This Joy’s Life

Just some pictures for the family (and whomever else is interested) of Clara in her Christmas dress:

Have I mentioned I’m not really a fan of the snow? Which is a shame because I used to love it as a kid, especially since we rarely saw any in Georgia. But, as an adult, you realize snow = lots of work; Lot’s of wet clothes to be washed, floors to be mopped up, effort to layer everything on, shoveling to get yourself and the cars out of the driveway, etc. Ba-Humbug to Snow!

Still, it does make everything, even garbage cans on the curb, look prettier. Here’s the ice sculpture the Snow made for me with my hanging flower pot out on the front porch:

And our new split rail fence took on a real photographic quality blanketed in snow:

I took those as Chad, Clara and I walked over to JackGwen’s house just to get out in the fresh air and for a change of pace after being couped up for so many days. Got a couple fun pictures of Jack doing his best “Shiloh Jolie-Pitt” and Chad doing his best “Jolly Ol’ Elf”:

Uncle Brett is here for a visit that is almost over. Until today he had seen only the numerous malls that the greater Seattle area had to offer for Xmas shopping and taking Clara and JackGwen to see Santa Claus at the University Village for pictures.

Jack was a little anxious at first about meeting Santa. According to Gwen, all morning he was saying, “Santa. No Santa. Santa. No Santa . . .” But, as you can see here, shortly after giving the jolly ol’ elf a high five, Jack was no longer loosing sleep over his big red buddy:

Alas, Santa’s elves were having technical difficulty with their printer, so we got to hang out a bit longer than some and Santa even read them the story of Rudolph:

That was yesterday. Today Clara and I took advantage of the unusually nice Seattle weather – in the 40s, windy, but NOT RAINING! – to take Brett on a ferry ride to the quaint little Maine-like town of Port Gamble. Here’s us enjoying our day:

Well, we started the Christmas decorating of the house and yard today and Clara has loved every minute of it. As I pulled out my small collection of Nutcrackers one after the other, all she wanted was to hold each and every one. But, no, that’s not allowed. Clara, I have a special one for you. Wait . . . not yet.

Finally! It was love at first sight, as though it were somewhere written that Clara should have a Nutcracker of her very own:

And she played with it and she loved it. And then her naughty little brother, well, cat, Harry, ran in front of her. As he did so, she tripped over her own two feet and she and the Nutcracker went tumbling. Up she scrambled and quickly ran to her fallen Nutcracker. “Uh oh!”

“Is the Nutcracker okay?” I asked from the other room as I continued to unpack Christmas decorations. “No.” So, I went to have a look. I mean, what are the chances? Seriously, what are the chances that she could have broken the Nutcracker she was given only minutes before?

I can only think that it must be written somewhere, the story of a little girl named Clara who receives a beautiful Nutcracker doll, only to have it broken in front of her shortly thereafter.

Thankfully, mom had her very own little Drosselmyer tucked away in the closet. Better known to some as . . . Gorilla Glue.

And so, working it’s magic on the Nutcracker, we’ve now but to wait until he has dried before Clara and her Nutcracker can be reunited once again. And all will be right in the world.

Moo Moo Here! HaHaHaHaHa

Moo Moo Here from Joy Fisher on Vimeo.

This sounds like a really bad joke, but instead it was a very fun Halloween for Clara, Nadia and Jack who really started to get into Halloween and the concept of yelling “Trick or Treat!!” and getting candy.

There was no shortage of ladybug costumes out there this Halloween, but Clara’s was above and beyond the best for being homemade by her grandmother. Too cute. LOL!

We met Nadia and Jack at the U-Village, an open air shopping area for to start off our trick or treating adventure. Clara and Nadia really enjoyed their lollipops. And Jack couldn’t stop looking in his UPS box at all the candy he was getting!

Here is what we’ve been up to this week for those of you who simply MUST know.

A visit to Jenn’s new house and a park out in picturesque Issaquah:

A girls night out at the Purple Cafe in downtown Seattle:

A birthday party for Mason who turned 1 on Saturday:

And today we celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary (see previous post for more related to that). Sorry, no pictures from today. Got to keep you coming back for more . . .

