Christmas, staring Silas

I thought I'd better get these posted... Above and below: bright-eyed and ready to go! Silas waited patiently for Drew to go let the neighbor's dog out before opening his presents. In order to deal with the suspense, we opened Olive's present, a bouncy ball, which Silas is about to throw in this picture:
And we must not forget the stockings! I am going to have to reinforce the yarn loop on his stocking. Sticking an orange at the bottom each year is taking it's tole.
We played with Busytown all morning (and the next day, and today). Santa made a good choice! (note the lower part of the tree is short on decorations. You can thank the cat for that.)
These next pictures are for Grandma G in particular. This is the new outfit she sent, and yes, Grandma, those are the space-themed rain boots you got for him for Christmas. He loves them!
Lumberjack. All that's missing is the axe:
I hope everyone had a holiday as lovely as ours. On Sunday, we had an open house, which brought just under 30 friends and neighbors through our doorway.

I think I'm ready to swear off sugar for a long, long while.

Eve

The picture above was taken just before Silas headed off to bed. He was a wee bit wound up tonight. I can't imagine why... (p.s. You win a bonus point if you can spot our cat in the photo)

And, our offerings to Santa. Silas selected herbal tea as the beverage this year and decided fruit would be a proper addition to the standard cookies and carrot sticks:
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

Silas' festive tour and music box

Happy Holidays!

First school picture

Since Drew is a photographer and niether of us are big fans of studio photos, we've never had the inclination to take Silas to be photographed professionally. But, now that he's in preschool, the era of school photos has officially begun. So, now that the grandparents and aunts and uncles have received their print copies in the mail, I thought I'd share his very first school photo on the blog. :)

We made a gingerbread house

This was not only Silas' first gingerbread house, but also the first for Drew and I. Neither of us can remember making one (our parents can correct us if we're wrong). Silas' method for decorating the gingerbread house was to fill every available space with candy.
I told him this wasn't the kind of candy you can actually eat, and he bought it. So, just about every piece we could fit on went on.
And Silas, making one of his characteristic goofy faces in front of our tree:
One more week!

Dear Santa

I dictated a letter to Santa today on Silas' behalf. I thought I might have to coach him a bit on what to say, but apparently, he's got this letter to Santa thing all figured out. Here are his exact words:

Dear Santa,

I want an orange and a BusyTown. I have been a very good boy. I will give you something. I will give you a glass of milk and some cookies and a muffin. And a big clock. I will send you some decorations for your tree. I will give you candy to decorate a gingerbread house. I will give you some tofu.

I love you!

Silas

Crossing Santa off of our list

We went to Clear Creek Nursery this weekend so that Silas could see Santa. I don't know what I was thinking. He did enjoy seeing several of Santa's reindeer.

And the curious camel:
He looks so happy, so excited...
But this was as close as we could get to Santa:
See that grin? That's the thankful-to-be-nowhere-near-the-real-Santa-smile. We got all the way to the front of the line before it became perfectly obvious that Silas wasn't going anywhere near Santa, who was accompanied by Mrs. Claus, an elf, and a reindeer.

I don't know why I thought this was something he would enjoy. He LOVES Santa, or more correctly, the idea of Santa. He can't wait for Santa to come. I thought maybe, just maybe... But he doesn't want to sit on his lap or be anywhere near him. Or talk to him. Or make eye contact. Or eat Mrs. Claus' cookies. Or have story-time with him (he's been very specific on this point).

It's not worth it, especially if it's just to get a picture. Next year, we will write a letter.

Tall buildings and flannel shirts

Yesterday it became blatently obvious that we have not exposed Silas to the city enough. We went over to Seattle to attend a friend's party. It's been ages since both Silas and I went over. As we were driving through the city streets, lit up by Christmas lights, Silas appeared in awe.

"Look at all of the tall buildings. Look at that (a row of trees sparkling with Christmas cheer). It's BEAUTIFUL! Look at all of this stuff. I LOVE the city."

And then finally, came this statement: "There's more than just trees here!"

You would think we were raising him on a homestead half a day's carriage ride from the nearest town. But still, we could bring him to the city a bit more often. It would do us all some good. We promised to go back during the holiday break to Winterfest at City Center (that's the space needle, for all of you non-Washingtonians).

This morning, he was still talking about his trip to the "big" city. "The tall building all look like flannel shirts" he told me. Considering the city in question, this seems pretty fitting.

