Simpsons in Seattle

Evie's bud Hadley invited us to take a cooking class with them on Sunday, and boy did we have fun! It was an hour long class for kids 4-6 years of age and we were able to make 2 types of cookies. The ingredients were already pre-measured so it was easy for the kids to dump everything together to mix into a dough, and then roll out shapes. The Rugelach (made with apricot jam and dried cherries) was my favorite but the Chocolate Crinkle cookie was Evie's. I really liked that neither was overly sweet. I'm sad that I already lost the recipe booklet because I would totally make them again! We have another class in Feb to make pies that we signed up for and we are already looking forward to it. I'm even thinking of taking an adult one for fun! These girls chatted and giggled the whole time. yummy rugelachs!

I'm sort of worried I'm going to jinx it by calling this out, but the girls play together so nicely most of the time and so cute when they snuggle together. They've been playing "mommy and baby" a lot lately where they each take turns being the mommy or the baby. They'll cry out "mommy! mommy!" and when I turn around to ask what they need, they look at my in exasperation and say "no! not YOU mommy! Evie/Nora mommy!"  I hope they stay this close even when they get older.  Watching cartoon snuggles Waiting in the parking lot at Home Depot for Daddy snuggles. plus some "waiting in the parking lot at Home Depot hugs";

Was cleaning up my inbox and found this in an old email that was dated 12/13/2013 - so just around 3 years ago today! How cute are these 2 gals?

We went for a snowy adventure today to do some sledding, make snow angels and have a snowball fight. Unfortunately, we got to the snow park pretty late so didn't have tons of time to play, but it was good enough to just get the girls comfortable with the idea of snow again. Like the beach, I think it will take Nora a few more trips before she's not scared to walk around on her own. Evie, though, was an old pro and ran off to romp in the snow and even went sledding on her own! Ready to start a snowball fight! This was Nora for the first 10 minutes of being outside.  It was pretty quiet and not crowded at all! By the end of the day, Nora was just a teeny bit happier. Getting Skittles didn't hurt either.

We got some more snow last night, but not enough to stay home from school and work. Here was the scene after our first snowfall a few days ago. We've been staying nice and cozy warm inside the house with the fire turned on. Here's a snap I couldn't resist taking that's a pretty typical picture. The girls playing together, and being very snuggly and huggy!

Evie and I went to watch The Little Mermaid last night and had a great Mommy-Evie night! The show is slightly different than the movie in both good ways and bad, but it was fun to hear all the great songs that I knew from when I was younger. As we were leaving the theater, Evie spied a poster for Sound of Music, which is playing in January, and she is already bugging to get tickets to go!  Excited before the show Selfie The theater was all decked out for Christmas

"Mommy, Mommy! Cheese! CHEESE!" So I had to snap a pic!

There was a hail storm this afternoon and when we got home, the girls had fun slushing around in the ice. After the warmest November on record, the temps are finally dropping and we are expecting to get our first snowfall tomorrow. Cross your fingers it'll be a good one! Pretty little ice bits!

We took Evie to the Nutcracker last year and enjoyed it so much we wanted to do it again this year. Tickets are expensive though so I found a local ballet company that performs in Bellevue that is much cheaper ($16 tix) and has shortened performances in the afternoon that's specifically geared for families with young kids. Awesome idea because it meant I didn't mind taking Nora with us this time. Scott even wanted to join in on the fun. And fun it was! The show obviously wasn't as high quality as the Seattle one, but it was still fun to hear the music and to watch the ballerinas twirl around on stage. I was really impressed that both girls sat quietly through the whole thing which was about 1.5 hours long (including intermission). The LOVED getting dressed up for the event, and loved even more the lollipop treat we surprised them with for being so good. I think we have a tradition starting up! All smiles before the show. They shared a seat for part of the show.

We had a Terrific Thanksgiving weekend up on Orcas Island that was filled with lots of turkey. stuffing, hugs and stories from Grammie and Grandpa, and unfortunately, rain. That didn't stop us from having fun though! We have so much to be thankful for, including the Orcas house that we got to enjoy so much over the weekend. Here's some proof!  There was lots of squealing and excitement to see Grammie! The girls put on a show. And for the finale: standing still long enough to get a picture! Our Turkey feast! We worked off all the calories by doing flips off daddy.     Nora is so pleased with herself that she can do this now. We had a morning of no rain and walked into town. We spied this lawn art on our walk. Pretty Madrona bark. Evie, taking a picture of Nora.  More snuggle and books time.   A good rainy day activity: baking cookies. Oatmeal raisin - my favorite!

