Santa, Sweet Snowflake Tapper, and Sisterly Silliness...

...that just about sums up our week.

I think we've done it all...

What an amazing way to top off the Christmas season. This was Snowflake Lane in Bellevue, WA (outdoor shopping district near Microsoft campus) where drummers come out every night at 7pm and play Christmas songs during Dec, followed by an entourage of holiday characters and these incredible lollipops they hand out to the kids (they are, of course, all natural made with pure cane juice, nut-free, and 100% organic. I am learning to expect nothing less in these parts.) :-) They also have a chocolate center, N was nutso for them and the drums. This was one of our most favorite things we've done here, so magical and unbelievably decorated (and free!) They also blew "snowflakes" made out of these light, airy bubble suds during it all. I imagine this was similar to the good ol' days when people went all out for the holiday parades and performances, we enjoyed it.


Drummers marched up and down Snowflake Lane and stood up on pedastals and played (turn sound on). We've played this 1.2 million times for N at our house. :-)

Nutcracker

The girls and I had a great girls night out at the Nutcracker this year. We went to the Pacific Northwest Ballet Co. rendition downtown at McCaw Hall. We had nosebleed seats, which ended up being fine because it is a smallish venue and no one was sitting in front of us. The costume and set was designed by Maurice Sendak (of "Where the Wild Things Are" fame). There was a magician for the kids at the intermission, where the girls were chosen to "help" the magician in one of his tricks. After the ballet, we met up with my college roommate KB and her daughter and walked a couple of blocks to Seattle Center for a treat. We are truly blessed to get to do all of these fun things with our kids.

Learning Adventure

We took the kids to a place called Kidquest that is a children's museum. They had a good time and I was impressed with the types of things they had there and that we finally picked something that all the kids enjoyed. They made a bunch of really cool gadgets for the kids to play with, but then explained that it was built using a lever or used hydroelectric power to run things (and play instruments!) N was in hog heaven, he loves gadgets and buttons and lights, and of course, indoor MAC trucks. The girls loved the suction tunnels for the scarves and the wall sized light bright.

First Dusting of Snow

We got a little snow this weekend. Not enough to stick to the grass or streets, but that never stops our kids from wanting to make the best of it. It is still snowing now, but it's too warm to stick. Looks like it was enough to form a couple of snowballs at least! N got to play in it for the first time (it snowed 6" last Christmas in Dallas when he was 9 mos, but he doesn't remember.) The mountains get a lot of snow here, but it rarely makes it to the ground in the Seattle area, so it's a special treat!


warming up their fingers and toes after playing outside

Happy Halloween!

We had a happy halloween as the Wizard of Oz characters. We've had a wonderful fall - the fall colors are amazing here, and the weather has been beautiful. We're enjoying every minute while it lasts!

Here are our costumes and a few decorations on our house... also N stealing candy where we thought the candy bowl would be safe, and then turn around to find him with tons of paper towels to blow his nose with. He's everywhere!

Pumpkin Painting in our neighborhood and Little S Halloween party at her school

We visited a pumpkin patch where you pick your own pumpkins just outside our neighborhood. They had train rides and a corn maze that we almost got lost in!

We also went to Microsoft for their Halloween carnival, and we got to see Daddy's office and go through a haunted house set up by the other employees.

Our walk home from school everyday in the fall, gorgeous!