Daniel!!!

Not one but two siblings in one month! My cup runneth over. Daniel flew up three days after Anna flew back to CA. Dan came up to help me shoot an instructional video for a project we're doing with the juvenile court in Seattle (for which he did an amazing job, by the way). But we were able to fit in some fun stuff as well. On Saturday we canoed and kayaked around the UW Arboretum, it was so beautiful. We saw some cranes, lots of lilly pads and one really cranky toddler (just for the last bit). Avery was a great paddler, she really loved the flowers on the lilly pads.

Anna!!

Anna is the best (second oldest) sister ever. She came up to visit just because she loves me, and maybe also to see the kids and Mike :) We did all sorts of fun things.

Avery's shell outline. We spent a beautiful Saturday on Bainbridge Island.

On the ferry to, or is it from, Bainbridge Island. (During which we were constantly interrupted by men who wanted to ask Anna out on dates. What happens in Seattle . . .).

Is it wrong to want to eat your children because they are so scrumptious?

At the lavendar farm where we ate lemon-lavendar ice cream and made mooing sounds at the cows. Or as Elliot says "BOOOOO!"

At the Children's museum. We may have scared Anna off of children permanently, but I had SOOO much fun with her. She's the bestest.

Mike wheedled and cajoled and got me to go to a Mariner's game with the girls and it ended up being pretty fun although we only lasted two or three innings. Elliot's face has shishkaberry smudge on it :)

I'm probably the only one who will get a kick out of this (haha), but I had to chuckle when I discovered Avery's "Study of Foot" series.

A perfect day.

Last Saturday, we had a gorgeous day and decided to go to Gas Works park in Seattle to play some catch, to catch some sun and to run around.

Elliot is in a "do it myself" phase, or maybe she just has an independent personality. Whatever the cause, you can see the effects.

Sister friends

I have such great memories of playing with my sisters (and brother!) as a kid. So, it's a lot of fun to watch Avery and Elliot play together. One of their favorite spots is the back of the coat closet, where we keep all of our luggage.
All of a sudden, Elliot decided she did not want Mike or I to read books to her at night. She will occasionally let Avery read to her, though. We still read plenty of books to her during the day, just not at night.

I took the girls to Country Village to ride the train a couple weeks ago. It was a beautiful Friday afternoon and the train was in fine form.

Elliot was new to the train, so wasn't sure what to expect.

The ducks were also a big attraction. "Guck, Guck!"

Easter!

The Saturday before Easter, the girls and I went to a community egg hunt. The weather was coooold, and it didn't exactly feel like the rebirth of spring, but both Avery and Elliot found "special" eggs that they turned in for prizes.

It's fun to blow bubbles in the early morning chill, because the bubble are half frozen and stay intact for longer. Avery was able to cover the whole hillside in our backyard before they began popping!

A hunting we shall go . . .

Sandy and Monte came for Easter dinner and Monte helped the girls find ways to reuse their Easter eggs.

Wow, it took me a long time to finally post these. In mid-March we went down to CA to welcome Dan home from Brazil. Yay Dan! He introduced us to the magical, magical food of Brazil both by taking us to a cafe (appropriately named "Cafe Brazil") in West LA (was it Culver City? I forget), and by making us Brazilian food. We also went to Disneyland, hit the beach and had a glorious time. Funny story . . .so, we've been adding into our prayers for two years "and bless Uncle Dan to come home safely from his mission." So, now that he's home, Avery asked me if we could say "and we're so happy that Uncle Dan came home safely from his mission." And she says it at every prayer!
With Dan at Cafe Brazil. Elliot's very happy to meet Dan, finally :)


At a Brazilian supermarket, where Dan got to show off his language skills. A little Brazilian spice in the background.


Ah! The bliss of Disneyland.

The flying Dumbo ride has got to be the slowest line in all of Disneyland. But so worth it.

I love Sam's face here. Elliot was enthralled with the Pooh-characters. If I get around to it, maybe someday I'll upload the video of her giving Tigger and Pooh lots of hugs.

We spent a gorgeous day in Santa Barbara to check out Mike and Anna's awesome new pad. And we walked around and took in the local sites. How does Santa Barbara do it? Must be all those expensive property taxes :)

And the beach. The windy, windy beach. But so fun.

Yesterday Avery told me that she likes to fight when her "heart is dark."

