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President’s Day. No Growing Tree. I went to work at the COLLEGE. I wore a tie so the students knew I meant business. Mom and I started the day off with a donut.

The Bigs had a Happy Thursday. Great turns on a gorgeous day at Bachelor.

Friday night we stopped at Laughing Planet for dinner. They have an awesome dinosaur collection.

And some pretty neat dishes. Moroccan Bowl: baked tempeh, harissa-braised veggies, apricot mint couscous, and cherry apple chutney.

Harvest Bowl: quinoa, black beans, yams, sautéed kale, tempeh, avocado, cilantro-lime slaw, and pumpkin seeds.

On Saturday we tried hard to get the elusive rainbow chair on Rainbow lift. We missed it by one!

After skiing, I hit the playground for a little extra exercise.

A good ninja never stops pushing the limits.

Sometimes this makes The Bigs break.

Uncle Chris sent me this awesome Beastie Boy album.

I LOVED their outfits on the cover, so I dressed like a Beastie Boy on Saturday and made The Bigs listen to the album over and over.

We had some company at breakfast this morning. Chewbacca wanted some of my waffles, but I did not share.

Great Auntie Cheryl sent us a new cookbook. The Bigs have been busy making recipes. Waffles:

Pancakes:

Dark chocolate cupcakes:

With camouflage frosting, of course (I was dissatisfied with the execution, but I kept it to myself):

My new favorite song is ‘No Sleep Till Brooklyn’ by the Beastie Boys. As you’ll see, it is very appropriate.

Cordy-Roy had a rough week. I put splints on his ear and paw, but his heart still sounds bad.

More NINJA training.

I take Valentine’s Day almost as seriously as ninja training. I signed 21 cards (actually 25, Mom didn’t like my signature on a few, so she made me re-sign them).

I made special Valentines for my teachers.

We had Emmett’s pasta for Valentine’s Day dinner. YUM YUM YUM.

The doctor told Mom – no more coffee. Here is her matcha latte. Yes, it is GREEN.

More pictures from ninja class? Wrong! I had The Bigs bring me for a post-skiing ninja session. I had some moves to perfect.

New variation on waffle breakfast.

Skiing in the 100 Acre Wood.

It’s steep, and yes, the first three times I screamed and hollered all the way down, but I kept insisting on going back, and by the end of the day – it was easy as pie.

Another week, one step closer to becoming a ninja. Army crawling:

Climbing the net:

Eleni came to ninja training this week – I showed her the ropes:

It was Luminaria weekend at Meissner, so they built a giant snow dragon:

After all that dragon play, I was feeling a bit 11 o’clockish, so we stepped into the shelter for a little smackeral of something. (Yes, we just recently finished both Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner.)

After some skiing on my own, I decided to hitch a ride back to the car:

where I turned back into Owl (remember we are reading Winnie the Pooh), and had some lunch:

After a few hours at home, we headed back to Meissner for the Luminaria ski, and more dragon play:

Having a little beef broth to warm me up:

Not only Luminaria, but also a full moon:

Blinded by the iPhone flash:

If the whole ninja thing doesn’t work out, at least I’ll have my jedi skills to fall back on (Mom, on the other hand, should not quit her day job):

This weekend’s breakfast. The only thing better than avocado toast is avocado waffles:

Lots of ice fell from the sky this week:

Post-ski gelato:

The Bigs are cooking; it’s time to get down to business:

Sometimes I feel like The Bigs do not appreciate my sense of style:

I am particularly pleased with one of my more recent clothing purchases – army pants. Watch out GI Joe:

In other news, ninja training continues.

It was good preparation for a weekend in the big city. Where I swam:

walked (and walked and walked – to awesome places like Powell’s Books, where I managed to leave with $100 worth of books. It’s pretty easy to manipulate The Bigs when it comes to books):

went to see a play based on Dragons Love Tacos:

rode the train (public transportation makes me giddy):

went to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI):

and ate a lot of amazing food.

On the first night, I had a great piece of pepperoni pizza:

and some strawberry coconut ice cream.

The Bigs had Bibimbap bowls from Kim Jong Smokehouse – scorched rice and noodles, sesame sprouts, daikon kim chee, napa kim chee, pickled apple, fried egg, sesame seeds, and meat.

