Roo

Lost Tooth #2

January 14th: Second Tooth Gone.

Woke up to tell us it fell out. Just like that. Only the second tooth and it's commonplace.

Since she lost the first one, she really wanted to keep the second. She said please so the Tooth Fairy obliged.

Anniversary weekend

We were blessed to have celebrated our 20th Anniversary! As Jeff and I were planning what to do to honor the day, Ellie became rather put out that our plans didn't include her. But, she quickly convinced us that she was an important component of our marriage and therefore she should be included in the celebration.

Papa and Nana (Larry & Janet) were kind enough to watch Ellie while Jeff and I went off to the Willows Lodge for two days by ourselves.

Then we picked up Ellie and checked into a hotel in Bellevue. She wanted to stay somewhere with a big pool! In addition to swimming, we went to the Snowflake Lane parade and did some Christmas shopping.

Ellie was right. She needed to be part of the celebration of our life together.

Holiday Fun

Our family loves Christmas Time! And we try to fill every moment with fun and memories.

Decorating the tree:

Decked out for school:

Sitting with Santa:

Decorating cookies:

Let's go for a sleigh ride (as camels):

Visting Narnia:

Skating:

Seattle Center:

Snow:

Cookie decorating with Emma:

Downtown fun with Ainsley:

Zoo Lights with Emma and family:

Preschool Graduation

June 28, 2013

There are not enough nice things to say about Agape. It has become our home, our center, and we have felt so supported and nurtured by these amazing teachers and friends. We are all a bit heartbroken to be leaving it.

But before the tears begin, we celebrate our time there with Graduation, Hawaiian style.

Ellie and Ainsley with Linda, the owner of Agape, and the one responsible for the overwhelming love and care we feel from the entire staff every day of the week.

The good news is they said we can borrow Sparkles the guineapig whenever we want. :-)

DISNEYLAND!

June 3-7, 2013

Let's be clear. Jeff LOVES Disneyland. Before we had Ellie, Jeff took me to Disneyland because we knew we wouldn't be able to go back for a while, and as soon as Ellie was approaching five years old, Jeff started talking about making it a family vacation. Not that I wasn't a willing participant, but this was totally Jeff's idea.

Our friend Salle came with us for 4 of the 5 days, and then my mom and brother joined us on the last day.

Some highlights and memorable moments (with lots of photos further down the page):

Roller coasters

We had an initial roller coaster misstep at Splash Mountain (that last drop was just too much too early in the trip), but on this trip we discovered (well, confirmed) that we have a roller coaster junkie. The first time we took Ellie on Space Mountain there were no tears (like on Splash Mountain), but she wasn't entirely sure she enjoyed it either. After going on Matterhorn a few times (at her request) and loving that, she was ready to try Space Mountain again. While in line, she was getting herself worked up and wanted to be held. She told me, "I'm not sure if I'll scream out of fear or delight." Afterward, she was grinning from ear to ear and proclaimed, "That was awesome!" When I asked if she screamed out of fear or delight she said she couldn't scream because she forgot to breathe. Yep, I get that.

Much to my disappointment, Big Thunder Mountain was closed for refurbishment while we were there. I can't wait to take Ellie on that one.

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique is a beauty salon in Sleeping Beauty Courtyard where "girls can be transformed into little princesses!" To be honest, I was rather skeptical about doing the princess thing. Ellie has never been overly into princesses or super girly things in general, but her cousin Emma had gone to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique when she was Ellie's age, so we sort of felt obligated to take Ellie. Boy, am I glad we did! It was a fantastic experience from start to finish.

When we got there, a Fairy Godmother in Training took Ellie shopping for her dress. She got to choose from about 10 different styles. Ellie chose the yellow Princess Tiana dress from the movie Princess and the Frog. Then she got to pick out which hairstyle she wanted from a brochure. She quickly chose the Disney Diva, which gave her hair extensions. Although they had colors that matched her hair, Ellie decided she wanted the very blonde one. When I expressed some concern about the choice of blonde hair, Ellie replied, "We are not here for you, Mom." Indeed, it was her time and I kept my mouth shut. So, she got into her new dress and the makeover began.

