The Andersons: June 2009

Elena's prayer

It was today at lunch. It went something like this ...

"Dear God,

I hope you had a fun day today.

Amen."

It used to be that when a fish died, our kids would fight over who got to flush him down the toilet so we could run off to Petsmart and get another. But this time was different. We had tears. Emma's little fish "Ashy" died and it was a very sad day. Our amazing babysitter Allie helped the girls give Ashy a proper burial. They even had a full service and created a program for the event. It is one of the more adorable things I have ever seen. On the cover of the program was a picture of the fish and her name at the top "Ashy McFish Anderson, February 21, 2009 - June 13, 2009" Then, at the bottom it said "Loved and cherished wherever she swam." On the inside was the summary of her life on the left and the order of the service on the right. It looked something like this:

-Born on February 21 at Petsmart
-Came home with the Andersons sometime in May
-Wouldn't always eat her fish food
-Made five little baby fish. They all died though.
-Swam around a lot (often chased)
-Died on Saturday, June 13, 2009

Memorial Service, June 17, 2009

-Hymns of Celebration (I'll Fly Away & Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer)
-Memories - Emma
-Reading of the obituary - Allie
-Additional comments - Elena
-Prayers
-Potentially more comments - Elena
-Reception to follow

We later discovered that during the "Potentially more comments" section of the program, Elena discussed how the fishes eyes sunk back into her head after she died. And the reception included popcorn and ice water.

Pike Place balloon guy

Sounders game

About 26 of us who play soccer together every week got group tickets to see the Sounders play the San Jose Earthquakes. SOOOO glad to have our pro team! We've become quite the soccer addicts.

Maritime Gig Festival

Daisy 6 weeks old

Daisy comes home in just about a week! We had to sneak in one more visit though.

Cousin time

Fun bowling with dad

Emma turns 8!

Here's to Emma and the way she does the hula

This is a tradition at Emma's school. Any kid celebrating a birthday has to get up in front of the entire school and dance to this song. Usually it happens during chapel, but they did a special encore for me during water gun fight day.

More birthday fun

Dad made Emma breakfast in bed (which Elena was more than happy to share). He created pancakes with the number 8 and "Em" on them. And that was just the beginning of a fun birthday! The day ended in a celebration with friends at school. Of course Emma didn't want cupcakes, so we brought popsicles and one canteloupe nut muffin. Where did this child come from anyway??