Simpsons in Seattle

I bought tickets for us to watch Frozen the Musical more than 6 months ago and the day of the show finally arrived! TBH the girls weren't really that excited about it and Nora even seemed to have forgotten Frozen because she asked whether or not it's scary. We had to remind her that she's seen the movie a gazillion times and knows all the songs, but she didn't seem convinced.  I picked the girls up early and we trekked into downtown, picked up Scott, and then parked the car and gave ourselves 2 hours to grab dinner before the show. There's a Cheesecake Factory 2 blocks from the theater and since it was early (5:30) and the girls have never been, we decided to put our name and wait for a seat. We waited and waited... and waited ... for close to an hour! I was trying to convince Evie to cut bait and go to a different restaurant but she convinced me to stay. Good thing we did because the girls loved the cherry chocolate cheesecake we had for dessert! We skidaddl

Look at this neato invention Evie and her friend Kinsey made over the weekend! Super neat!

I've been very impressed with the recent slate of parties that Nora has been invited to. They aren't your typical bouncy house or run around the yard type event. These have been much more civilized, ladylike affairs.  First was a "spa party" where the girls got to do a foot soak, hand scrub, sparkly manicure, makeup and dress up in princess dresses. Us moms even got in on the action with a hand scrub and parafin wax treatment while sipping cocktails!  Then we went to a birthday tea at this super cute new-to-us tea parlor in Issaquah. The girls donned Unicorn headbands while sipping their own pot of tea (or cocoa, in Nora's case!) and eating cookies, scones and tiny sandwiches (choice of cheese, jam, and nutella).  Super fancy, right? Makes me worried about what she's going to want to do for her own party this year! Soaking their smelly feet in warm water scented with oils. Princess outfits The secret to sparkly nail polish is to add

Guess what? We got gifted a hand-me-down American Girl doll from one of my friends! Her daughters have outgrown the doll and so as she was doing spring cleaning, she put these in with all the clothes they were giving to us too!  The girls were thrilled with this addition to their collection and spent several hours on Monday combing their hairs and playing with the dolls. They even brought them with us when we went out to dinner!  Matching headbands with "Juliette". Salon set up

Anyone who knows me knows I lo-o-o-ve hot pot. It's probably my favorite type of meal. I can sit there for hours slowly cooking and eating food and sipping at the yummy broth. Anyway, I finally tried this fancy new hotpot place in Bellevue called Dolar Shop and I had to share pics of the meal to make you all jealous! It was so good, I can't wait to go back. Not cheap though, that's for sure - easily the most expensive hot pot meal I've ever had at $60/pp, and that was with a happy hour discount! We got some fancy stuff like crab and oysters but still! Anyone want to go with me? Our spread ooooh fancy!    My very own pot!

Oh happy day!! On Saturday, true to Scott's promise, we took Evie to the American Girl store so she could buy herself a "truly me" doll. Along with the American Girls you know (like Samantha or Kitt), you can also pick from any combination of eye color, hair color, hair type (curly? bangs?), hair length, facial features (freckles?) and skin color. She got the one that she thinks looks most like her! What do you think? Evie named her "Paige".

Introducing the Simpson Sisters in their debut performance of "key key key key":   Yeah, I don't understand the lyrics either. Apparently, Nora wanted Evie to put in some of those "key" words and so Evie worked it into the song. I think the song and the dancing is pretty adorable, especially with those towels on their head!

Nora is turning 6 this summer, but she still looooooves her blankie - a red and black mickey mouse sleep sack she had since she was a baby. She loves to put it on her face when she goes to bed, or really, any time of day if she could. We've tried again and again to keep blankie up in her room but she always sneaks it downstairs and we haven't been great about enforcing a rule to keep in upstairs. The other day, as a punishment for something (can't remember what now), we took blankie away for the day. Scott hung it up on our robe hook in the bathroom to hide it but Nora somehow found it! She knew she wasn't allowed to have it and devised a way to still get some of her sniffs in. I just had to take a picture of how I found her. I couldn't help but laugh!

We had our first American Girl party over the weekend! Little Nora got invited for a birthday party at the store for two of her friends (they are twins) and she had a fun time. I've never even been inside an AG store before, let alone a party at the store, and I was pleasantly surprised at how civilized it all was. The girls were all pretty well behaved and sat quietly, ordering their lunch from the waitress, watching their dolls get their hair done, playing "would you rather" and coloring bookmarks. They did get antsy for a little bit and went out to the store to ooh and aah over all the toys but it was still pretty manageable.  The best part of the this story? Evie was pretty darn jealous that she didn't get to go to this party and while THAT isn't great, she has made up her mind that she wants to save up her $$ to get a doll and is very willing to do more chores if it means she gets paid. As a result, she played more than an hour of flute yesterday to earn

The other day, Nora asked to use some of my spare Red Envelopes. I thought she was just playing, but she went into her own wallet to grab money to stuff these envelopes and then handed them out to us! I got $11, Evie got a dollar and some change, and Daddy got $1 and some seashells. She insisted we keep it because it was her present to us. What a sweet heart!