Easter Weekend 2013

 

OK, before we get to Easter weekend... we loved having Laura and Tommy visit us on their way to Maui last week.  We had brunch in Ballard followed by a trip to the locks (no salmon this time).  We even squeezed in a trip to Seward Park before nap time.  We decided to be our favorite animals for a family portrait next to Lake Washington (above), Nora chose sloth. 

 

We were spoiled this weekend with wonderful weather.  We opened the windows, got out the sidewalk chalk, and the girls were in sundresses.  I got a tip that the Yoshino cherry trees were blooming on the UW campus quad so we packed a picnic dinner, invited some friends, and joined ABOUT 3000 OTHER PEOPLE who were also in on our "secret".  It was beautiful, as you can see below.  The trees are from the 1930s, but were transplanted to campus in the '60s.  I had to hoist Erin and her friend Simone up in a tree to get them to sit still enough for a photo!    

 

 

Easter morning was much anticipated among the under-5 crowd at our house.  Fran did not disappoint!  The girls scampered downstairs and hunted for eggs and found their baskets.  Later this morning, after I went to work, Fran said she was doing dishes and the house was strangely quiet-- Erin and Nora were getting along so well!  She poked her head into the living room and found Nora devouring chocolate eggs, she had unwrapped them herself!
 

Fran went all out!  We had a delicious breakfast as a family that started with Easter bunny pancakes.

Nora is growing up by the day, it seems.  She strings together 2 word phrases like nobody's business. We hear "No, Ay-in, no!" and "roll, cat, roll" (she saw a neighborhood cat roll on its belly the other day).  My favorite is "mos mup" (more milk).  The time she spends around Erin and Natalia is certainly rubbing off- Nora says "gracias" appropriately, but won't say "thanks".  The word "mos" for more I think came from her Spanglish combining "more" and "mas."  Nora asks to take a bath every morning and every night, we usually oblige once a day.  

Erin got out a pair of tap shoes we had around, and she got the spring hat as a present from our neighbor.  Our kitchen became only a little off Broadway for awhile...

Erin's still really active and curious.  With the better weather we've been going on walks regularly.  We walk past a house that sells mini-greenhouses, chicken coops, and dog houses-- below Erin sits by her favorite... the dog house with the grass roof!  She never passes up a good climbing tree, as well.

With her walking and talking, Nora is quite the charmer.  Grandma Beth came and stayed with us earlier this month and confirmed what I'd seen too-- Nora's looking more and more like Fran did as a toddler.  The curls and the mischievous smile are the giveaway. 

 

We'll have plenty more rain before summer comes in July, but for now it's pretty nice.  Fran took this artsy shot (below) on her walk with the kids today.

 

March in Seattle

I got up early today for a long run.  The view above was just after sunrise on the trails at one of may favorite running spots, Discovery Park.  The route goes through pretty dense forest and all of a sudden you pop out next to Puget Sound and get this view across to the Olympics between the clouds. Easy to forget you're still in the city.  Our life here is so busy... have to slow down sometimes and enjoy what a beautiful place it is (if you've seen me run lately, you know the 'slowing down' part is not a problem).

     

Fran took the girls down to Portland this weekend to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the Lee family, since I had to work.  They came back today and brought Grandma Beth with!  Nora has been thrilled with baths lately, here are the two troublemakers last week.  Erin finished up gymnastics class (here she is getting a medal on the 'podium'), and now has started ballet.  Swimming lessons on Tuesdays at the local pool are still a hit.  We're looking forward to a visit from Laura and Tommy next weekend on their way to Hawaii!   
  

The blog resurrected!

I thought it's time we started over after the snafu on our blog late last year.  Lots going on with the girls in 2013 that we want to share with everyone.  First, we spent a week in Kauai with the Johnson family in February.  This was our second annual trip and we had a blast, the perfect weather during "winter" in Hawaii didn't hurt either. 

Another beach, Seattle style!  I've had time this year to explore Puget Sound with the girls, mainly day trips when Fran has to work.  We're at Carkeek Park in north Seattle (above and below).  Erin likes the shells in the tide pools, and Nora's favorite are the trains that run between the beach and the rest of the park. 

This weekend, I took the girls to the Cascades for a day of sledding and fun in the snow.  We ended up at a sno-park in Hyak, just east of Snoqualmie Pass.  Here they are in what was left of a snow fort.  Pretty sure Nora's smiling because she just finished what Erin's doing! 

Nora looks ready to push on to the summit.  Actually, it was sunny and ~45 degrees up there...

Erin loved zooming down the hill on our $10 pink Fred Meyer sled all by herself, and I loved the result of her making a dozen treks back up to the top-- a long nap in the car on the way home.  Our last activity before lunch was to make a snowman.  Nora's an impressive bodyguard (below).  Erin talked a lot about wanting to learn to downhill ski, maybe we'll get her a lesson yet this winter.  Next up, we're heading to the Washington coast in early April.   

Technical difficulties

Ugh. In an attempt to free up storage on Picasa (a service I didn't know we even used before being told our storage was full) I managed to delete 99% of the photos from the blog with no way to restore them that I can figure out. I'm angry and sad. We do have all of the photos on our computer as well, but the blog has been our kids babybook and now it's ruined. I feel very foolish. So now I'm trying to re-create most of this in a hard copy format and it's tedious and sad to see what I ruined.

I'm not sure if we'll try to keep going or restart or what. Stay tuned and we'll let you know.

Apple Orchard

In case anyone was wondering if we were all still alive after our last posting. Indeed we are and things have settled down just a tad. 

We make the trek again this year to Sedro Wooley Washington. Even though Washington is the place to be for growing apples, there is a lack of places close to Seattle to pick apples. So we drove.

