Baking

Emma made cookies tonight in her Easy Bake Oven from Grandma and Grandpa. She mixed and stirred and pressed and really, really wanted to eat a bit of everything. And then Siri was eating directly from the sprinkles during the decorating. The really cool thing is that my mom sent some items from a Tupperware baking set that I had when I was little. The mixing bowl in the picture was from that set. We also have a yellow bowl with lid and a cake carrier, all in miniature sizes. Fun night activities!

Family EVERYWHERE!

We just threw this together last night when Emma was asking about how close we were to the ocean and Matt and I were trying to explain the Puget Sound. It wound up being a great project and today the girls were so excited that the map was up on their wall :)

Emma was much more concerned about where Disneyland was than family, so that's why Cinderella's Castle is on there!

First Solids!

Two days ago I started Ty on rice cereal! He took to it really well! Barely any tongue thrusting! I remember when I started to feed Siri, she pushed it out of her mouth for 2 weeks and it was really frustrating, so this is a treat! In the days since he's continued to welcome the spoon. I was being really lazy about starting 'cause it means a new, slightly more complex, chapter starts, but the pediatrician has been bugging me about it since the 2 month check-up, so I had to start before the appointment in January!

Rockin' the Dentist

We went to the dentist for the first time yesterday! It was great...we were the only ones at the office, which is the way I like it when bringing all the troops. Emma and Siri did great, sitting for the x-rays, and Emma got the whole sha-bang, the protective eyewear and the napkin around her neck. They explained all the tools to her and she was a little freaked out by the toothbrush, but went through with the cleaning, fluoride, and flossing. Siri was totally into it. She sat in my lap and the dentist while the dentist checked out her teeth, and the tech wasn't sure if she would be into having her teeth cleaned, but she was all about it, and rocked the fluoride being painted on her teeth. Their personalities came out during the visit, too. Emma wanted to tell stories and was a little nervous (brought on, I believe, by books about the dentist), and Siri wasn't afraid at all, but she didn't talk. So, they both got prizes and toothbrushes and floss, and Ty slept through the whole visit, so we all left happy!

Mini Me

Emma and Siri received Make and Play Build-A-Bear kits for their birthdays from Matt's aunt and uncle. They just arrived a couple of nights ago and I let them open them, but it was tough to fend off the girls because it was almost dinner time and these were projects. Emma wanted to open everything anyway, so we took the pets out to check 'em out and Siri was pretty freaked out at the unstuffed state of her bunny :) Anyway, we finally got to making them this afternoon and it was such a great project! The animal's needs to be turned inside out and sewed from the base of his neck, around all his limbs, to the other side of his neck, and the sewing is so easy because there are pre-made holes about 1/4-1/2 inch apart the whole way around. Emma did really great! She practically sewed the whole thing, and it was such a great first-time sewer project because the thread was embroidery floss and the needle was large and plastic. I recognized Emma's determined/engrossed-in-a-project face as my own, and it was so cool to see her "getting" sewing. She caught on right away. Then, she stuffed her bear, I sewed the butt closed, and she dressed it. (I sewed Siri's and figured she would enjoy stuffing it, but the stuffing turned out to be "too fluffy" for her. I laughed out loud at that one. :)

Hanukkah

Hanukkah came early this year, just one week after Thanksgiving. Not that that helps anything or makes anything worse. This time of year is crazy for us, regardless. Two birthdays and 3 holidays in 5 weeks! Honestly I was a little frustrated because it seemed like every night of Hanukkah involved rushing to get dinner on the table, light the candles, clear the table and open presents, then enjoy the presents and try to wind down before bedtime. I'm going to work on this for next year, and I'm trying to think of a creative way to do an adventish thing for the 8 days. I find myself in such a difficult place as a parent. When I see things in the store that I know that they would love I want to buy them, and I did with a few items, while knowing that I don't actually need to buy them anything, because they get things from so many lovely people in our family, plus from wonderful friends. They get so much that I think its hard for them to appreciate everything. I did some recirculating before the holidays, but I'm going to have the kids do some purging before Christmas because its so important to realize the depth of what we have. Anyway, it was a fun holiday to spend together, just the 5 of us. Hopefully we'll be with some Rosenbergs next year!