One lady did her hair while another did her makeup and nails. She sat still and didn't complain at all. When it was time for the Big Reveal, the curtains parted, exposing the mirror (that—I'm not kidding—twinkled!) and allowing Ellie to see herself. She seemed surprised and happy, then sat up a little straighter.

They took her to Cinderella's Carriage where she was the star of her own photo shoot, and then provided her with an escort to the Royal Hall where she got priority entrance (skipped the line) to meet the "real" Disney princesses.

For the rest of the day, she carried herself a little more formal, with good posture and grace. All over the park, cast members called her "Princess" and went a little out of their way to give her special attention. Disney knows how to do fantasy right!

Evenings

By staying at Paradise Pier, one of the Disney hotels, we got Magic Hour access (one hour earlier than the general public) to the parks every day at 7:00am. The first few days we were good about taking afternoon naps and going to the pool before heading back to the park, but as the week went on, there were too many reasons to skip nap time.

As we wanted to be up late to see the Fantasmic, fireworks, and World of Color shows (all evening entertainment), it meant the days were long and tiring. Ellie was a trooper, though, not requiring a stroller even once. (Still, a long and tiring experience at Disneyland is quite different from most other experiences.) Every night, Jeff ended up carrying an almost-comatose Ellie back to the hotel (about a 10 minute walk). He loved it. She cuddled up and clung to him and he got lots of hugs and kisses on the way back. As soon as her head hit the pillow she was asleep.

On Thursday night (the same day we did the princess makeover), we were at the California Adventure side of the park. Jeff and Salle (and her friend Jana) decided they wanted to do the Tower of Terror so Ellie and I went off to do some other rides. When I told her it was time to go back and go to bed, she burst into tears. She really wanted to go swimming and knew we wouldn't get a chance on Friday since we had to check out of our room. It took only seconds for me to decide that we MUST go swimming. We walked back, got into our bathing suits and went down to the pool. After playing in the pool for a few minutes (while I tried to get the metric ton of hairspray out of her hair), we settled down in the hot tub and watched the fireworks display from there. It was pretty awesome and one of my favorite memories from the trip.

On Friday, my mother and brother joined us and we had a great time showing my brother that Ellie was up for almost anything. That night, Ellie asked to do one more ride - one we hadn't done yet - before we left Disneyland to go to Glendale. There weren't many options since we had been on almost everything, but we decided on Storybook Land Canal Boats in Fantasyland. Because the fireworks were about to start and the castle was closed, we got detoured through a back alley. We stopped and checked with a cast member to make sure we were heading the right way. We told her that this was our last ride then we were heading home. She smiled, assured us we were going the right way, and graciously provided us with a pass to skip the line. She said to hurry because the boats don't run while the fireworks are going off. As it turned out, we got there right as they were stopping the boats so they had us sit in the Exit area and we got to watch the fireworks from there. The best seat in the house. The fireworks were right above us! We had our last ride and headed home.

At the front gate upon arrival

On Main Street, meeting Minnie

Sword in the Stone

Fancy mouse ears

Looking out the submarine porthole

Jazz hands with Walt

Taking a break at the hotel pool

Giant water slide!

Hanging with Lightning

Tractor girl at Cars Land

Jeff meets his heroes

Posing with Mike Wozowski

On Flicks Flyers in Bugs Land

Of all the frilly, girly options, my daughter chooses a rocket. Right on!

A bear hug from Baloo

Salle meets a dog who is a chef - doesn't get better than that

Ellie is a little nervous about meeting Tinkerbell, her favorite fairy

Ellie makes a friend

Changing into the new dress

Have I mentioned that Ellie really doesn't like to have her hair brushed

Hey, Ellie! There's a tribble on your head

So much attention from the Fairy Godmothers in Training

Some magic drying polish

Can they cover the black eye?

Such a beauty!

Regal

The big reveal…and her admirers

With her woodland animal friends

Showing off the dress

My favorite picture - she's so happy

In Cinderella's carriage

Meeting Cinderella

Princess in the sun

This princess thing is tiring

Showing Uncle Robert the petting zoo

Grandma Patty and Uncle Robert

Space Mountain…WHEEE!

Family

We had such an amazing time, and much to our surprise, we could have easily stayed longer. We anticipated having lots of downtime, hanging at the hotel pool, going on Small World 15 times, and exploring Tom Sawyer's island. But, we only did the pool a few short times, Small World once, and never even made it to the island. I guess we'll have to go back for more…soon!

Beautiful Brides

We don't dress up often, but it was great fun to get gussied up for the wedding of our friends Colleen and Lee Ann. We met them through Ellie - their son goes to Ellie's school. And it is largely because of Colleen's efforts that Washington State passed Ref 74 legalizing gay marriage back in November.

Colleen and Lee Ann married years ago in Canada, but because of their deep commitment to the campaign and the issue, they decided to get married in their home state of Washington and celebrate with their friends and family who have supported them.

Seriously, I've never been to a wedding where, after the priest said, "by the power vested in me by the state of Washington" the entire place erupted in cheers. It was wonderful. And I felt so proud of my friends and my state and so very honored to be a part of this celebration.

Photo by Linda Gleason

It was also good to remind Ellie what we had done for the campaign and that she helped in a very tangible way to bring about this wedding.

And honestly, this was the most joyful wedding I have been to, maybe ever (except for my own, of course). We had an amazing time and danced for hours.

Photo by Dana Bos

Photo by Dana Bos

Photo by Dana Bos

Love wins!

Birthday, Part 1

Ellie and Ainsley have been best friends since they met at 2 and 3 months old. Ainsley is a month older than Ellie. They met in our PEPS group and immediately seemed to gravitate to each other.

So when they said they both wanted to do the same thing for their birthdays this year (party at Pump It Up), and invite the same people (friends from school), we (the parents) suggested they have a joint party. We were very careful to explain the party wouldn't be on either of their actual birthdays but rather sometime in-between, and they would have to share the limelight. Even so, they thought it was THE BEST IDEA EVER.

So today we had the joint birthday party for Ellie and Ainsley at Pump It Up, a crazy bouncy-house extravaganza.

(A word about the matching dresses: This mostly happened by accident. Dana picked up these dresses on a super sale, and she let me know that Ainsley would likely wear hers for the party. Jeff and I, not being matching dresses kind-a-folk, purchased three new dresses for Ellie that she could choose from to wear at the party. She disregarded the ones we set before her and dug this one out of the closet instead. When we let Ellie know that Ainsley might show up in the same dress, the response was "THAT'S SO AWESOME! WE CAN BE TWINS!" We decided the universe was laughing at us.)

One thing that ended up being way cooler than anticipated was that we asked that in leu of gifts (since getting a gift for both girls could get unwieldy, and really, they don't need more toys!), that folks consider giving a cash donation. We explained that we would take a small sum out for the girls to buy a small gift, and the rest we would donate to a charity of their choosing.

Oh my gosh, folks were so generous - we couldn't believe it! After the party, we all came back to our house and opened all the cards. We got $250! So, we gave the girls $15 each to buy a gift, and the rest they decided would go to PAWS (a local kitty rescue).

We took the girls to our favorite local toy store, and they got to choose what they wanted to buy with their $15. They had so much fun discussing the options and getting each other's opinion. Ainsley ended up getting a hummingbird finger puppet and a bag full of marbles. Ellie got a small horse and an accessories kit that included a saddle, bridle, and feed bucket.

When Jeff and Ellie get back from California (for Macworld and a visit with Susan and Ron), we'll take the girls to PAWS to deliver the $220 donation. I can't wait.

Christmas Day!

Raising an Activist

It's official, Referendum 74 was Approved in Washington state. I couldn't be happier.

Although I whole-heartedly believe in the democratic process and voting, I have never actively supported a political campaign before. But this time was different. This time it affected friends of mine. This time I wanted to contribute my time and money and energy toward something Jeff and I felt passionate about. And as cheesy as it sounds, this time it was for love.

For the past two years, Ellie has gone to school with a lively boy named Callum. We learned pretty quickly that Callum had two moms, but it has only been this last year that we have started to get to know his wonderful moms, Colleen and Lee Ann. They dream of the day they can get married in their home state of Washington. They want their little boy to be able to say his parents are married.

