Work photos

Everyone is having a blast. Nelson and Aimee know how to show everybody a good time!

Rippling pectorals

Eric provides the muscle and work ethic while Mark and Nelson showcase their rippling pectorals.

Shed Move Work Party

Before and after pictures from our shed moving party, Saturday May 27, 2006. The question each person asked, after we moved the shed, was "Why didn't they just put the shed in the corner of the yard in the first place?" (The plants growing up the wooden frames in the right corner are our peas.)

Grace Outside in the Yard in May

Flower Blogging

Spring Foliage

Spring flowers and foliage at the Appell household.

Easter Eric

Striking a classical pose, Eric showcases the Easter attire of a man of 2006: simple, graceful, elegant, yet charged with explosive energy. Equally ready for action, or ready for a nap.

Grace Easter

Grace had 3 separate Easter Egg Hunts, with Mom and Dad, with Church, and with Grandma and Grandpa. She had a very pretty dress for the occasion.

Easter Pics

I'm a little late with the Easter photos so lets kick it off with our favorite blue-handed man, Milt!

Beware The Snow Frog

 

 

What do animals eat?

According to Grace, this is what animals eat:
Bears = bear food;
Penguins = snow;
Grace = cookies;
Mommies = their own cookies;
Whales = a whale ate Marlin;
Tigers = grass;
Lions = grass, too;
Elephants = their own water;
Giraffes = leaves and hay;
Ostrich = nothing;
Cats = catfood;
Dogs = dogfood and bones;
Daddies = their own cookies;
Sharks = snibbers;
Polar Bears = fish;
Hippos = drink water instead, grass;
Parakeets = parakeet food;
Snakes = snakes, bad ones

Happy Birthday - 4 Years Old

Grace had her 4th Birthday celebration today with her friends Peri, Siri, Solen, Avery, Quinn and Miles - and Nelson's family.

Grace's Haircut

For her 4th birthday she finally had her first haircut. Aimee asked Grace what kind of haircut she wanted, and Grace said "A short haircut like Daddy." So Grace had a short haircut, but not as short as she wanted.

Lord of the Volcanoes

Grace standing over some Volcanoes on Alki Beach.

Bear Execution, Grace-style

Not sure what the bear's offense was, but the punishment was swift and severe.

Biking

Grace riding her new Christmas bike on a rare Seattle sunny winter day.

Cousins

Cousin Jess, Cousin Kevin, Great-Uncle Bill - and Grace.

The King and the Chapter

Grace stops at every pile of snow she sees and climbs on top, declaring herself "the King" and delivering a speech to her imaginary subjects. I, the photographer, she called "a chapter". The duty of the chapter was to stand next to the King while she pontificated.

Snowy morning in St. Paul

Our first day in St. Paul. Grace woke up thrilled that there was snow on the ground and put on her shoes without taking off her pajamas. So I let her go outside into the 15 degree chill for a few minutes.

At the escalator

On our way to St. Paul, Grace's first foray onto an airport escalator turned quickly into a desperate situation. Dad, always quick to lend a hand, instinctively grabbed his camera to snap a picture of his wife and daughter as they struggled against the relentless metallic tide of steps.

A doggie called Grace - a story by Grace

There was a doggie called Grace.  She liked to play with cats.  She played tag.  At the park, where there is not anything to ride on, nothing to sit on, nothing to stand on.  But there's nothing else.  The kitty's name is... there's another cat called Grace.  Another dog named Bone.  The other cat's name is bone (editorial note: I think she's just making this up as she goes).  The bear was is its cave snuggling with her cubs. (Explanation: Dad suggested a bear might be part of the story.  Grace disagreed.  The bear was in its cave, so it couldn't be part of this story.)  These dogs ran in circles and these cats run in circles (visual aid: cats and dogs represented by fingers on Grace's hands).

Red Eye

For some reason, all three of the clowns in this picture have red eye. It's appropriate, somehow.

Sign

Last time we went to the zoo, Grace insisted that I take a picture of this sign. I explained to her what the sign said and she still wanted a picture.

Semantics and the almost-4 year old

Grace and friends have figured out that the easiest way to change the perception of your behavior is to change the word. She and Miles were jumping off the back of the couch onto the cushions. When I told them no more jumping on the couch, they switched first to "bouncing." And then to "falling."

Miles the Pink Jedi Master and Grace

Grace and her friend Miles absorbed in the Care Bears, a DVD designed to torture parents with mindlessness.

Little Quinn, Mark, and Cat

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Ms. Pearl and Ms. Elisabeth

P. Pearl and G. Elisabeth, holding hands at Mark and Amy's palace on the peninsula.

The Lost Bunny and the Cow

There was a little bunny that was lost.  His Mommy was at the bunny place where they ate grass all day long snug in their beds.  That's where she lives - there - in the middle of this place.  That is where she lives.  She got out of bed.  She went to Starbucks.  She ate her lunch... her big lunch.  Mommies don't eat big lunches, they eat Mommy lunches.  Don't they need to eat bunny lunches?  She jumps and then she goes find her little bunny at the bunny store.  The little bunny is locked in a cage there... she is sad.. .she misses her Mom.  There was a cow.  There was a cow jumping there.  And it peaked - the cow peaked, in that little window.  And it crashed through the window, Daddy, that's what it did - it crashed through the window.  The people go outside and saw them.  They put ropes on his neck, and then they put him in a boat or his cage so he can't get out.  That's why he's going to be very sad.  So that's what is going to happen to him next.

Another Story dictated by Grace

The story begins with Clifford and me and you and Mommy.  Clifford got away.  First he got away and then I caught him.  I tried to and then you tried to caught him and then Mommy and then you helped.  Then the goalkeeper got him and he put him in the "Troze" trunk.  A troze is when you ra-cha.  He took Clifford and locked him up in a cage.  He was sad... he didn't know how to escape.  I missed my little puppy.  And Jajo the quirrel came.  He was real to talk.  He said "Get the doggy before he gets out."  That's what he said.  The troll was evil, the troll that caught him, and put him in the cage with lions.  But Clifford was still sad.  But my friend Phillip was too sad.  He missed his Mom... and his Dad.  She was said, she didn't know what to do to help him.  The zookeeper told her, "do not get any puppy."  "Yes I do."  And Clifford the puppy was still sad.  (There is more, but the story got more and more confusing and harder and harder to make out.)

Grace's Story - an Oral Tradition Tale

Once upon a time there was a cottage with Clifford and he got out and went to work and there was a whole bunch of people at the dog work, and they saw him, and they said "Oh No".  The Clifford dog teacher was really really big.  And the people saw the big red dog there and the big red Clifford dog was there.  He was a "Ponchon".  A "ponchon" is when you run - "aaaaaahhhhhh". 

Grace's thoughts

"They are flying away from the wind.  The crows and birds and the pigeons and, actually, the birds.  They are all flying away from the wind."

 

"Eric belongs here, Daddy, in our house.  He belongs in our house."

 

"If Mommy was a bird, and Daddy was a bird, then I could be in a egg."

Haircut

After waiting a long time between haircuts, yesterday I finally had my shaggy mane trimmed back to a short, neat haircut. Grace looked at it and said, "Daddy you got a haircut."  "Yes," I said.  Then she reached out and touched my newly sunlit ear and said, "Did you do that so that I could touch your ear?"

Bears

Bears, you are on notice!

Hammered TV

Don't miss our friend Mark Anderson's new weekly downloadable TV series on fixing up a house - Hammered TV. He has three episodes now and is planning on continuing, with the support of his loving wife, Amy Anderson. Their motto is: "If we can understand your question, we'll probably answer it."

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.