Happy two-and-a-halfth birthday Felix!

Since we celebrated Ella's five-and-a-halfth birthday earlier in the month of April, Felix is now very aware of "half-birthdays". Exactly two weeks after Ella's half-birthday, April 17, is Felix's two-and-a-halfth! Of course we had to have a cake, or rather, HALF a cake...

The night before his half-birthday, he discovered THIS NEW GAME.
Then he found the toy baby bottle to feed Big Baby and he rocks her in her basinette.

Not one to be camera-shy, he often puts something on and says, "Mama, take picture with (of) me", so here are some of those... (these are just from the last few weeks!)





It was time for Ella's check-up at the dentist, and this time, Felix came along for the first time. He has never been before, but as you can see, he looks like a pro. He just lay there very quietly and let the dentist do her exam, even a cleaning and polish! So proud of my boy!

Kittens!

We've been having a visitor to our yard over the last couple of months, a black and white cat. Byron (he's fixed) has been carrying on a torrid affair with it, which involves a staring contest between the two from opposite sides of the yard. Last week I caught the black and white coming out of the bushes near our side fence and behind tree, and then jumping onto our fence.

Yesterday I was working in yard and discovered a black and white kitten rolling around in the leaves underneath our bouganvillia. Turns out we have five kittens living in our yard, courtesy of the mother, our visitor.




People, just a reminder. Always spay and neuter your dogs and cats!

Jim Comes to Visit

One of my oldest friends, Jim, came to visit over Easter weekend. I've known him for 30 years now, and we met in junior high school. He has lived in the San Francisco bay area, currently San Rafael, for almost 20 years and I still get to see him once or twice a year.

We all took Ella and Felix on a hike in the Sepulveda dam wildlife preserve, and Jim stayed to act as the "Easter Bunny" hiding eggs full of candy in our yard for a hunt.

Palm Desert Visit

The first weekend of April we went to visit my Mom at her home in Palm Desert. Needless to say, Felix was very excited and raring to go:



And dressed very sharp. There were lots of things to do there, blowing bubbles, walking the dogs, playing tennis, riding in the golf cart, or Ella just reading with her Granny.








We also went to Palm Springs to visit with Nicki's grandfather Martin and his wife Sue.

Happy five-and-a-halfth birthday Ella!

April 3, 2009
Ella has been eagerly awaiting her 5 -1/2th birthday so she can be like her classmates (some of whom are now already 6). We marked the occasion with a cake, of course. She is wearing her Easter bonnet here. Now that Ella is 5 1/2, she has only 6 more months to go before she gets the bunny she has been bugging and begging us for. We don't really feel she is quite mature enough but after promising for almost 3 years, what can we do... Also big news: one of Ella's bottom teeth is a little loose so she may lose her first tooth in a few weeks' time.

March

This month marked a couple of memorable occasions. For one, Ella has started attending Dutch School. We go Saturday mornings for 3 1/4 hours while Jim and Felix go to Trader Joe's. Juf Iris and Juf Janneke are fun and the classes are a mixture of learning words, drawing and crafting, and singing songs. Ella has been reminding me that we must speak Dutch together more, so that she will become better and better, so I've really been trying to do that, although with my 7th grade (Dutch) education along with not having been speaking it on a regular basis, it's going to get more difficult. I am hopeful that with the new friends we are both making, we will both become more fluent. We are looking forward to and preparing for the Koninginnedagfeest (Queen Beatrix's Birthday Celebration) at the end of April - the case of poffertjesmix that I ordered has already arrived.

Felix is coming home from preschool with new things all the time, singing songs like Skip To My Lou and Row Row Row your Boat ("barely, barely barely, barely"). Here he is with Miss Maria and Kara:



Next, we celebrated Byron's 10th Birthday. He and Toots got some tuna for cats to eat, we sang Happy Birthday and Byron got a new collar. The white bits glow in the dark.






Here is Ella helping me make one of her favorite dishes, Spanakopita.

February

February was an eventful month. We went to Palm Desert and Palm Springs. We stayed with Granny and Blair and the doggies and saw Grandpa and Bube Sue a few times too. We had a delicious dinner at the Spaghetteria with them. Unfortunately it was too cold to go in the pool and it rained some of the time. We were able to visit the Living Desert though.



In school, Ella's class read a story called "The Rag Coat". They all decorated a square of fabric for a quilt.

There was also a big celebration to commemorate the First 100 Days of School. The kids made a crown with 100 stickers, a necklace with 100 Fruit Loops and a poster with 100 things (of whatever they wanted). Ella made one with candy hearts. Felix wanted to try on the crown too ("Mama, take my picture!").


Finally, my beautiful, fluffy, wonderful kitty Fluff Puff died peacefully in his sleep at a too-young age of 13, a few weeks after being diagnosed with a heart condition. Here are a couple of pictures of his last days. We will always miss him, especially when I sing lullabyes at bedtime, when he would purr and march on me, and at night when he slept with us, and out in the yard, where he loved to peer at the birds and squirrels, and warm his fur in the sun.