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...

Gratitude

My Thanksgiving post, a little late:

Grateful for many things this holiday season...
1. My husband, who loves me so much (despite all of the reasons he should not  :) )  and my two big girls who show their love to me unabashedly. 

2. A beautiful baby girl- I know it sounds like a cheesy exaggeration, but this is the truth...just looking at her fills me with so much joy and hope that it overrides my sadness.
3.  My health, our free country, and the comfortable lifestyle we live
4.  And the most exciting thing to be thankful for...(drum roll, please)... my parents and sister (plus family) are moving to NC next year!!!  We can't wait!!!

 

Tooth Fairy

The tooth fairy made her first visit to our house this month...

 

 Can you tell C was excited?

funny book

9/1/12- SJ wanted to be like C and speak some Spanish.  She says, "This is how you say SJ in Spanish...cinco y seis." 

10/24/12- We were outside playing and C asked me if I had the baby thermometor so I could hear if S was crying (it took me a minute to realize she meant baby monitor).

10/24/12- I think SJ has been playing with the boys at school.  She makes things into weapons and after aiming them at us says, "You have a bweeding boo-boo!  Here's a band-aid"  Also, today she said, "C is the mad guy"  I think she meant bad guy.

10/30- The girls love the "Fresh Beat Band" from Nick Jr.  The theme song has a part where the beat-boxer says "It -goes a- little- something- like- this."  SJ sings it like this "Hip-po-pot-a-mus!"  At another part, the lyrics are something about a special day.  SJ sings "special today" in a voice that makes her sound like a street hawker with a foreign accent.  It makes me smile every time.

11/10- In the bathroom at Greg's office (a not-kid-friendly space with very high ceilings and therefore lots of sound amplification), SJ says, "Mom, girls sit down to go potty, right?"  She repeated this a few times before I reluctantly answered her from the next stall, "yes, that's right."  SJ... and boys stand up to go potty, right, Mom?"   "Right, sweetie... let's finish up and get out of here." 

 

Fun Run

C and SJ have been begging to run in a race "like Daddy."  Here are photos from their first ever race.

 

Soooo excited!!!

 

 

 

At the starting line (Silvie and I cheered them on).

 

 

 

Watching them come in on the home stretch brought a little tear to my eye.  Are they cute or what?!?

 

 

They both did great and ran the whole way ("one WHOLE mile" they'll tell you).  When I asked C what her favorite part was, I was sure she'd say it was the snacks afterwards, or the bracelet she got for finishing, or the race T-shirt, but nope.  She simply said, "the running."  :)

 

 

P.S.  Clara got 2 stitches.  Here she is showing off her bandaid.  No accidents, just a suspicious mole that needed to be removed.  She was very brave during the procedure and can't wait to get the stitches out so she can go swimming, again.

Halloween fun

Look Ma

No Training Wheels!!!  Go-C-Go!

 

 

 

Plus, celebrating 11 years... a nice dinner date with no kids!