Sunday, December 25, 2011

The most wonderful time of the year!

Can you believe we have been a family for 5 years now?  Crazy to think it has been that long, but strange to think about life without our little girl.  This year again we celebrated our Family Day at the Space Needle restaurant.  We had great weather so the city and mountains were gorgeous.
Christmas was a huge hit with Esther this year.  She really got into it, counting down the days, and questioning how Santa would get down our chimney.  At one point, after I put some presents under the tree, she told me that was enough because Santa needed to have room to add his present for her.  I assured her that Santa was very resourceful and could find room if need be.  I also had her watch the "Santa Clause" which I think explains how Santa does things very well.
This is my first attempt at a R2D2 hat for Gene.  It was kind of a disaster so I started over.  Then Frankie decided that yarn was yummy and kept getting into my knitting.  After starting over several more time, I finally finished the hat. No picture yet.


Drawing a robot as we waited for our food at the Space Needle.


My beautiful girl in front of the beautiful city.




Love, love, love these guys!!


Waiting for our car with her new toy.

Checking out the Needle from a more comfortable position.


Silly Daddy!  She has gotten pretty good at ignoring his silliness.

Presents!  Looks like she is about to karate chop the package.

Much coveted pteranodon wings.  Her friend had some at her house and E wouldn't stop talking about them.  She was so excited when she saw them!

New Legos!!!

Her newest creation. (With my new camera!  Gene got me a Canon Rebel and I love it.  I have lots of learning to do.)

Esther wanted this when we were at the Space Needle, but we didn't buy it for her.  Her Grandpa Neil and Grandma Suzi know her so well and got this for her, without us ever mentioning it.  Awesome!

Playing with my camera.  Esther grew very sick of me snapping her picture.  I told her she better get used to it.

No blog post is complete without photos of the dogs.  Frankie enjoying her new toy and making a huge mess in the process.

Look at that face!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

'Tis the Season.

'Tis the season for trekking to a tree farm forest and hunting for the perfect Christmas tree.  Esther and I love to do this, Gene not so much.  Bah humbug!

You can't tell but this is from the little train at the farm.

Esther supervised Daddy while he did the chopping.  She was also in charge of the map so we wouldn't get lost.

I love this photo!  Esther was trying to hide from but I caught her.

Warm car + tree excursion= nap time

Standard equipment for the dog park, right? A chuckit, an ornament and reindeer antlers.

Love these guys!

Look at that face!

Look what Nana and Esther made last night.  Today, it has already been  munched on.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Family. (Including Esther's Star Wars family)

     This post will start out a bit sad.  On October 30, my mom's husband, Bob, passed away after a long illness.  He was a wonderful man who adored my mother.  Rest in peace, Bob.
     His passing has been bittersweet because although there has been sadness and grief, we also got to enjoy a special reunion of sorts. My sister flew in from Alaska.  I haven't seen her in a few years so it was so good to catch up. She is one of those people who when I see again, it seems like we have never been apart.
     My mother is doing amazingly well.  Like I said Bob's illness was long, and he was worn out.  He was ready to go and my mom was at peace with this. Things like this always remind me of how strong my mother truly is.
     Esther and I headed to Sequim to visit with my mom and sister for the weekend. And we had a great time. We did all our favorite Sequim things:  ate breakfast at the Oak Table Cafe, drove through the Olympic Game Farm, went thrift store shopping and talked, talked, talked.  We even did some new stuff, who knows, maybe they will become traditions, too.  I had my first ever manicure and pedicure, which was a bit traumatic for me because I had hairy legs and I had to roll my pant legs up. Since high school, I've had this reoccurring dream that I'm wearing shorts and my legs are unshaven for all to see, so it was kinda my nightmare coming true.  I hate shaving my legs, and pretty much stop during winter, which Gene just loves! I do have to admit pretty much the second I got home I shaved.
    Occupy Sequim happened to be going on that same weekend.  My dad and Suzi went to it and had made up a special sign for Esther.  Driving to Daddy's work a couple of weeks before, we passed the Occupy Seattle protest and E asked what all the people were doing.  I told her that sometimes if people don't like something that is going on in our country they protest and have signs that say things like "America for America."  Esther stated that if she was there she would have a sign that says "Robot."  So that's the sign that my dad and Suzi made for Esther.  We drove by them and they were sure to bring out the "Robot" sign.  I'm sure some people read something really deep into it's meaning.  Where were we headed when this protest was going on?  To get our nails done....
    This weekend, Esther got to meet some Storm Troopers and guess who was there?  Boba Fett!!  Third Place Books was having a Star Wars event and the kids were able to dress up.  My little Boba Fett was so excited, but when it was her turn to get a picture, she got nervous.  Her excitement won out and she finally got her picture with the "real" Boba Fett.  Later she was her social self, showing off the light saber someone had given her to Darth Vader, some Storm Troopers and Boba Fett.