I gave them the lollipops from Nauna and Zeyda in the tub to prevent a sticky house, however it didn't prevent a sugar-hopped-up Siri from uncontrollably screaming at bedtime!

"Five, I'm five!.."

Yesterday morning Emma busted out the Shirly Temple song, "Im Five!" because it was her birthday!!! Holy cow, I can't believe I have a five year old! The day was great because we had synagogue, so everyone got to participate! People kept wishing her a "happy birthday", and then she'd tell them that it was a secret. Very funny since she was wearing her "birthday girl" shirt!
The festivities really started on Friday at preschool as it was her special day. She answered questions about herself, got to wear a crown, pick something out of the birthday box, and brought cupcakes with snowflakes on them. She got pink "Tangled" cupcakes at synagogue, and then at home, last night, we had lasagna, her fav (some days), texas toast, and for dessert, a purple oval cake (Emma's request). Then we opened presents: an easy bake oven (heads up if you get one: have the appropriate lightbulb on hand!), play doh cake makin' set, clothes, and more! It was a fun day for "Emmer"...can't believe she's 5!






Play Doh cupcake

Emma at 18 months.

Siri's Big Day

Today Siri turned 3! Horray for her! Luckily, we broke the news to her a few weeks ago, so she got used to the idea. She really wanted to be 2 back then, but as of this morning she has embraced being 3. Her big day consisted of getting to pick all the videos, and she got a doctor's outfit, complete with coat plus accessories, from Grandma and Grandpa (in MN) which she opened with Grandma and (cousin) Elijah via Skype. Later in the afternoon, after a fantastic nap :), we had chocolate chip pancakes for dinner, cake and ice cream and then she got lots more presents, most of which were inspired by the new Disney movie (which isn't even in theaters yet), Tangled. She got 2 Rapunzel dolls, a Rapunzel dress, Rapunzel slippers, and Rapunzel pjs! Fred and Maryanne, friends from our synagogue were stand-in grandparents tonight, and we were so thankful that they were able to celebrate with Siri!

We Love Clifford!

We went to the Seattle Children's Museum on Tuesday with Jess and Layna, and Clifford was there! We are (occasionally) obsessed with Clifford, so this was super cool, and I had to threaten the girls in order to get them out of the Clifford room to explore other parts of the museum.

Emma, Siri, and Clifford

Siri and Cleo.

Mini Sukkahs

One night when things were getting crazy (during the High Holidays in Sept.), as evenings often do around here, I rallied the girls in by having them make their very own sukkahs. We used imitation play doh to hold the four corner clothes pins, then hot glued large popsicle sticks for the roof and small ones for "lattice" on 2 of the walls. To cover all of the traditional ways of building a sukkah, we glued a paper napkin in the back as a sheet. Then the girls made "decorations" out of pop-together beads, and we put some fake fall foliage on the roofs.
They really turned out cute, and I hope to make that craft a tradition.

BFFs in Training

In September I flew to Pittsburgh for a Girls' Weekend and Ty and his best buddy, Julien got a chance to bond. It was only for a few moments on account of Ty having a little cold, but every little bit counts. They now have plans to play Monopoly on their iPhones next time they're together...just like their dads.

Buddies

Siri just adores her little brother! She always walks up to him and says, "He's so cute!" She sits beside him and "reads" to him, and always needs to kiss and hug him at night. Emma, on the other hand, is kind of warming up to him...very slowly. She has always thought he smells funny. (All her senses are fairly heightened right now, and I attribute that to being four.) The reactions that the girls have had to their new brother have been exactly opposite as I expected. I was so worried about Siri feeling that her "baby" position had been hijacked, and I thought Emma would be the little helper. I was way off!

