Christmas Eve and Morning at the Jensen's

CHRISTMAS EVE: We bake cookies for Santa; reportedly he prefers peanut butter and chocolate chip by the time he gets to our house

We leave them out with a carrot for the reindeer

and Elizabeth pretends to be a baby before she goes to bed.



CHRISTMAS MORNING
We awoke to tears "I'm all wet!"After a quick bath, we head downstairs. Elizabeth liked her stocking pretty well



She opened a few presents but got sucked into her Dora coloring book, and proceeded to spend the next hour coloring all the characters' teeth - blue. Huh.





It's noon, it's snowing, none of her toys arrived yet from Santa and yet we have had a wonderful holiday. The only thing we could ask for it to be with all of you who we love, and who love us so much. Happy Christmas to all.



p.s. overload hits

Lucy is my Homegirl

It has been snowing for a week in Seattle. Our original plan to travel to New England was scotched by the weather. So we are having a stay-at-home Christmas. We're baking and doing a lot of arts and crafts.

One aspect of all the weather is we are watching a little more TV than usual, as Elizabeth absolutely hates the snow, unless she is in her pajamas and crocs, or naked, which limits her exposure to the elements.

Last week, I showed her a sampling of Christmas specials we DVR'd, including Rudolph, Frosty, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Charlie Brown. She dismissed Frosty after a minute, wouldn't look at SCICTT, and would only watch the part of Rudolph that included the Abominable Snow Monster, which she laughed at.

But oh Charlie Brown. Good old Charlie Brown. She loves Charlie Brown. It's my favorite Christmas program and initially I was moved, imagining that she responded to its gentle message and quiet score. But no.

Specifically, she loves Lucy. How Lucy yells. How she bosses other people around. How she threatens Linus with the five good reasons. Elizabeth told me this morning, with her eyes shining, "I love Lucy Mama." And then cackled. I am worried.

Elizabeth's Letter to Santa

(This is verbatim) Dear Santa Claus, Happy Birthday. I don't run away from Mommy. I pick up, and pet Maggie and Uffe and they are happy. Please bring George to the vet. I ran off George's legs all by myself.

(this next part was interpreted by her father) Please deliver any gifts to Nana and Gege's in Hanover. If there is a ladybug and turtle available for me, they would be greatly appreciated.

Love Elizabeth

6 Inches of snow, more to come

Taken last night during a brief despite in our snowstorm. Holy crap it's cold! I've lived here too long and my blood got thin.

Elizabeth wandered into the backyard at noon fully suited up, lasted 10 minutes and then came inside declaring "It's too cold Mama. Take my coat."

Snow Time

It all started innocently enough. We had snow last night (in Seattle! In December! I know!) This morning, Elizabeth insisted she wanted to go out to play.

It got complicated from there. First, there's the issue of the mittens. She won't wear them. Or gloves. She happily swept the snow from the teak chairs:

It went downhill fast. First the pathetic "mama pick me up" (awesome, all 40 lbs of her.)


Then the "I want to play in my sandbox"


Finally "I want to stay outside. My hands are cold!"

At this point Andy intervened, they went inside, and George and I were left to contemplate why anyone would want to go indoors when it's 23 degrees out and there's snow on the ground. West Coasters. Go figure.

Happy Leftover Weekend!

Thanks to the Prodromou and Lynch families of lovely San Anselmo, CA for a great Thanksgiving and millinery.

Sunday Morning with Elizabeth

Remember to Vote

I'm Elizabeth Xia Shuang Jensen, and I approved this message.



Thanks for voting, everyone!

Trick or Treat?

Elizabeth went as a ladybug, which she liked. She was not crazy about the ghosts and goblins aspect of the holiday. As a result we have only a couple of photos, where she mirrors her Uncle Peter's reaction to Halloween at the same age.

Hola Amigos!

Andy and I took a break from parenting with a short trip to Puerto Vallarta. While tempted to leave the baobao home with some Cheerios, milk and a stash of Yobaby, we thought it prudent to have Nainai come stay with her instead.



We had a great time. This video, Destination Calabria, played everywhere: it's naughty and catchy. Band Geeks will either rejoice or clutch their chests with early cardiac arrest. Andy particularly likes the booty taps.

