Baby love

Estelle adores babies...she's so excited when we have visitors with babies and is far more attentive to them than the adults who come to town. A few weekends ago, Amy and John came to see us with Baby Claire. Note the protective arm around Claire's shoulder and the blanket up to her chin (courtesy of Estelle).

She's about as obsessed with "Baby" Leah (now a toddler) but no matter...she's younger than Estelle and that's all that counts.

She can't wait to be a big sister, asking me, "Mommy, when is my baby coming?" Now she says, "My baby is coming on Nov. 17." I have to explain that it probably won't be on that day and she concedes, "Okay, 2 days later." In the meantime, Darwin will continue to be a surrogate infant. Anything look familiar in this photo?

'bout time

that I posted something about Estelle's 4th birthday, which happened almost a month ago now. We had a family gathering of the usual suspects plus a pinata (thanks to Uncle Patrick and much to my chagrin).



Gift from mommy and daddy...she's already asked to take the training wheels off but Bryan refuses.

Good cake!


Kids had fun whacking at the pinata, but not much luck busting it open.


So Bryan took a turn...



But it was great aunt Pegs who finally succeeded (note her triumphant dance).

Say what?

I have to capture a few of the things Estelle has come up with lately, before they slip out of my memory bank...

[Riding my bike up a hill very slowly, pulling her in the trailer] "Mommy, is your gluteus maximus tired?"

[Talking to daddy on the phone about her steadily improving bike riding skills] "I brake very well, daddy."

[After asking for and drinking a glass of water] "At last! I feel better."

[After I asked her why she squatted in grandma's yard instead of using the bathroom] "But mommy! I wanted to pee like an animal!"

[After thwarting her plans to eat chocolate chip cookies for breakfast] "Saboteur!"

Lake time with Max & Avery

Estelle hit the waves with her friends from across the street, Max and Avery. The three of them were feeling the need for speed pretty quickly, as you can see by big smiles and big thumbs-up...

Estelle's first wedding

Patrick's best friend James got married last weekend. James has been a friend of the family for a long time, and was even at the hospital when Estelle was born! (Photo below taken 8-18-05)

And on Saturday, 8-1-09...

So Estelle was pretty excited to see James get married to Miriam (or Mims, as she's more commonly known). The best part of the night for Estelle was the dancing (here with Patrick and Shannon)...

closely followed by the sparklers...

The next morning she woke up and said, "My legs hurt!" Dancing for 3 hours will do that to you every time...I know from experience. :)

Tubing with Annika

Wow! What a beautiful, fun day we spent at the lake with Estelle's friend, Annika, and her mom, Lindsey. Anni was a little nervous at first, but after a very short time, both girls were pumped about being on the tube. Here a few great shots from the day...

(yes, that's Bryan, chilling on the tube in the background)

Check out those brave girls!! By the end of the day, both girls were giving us the "thumbs-up" signal to "go faster!"

Rocky Mountain High

We recently returned from a great family vacation to Colorado. Bryan's family reunion was in Denver this year...the last reunion we attended was the one we hosted here, and Estelle was in the last throes of incubation (I was huge!). So we were very excited for her to meet the whole clan. She had a blast swimming and playing with her cousins and meeting aunties and uncles.

There was plenty of time for other activities in Denver -- we went to the zoo...

visited an enormous water park... and took some family photos at the Red Rock Park and Amphitheater.

We finished up our stay in the Mile High state with just a couple of days in the mountains, complete with a day long river rafting trip. The highlight was definitely Bryan and Patrick's jump from 30 ft. high Devil's Cliff. Estelle was disappointed we wouldn't let her jump from that height, so the guides let her jump from a shorter rock -- about 5 feet above the river. Here we are, getting ready for our day on the water...

July 4th festivities

We had a fabulous 4th, kicking off as usual with the local parade...

and then heading to Uncle Mike's for boating and tubing. Here she is on her very first tube ride with cousin, Delaney. My stomach was churning the entire time. After it was all said and done, she said, "But mommy, I wanted daddy to go fast so I would fall off!"

And finally, a boat trip to see the fireworks, courtesy of Uncle Mikey.

There were so many helpers, even mommy and daddy got a chance to kick back and enjoy the sunset.

Jedis in training

Estelle and Darien crack me up...they fight like brother and sister while simultaneously adoring each other. A few recent shots of the inseparable duo...