The second day we had a great lunch – with braised beet salad and a jambalaya soup:

and an amazing Moroccan dinner of majadra – brown lentils and rice simmered with sauteed onions in secret spices

and Moroccan chicken – slow-cooked and oven-baked chicken, served over a Moroccan sauce.

I LOVED every minute of the trip and begged The Bigs to move in to the Embassy Suites. It was the greatest. A pool, free breakfast, really nice wallpaper, and they even had extra Puppies, just like mine.

I was very sad to go. The good news is that the Oregon Children’s Theater has a play about “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and “The Last Stop on Market Street” planned for later in the season.

Week 2 of ninja training. Yes, I have the same clothes on as last week’s ninja training. I am a creature of habit.

The intensity increased this week.

I got the job done.

Ninjas are supposed to be deadly and silent, but sometimes you gotta smile because you are having so much fun!

On occasion I stand still.

Those moments are brief and far between.

The weather report said it was supposed to be a wintery mix on Saturday. Wrong.

If The Bigs weren’t tired enough from me – Mom watched Sophie for 4.5 hours on Sunday (yes, she counted every minute), so Dad, Jess, and Tom could ski in the Great Nordeen cross country race. Here we are at 6 am.

Still smiling at 10:30.

Mom is still alive, barely.

Ahi noodle bowl. Best meal ever:

This week, I embarked on my journey to become a ninja. I was a bit uneasy (terrified?) as my training began,

but I quickly loosened up and had a blast.

Check out my ninja sock:

Did I enjoy ninja training? Yes, I did!

When I’m not busy fighting fires,

I’m designing and constructing ShapeMag buildings:

Branch room self portraits. (Yes, Alex is a show-off.)

This week, we borrowed Paulie Pastrami Achieves World Peace from the library. When we read that in the morning, we eat breakfast with my globe:

A fun and safe indoor activity that I particularly enjoy involves using my stomp rocket

to shoot stuffies off of Mom’s head:

This weekend was awesome! I got to ski with Reese!

The Bigs made us some tasty food this week. Mussels:

Chocolate almond pie:

Bacon waffles. (That’s right, waffles with pieces of bacon in them.) With extra bacon, of course:

Avocado toast. (Plenty of bacon in here, as well.)

I LOVE AVOCADO TOAST.

I need lots of fuel, because I am almost always in motion.

Check out my cool new Nirvana t-shirt! Thanks, Uncle Geoff!

Playing Hissss with the Bigs. Thanks, Great Auntie Cheryl!

We are finally getting snow. The Bigs had a Thursday-powder-day without me. Not cool.

Early morning shoveling/snowball throwing:

Skiing some powder on the Little Pine lift:

Sometimes you feel like a ninja:

Post-ski lunch in the back of the car:

That’s not a snowman. The Bigs are awful listeners:

Skiing in the blizzard near Swampy Sno-Park. We only went 1.5 miles, but The Bigs said it was good endurance training. I guess my incessant complaining, blowing snow, and cold temperatures make for mental toughness.

Not really making use of the TowWhee, but at least Dad won’t lose me:

Traditional New Year’s Eve dinner – posole and margaritas.

Happy New Year!

Out with the edgie wedgie and in with the real skiing.

Fun fact about me: I don’t even need a costume, to be wearing a costume.

Hope your year is super.

We made a lot of gingerbread.

Maybe more than our tree can handle.

Cookies and milk for Santa, and carrots for the reindeer:

We have the safest house on the block, protected by a firefighter,

a doctor,

and a superhero:

Not to mention a guy with a sharp sweater collection:

For Christmas dinner, we had roast beast (a standing rib roast),

couscous with arugula pesto, walnuts, and pears,

roasted tomatoes with a yogurt sauce,

and, of course, Yule log:

Lots of stay-at-home days means lots of skiing!

As a rule, I love the library. But this week, I LOVE the library.

Why? Because train man was there!

The Bigs are not super smart. Start a weekend off with Train Man and it is quite possible that everything else that follows is a disappointment. Good thing for them there was plenty of skiing and Christmas activities to do.

I can totally ride the lift, but it is pretty cool to go through a tunnel to get to the slopes.

I thought Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer was a song. This movie is AWESOME.

Race ya, Dad.

What do you mean I’m supposed to let him win, Mom?

Construction and cookies? Win win.

No kit. No problem.

Dad was taking too long making a wreath from an old bike wheel…

so, I made my own.

I guess Dad’s turned out OK too.