Fairy costume

Well it's almost midnight the night before Halloween, and I'm finally done sewing Isabella's fairy costume. Phew!!!! What a long haul... I haven't sewn a single thing in almost 5 years and forgot how much work it is. At this point I'm just relieved that I pulled it off. See below for a quick pic... I made everything but the wings. More details to be provided after the big day tomorrow!

Happy kids frolicking

The other day Marjorie (another mom from our pre-school) and I took Isabella and Henry (her son) to the Childrens Museum. There is such a sweetness to watching your kid happily frolicking with a playmate - sharing well, doing projects together, chatting in their own little language. I dare say that the sight of my child bonding with others makes me happier than seeing her learn some new fine motor skill, do a new puzzle, or rattle off some impressively complex sentence. Why is that? Well I guess, to be cliche, it's all about love. Love is like a warm ray of sunshine - even with your eyes closed, you can feel it.... even without words, you know it is there. The other day I dropped Isabella off at pre-school and as soon as she walked in another little girl started beaming, jumped up, and said "Hi friend!" and then another girl also jumped up and said "Hi friend!" and then all three girls held hands in a little tiny circle and beamed at each other. Love, pure and simple. When that kind of light is shining in front of me, I can't help but fill up with the extra that spills over.

Here are some pictures of Isabella and Henry, sharing some good times, filling up the space around them with light.


Isabella and Henry in squirrel costumes, poking their heads out from a log -



And here they are with Marjorie and Isabella, in bat costumes, in the bat cave!

Lastly, here are Isabella and Henry at our house, sharing a horsey ride.



Life, as always, is good.

Visit from Rose

Last week my beloved sister Rose visited. Rose is an amazing person. She makes beautiful pottery, is a fabulous chef, runs half marathons, and holds down an impressive corporate job. Most amazingly, though, Rose is a super sweet person - always loving, always compassionate, always there for you. Rose has made an impressive effort to keep up with me (and her other siblings over the years). This was her second visit to Seattle this year, and probably 10th visit over the course of the decade or so I've lived out here.



When Rose arrived, I said to her "Well we could either make truffles, take the kids out somewhere, or go downtown and buy a larding needle." She said "OOOHH! What's a larding needle?" I then explained that I had found a new recipe which required me to inject pancetta strips into a roast with a larding needle, which would be a new experience with me. She promptly rejoiced at the idea of buying a new kitchen gadget, so we went downtown and acquired the tool.

Here is Rose with the pancetta stuffed larding needle.




And the pancetta injection in action!

The next day we hiked up Tiger mountain. I was the one with the baby strapped to me, huffing and puffing 3mo after giving birth. Rose was the one who lightly stepped up the mountain with a smile on her face.

And here is Rose with Melanie, being the sweet Aunt that she is.

Thanks for a great visit, Rose!

R.I.P Teddy

A couple of weeks ago Isabella's Mammie (Grandma Mary) went on a trip to Sedona. Isabella had been asking for a special teddy bear to bring to bed with her, so Mary brought back a beautiful Gund teddy bear, which Isabella treasured instantly. She would take Teddy on pretend airplane trips, would take him to bed every night, would even pretend to nurse Teddy with her pretend boobies (see previous post). Isabella has had a number of stuffed animals before, but this one clearly became a special companion more so than any of it's predecessors.

Then, on Monday night, my 6th "Ellie is being bad" sense began to tingle, and I found poor teddy in Ellie's clutches. To be clear - I had reminded Isabella MANY times to be careful with Teddy, to always keep him in one of the toy drawers, to not let Ellie get him. Of course, one slip up is all it takes.




I have to say, I literally almost cried. My poor, sweet Isabella... I knew she would be heart broken. I also knew that it would really hurt Mary's feelings to find that she had bought something special for Isabella, only to have it destroyed. Fortunately Isabella had not yet seen the carnage, so when John tucked her in he convinced her that Teddy was missing but that we would find him soon. She asked for Teddy about 5 times and then went to sleep.

Naturally, I decided to go on a mission to find a replacement. The good news - I knew it was a Gund brand bear. The bad news - Gund makes a LOT of different bears (they are all about teddy bears), each with it's own name, and Ellie had eaten the tag that had the name. So I looked at, literally, over 400 teddy bears online. It was a painstaking process, as colors can look different on different monitors, and (again) Gund makes soooo many bears. Eventually I found what I thought might be a match, selected 1-day shipping (after all, this was an emergency), and crossed my fingers. 36 hrs later - Teddy's twin arrived. Phew - an exact match, even down to the scarf around the neck (which was also eaten off the original Teddy).

When Isabella got home from pre-school, she asked "Where's Teddy" as she has been asking since he was 'lost'. I said "Guess what? I found him under some clothes in our closet!" She lit up, took Teddy in her arms, and (I'm not making this up) sweetly said "I love you Teddy."

I guess that's what love is all about.

Kids are funny

This morning Isabella came down clutching her teddy bear with no shirt on. I asked her "Where did your pajama shirt go?" She pointed to her nipple, looked very serious and said "I had to take it off so I could feed Teddy with my pretend boobie."

HILARIOUS!