Dinner . . . al fresco

Drew vividly remembers that when he was a child he couldn't wait to be finished with dinner so he could go back to playing. He often spent the second half of supper under the table bidding his time until the meal was complete.

I have a feeling Ellie is another kid with a major case of ants in her pants!

Lately, during dinner, she seems to want out of her seat the minute we put her in. But once she gets down she still wants to eat.

Drew's, brilliant solution . . .

Dine outside and let Ellie roam around the deck while we sit and enjoy the warm summer evening.

Happy girl . . . happy parents

Like mother, like daughter

I can't help but wonder what Ellie will look like as she grows up.

Maybe like her mum!

The good stuff

On this, the night of my 28th birthday, I have a thought . . .

h a p p i n e s s is in the l i t t l e things.

Like the fact that since Drew had to work all day and couldn't call me to wish me happy birthday he made sure to make me feel special by leaving a note in the kitchen, sending me a text message and an email . . . lots of love.

Little wet Ellie footprints. Those are really great too.

Joy

We are just wrapping up the best Memorial Day weekend EVER!

Drew planned a great "stay-cation" to Vashon Island for my birthday. We stayed in a fabulous guest cottage overlooking the sound. I'm pretty sure I spent a total of about 6 hours in the hot tub!

Drew did a lot of research and found a little restaurant on Vashon called La Boucherie. It is owned by a family that has an organic farm on the island. It was truly Farm to Table dining and absolutely delicious!

Then I got a bee in my bonnet that I wanted to get my nose pierced.

And since it's my birthday weekend, we ran right down to Capitol Hill and got it done. Yay!

But wait, there's more!!! Last night we went to our favorite place . . . Jazz Alley and saw our favorite jazz singer . . . Karrin Allyson. It was a great night.

And to top it all off the weather couldn't have been more perfect! Sunny and warm for the entire weekend. WOW! Drew did a great job planning and thanks to the grandparents we had a nice break from the munchkin.

A tale of two toddlers

AT THE ZOO!

I think when I imagined having kids I imagined fun family outings with the kids yelling "I wanna see the bears . . . I wanna see the elephants!"

But life with a toddler is not quite so . . . predictable.

Much laughter was had by Esther and I when we realized the animals at the zoo were the LAST thing the girls wanted to see.

Although the goat in the petting zoo was a hit . . . they mostly wanted to climb on the rocks and hang out in the "zoomazium", which is pretty much an indoor playground.

O000, a rare sighting of the Ellie monkey in her natural habitat.

The lovely red-topped Rowen bird.

Laughably, one of the biggest attractions for toddlers at the zoo is apparently the water fountain! These girls have known eachother since birth and will be in the same grade at school. It's fun to see them starting to play together

Summer preview

We have had a stretch of gorgeous weather lately. Not only is warm weather rare in May but for it to fall on a weekend is almost unheard of!!!

Here is Ellie playing with her friend, Ibrahim, at a concert in the park.

Aren't they adorable???!!!

Flight of the Conchords ROCK!

Last night, I got to go to a fabulous comedy show.

One of our favorite bands "Flight of the Conchords" played at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle. My friend, Myka, took me to the show for my birthday. We had GREAT seats and VIP access!

Poor Drew, who is also a huge fan, stayed home with Ellie.

These guys are SO funny.

My cheeks are still sore today from smiling and laughing so much!

Mothers Day is . . .

a family gathering where the dad's cook and clean up

. . . and the mom's drink champagne.

PERFECT!

A day in the life . . .

Once and awhile when I read my previous posts I am annoyed that it seems like I only blog about the good things.

All the cute things Ellie does . . . milestones . . . fun family adventures.

But what about the every day routines . . . what about the not-so-pleasant moments in my life with a toddler.

Well, here is a post about just that!!!

Yesterday, was what I call a "countdown" day. A day when I countdown every hour . . . every minute . . . until Drew gets home!!!

