YAY! Lake Sammamish beach day!

And good job Elena for keeping that hat on! It was a great day for the beach and Elena will use any excuse to wear her Ariel swimsuit...
We met Aubrie and Aunt Kiki there and had fun in the sun and sand. There were seashell and rock hunts, swimming, hole digging, snacking, and just laying about.
Elena made some duck friends too.
Elena and Aubrie also had fun burying things in the sand.
We can't wait to go back again!

Art class puppets

At art class on Tuesday Elena made mommy and baby dinosaur puppets.Two paper plates were stapled together and Elena added triangle pieces of paper to turn them into Stegosaurus with bony plates on their back.
Her favorite part was covering them in sparkly blue paint.
She enjoyed watching everyone else paint too...

ICE CREAM!

We met up with Auntie Carm and Walter for ice cream at the outlet mall.



Elena loves chocolate ice cream!

Run faster Rai!

We went to Mega-Dogs to watch Auntie's Rainey do an agility trial. Before that we stopped at the Hanna Anderson outlet and Elena got a dress. She tried it on in the dressing room then refused to take it off. I know we've posted some of her more interesting outfits before, this is just another example of her style - denim capris, pretty dress, pony sweater, rain jacket. Auntie was nice enough to share her strawberries with us.
It was very wet, but Rai didn't seem to mind. And Elena was happy just holding the leash.
Auntie put her up on shoulders so she could see the dogs run and jump better. Elena enjoyed the puppies very much, but wished Rai got to run and jump longer and more often. If you want to see the video of Rai's turn, click here.

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday!

This picture looks like it should be from the end of the day, but it was at the beginning. Yes, she is laying on our front step looking at rocks. Jim got the Elena birthday bike tuned up and ready to ride! She's not much for pedaling, so they worked on steering.
Elena loves that it's a pony bike. And she was excited to put on her sticker covered blue bike helmet.
To keep her happy outside while yard work was getting done, we set up a tent with her little DVD player and books. Mostly she liked trying to lure Warrick in and tossing her ponies about.
Yes, again (or still?) she is wearing her Ariel dress. This is her mid-song. You do know the Ariel solo where she sings a melody and Ursula captures her voice, don't you?
Hope you're having a great weekend!

Dinner with the Holmes

Occasionally on Fridays we have dinner with the Holmes family. Elena loves playing with Aubrie. They dressed up as princesses - Aubrie was Snow White and Elena was Ariel (of course). Elena added clippy-clop shoes and an Ariel purse to her ensemble.
Aubrie got a little more creative and added gloves, the blue fuzzy hat, a fireman's helmet, fairy wings, and a scepter. WOW!
Then we played Pretty Pretty Princess. No one really won, but Elena and Aubrie had fun putting on the jewelry (especially the earrings) and looking in the hand mirror.
Before dressing up, it was an evening of pony this and pony that...

Silly kitties

Look at Whitto! Hehehehe. Whitto is going to sleep. Hehehe! Look at Warrick! He's in Mommy's bed! I love Warrick.
Whitto in the salad. He was in the dirt!
Look at that! Hehehe. In the stroller.
Perrin is just walking.
Love, Elena

Note: Elena laughed a lot looking at these pictures! More hehehes than I could type...

Elena puts her face in the water over and over and over

Another fun day at swim class

We just love sharing swimming photos and video!

Doesn't the Ariel tattoo necklace look great with the swimsuit? Elena is always excited when the swim toys are blue...
Teacher Patty had them shopping for fruit in the pool today. Look - grapes!
Elena likes to close her eyes during back floats.
After swimming, Elena takes a looooooooooong shower and gets dressed for the day. This is her new blue dress (which she LOVES!) and her Auntie Tracy sparkle shoes.

Fun at the River House

We spent the weekend looking for mushrooms and having outdoor fun in the Lake Wenatchee area. Mushrooming wasn't so great and there were tons of mosquitoes, but Grandma's river house was plenty of fun as usual.Elena loves jumping on the little trampoline. Here she is mid-jump (if only her face was towards the camera...).
Elena did find a coral mushroom and then helped Grandpa cook it for the potluck. She loved the mushrooms and had more than her share of coral and bolete.
Auntie and Terry gave Elena a pedicure. Looks like it tickled!
All that fun makes a tired girl! Or three tired girls... Pit and Rai are Elena's cozy friends.

Elena dances to the Peep theme song

Elena and Auntie do Ring-around-the-Rosie

Ikea fun

We went to Ikea so Elena could get her free birthday helmet (which is blue and now covered in stickers).

Elena peeking through the mushroom door!

Is it a Nemo or Ariel room?
Crawling through the tunnel.
Elena always gets tired of pushing her little cart, good thing she isn't too big to ride in it!

Fun pictures to share

I like this dress Nana made me! It's blue! I wore sunglasses when we walked Co yesterday.Look at all my ponies! There are lots more in my bed. And now I even have pony sheets. I have lots of Cars too. Auntie says I should display them at her library.
I still love my Ariel dress. Mommy says I look grown-up here. I'm just dancing.
Love, Elena

Elena picking morel mushrooms Mother's Day weekend

Happy Mother's Day!

This is the real reason we haven't been blogging - we've been too busy working on Mother's Day gifts! With Auntie, we printed photos on fabric paper and made them into quilts for Grandma and Nana.

This is Grandma's. She's going to hang it at the river house!

This is Nana's. We didn't get to give it to her in person, but Ruby and Nattie and Tate are delivering it.

We didn't make Great Grandma a quilt, instead we made her a fancy accordion card she can display anywhere. It has pictures of Elena at different ages and even a picture of Mommy and Auntie as little girls!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, nanas, grandmas, aunties, and other nice ladies!