Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas Morning



What a wonderful Christmas morning! The kids had a blast opening their presents!





Santa's Cookies



Last night we left out a cookie for Santa. Ellena insisted that Santa wanted apple juice and Evan said Santa had to have milk, so Santa got both beverages. You might notice that Evan's cheeks are extra rosy in this picture - he's fighting a cold, but surprisingly, no fever. Poor guy needs his sleep, but he's so excited for today that he's been up since 5, checking to see if it's time to wake up yet.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Aquarium with Buddies

Evan and Ellena visited the Aquarium the other day with their buddies, Colin and Adam. The kids had a blast together!

Here's Ellena posing with the gi-normous octopus



The kids on the orca (and the random girl in front of Ellena)



Ellena posing with the harbor seal



Evan and Ellena running on the pier after our Red Robin lunch.


Christmas Evanisms



* When I asked Evan what he wanted for breakfast on Christmas morning, this is the conversation we had:

Me: I'm assuming you want pancakes, cause they are your favorite. What else do you want with your pancakes?

Evan: Eggs... and presents!

* I guess I was interrupting him this afternoon, cause he said in his snooty voice, "Excuse me, Mother. I'm counting now. Please turn off your voice."

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Some New Pics of the Kids

Here are the kids munching on their baby carrots (with the tops on) - straight from our organic produce box.



Evan with the gingerbread man that he made at school.



Ellena after eating a cookie - chocolate all over her face and hands!



Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Family Picture - Runners Up







Last night we posed in front of our Christmas tree for our annual family picture. We did get "the one" that we used for our Christmas card, but I wanted to share some of our "outtakes." These kids crack me up!

Sugary Sugar Cookies



Today we had another bake-fest... This time we used a box mix from Trader Joe's - a sugar cookie DIY kit, including cookie mix (just add butter and egg), 3 metal cookie cutters and a whole lot of icing and sprinkles (all for $3.99!!!!). FUN! The kids were on sprinkle-duty, of course, and ended up with more sprinkles on themselves and on the floor, than on the cookies... Ok, that is an exaggeration. Cause a whole lot of sprinkles ended up on those cookies! Evan is mean-muggin' the camera, while I was able to catch one of Ellena's brightest smiles ever!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Our Tree!



Today we picked out our Christmas tree! We have been going to the same tree lot for the last few years - reasonable price, really nice looking trees, proceeds go towards the church's home-building program in Mexico - everyone's a winner! In past years, we've gone with Douglas firs because we like the pine-y smell and the full look. This year we found a 9' Noble fir that was extra full and a nice bonus - shouldn't drop as many needles! Score! Tomorrow we will embark on decorating the behemoth. :)

Friday, December 3, 2010

Gingerbread Men





Today the kids got to decorate their super-large gingerbread men. I found some reasonable kits at Trader Joe's (9" cookie, icing, sprinkles and candy coated chocolates for $3.99!) They had fun squeezing on the icing, placing the m&ms and pouring the sprinkles... huge mess! But they enjoyed themselves and also got to taste a little, too!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Kids' Christmas Trees

I love the smell of a fresh cut Christmas tree, but I hate all the needles that drop on the floor. So we decided to do a real Christmas tree for the family room downstairs (no more carpet! Just sweep up the needles!) and the kids each got an artificial tree. They were thrilled! Here are my clowns posing in front of their trees - each self-decorated. Notice, Ellena puts all of her decorations on the bottom. Evan did a pretty good job of spreading his out.





Here's a picture of Ellena's big-girl toddler bed. She has been hounding us to move into this bed for a few weeks, so we finally took apart her crib and moved in the bed! Oh goodness!



Thursday, November 25, 2010

The Good with the Bad



The last couple snow days, we stayed in and Ellena has made huge strides in going to the potty. We are so excited, proud and thrilled for her! I can't believe my little baby is a big girl, wearing big girl lady-pants! And she is quite proud of herself, too! She is looking forward to going to Evan's school next year and sleeping over at Grandma's house (both 'requiring' panties.)

But to go with this good news, Ellena has been struggling with her sleep. I've read about this happening as little ones hit milestones, such as potty training. Poor girl moans in her sleep and is quite distressed as we put her down. We hope that this will pass soon.

Monday, November 22, 2010

First Snow



Yesterday we had our first snow! It was a light dusting that the kids had fun experiencing. Today we are getting dumped on!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Sticker Mosaics





Evan got a sticker mosaic kit from his buddies, Nate & Riley, and the kids are LOVING it! The set comes with four separate projects, so Evan didn't mind Ellena taking one for herself. Each little box has a number and each number corresponds to a sticker color. They are tiny! And there are a ton of boxes! It kept the kids busy for an hour this afternoon and Evan is back to work on his after taking a little break. I'm surprised that Ellena is "sticking" with it - the pieces are quite small (recommended for age 5!), but she's always been quite dexterous. So if you are thinking of getting one of these kits for your little one, know that it has our thumbs up approval!! Thanks again, Nate & Riley!!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

70 Degrees in November!



Can you believe it?! It was downright toasty outside today! We got to take the bike and scooter to the park today and enjoy the sunshine. We loved it!



