No Doll

Grace noted today that "Santa didn't bring me a doll."  She is even making excuses for his negligence: "The doll was too high.  Santa couldn't reach the shelf.  And the man wouldn't help him get the doll down."  "My doll is blue.  My doll is a tiny doll," she explained.  In Santa's defense, when she sat in his lap she asked for a motorcycle.

Pez

Nelson received a Pez dispenser shaped like the Emperor from Star Wars. Grace looked at it and said, "Look, Daddy. A really ugly woman."

Family Christmas

Top Left: Barbara looking out window
Top Right: Smiling boy and Betty
Middle left: The Chef
Middle: Jared and his rubber chicken
Middle Right: Michele
Bottom: Jared, Eric and Jaime

Family Christmas

Top: Jaime, Eric and Jared
Middle: Milt
Bottom: Sleeping Eric

More Christmas Grace Pictures

Manic Grace

Grace went positively manic on Christmas, with so many people and presents. She couldn't hold still and just had to run in circles.

Santa Came

Grace "riding" her gift from Santa Claus.

Dear Santa

Grace's letter to Santa Claus, dictated by Grace.

 

Dear, Santa:

How have you been. 

How is all your reindeer? 

Why do you go down the chimney? 

Enjoy the cookies. 

Leave me some presents, please.  (The addition of "Please" was highly encouraged by Mom.)

XXXOOO XXXOOO.

 

Love, from Grace.

MerryCosel Part II

Grace is really excited about MerryCosels,.... until, that is, they start moving.

PEPS Holiday

You wouldn't want to run across this group in a dark alley on Christmas Eve. It would be a Santarchy.

MerryCosel

Aimee confused Grace when they went downtown, calling the carousel a merry-go-round and a carousel. So Grace adjusted quickly and called it a MerryCosel.

I want...

Grace's favorite phrase is "I want something that I want."  She says "Daddy, I'm hungry."  "What do you want to eat?"  "I want something to eat that I want."  We have this conversation several dozen times each day.

Striped Dog

Grace asked Aimee, "Maybe I can get a striped dog?"  Aimee told her no and that we didn't have any money for a striped dog.  "Maybe we can buy some more money," Grace suggested.  "And then I can have a striped dog!"

Splashing

It's wet wet wet wet wet wet.  On the way home from preschool Grace was very excited with all the rain on the roads and squealed in delight anytime we hit a big puddle and splashed water high in the air.  The good news for her is that it looks like we'll have lots of puddle splashing opportunities this weekend and beyond.  Wet wet wet wet wet.

Halloween Blues

Grace appears to have caught on to the whole Halloween candy scam.  Everyday she announces that we're going trick-or-treating tonight.  And then we explain that Halloween won't come until next year. 

Who is the... Pieman?

Aimee has jury duty this week. Grace and I drove Aimee to downtown
Seattle this morning since it was pouring - waiting for a bus in a
downpour is miserable. On the way to the courthouse, Grace said "The
Pieman is bad." We don't know who this mysterious pieman is, or what
he has done. Or, come to think of it, if "Pieman" even approximates
the spelling of the concept in Grace's head.

Smoky in Here

After I roasted a chicken and smoke filled the house, Eric came in and
said, "It's smoky in here." Grace looked up and answered, "It's not
smoky in my ear."

Pumpkin

Here is Grace's pumpkin. She was very excited while we carved the pumpkin and is very proud of this rather worried pumpkin. She didn't want to touch the guts of the pumpkin.

The Recharging Generation

With Eric, Aimee and I living in he same house we have 3 laptops, 3
cellphones, and one Playstation Portable System - all of which require
recharging. I was noticing today as I vacuumed that all our power
outlets seem to have been converted to batter recharging centers. We
are now the recharging generation.

Dead Squirrel

We ran across a dead squirrel today. Grace was impressed - 3 years are impressed with death, not knowing precisely what it means. She wanted to know why it was dead. I speculated that a car ran over it. But that didn't explain how the body ended up on the sidewalk. Grace had her own explanation: "Maybe a mad squirrel pushed him."

Is it always wrong to generalize?

GrrrLillas and Grandma

While Aimee went to an appointment, Grace and I took an hour or so and
went to the zoo. She kept talking about the GrrrLillas, which I
thought was hilarious. Later in the evening, we told Grace that
tomorrow we're going to Grandma's house for my birthday celebration.
Grace announced, "I'm not going to talk to Grandma. I'm going to be
shy to her."

Ferry Pictures

I like how Grace thinks. She wanted to draw a picture of the Ferry
Boat. Then draw the people in the ferry boat... and on the ferry
boat... and then we needed to draw the people falling of the ferry
boat and splashing in the water.

37

Nelson turns 37 years old today. Nelson trivia: 37 years ago he was named after White Sox ballplayer Nelson Fox. He was born in Paris. Another woman came into the hospital to have her baby at the same time. She was dropped off, had the baby (her umpteenth one) and then her husband picked her up in a combine tractor no less to give them a ride home. If it weren't for baseball distracting his Father, he might have been named John Deere Appell or Farmhall Appell.

Canada Dry

Aimee is drinking Canada Dry Ginger Ale today. She is sick. Grace and I had been sick this last week; now it's Aimee's turn. Grace has spent much of today pretending that I am a horse and insisting that she tether to the living room end table - and then I have to sit there and go "neeeeeeeiiiiigh!" over and over and over. She is obsessed with leashes and tying people and stuffed animals to chair legs.

Goodbye Elmo Balloon

Grace came racing in the back door panicked - "Daddy, I need Elmo back, I need Elmo back."  At which point I realized she had taken her Elmo birthday balloon from the family birthday part into the back yard - and let it go.  So she has had her first lesson in letting balloons go - only it hasn't sunk in.  She kept asking, "Is Eric looking for Elmo?" whenever Eric stepped outside.

Fruits of the Garden update

The canning went very well and until Aimee realized we forgot to add the Lemon juice.  The lemon juice's acidity is essential to long term storage of the tomatoes, so now we have a lot of canned tomatoes that we need to use soon.  The sure look pretty.

Fruits of the Garden

We didn't pick any tomatoes for a week - and look at our bounty! We used a laundry basket to pick the juicy little red devils before we canned them over devilishly high heat.

Spider Glacier

Aimee and Nelson standing before Spider Glacier in the pass over Holden Village. Unfortunately, Spider Glacier has melted so much that the trail was unpassable over the pass. This picture was taken an hour or so before that discovery - otherwise we wouldn't be so darned happy. So Jami, Micah, Aimee and I turned around and hiked back out 10 miles and down 4,000 feet, arriving back at the truck at 10pm at night and then driving to Field's Pt. Landing to catch the boat to Holden.

Scone Chicken

Grace called me a "scone chicken" this morning - which is what a person is "after when you take a bath."  Mommy, however, is not a scone chicken - although there seems to be some hope that she could eventually attain that status.

Dinosaurs and Falling Suns

At Holden Village, Grace and I (Nelson) were watching deer graze in the center of the village.  Grace told me, "Daddy, the deer are afraid of the dinosaurs."  Later, at sunset, Grace said, "Daddy, the sun is going down to the mountains?"  "It is?" I said.  "It's going to break all the houses.  It's going to break all the castles."

President Past

Aimee is now a Past President at Gift of Grace. Her two years of service are up - now it's off to Grad School. No rest for the weary.

Browser

After Loren asked Eric a question about Eric's computer, Eric gave him a lengthy answer about opening a browser and typing information in and where to go, etc. etc.  After Eric was finished, Loren returned to the beginning principle and asked, "What's a browser?"

Idiots vs. Dummies

We were debating among ourselves which series of books was better: the Dummies guides or the Idiots guides.  Eric said he liked the Idiots series better "because they have much more pictures."

Brushing Teeth

Bill and Isable left yesterday at 8:30am, Loren arrived yesterday at 8:00pm.  This morning he woke up and grabbed what he thought was his travel-size toothpaste and proceeded to brush his teeth with Tinactin.  He says it was the worst-tasting toothpaste he has ever tried.

Ave Atque Vale

(Hail and Farewell)
Isabel and Bill have left the state on this Friday morning. Here is a Isabel in repose - do not be fooled by this peaceful reflection... this moment of motionlessness lasted all of 10 seconds. She and Grace did not stop moving the entire 5 days - except when they collapsed to sleep in the evenings.

Hounds of Kubota Garden

Straight out of the Hound of the Baskervilles, when we went for a walk through the Kubota Gardens today we were greeted by the lonely, eerie cries of the Hounds of Kubota Gardens. Aw-ooooooooooo...

More Arguments

A discussion between Isabel and Bill, and Grace, over what movie to watch on the DVD in the car.  Isabel: "I want to watch a new movie."  Bill: "You can watch whatever is is the DVD already."  Isabel: "No, I want to watch a new one."  Bill: "You can watch whatever is in the DVD."  Grace: "I want to watch a new movie, too."  Isabel: "No, Grace you can't.  You can watch what is in the DVD already."

Dad and Grandad

The amazing Bibo, Dad and Grandad, with his young charges.

Coffee Culture

We introduced Isabel to Seattle's favorite pasttime - quaffing large amounts of coffee. Bill was worried Isable was sleeping too much so we thought this would help. You can see the eyes wild with a pure caffeine rush. (Note: this is a jest. Actual contents of cup: water. NO children were caffeinated in the posting of this blog.)

Arguments

We went to eat salmon tonight at Katie and Milt's.  Isabel slept most of the evening.  Bill may stay up all night tonight :)... Isabel (age 4) and Grace's (age 3) argument on the way home from Katie and Milt's house this evening went something like this.  Isabel: "Grace, you are bigger than a mouse and bigger than an ant."  Grace: "No, Isabel, I... I'm your niece."  Isabel: "No Grace, you don't understand what I'm saying."  Grace: "No, I'm your niece."  Isabel: "You're being mean." 

Henry Moses Pool

Aimee's Dad, Bill, and his 4 year-old daughter Isabel, are visiting from Virginia. Today Bill and Nelson took Grace and Isabel to the Henry Moses Pool. By the end of the 3 and a half hour tripIsabel and Grace were nearly comatose with exhaustion. Those weere two very tired little girls - they were nearly tired enough to not argue. Nearly.

-er

Grace is adding the suffix -er onto the ending of words. Our neighbors Patti and Mike are now Patter and Miker. Aimee and I are now Mommer and Dadder.

Spotlight on... Flounder!

Our other "guest of honor" at Betty's birthday was that lovable fish from The Little Mermaid - Flounder. Here the lovable little fellah can be seen perching on Jared's shoulder.

Happy Birthday, Betty Forse

Today we enjoyed a fantastic brunch (including macadamia nut and banana pancakes with pineapple butter and maple syrup) at Palisades in Queen Anne to celebrate Betty's 83rd birthday. Happy Birthday, Grandma Betty...

Spotlight on... Katie Cissell

Nelson's Mom, Katie, works for Western Washington University's Center for Continuing Education in Rehabilitation, a tongue-twisting title that fortunately has a catchy acronym: CCER (Pronounced "See-Sir").

Spotlight on... Lindsey Appell

Here's an essay written by Nelson's sister, Lindsey about her Grandparents.

Cowboy Junkies

Tonight Aimee, Grace and Nelson went to see the Cowboy Junkies at ZooTunes in the Woodland Park Zoo. Grace did sumersaults in our laps for two hours, powered by potato chips and a 20 minute nap. The concert was difficult to hear over the gleeful shouting of our 3 year old.

Grace and Books

Grace brought me one of Aimee's library books today and informed me that there were words in it.  I agreed.  Then she said, "Jesus."  "Jesus is in the book?" I asked.  "No - the hay," said Grace.  "The hay?"  "For the animals," she said, and then elaborated, "Jesus made the hay for the animals at the rrrrrr zoo."  I asked and asked, but I never did find out what rrrrrrr meant. 

Seward Park Beach

Satuday, August 13th, we took Grace (age 3), Michael (age 4) and Perry (age 2) to Seward Park for a few hours at the beach.

Grace-isms: Mr. Q

Mr. Q: an imaginary friend, female, fond of climbing trees and body swapping.  Mr. Q enjoys travelling with the family.  Mr. Q is in the master bedroom talking to her friends as I type this post.  The friends have no known names.  Presumed peaceful.

ML Feeds The Birds

ML flew in from Georgia for a fun visit, including a visit to the zoo, where we were mobbed by dozens of ravenous birds lusting after our birdseed popsicles.

Hurricane Ridge

Hurrican Ridge photos - Katie and Milt; Aimee and Grace. July 2005 Trip.

The Enlightened Appell

Eric finally achieved Enlightenment status in Kubota Japanese Gardens in South Seattle in July 2005. We're not sure what this means, but the Earth cracked and groaned after his enlightenment.