Splendid in Seattle

Sights and Sounds of the Season

2009-12-16T20:43:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays Everyone! We're in the holiday spirit around here. Enjoy some of our latest adventures. :)

Clare as a mouse in her ballet studio's production of the Nutcracker

Mice and Soldiers

Owen and his buddy Harrison at the downtown carousel

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T21:13:00.001-07:00

I hope you had a great Halloween. Here is a sampling of our day's activities. Enjoy!

This is the rock star that morphed into a cat.

Spiderman doesn't like to wear his mask.

Walking to the West Seattle Junction to trick-or-treat.

Sights of Summer

2009-09-04T21:28:00.000-07:00

Although there are a good two weeks left of summer, it feels like fall is here already. With the return of the rain and school starting next week, Halloween seems just around the corner. We've had many visitors this summer, and we've spent much time in and around the water. Please enjoy some photos, and we hope you've had a great summer, too.

An ordinary mosquito bite?

2009-06-15T13:31:00.000-07:00

How can an ordinary mosquito bite lead to a trip to the ER? Let me tell you...

On Saturday night we were enjoying our nephew's graduation party in Edmonds, and Clare and Owen were jumping on the trampoline. I walked over and noticed that Owen had gotten a mosquito bite on his forehead. No big deal.

Fast forward to 10am Sunday morning... the area around Owen's mosquito bite started to swell. I was concerned about it but decided to just watch it. Around 6pm, the swelling had migrated to his eyelid, so I called the triage nurse at his pediatrician's office. She was fairly concerned about cellulitis (a bacterial infection that can get into open wounds or bites) because of the area of swelling (2+ inches), so she recommended that we take Owen to the ER.

Long story short, I took him to Children's Hospital ER last night, and he was diagnosed with delayed hypersensitivy to mosquito bites. They gave him a dose of an oral anti-inflammatory steroid to reduce the swelling because the peak is usually at 48-72 hours post-bite, and it had only been 24 hours at that point.

This is not the type of allergy which leads to wheezing, shortness-of-breath, etc., but he will likely have this reaction each time he is bitten by a mosquito, at least for the foreseeable future. The doctor said that he may outgrow it eventually (fingers crossed!). For those of you who saw Owen after our trip to Finland two summers ago, you probably remember that he looked like he had chicken pox from all of the mosquito bites. At the time, he did have swelling also but not to this extent.

Anyway, Owen was very happy at the ER and charmed all of the staff. He's doing well today. Below is a picture of his face from this morning (and of Clare imitating him). Enjoy! :)

Fabulous Seattle weather

2009-05-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

We've had fabulous weather over the last few days, and here are a few photos of how we've spent our time. Clare is at the Family Fun Fair at her school today (thanks Alison for the face paint!). Owen is at Alki beach yesterday.

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T19:12:00.000-07:00

I hope you had a fabulous and productive Earth Day. Here are a few pics from our day and a few from our rainy Easter as well.

It's been awhile...

2009-04-08T13:59:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been 5 months since my last post. Where has the time gone? I'm sure a lot has happened in that time, but I don't think of anything that I need to mention right away. Right now we are being teased by lovely spring weather one day and then the doldrums of winter the next. It will be nice when the fabulous weather is here to stay.

Yesterday while waiting for Clare to finish up with her after school science club, Owen was amusing himself with a lollipop and Bandaid in the car. Here are some photos. Enjoy, and in the meantime I will try to become a more regular blogger and figure out how to add pictures that blend into the text better. :)

Election Night

2008-11-05T13:41:00.000-08:00

Hooray for Obama! Because I am a geek, I found these great cookies to hand out to guests at our party last night. They were so cool that I had to share them here.

Pre-Halloween trick-or-treating

2008-10-28T13:34:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday, some of the West Seattle merchants had an early trick-or-treating. Our favorite ice cream place even gave out free ice cream cones! Here are some pictures of Clare and Owen in their costumes.

I just added the first photo, and that's actually of Halloween night. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Patching

2008-10-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

Greetings! Recently, we trekked to two pumpkin patches (not on the same day, of course). Here are some good shots of the excursions.

A weekend away...

2008-09-22T21:52:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the Pacific Northwest. We spent the weekend the Dempsey cabin on Hood Canal (Olympic Peninsula). Despite the soggy weather, we had a good time picking blackberries and looking for slugs. Now, back to work on the house...

One more picture to share...

2008-09-14T21:05:00.001-07:00

Here is a four-generation picture taken this summer of me, Clare, my mom, and my grandmother.

Have a wonderful week!

More pictures from the summer

2008-09-12T20:52:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more pictures from the summer. You can probably tell that I just got around to downloading them onto my computer, but I do have an excuse since my computer was on a boat for most of the summer. A few were taken with our friends before we left Germany. Yes, that is a cracker in Clare's mouth. One shows all of the Dempsey grandchildren (13!). You will also see Clare and her baby cousin, Brian.

On a frustrating note, we just discovered that someone hacked into our credit card account. Luckily, Bank of America caught it quickly.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Owen's first day of preschool

2008-09-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Owen's first day of preschool. He loved it! For those of you who think I need to get a job now that both kiddos are in school, I need to tell you that he is there for just two days per week, two hours each day. I work in the classroom one of those days due to the co-op nature of the school. Not that I would mind a part-time job, so if anyone has something stimulating to offer, let me know. I have posted a picture of Owen on his first day and one of him the day before as he helped me clean.

a week already...

2008-09-09T20:38:00.000-07:00

Hello! It's difficult to believe that we've been in our house for just over a week- it seems like much longer. In continuing to unpack and tackle the many projects, I have been struck by just how small our house is. Granted, when we last lived here, we had just one small child. But... after adding another kiddo and being spoiled by our large house (4 bathrooms!) in Germany, I'm feeling a bit claustrophobic. As my friend, Heather says, "There's something to be said for small spaces..." She's right, of course: there's less to clean, you don't accumulate as much stuff, etc... We'll be OK for now, but I'm thinking there may be another move in the not-so-distant future. :)

Since I haven't e-mailed pictures lately, I thought I'd post a few of my favorites from the last couple of months. Enjoy!

First day of kindergarten!

2008-09-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

Greetings, and welcome to my blog. It feels kind of strange saying that, but I hope you'll come here to visit often.

Today was Clare's first day of kindergarten. We were both a bit teary-eyed, but all went well. We really like the 15-minute walk to school, and the parents seem pretty friendly. Her teacher even called this evening to say that Clare had a great day. That's reassuring! Meanwhile, while Owen napped, I continued to swim through the sea of boxes cluttering our house. With unpacking and never-ending projects, this home ownership business is for the birds!

Have a nice evening, and I'll post more pictures soon.