Movin' On Up!

As promised here are some photos of the new house, pre move-in. Mill Creek is very, very suburban as you can see below. I love that two sets of neighbors have come by with brownies/a bottle of wine already, just to welcome us and say hello. In Kirkland, we actually never met any of our neighbors for 2-3 years until we got Winston as a puppy and suddenly all the neighbor's kids wanted to play with him.

I was a little disappointed that we ended up with dark green trim again, but at least there is less of it.

View from Harrison's room; the park is literally across the street!

The Deck, which is behind the kitchen and family room. You can see from our neighbor's yard that there is a steep slope which is our "back yards." Basically it is barely suited for the dogs to roam in and not really for kids. With the park across the street, we decided it wasn't a big deal. The green belt behind us is big, tree filled and owned by our community so no one can build on it. Our bedroom windows are directly above the deck so we have a nice view.

The Kitchen. Big and bright. Love the bay window over the sink and ample cabinet space.

Funny side note: before the house totally went into foreclosure, the owner tried to sell us the refrigerator through the Tutrows, but we already had a new one in the Kirkland house so we declined. Doh!

Above & Below: The Family Room, which is partially separated from the kitchen by a short wall.

The Entry Way. LOVE the banister!

The hinges to the right are double doors leading into Michael's home office.

Master Bedroom. We have since painted it a light blue and made the huge main wall a deeper blue. We got some awesome bedroom furniture to fill up the space.

This is the smallest bedroom which will eventually become the next nursery.

There is a Jack 'n' Jill bathroom and a big bonus room on the other side.

We made the bonus room into a playroom - most all of the toys are contained!

Just beyond the doors is a teeny-tiny balcony. It is just big enough to stand outside,

shut the door behind you and get locked out, as the alarm installer found out.

Ode to the Kirkland House

Goodbye, sweet Kirkland house.

In the outskirts of Kirkland do thee dwell.

How we will miss thee and look back fondly

at our memories so swell.

May thy lush, green grass

continue to entice passers by.

The deck that Michael slaved to build -

we fare thee well, good bye.

Thy granite enhanced fireplace,

a beauty in this land.

New flooring that took three weeks to lay,

a mantel carved by hand.

Dear Master Bath! Thine heated floors

and jetted tub cause mine eyes to fill!

Never fear, we keep thee near to

reproduce in Creek of Mill.

Many trips to SoDo did

we make for cabinets, counter tops.

Glass tiles and accessories

so much time spent at the shops.

Six long months we slaved to

perfect thee, kitchen we hold dear.

Stainless steel appliances,

for thee we shed a tear.

Thou will always be found in our hearts,

dear first home of ours.

Renters will take good care of thee,

Thine walls will not be marred.

Argenta Mapel-Lee

Argenta Mapel-Lee was born on Friday, January 15th to proud parents Jonathan Mapel & Audrey Lee in Cambridge, Mass. Argenta weighed about 6 lbs 5 oz and is a healthy baby girl.

I am so excited to be an aunt, although Argenta has FOUR aunts and I need to figure out how to be the favorite. Jon and I Skyped with our kiddos in our arms, his sweet baby girl swaddled and sleeping and my normally cool Harrison squiggling out of grasp, trying to grab the camera and screaming when I wouldn't let him have it. Luckily Argenta won't recall this first meeting with her cousin.

My cousins lived the next street over for most of my childhood and we spent nearly every weekend together, sleeping over, playing with Barbies, travelling the additional four blocks to swim at grandpa and grandma's house, etc. Michael and I talked about how I was sad that Harrison and Argenta will likely always be separated by many miles and he came up with a great idea. When they are older, we think it would be great to send one to the other's house for a week each summer. Not only would we get time with our neice, but hopefully it would be like summer camp for her and a fun time hanging with her cousin. Plus we could have a kid free week to ourselves every other year. It's a win-win if you ask me.

Aunt, Uncle and Cousin...

Uncle Jonathan's wife Audrey is in labor! It sounds like their baby girl will be born on Friday January 15th... Uncle Mike, Aunt Raina and cousin Harrison are eagerly awaiting her arrival! Auntie Raina had a dream last night that they decided to name her "Amelia Ann Mapel," although i don't think this name was anywhere on their short list! Stay tuned!

Monthly Milestone

Here is Harrison's progress report at school:

A Monthly Milestone (12/29/09)

This month your child has developed their social skills by baby talking!

Your child has also accomplished walking - yay!!!

Harrison has worked hard developing his emotional skills by showing how much he loves to play with other friends.

Your child has also excelled this month in his cognitive development by pointing at what he wants to have.

Where is Mill Creek?

Good question dad. Maybe this will help:

We currently live at the orange dot. Mill Creek is the Yellow Star. I work in Downtown Seattle at the green dot. Michael works in Canyon Park which is the purple dot. To drive from Kirkland to Mill Creek it takes about 17 minutes. As you can see, it is much further north, however my commute to downtown via bus should only be about 5 minutes longer becuase the bus will take only one freeway in the express lanes. My current bus has to take 3 freeways and is only in the express lanes on one of them. Michael's commute will basically stay the same.

Team Fein is Moving to Mill Creek!

Alas, I am very behind on my posts which I fully blame on the holidays. That and the fact that we bought a new house the first business day after Christmas!

While we were in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving, a realtor we had contacted months ago called Michael as we had asked him to keep an eye on one particular house. The Tutrows, good friends since college and members of our wedding party, live in Mill Creek (a suburb of Seattle) and informed us that the house next door would be going into foreclosure in the fall. The realtor followed the house as it was sold from bank to bank and put up for auction. When it did not get picked up in auction, our realtor found out that it would be put on the market the week after Thanksgiving at well below value.

Luckily, our return flight from Las Vegas was the Friday after Thanksgiving so we landed and basically drove straight to the new house, where we found another realtor leaving with a prospective buyer. The house wasn’t on the market yet and these were basically the only two realtors who had the information so it was obvious that this house could be in for a bidding war. After the walk through and a second visit on Sunday, we decided that we loved the house (the layout is great, the space is beyond copious, the neighborhood is lovely, safe and has awesome public schools) and that we wanted to make an offer.

I am proud to say that Michael and I are very fiscally prudent and have saved money and kept our credit spotless so when I called my mortgage rep and said “I need a mortgage NOW!” we were approved quickly and able to get an offer in that afternoon which the bank accepted (although they did dilly-dally and we think they were waiting for another offer from that other person who had looked at the house). We got our keys just after Christmas and began feverishly packing last weekend and prepping the new house for our arrival this Saturday!

I will miss our Kirkland house. Harrison was born into that house and took his first steps there. We have an amazing new master bath and closet that I had barely a year to enjoy (can you guess which room will be the first to remodel in the new house?!) in addition to all the renovations through the years (complete kitchen remodel, new carpets and floors, fireplace overhaul). Our Kirkland neighbors are truly wonderful and have been very giving to us over the years and we will miss having them next store.

We are keeping the Kirkland house to rent for a couple years… let us know if you or a friend are interested.

Pictures of the Mill Creek house are forth coming as I haven’t had much of an opportunity to blog and take the time to upload photos…

December 25th

Baby's first Christmas was celebrated in our little house in Kirkland, partially packed to make the move to Mill Creek. Since he was crawling and walking, we opted out of a big tree and did a little one on the table and strategically placed present in a blockade type pattern so that he couldn't get to them and tear them apart. We turned on the tv to a network that play Christmas music and shows a scene of a fireplace burning and enjoyed some snuggle time and opened a few gifts before making the 10 minute drive to Zaidy's and Grandmama's house.

 

Grandmama has these stockings for all her kids and told us she was ecstatic to walk into Macys and find one in their holiday lane... I think she mentioned that they are made by one specific company and they hadn't carried in them in a long time - what a find! Now Harrison has his official stocking with his name to enjoy for years to come.

One of Harrison's gifts included two monkeys with velcro on the hands and feet so that they can wrap around each other or even a toddler in a hug-like-fashion. This is extra special becuase Michael also had a pair of monkeys growing up which he called his two-two's (becuase there were two of them) and carried they with him everywhere!

A little alone time with dad

An awesome truck from Zaidy!

Later that evening, we went to Uncle John's and Aunt Shivonne's house for a family Christmas feast and... more presents! Of course, Harrison arrived in a sweater vest and was the life of the party.

December 24th

Zaidy Steve had to work on Christmas Eve so we drove 30 minutes to the firehouse and enjoyed Christmas Eve dinner firefighter style. Since there were three families for the 3 on-duty fireman, they set up folding tables in the "garage" ( or maybe it's a bay - i am sure i will hear about my improper use of lingo) near the engines and medic trucks. Harrison had much fun with Uncle Stephen checking out the rigs and gear. When we left after 9pm (well past his bedtime) he surprised us by staying quietly awake all the way home. Although staying up later never equals sleeping in, as a Christmas gift to us he slept in past his usual 6am internal alarm clock and woke up at 7:30am! Merry Christmas indeed!  

 

Downtown Christmas Magic

I failed at my blogging duties... although I uploaded all these photos in January, I am typing this in September. This frustrates me becuase I remember that I had a lot to say but now I only have some fleeting memories...

Every year Grandmama takes all her kids to see Santa Claus for portrait so this year we made a family morning of it and enjoyed some time downtown to take in some holiday magic and cheer. We all agreed that the Old Saint Nick was most excellent and had a real beard! I caught these photos of Harrison via the video camera so as stills, they are not super sharp and I was actually pretty far away. He was actually kind of confused as to who he was sitting with but this shot of him looking up is just priceless!

Afterwards baby rode the carousel in Westlake Park with mama (who still gets dizzy just thinking about it). To be honest, he did not look that thrilled but maybe that was because mama was clutching him perhaps a little too tightly to avoid dropping him and also to keep the urge to vomit under control.

After viewing the giant gingerbread houses made by local chefs and architect firms, the three of us went with Aunt Alexis for lunch and something amazing happened... Harrison voluntarily took his first bite of solid food! We had been baiting him with all sorts of things but he would always spit it out preferring the perfectly blended veggies and fruit mama makes for him. This Christmas miracle occurred with the aid of soft french fries. While he spit out anything remotely tough (fried to a crisp), he would eat the soft middle if I broke them in half and smooshed out the insides. Harrison, for the record mama really did not want to feed this to you but dad insisted and overall it was an important step for you towards mastering your chewing abilities!