Wow. How did a year pass like that, without writing a word here? There were rough times, so there's that. But there were good times, too! And in the life of a certain 4th grader there were many, many high points, and we've got to remember and celebrate them!
First, a cute pic at the end of December 2016 (that's right, over a year ago she was already towering over Santa):
This was at our friend's house. She has a regular Xmas party with other families, and her friend from college gamely dons the S.Claus getup.
Also for posterity is the note to Santa on Christmas Eve from last year:
It was the final year before "the talk" which happened this summer. Rosalie understands how Santa actually works now, and she even has started to act in the spirit of Santa herself, but that's coming later in this post (as in, 12 months later. Hope you have a few minutes to an hour to read all this).
PomPom
The highlight of late December/early January was the addition to our family: PomPom.
She's a dwarf hamster with an overabundance of cuteness but also a fierce territorial nature. So we don't hold and cuddle her, but the mutual adoration through the bars is undeniable. She's been a wonderful pet this year!
Rosalie also made tiny treats for PomPom several times this year.
January
We also started the year off right reading about Rad American Women. Each night after dinner we read a new page about a new awesome woman in American History, A-Z. At the end of this series, Rosalie was able to recite all 26 of the women in a row! WHY did I not get that on video when I had the chance? It was way cool.
Oh well, the experience of learning about all those amazing people still happened, and she won't forget the central message: that she has it in herself to make a difference too. Focus and hard work were recurring themes.
As mentioned before, 2017 was of course a rough year politically. Prior to the election, I don't believe that Rosalie knew as much about politics as she does now (I could probably say the same for myself). So in a bizarre way, all this awfulness has awakened many people to broken parts of our country, and hopefully that will be a catalyst for change. I made and distributed Soup Zine in the first few months of the year, which felt like something. At least I was able to raise over $1,000 for Earthjustice, while doing something that felt productive and creative.
A special and important experience in January was going on the Women's March with our 3 generations: Rosalie, myself, and Grandmama.
And Jenny! Most wonderful friend!
Kindness Matters!
The kids in 3rd grade started learning how to play recorder in the winter. This is Rosalie patiently awaiting my ability to work out how to record her on video, playing "Hot Cross Buns." I'll show you a video of it if you really, really want to see it. I'm still working on my YouTube skills. The whole grade had recorder fever for several months. It's amazing what happens when you get 100 recorders playing at once. It's a surprisingly rich yet ethereal sound.
My awesome, happy kid on a windy walk home
February
We had an epic Valentine-making party at our house with way too many of Rosalie's friends. I didn't even take pictures. In fact, I'm kind of writing about it now to remind myself to never do this again. It happened on a snow day, which meant that no kids went to school that day...and instead they showed up at our house in the afternoon, and it was insane. But fun! But never again, thank you very much.
At least here's a quick snap from the snow day itself! Snowman city.
Definitely AFTER the Valentine party, we were able to assemble Rosalie's actual valentines for class. Here's to the clever-yet-simple designs that don't even have candy! Big winner, in my book.
I have no recollection of the context of this picture, but for some reason we made a robot out of a couple boxes of leftovers and plastic forks. This is how we roll.
We visited Uncle Matt and Aunt Tess, taking the long drive in our new wheels. It's a smooth ride! Here's the Big R taking control of the camera and rocking a selfie. And finger-ie.
Also that month we had a field trip on the UW campus! It was so great seeing Rosalie and her buddies in a couple of my favorite spots on campus: The Graduate Reading Room, and The Quad. So beautiful.
March
The beginning of March has, for most of Ro's life, has meant the annual trip to Whistler with Michael's work. Here's a cheerful kid sitting at an actual bar, since we had taken over the whole restaurant and the "kid's table" was the bar.
Later that month we went to Hadlock to see Grandma and Grandpa, where we borrowed a didgeridoo for a unit in Rosalie's class on making instruments.
Then we went to see Aunt Melanie and Uncle Jason, along with their newly adopted daughters, Rosalie's new cousins!
March also means cherry blossoms bursting all over. We managed to do a cherry blossom walk during the season of "spring snow," with Rosalie's little buddy, a stuffy for whom she created several outfits, including a rain jacket, inspired by the baggie she put him in for this sprinkly walk.
Privacy Pop
I found this cool gizmo, the Privacy Pop, for Rosalie to sleep in for a cozier night's sleep.
bed before privacy pop
bed after privacy pop
She has her own little world in there!
April
April Fools Day
Rosalie really wanted to pull a prank on Daddy, so she made "french fries" with cut up apples, browning them with cinnamon, and "ketchup" with jam. Here she is carefully blowing cinnamon onto a french fry.
Instead of doing a day camp for Spring Break this year, Rosalie and I planned a week of adventures together instead. It took a barrel full of energy to pull off, but we had a great time. We chose a combination of activities that each of us wanted to do.
We visited the Bullitt Center for a tour. It's billed as the greenest commercial building in the world. It was fascinating: The most efficient systems I've ever seen. It was also beautiful! They described how the building tries to mimic a tree.
We took a ferry to Bainbridge Island, visited an art museum, a toy store, and went on a little walk.
We also had the chance to visit Grandmama and Papa. Rosalie and Papa built a cat out of wood, per her sketched design.
Speaking of cats, what's a mom & daughter adventure week without a visit to Meowtropolitan, the Cat Cafe? This is what a latte looks at that place.
We also had a hike & picnic at Discovery Park, one of Rosalie's favorite places.
Meanwhile, back at the city, we also visted MOPOP (Museum of Pop Culture), which used to be called EMP (Experience Music Project).
It's a wildly irregularly shaped building, with its reflective walls on the outside.
We saw the actual costumes from The Princess Bride at MOPOP!
Here's a requisite family selfie we took on my B-day. Who knew it would turn into our Christmas card?
June
The end of the school year is always a little nutty, but this year there were a couple of highlights: Rosalie won the Principle's Award for her hard work academically. This is only awarded to two students per class each year, so it's a huge honor! She was known during the school year as one of two kids who read the most each week.
And here's Rosalie with her Absolute Favorite Teacher of All Time (my favorite, too, actually). Ms. Windus was so full of love, positivity, and inspiration to learn. She really saw and appreciated each student. We love her so much!
July
For our family trip we did the Olympic Peninsula loop again. This time we were able to find some special waterfall spots that were off the beaten track, places that we had only heard about but weren't listed on websites. We were also able to visit both sets of grandparents on either end of the loop!
Dungeness Spit from far away...
...and from very up close.
Rosalie returned to Camp Orkila and had another fantastic time there. It's a real chance to be independent from parental units, make friends, learn skills, and have crazy-goofy fun. They had a photographer on the property the whole time, and he posted pics every day, so we had a few snippets of clues about how it all went. She wants to go again this year!
For Michael's birthday we rode on a hot air balloon. It was surreal, beautiful, scary (for me), and most definitely memorable. Gliding along silently above trees and the lake was pretty magical.
The Garage
This summer we also re-did our garage. We now have a cedar-lined ceiling thanks to the help and expertise of Papa Stan )and Grandmama!), along with a nice epoxy finish on the floor and painted walls. This has become a functional room with lots of storage and space for creation: art, robotics, crafts, everything!
Before walls and floor finished
Rosalie was fairly consistent about wishing for a white Christmas, and it sure did happen! Good job with the focused wishing, Ro! She made a nice-sized snow person, and also this brick-by-brick igloo, complete with kiddy-pool roof and carved out windows.
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