Evolving Sweetie

Sweet Hearts

In spite of being ill, last weekend I snuck in much needed Aunt Nette time. Watched the girls Friday night and Sat morning to give HD & Mike a little couple getaway. 

I love having unstructured lengths of time with the girls. We had a pizza party Friday night. A heart-shaped chocolate chip banana pancake breakfast was a HUGE hit. We whipped up a batch of sugar cookies and decorated to our heart's content. Then whittled away the rest of the morn traversing around our local zoo. 

Even though I wasn't up to my normal energy level, we had a blast. The girls innocence and sweetness is infectious. What a beautiful experience that's been feeding my soul all week long. 

POSTCARD from our hearts to yours

 

 

Point Defiance Zoo in January

Looking forward to helping HD & Mike get a mini getaway date later today. Quality niece time ahead. Yahoo!

Finally downloaded the pictures from our outing to the Point Defiance Zoo a few weekends ago."That's a LONG drive" to quote an exasperated Mairead when we got home. Tell me about it, still can't get the Wiggles out of my head. But well worth the road weariness.

We had a blast running around the grounds. The animals were in a playful mode that morning. The polar bears were very active and wrestling in the water. So fascinating to watch that I didn't bother trying to photograph it. The walruses were frisky as well. Put all us visitors in a wondrous mode.

Fun Saturday spent with the lovely nieces.

POSTCARDS from the Point Defiance Zoo

 

Aunt Jeannette? - An inch from the lens

 

Whatcha see Em?  

 

Nice kitty cat

 

Look girls - the Polar Bears are playing

Hey Big Guy

 Front row seat

Kissing cousins

Bye for now

    Who doesn't love Penguins?

Slide races

Conquering the Seahorse - twice

Riding her favorite

Emmie - 3.5 years old

 Mairead 5.25 years old      

 

Catch Up Pics

December was a whirlwind between work slamming, helping my sister during her recovery and the holidays. In fact, I was so distracted that I forgot my own camera to record most events. Luckily my sister's photos bare witness.

POSTCARDS from December 09 with the lovely nieces

 

Baking Cookies with Aunt Nette

Taking the girls and friend Ellie to their first Nutcracker

 Making Gingerbread Houses @ Mairead's school

Cookies for Santa - staying over Christmas Eve

      
  
 

Weekend Update

Hi Everyone! Sorry I've been absent more than usual. Work's keeping me hopping. Lots of extra Aunt duties this month too. And I don't mind one bit. Spending time with my nieces makes my soul sing loudest. 

Being that it's mid-Dec, serious time with the Kitchen-Aide was in order to prep multiple cookie dough batters for gift production. The girls were a BIG help.  Loved explaining all the steps to them. And seeing them soooo excited to watch the various stages. Of course I sounded like a broken record the majority of the time. "No we can't eat it yet, it's not ready." "Please don't put that in your mouth." No it's not ready yet." You get the picture. 

They loved it so much in fact that I wasn't in the door more than 2 minutes on Sunday morning before they brought me out my apron to make cookies again. And the following minute paraded out with their aprons on. Very sweet and cute! It was always one of my dreams when thinking of my own family to share baking with little girls. So blessed that I get to share that experience with my lovely nieces. 

Pictures will be forth coming later this week once I get them downloaded from my sister. We were very productive. The three of us made 2 batches of sugar cookies, 1 batch of chocolate chips and 1 snickerdoodle batch. During their "rest" times, I banged out 2 batches each of gingersnaps and peanut butter cookie dough. Gives me a good start on the cookie tins. 

What is your favorite holiday cookie?

Sunday Aug 30th date with the Nieces - Part 3

The last destination was the little arcade on the waterfront that has a carousel. If there is a carousel in the vicinity we must ride it! Believe me, they know if one is around.

Also threw in a few games of air hockey and wack-a-mole or in this case wack-a-rat. Ended up with enough tickets for each girl to get a princess tattoo and a sheet of fish stickers. Whew - what a great date!

POSTCARDS from the Waterfront Carousel.

Ready, Steady, Go!

Round & round

Artist shot 1

Artist shot - 2

Emmie

Mairead - our horse girl

Sunday Aug 30th date with the Nieces - Part 2

After running our paces at Fisherman's Terminal, we headed down to the Seattle Aquarium. I love seeing how much their interaction with the exhibits changes as they age. We timed things well this trip. There were divers in the new and very impressive Window on the Sound exhibit. Student face painters were there - which is always a huge hit. Mairead got a purple dolphin and Emmie a pink whale. 

As luck would have it, we got to see the Tropical fish and the Fur Seals being feed. Very impressed with the girls patience and engagement during the showings. I remember many days when all they'd want to do is press the brightly colored whale sound buttons. Emmie & I had to practically drag Mairead away from the awesome interactive computerized whale recording display. 

