Friday, July 11, 2008

Happy Birthday Felix!

Today is a special day because my little girl turns 11 years old. Now I don't know what happened to the last ten years because I must have closed my eyes for a moment but I could have sworn that she was just a baby last year.

I love you Felix. You're such a great girl. I was petrified when I found out I was having a girl. I wanted us to be friends forever and I worry that we won't because sometimes moms and daughters don't get along. But I'll just keep doing things with you and trying my best to be a good mom even though some days I know I've failed miserably. Hopefully, there will be more good days than bad and you'll remember the good days when I'm long gone and remember the things that we used to do together.

Here are some times I do remember and will try to etch every moment into my brain so that I never forget ...........


Felix at four months in my tummy. If you notice, you can actually see one of her eyes.



Daddy holding Felix right after she was born. He looks tired!



Four or five days old. Lots of brown hair which quickly went away and she didn't grow any back until she was two and it was white!



About three months old visiting Grandma Lucy and Grandpa Keith. I think she was teething already! She broke five teeth soon after.




My big blue eyed girl




Felix at her two year old birthday party. She had a pony and every kid in the neighborhood came to ride that horse! All the little girls loved Felix and would beg me to let them "watch" her for me during the day. This was a huge favor to me as I was the size of a house, expecting Robee in September.







Felix, holding her new baby brother in St. George. We moved a month after he was born. She liked to help occasionally, but was never a real "mothering" type of girl. Luckily, they're best friends now.





Felix dressed as a bunny for Halloween, 1999. She loved that costume and would wear it EVERYWHERE until it finally gave out.







Felix dressed as a fairy princess. This is the costume she wore to her pre-school and won first place in her class.







Felix at five, dressed like a butterfly with Robee (three), who is dressed like Mike Wazowski for Halloween.





Thank you Felix. You have brought me such great happiness and laughter. Your antics still shuffle through my brain when I stop to think about our time together. Like the time you were three and I was getting gas and I came to check on you and somehow, you had completely undressed while still in your car seat. I'll never figure that one out.


And the fact that you were talking at nine months and by one year old, could sing "Insy Weensy Spider" -- in Spanish mind you -- by heart. By two, you were telling people in complete sentences that you wanted to be a veterinarian when you grew up. At four, you had to explain to the next door adult neighbor what an "Orcas" was because he didn't know that was the proper name for a killer whale.


You were and still are, a huge source of pride for both of us.


Love you always Feliciti.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Kiddie Parade

Here are the First Place Winners (Pet Catagory) in the Arlington 2008 Kiddie Parade!

Kids with bones in their mouths, waiting to begin.


Porter, patiently sitting in his wagon, also waiting to take off -- or bail out actually.



Porter looking at me as if to say "This is how you repay me for watching over your children and home? Putting me in a top hat and tee shirt?"



"Luckily," he thinks, "I'm wearing shades so none of my homies will know who I am."

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Finally new post!

Posting. I just can't seem to sit at the computer to write anything.

Right now, we're (Thomas and I) hard at work to make the yard look nice for Angie's wedding in August. The weather has been rather dismal as of late but has finally turned the corner and we've getting sun again (as we should for summer, eh?)

But here are some pics I thought I would throw in for good measure because I am heading back outside to finished digging holes for a fence.


Robee with one of our GINORMOUS frogs from the pond.









Ditto for Felix.


You know, even though you know they're just toads, they're still a LITTLE intimidating due to their huge size. I was even a little hesitant at first!


Owen holding a sea star from our outing on Camano Beach about the second week of June.












Thomas and Robee and Felix pretending to be strawberries at the final day of Biringer's Strawberry Farm.

This is a sad closing. This farm has been here for years but the owners have decided to scale back and semi-retire. They've given their land back to the Reclamation Department which will flood it to help preserve the wetland area of Everett and the various sloughs surrounding it - which is a great thing really. There are some wonderful walks all over the wetlands where all sorts of animals and birds live.

Luckily, the owners bought another huge plot of land closer to Arlington where they will still have strawberries for picking!

But the cool little barns and pirate roost and slides and trains will all go away. Sigh.



This is Porter all dressed up for the Kiddies Parade. The kids (Robee actually) thought it would be fun to have Porter in the wagon and they would pull him with leashes and have bones in their mouths. Porter was a trooper; he only bailed out of the wagon once. He lost a little dignity but luckily, he was wearing shades and hid his true identity! And he got a Popsicle at the end of the parade!

They won first in the Pets Division. I'm not supposed to mention that there were only two entries in this division and the other one had to leave before he pooped all over the parade route.