Family Visit

My whole family recently came to visit us all the way out here for 10 days. For the first 3 days Matt, myself and Ty flew to North Carolina for a young leaders retreat. It was awesome and really refreshing. While we were gone Terry and Stacy took a couple of days to themselves at a lodge in the mountains, and the grandparents had 3 energy-suckers to take care of :) They all had a great time! So, when we got home from the east coast we got right into the the visit! The 2 younger generations spent the first day in Seattle at story time on a 100 yr. old tug boat, Pikes Market, and the REI flagship store (Terry's second home), while the grandparents rested! On Friday we took all the kids to Emma's class trip to the pumpkin patch where my very unadjusted city girls freaked out multiple times at the mud. On Sunday we took a nice day trip up to Whidbey Island where my dad was stationed while in the navy, and on Tuesday we all went back in to Pikes Market and REI again...so Terry could get his fix. It was so great to have my family here. I miss them so much and wish I could live near them.

First Day of Preschool!

Monday, September 13, was Emma's first day of preschool! We have joined a co-op at the community center of the next town over, so roughly 2-3 times per month Matt or I will be assisting in the classroom. Emma will be at preschool for 2 1/2 hours per day for only 3 days a week, and the whole family was able to spend her first day with her. We got to see her in circle time, then doing projects at various stations, having snack, going on a walk to the playground, and story-time. Her teacher is Ms. Cindy, and she is so good with the kids. I know that this is a very common trait with preschool teachers :), but I think that I'm so fascinated by teachers of small children because I could never do their jobs! So, in short, it was a fun time at preschool today, except that I would never ever recommend bringing 2 younger siblings, one of which is 2 and the other got 2 month immunizations that morning! It was fun, but exasperating, and exciting, and sad (that Emma's growing up), and a very proud moment for us!

Project: Another Tree One

Last fall we made this project. It's another tree, and this time I folded a brown piece of paper in half the long way and cut out a tree with branches, free-hand. Then we glued it to construction paper. We glued fall leaves that had been pressed on to the tree. These I already had...if you open any of the huge books, including the dictionary and all the theology books, that we have on our shelf fall leaves will fall out. (I love fall and love collecting perfect leaves, but don't usually do anything with them except for hiding them and forgetting about them!) And lastly, we had a whole bunch of bird stickers...from Grandma, I think...that completed the project!

Project: Apple Trees

I've tried to do a few activities a week with the girls during the time that we have between lunch and naps. Sometimes I assist them with a project and sometimes they do one on their own such as play doh or coloring one of those huge coloring pages.
This one we did the other day. It was easy, with not much prep to do before hand. I found booklets of 600 stickers for $1 at JoAnn's, so I drew a tree with a brown marker and the girls colored it with crayons, then I had pre-cut green "leaves" out of green construction paper and scrap paper that they glued on (using their fingers in the glue), then we added some green glitter (also $1 at JoAnn's). After that they put apple, birds, and squirrel stickers on to make their apple trees!

Nauna and Zeyda's Visit

For the better part of 2 weeks, at the end of July and into August, Matt's parents came to the northwest for a conference and then to stay with us. We had a great time and we got to do some relaxing as well as sightseeing.

On the top of the Space Needle.

At the zoo.

At the mall...something I would never pay for :)

Museum of Flight. We also saw the Blue Angels here, and the pilots driving in cars!

Budding Gymnast

This summer Emma took swimming lessons again, and we tried something new: gymnastics class. She loved it! And she was really good at it! Emma also loves going to swimming lessons, but she's not a big fan of going underwater, and so she'll be repeating the Minnows 1 class. I think she just likes to be social :) Anyway, she really excelled at gymnastics and her coach, Coach Franny, suggested that she move to the older class for the last couple of classes since she did so well in her first experience. Its so cute to see her in her leotard hopping and swinging around. Next: preschool! Eeek!

Little Artist

A few times recently Emma has been taking pictures on my iPhone. She's actually not bad, and really enjoys it. She can occupy herself with the camera for a LONG time :) It's like she's really capturing all the little things that a 4 year old notices during the day. Here are a few of her pictures: