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

2010 Santa Photos

As many of you have already heard, Iris declined to pose with Santa again this year. Tommy had no such qualms - here he is with ol' Saint Nick:

(Santa's focus was drawn by the screaming little girl who just squirmed away from him)

Iris was okay posing with this Santa:

Here's what it may have looked like if Iris had stayed on Santa's lap:

Photoshop magic courtesy of Kris Chick. Thanks, Kris!

Oink Oink.

Face painting at day care today

And here's the extra grumpy version that Kris took 

(Iris was not happy that CC the kitty was so close to her)

I'm strong to the finish...

...cuz I eats me spinach!

Concept by Irene and Jim.
Photoillustration and punchline courtesy of Kris Chick

Iris is riding high

At the Norwegian Day parade in Ballard tonight.

Photo Courtesy Kris Chick

Birthday Brunch

At Portage Bay for our big 2 year old girl's birthday brunch

Dr Seuss books and Photo Courtesy of Kris Chick

I don't need a nap

This is on the 20 minute drive home from the train station after she refused to sleep at all on the 3-1/2 hour train ride from Portland-Seattle.

Photo courtesy of Kris Chick.

First Moose Sighting of the Season

He was hanging out in the section just above us.

Iris wasn't sure what to think but she definitely was keeping an eye on him

(photos courtesy of Kris Chick)

Iris with Irises

Our friends Kris & Ben have some irises growing by their front walk. Kris took this photo this morning:

(We're still working at getting Iris to smile on demand)

Don't get her mad

It was hard getting a good photo of Iris in her Halloween costume. This is as good as it gets.

She wore her baby Hulk costume briefly in the morning to show the ladies at day care then again when we met friends in downtown Ballard that night. For most of the day she was in her pumpkin costume, accessorized with custom-fitted stem hat made by our friend Kris Chick:

Thanks Chicky!

Iris Win Streak Over, Freddy has bum knee, new Weezer!

Iris' win streak is over at 5 games, as the Mariners blew a 2-0 8th inning lead and lost to the A's 4-2 on Sunday. We think the good luck string was broken when we decided to leave just before the A's 4-run rally started. It was raining pretty good & the roof wasn't closed so we decided to head out early, since the Ms were up 2-0 in the 8th. By the time we got down to the lower level, the A's had loaded em up with no outs and then took the lead. Kris texted me that we better get Iris back up to the seats, but by the time we got back to the upper deck the A's had scored 4 times, and it was pretty much over. The Ms went down meekly in the 8th & 9th and Iris' unbeaten lifetime record was history.

Here's the Martel family at the gameLook - I found my thumb!

We had more bad news on Sunday as Fred the cat woke us up with a very bad limp - he could barely move & wasn't putting any weight on his right rear leg. I feared the worst, since we already know that he has arthritis in his lower spine, just above his hip. I gave him a good brushing Sunday night & noticed he didn't flinch too badly when I was near his hip, though his foot seemed very sensitive. Since our vet is only open Tuesday-Saturday, I thought that we'd take a wait and see approach and see how he was on Monday, since he seemed a little better Sunday night than he had been that morning.

We got home from work last night & he was still limping pretty badly so I decided to bring him to the emergency vet, which is open overnight when all the other vets are closed. I hate going to that place - seems like a lot of the animals that get brought in there have taken their last ride. But it went OK for Freddy--after a couple xrays and an exam, his diagnosis is just a $350 sore knee. They gave him some narcotics to help with the pain and prescribed lots of rest, which Freddy is only too happy to comply with. We still don't know what happened or how he hurt himself but the extra lbs he carries around most likely had a lot to do with it.

That's enough bad news. here's some good - Weezer has a new album coming out in June - you can stream their new single Pork & Beans on weezer.com - I like it!

Iris Visitors & Merry Christmas!

Iris has had many visitors since being born on 11/21, so I thought I'd post some of the pictures we've taken. Oldest photos are on top (the first 2 are from the day Iris was born) and the newest are at the end, taken on Christmas Day. (Click each image to view full size)

Here's Aunty Robin - Iris' first visitor at Ballard Swedish Hospital

Aunty Kris - Iris' first visitor who brought a dead camera battery:

Iris' first actual Aunty to visit - Irene's sister Shirley, who visited
from Portland during Thanksgiving weekend

Irene's sister Sheila - the first sibling to fly in (from NYC) to see Iris:

Jim's friend Eddie - I've known him since 8th grade (that was in 1978!!!)

Jim's first sibling to visit, Aunty Geegy (AKA Denise)

Here's Iris sharing Aunty Geegy's lap with Freddy.
I don't think Freddy much cared for this arrangement.

Jim's Dad Gerry, AKA Pepere Martel - the first grandparent to visit.
Note Iris' smile - that was the first time we caught her smiling on camera--
usually she only smiles in her sleep.

Here's one with mom & dad on Christmas day - she's wearing the
"Baby's First Christmas" jammies that Aunty Geegy got for her

Finally here's one of Iris & Freddy with their first ever Christmas tree

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Iris Fashion Show

Hey everyone - Apologies for the week-plus it's been since I uploaded any photos to this here blog. I'll try to upload less photos more often from now on.

Here's Iris wearing some of the new outfits she's received.

Sherpa hat from Joe & Andrea (It's kind of big for her--hopefully it'll still fit next winter):Iris's first party was last Saturday - a Hanukkah party at the Rossans (Izzie's parents) with the Woosters (Sebastian & Helena's mom & dad) & Policars (Sarah's). The bib Iris got says 'Chanukah' not 'Hanukkah'- I never know which way is right:The Hannawalts (Henry's parents) gave her a set of Red Sox gear (somehow word got out that her dad's a fan):Arlene and Dan's daughter 17 month old girl Cornelia will be supplying Iris with lots of hand me downs, I think. Here she is in one of them, a sweet tie dyed number (with visiting cousins Ryan & Emily:Davis's parents Beth & Scott gave Iris this cute one from the Gap's RED line:Here's one from Jim's dad--us French Canadians call our grandpas Pepere. And that's a personalized Christmas cookie from Aunt Kris up in the corner there.

Lastly, Irene wanted to buy Iris a hoodie so we picked one up last week. She was sleeping on the couch in it & kind of rolled over on her side and ended up looking like a drunk sleeping one off in the park. I couldn't stop myself from adding a prop & taking this one:Iris - please forgive your daddy for it not being Makers Mark.
The Knob Creek was right there on the counter when the photo op happened.

Tommy Girl?

Kris sent me this pic this AM - she says it's the reincarnation of a
deceased former SNL star - guess which one:

But I think that's mean and would never say anything like that

Kris, Ben & Barry plus ipod project update

Our friends Kris & Ben were at Wrigley last Thursday for the Cubs-Giants game (Ben's a Cubbies fan from way back) and they weren't even sure if Barry would play, since he was limited to one pinch hit appearance the 2 prior games of the series. But it turned out that Ben bought tickets for the right game --they got to see Barry go 3 for 3 with 2 Homers and 6 RBIs--career homers #752 and 753! NICE! He knocked out the first pitch he saw leading off the 2nd inning, then later popped a 3-run shot to center, right into a into a stiff headwind. The guys on ESPN that night said they didn't think anyone would hit one out to center that afternoon.

here's Barry receiving props from former Mariner Randy "Winny" Winn after HR #2 that day:

and I think that might be Ben holding up that sign,
though it would probably be held up much higher if it really is him:

ALSO: here's the latest update on my ipod a-z project, which I started on January 1, 2006. My goal is to listen to the entire contents of my ipod, al l in alphabetical order.

as of 4:23 PM Monday July 23: Currently listening to "Some Might Say" by Oasis. (I just heard "Some Like It Hot" by Power Station 3 times in a row from a number of 80s compilation cds I have on there--really glad that's over with).

"Some Might Say" is song #10617 of 14412.
I had hoped to finish by the end of this year, and still might but I'll need to focus and stop listening to other stuff when I'm at work. Big thanks to Kris for helping me stay on task with this when we were visiting her family's place outside of San Jose a couple weeks ago--we cranked through a lot of the S's that weekend. (Thanks for hosting us too!)