We're usually SO late with taking pictures for our Christmas card. When Evie was 2, we went the weekend of Thanksgiving and her poor lips turned blue from being so cold! I've gotten better since then but only by a few weeks! Thankfully, the weather lately has been pretty warm (low 60s in early Nov is unheard of!) so taking pictures this year was more enjoyable. This time, we trekked to our photographer's farm about an hour outside Seattle to take some outdoor shots. The girls weren't too keen on the petting all the animals (horses, chickens, goats, turkeys, dogs) but we had fun anyway. I'm really happy with how the photos turned out, and can't wait to make our Christmas cards! Here's a sneek peek of the pics, including some outtakes that will not make it on the card. :) Neither girls look thrilled about this pose. It took a while for Nora to warm up. Nora smiled if we had her say "trick or treat!" or, if she said "I like ch

I'm not sure why we even bother asking what flavor ice cream this little one wants because it's always chocolate! This girl loooooooves her chocolate!

We stopped into Big Daddy's, a really cool antique store in Seattle, and had fun poking around and looking at all the neat stuff! Evie and Nora were cutie pies and made friends with the sales lady, who put them on a hunt to find fun items around the store like a giant pigeon carnival ride. While some of the furniture in the store was really cool, I can't picture them in our house! I wish we were hip enough to decorate this way, haha. We brought our lil pup Boo with us, Evie posing in front of an antique merry go round.

Kracken Congee has been on my list of restaurants to try ever since it opened early last year. They do interesting takes on congee, which is one of my ultimate comfort foods. It's sort of out of our way (in Pioneer Square) but since we were headed to the Seattle side yesterday, we decided to detour to go finally check it out! The menu was actually not as modern or interesting as I thought it would be. It had a lot of pan-asian flavors, but nothing very different. We ended up getting lumpia, a plain chicken congee, adobo pork congee, pork belly kim-chi fried rice and a chinese donut. The congee was SO yummy, and the rest were good, but not spectacular. Anyway, I would go again if I'm ever in the neighborhood. Evie seemed to enjoy the food, and Nora was cranky and tired so ate very little. Here they are outside after lunch - Evie was dancing around and Nora wanted nothing to do with it!

We planted a blueberry bush two season ago and have been eagerly waiting for the fruit to come in. Sadly, we didn't get any blueberries last summer or this summer, and we think it's because we might need a pair so that they can cross pollinate. You can imagine my surprise when I was washing dishes in the morning and noticed that we had a blueberry! Evie was so excited she rushed out in the cold to pluck it off the bush. This, here, ladies and gentlemen, is the finest blueberry in Washington! Evie can attest to it since she gobbled it up before we can split it for her sister to share.  

Evie is an old hat at going to the dentist now. She's been great at keeping the sugar bugs at bay so her check up was easy breezy. It was funny to me how grown up she looked hanging out on the chair, watching Pokemon while letting the dentist do his work. Nora was pretty fascinated by the whole ordeal. She didn't get her teeth checked, but it was good to have her go and get familiar with the place so she won't be scared when her appointment comes up in a few months!  Just chillin' Typical Nora

We just got back from another epic weekend in San Francisco visiting Ian, Yee Yee and Uncle Kevin. The girls were SO excited about the visit and it did not disappoint! Flying out to Oakland was pretty uneventful. Scott got upgraded to first class again so I enjoyed my time with the munchkins back in cattle class. This was the first time Nora got a seat all to herself without a car seat buckled in and she was a little squirmy but big sister Evie set a great example and she followed suit. First order of business  when we landed was to get lunch! What better place than to go to In N Out?! The sun was shining so we had a nice lunch outside and us Seattle-lites loved sitting in that warm sunshine! As for the burgers, I was worried Evie and Nora wouldn't like all the stuff on their burgers so got them plain ones. Turns out, they liked mine better and Evie ended up gobbling the rest of my cheese burger-with-everything while I ate hers. That evening, we crammed int the car a