Christmas in California

Hot Chocolate at Pete's on Christmas Eve.

Reading Twas the Night Before Christmas with Mom and Grandma.

Admiring the tree on Christmas Morn.

All dressed up for Christmas.

Eating Grandpa's waffles.

Opening presents for Grandma and Grandpa.

Opening presents.

Snowy Days

An unusual series of snow storms left Seattle frozen for over a week, disrupting everyone's routines, but giving Cara a chance to explore her world in a new state. At first she wasn't quite sure what to make of the white stuff that appeared everywhere. She enjoyed holding it in her (mitten-less) hand, but after a while would declare "Cold!". Gradually she got used to walking and playing in the white stuff, realizing that not only could she still swing and go down the slide in her favorite playground, but entire hills turned into big slides! The ground outside is now bare, but we're looking forward to more trips this winter up to the snow-covered mountains.

Dressed for the snow.

Swinging in snow-covered playground.

Snow covered house.

Sledding with Dad.

Our snowy neighborhood.

Cara the Artist

Cara loves to draw and paint, and her opportunities increased significantly when she received an easel for her birthday. No longer constrained to her small table and horizontal surfaces, Cara's artistic world continues to expand. Meanwhile are incredibly grateful for the development of washable markers and paints, and a nanny who loves doing art projects! Most of her pieces are signed, if any family or friends would care to hang an original Cara piece on their wall.

The artist at work.

Drawing lessons from Caden.

Artist at leisure.

Birthday Part 2

Cara had a fun birthday party, being old enough to enjoy the company and attention. Not to mention having outgrown her wheat allergy, so she was able to fully enjoy a birthday cake. Joining her celebration were friends Ida and Megan (who is her companion in our nanny share). Megan had just returned from a visit with family in Taiwan, so she wasn't quite as energetic as the other two. But she woke up in time for the cake!

Birthday dinner - yummy pizza.

Having fun with friend, Ida.

Love those balloons!

Birthday cake.

Blowing out candles.

Cake crumbs galore.

Birthday Part 1

Ravenna Playground

Playground options were somewhat limited this summer, as Ravenna Playground, just 2 blocks from our house, was undergoing renovations. Cara still got plenty of playground time, as Ms. A was diligent about getting the girls out and about every day, and we explored the many other playgrounds in the area. But it wasn't quite the same as having our playground.

By mid-August things were taking shape, and in one wonderful weekend the primary play structures were installed. Much of the neighborhood came out for the "playground raising"; C and I put in about 12 hours between the two of us. We still had to wait a few weeks for the finishing touches, but by early September the new playground was open for business.

As we helped put the playground together we thought it looked like it would be tons of fun, and Cara definitely seems to think so. It is fun watching her gradually figure out how to climb on different parts of the structure and grow more comfortable going down the slides. More and more we here "self!" as she exerts her growing independence and ability.

Halloween

Last year Cara was too young to much appreciate Halloween. But this year we decided to start her Halloween tradition, introducing Cara to the joys of pumpkins, ghosts and costumes, skipping only the gut-busting candy consumption. She'll have plenty of time for that later.

We started with the pumpkin, and Cara was very happy to help her mom scoop out the seeds and pulp. She was intrigued by the slippery strings but was mostly happy to use a spoon for the task at hand. Given her penchant for smearing food around, mom was surprised at how little mess resulted from the process!



We weren't sure how Halloween night itself would go, since Cara had been resistant to previous attempts to put her costume on. She definitely wasn't thrilled about having the lion costume pulled over her head. Some tears were initially shed. We considered aborting the whole attempt, with a backup plan of having Cara go as a lion tamer, carrying the lion costume. But a little distraction in the form of a basket and some of our own candy supply to go in it and the tears dried up. Soon Cara and mom were ready to join the neighborhood kids for some trick-or-treating, with a rendezvous at the street.



Cara wasn't quite sure to make of all the kids (and some adults) dressed up in funny costumes. She was willing to walk to a few of the houses, but mostly wanted to be carried. Taking a piece of candy from the proffered bowl was not, however, a problem. She even managed to say "trick" a few times and always said "thank you"! Her little basket soon filled up, and given that we were rapidly approaching bedtime, mom decided to end things on a happy note and head home. Once at her own front door, Cara thought she should get some more pieces of candy from the bowl Daddy had!





The biggest surprise of the evening was how attached Cara was to her basket of candy. She hasn't eaten any yet, so it wasn't even the anticipation of the sweets. But she loved the brightly colored, crinkly packages and kept the basket close for her bedtime routine of stories and teeth-brushing. It took a little gentle persuasion on convince her to relinquish the basket, and last bag of M&M's, to get int her crib, but fortunately no tears were shed.