When I first brought up the topic of marriage equality with Ellie, she already knew what it was. "That's when two girls or two boys want to be married." I don't know if they talked about it in an official way at school, or if Callum was trying to educate his friends, but I loved that she said it in such a matter-of-fact way. It was such a non-issue for her. When I told her that some people thought Callum's moms shouldn't be allowed to marry, she said simply, "that's silly" and went off to play. I think that's pretty silly too.

In May, when it was obvious that this was going to be on the ballot, Colleen and Lee Ann organized the Luau for Love to raise money and awareness. It was a family event and so we brought Ellie. Although she spent most of the evening playing with her school friends, it was a great opportunity to talk to her about fairness and how our political system works.

A short while later, Colleen was hired to be the volunteer coordinator for the campaign.

In September, we were invited to another, much smaller event. This time a cocktail party at my friend Marnie's home. We didn't bring Ellie along (we weren't sure how many cocktails would be flowing), but it again gave us a chance to talk to her afterwards about this important issue.

By this time the visibility of Referendum 74 was increasing, on both sides. Other Agape parents, Chad and Lisa, were asked to participate in this commercial. We saw it several times while watching TV. Ellie loved seeing Callum and Auggie on TV - it was almost magical. And every time we saw it we would gently remind her what the issue was and how it related to her friend Callum.

The final event we went to was a day at the zoo. This time, it was on a Saturday so we headed over after soccer and met up with some of the other soccer families. We all got matching t-shirts and had a great time running around the zoo with our friends.

Jack, Callum, Ellie

We heard the phone bank volunteers were sick of eating pizza each night, so we offered to bring dinner. Ellie helped us make chili, bread, and brownies for 15 people. Then she went with us to drop it off. She was feeling pretty reserved about being around all those unfamiliar people, but she understood how grateful they were that we had come.

I told her I didn't feel comfortable being on the phones myself, but I could show up. I could cook. I found ways to help.

And honestly, I hope that's what she gets from this experience. For things you believe in, show up and help. Your skills and energy are needed. You can make a difference.

And to all our gay and lesbian friends, Colleen and Lee Ann included: Congratulations!

A Vampire Bat for Halloween

This year, Ellie decided she wanted to be a vampire bat. When we first talked about it, she made it abundantly clear that she needed to scare her friends with this costume.

I asked her to draw a picture of what she should look like. She drew three. They are a bit gruesome (and definitely scary), but I think they are awesome drawings.

As it turned out, she didn't end up liking any of the scary elements once we were adding them to the costume. She didn't like the glasses with the red eyes, she didn't like the blood, she didn't want spikes added to the tops of the wings. And all this was fine with me. She ended up being an incredibly adorable furry little bat.

On Friday night Dana and I picked up Ellie, Ainsley, and Annika at school and surprised them with a trip to the Loyal Heights Community Center Halloween Carnival.

The two older girls enjoyed their wings and practiced flying in the bouncy house, and running down the halls twirling and flapping.

They also did a bunch of crafts, played some games and decorated their own cookies.

Monday night, we had our annual Halloween PEPS night. This time Zoe (A blind mouse who lost her buddies, as well as her tail) hosted. I love that the younger siblings are getting old enough to enjoy the party too.

Halloween was a whirlwind.

Jeff picked up Ellie around noon and drove her all the way into SODO so she could come to my office. I work in a secure building, and since I'm a contractor, there are strict rules about not ever bringing in visitors. Ellie has always thought that this was a terrible rule, and when I told her she was allowed to come in my building on Halloween she positively insisted we do just that.

I don't think it was as exciting as she imagined it would be, but we still had a good time trick-or-treating, meeting some of my co-workers, and walking through the building. Ellie was not pleased with the number of stairs, however.

Then we rushed back to Agape so we wouldn't miss out on any of the fun there.

Thankfully, they had a lovely protein and carb feast in preparation for a night of continued candy scarfing.

We headed home, but before we went out in the neighborhood, Jeff captured Ellie and I goofing around.

The Good Wizard showed up a few minutes later. Jeff, trying to get the kids to smile, said "Say boogers!" so Logan had to check and make sure there weren't any.

We caught up with the twins next door (and two of their friends) and we hit up all the neighbor houses. After the younger ones tuckered out, Ellie and Logan decided they needed to visit two more houses.

It was a really good night. Ellie was thrilled with her costume, and we love to see her so happy. With that, Happy Halloween everyone!