Summer is winding down.

Gymnastics just came to an end and we've had some good visits with family. Now we are preparing for preschool, well maybe not "we" but me. School starts for Esther on the 10th of Sept. Since it's a co-op I'll be there on Thursdays, but that leaves me two mornings a week free. What am I going to do with myself?
E is still in love with robots.

Flying nun?

E enjoyed mixing the salad at Nana's with the help of Aunt Tammy.

Still mixing with super-vision from Cousin Chrissy. The salad was very well mixed by the time Esther was done.

All that mixing was tiring. E fell asleep as soon as we left Nana and Papa's.

Today was the last day of gym class. We would love to continue it for fall but now our money has to go toward preschool tuition. Hopefully we'll be able to swing it for winter.

Esther was pretending to be a dinosaur and "roaring" at her classmate from underneath the bars. I guess it was to motivate the little girl to stay up on top.

Somersault on the balance beam. E was pretty scared but she was very brave.

Tada!!

Back by popular demand...

...OK, "popular" demand may be a little strong. (Here's a new post for you, Grandma Suzi. By the way, Gene accidentally took your little screwdriver home with us.)
Esther and her train on it's train tracks.

Cheesy pose.

Hiding in Grandpa and Grandma Morris' linen closet.

We had a good visit with my former teacher Doug and his partner Nancy. It was really good to see them and have them meet Esther.

Yep, that's her hand.

"Framed" E and her silly daddy putting together a new lamp. She loves to help build things.

103 degrees...in Seattle?!?

Ugh...we're trying to stay cool but we haven't been too successful. Esther loves to be naked so this weather gives her a good excuse. I'll try to refrain from making this whole post about how much I do not like heat. But before I do...today, I decided I had better tackle the growing mountain of dishes that I have avoided doing as long as I could, hoping it would cool down. But having no dishes in the cupboards warranted my sacrifice. So I pointed the most powerful fan we have directly on myself and got to work. Feeling satisfied and extremely sweaty, I was excited at the prospect of lounging in front of said fan and cooling off. That's when the power went out. No fan or any breeze to be had. I felt like shouting, "Serenity now!" but Esther wouldn't have gotten my reference. I figure Kenmore must have blown a transformer trying to stay cool with all its fans and air conditioners. After two hours the power came back on and it is cooling off.
OK, I'm done complaining (but you can probably hear the grumbling going on inside my head!). I am thankful that our condo is a ground floor unit that doesn't get much direct sunlight. I am also grateful to be out of the convection oven of an apartment we used to live in, that had skylights and lots of direct sun. I am beyond thrilled that our complex has a pool (see photos below).

On a not so small side note, yesterday Gene and I celebrated our 15 year anniver-sary! Go us! It's so fun to be married to my best friend. God has definitely blessed me with a wonderful husband, and Esther with a crazy-good father.

Not sure if this swimsuit actually helps E but it's cute with the added air.

"Swim-ming" with Dad

As you can probably tell, the top of her head is not wet. She is not very fond of water covering her face. She did seem to want to try dunking her head, but after I tried it on her once, she was over it.

She loved the safety of the pool steps.

I love lavender!

You'll have to trust me that Esther and I were in Sequim this past weekend for the Lavender Festival. Apparently I've forgotten how to take pictures. No pictures of lavender in all it's purply splendor, no photos of grandparents lavishly spoiling their granddaughter. I got a few of E enjoying the morning sunshine in Nana C's back yard, but alas, that's it.
Here's Esther snoozing on her Wall-E blanket (at home).
We got to spend the afternoon with one of my dearest friends, Kristina. E of course had to be the center of attention.




Catching a clothespin "butterfly"





Yep, running around the backyard in her underwear.

I love our condo, but I wish we had some outdoor space for E to run around in.

I was tired of looking at the two-week old post...

...so I'm finally getting around to updating our blog.
Hey, it's Johnny Appleseed.

Future tattoo artist? This is Esther's first "real" drawing! All others so far have been squiggles, lines or dots. It's hard to see but it is a little person with a smiley face.

And look at this guy from her bath the other night. Pretty cute if you ask me. I love the feet and the slightly confused expression.

Giving him really long arms.

Poor Sydney. Still being used as a pillow.

Making her "robot" with Cookie Monster and Grover parts.

Kids and Animals

Esther's sleep pattern has returned to normal (which this mom greatly appreciates) and the flea problem has abated (for now). I've never vacuumed so much in my life, which I guess isn't a bad thing.
Last Tuesday was the end of E's spring quarter in gymnastics and they put on a little show. At the very end of this post is a video. I tried to keep it as short as I could (but if any die hard recital enthusiast would like to watch the whole hour, all you have to do is ask). I didn't know how Esther would handle all the people watching her, but it didn't faze her at all, unless to make her more precocious.

She was very excited to get a medal after the show.

Gene's work load has finally eased off and he had this Tuesday off, so we headed to the zoo. By far our favorite exhibit was the penguins! Well worth the visit.

(E is in the purple hat.)

You'll have to watch the second video to see Esther and a gorilla inter-acting. This little one is a little more tame.

Soaking up some sun.

And of course we had to ride the carousel.

ABC's and 123's

This past week has been a tough one. Apparently Esther is trying to make me a morning person by waking up at 5:30am the last 4 of 5 days (actually one morning it was 4:30). Some of those mornings I was able to convince her it was way too early and she would go back to sleep. But it didn't work on the other days...and mommy was not a happy camper. I love sleep...understatement. I don't do well without it, so you can imagine the fun E and I have had the last few days. My patience is pretty worn, but I'm hanging in there. The one day E slept in until 9am, I woke up at 7:30 and couldn't go back to sleep...ugh!! To top it off, Gene has been super busy with work because they're finishing up their game. So I'm on my own. I admire all the single parents out there. I've only had a taste of it, and only have to handle it for about one more week, but I'm feeling the pain.
And then to add insult to injury, our cats have fleas!! Which would be annoying all by itself, but they love, love, love Esther's tasty skin. Poor darling has bites all over her that itch like crazy. I've been doing everything I can think of: vacuuming frequently, flea-combing the cats, washing bedding, using Frontline on the kitties, putting flea powder under the couch. It feels like a never-ending battle. I've heard that fleas don't like lavender, so next time I'm in Sequim I think I'll buy a bushel and spread it around the house. I've also heard that if you steep lemons overnight, it works good as a body wash to keep fleas away. I haven't tried this yet, but will give a go soon. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to any and all at this point.
Esther was being all cute with Sydney, covering him with her blankie. I thought "How sweet", until I realized she was sitting on him and he couldn't escape!

Pretending to be a sleepy cat.

She doesn't look too happy about the ponytails.

However, I think she was just concentrating on making a mess in the bathroom while I played with her hair.

She said Plex was going to outer space, thus the helmet.