Happy New Year!

Brian, Sophie and I had the joy of spending New Year's Eve with Gillian and Nora, our first Sleepover!   We had a great time.

Sweet Napper

Christmas, Part II

Back in Seattle, we had a second Christmas Celebration with Brian's side at Bruce and Kathy's.  Much love and thanks to the whole family who waited for us to return to have the holiday dinner!

Here is Sophie and her fabulous and much needed new Rubber Boots!

Christmas isn't just for the baby, you know!

Happy Christmas: We Made It!

Well, after our original flight got cancelled, we finally made it to Colorado three days later what with all the snow and cancelled flights.  It was well worth it!  Sophie was showered with wonderful gifts, and we got to spend some precious quality time with Gigi and Papa.

Here we are with Sophie's first dolly, Lottie.  One can tell, Sophie doesn't like her at all.

Snow Day III

Snow days just keep a' comin'!  Here's a cozy little bug being attacked by a giant SNAKE!  Look out, Sophie!  It's adorable, the s-n combination seems to be eluding her at the moment, so we get words like,

'now (snow)

and

'nake (snake)

Also snake says, "Byee lye lye lye lye lye."

Perhaps soon I should catalogue her words here.  Oh, Boy!

This morning another five inches on top of the several we already had.  My Colorado and Iowa relations are having a good chuckle at this, but it is a lot for Seattle!  This lovely scene is enough to cause County-wide school closures, many many road closures, and just general mayhem.  I love snow days! 
More playing in the snow!  Here you see "Sleddy Two" - a large metal salad bowl, harnessed with a ring of Gaff tape, and pulled by the belt.  Who needs Walmart?



And off they go into the sunset.

Snow Day II

Even more snow today!  Here is "Sleddy I".... the pancake griddle with a belt tied to the handle.  Sophie had a fun "ridey" to the store and back in the snow, or, as she would say, " 'now".

Ah, home and warm with Daddy!

Snow Day I

Christmas is Coming...

Funny, I began typing that title in, and it popped right up.  This must be a recurring theme....

Anyway, today we went to Bellingham to Uncle Ken and Aunt Marcia's house for Cousin's Christmas.  It was a lovely evening.  Sophie spent much time in the toy room upstairs where she discovered Tinker Toys!  My quote for this photo is:

"So what's up with these things, anyway?"

We took this photo the same day.  Must have been before we left.

Dinner with Elf

Helping out at Tougo

...is that Dexter and Sophie helping Brian out, or Brian helping out Dexter and Sophie's mommies...?

Playtime at Miller

Now that the super grey days are upon us here in the Northwest, it's essential to find those indoor toddler-friendly activities.  Nearby here on Capitol Hill, we have the Miller Community Center where, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, they open up the gym to toddlers with all kinds of cool toys, balls, cars, and more.  What a lifesaver!

Just a Day

At Tougo in the morning with Dexter.  Trouble, trouble, trouble.

We have an okay time there.
So this was amazing.  I was trying to get some work done this afternoon, so I tried to get Sophie interested in her stack-some-blocks-then-knock-them-over game.  She usually will do this with four or five-block high stacks.  I started this base for her of a couple stacks, then sat down to work.  Click, click, click, I hear her stacking blocks.  Then I look over and she has stacked every single block to this tower.  Then to top it off, literally, she grabs the ring stacker and just plops it on top of her tower!  Clearly, she is quite proud of herself here.  I'm just glad I got to the camera before...
Crash!!!  Architect and wrecking ball all in one!

Christmas is Coming...

This afternoon we visted Swanson's Nursery where there were of course beautiful plants and foliage, photo opportunities for cuteness such as this...

...and Reindeer!  Sophie kept calling them horses, but I don't think they cared.

Playtime!

I'm not sure I can say what Nora and Sophie are up to in this photo, but it looks like fun.

OBAMA WINS!!!!

We spent the late afternoon and evening at Tougo, where we bided the nervous hours away at play and drinking and Ezell's Famous Fried Chicken.  Sophie, of course, was right at home.

At 8 o'clock P.M., Pacific Standard Time, the crowd counted down and that big map on the projection screen up front became engulfed in a gorgeous sea of blue, and Barack Obama was going to be the next President of The United States of America.  We all errupted in cheers and tears and toasts and hugs all around.  Sophie loved it, and yes, that's mama's hand on the champagne bottle down left...!Tha happiest family in the West!
Tougo owner, Brian, cheering the happy folks.  Thanks for opening your doors and giving us a night to remember, Brian!  Cheers!

Big Night! While Sophie made it through the speeches and many more cheers, by 10:30 P.M. she was done for the night! But we all slept great after such an exciting day, and with the excitemement of the Change to Come!

Obamababy

Getting ready for the Big Day!  Gigi bought me this shirt when we visited during the Democratic National Convention, and it was just a HUGE T-shirt that fit neither myself nor Brian.  Finally I decided to make a frock out of it for Sophie.  I know the lettering looks Russian because the image is backwards which might just further that "Socialist" notion some have of Mr. Obama, but I took the picture with my laptop and it reverses the image and I am just not savvy enough to figure out how to flip it.  I'm a Socialist at heart, anyway.

Sophie adores this dress.  She has worn it for three days in a row now, and as we are getting dressed, when I open her dress drawer she says, "Oh-Maa?"  Also, this is her favorite hat.  She wears it everywhere she goes, and oftentimes inside as well.

This is Halloween!

Halloween Day found us at Vio's, with Little Miss Nora as Little Red Riding Hood (it made more sense with the cape on).  Owls and little girls love books, as it turns out.

Owl in motion.
Double Trouble!  Sophie and Dexter were fascinated by the back hallway and don't they just LOOK like they're up to something?
HAPPY HALLOWEEN, EVERYONE!

Would you like some tea?

This morning we went to Audrey's house for a ladies' tea.  It was lovely.

Halloween!!!

Oh, Angel Owl...

This weekend we had some great Spooky events.  Yesterday, we went to Megan, Alan and Ruben's for Pumpkin Carving, but we were too busy carving to take any pictures!

Then today was a Costume Party at Tarah, Dylan and Hiram's where there we some very interesting artifacts for a little brown owl to find...

A crayon, a bear, a ladybug and an owl.  Who could ask for more?

Our host, Hiram the Truck.
The elusive small brown owl gravitates toward water of any kind and can be found perched, watching fellow animals around her.
Sometimes there are growly brown bears like Unity!