Easter Sunday

Church, followed by lunch at Kris and Owen's house... So lucky to have family so close!

Sledding

Living close to mountains has lots of perks

So proud

To be sitting up all by herself!

Good news

There are birds living in our attic.  Friends, you know I am afraid of birds, so why is this good news?  Because as scared as I am of birds, I am 10 times more terrified of mice.  And I heard scratching and scurrying and squeaking.  And I spent one terrifying night thinking there were mice living in the ceiling right above my bed.  The exterminator came to check it out and announced it was birds.  Phew.  Or, as Clara says, "P-you."  Birdbusters is taking care of the problem.  And I don't have to pay the bill.  Renting has its perks!

New friends

Thankful for new friends and play dates!

First date

First one in Seattle, that is.

Tried oysters on the half shell for the first time (yummy!) followed by a ride on Seattle's Great Wheel.

Thanks, Kris and Owen, for showing us around the city.

Preschool

We found an opening at a great preschool for SJ. This week they learned about disguises.

Who said there is no sun in Seattle?

Park day!
Check out this gorgeous view.


Ps... It was storybook character day at school today. C was a mixture of Madeline and Fancy Nancy... She couldn't choose.

Rub a dub dub

Three girls in the tub

Walker

C loves being a "walker" to and from school. The rest of us love it, too!

Little sister tries to keep up.

Moving day

What are we going to do with all of this stuff?!?

Happy Valensbirthday

Being in the middle of a move makes our holiday celebrations a little different, but we tried to still make them special.  We had a little valentines party in our room... lunch with heart-shaped raviolis (that no one liked).  :)

 

 Valentine making..., followed by a Tinkerbell movie (thank you, Netflix)

 Greg's birthday is on the 16th, but decided to swap v-day and his birthday, so on the 14th we went to a trampoline gym.  There were three sections... the one pictured below is all tramps.  Another one was a dodge ball court on tramps, and the third one was tramps leading up to a foam pit.  Of course the girls loved it and Greg got to practice some crazy stunts.  It was the perfect place to celebrate our big 36 year old kid.  We love him.

Greg's kind sister offered to baby-sit tonight so we can go out for Greg's birthday... hopefully she won't mind that we switched our holidays and really this is our Valentines date.

Wish you were here...

hotel living

Are we going crazy living in a hotel, yet, you ask? 

Sometimes its a bit cramped...

 

 

But most of the time it is quite nice.  We have a living room/kitchen area plus two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

 

A big, yummy breakfast every morning, plus dinner 3x's a week (no cooking or dishes for me)

Clara LOVES the "escape room," which has video games

 (This is what Silvie does in the escape room)

 SJ loves pushing the elegator (elevator) buttons and is an expert on which floor houses what.

 We all love the pool

Add the daily maid service (they even do my dishes) and excellent customer service and it is a pretty nice package.  Clara says she never wants to leave... I kind-of agree!

Just Tourists

It has been a great "vacation."  The girls were champs on the plane.  We got a lot of looks and comments like "Wow, you guys are brave" as we boarded the 5.5 hour flight.  I wanted to say, "You think this is brave?  Just wait until I try it without Greg."

 

Since arriving, we have been the quintessential Seattle tourists, visitng the Space Needle, Children's Museum, Pacific Science Center (awesome), Pike's Place Fish Market, and riding on the Monorail. 

 

 

 

 

The girls planned the following hilarious photo.  Clara said, "Sarah-Jane, make a sad face because I caught you!"  Greg and I smiled and shared a moment of thinking, "Our kids are so clever and witty and adorable."

 

I am thrilled because they have an awesome "fast food" kids restauruant here called "Bean Sprouts."  Healthy sandwiches made into cute shapes.  Our girls both chose the Isty Bisty Biter... cream cheese inside whole wheat bread with olive eyes, a pepperoni tongue and carrot stick legs and grapes on the side.

 

 

Don't worry... we were responsible for at least a few hours this week.  We found a cute little home to rent, registered Clara for school, and Greg started work.  Real life is quickly approaching!

SJ's preschool program

She was adorable, so we had to share...

Christmas

 

Christmas Eve feast with friends

 

 

 Merry Christmas, everyone!  (baby S slept through the Santa reveal)

 

 

but happily joined us, later

Ballet Recital

 

 

 

 

The stars with their flowers

 

 

and cookies and milk

Winter Party

 

It may not have been wise to volunteer to be the room mother when this is my first experience with a child in school.  Luckily our first party was not an epic fail... I think the kids had fun. 

 

 

Rudolph Relay

Frosty dress-up

 

 

 winter stories and crafts

 

and an extra special helper...