Monday, April 20, 2009

Tulips

Lena and I took the kids on a spontaneous Skagit Valley Tulip Festival run this morning. The weather is glorious today, and getting out for a bit sounded lovely. Because of the unusually cold winter, the tulips are a bit late this year, but we made do with a sweet little farm with a really beautiful garden. The kids were jazzed by the flowers, although it took Stella a bit of time before she really enjoyed herself. You see, Stella likes to pick flowers. A lot. So restraining herself as Mama repeated the words, "You can smell and touch, just no picking" took a whole lot of serious concentration. But she was a champ and was eventually stopping every few feet to smell all the gorgeous tulips.

Here Stella demonstrates utter seriousness. I could literally see her silently reminding herself "No pick. No pick. No pick."


"Wait a minute, I can smell these things? Woo hoo!"

Are these two the cutest or what?

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Chatterbox


Stella is growing by leaps and bounds these days. I know. We've said that before. And it was true . But she's amazing us by the minute these days. She's talking all the time, thinking out loud in a wildly hilarious manner. This morning, Stella asked me to hold her, patted me on the back and said "Love you, Mama. Stella snuggle. Stories, read please?"

I love our little Yoda.

And, of course, Brian and I are perfecting the incredibly challenging art of keeping a straight face when Stella earnestly launches into a vivid description of bodily functions.

Stella is also loving the warmer weather, and we're spending a lot of time blowing bubbles, chalking rocks in the garden, searching for worms, beetles and bumblebees and playing with our new activity table on the front porch. And despite still having to occasionally wear our warmies, it feels downright delightful to be spending so much time outside. Life is grand.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Hippity Hop


Happy Belated Easter, Y'all.

Stella celebrated her second Easter with a zillion egg hunts and tons of love. We started off our spring celebration by dying eggs with Grandma Jannie. Stella (and her buddy Isaac) took to the task with impressive patience and focus.


Later on, Stella enjoyed her first egg hunt with the Bressler family. By the end of the hunt, Stella was a pro and then promptly demanded that she eat two of the eggs on the spot. New adventures are exhausting.



In Seattle, Stella celebrated Easter: Round Two with the Burns family, demanding about thirty different egg hunts (Thank you, Amelia, Grandma and Poppy!) while she played with her cousins. As you can see, Stella is quite smitten with Amelia. And Amelia is the perfect big girl cousin. She's sweet, patient and gentle. It's touching for me and my sister, Tricia, to see our daughters connect like this since the age difference (and connection) between these two is exactly the same between me and Trish.


For some reason, Stella insisted upon attending the first five egg hunts in toga.


This photo is entitled "Reason Number 543 Why I Love My Sister."

Need I say more?


And finally, after I stripped Stella down to her comfy post-Easter duds, I realized I didn't take any photos of her in her sweet Easter dress. So we quickly re-dressed and snapped some shots. Now, whenever someone says, "Smile!" Stella assumes this super cheesy smile and squints her eyes.

Total ham...


... total cutie.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Glorious Glorious Spring


Oh happy day!

Spring has hit the northwest. And yes, we all know we're probably not out of the chilly woods yet, but we're going to milk this glorious sunshine for as long as we can.

We've spent nearly every waking moment outside these past few days, and Stella is becoming quite the little gardener/hunter and gatherer. She's currently obsessed with collecting pine cones, dirt and dandelion heads. Oh, and talk of dead beetles literally sends her into a joyous frenzy. It's a bit strange, I admit, to hear my beautiful and sleepy child sweetly ask for "Dead Beetle?" as I put her to sleep. Goofball.

(I hope y'all can see the remnant of dandelion love on Stella's upper lip in the last picture. I guess buttercups have nothing on this resourceful little gardener.)

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Princess


Stella handed me a paper bag today. She then looked into my eyes and said, with clear conviction, "Princess."

After literally busting with pride, I complied with her cryptic request, cutting holes in the paper bag and helping her try on her new threads.

We love the story The Paper Bag Princess in this house. We read it a lot, and Stella has slowly but surely picked up the subtle but powerful cues that a princess need not be wimpy nor helpless. Instead, a real princess is strong, smart and creative, and a real princess will gladly wear a paper bag in lieu of gowns and crowns if it means she can outsmart dragons and evil princes.

Rock on, little princess. Rock on.


Oh, and we're almost finished with our kitchen remodel. It's not totally done - the grout on the backsplash is a bit screwy and needs fixin' and there are some little details to complete, but we see the light. We'll post more pictures once it's totally finished.

Of course, please take note of Sir Vincenzo enjoying his new perch.