As you can see by some of the pictures, we had an early snow here in Seattle. Both Harrison and Isabella thought it was pretty neat and they even built a snowman in the front yard! The holidays are definitely in full swing around the Showizala household. Both kids are very excited by all of the decorations and lights, and Harrison is quickly learning his calendar days so that he can pick out his ornament from the advent calendar each day. Picture this: 6:30am – “Mom!!! It’s number 8 today!” We have also been painting ornaments, decorating trees, making snowmen and we even tried to make a gingerbread house (which turned into decorating a single piece of gingerbread cookie!) We got our Christmas tree a few days ago, which was fun to get and even more fun to decorate. We are looking forward to spending the holidays with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Scott and Naya dog – everyone should be arriving soon and we are looking forward to their visit!

Harrison turned 3 in August and is very active these days. He loves to run to the front door in our house and also to climb on a play slide structure we have in the family room. He also loves jumping and testing himself (and us!) to see how high he can climb on all of our furniture. Harrison is also very interested in spelling words and likes to play the letter game (naming all of the words he knows that begin with that letter). Harrison is also a recent connoisseur of “Candy Land” and “Go Fish”. He continues to enjoy his computer games, playing play-doh, and of course watching Dora, the Explorer whenever he gets a chance.

Isabella is just about 1 ˝ and loves to try and do everything that Harrison is doing (usually at the same time of course). Her favorite activity seems to be meandering around and getting into things. She loves music and likes to dance and jump. She also very much enjoys playing with her baby dolls – she likes to give them bottles, sing to them and push them around in their stroller. She also loves going out and about, and much to her mom’s delight, she also likes shopping.

Heidi continues to work at Youth Eastside Services, but she is starting to think about making a change in her professional life. She and her friend Molly have decided to start their own business: North Star Offices. They found some office space and are going to rent out workspaces to individuals who want an alternative to working from home and want to work part-time on their own projects and/or businesses within a community. Heidi is going to pursue marketing her North Star Girls Group Curriculum and also has plans to start a private practice doing therapy with kids and adults. It is a busy and exciting time around here.

Ken continues to work at Microsoft on Windows Update and other related products and technologies. He has been very busy lately putting the finishing touches on Windows Vista, which ships next year, and is really looking forward to taking a 2-week break for Christmas!

Ken recently gave Harrison some of his old Star Wars figures to play with (namely Luke, Boba Fett, C-3PO, R2-D2, Han Solo, Chewbacca and a Stormtrooper). Ken said “there are no words” to describe how cool it was to watch Harrison while he lined them all up and practiced remembering their names over and over again. :-)

And on that note, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Love,
Heidi, Ken, Harrison & Isabella Showman