

With Coconut

Santa remembered and he brought me my American Girl doll! She looks like me with brown hair, blue eyes and bangs. I named her Catalina, which is Spanish for Catherine. Papa and Nana gave me Coconut the dog and a vet set so I can give her check-ups and keep her healthy. I got so many neat presents - pajamas, nightgowns, cardigans, coloring books, my very own boom box with a Disney Princess CD to listen to, and lots of clothes. Christmas was a lot of fun this year. Thank you everyone!

Catherine's Christmas Program Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsm12bvFgAQ

School Christmas Program

My entire school put on a Christmas program last week. The preschool and pre-K classes joined together to sing two songs: This Little Star of My Mine and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We wore gold star costumes and sang in front of all the families. I had a great time.

With my friend Stella before the program

Breakfast with Santa

I did it! I actually did it! I sat on Santa's lap and Daddy took the pictures to prove it. Many of you may remember that for the past few years I have sat in front of Santa, not on his lap, and that last year I absolutely refused to sit in front, beside, or anywhere near him. Mommy and I talked a lot about it this year and I said I'd think about it.

Yesterday morning, all three of us had Breakfast with Santa at Nordstrom. He was sitting in his chair when we arrived and lots of kids were sitting with him and taking pictures but I wasn't ready yet. While we were eating our breakfast, he came around to talk to the kids and collect our letters, but I still wasn't ready and my letter wasn't finished - spelling American Girl Doll takes a long time. After breakfast, there was a neat puppet show with marionettes and I enjoyed that a lot.

As we were getting ready to leave, I remembered that I hadn't given Santa my letter yet. He was sitting in his chair again so I went over and before you know it, I was in his lap. He was very nice and he told me that he gets the American Girl catalog, too, and he knows exactly which doll I want. Then he gave me a candy cane and told me to be a good girl and he'd see me next year. It wasn't scary at all and I am so glad I did it.

The other great part about Breakfast with Santa was that I ran into my first friend in Santa Barbara again. The weekend after we arrived, we had gone to see a kids' version of The Pirates of Penzance. We sat behind a nice little girl named Madeline and got to talking with her parents. And Madeline was at the Breakast with Santa, too! We sat next to each other during the puppet show and we talked quite a bit. Madeline is only 3 and she won't sit on Santa's lap, she waved to him and said hello but that was all. I tried to tell her how nice he is and how easy it is to sit on his lap and not scary at all. But she's not 4 1/2 like me.

Madeline and Me

Now that I've sat on his lap, Santa will surely bring me my American Girl Doll!

Halloween

I decided to be a tree for Halloween and Mommy made my costume, with some major creative input from Auntie Joyce. On the 30th, I had a party at school, then a playdate with my friend, Jacob, then another party at Ella's, with all my Peps friends. It was so much fun! Halloween was another fun day with a big party at Zoe and Maren's and then trick-or-treating with Daddy. I don't care too much about the candy but I love going house-to-house and also seeing all the other kids' costumes.

With Mrs. Breysse and Mrs. Baricevic (teachers at Our Lady of the Lake)

At Jacob's house

With Ella, Sasha and Tyler

Santa Barbara!

Thanksgiving Day at the zoo

We finally made it to Santa Barbara and are settling in to our new life. I started school a couple of weeks ago at Notre Dame School and I love it! My teacher, Mrs. James, is super nice and so are the other kids. The best part is that I get to wear a uniform. I have a dress, a skort and a pair of long blue pants that I can wear. Daddy drops me off at 8 am and then goes on to work. Sometimes Mommy comes along and then walks home. We've found many fun things to do in Santa Barbara but there's lots more to explore. Some of our favorites are the zoo, Butterfly Beach and the local farmers' markets. I especially love the farmers' markets because they have strawberries, blueberries and raspberries and they taste like summer!

In my dress uniform

Notre Dame School

A Visit to the Farm

It was a beautiful Fall day and we went to Kelsey Creek Farm in Bellevue. It was so much fun - there were bunnies to pet, legos to play with, a little pumpkin patch and an old-fashioned water pump. I tried it by myself but it was much easier when Daddy helped. After I picked the perfect pumpkin I got to decorate it with two of my favorite things, markers and glitter!