Playing "Star Wars" in their beach towel Jedi capes...


Splashing at the lake...

Hanging with Uncle Mike at the lake

Estelle LOOOOVES going to Uncle Mike's house at the lake and hanging out. A couple weekends ago, we had a gorgeous day on his boat and a lovely dinner after. Estelle and Mike provided the after-dinner entertainment...

Playdate in the backyard

We had a great lunch and playdate with Kim and Thomas last weekend. Estelle and Thomas were baking up a storm in the playhouse. Here they are stirring up their concoction (a mixture of sand, dirt, leaves and water) and eating apple slices. Remarkably, none of the apple slices ended up in the "batter" although I'm fairly certain dirt ended up on the apple slices.

Boat + nice weather = lots of fishing

Bryan and Estelle both want to get out to the lake as often as humanly possible lately. I grabbed a few shots...

Four Generations

We went to visit Bryan's grandma Mary a couple of weekends ago and got this cool picture of four generations...

Backlog

It's been way too long since I've posted, mostly due to a meltdown with my computer which has now been righted (shout out to Big Rob). I'll start with Easter...

Much to my chagrin, Estelle was a great deal more enthusiastic about candy from the Easter Bunny this year. Good thing he exercised restraint in how much he left in the basket...she also had loads of fun hunting for eggs.

(Notice she's still holding the chocolate bunny in her hand while hunting for eggs...)

On to spring break...we took a long road trip all the way to see Uncle Eddie, Aunt Angie, Heath, their 9 dogs and many more cows in Mississippi. Estelle SO did not want to leave. She spent every day, all day playing outside with Heath and the dogs, who followed the two of them around like protectors.

Heath took her for rides on his "Gator." She tried to drive it, but then decided she was more comfortable in the passenger seat, belting out songs while Heath took the wheel.

Another highlight was getting to feed the orphaned baby cow a bottle of milk. Shortly after this picture was taken, Estelle said, "Uncle Eddie, can you please not hold the bottle?" for she wanted to do it all by herself. The calf was quite slobbery, but she badgered Eddie every day to help feed it. Maybe I passed a little bit of farm girl DNA on to her...

Finally, we had a lovely visit from dear friends this weekend. In addition to the aforementioned computer/home electronics fixit guy extraordinaire, Rob, Tia and baby Siena came to visit. Estelle might have given Siena, Bryan's adorable god-daughter, a little too much love but her parents were very understanding. We can't wait to see them again!

Le mew? Le purrrrrrr...

"Ah, my little darling, it is love at first sight, is it not, no?"

Estelle is completely obsessed with Darwin, poor kitty. She wraps him up in blankets, carries him under the arms all over the house, and "pets" him, which in fact means she puts him in a virtual stranglehold on her lap. I keep telling her he's super stressed out since he sheds like crazy, his pupils dilate and he starts to pant like a dog. She's cheerfully oblivious to his discomfort, and pronounces, "Mommy, Darwin loves me SO much!" The other day, I caught her picking him up to place him in her doll cradle.

He keeps coming back for more though -- occasionally, she does pet him gently so I guess that's enough for him to assume the risk.

Late Feb UPDATE: Darwin finally had enough. I heard a scream followed by crying the other day...

Me: What happened?

E: (Wailing) Darwin bit me! He bit my hand.

(Inspecting, I see two tooth marks that didn't puncture the skin. I conclude it's a warning shot.)

Me: Oh honey. You know how when you have big feelings, you can talk to mommy and daddy about them? Darwin can't talk, so when he has big feelings, the only way he can tell us is by biting or scratching.

E: (More wailing -- clearly feeling rejected)

I felt for her little broken heart, but it was a good lesson learned. She's definintely toned down the treatment. Now she'll tell me, "Mommy, Darwin's real stretched [stressed] out right now. He's having huge, big feelings." I count it as a win.

Wow -- sledding is a lot easier when kids are big enough to walk up the hill by themselves! We went to the hill down the street after dinner the other night. She went down the hill a couple of times by herself, but preferred going with mommy or daddy.

Halloween - the witch and Darth Vadar

Estelle and Darien were about the cutest things I've ever seen, walking up hand in hand to the doors of the houses in my mom's neighborhood.

Estelle thought the pumpkins were pretty cool too -- I found her outside in her pajamas staring up at them the morning after we carved them. I think I had more fun carving mine though.