We had great weather last year, but we didn't get quite so lucky this year. It was cold and rainy, but we donned the rain gear like true Pacific Northwesterners and braved the mud. We had a fantastic time again this year. 

Here's a re-run of our trip last year.

 And now for the muddier 2012 version. 

We got soaked picking apples and then got soaked again on our tractor ride. Good thing that everyone was in good spirits and the weather brightened a bit. We finally retired to the barn area and Erin went through the haunted house this year. She told me it wasn't scary, but I'm pretty sure she ran through it with her eyes closed.

This may have been the most junk food Erin has ever been allowed to eat. My stomach still aches just thinking it.

Wow

Nora and Erin are giving us a run for our money.

Nora is coming into her own and asserting her independence constantly. Even as her vocabulary is expanding daily, she's frustrated by the things that she can't communicate and the things that we don't understand. She also continues to have a very short fuse and this all of this conflict is leading to a lot of tantrums. She's still working on ways to handle her frustration without hitting, biting, kicking or pulling hair. Realistically, she's got a ways to go. She's also of the awkward age when she needs two naps, but only will take one. And as I know that this is all totally appropriate for her age, but it's exhausting and I'm ready to move on.

She spends her day spitting out food, throwing food on the floor, throwing herself on the floor screaming, stealing toys, biting, and hitting. It's not that she doesn't have good times. She does better when Erin is at school. When she's happy, she's affectionate and funny. She loves to imitate us and wants to do all of the things that Erin is doing. She sings and chatters and plays with her farm animals. She loves to watch cars and trucks out the window. She packs up bags and waves "adios!" She can be absolutely delightful, but we're seeing so much of the other side that it's been really tough.

Erin is thriving at Zoom. She loves her teachers and seems to be getting along well with most of her classmates. She chatters constantly in Spanish and is starting to move from just saying nouns, to putting together full sentences. I knew it wouldn't take long, but she officially knows more Spanish that me. She's finally getting excited again about her numbers and letters. She showed me last week how to write a 5, "una linea aqui, una linea abajo y una panza." A line here, a line down and a belly!

On the flip side, she has been sick and whiny this last week. She's tired, but not sleeping well. On Saturday night she woke up every few hours and called out to me. Sometimes she needed something: a drink of water or a trip to the bathroom. But when she woke me at 4:30am, she called urgently, "MOM!" I rushed out to her bed and she asked me "do you think that it's going to rain today?" ARGH!!!

She's seems restless and unsettled. She wants an adult to play with her all day. When she can't have our attention by playing, she picks at Nora and instigates some of Nora's worst behavior. 

Like I said, Matt and I are needing an extra dose of patience these days. Unfortunately we've been struck by the sudden onset of the gloomy, rainy days here and are feeling blah ourselves. 

We are all in need of a dose of contentment these days. I'm hoping that getting out and about more this week will help.

Happy October

I feel like I am finally coming up for air. 

I worked too much in the last 2 weeks while Jan and Dean were here. Granted, that's why they chose to come now, but I missed out on time with them and the kids. Now I've got more time, but they're gone and we're trying to get back to our normal routine. 

The kids had a great time with Jan and Dean. Jan patiently played bear, or bird or Ma or whatever other role she was given. Dean played with Nora, wrestled with Erin and fetched us treats at a moments notice. Matt and I were relieved of almost all parenting duties and appreciated all of the cooking, cleaning, playing, laundry and entertainment that happened without us while they were here. We are very lucky.

Nora is learning new words almost every day. This weekend she mastered "Nora" and "baby." Her favorite word is "wow," and we wake up daily to her saying, "Wow, wow, wow. Dada. Mama. Wow!" I'm pretty sure her vocabulary is bigger than Erin's was at this age, which worries me. We may never have another quiet moment in this house once she really gets going.

We're also in the painful transition from two to one naps with Nora. She still could use two, but won't take both. Last week we gave up and had her go to just one afternoon nap. Some days she does ok, but lots of days it just a really short nap which leaves her rather short tempered by the end of the day. Today we got only 45 minutes in the afternoon. Early to bed for this one today. 

Erin is starting to really love Zoom. She babbles in Spanish day and night. The other night at 2:30am she started counting in Spanish. She started at uno and got to treinta y neuve, but didn't know cuarenta. So she just started back at viente and kept on counting. She got from treinta y neuve to viente about 6 times before I finally went out to quiet her down. She seems to like the other kids at school, but I feel a little out of the loop since the teachers don't spend much time talking to the parents. Oh, and Jan and Dean were on drop-off and pick-up duty for the last 2 weeks so I was even more out of it. 

Erin is also doing swimming lessons and gymnastics this fall. The swimming is less of a hit than it was last winter, but she's warming up to it. She spends a lot of time negotiating with her teacher about what she'll do (no to face in the water, maybe to jumping into the pool). She loves gymnastics and is very enthusiastic (sometimes too enthusiastic) about participating. Her favorite is the foam pit that they jump in. 

Reading herself is finally on the radar. They've been doing a lot of letters and numbers at school and  Erin told me last week that she'd like to learn to read a chapter book. Trouble is she doesn't seem to want to do the little steps needed to learn to read a chapter book, but we're making progress.

Erin is still enjoying the little house books and is adopting some of the language she hears in the books. When Jan was combing her hair last week she must have hit a snarl and Erin told her "it hurts dreadfully."

We were in Portland last weekend for the Portland Marathon. Matt ran a great race and finished 30 minutes faster than his last marathon (and only a few minutes off his PR). It was a fun whirlwind visit and we reveled in the sunshine and the warm weather. I feel like our days of sun are limited so we'd better enjoy every last minute.