New Years Eve 2006/2007

Mommy, Daddy and I headed down to charmingly isolated Covington, WA to the home of friends Jeff, Jessica, Brenna and Audrey Johnson. We've had a lot of fun sessions with them over the past year so expectations were running high for a New Years Eve spectacular. Let's just say that the evening didn't disappoint: Jeff got tanked, I had fun playing with the girls, yummy foods were consumed, gifts were exchanged and Jeff and Daddy had a genital tuck-a-thon. Don't ask!

H A P P Y / N E W / Y E A R !!

Anna and Mike Marum

Family members Mike and Anna Marum paid Daddy, Mommy and I a rare visit on our home turf to help us celebrate the holiday season. Daddy took them on a whirlwind driving tour around the city that featured a yummy lunch at Endolyne Joe's in West Seattle culminating in a nice dinner on Friday night before heading on a brisk walk around Green Lake on a surprisingly beautiful Saturday morning. I think they enjoyed themselves and who knows... They may just come back to visit sometime (hopefully in the near future).

Christmas Tricycle

Helmet on. Gloves ready. Chafe-proof chamois on. Cheesy smile ready. New tricycle... Priceless. Merry Christmas y'all!

At the Abulhosns

Today Daddy and I headed over the the Abulhosns in Magnolia to spend some early AM time while Mommy slaved away at *$ and mommy Lynn and baby Brandon did some last minute Christmas shopping. Marques and I had a rowdy good time while still managing to not destroy daddy Mak's house too much. My man Marques is wicked good with a baseball bat, yo!

Mommy Lynn and baby Brandon just prior to disappearing into their shopping madness


Superman Marques Abulhosn

Piggy Backpack

Now that my friend Campbell Smith has a baby brother named Carter, her mommy Tia proclaimed that they are now making Campbell haul all of her own gear instead of the parentals having to lug a gigantic bag of items for both kids. It's not like my mommy and daddy are expecting number two anytime soon, but they REALLY liked this idea and I now have the burden of carrying a backpack full of my gear to all of my engagements. Do you think it's a coincidence that pals Martha and Jack Gruber happened to pass Mommy and Daddy a piggy backpack that is as cute as a button right about the same time they were making this determination?

Ella Ornament

My teachers Heather Jones and Kathi Van Riper at ELDC helped me and the gang fashion our very own personalized Christmas ornaments. Here's mine displayed proudly atop our Noble Fir this year:

Storytime With Mommy

2 minutes before Daddy snapped this pic it was just Mommy and me... Not another kid within five feet. Mommmy's got it goin' on.

Christmas Tryptich

Carter Davidson Smith

Hello all. It's a bit of an epidemic around here as dear friends Doug, Tia and Campbell are celebrating the arrival of the newest Smith... Mr. Carter Davidson Smith. This of course is hot on the heals of Don, Henry and Amy Light's recent addition of Audrey Burton Light from just over a week ago. And when you consider the births of Ellie and Emily Frampton last month and the pending arrival for friends Anne-Marie and Brett Herron as well as pal Sophia Tiritilli's mommy Mirta Villaran, the CDC is keeping a close eye on the situation here in Puget Sound.

ELDC Holiday Party '06

Tonight was dark and stormy, but Mommy and I were not about to allow rain, sleet or 60MPH winds to stop us from celebrating at the annual ELDC holiday soiree. Everyone was asked to bring a side dish to accompany the lasagna roll-ups that Chef Dani made for dinner, so Mommy and I elected to bring Cranberry Bliss Bars and Gingerbread Loafs from Starbucks - Not a single crumb was left at the end of the night. Apparently a nice selection on our part ;P

Dinner was served in the Social Hall set to the cacophony of over 150 revelers... I wonder if there have ever been soooo many people in the hall at one time before?! The hall was festively decorated with holiday themed artwork that the entire student body had been working on for the past few weeks... My contribution was a snowman with a carrot nose and charcoal eyes that was prominently on display! Dinner was yummy and enjoyed by all, but the real fun was only just beginning.

Unbeknownst to all of us parents, we kids had been working on songs to perform in recital. Amidst the chaos of some crying and confused tots, 50 of us stood together and performed "Frosty the Snowman" followed by "Winter Wonderland" (in sign language). Needless to say, there was not a dry eye in the house! In fact, based on a certain performance of his own, Mommy went up to Joe Moriarty (Owen's dad) and assured him that she thought that "guys that cry are really sexy." Hmmm... Whatever that means!

As a little something to commemorate the evening, my wonderful teacher Heather made ornaments for all of us kids using some fantastic pictures she had recently taken. Mine is proudly hanging near the top of our family tree right now and absolutely melted Daddy's heart.

Thanks to all of the staff at ELDC for putting in the extra effort to produce such a wonderful night. We are already looking forward to next year!

Westlake Carousel

This morning Mommy, Daddy and I saddled up and headed downtown to Nordstrom with the singular objective of having my annual photograph with Santa. Despite arriving at the relativley early hour of 8:30AM, the queue was over an hour and a half. Um, not going to happen.

We kept our chins up and visited Anne-Marie at her Starbucks in Two Union Square. As you may know, she is expecting in early January and is looking fantastic! We had a nice hang session while Annie gobbled down her sensible lunch before heading to Banana Republic for Daddy to procure some gloves due to the weather recently getting genuinely cold. All of these were stop-gap measures by the parentals to kill time in wait for the Westlake Center holiday carousel to open up. They had been hyping me up for the Santa visit all week and could see I was devasted when they pulled the plug on this attempt. A few spins on the carousel was the least they could do to lift a girls spirit, right?!

In crude cameraphone form, here is a little girl's sheer delight...