This weekend's going ons...

future blogger (probably plotting all the things she can write about me and her dad)

sporting her shades upside down

The day after

Thanks-giving, I had the bright idea that our family should go get our Christmas tree. Of course it was raining and really muddy. But I was not to be deterred...much to the chagrin of Esther and Gene. We tramped out into the field of trees, getting soaked and very dirty. Esther got scared when someone used a chainsaw and really wanted to go back to the car. Gene indulged me, but I'm pretty sure I heard some mumbling under his breath. So all in all we had a grand ol' time.

Looking for the perfect tree

Looks like she's wondering if it's time to go yet.

Friday evening, a.k.a. Black Friday, we headed to Target to buy some white Christmas lights. Gene, always the good sport, looked at me a little askew when I suggested this trip. Luckily, most of the crowd had already ravaged the store and left. While there, we picked up a booster seat for Esther...so she's now a big girl at the table.

This picture is a little misleading...Esther looks like she's posing sweetly for me. Actually, she was tickling my feet when I caught this shot. No matter...it's still a pretty picture.

Odds and Ends

Not feeling much like blogging so here's some pictures from the last week.

"Kite" by Esther

Her new friend,

"Giant Minnie," that we found at the thrift shop for $2.

Figuring out Daddy's iPod Touch.

I'm sure she knows how to work it better than I do.

E needs her own camera (but will have to wait for Christmas). She loves playing with ours...

which isn't made to take the beating an almost 3 year old can dish out. Here's some random pictures she took, all on her own.

the iPod Touch with her greasy fingerprints all over it

Estherisms

If I were to write an Esther dictionary, here's some words and phrases that would need to go in it:

"rollididit"- roll it up
"oblet"-open your hands
"Sunday scoodle"- Sunday school
"M & M"- yes, she does love her some M&M's but she uses this phrase when she's scared or hurt, it's her go-to phrase (I've often wondered when she's sixteen, will she still say this when she's scared?)
"I like it"- this can mean either she likes what she's eating or she doesn't, her facial expressions will tell you which
"puzzle"- puddle
"joo gob"- good job
"help us" (which used to be "help you")- how do you teach pronouns to a 2 1/2 year old?
"calcudalater"- calculator
"opapus"-octopus
"Pockanono"- Pinocchio
"for you"- she uses this when she wants to play with something she knows she's not supposed to
"that way"- means "I don't want to be in here (like her crib) and want to be somewhere else."

And here are a few words of our own that we hear coming out of her mouth:
"Careful!"
"Relax."
"It's ok." (said to her toys to comfort them)
"Be right back."
"Just a sec."
"Sydney, move!!" (This is usually accompanied with a kick. While we don't kick our cat, just sometimes move him aside with our feet...apparently Esther sees this as kicking. Something to work on.)
Here's some photos from the last week or so:
Cup of "bubble" tea
Twirling

Apparently it rains in our condo

Cheesy grin after being caught putting tinted lip gloss on her cheek

Who needs a baby spoon?

Catch

Now she'll wear it!!!!

Five days after Halloween, Esther's decided she wanted to wear her robot costume. Of course, she was persuaded by Sesame Street...most of the show Elmo, Rosita and Telly were wearing theirs. I love that E is cross-eyed and wearing her Daddy's shoes (on the wrong feet).

Esther is now able to reach our light switches to turn lights on, which is good and bad. Turning them off doesn't seem to be as fun.

I finally caught her

"grumpy" face on camera. She's such a goofball!

Gene said he felt like a giant seeing Esther wearing his sweatshirt.

Best laid plan....

Esther loves robots, so I decided to make her one for Halloween. Trying to be frugal, I decided to make E's costume out of stuff around the house. Who knew fixing our dryer vent would provide me with my main component?...high-heat tape which is extra shiny. So I pretty much taped anything and everything I could find to make her robot. But that's where my plan went wrong...the box "helmet" was too heavy and E didn't like wearing it. I had to bribe her with some candy to get this photo.

You'll have to imagine her entire outfit by looking at each piece.

Here are the robot boots.

The robot mittens.

The new robot hat.

So after reconfiguring her "helmet" into something she would wear, we headed to the Bothell's Country Village for some trick-or-treating. Esther got overwhelmed, though, and she wanted to ride on her Daddy's shoulders. This meant she couldn't wear her robot body, so I made Gene wear it around his neck. Thus E never really wore her whole costume. Probably should have made a "soft" costume for her. Oh well.

She did love her boots, and wore them most of the night.

E resting and reading Dad's book after smashing her ear on the coffee table. Her left ear is now black & blue and very painful. So all and all it was a very exhausting Halloween.

We visit the pumpkin patch!

Here's our girl on the "fewwy boat", heading to Sequim for the weekend.

Nana C. met us at the pumpkin patch. This weekend was gorgeous and clear and we had lots of fun. It was a big area, so Esther could run her heart out. I swear we covered a couple of miles. At one point, she escaped underneath a fence and ran into a pasture. Luckily no angry bulls were in it, so I didn't have to risk life and limb retrieving my runaway. We didn't dare venture into the corn maze because I'm pretty sure we would have lost E. She definitely keeps her Dad and I on our toes.

Don't be fooled by this picture of her sitting quietly. She would only stay still long enough for me to snap one pic each pose before running off to explore something new.

She got to pet some piglets. So sweet...and so stinky! Although Gene and I felt like we'd been at the patch for the entire day, when really it was only an hour, we did have lots of fun.

The next day, I was smarter and wiser and decided we'd head to the Olympic Game Farm, where Esther would be contained in our car. We passed out lots of bread (well, at least the stuff E didn't eat) and saw yaks and zebras and bears...oh my! Of course, my little one soon became more interested in figuring out what all the buttons in the dashboard did, rather than checking out the rest of the animals. But such is life with an explorer.

She wasn't very interested in petting any of the animals in the petting zoo, but she sure liked the little barns.

Yahoo for Autumn!

Tis the season... well, it's autumn, which is my favorite one. To enjoy the cool, crisp air we went for a walk.

Of course, Esther found lots of rocks.

Dancing with her (new) favorite TV characters. By the way, I'm loving her new 'do. So much easier and she's just as cute as ever, though of course I'm not biased.

This doesn't look at all comfort-able.

Check out the new t-shirt from Dev and Karin...it's baby Godzilla! Awesome!

Apparently, E felt her hat and mittens went well with her shirt.

Today, I was on a cleaning kick (which when one hits, I take full advantage of, since they don't hit that often). I employed my little helper to clean the coffee table. I love this age...E wants to help! In a few years, she'll probably roll her eyes and sigh when I ask her to do something for me.

She took it upon herself to clean her bedroom window.

Interesting fascination.

Esther and I share an interesting similarity: we both love rocks. When I was a kid, I loved searching for "cool" rocks and pebbles. Since we lived by a river, I had my pick of many. To me, they looked especially beautiful when wet, so I would take them home and paint them with clear nail polish. It turns out Esther has my same fascination! She can find little pebbles underneath tons of wood shavings at a playground. She loves to bring rocks home. This heart shaped rock was one of the first ones she found. Gene has one rock that she gave him, that he transfers to each bag he uses.

Gene promises to get Esther and I one of those rock polishers someday.

OK, this one is a little big.

I thought E's "sculpture" was pretty neat. She used three spoons as the legs.

She got a hold of a big wad of her easel paper and had a blast with it. Like I've said before, why do we even bother with toys, when she finds more joy in everyday stuff.