Happy Valentine's Day

About a month ago, I exclaimed to Pearson that I was going to have a Valentine's get together on Valentine's Day. What can I say, I have really gotten into this "Hallmark" holiday this year. I decided I wanted to have it be a kids and Moms party (no offense to dads but we just don't have the space for that many people in our house anymore). Instead of just having people over to "play" with food, we would have cookie making and Valentine decorating as party festivities. That way, the kids could make Valentine's for their dads or other special loved one and folks would be able to have something to take home. Thanks to all our wonderful friends for showing up and showing their love for the holiday and us.

Card Making Station (a little meager but really no 1 year old really cares about making a card)

Food Table

Cookie Decorating Station

View of all Three Stations.

Mae chilling in Will's carseat.

Jill reading to Mae and Edie.

Danny, Chloe, Edie, Will, Mae, Makana, and Haley

And Lucy makes the photo for a second

Mr. Amazing and the ladies [Haley and Mae]

Mae is done with the party.

Lucy, Sarah, Edie, and Jill

Only In Seattle

As I have mentioned in earlier post I have a love/hate relationship with Seattle. Mainly the hate focuses on the weather, however, there are other things that drive me nuts. I know there are odd people everywhere, however, at times it seems that Seattle has a higher number of bizarre folks then other places. Case in point. Yesterday, the sun shone on Seattle. It was a beautiful, sunny day in the 50's (wasn't hating the city). I loaded Mae and Ditka to head up to the post office and go for a stroll around the neighborhood. As we were heading home from the walk, I saw a woman, a block or so ahead, with a box in her hand that looked like crackers. She was bending over the sidewalk feeding something. I assumed a bird. As I got closer I realized the woman was feeding an injured RAT! I was so disgusted and shocked that I was beyond speechless.

Ditka, of course, was pulling to try to get to the rat. We had to cross the street because I was worried that Ditka might have tried to eat it and would end up getting sick. The woman and I exchanged a couple of words, emphasis on couple. Me, "what are you doing?" She, "he is injured." Me, "oh. Let's go Ditka."

I walked away shaking my head thinking to myself, "only in Seattle."

Outtakes

Here is reason #115 why I need to take a photo class.

As part of Valentine's Day cards I wanted to include a photo of Mae. I tried very hard to capture Mae in all her sweetness in a shirt with hearts on it and a pink backdrop. I tried on three separate occasions to get the perfect moment that says, "Happy Valentine's Day." As you can see from below I failed miserably.

I do love the third one down where I told her to say "cheese." You can tell she is saying it. I ended up going with a photo from our day in the arboretum. No hearts but a huge smile that says I love you!

Sealed with a kiss

Here are shots from one of two sessions of Valentine card making. Mae loved putting the stickers on and she kept saying, "I stick."

Heart Day Preparations

Until I had Mae I could have cared less about Valentine's Day. That is not a totally true statement. I cared about Valentine's Day in high school, espeically when I had a boyfriend, and the first year that Pearson and I started dating. Other than that, I thought it was a lame holiday either because I had no one to spend it with or it seemed too cheesy.

It is now 2011 and I am heads over heels in love with Valentine's Day. It took falling in love all over again (with Mae) to make me fall in love with the holiday all over again. I have been channeling cupid the last week. We are throwing a Valentine's Day party for moms and kids here on Valentine's Day. I will being posting photos and letting you know how our heart day preparations are going.

Have I Told You About One of My Favorite Places?

I don't know if I have ever given proper mention to one of my favorite, if not favorite, places in all of Seattle - the Arboretum. For the last four and half years, I have spent countless hours running or walking the trails of the Arboretum by myself, with friends, Ditka, Pearson and Mae. The many miles that I have logged has brought me much joy. I have bonded with friends, grown closer to Pearson, exercised my body, my mind, and spirit, introduced Mae to the great outdoors, grown to love running, and found a place that I feel at home in Seattle.