Goal Brasil!

Daddy went to Brasil to see the manufacturing plant for his windmills and he bought Mommy and me real soccer jerseys! I love mine and I can't wait to start playing soccer.

First Day of School

I am in pre-kindergarten at a new school this year - Our Lady of the Lake. The first day was last Monday. I like it a lot and I've already made new friends like Audrey, Mimi and Liam. My teachers are Mrs. B and Mrs. Breysse (she's nicey!) We get to play on the playground with some of the bigger kids from the school and I like running around with them. There is a hamster in our classroom named Kitty. It's going to be fun!

Wyoming!

We took the Great American Road Trip and drove to Jackson, Wyoming via Northern Idaho and Montana. It was a wonderful trip. I had a great time and didn't even mind the long days spent in the car. One day we even drove 10 hours! There was so much to look at. When we got to Jackson, we stayed at a condo with Papa and Nana right at the foot of the Grand Teton Mountains. We drove up to Yellowstone National Park, which Mommy and Daddy kept calling Jellystone (something to do with Yogi Bear). We arrived just in time to see Old Faithful erupt and we saw buffalo and mule deer. I searched and searched for bears with my binoculars but no luck.

Playing frisbee with Daddy outside the condo, in the shadow of the Grand Tetons.

Buffalo on the side of the road in Yellowstone

The stinky Mud Volcano

Visiting the geysers with Nana and Mommy

Hot! Hot! Hot!

We are having a heat wave in Seattle and it's way too hot to do much of anything. We tried taking Tashi for a walk at 9 in the morning but it was already close to 80 and the poor little dog was panting so hard we came back home pretty quickly. I've got swim lessons which is nice - being in the pool is the best place to be. Sometimes, we stay for lunch or even dinner. On Sunday, we stayed for over 5 hours!

My friend, Jacob, was there, too, so we ran around and played ball after we were done swimming.

It's not hot enough to give up sleeping with Truffles!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Today was Father's Day, and even though we had to take Daddy to the airport after dinner, we had a great day. I fixed him a big bowl of Cheerios with strawberries and blueberries for breakfast. Then we took him to the Experience Music Project where we saw the Jim Henson exhibit. Mommy and Daddy both took turns playing the Animal/Keith Moon drummer Muppet in a Muppet Show theater and I was the Cookie Monster. Then we went upstairs into the regular part of EMP and played with all sorts of drum machines, guitars, keyboards and even laid down some vocal tracks. It was so cool!

We took him out for lunch and he had a ginormous cheeseburger that had a fried egg on top! Mommy and I thought it was gross, but I guess Daddy likes stuff like that. After lunch we were making silly faces and the waiter took our picture.

Final Ballet Watching Day

I had been taking ballet since September and a couple of weeks ago was our final class. It was parent watching day again and we got to dress up in fancy clothes and we performed for our parents. It was a lot of fun.

Say "Om" Everybody

I have been taking yoga classes on Mondays during Lunch Bunch since September. I can do a lot of poses, including crane, mountain, cobra, tree, hare, turtle and flamingo. Here are some pictures of my last yoga class - we are in the mountain pose, opening ourselves to the universe and chanting "om."

Visit from Auntie Juliet

Auntie Juliet came to visit me from England for two weeks. We had such fun while she was here. We took her to the zoo to see the terrific new penguin exhibit, we went to the doll museum, to the Children's Museum, and to opening day at the pool. We went for walks with Tashi, had a tea party at home and a proper tea party at the Queen Mary Tearoom with Auntie Joyce and her daughters, Anna & Kate. On Mother's Day, we went to the Seattle Children's Theater to see "Goodnight Moon" and it was terrific! Just like the book come to life. We went to Snoqualmie Falls and I hiked all the way to the bottom and back up again - a mile total but Mommy said I get extra points because it was such a steep hill.