In the corner of his room

All of our love, for Olive

About a month ago, Drew and I were talking about the fact that I was the only female in the house. "Even the cat's a boy" I complained. I told him that as much as I love Sobin, I really missed my girl kitties. About a week later, early in the morning on a Saturday, Drew got up early to let the cat out. Soon after, the cat came back in and joined Silas and me upstairs. Silas, who was just waking up, looked at me sleepily and said "there are two cats in this house."

"No," I replied, "there's just Sobin. Just one cat."
"No!" He insisted. "There are TWO cats here!"

Two minutes later, Drew came upstairs to tell us that there was a tiny cat outside that seemed frightened and wanted desperately to come inside.

So, as Silas predicted, there are now two cats in this house.
When we brought Olive in, she was in a state of panic. It was obvious that she was starving, both for want of food, and for want of human companionship. I could barely bake muffins that morning because she remained right underfoot. Before long though, she had calmed down. She took to us immediately, making herself right at home. The picture below was taken after she'd been with us for less than four hours:
At first, I thought for sure that someone must be missing this affectionate, sweet tempered cat. I put up signs, contacted the human society, talked to neighbors, looked on craigslist, etc. Nothing. Assessing her physical condition and her mannerisms, however, made it increasingly clear that no one was looking for this cat. Sad to say, but most likely, she was dumped. She was underweight and ate constantly for the first week. Her interest in the fridge, as well as her response anytime we opened a can, makes me think that she was fed people food and canned food, but obviously not enough. Her discomfort at being outside leads me to think that she was an inside cat, but despite this, she had a nasty case of fleas, ear mites, and tape worm. As well socialized as she is, it seems that someone may have loved her, but they didn't take care of her. Perhaps, for whatever reason, they just couldn't.

After having her for nearly a week, we declared her ours, took her to the vet, and bestowed upon her the name Olive. The vet estimated that she is between 9 and 12 months old, and not spayed. She doesn't appear to be pregnant (woo-hoo) and isn't in heat (double woo-hoo).

Olive is putting on some weight now, and is parasite free. I have no idea what she faced in the first year of her life, but her biggest problems now are loosing her toy mouse and dealing with the big kitty, who would prefer that she didn't exist.

Please be my friend. PLEASE!

Olive seems determined to make friends with Sobin, who has been perfectly content being an only pet for the last 9 years. These days, Sobin spends most of his free time growling, hissing, and glaring maliciously, even when Olive is not in the immediate vicinity. He's actually handling it better than I expected. After all, no blood has been shed. They can actually be in the same room together, occasionally, without an all out battle ensuing. Olive continues to work on him and break down his resolve. She'll win him over one of these days.

Her favorite spot: looking out the front window, waiting for her buddy Sobin to come home.
I have my girl kitty again. Drew seems to find her endearing, and Silas has another pet he can bond with. Everyday, he hugs her, saying "you are the bestest kitty. I love you!"
We all do.

It's going to be a long winter

They said this winter would be harsh, and so far, that's shaping up to be true. Our first snow storm (so rare to have ANY snow in November), canceled school for two days and brought western Washington to a standstill. It has been nice to have an extra long holiday week. And of course, Silas was thrilled about the snow.
I'm glad I finished his cabled jacket in time. It seemed to keep him toasty through the storm. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for our house. As is so common here, we lost power. Walking around town yesterday, listening to the hum of generators and smelling wood smoke, it was pretty apparent: No one had power. Most of the county seemed to be out, and it is nearly miraculous that we got ours back after only 24 hours.
Thanks to our friends, we spent the day in their toasty house, basking in the heat from their wood stove. Sobin, who has yet to show any fondness for our new kitty, has been hanging out in the garage a lot.
Yesterday, we let them in the house together, unattended, for the first time, because I didn't want him out in the bitter cold. Since we were gone most of the day, they had no choice but to work it out without our interference (or Silas doing his Sobin imitation, growling like a tiger and further provoking the already provoked big kitty). While Sobin still does little more than growl, hiss, and mope, he doesn't seem to want to physically confront her. Since he is three times her size, this is a good thing, I think.

I meant to post more about Olive, and I will soon. The snow storm, power outage, and preparing to host Thanksgiving are keeping us pretty busy. More later...

And have a Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Safe travels.

