Four years together as a family!

I can't believe that it's already been four years and yet it feels like we've always been together.  To celebrate, we finally got to go up the Space Needle.  Every time Esther sees it, she wants to go to the top so we finally obliged.  We had brunch at the restaurant while it slowly rotated.  Esther kept trying to lean against the wall only to have it move on her.

Checking out the windy city.  Esther said it looked just like a map.

I love this picture of Gene.

We headed back inside out of the wind when, what to our wondering eyes should appear, but Space Santa and his rocket ship.  After getting a photo snapped with the Big Guy, we headed down to the gift shop.  They had tons of robot stuff...and Esther got some of it.  We had a good day.

'Tis the Season

I thought this year might be the year we could actually stop worrying about our Christmas tree being knocked over and ornaments being shattered.  Now that our cat is too old to care, and Esther is old enough to know better, I thought finally our tree would be able to have ornaments at the bottom and not look naked from the waist down.  But alas...not with our one-year old pup around.  Luckily, I realized my folly before we purchased a tree and before any ornaments were mauled.  We opted for a little 3-foot tree that could sit on a table... & Esther was fine with finding an "Ollie-sized tree".  Gene was overjoyed when "tying down the tree" this year meant opening up the trunk and throwing the little bugger in.  I'm happy to report that no ornaments have been harmed as of this post...and the tree looks almost as pretty as a big tree would have.

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This way, Esther can enjoy the tree and eat cereal at the same time.  Win-win.

Here's the pup in question, enjoying the snow.

This month, Esther's preschool got to go to "Creation Station", which is an art/play/recycled materials studio. They have lots of crazy stuff the kids get to use to make whatever they can dream up (from tubing, foam pieces, medical supplies (non hazardous), old computer stuff, Cd's, wine labels, you-name-it).

Can you guess where we are planning to have E's fifth birthday party?

A random and cute picture.

Snow day!

The snow has arrived!  Today was my workday at preschool, so after dropping off our dog at doggie daycare, E and I headed to the store to purchase some snack food for the kiddos (my duty this week).  Wouldn't ya know, right as I'm attempting to unlock the door with groceries in hand, they call to say that school's been canceled.  Well, at least Esther and I have something to snack on. And five dog-free hours. Of course we had to go explore the great big "snow-globe", as Esther called it.

See, it really did snow.

Love the expression.

Just in case you weren't convinced yet...more proof.

Something about this picture I just love.

Yarn + dog + kid = bad idea.  (And no that's not Ollie's backside.)

Mean Mom soon put a stop to the fun.

Esther had her first play date ever at our place.  I know, I know, but since we live in a condo it has usually been easier to meet friends at parks and such.  E did very well sharing her toys with Dahlia.  And Dahlia even brought her real guinea pig over (dog in crate).  E got a little too exuberant with trying to put it in small spaces (her Halloween candy bucket) so we had to put it up for a while.  But all in all, it was a great experience for everyone involved (except maybe Ollie, who whined the whole time he was crated).

Enjoying a Dilly bar from Dairy Queen.

E wanted me to make black play dough and somehow I pulled it off.
Notice Esther's tattoos?  She wanted to be just like her Daddy.

The Terrible Twosome actually holding still!

Happy Halloween!

Wow! Two posts in a month, what is this world coming to?

(Alert: I'm using Google Chrome instead of Explorer to do this post and it is being really wonky. I'm frustrated but swearing mumbling at the computer doesn't seem to be helping, so enjoy.)

This is Esther version of carving a pumpkin. Kind of punk rock, don't ya think?

And now for the surgery. She wanted her Daddy to make a doctor's mask.

One of only a few quiet moments with cousin Chrissy and Nana's dog Honey.

This was more like it. Ollie so wanted to sniff and play with Honey, but she didn't want anything to do with him.

My little helper, assisting with the blueberry muffins.

