I'm Blogging Again and it's Very 2009

As the title says. Please give feedback on the size of pictures and ease of viewing. This is primarily a newsletter for my loved ones far away, so I want to be sure it's good!

Hopefully I can write some more in-depth accounts in the next few weeks (how very Laura Ingalls Wilder of me). For now, I'm just going to try and post an overview of life in Seattle with Rena, Toffee, and Daisy!

Love, 

Lorena

Ira is such a mover and a climber and an adventurer. This was an old boat anchor dock tie-off (or some similar large iron contraption) and since it's outside in Seattle, it's covered in bird poo and maybe some algae. So of course, Ira was drawn to it.

I guess we could call this my "school photo" for the year. I know Grandpa will appreciate this. Tell him to call me if he wants a printed copy ;) My hair is a little shorter than the last time I saw most of you, but I'm mostly the same! 

A beautiful garden planter of "succulents" (I think). This type of plant is very popular up here in the Pacific Northwest, which I find interesting because we have plenty of water; this isn't the desert with cactus and other hardy growing things! But there's not a lot of sun, which I guess to a plant is a type of harsh growing condition. 

Ira at the botanical garden. Just such a beautiful, curious boy. Sometimes he is gentle, like this moment when he was inspecting the daisies. But mostly he tore through the botanical garden like the rabid monkey he is.

This large old building with a gorgeous stone and wood and glass entrance made a great backdrop for that climbing mountain goat over there in the corner. 

I have replaced the old area rug with something softer, and I have even purchased a new lamp for that dark corner, but I have yet to put up real curtains on the windows. Any suggestions? 

Daisy certainly loves her cozy nesting spots. 

Even with the dismal fall skies, the view from my living room window is pretty lovely. 

I made these buckets to go with Thad and Ira's Halloween costumes. The buckets are "walking cartoon bombs" that Mario and Luigi sometimes carry around in the game. Of course, the bigger one is Thad's ;)

Toffee would like to model our other area rug for you. This one is strategically placed between the kitchen and living room. It's a pretty ugly shag carpet, but the warmth and coziness make up for its appearance. You can really feel the cold wind blowing in from the water these days, especially on my bare wooden floors. So we love our rugs around here. 

Just Daisy being cute. I take way too many pictures of the dogs. And I buy them way too many toys (the dragon, by the way, is amazingly unharmed despite the danger posed to it in this scene).