We stayed at Casa Amorita. Go there. The photo in the upper left hand corner is from the balcony in our room. The one drawback - there is a Mexican Extra Terrestial project, where a gong sounds on the hour - every hour - and sometimes on its own for unspecified reasons. At first it's funny. Then it's annoying. Then you ignore it.

Last Sunny Weekend in Seattle for the Year

We knew the rain was coming! We spent last weekend bumming around the backyard. Elizabeth, our budding nudist, made the most of the waning sun by hanging out in her altogether.

Unfortunately the yellow jackets that have been lazily circling our fence decided she was good eating. Note the red cheek. We now know she isn't allergic to bee stings so that's a silver lining to an otherwise stressful scream fest. It also put the kibosh for our original plans to dress her as a bee for Halloween.

When she's dressed, she likes to feed her babies. Here she is giving milk to Bebe. Her burping method is unorthodox but I suppose mimics that of her parents.

Recent Sightings

My cousin Kathleen came to visit last weekend, along with her beau Peter. Elizabeth was in heaven with a new audience. She kept telling me "I grow tall like Kathleen" and that seems inevitable! BTW, check out Kathleen's swimwear collection at http://www.kathleencookswim.com. These are beautiful pieces. It will make you want to work out hard over the fall and winter, to get into these beautiful suits.

Elizabeth started pre-school twice a week at the beginning of the month. She likes going for the most part. She helps get ready by rifling through the kitchen drawers. Please note her little backpack which she calls her "lunchy bag" made by Nainai, Andy's mom, Susan. Here she collects party favors to share with her little friends.

It is getting darker earlier every day, so we are spending more time reading. Current favorites include"Bee Bim Bop," "No" featuring Bobo the monkey, and "Olivia" which spurred a visit to the Frye Art Museum last weekend. It illustrated our individual aesthetics. I loved a 3 dimensional video installation series from Istanbul where we could all see ourselves dance in 3 sided mirrors accompanied by films of a dance ritual. Andy was engaged in the CHID (Comparative History of Ideas)-like exhibit of Napoleon. Elizabeth was transfixed by a 7 minute video from India of china cups breaking. Oh boy.

Now, whenever it rains, Elizabeth declares "I go to the museum like Olivia." At least she's not smashing cups in emulation of her favorite art piece.

Last Blasts of Summer

Yes it's true. Elizabeth and I sit around the pool, eating bonbons and wondering what happened to the pool boy in the waning days of summer.

We also play hide and seek with the ever-patient George the dog. Here is one of Elizabeth's favorite hiding places.

It's tough to tell where she is but eventually hunger and thirst take over and she emerges looking for milk and popsicles.

We take George to the dog park, where there are also ....goats. Elizabeth scaled the 5' fence and almost made it into the goat enclosure. Here's a couple more photos of our "staycation" (I know, how trendy are we?) This is our day trip on Vashon Island. Finally - good news from Nancy's Dad this morning. His Dr. reports that the surgery was a success. The tumor margins were clear, it was a small nodule, they got all of it, and no further treatment is required. Of course, he is still recovering from the surgery, is taking "a ton of medications" (a direct quote from Dad) is supposed to walk, rain or shine, and that it will still take a while. But this is good news.

Oh - and last night Elizabeth informed me "I want to be called Betty." OK!

First Big Girl Hike

When we were getting ready to bring Elizabeth home, all our friends with kids said "Do all the things you love to do now because your time to do those things will be very limited." Aside from eating out, seeing lots of movies, plays and music, there wasn't much Nancy and I stopped doing without getting a sitter or just bringing along EXS.

Except long hikes.

Gone are the days of waking up, getting the 10 essentials, putting on the sneakers and REI-End-of-Summer-Sale bargain clothes and driving out to the mountains for a nice day hike then collapsing at 8PM. EXS is now strong enough (2 years, almost 4 months, 37 inches, 40 pds) to walk a mile and a half without the stroller.

It was just a flat loop with a lunch inbetween but what a great family outing. Below are some pictures and a video near the end of the hike. What a big girl.





Bonus Feature: EXS showing what a bird does
1/2 way through the video.