And as a good Aunt, we made our way to the gift shop for a treat. Mairead picked a set of beads for making jewelry and Emmie lit up when she saw the pink seahorse. She keep kissing it and singing little songs to her seahorse all the way home. 

Lovely time.

POSTCARDS from the Seattle Aquarium.

 

Window on the Sound

Tidal wall

Emmie found the Octopus hiding underneath a huge rock

Patient throughout face painting

Here's looking at you

This fish kept flirting with the girls while we were awaiting feedings 

Feeding time

Cute!

Emmie

Mairead

Looking for big sis

Harbor Seal

See the dolphin before it fades away

Feeding time - part 2

Seagull trying to snag a fish mid toss

End of Feeding time

Handsome fur seal

Leaving the Aquarium

A girl & her seahorse

Sunday Aug 30th date with the Nieces - Part 1

I love football season for many reasons. One of which is with my BIL out of town traveling with the Seahawks, more Aunt Jeannette dates are added to my calendar. The one-on-one niece time lights me up for days. This past Sunday - the girls and I had a 3 part date. 

Part 1 - Breakfast @ Chinooks. 

Yum - I'd go in for the warm scones and gooey orange butter alone. What am I saying, I have! I was good and opted to balance myself with a protein based entree - the Fisherman's Scramble. Loaded up with lots of bay shrimp and a healthy sized portion of Dungeness crab. The girls had french toast & waffles. I think their favorite part is the location. There is a huge handicap ramp in the lobby that every child in Seattle races on. My lovely nieces are no exception. Then after the meal, we run around the dock watching the fishing boats, entertaining the dinners and on constant lookout for ducks. The ducks forgot to make an appearance this time. 

POSTCARDS from Fisherman's Terminal & Chinooks.

Table by the window. 

Little girls on the run!

Mairead @ almost 5 years old

Emily @ 3 years old

Fisherman's Terminal

Love that smile!

Niece Getaway

Spending the weekend with the nieces to facilitate a parents adult away weekend. It's the least I can do! Having a great time, although I must say I am not as energetic as a 4.5 and almost 3 year old. And I can't remember the last time I had grilled cheese for dinner. Excited for another fun filled day.

W is for Weepy

My thoughts are swirling in so many directions this evening it's difficult to hone in on one cohesive theme. Likely the events and emotions of today will be explored in a few entries here. I'll start by saying it was a beautiful and touching day that's left me exhausted. And extremely weepy.

As I type I weep for Chuck. For all he misses. The loving, loyal fellowship of our friend tribe. The closeness, love and belonging to my family. The intimacy and devotion of living with the love of his life - me, his wife. 

And I weep for us too. The space his absence leaves is different for us all. The friend we lost who could make us laugh like no one else and who we could always count on. The brother and son we had for too short of a time. The uncle that will never be personally known.

Uncle - this is the space that is gushing tonight. I love children, how they can cut to it with an innocent question. Little Em asked a question today about Chuck that stopped my heart. The blow was that these little girls Chuck loved so dearly can't possibly know him. Believe me sweetheart, if Uncle Chuck was here, he'd be a constant and loving presence in your life. You'd both have a very special relationship with him. I weep wholeheartedly that you and Uncle Chuck have lost it. And it makes me heart-sick all the time Chuck that you don't have the opportunity to actively participate in our nieces lives. 

This week left little time for downtime. I've pushed myself into heavy sleep deprivation making the ground ripe for weeping. Haven't been this teary in months. Its part of the ebb and flow of loss. Tomorrow is another day. 

Hiking 09 - Return to Twin Falls, part 1

This weekend Mike & I took the girls up to Twin Falls. It was misting most of the morning, but we were pretty covered under the tree line. Poor Mike ended up carrying one or both of the girls 3/4 of the way. We all had fun. 

Normally if I'm not sporting a hat hiking, I'm wearing bandana. Luckily I pack a few and both were purple so we didn't have any issues when Emmie asked to wear it. They look soooooo cute in the bandanas. The girls had energy left to run along the flats by the river to end the outing. Me - I hung back and shot photos.  

Today's post is the people pics. I'm working hard to take pictures with people in them. I concentrate so on the atmosphere that I forget the people involved. Tomorrow will be some scenic views.

POSTCARDS from Twin Falls - June 09

Mairead @ 1st rest stop

Emmie @ 1st rest stop

Aunt Nette & Mairead

I love it!

Mike & the girls. Don't they look so cute!

Being silly @ lower lookout.

Us at lower lookout - Emmie hiding.

Daddy's girl

Rivers edge

Em's feet

Emmie

This is my favorite shot - atmospherically

Running Mairead!

Running Girls

Aunt Jeannette, Can you pick me up?