Preschool is doing a fun thing by letting each kid take home the stuffed guinea pig, Bedhead, for a night. The next day, the child gets to share what they did together. Esther was so excited to get her turn and she did a great job of keeping him away from the dog. The only problem was having to give him back the next day...poor little thing cried and cried. Ah, the joys of learning to share.

Not being a fan of anything other than t-shirts and jeans, Esther had to be convinced(read bribed) to wear this super cute shirt from Aunt Heidi. I wanted to her to wear it before it got too small. To mark the momentous occasion, I snapped this pic. Nice face she's giving me. She did however wear the shirt to preschool, so yay for me.

And now for the Halloween Costume! Esther has been asking "how many the days 'til Halloween" for two months now. We had to count on the calender pretty much every other day. So you can imagine how happy I was when the stinking holiday finally arrived. First was the costume parade at school. I did send a change of clothes for her to wear outside but apparently she thought this was a crazy idea.

So Thomas the Tank Engine dug and moved dirt to his(her) heart's content. Surprisingly, the costume remained pristine.

Again this year we ventured to the Country Village in Bothell for trick-or-treating. Most of the shops handed out candy.

Decisions, decisions.

We ran into one of E's preschool buddies & her sister and they set off together.

And of course the kids had to compare their haul.

This is the best shot of her costume...Thomas' face is a little "plewy" (as E would say).

On the car ride home she dove into her loot. Hopefully, she'll sleep well after the sugar rush has worn off.

September happenings

My little clown wanted me to take a picture of her hiding behind my purse.

For Halloween Esther is going to be Thomas the Tank Engine...but we found this Transformer costume at the thrift shop. She has been wearing it everyday for a week, that includes nighttime.

Pre school had an ice cream social and Esther worked very hard on decorating her little bucket.

Having fun on the merry-go-round.

With one of her best friends, Theo. It was all fun and games until she had a complete meltdown about a "stolen" toy. Yes, E still needs her nap.

On Thursdays, I'm watching a little 7 month old baby. Esther kept bringing her toys for Nikola to play with. But soon lost interest as the baby wasn't as entertaining as she had hoped. I asked her later if she had fun with Nikola, she said "No, she was boring."

Hanging with Ollie.

Esther attended a cat themed birthday party this weekend.

She didn't opt for the face painting but did go for the ears.

Lounging with the gang.

I know, I know...

It's been forever since I posted anything. I'll try to do better. Really I will.

So summer is over and preschool started again. Esther is now in pre-k (wow, one more year 'til kindergarten). This year her class doesn't start until 12 noon (yay!), so she and I are much more awake and less grumpy.

This summer we spent time at the dog park everyday. Pretty sure it will continue this fall and winter. Really it's selfish on my part, Ollie and Esther get tired out, and Mommy gets serenity at home. Ollie loves the dog park. He loves all dogs...though he doesn't always know how to play with the little ones. E has two new girlfriends(3 1/2 and 5 1/2 yrs old) who come along with their mom and dog, Lola. Lola and Ollie are best friends. They are very cute to watch. I really get along with the mom, too, so it's a win-win-win situation.

Here's E's Lego interpretation of Ollie.

Ollie really puts up with a lot. Good thing we don't have a tiny dog.

What a good boy!

Fun at the Clallam County Fair. Don't we look so excited?

Looking older than her years. (Wearing her snake as a scarf.)

Wow, she grew!

After all the noise and craziness of the carnival rides, it was very nice to take a little break. E loves pony rides. Reminds me of Cousin Halie.

We found out that E doesn't like up and down rides. She doesn't like the feeling in her stomach, but she sure likes the cars.

No, it's not panic. Just pure joy.

Esther won a goldfish at the fair, but it died on the ride home. It may have got a little man-handled by someone. So we bought her a Betta, that she named Fishy.

Sydney liked him, too. On a sad note, Fishy got sick...not sure why and he died. And no it wasn't due to the cat or Esther. We will probably get another one sometime.

First day of preschool. E was very excited to see Teacher Kathy again, though it's hard to tell from her stoic expression.

Esther was so happy to be back she bounced around from activity to activity. She had to do everything and super fast.