This Christmas was all about Pirates and Princesses this year. Kasen asked Santa for a "BIG pirate ship" right after Thanksgiving. She stayed with her first request and was thrilled to see the Playmobile pirate ship under the tree. She is also obsessed with a Disney show (Jake and the Neverland Pirates), so Santa included a few of those figures for good measure. She reenacts the shows using her own Jake, Cubby, Izzie and Captain Hook.
She also got some princess stuff. Our neighbor got her a Snow White dress up kit with a crown, shoes, purse and a wand (shown below). She LOVED walking in the fluffy high heels. Kasen is also loving Beauty and the Beast right now, so her Belle crown, doll & book all got extensive play time.
This year she was able to open all her presents and definitely enjoyed each one. She still wanted to play with them after opening, so we took our time. There was a lot of Playmobile (besides the pirate ship) so we now have a whole bunch of options from school, to bathroom, to princesses, and the list goes on. Here are some pictures and videos from the day (plus her Santa picture thrown in):
I knew which donut she would pick.... the one that looked like a cookie. Mr. Snowman was so nice, yet doomed just the same. Luckily the frosting cleaned up ok.
Again it has been a while since we posted...something about work and a kid taking up all our time. Nana and Pepe Picard visited over Thanksgiving and we had a great time. Kasen enjoyed having them here and often asked "Where Pepe?" or "Where Nana?" Here are some pictures from the visit.
Nana and Pepe went to see Kasen at her soccer class. They stack cones and kick them over, play things like red light green light, and of course kick the ball into the goal.
Kasen read to both Nana and Pepe, they also read to her. Here she is with Pepe reading, and reading to Nana (who is taking the picture). She is really into books these days, makes up the story if she doesn't know it or recites what she remembers of any book (maybe not the one she is reading)
Kasen helped Karl get the turkey ready with brushing a little oil on it.
She also like showing off her favorite team apparel for the Sounders and the Giants
More to come for Christmas, hope everyone is doing well and having a great holiday season.
We have been slacking in the posting area. Life has been busy with: Kasen activities; we are having some work done on the house to get more storage upstairs; and just the general life events. Still, we wanted to get some recent photos and videos up of Kasen.
We have started soccer again after taking the summer off. She seems to enjoy it and has gotten good at dribbling the ball around. The passing and hard kicks need some work but we have time before she can qualify for the Olympics any way. Here are some photos of her at class. She loves to roll around with the squishy ball and try to catch bubbles in the cones.
The other day we went to a fall festival at a local nursery. There were games, live animals (Kasen loved the turkey which she called 'the chicken that makes the funny noises'), a maze, and snacks. One of the games was a zucchini race where you "built" a car out of a zucchini. This picture is of her working on the car with Debra.
She also won a pansy on a wheel spin. She was taking a little break on the bench when I took this photo.
Kasen is also really into music, of any kind really. She loves to sing or play instruments. A while ago I bought her a Taiwan kids book that plays music to pages. She loves it now, plays it all the time, and has even started to try to sing along with the songs. Here she is singing along to the book
Hope you enjoy the pictures and videos. More to come with Halloween (Debra made Kasen a costume), Thanksgiving and Christmas not far away.
It's been a busy summer and it seems to be coming to an end. It's getting dark earlier and cooler as well. We have been enjoying the outside as much as we can before we head indoors for the fall/winter hibernation here in Seattle. Here are some videos and pictures from our recent adventures.
We had a Sounders game this past weekend. Kasen has really gotten into going to the games and seems to enjoy them. This game she got a Sounders tattoo, to go with her other tattoos. She really likes her ink. Here is a picture and a little video.
The other day it was in the low 60s in the evening here. Kasen wanted a popsicle for desert. So, she got all bunddled up (cause she eats the really slow and the drip everywhere) and head out onto the front porch. Here are some pictures and a video of the action.
Finally, she is totally into talking on the phone. Whether she is talking to Karl, Debra (and yes she uses our names), John or Pepe she loves her phones. Here she is busy on the phone.
Hope you enjoy them, she is getting really active, busy, and talking a bunch.
The zoo by us every year has a concert series. We posted something a little while back about Kasen getting her face painted (http://karlanddebra.blogspot.com/2012/07/kasen-and-face-painting.html). Since then she is always talking about face painting. We went to the last concert of the season the other night and of course had to get face painting. Kasen does seem to enjoy the shows, she dances, chats with folks, and just has a good time being outside. Last night she convinced a nice lady sitting next to her to share he popcorn. Here are some pictures from the night.
The back stairs on the house had started to fail (and when I mean fail they were close to having someone put a foot through a stair). Karl decided Sat that he'd replace the stairs and since it was daddy day, Kasen was going to help. First they had to go get the wood and Kasen went along, She helped to make sure daddy did it right as seen here, quite the foreman she is:
Once we got home it was time for demo work. Kasen was right in the mix there helping with measuring (not sure what we were measuring for the demo) and cleaning with her broom. She also suppled the music, below is a picture of her singing while we work (she hasn't learned to whistle yet). THe whole tim she kept telling mommy that "We're Working!"
Finally it was time to start cutting the wood and installing it. The saw was loud so we needed her headphones to make it better, better (as she would say). She also had to have gloves like daddy.