The other day I decided to take Mae to the Arboretum to look for "birdies" (as she affectionately calls them) and ducks. (She calls ducks "quacks, quacks.") The ducks aren't new to Mae, we have traveled passed them countless time, however, we are always running passed them. I normally say, "there are the ducks" and keep going. We have never really stopped and looked for an extended time and I haven't had Mae walk the trails before. I decided since the weather was purely glorious here I would park near the visitor center and we would go for a little stroll together. We had such an awesome time doing it on Tuesday that we decided to head back on Wednesday. This time with our friends, Lucy and Sarah.

I think these photos sum up Mae's thoughts on the Arboretum. About the same as mine.

Spotting the ducks.

Checking out the quack, quacks

Lucy and Mae

Me, Mae, Lucy and Sarah

Dearest Mae

My Dearest Mae,

You are 17 months old today. I have not written you a letter on your month birthday in some time but I figured with so much going on right now it is high time that I got down to business and tell you what you have been doing (because there hasn't been any lack of doing over here).

To sum up the last month, I am going to use a quote from your dad last night. Right before bed, he said to me, "she is a quick learner." And you are. Your Dad took about 10 minutes on Monday and taught you how to shake hands when saying hello to people. I tried it today with you and you didn't forget how to do it. Also, today, you turned on the vacuum cleaner when I wasn't paying attention. I NEVER have shown you how to turn it on but as I was getting something done in the kitchen, I was startled by the start of the vacuum. There you were with a sly smile on your face.

Did I also mention you became bilingual? Due to my illness this month, a friend's au pair watched you for a day. After spending a day with her and another little tot your age, you started using the word, agua for water. Funny thing is you never used the word 'water' before. I guess I need to sign you up for Spanish classes ASAP. You might be the only person in this family who is bilingual, we can only hope that you are smarter than us.

Your dad is hell bent and determined to teach you manners, especially saying "please," when you want something. It comes out as "peas." The best part is when you just say "pees" because you know what you want but you don't say anything in front of it. For instance, right before bed you still get some milk (which you call "milk-a"). When you know you are supposed to get it, you just say "pees, pees." Then your dad asks what you want and you will say, "milka pees." It is simply the most adorable thing.

The number of words that you know is growing day by day. I will admit that I might be the only one that completely understands what you are saying. Funny thing is your Aunt Heather use to criticize me for not understanding your cousin, Luke. She would translate what he was saying and say, "don't you hear him." The other night I had to do the same for your dad and said the exact same thing. Looks like what goes around, comes around. Your new word for today was, 'frog.' Even though I do normally know what you are saying, there is still times when you will string together many, many words where I have no clue what is being said. The upside is you sound like you are carrying on a conversation with me. The downside I wish I knew what you were telling me.

You love to tickle your dad and I. When you tickle us, you say, "tickle, tickle, tickle." This comes in handy during "Mae and Mommy Cuddle Time." An event I have started implementing into our day this winter. Right after dinner we go upstairs and hang out on our bed and tickle, cuddle, sing, and read. It is getting us through the darkest months this winter while having many laughs. Along, with tickling you are able to walk farther then you ever have. You love holding our hands when we walk and you have started saying "hand" when you want us to take your hand.

Along with all these things you love to sing. Ba, Ba Black Sheep and Wheels on the Bus are probably your favorites right now. It doesn't matter who is singing to you, you become memorized and will go sit on their lap so they can sing to you. You still love to read and right now The Little Engine that Could is in the rotation as your favorite. I think it is because you are really liking trains at this point.

Wow, I could go on and on and on about all the things that are happening, there are countless. The last thing I will mention is that you have taken to bringing things with us wherever we go. You insist on it. Turtie [turtle bath toy], doggie [pull toy dog], baby, and cat have gone on countless errands and car trips with us. Some times you don't have enough hands for all of them so you have to pick which two you want to bring with you. I find it pretty funny when the plastic dog comes to the store with us and you tell fellow shoppers about the doggie.

Everyone told me that the years between one to two is so much fun because so many great things are happening developmentally. I didn't 100 percent believe them. I figured nothing could be as exciting as the first year. I think I am going to have to agree with them and say that this year has been pretty remarkable. You perpetually surprise and amaze me how smart, funny, kind, loving, curious, and unique you are. My love for you grows more and more each day and I can't wait for the next day to begin so I can see what happens. Thanks for keeping life so entertaining.

Love you always, Mom