Here's a picture of Ellena enjoying her Halloween goodie - check out her stance!



Halloween 2010



Halloween was so much fun for the kids! Ellena was an oogly-googly spider and Evan was a dinosaur. We walked around the neighborhood and got tons of candy. We have all been doing our part and eating a bunch of candy each day!!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Ev's Birthday Party

Last night we hosted Evan's 5th birthday party at Great Play - so much fun! It was wonderful celebrating with all of our buddies! The kids played some neat games like using foam paddles to hit balloons:



as well as Ev's favorite thing at this place - an interactive throwing wall where you throw balls at images projected on their wall - so cool! At the end, the kids lined up and flexed their muscles and made silly faces for us!



The parents ate while the kids were playing - Tommy was smoking all day - pulled pork sandwiches and chicken wings. After play time, the kids ate homemade mac & cheese, snacks and dinosaur birthday cake! Thank you everyone for making this such a special day for Evan!


Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Celebration Continues...



Evan asked to have gyoza for his birthday dinner, so we went to a dim sum restaurant where he could also get his roast duck. Grandma and Grandpa joined us for this tasty meal.



However, G&G were not able to join us for cake and ice cream, so using the magic of Apple technology, we were able to FaceTime in both sets of grandparents. How special!



Evan opened his second-favorite birthday present - a balloon animal kit. One of the coolest things I've found at Barnes & Noble!

It was a mighty fine birthday celebration and we are now preparing for this weekend's party!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Happy 5th Birthday, Evan!





We are halfway through with our day and I'm about to take a nap with the kids! Evan was up pretty early - he was so excited to be 5! We baked his special green lemon birthday cake and then it was off to school. We joined his class in a birthday circle and then went to lunch with our best buds, Colin, Adam and Katie at Red Robin. The kids insisted on sitting together! We then played at the park for a bit and I finally got them to settle down. Hopefully we'll get a good nap out of Ellena, cause we have more celebrating to do tonight!

Resourceful Dude



I just had to get a picture of my little resourceful dude. For some reason, Ellena kept cutting the string off her balloon, so that when she let it go, she could no longer reach it. Here's Big Brother using the stool, grabber claw, and stickers on the grabber claw (so that the sticky part would stick to the string, of course!) to get the balloon down for her. Ingenious!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Lunch at School



Today was an exciting day for us - Evan stayed at school for an extra hour so he got to eat lunch with his classmates and have a SECOND recess! Packed him a jelly sandwich, pears, carrot sticks, Funyons and fruit chews. Surprisingly, he ate everything except the fruit chews! Wow!

So what did Ellena and I do with our extra time alone? We got our Costco shopping done and ate our lunch in the sunshine. We were chatting and I asked her if she knew what tomorrow was. She replied, "Ummm, yeah... It's Evan's birthday." I then asked her if she knew how old he would be. She said, "Yeah... Older." ha ha ha! That girl cracks me up!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Grandma Madeline's Birthday Dinner



Last night we celebrated Grandma Madeline's birthday with a delicious meal at BlueAcre Seafood restaurant in Seattle. Here is a picture of the grandparents and grandchildren - an instant favorite! A busy week ahead as we prepare for Evan's birthday!!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Jack-O-Lanterns



Evan and Ellena created their pumpkin designs and enjoyed opening up their pumpkins. Evan was an excellent seed-harvester, but Ellena did not like getting her hands dirty. We have two more pumpkins to carve and lots more seeds to roast!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Farm Pickings

Here are the two pumpkins that we got today at the farm. Combined weight: around 50 lbs!


Here are the carrots that we harvested today. They were pretty big! What's amazing is just a few weeks ago, those same carrots were about the size of my fingers!



Fall City Farm

Today we went to Fall City Farm to harvest vegetables and pick pumpkins. What a fun time, although we got soaked in rain and mud! The kids loved pulling beets, carrots and potatoes out of the ground. They then hunted for the perfect pumpkin, while I hunted down a wheelbarrow!

Kids in front of the hay maze.



Kids posing at the pumpkin house.



Ellena with the calf. Evan did not want to take a picture. He insisted there was a sign that said "No pictures with the calf" - there was no such sign.



I think we ended up with 50 lbs of pumpkins. I'll have to take pics of the kids with their pumpkins later.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

How Do We Rock Our "Maui Thing"?



Since I promised my cousin yesterday, here is a picture of the kids rockin' their Maui Thing gear. Which brought up the question, "how do we rock our Maui Thing?" Here's your answer:

Ellena rocks her Maui Thing in true Pacific Northwest fashion, by layering it over a long sleeve shirt and coordinating with socks and sandals (ugh, the dreaded socks and sandals look that I detest.)

Ev rocks his Maui Thing with a mohawk, of course. He made it a formal affair with khaki pants and docker shoes. :) (Which is a big step up from his usual jeans and sneaks.)

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Maui - Part 2

More Maui pics:

Aubrey, Brooke, Chase, me and Ev



Kids beating up on Gary - welcome to the group!



Marla & Gary's wedding



Kids at the Maui County Fair