Christmas 2008

Ella and her good friend Emma on Christmas eve. They did a great job singing in the church service. The snow kept Mimi and Pubah and Emma's grandparents from traveling, so we spent a lovely Christmas eve with Emma's family.
We had a wonderful, snowing Christmas morning! Ella asked Santa for a Barbie, the Dora game from the Mac store, and a bottle of ketchup. Here she is with her Ketchup, although she did admit some disappointment that the bottle was not taller than her.
She got a few other gifts too
What one gift did she have to use as soon as opening? A coloring book, she is really into coloring lately!!!
After a relaxing morning at home we headed up to Mimi and Pubah's. Pubah made us these amazing Adirondack chairs.
We are blessed that M&P watch Ella for us so often, but after a recent weekend with them she came home with this little duck, this annoyingly noisy little duck. So what did we wrap up for them for Christmas? Yep, the duck, they can't give it back- it was a gift.
Ella made everyone bookmarks for Christmas by melting crayon shavings between wax paper. She also gave everyone a cookie. She actually was very funny and wrapped up quite a few things from around the house for Greg and I and put them under the tree for Christmas morning surprises.
All this snow came on Christmas eve! M&P can't wait to get to sunny Arizona, they leave this weekend for their winter home.

Christmas is in the air

We decorated the tree a few weeks back and it was so fun this year to share with Ella the memories attached to each ornament. She wanted to put most of the ornaments on the tree herself and grouped them together- all musical instruments in one area, all snow men and snowflakes in another etc.



The Christmas card shot was so easy this year!

We've been baking! We made cookies and brought them around to all our neighbors. But first we had to walk to the grocery store for a few things. (El found her Christmas dress from last year and has worn it a few times a week since early December.)

The snow keeps coming!

Summit was made for the snow!
19 degree weather didn't stop us from going out for ice cream.

What's for lunch?

I asked Ella on the way home from school "What would you like for lunch?"
her answer " A mayonnaise and cheese sandwich with tomatoes and 2 pickles, and yogurt and cottage cheese, but not mixed together."
It cracks me up how this girl knows exactly what she wants!

Snow!

We got some snow! I'm told this only happens about twice a year here. We didn't receive much, only a few inches but it pretty much closes down the city. Apparently there are only about 3 snowplows around and by the time they are sent out they're just scraping over the ice. Boston roads in a big storm seem a bit safer then western WA with just a little snow, our road is still ice. Greg and I had plans with friends Fri and Sat night so Ella stayed with her grandparents for the weekend (we're spoiled!) We missed experiencing the first snowfall of the season through her eyes, but she was plenty excited to head out for a walk with us Sunday afternoon.


and a "sleigh" ride monday


This is the bike path a block from our house. Our usual destination is a half mile to the bridge with a view of the city.


But if we feel motivated we can continue another mile to a huge park with playgrounds, waterfalls, a fish hatchery and lakes. And within a 5 minute walk in the other direction is an elementary school with a great playground and then a new, really nice shopping center with a grocery store that allows 75 minutes of free babysitting and they actually do crafts with the kids! There are two Starbucks, our favorite Thai restaurant and a great new library attached to a bakery (awesome! we visit weekly!) and more restaurants are being built. We feel so blessed to have found the house we did in our 2 days of looking. At the time of our offer we didn't even know the bike path existed!

Kerry Park

It's great getting to see my "little" sis Deb more often now that we only live about 1.5 hrs from her. And visiting Seattle has a strange feeling of a home that's no longer my home. Kerry park, in the pictures, was a park in my old neighborhood that for the first 6 months of Ella's life I would walk by almost daily (usually with my friend Lina and her baby Anton) on my way to Trader Joe's or Blockbuster. It's the classic view of Seattle- the space needle and Mt Rainier.

The Nutcracker

We brought Ella to the Nutcracker tonight. It was put on by the ballet studio that she attends so her teacher and one of her older friends were in the performance. It was at a beautiful old theater in town and Ella wore her ballerina outfit and brought her nutcracker with her. We all had a wonderful time.
Here are just a few of the questions we were asked (in a whisper) during the performance. "When I am in the show which dance am I going to do?... which costume am I going to wear?... I don't think I can remember all of the dances for my next ballet class." "How do they change the background? How do they change the lights? When I am in the show where will I change into my costume? What if I have bows to tie, will I have to tie them or will someone help me?" "When I change into my costume will I change in the same room with other people because then they may see my body parts? (little miss streaker is suddenly modest!)"
It's obvious Ella has grand plans of being in the Nutcracker in years to come.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. We headed up to Greg's parents where his mom made the delicious meal and Ella and I brought 5 pies (seemed like the right amount to me for 9 people.) Ella and I made the pies the night before, which was an exercise in patience for me as she really can be insistent about doing everything herself.

This is the pond near Greg's parent house where Ella loves to go and feed the ducks, but on Thanksgiving she got to do a bit more... Greg's cousin Scott actually caught a duck!
Elise, Deanna and Ella patting the amazingly subdued duck.