It’s been a big weekend in The ATL for Clara and I. We went to the Aquarium and the World of Coke (actually the grass lawn between the two), drove to Marietta to see the burnt up shell of the house I grew up in, visited with my very first BFF Susan and her family, then, today, had a big playdate at The Pietro’s house which included some bounce house fun and a lot of catching up with old friends.

Here we are at The World Of Coca-Cola – sort of:






That was fun. Saturday, I drove up to Marietta to see some old friends and just had to stop by the house I grew up in. I knew that no one had been living in it, but about two years after my parents sold it, it burned down. I wanted to see it one last time, morbid as it was. It was emotional seeing it, as you can understand, especially if you read the blog post I did on it a while back. If you’d ever visited me there, you’ll be interested in seeing these pix.

All that still stands of the house is the carport and the front two rooms – the kitchen and dining room. Everything from the chimney on is gone (that would have been the living room, den and bedrooms):
View from the carport looking through the kitchen door (This was the way most people entered the house):
View from the back. Hello, wide, gaping hole!
It was evident by the debris – empty and broken beer bottles, fast food cups, forks, turned over garbage cans and the like, that more than one group of “hoodlums” and “riff-raff” had had their fun on the turf I used to roam, leaving me a bit nervous in my old stomping grounds and not at all willing to stick around this garden until midnight:
So, off to visit Susan, her husband Matt and her parents for a birthday celebration down the street. I met Susan in pre-school. Her’s was the second phone number I ever learned, so I wanted her to see how much Clara has grown, as it had been about two years since we them last!

Susan and Matt:
Clara, Susan and I – BFF’s always!
Today it was time for more playdate fun at “Monkey Pietro’s”, the house of Nicole and Dan (great friends from high school). It was my first opportunity to meet their second child Lucas, whose only 9 weeks old!

Bounce House Fun for Clara and Sophia Pietro. They were born on the same day about 20 minutes and 3,000 miles apart!:
Dan The (Sausage) Man:
(Seriously, that’s a great little shop in the town of Burien where I live.)

Dan The Girly Man?
Ouch. Dan is a loyal reader so this is so unfair of me. But, he really is THE MAN, so I know he can take it

Lucas and I. He’s such a sweet boy (just like his daddy
Big Sis’ Sophia is keeping an eye on him. She loves her baby bro:
Also at the playdate was Nancy with her son Jed, now about 16 months, and her newborn cutie-patootie, Meredith:

Meredith looking like a beautiful porcelain doll:
And, of course, the hostess with the mostess, Nicole, playing in the grass with Brayden. Thanks again for letting me stay with you this weekend, girl!
Clara and Sophia hot and sweaty from playing at Monkey Pietro’s:
Dan was kind enough to give the little girls soccer lessons so the big girls could talk for a while. Under his tutelage, the both came away with some mad skillz!
All done!

This is how Clara finds Poppa every morning, though usually he’s asleep when she wakes up. She runs into the media room and says, “Poppa sleepin!”

The other day, she was in there watching one of her shows. Poppa wasn’t at home at the time. I hear my mom calling me to, “come here!” As I’m following her to the media room she says to me, “Did you set her up like that?”:

I did not. I guess someone just loves her Poppa and wants to be just like him. Not that you need more proof, but:

She’s a fan of those grandpa types. You should see her with Chad’s dad (“grandpa”). It’s his birthday today, I think we’ll have to give him a call this evening.

But, yes, Clara does like those boys. Here she is with Billy Joe, a grandfather to 10, so his lap is well worn in. Clara likes to find it when he comes over:

And she’s got them all wrapped around her little curls.

Just a couple more family pictures today. The first is my brother with Clara. He took her to a build-a-bear type of place to make herself something to love. She chose a dolphin which we named Sea Squirt after one of her favorite Backyardagains TV shows:

This is my uncle Hugh, husband of my mom’s sister Joanne: