She Puts A Smile On My Face

"I Know How You Pick The Person To Marry"

Riding in the car on the way to the Y this afternoon, Elleanor started this conversation with me. Sometimes I wonder where she gets this stuff...

E: "Mommy, I know how you pick the person to marry."

Me: (intrigued) "Really? How"

E: "You meet a boy and talk for a little bit. Then you go home and pack up your clothes and he goes to his house and packs up his clothes. They you decide to build a new house together."

Me: "Really? It's that easy?"

E: "Yes. Isn't that how you met Daddy?"

Me: (smiling) "Sort of."

E: "Well who introduced you to him?"

Me: "Mommy had a friend named Shawna. She also knew Daddy and she introduced us. We met at a coffee shop to talk for the first time...Starbucks."

E: "Was I in your tummy when you met Daddy?"

Me: "No, Elleanor, you were not in my tummy for a long time. You have to be married before you can have a baby in your tummy. Remember that."

The "Animals" Visit the Zoo

While Joe was studying for his board exams a few weeks ago, the girls and I met Jessica, Marc, Ashby and Kennedy at Pt. Defiance Zoo in Tacoma.




We had a great time exploring the grounds, playing and looking at all the animals....so much so that we bought a year membership! It was the perfect sized zoo for us to make it through within a few hours.







The carousel ride at the end of the day was the highlight of our adventure!

Photo Shoot Gone Bad

The girls were all dressed up for Elleanor's Preschool Graduation, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try to take their picture together.

As you can see, it was not successful...

Abigail: "I'm falling...is anyone going to catch me?"

Emerson: "Oh geez, that was a close one!"

Elleanor's Preschool Graduation

Elleanor graduated from Adventureland Preschool in June. She was so excited to put on a real cap and gown and receive her "diploma"!







Look out Kindergarten...Here comes Elleanor! :-)

July 5, 2003

Seven years ago today, Joe and I were married!


Happy Anniversary, babe!

A lot has happened in the last seven years...


Can't wait to see what the next 7 holds...

I had an unforgettable weekend at the beach with you...

Thank-you for being a wonderful partner and husband...I love you!

Elleanor's "Mommy Teeth"

Elleanor's bottom two teeth have been loose for quite some time. So long, in fact, that her adult teeth have been growing in behind them. Elleanor calls them her "Mommy Teeth"!


After we got home from the wedding extravaganza in Portland, the girls were playing and dancing in their flower girl dresses. Ainsley accidentally knocked Elleanor in the mouth and her first tooth FINALLY came out!



She was SO excited and called everyone! She gently placed her tooth in her tooth fairy pillow that our dear friend, Betty Ann, made for her. (Thank-You, Betty Ann!)


Joe had told Elleanor that the Tooth Fairy is friends with Tinker Bell, so she was very excited to go to sleep that night, knowing that two fairies would make an appearance in her room!

She ran into our room at 5:50 a.m. EXTREMELY excited that the Tooth Fairy had left her TWO dollars and a note. She said she heard the Tooth Fairy and Tinker Bell talking to each other in her room last night, looking for her tooth, and then they whispered "good night" to her!


Oh, to be a child again with such a sense of imagination!

Just two days later, we were eating corn on the cob for dinner. Joe and I watched Elleanor intently as she ate her corn, as we knew her second tooth was hanging on by a thread. She WOULD NOT let us pull it! She said she would try to wiggle it out herself.


After 30 minutes of wiggling, I convinced her that a piece of corn was stuck in that loose tooth and that I needed to pull it out. Sure enough, as soon as I worked to "get that piece of corn out"....out popped the second tooth! ;-)



The Tooth Fairy once again visited and left her another two dollars and a note.




She is planning on using her money for the ice cream truck that comes around our neighborhood in the summer...if the rain ever stops and it gets warm enough! :-)