My Little Sugar Plum Fairies

Self explanatory!

After a lot of begging and pleading,
I got Keith to take some new portraits of the girls

Simone wearing the stockings. They are stockings, after all!

Tree trimming attire. Isn't this what you wear when you decorate the tree?

Amelia sporting the new, well, I'm not sure what it's called.
My friend got it in Abu Dahbi.

Our house today! REAL SNOW!

Turkeys and Nutcrackers

Thanksgiving at Grammy's

Amelia loves Abby (Grammy's puppy)

Amelia's pix: #1 Chesnuts roasting on a (not) open fire

Amelia pix #2 The new playroom

Amelia pix #3 The new playroom

Amelia's first bus ride

Amelia waits to watch the Nutcracker

Amelia and Ellie after the show

Amelia and Ellie are in awe on the Monorail

Amelia and Mommy on the Westlake Carousel

Walking back to the ferry at sunset

I realized I'd better get these pictures up quick because there's going to be lots more December pictures!

Amelia and I spent the WHOLE day in Seattle on Friday. We went with a big group of our friends and I think it was the biggest adventure Amelia has ever been on! We took the ferry over at 9:30 and took the city bus (Amelia's first bus ride!) to Top Pot Donuts where she picked out the biggest, pinkest, sprinkliest donut they had. After the kids got their sugar fill, we walked to the Seattle Center and over to McCall Hall for the Nutcracker performance. It was the first time Amelia had ever seen "the Fountain" (I feel like such a lame mom!) and she could have sat there all day watching it without ever getting to the Nutcracker! But we did see it, and she loved it. (she's been dancing around the house in costume as "The Sugar Plum Fairy" ever since).

After the show, we paired up with our friends Ellie and her mom, Leigh. We watched the train go around in the Center House, then took the Monorail to Westlake Center. Then, Amelia about had a heart attack when she asked if we could have sushi and I actually said "yes!" (the Westlake food court isn't exactly as pricey as Shima) She scarfed down broiled eel and california rolls and miso soup all the while thanking me profusely. Then, we hit the carousel, and then headed back to the ferry as we took in the amazing sunset over Elliot Bay. We munched on our leftover donuts on the ferry and then I gave her one last choice for the day. Did she want Daddy to pick us up? or did she want to take the bus home? I'm sure you can guess what her answer was. We sat in the back of the bus next to some semi-crazy in the pitch black. She loved it, though, and especially when she got to pull the cord to let us off and that we got to borrow a flashlight to find our way up the driveway.

That night when I put her to bed, she couldn't stop talking about the days events and finally said "Mommy, I'm a-zosted!"

Catching Up!

We watched our friends' kids last weekend (Amelia best friend, Madison, and her baby brother, Reed). We made popcorn and watched a movie; the kids had a blast!

We celebrated Keith's birthday twice (bowling with the family) 

and a grown-up evening of drinks at a local restaurant. 

It was a super fun night! Hanging out with our friend without all the kids – what a concept!!

Mermaid Simone at the KidiMu

Eating chocolate cupcakes at our friend Ella's birthday party

Wow! It's been ages since I updated our blog! I guess we've just been so incredibly busy! Keith had his big 5-0 birthday on the 11th. We all went bowling, but unfortunately, forgot the camera. We all did terrible, but had fun and Amelia loved it (of course). Keith and I had more fun when we went out for drinks with our friends the following Saturday night. Twenty of our friends gathered to celebrate and it was such a great night! I didn't even see Keith the whole night; I was too busy yukin' it up with my girlfriends. What a treat!

The other pictures above are of a raining day at the Kids Museum. The current exhibit is "Arthur," as in the children's books. The kids had a lot of fun, as you can see. 

That's about it right now. But it's going to be a very busy month. I'll try to get more pix up soon! 

Daddy's punkins

Trick-or-treat!

My wild animals

Amelia was THRILLED that she could pick out the scary teeth 

as one of her prizes at the Halloween Carnival. I think she wore them for 3 solid days until she lost them.

Simone goes "fishing" at the carnival

While I'm anxiously awaiting the election results, I might as well update the blog!!

The weekend before Halloween, we went to the famous Wilkes Halloween Carnival. Every room has a game set up for the kids (fishing, toilet toss, cake walk, etc.), plus bouncy house, popcorn, treats, and the ever notorious Haunted House! Amelia was one of the few kids her age who love it. She went through twice last year, but this year, once was enough.  

The girls had a blast trick-or-treating. Simone really got into it. After getting a treat, she's say "other house!" (translation: "let's go to another house!")

Punkins

Simone in the hay maze

Isabel and Amelia picking out pumpkins

Caged animal! Simone jumping in the bouncy house at the Pumpkin Walk

Giraffe, Cat and Snow White on the Pumpkin Walk

Simone pets the "Green Sheep"

Grammy and the girls at the Seattle Children's Theater

Simone and Amelia waiting to see "The Green Sheep" play at the SCT

We are busy as usual around here. We ventured to the big city last week and took Grammy with us! We saw "The Green Sheep" at the Seattle Children's Theater. We had checked out the book at the library (Amelia memorized it!) so we were very familiar with it by the time we saw the play. Simone was mesmerized; I think she enjoyed it even more than Amelia. 

Then, we went to the the ever famous "Pumpkin Walk" at Bainbridge Gardens. We met our friends Carolyn, Torey, Madison (aka. Snow White) and Reed (aka Jester) there and the girls had a fab time. There were over 300 pumpkins this year! You walk on a trail through the woods while oohing and ahhing over the lit orbs including various silly and scary faces like Shrek and Sarah Palin (respectively), and even Cinderella's carriage. The girls were in awe. There was also a bouncy house, fishing game, treats and other festivities. 

Of course, we had to get to the pumpkin patch before all the pumpkins were gone! Keith was in the city, so I made Isabel come. Good thing! The girls picked out rather large pumpkins and I needed all that muscle power!