Elena's new camera!

It was the Christmas for photos and cameras at our home. Elena is in love with her new digital camera she got from MommyDaddy. She doesn't like being shown how to use it - she's an independent little thing...

Here's the second picture she took (she deleted the first one).
Wow! What a good picture of your feet, Elena!
Whoops! Elena holds the camera backwards and gets a nice self portrait and is blinded by the flash.

Pirate Elena - we have no idea why she insisted a bandaid be put over her eye. Crazy...

Some common things Elena says are "I do that?" "I did it!" and "Look at that!" Most of these she says over and over and over getting louder with each one. We heard those sayings often on Christmas as she asked to open presents and experimented with new toys.

Merry Christmas! God Jul!*

* God Jul is Swedish for Good Yule, their holiday greeting.
We hope you had a wonderful Christmas holiday! Our household is pretty pooped with all the travel and long (napless) days we've had.

We had a tasty Norwegian potluck dinner at the Ketola's house - thanks for hosting Walt & Terry! It was sans lutefisk.

Christmas (Eve) in Kennewick

We had a fun visit in Kennewick, WA - thank you Nana and PopPop! Aunt Amy flew up from CA and there was lots of time to play with
Greg, Sarah, Ruby, and Nattie too. We opened presents, talked about silly things the girls do, and took part in Jim's favorite tradition - Chinese food on Christmas Eve.

The girls all got bean bag chairs and used them as launch pads (maybe someday they'll join Aunt Amy at NASA!). Elena received a toy grooming/vet kit with a poodle and Ruby got a beauty parlor kit which led to all the adults getting haircuts, doctor checkups, and make overs. Girly girls!

Wow! I posted video!

That worked pretty well. Sorry the video quality is so poor, it was taken in the dark during our power outage. In the video Elena is talking and singing to her kitty Warrick. She's also moving him back and forth in her arms, patting him in various places, and squeezing him. Really shows how much he'll put up with...

Elena loves playing with beads and during our power outage, we did that activity often. Here's some pictures of Warrick all dressed up in our bead creations.

Elena and her Warrick

E sings to Warrick etc.

UPDATE!

Our power has returned! We lost power (along with much of Puget Sound) Thursday night and it was restored Wednesday evening. We're all fine, lucky there wasn't damage to the house or fence, and happy the animals didn't blow away. Thanks to our friends the Holmes' who lent us their generator after their power was restored. We really did miss our heat! I missed the microwave and Jim missed the computers. Elena loved calling people on the phone to tell them her lights were broken, and she got to spend the nights in bed with Mommy, Daddy, and usually a cat or two.

Now to catch up on Elena's blog! -love, k

Each year you bring to me delight, meaning in the Christmas night...

Tree in Elena's room

Elena picked out her own small tree, the tree skirt, and which lights and ornaments to use - of course she picked blue lights...

Family tree

As for the family tree, she calls that one hers too. We're all loving the smell of fresh tree in the house.

Deck the tree!

12/8 Elena puts the star on the top of the tree.
12/9 Elena helps decorate the tree. We broke 4 ornaments in the process - not all by Elena...
Elena tries to make sure the ornaments stay on the tree and don't fall off.
After 15 minutes of looking at ornaments and putting some on the tree, Elena decides to play with the ornament dividers. She made a fence (she calls it a gate) for some stuffed animals, a tunnel for her snow globe train, and then took them shopping. At least she was busy so the tree could be decorated without interruption!

Fun day in Seattle

Boy are we tired! We went to the Seattle Aquarium's Toddler Time today and it was well worth the cost of parking and hassle of wet weather. There were activities galore, and all on the floor - perfect for a 2 1/2 year old (and her friends Aiden and Aubrie). Elena went fishing and caught Grandma and Grandpa fish, Mommy and Daddy crabs, squid for herself, and a salmon for Auntie's fish tank. She made a colorful octopus, painted a flounder and rockfish, almost touched a starfish, played the drum, and used stamps. Plus, there were books, puzzles, and puppets, costumes to dress up in, and felt boards to play with. Here's the lyrics to our new favorite song which we've sung over, and over using all the ocean animals we could think of:

(tune of Frère Jacques/Are You Sleeping)

Ocean animal, ocean animal

What's your name, what's your name?

My name is the seahorse, my name is the seahorse

Yes, it is.

You wouldn't think we'd have energy to see the rest of the aquarium after that, but a nice lunch in the dome room helped. Elena insisted we visit Dory and Nemo, and she liked looking at the jellyfish and other animals too. We got 100+ pictures today (blogger only allows 5/post).

Mommy's Silly Whitto

None of us thought it was possible! Fatty fat Whitto can fit in the bathroom sink! Any thoughts as to why he decided that was a cozy spot to rest? One turn of the faucet and he'd be soaked and crankier (because he's always cranky). If it was our other orange kitty in there, Elena's Warrick, no one would question motive...

Happy Birthday to Daddy!

Today is Daddy's birthday. We had a party for him "yesterday-yay." Nana and PopPop and Uncle Greg and Ruby and Nattie and Grandma and Grandpa came over for sandwiches and drinks. We didn't have "happy cake" though. Instead, Mommy and I made chocolate mousse to sing happy birthday to. I gave Daddy a big big hug! Love, Elena

*words in quotes are how E actually says it

It's Ariel

Elena colored this picture of Ariel today. Since Thanksgiving, we've seen the Little Mermaid more times than can be counted. Elena's favorite part is when Scuttle the seagull uses the dinglehopper (fork) as a comb and it poofs his hair. She always laughs out loud at that part! Anyway, her Ariel obsession led to her 2006 Christmas ornament being the talking Ariel from Hallmark.

Cookies for Santa!

We've baked and decorated our Christmas cookies for Santa - think he'll come get them tonight before Mommy and Daddy and I eat them all? Way to go Mommy on getting lots of pictures of me and Aubrie and Aiden and Aunt Kiki and Auntie rolling out dough and using cookie cutters. But oh Mommy! You didn't take pictures of me decorating them! We do have video though, I'm even singing Christmas carols on the video with Aiden and Aubrie. I bet Daddy is smart enough and has some time to download and upload the video. I'll give him a big big hug and some chocolate! Love, Elena

Oh Christmas tree...

The tree cutting details were posted on Jim's blog. That's Elena's cute friend Gracie in the photos. She's a goof sometimes! And is also obsessed with Warrick.

Santa pic has arrived

Look at her trying to escape! You'd think that basket of candy canes would distract from scary Santa...

All about Elena (as of 12/6/2006)

Favorite Things: tattoos (the temporary kind), swimming lessons with Tephra, her Warrick, Disney's The Little Mermaid

Common Sayings: "WOW!" "It's too scary." "... best friends."

Wants: Strawberry Shortcake My Little Pony slippers, cars from Cars

Sillies: Obsessed with all things Halloween, which is confusing because half the time she's talking about Halloween, she really means Christmas.