Simpsons in Seattle

Can you believe it? It was 60 degrees and sunny today! It's been a mild winter so far, but today really felt like a beautiful SoCal kind of winter day. We took advantage by going on a "hike" with the girls through the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. It's a pretty small garden, perfect for kids. Here's some of the highlights: Checking out what's in the laterns in the Yao Chinese Garden.   Resting on one of the gazillion benches along the walking path. Suspension bridge! Truth be told, this was the whole reason for our trip there today. What's up there in the sky? Just some more ferns and moss growing on the trees.

We finally took Evie to her trial gymnastics class yesterday and she had a grand ole time! It took her a good 10 minute to warm up to the kids and the teachers but as soon as they allowed the kids to start trying out the equipment, she got very excited and animated. It was hard to take pictures because of the glare from the windows, but here's a few of her flipping on the high bars. She's such a monkey that of course this was her favorite aparatus!  And here's little sister watching all the fun:

I thought I would share a few pictures of Nora. Pretty cute huh? She is all grown up! Almost rolling over, working on sitting, next is college. Time flys!

This past Saturday we decided to go out for dinner after daddy spent a long time looking around CrossCuts lumber yard. We went to my favorite local Greek restaurant in Issaquah. Check out the range of emotions from sweet little Nora caught on camera. Happy and smiling little girl to attack-mode in under 3 seconds! First sister fight?!? It certainly looks like it, but I think Nora just wanted to give her big sister a hug... and of course a tug of her hair too.

What do Seattlites do during a winter gale with buckets of water dumping down? You guessed it, go for a stroll! This past Sunday we went on a walk before the infamous Seattle Seahawks championship game. Evie was pretty excited to wear rain boots, rain jacket, and her very own umbrella. Lots of puddle stomping on our way to Starbuck's.

Evie, aka "Elsa of Arendelle", has been using her magic power from the movie to freeze everything in sight. Including her baby sister, strangers in the grocery store, you name it. There are few moments she is not wearing her Elsa dress around the house.

Land ho! We are thinking about a vacation home on Orcas island and went this past weekend for a quick overnight trip with Grammie and Grandpa to check it out. Evie made a friend along the way with the building contractor's daughter. Too cute.

Happy New Year! So glad you are still checking in on us even though we've been slacking on posting. We went down to LA for the holidays and it's been so hectic since we've been back that we haven't had a chance to sit down and catch you up on what's been going on. The quick roundup is: 1) I started back at work on January 2nd. It's been an adjustment to hand off Nora to our new nanny, Sara. I can whine about how busy it is and how my lack of sleep has embarrassed me at work, but whenever I feel bad I think to myself that millions of other working moms have made it through with less support than I have so I should buck up! If you ever want to hear me rant about this though, buy me coffee and I'm happy to tell you my opinions about being a working mom in the United States. 2) The girls and I survived our first overnighter without Daddy! Scott did a quick trip to Minnesota so it was a bit hectic with the bedtime routines and getting ready in the morning wit