Strong Little Elf Noggin

Have you noticed that we make little elves? Seriously.

Who Is This Woman & Why Is She Always Trying to Eat Me?

Despite the shocked mug, Phoebe eats up the love. And I must say I can't get enough of her. Delicious!

Our Budding Paleontologist

pachycephalosaurus from Brian Bressler on Vimeo.

Stella is currently fascinated by dinosaurs. No, obsessed. She is downright hungry for information about these critters and can't get enough. She now describes everyone as far as what they eat - "Mama, Phoebe is an herbivore. I'm a carnivore." And the pachycephalosaurus trumps all other imaginary friends right now. Tonight, we ate dinner as a family of brontosaurus. Brontosauri? Hmmmm. Of course, it's hilarious to hear our wee peanut rattle off such sophisticated multisyllabic words - Pachea-what? - but it's more thrilling that she's truly interested in learning as much as she can.

(And I must say here that while this video seems a bit over the top, I promise that we're not the kind of parents who grill our child nightly. Yes, we "quizzed" her here, but she's usually the one asking the questions. For example, she would quickly and deftly explain to y'all that Mama made a mistake when she wrote that we were a brontosaurus family since that's an outdated name for sauropods ... oh, are our hands full or what?)

Upstaged

Upstaged By a Booger from Brian Bressler on Vimeo.

Listen closely.... as Phoebe flies with Papa, Stella can be heard on the monitor yelling, "I have a boogie!" Too funny.

A Good Egg

A yearly tradition. Simple and beautiful.

Thank you, Grandma Jannie!

Rainy Days

Well, the rains have hit the Northwest. It's about time, really. We've had an unseasonably warm and dry winter, so a little moisture is more than fair at this point. But we've sort of forgotten how to manage long days inside. But this Mama has been keeping the play-in-the-sink-for-an-hour-and-a-half trick up her sleeve for just this moment, and Stella was beyond thrilled. I know this isn't new, but I think I literally rocked Stella's sense of reality by suggesting she bathe in the kitchen sink. What's next? Sleeping in the bathtub?

A Field Trip

Stella, Phoebe and I trekked to Seattle this last week to introduce Miss Phoebe to more of the fam, most notably Auntie Tricia, Aunt Ann and Uncle Pat. Both girls were troopers and charmed the whole gang. And Stella had an especially fun time exploring the Seattle Science Center. Thanks to everyone who stopped by Grandma Carol and Poppy's for a visit.

Yes, that's Stella...

... in a guitar.

(Did I mention we come from strange folk?)