Elliot doesn't know how to say "mom." It's true. She says "dad" with perfect precision - it's the word she knows best. When you ask her "where's mom?" she points to Mike (or a picture of Mike) and says "dad!" When I point to myself and say "mom, mom, mom" she gleefully yells "dad!" When you ask her "where's dad?" she looks around expectantly, hopefully, excitedly. When Mike comes home she starts to hyperventilate. This is one serious daddy's girl. (But when she wakes up in the middle of the night, she only wants to cuddle with mom. of course).Good thing she's so darn cute and irresistable. I figure this is just good practice for when she's a pre-teen. Maybe she'll get it all out of her system now : )

A few weeks ago, we rushed to take advantage of the day's waning sunshine and went on a quick hike to Spencer Island. It was less a "hike" and more of "walk and stand while watching Elliot pick up rocks and Avery climb on things," but still fun.

Out of the blue today Avery asked me why Santa gives rocks to kids if they are bad. Seriously, I have no idea what spawned this reflection. The only thing I can think is that she is still obsessed with the Grinch Who Stole Christmas - Jim Carey version, and sings "Where you are Christmas" pretty much constantly. Anyway, after we talked a bit about how kids get presents even if they "try" to be good, Avery stated that she is ALWAYS good . . .on Christmas Eve :)

Elliot's new thing is to throw her head back and laugh maniacally. She sounds exactly like an evil genius plotting to take over the world . . .which may be exactly what she's doing :) Hmm. Well, even if she doesn't get around to taking over the whole world, she's definitely good at tearing up our house. Whew. Mike commented the other day that in the time it took him to brush his teeth, Elliot was able to unroll a roll of toilet paper, empty out our under the sink cabinet and take the toilet brush out of the holder. Um, yeah, I said, that's why the house is always a mess when you get home :)

Still no camera!! Where could it be?

So, I can't find my camera . . .it's in a netherworld with my phone charger. The last time I saw them I believe some very little person with a runny nose was taking them out of my purse. I'll probably find them stuffed in a drawer, cupboard or toy basket one of these days. Sorry for the lack of pictures until then.

In the meantime, Avery and Elliot are keeping us well entertained. Elliot's communication skills grow daily - she lets us know when she's "done," needs "more," and when she's had enough of us: "bye" (pronounced "baaaa" with a "tell it to the hand" wave). Her favorite thing is to be read to. She'll go over to her little shelf and peruse her collection of board books. Peruse is the best description because she runs her fingers over the spines, briefly pulling one out and then pushing it back in, until she finds the books she wants. She then brings it over and plops down in your lap. When finished, she gets up and goes to pick another book. She'll do this over and over again until the reader pleads exhaustion. And she's a real busy kid, always climbing, running, destroying. Always on the go.

Avery is in a deep thinker phase (please please let it be a phase). She constantly asks us questions that test our metaphysical limits. Today she says "Mom, do you like me?" "Yes, of course I like you. I love you Avery!" "I like myself too . . . some people don't like themselves." Where on earth did that come from?!

On a lighter note, she told me the other day "I can't whistle! Whenever I put on my whistle face I just spit!"

And we got a kick out of Avery's advice the other day. She asked me "Did you check your tummy today? Is there a baby in it? Remember what I said! When your tummy gets round, you have a baby in it!"

This is motivating me to get said tummy back into shape. I don't want to give the wrong impression :)

Clues that I may need to lighten up a bit

Avery was very excited to play a game she came up with called"kids family night" tonight, despite it being Thursday. She was insistent that we needed to participate and that it was different from regular family night. "How is kids family night different from regular family night?" I innocently ask. "Kids family night is fun," says Avery.

Mike and I trade off doing preschool activities with Avery each evening, respectively called "mom school" and "dad school." So, I'm putting Avery to bed on Tuesday night and she asks me what we're doing the next day, and among other things I say that we're going to do "mom school." "Aaaugh!" Avery exclaims. "What's the matter with mom school," I ask. (slightly hurt). "Mom school is HARD," and then she whispers conspiratorially, "Dad school isn't!"

Cousins!

And a funny Dee.

Christmas in Moscow!

We were able to spend Moscow with Mike's family this year, and the weekend was full of cousins and crafts, sledding and snow, food and fun.

Avery went sledding with Grandpa and got a face full of the good stuff.

Big kids going for a ride all on their own. I've never been much of snow person, but I was almost converted after having so much fun, and watching the kids have so much fun.

Mike and I got in on the action on the "big hill."

O Holy Night.

Definitely on the good list.

Our part of the Christmas program.

A bike from Santa! When Avery first woke up she was acting a little funny and said she was really hungry. When she saw her presents, the only thing she got excited about were the three candy canes in her stocking. After she had some cereal and orange juice, she realized that everything else around the stocking was for her as well and was more appropriately ecstastic.

Presents for dad.

Testing out the bike with Grandpa.

Wheee