Mary Poppins

One of the Christmas presents the girls received was tickets to Mary Poppins.  I (Nicolle) got take them.  It was so fun.

Top 10 list

Guest post by Greg:

Here are the top 10 Christmas cards we received this year...

#10- this is from our milk man.  By about the middle of December it was one of the only cards we had received, and since we moved 2 times in the last 2 years we thought it might stay that way, so we treasured this card from the guy who comes so early in the morning that we have never seen him. 

#9:  from Greg's Uncle Bob.  He is in the tie business and has given Greg so many ties in his lifetime that he automatically makes any top 10 list we ever create.

#8: Our Arizona friends had lots of Sun Devil references.  

#7:  Our WA friends had a great beach backdrop.

#6:  this is the first card we received.  Well done, Cooks!

#5, because these babies are adorable and we are so happy for the Martins.

#4- our mail lady held this card hostage from Dec. 8th until Dec. 23rd... She knew how valuable it was.

#3- we know Carlos is smiling because he gets to sit in Santa's lap next.

#2- because the glare from the flash combined with Gordon's bald spot is brilliant.

#1:  all of these family members included photos from our favorite beach!

catching up, again

Go all the way down to "First Day of School" to see all of the new posts...

Christmas Festivities

Christmas Parade in the pouring rain.  Usually it doesn't rain in Seattle, it just drizzles, but on this day it RAINED and we got soaked.

2nd annual Christmas Eve Nativity with the Allens and the Taits.  (This year on the stage with "special effects.")

 Christmas morning

Nutcracker

C got to be part of a Nutcracker production with her ballet school.  She has loved this ballet for almost her whole life, so we were happy for her that she got to be in it.

She was one of the spun sugar angels. (And got to be in stage with THE sugar plum fairy!!!)

Ready to go on!  

Backstage shenanigans.

A few shots

Cozied up by the fire in Mom and Dad's room for some bedtime reading.

SJ as a butterfly at ballet (Halloween dress up day)

Pumpkin patch 2014

Halloween

carved pumpkins

Ready to trick-or-treat with a Native American, mermaid ballerina, and Dr.

SJ is the blue-ish blur up front.  She wasn't messing around.

A family in our neighborhood goes wild on Halloween.  They build a pirate ship and pirates quarters.  This photo didn't even capture 1/2 of their display.  They hire teenagers who dress up like pirates and stand on the top throwing down gold coins to all of the kids.  It was pretty awesome. 

With friends

First Day of School

 We had a staggered start... first, C's first day of SECOND GRADE

Then, SJ's first day of KINDERGARTEN

Each year I let them choose a new dress for the first day of school.  This year they chose matching dresses.  Hot pink plus tie dye plus rhinestones.  Yikes, I may need to rethink this tradition.  :)

Big sister watched over little sister on her first bus ride

This is me spying on SJ going into class after I followed the bus to school.  :)

See ya' suckers... now I get Mommy all to myself!

Summer happenings

Clara went to orchestra camp and got to play her violin with an orchestra for the first time.  Her favorite song was "When Johnny Comes Marching Home."

Ziplining at an awesome park in Seattle.

My hiking buddies

  

Hike to Denny creek natural water slides.

Outdoor movie with friends

Introduction to putt putt.

Crabbing

How we spent the last day of summer...

SJ's 5th birthday

 

The theme she chose for her party was "Rainbow Dash My Little Pony"

 C helped plan the party.  Here she is with her "pin the tail on Rainbow Dash game."

 

For her family celebration, she chose to go to a Mexican restaurant.  Not because she likes Mexican food, but because she thought she might get to wear a sombrero while the staff sang to her.  When the moment arrived, she got really shy!  

What a great year it has been.  I told her I wasn't going to let her turn 5... she was such a fun 4 year old.  Alas, letting or no, time marches on.