My sister and mother at the Oak Table. 

E showing Nana her mad climbing skills.

Kind of random, but at the park was two clowns making balloon animals.  Esther asked for a robot of course.

Up close and personal with a zebra at the Olympic Game Farm,  

Gotta love that crazy buffalo tongue and snotty slime left on the car windows.

Who knows maybe E is embracing her girlie side.

At first she wanted her nails painted black but then she chose red.  The manicurist added the sweet little flowers on each thumb.

The girls at Nana's house.  The only girl we were missing was Halie.

Some of my favorite family memebers.
Esther was the only kid that was dressed as Boba (my little individual).  After taking this picture, Boba Fett asked is we would email him the picture.  Who knew Boba Fett had an email address?

Boba and Darth
And of course, no post would be complete without a picture of our dogs.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Introducing Boba Fett.

 Esther finally got to wear her new costume.  And boy was she excited.  On Friday, we went to PopCap for a trick-or-treat party for employees and their kiddos.  Then tonight we headed to Bothell Country Village for their festivities.  Most males recognized who she was supposed to be, most females didn't.  So if you don't know, he is the bounty hunter in Star Wars:  Empire Strikes Back.  She really wanted her daddy to be Jango Fett, who is Boba's dad, but adult costumes are pricey.  Now that Halloween is over, she is allowed to wear her costume anytime she wants, except to school.  So guess who is sleeping as Boba tonight?  Sweet dreams, my little bounty hunter.

Look who we met at PopCap:  Yoda and Princess Leia,  Boba Fett fit right in.

PopCap had the candy route mapped out with arrows on the floor.  So our little bounty hunter hunted down that candy with precision.


Time to partake of the bounty.

All ready for round two.

"Did we get it all?
Testing Frankie's new dog bed...this time she as the red Power Ranger.

Monday, October 10, 2011

New Costumes and they're not for Halloween.

Goodwill had some Transformer costumes that I knew Esther would just love.  She has almost worn out her other one. And the shark costume is in tatters. She is thrilled to have some new ones to wear out.

This year for Halloween she is going to be Boba Fett from Star Wars. She was allowed to try the costume on but can't wear it until the big day.  It's killing her. 

No pic of Boba Fett (you'll have to wait for Halloween) but here's two of the other ones.



Thursday, September 29, 2011

Not much new to report.

Apparently I've been neglecting my mom paparazzi duties and haven't been taking enough pictures of my daughter.  There are only two pictures of her, the rest of them are of the dogs.  And even the ones with her have Frank in them.  
School is going better for Esther.  She seems to have gotten the hang of it, though last Friday was rough.  She shut a door in a girl's face and wouldn't open it when asked and nagged and whined at the computer users so she could have a turn.  So she spent some time in the thinking chair again.  Joys of parenthood.
Enjoy the pictures of my dogs.
Frankie

Ollie

in the car

pretty sure E wasn't trying to flip me off

Car ride in the sunshine

Esther has been really into freezing her toys to see what happens.  Here is a poor little lego guy stuck in the ice.