7:00am - Ellie wakes up earlier than normal and is very cranky

8:00am - Meals used to mean guaranteed happy time but lately Ellie gets VERY upset when I attempt to wash her hands and face - so breakfast ends in a tantrum (#1 on the tantrum count)

9:00am - Ellie toddles out of her bedroom with a bottle . . . wait a minute . . . I haven't given her a bottle yet this morning. Upon further inspection I realize she must have found it under her bed from long ago because the milk is curdled and rotten!!! Ahhh!

9:05am - Worrying Ellie has ingested some seriously sour milk!

9:10am - Recovering from the experience of having to clean out that very disgusting bottle!

11:30am - Arrive at preschool. Very happy that Ellie is distracted and playing

12:45pm - Normally the time when we go outside to play in the preschool playground but due to the winter storm, we are currently having in May, we had to stay inside

12:46pm - Ellie very upset we can't go outside (#2 on the tantrum count)

12:50pm - Have to leave preschool with Ellie kicking and screaming under my arm because playing inside was NOT a suitable substitute for the slide

12:51-1:15pm - Ellie screamed the entire way home in the car (#3 on the tantrum count). She hasn't done that in months!

1:16pm - Finally, Ellie fell asleep in the car! I was hoping for a good 2 hour nap to rejuvenate us both. Unfortunately, she woke up after only 30 minutes

3:00pm - After a late lunch and some relatively calm play time, we went to run some errands. As I was putting Ellie in her car seat she somehow managed to get hold of my keys. As I closed the door I heard her click the lock

3:01pm - Ellie is locked IN the car WITH the keys!!!

3:02pm - Don't panic! What can I do? I searched around the house for a spare key (hoping to get my spare car keys from inside the house) but to no avail. Next, I tried sign language to get Ellie to press the unlock button

3:02pm - She did it! The doors unlocked and I jumped in

3:03pm - Breathe a sigh of relief

4:00pm - In the line at the grocery store, Ellie got quite upset when I wouldn't let HER input my debit pin number (#4 on the tantrum count)

5:00pm - THANK GOODNESS, Drew should call anytime to tell me he's on his way home

5:10pm - Drew calls . . . he has a flat tire!! . . . will be home late

5:11pm - Deciding whether to laugh or cry!

6:30pm - Drew finally home!

8:00pm - Ellie finally in bed!!

Whew! What a day. 4 major tantrums and lots of frustration.

Good thing "countdown" days don't happen very often!

One more thing . . .

Not only did we have any great day on the bikes yesterday we discovered Ellie is a TRUE northwesterner!

How was this discovery made???

Follow the photos below . . .

Ellie contemplating . . .

Following daddy's lead . . .

Just dipping her toes in . . .

Ellie SWIMMING in the Puget Sound!!!

Now, you must understand . . . there are only a handful of people who swim in the sound . . .

in May!

She is so much like her dad it amazed me!

Ingredients for a great day

Ahhhh, summer. Today was most certainly the warmest day of the year in Seattle so a family outing was definitely required!!

Drew has been commuting to work on his bike lately and I have been jealous of his renewed hobby. So last night we went to a "mega-store" (that will remain nameless) and bought a very cheap but practical cruiser bike for me.

Daddy: Bike & helmet . . . check

Mommy: Bike & helmet . . . check

Ellie: . . . . ???

To fill in those blanks I spent many hours researching the best option for Ellie to join our bike rides.

Rear-mounted child seat, trailer or front-mounted seat??

After much debate we settled on the ibert front-mounted seat. It's comfy for all and allows more interaction with Ellie.

After more stops to REI for a top of the line toddler bike helmet and then a stop for lunch (cuz at this point we were shopped out and hungry) we finally made it to Alki Beach for some cruising.

Notice Ellie's outfit matches her helmet . . . certainly not a coincidence.

Donnianne's quote of the day . . . "Safety first, sweetie" So in the end - after we spent hundreds of dollars on a new bike, bike rack, kid seat and helmet - we spent about 30 minutes riding the bikes and the rest playing at the beach . . . let's hope for more sunny days!