Once we got it all done (luckily she took a nap for a while so things sped up), she got to play with the drill. Really she wanted to use it the whole time we were installing the stairs but luckily she was good at getting screws for daddy. Here she is learning about drills.
Yes, she does crash into Karl at the end of the video.
Every summer the Seattle Police department has a night out in Seattle (http://www.seattle.gov/spd/nightout/). This is to get people out, meet the neighbors and encourage crime prevention. Typically our neighborhood has a pretty good group that comes out, a folks from a few of the area streets. The firemen typically stop by and we occasionally have a keg or a band. This year our neighbor who owns a bar down the road supplied the beer out of the back of his VW van and Kasen got to sit in the fire truck
Summer is always interesting weather wise in Seattle. We hope for the days to reach 80 and be sunny, after all we haven't seen the sun in over 6 months. Sometimes the weather likes to remind us that it can change overnight, or even in a few hours. A couple Sundays ago we went to Golden Gardens beach. The wind was blowing and the temperature was like 58 while we were there (it did warm up to a balmy 67 eventually). Kasen enjoyed getting her toes in the sand and having the wind blow here hair. Notice the pants and long sleeves, yes this is late July in Seattle. Here's to hoping we get to see more Summer (but maybe not the triple digit heat they are getting back East).
Kasen has been getting into things that bigger kids do. The other night we were at a concert at the Zoo (part of the Zoo Tunes events at the Seattle Zoo) and there was face painting. The last time we were there she noticed it but it was late in the show and time to go basically. This time she asked about half way through the show so Karl and her headed over. The line was long but she was fairly patient, just wanted to be held while she waited. When we got close she started looking over her options: ice cream cone, elephant, and frog all made the list. Then she heard she could get a dragon and her mind was made up, dragon was the choice (she has been reading several books with dragons in them lately). Here's a couple shots of her and the face painting.
Kasen has been going to the neighborhood brew pub that sponsors Karl's soccer team since before she was born. She even had her first "birthday" party there (ok is was more for the parents). She knows most of the staff and often gets hugs from them. The other night she went back into the brewery and check out all the equipment. She was so excited, maybe she'll be a brewer when she grows up. Here are some pictures (they are not the best quality so sorry about that).
Kasen started preschool today. It is a really small Montessori program run out of a house near our neighborhood. Kasen was so excited to go carrying her Hello Kitty lunchbox (wish I had gotten a picture). She walked right up to the door & knocked by herself. She ran in and barely looked over her shoulder when I left. The program is from 9 - 11:30am, but I came back around 11:15am. The teacher's report was pretty good. She cried a bit (mainly when her snack was eaten by her friend Sam - the cutie in the blue shirt below), but overall had a good time. They were just settling in for a classroom snack (popcorn and weak apple juice), so she stayed till the end. Here she is with Sam sitting having their snack. I still can't believe they use regular glasses & ceramic dishes, but Kasen did not spill a drop.
She heads back tomorrow without the safety of having Sam there. Hopefully it goes as well.
The weather is finally starting to get nice out in Seattle and Kasen has been taking advantage of it (as has he parents). She wants to be outside much more and that is nice. It does make some things harder to do. The other day Karl was trying to mow the lawn and Kasen wanted to "help". She basically moved the mower a few inches but didn't want to give it up. It took some bribery and bubbles to get her to release the mower.
She is also really into bikes right now. Karl has been riding to work a few times a week, we now have a chariot for behind his bike, and Kasen of course has her bike. The other day we took a walk to the library and she took her bike. Mom or Dad of course push it but she "helps" out in the steering area stating "Drive, Drive, Drive" while she moves the handle bars (and therefore the direction of the bike) from side to side. Of course she had to put on her new goggles from Grandma Barb to complete her outfit. She even kept them on once we got to the Library
Kasen and I went to the Edmonds Art Fair this past weekend. They had a big play ground and strawberry ice cream, so Kase was ecstatic. While playing at the playground, she met stalked a little girl with some wicked face paint. There were rainbows on each side of her eyes and jewels in the middle - little girl nirvana. When we got to the tent where the face painting happened, we discovered a new item to covet, a sparkly tattoo... in a Mickey design nonetheless. This was actually a good change because the face paint would have been gone in an hour, the Mickey tattoo she is still admiring. Think this will satisfy her appetite and she won't get the tramp stamp at 18? I hope so...
Kasen has gotten into dolls recently. At first she spent most of her time giving her baby food and milk. Kasen got this set from a friend of mine (Thanks Julie) and it has been awesome:
"Food Time"
Kasen lovingly feeding baby
The latest development in her infant care is diaper changing. Honestly this is pretty ironic considering how she acts when she gets her own diaper changed (complete diva tantrum). The less cute part is she finishes the change by throwing everything away (including the clean diaper). I have spent a lot of time recently "rescuing" clean diapers and convincing her the diaper change doesn't require 15 wipes. Another interesting note? Kasen must feed her babies a high fiber diet - they ALWAYS have poopy diapers.
Karl recently took a new job at Seattle Children's Hospital. No he is not a doctor, he'll be working on the technical team for the research center (still computers). He had a week off between jobs so we took a quick little vacation to Las Vegas with Kasen and our friends John and Kat. Overall she was great and we had a nice little vacation. Here are some pictures of the little on enjoying her time.