Introducing...Olive

I have been talking about this on facebook, but for my dear blog readers who are not also my fb friends, I have some news: Our family grew by one furry member this week. Last Saturday, we accidentally acquired another cat. I will share Olive's story, and some more pictures, later this weekend.

My future frat boy?

Me: Silas, what sort of job do you want to do... What do you want to be when you grow up?

Silas: I want to be a big, big, party guy.

Great. :)

Port Townsend, again

Nothing earth-shattering to report at this time. We're doing lots of house projects and going through the daily routine. Here's a couple of pictures I never got around to posting from a trip up to Port Townsend about a month ago.

Searching for treasures on the beach:
Better Living Through Coffee: Way more than coffee. Locavore's dream. Reason enough to drive the hour up to PT:

Is that a smile or a grimace? Actually, it's the g-force he's getting hit with as he takes his rocket into outer space (he insisted I take a picture of the "launch").
Till next time...

Happy Halloween 2010!

Well, the day has finally come and gone. It was long, but we loved it. For the first time ever, we went up to Port Gamble to trick-or-treat. It did not disappoint: Way smaller and low key then the crowds on Bainbridge. Each business offered something different: games, "fishing" for prizes, etc. All in a lovely, scenic town. The top two pictures were taken there.
After Port Gamble, we headed for our Midwife's house. Each year she hosts a reunion open to all of the families whose babies she helped birth. We've never gone before, but now think we'd like to make it part of our Halloween routine. It was wonderful to see her and the house that she built, which is only a few miles from the town we live in.

After an all too brief time there, we headed to Bainbridge to drop Drew at the ferry, meet up with Patrick and do some more trick-or-treating. Although I had my camera with me, I stopped taking pictures around this time. I think we were all a little burnt out by this point. We had promised Silas that we'd take him to Bainbridge, so we had to follow through. I think next year we'll skip it. It's become too crowded and hectic. Still enjoyable to see all of the kids dressed up, but not at all fun to push a shy three year old through the masses.

Back at home, Patrick and I took Silas for a brief walk around the neighborhood and then I settled in and passed out a bit of candy to trick-or-treaters. After picking out a few pieces of candy, he set the rest on a table in his bedroom to await the candy fairy, who will take away his candy and leave a present.

The last two shots are from Thursday (costume day at preschool):
The shell that Drew made...Nice, huh?
Did you have a fun Halloween? I hope so!

Peek-a-BOO!

Happy Halloween!
I'll post pictures from the day sometime soon...

The jack-o-lantern post

We finally carved our pumpkins!
Silas says: they are spooky... but funny spooky, not scary spooky.
I think he's right :)
Silas got to test drive his Halloween costume at preschool yesterday. The shell that Drew made looks fabulous. I took pictures and am so tempted to post them, but I think I'll wait until Sunday.

Have a happy spooky Halloween weekend!

The pumpkin post

Alas, the long awaited pumpkin post. The two pumpkins above are the fruits of our labor; our very own home-grown beauties. We'll come back to them. First, let's go back in time to the end of September. Our local farmers' market had a fall festival. The kids in our community all had fun painting and decorating pumpkins. Silas decided to go for a textured look and applied massive glops of paint. It's been almost a month and the thing is still not dry. And our porch, home to our little pumpkin masterpiece, has a multi-colored ring of craft paint on it.
Jump forward a few weeks: Silas and I decided it was time to harvest our pumpkins.
Proud of his pumpkin:
Firefighter Pumpkin, ready to put out any Halloween related fires:
And taking their rightful place next to the painted pumpkin:
We hope to carve them this weekend...
But that's not all! One more pumpkin joined our trio. Silas had his first school field trip...to the pumpkin patch. I went along, and I've gotta tell you, at first I thought it was going to be a disaster. He didn't like the 120 year old barn we stared off in (that's it in the background of the next picture). None of the other kids seemed to notice how spooky it was, but Silas sure did. He refused to jump in the hay with the other children, and I truly thought the field trip was going to be a bust.

But, I finally got him to detach from me long enough for him to run through the hay bale maze.
By the time the group went through the flower trails and the corn maze, he walked along with the other kids and more or less forgot about his parents' existence (for a good 5 minutes anyways).
He picked out a pumpkin,
And the school trip ended with the quintessential class shot. Awe.
That's about it, for now. I hope there are lots of pumpkins in your life too.