Tommy the Christmas Elf part 2

Today we dressed him as an elf on purpose

Our Little Christmas Elf

Was pretty happy at daycare drop-off this morning

Haircut day!

Tommy cried. A lot. We'll post a picture of him once we've tidied his up a bit. 

Oops

Thanks!

big thanks to everyone who donated to my Movember campaign. I have raised $770 so far, nearly double the $415 I raised last time I did it, in 2008.

You can still donate - go here: http://mobro.co/MartelCartel

Tommy enjoyed Iris's party too

Our kids can only eat pizza with no cheese, and Tommy loved it. Everyone else was surprised at how much, and for how long he was eating.

first movie today

Iris saw her first movie in a theater today:  Puss in Boots!

Thanks Pepere!

my dad sent the kids a HUGE stuffed dog. They were both very excited when we opened the box today--Iris was shriek-giggling. Here are some pics of Iris and Tommy with their new pal (who still needs a name)

Iris on phone with Pepere Martel. Note the stylish old phone.

Tommy Rooster in the tub!

To the library

And then we went

for a walk.

Tommy's chilling

At home with dad. Irene brought Iris to birthday parties for 2 classmates, both scheduled for this morning.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Tommy likes spaghetti

Halloween Songs

Iris (AKA Snow White) & the other pre-schoolers at her daycare did their annual Halloween performance for the parents this morning. She does pretty well in the first video but seems more concerned with her itchy arm in part 2:

Here are the links to view them in larger format on youtube:


Performance #1

Performance #2

Trying on their Halloween costumes

up in Tommy's room. Please pretend to be surprised if you see them this weekend. (Iris is a strawberry and Tommy's a monkey).

Has anyone seen Iris?

Tommy dressed like Daddy yesterday

Haircut kids

The after photo.

Tommy's first rainy day in the toddler room

His first time all dressed up for the weather. 
(The toddlers spend more time outside than any of the other classes.)
Pretty damn cute, I say.

Tommy's first day in the toddler room

His first daily report card:

Iris at Gymnastics

Iris finished her summer gymnastics class tonight. Here she is getting a medal from Coach Courtney (aka Coach Bananas)

Hanging Out at the park in Lake Oswego

With cousin Emily

Iris got the beat!

This was on our way home tonight, listening to the Go Gos in the car

http://youtu.be/uTD5nX5VijM

Iris enjoyed the Go Gos show

Tommy is glad

We brought chairs to the Go Gos show at the zoo

Someone is sleepy

at Red Sox-Mariners game tonight.

Enjoying our boat ride

On the Tahoe Gal

Dog Cage Boy

We went to our oldest Seattle friends Robin & Pat's yard sale on Saturday. They are moving to NYC! Good for them but we'll miss them a lot. One of the items up for sale was a dog cage which Tommy decided he'd crawl into. He's become quite a little comedian and enjoys making people laugh.

Tommy's new job

He's very excited to start working at Trader Joe's

Our little princess

A sleeping angel

This is how Aunt Helen and Uncle Martin get Tommy down for a nap.  Pretty comfy.

and here's how he looked when he woke up. I think we all know how he feels.

Tommy and Iris are checking out the ducks

this was at Fishermens Terminal last Saturday morning, after brunch with Kris, Ben and Steve Dettman.

Photo courtesy of Kris Chick

Emily and Iris

Enjoying the one man band at Ballard Farmers Market today. He was playing Muse's Knights of Cydonia, then did Dynamite by Taio Cruz

Iris had fun at soccer this morning

Happy Father's Day to Me!

This morning was Doughnuts with Dad at the kids' daycare to celebrate Father's Day. My gifts, from top:

• Iris dressed up as dad at work on the card she "colored really nice" (she really said that to me). I know I'm biased, but I say she is pretty damn cute.
• Race car bobblehead hand painted by Iris.
• Tommy's handprint Father's Day card. 

Warms my little heart!

First haircut

Apologies to Uncle Bob, who gave Tommy his first haircut around Christmas, but Tommy went for his first professional trim at Rudy's in Ballard yesterday & came out of it looking pretty darn cute, I must say. He was pretty unsure of the whole process, so I held him on my lap & let him suck on a dum-dum the whole time. He naturally got it all over his face, and then the hair stuck to it, so it looked like he had a little beard by the time it was over. 

Iris was very good during her haircut too & got a trip to the gelato place as her reward. Sorry, no pics of her in the chair.

Tommy Hitting the Bottle

our friend Jana took this pic of Tommy at the Mariners game last Monday night

My sister Denise AKA Geegy got us the Ed Hardy can coozies as a joke but they do come in handy (and they are wicked cool!)

My little angel

Tommy got sent home because he was "sick." This is how he "recovers" at home.

Which is the weirder baby name coincidence?

1) We met another couple at a local park last weekend. They also live on NW 60th St in Ballard. They have a 4 year old boy named Thomas & a 2 year old girl named Iris (the first other little girl Iris we've ever encountered in person). The mom is white (parents live in NH), and the dad is Asian, so they're like the mirror image of us, with Tommy as the older one & the races of mom & dad swapped.

2) My brother Jack has 3 boys: Will, Luke and Reed. In the baby room at Tommy's daycare there are 4 other boys: Jack, William, Luke and Reed.

Iris loves gymnastics!

Tommy's birthday cake

Tough to say if he likes it or not, since most of it landed on the floor.

Tommy's birthday circle at daycare

Iris enjoying the muffins served for Tommy's birthday.  She looks like a giant sitting at the little table.

At Chiang's for Tommy's birthday dinner

But he's asleep. We also came here to eat when he was just 2 days old.

Iris likes her new outfit

Kris & Ben bought it for her in Hawaii. Thanks!

Martel Boys Visit

My brother ML and his sons Luke and Reed (Will couldn't come because he had baseball) visited from the Bay Area last weekend. We had a fun visit even though it rained pretty hard most of the weekend. We went to the Museum of Flight on Saturday and then took the Safeco Field tour and bowled a game on Sunday. Here are some pics of our fun. (Big thanks to Irene for the great rainy day activity ideas XOXO)

This pic of Iris in the Mariners dugout is a recreation of one from when she was less than a year old:

Apologies to Tommy but that last one was pretty good of everyone else.