Rendezvous in San Fransisco

Julyssa is in San Fransisco visiting some of her family for Thanksgiving and invited us out to spend a day with her and the kids. The girls and I drove out as soon as Grace was finished with school yesterday. We had so much fun taking our time, enjoying each other and the vibrant city. We watched the sea lions at the pier, a clown on the street that made each of the kids a balloon creature, and the artist bread makers at the Boudin sourdough bread factory work their magic (their hands really do seem to work like magic!) We stayed at the factory for dinner and enjoyed a variety of sourdough bread dishes, and then walked back over to Pier 39 to marvel at the enormous, lit Christmas tree. We finished up with ice cream and romp in the play area at a mall near her sister's home. The kids were enjoying their day of fun together and didn't want it to end. As Grace and Nyomi hugged each other good-bye Grace looked straight into her eyes and said, "I'll think about you everyday." So far Grace was telling the truth, because when she woke up this morning the first thing she said was, "Mom, can I call Nyomi?"

Making Memories with Cousins

Aaron's sister Angela and her family are in town for Thanksgiving. Today we had the privilege of having her two oldest kids spend the day with us at our house. Grace and Eve loved the time with their cousins Julia and Dallin. The four of them spent hours dressing up, putting on plays, building forts, and creating their own art projects. It reminded me of the fun I used to have playing with my cousins. I love to think they are making those same kinds of memories!

I love the one of Eve as a "bunny ballerina" and Dallin as "Super Chicken!"

Abstract Art

This morning while Grace and Eve were coloring together, I overheard their conversation. It went something like this:

Grace: "Oooo, that's pretty Eve. Is that a sunset?"
Eve: "No"
Grace: "An egg?"
Eve: "No."
Grace: "What is it?"
Eve: "I don't know."

Little Tiger

Grace had her last soccer game today. She was actually very happy to be done with her season. It turns out that she's not as big of a soccer fan as we had hoped! Although she really did enjoy playing goalie. She would pretend to be a tiger when in the goal (her team's name was "Tigers.") It was really cute...she would growl and claw at the ball as it came to her. She was actually very good at stopping the ball from going in the goal, but as a player on the field she just ran around aimlessly. It was very fun to watch!

After the game we had her team party at a pizza parlor. The kids received trophies and gave one last Tiger cheer. As fun as it all was...We're glad to have our Saturdays back!

Sick Day

Grace stayed home from school today; sick for the second day in a row. She has a dry, very persistent cough. Yesterday she was coughing so much that it made her vomit. We actually had quite a pleasant day once her cough died down, but then it was back again this morning. She really wanted to go to school and was even dressed for the day, when we found her in her room hacking up a storm. We kept her home to be safe (the last thing we wanted was a repeat of yesterday's vomit incident.) With some good naps, and going to bed early she should be feeling better by Monday.

A Perfectly Pink Party

We celebrated Eve's birthday last night. When I asked her what kind of party she wanted, she answered with one word: "Pink!" So that's what we gave her, the pinkest party we could come up with. Pink Balloons, pink crate paper, pink plates, a pink butterfly cake, pink presents, a pink pinata; all the guests even came dressed in pink! It was our three year old's pink dream come true. Aaron's family joined us for a truly fun night that we all enjoyed.

I was so impressed with how pink everyone was! What a fun way to show a little girl how much you love her!

Eve having a whack at her pinata (She is wearing her new pink gown that she got for her birthday. Her one birthday request was a "pink dress.")

Things

" I will pick up the hook. You will see something new. Two things. And I call them Thing One and Thing Two. These things will not bite you. They want to have fun." Then, out of the box came Thing Two and Thing One!

-The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss

For Halloween the girls were Thing One and Thing Two...from one of their favorite books, The Cat in the Hat. It all started a year or two ago when Aaron and I began using code names for the girls. We would call them Thing One and Thing Two (respectively) when we didn't want them to know we were discussing them. Eventually Grace caught on and that was the end of the code names, but Grace quite liked the titles. A few months ago when she and I were discussing Halloween costume ideas she said she would like to be Thing One and have Eve be Thing Two. Well, Eve was easy to convince so that's what they settled on!

It was easy to find red sweats, so I just cut out some felt and ironed it on and there were their outfits! After looking for the perfect wigs online, I found some thing even better: a way to make my own! A came across the idea to knit beanies out of a special yarn called "fun fur" to come up with a wig-looking cap. I didn't have any experience knitting, but I did know how to crochet so I adapted. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to crochet a beanie! It feels good to learn something new. And I was so excited about the results.