8 Girls at once

Sarah decided she wanted a playdate with some friends from preschool and she decided to call the twins.  Small catch.  This playdate overlapped picking up Katelyn from preschool.  And we carpool.  So we loaded Abby in the Kelty backpack, the twins in the double stroller, and Sarah held onto the strap.  When we got to the school we decided to invite Katelyn's carpool buddy over for a playdate (rather than walk the few blocks to her house with everyone in tow).  Then we decided to invite one more friend so they had an even amount of friends.  They were GREAT playing together and it was a memorable day for sure!

Lucky for us it didn't start snowing until after we got home!

Seattle Thanksgiving

We decided since Heather was in her 9th month of pregnancy that we would travel to see them this year.
We started with a day of preschool and kindergarten.  Sarah was the leader and we didn't want her to miss out.  We made a poster full of photos and Sarah's favorite things to introduce her to the class.  She brought her pet hermit crab, Swirl for show and tell.  We were in charge of the snack and Sarah wanted to share her favorite food: pancakes with whipped cream and blueberries and Chocolate milk.  It was a fun day!  Katelyn had a Thanksgiving Parade in her headband and vest.

 Making handprint turkeys

 She wanted to say a prayer at school...

The first night, we stayed at a nice hotel with an indoor pool/hot tub and exercise room.  We ran a couple miles, swam with the girls, and had breakfast before setting out again. 
We had at least two miracles on this trip.  One was that we made it the 60 miles to the next gas stop with our red light on and the second was that our tire went flat in Yakima with a full tire shop rather than in one of the tiny towns along the road or on the freeway.

Thank you good samaritan that helped us switch the flat for the spare so we could drive to the tire shop!



We finally made it to Mukilteo and had a great time eating delicious food, wrestling and chasing, opening matching jammies, watching Beezus and Ramona, hiking in the Gulch, reading stories, and playing games.

 Aunt Annie entertaining the kids with stories

 Family Photo

 Returning from the Gulch Hike

 Opening Matching Christmas Pillowcases

 And Matching Jammies

 Wrestling with Uncle Matt

Three Sleepy Girls

We had a fun filled day in Seattle visiting the Pacific Science Center and Pike's Place Market.  The girls got to play with butterflies, and water hermit crabs, starfish, giant chess pieces, you name it.  We didn't quite match up with the Richins family but we did see Occupy Seattle and the lighting of the Macy's Christmas Tree and Firework Display.  We started our return trip with a decadent 7 course breakfast at Snowqualmie Falls.

 The Butterfly House (one landed on Katelyn's head but we didn't get the photo)

 Jamming on the teeter totter

 Climbing in the tunnels

 The music area

 Snowqualmie Falls

 Sarah refused to wear a coat but always ended up stealing mine along the way...

Ropelato Thanksgiving

 Turkey Sarah, Indian Maiden Katelyn, Pilgrim Abby

This is the In-law Year for Thanksgiving so we had a get together earlier with my side of the family.

Thanksgiving Activity Days

We made journal jars and decorated them and made this darling dessert.
Oreo cookies, reeses cup, whopper ball, candy corn, and some icing.

Playing in the Bins

Ever since our Family Movie Night in the Bins the girls have had a riot putting blankets in them and pretending we are at a drive in theater and the bins are the cars.

 However this time they wanted to be in the same bin together.

 Nothing like a little Netflix after a long hard day of Kindergarten

 Each has a cuddle buddy too

 Abby say Cheese!

Sweet Girls, huh?

Treehouse Museum with Sarah

Sarah's Preschool Fieldtrip

 Listening to The Three Little Pigs

 Spencer Performing the Three Little Pigs

 Happy Girls

 Looking in the Microscope in the Nursery

 Nurse Abby

 Playing with the Castle Figures

 Sarah came to play too

Abby and Mommy in the Farm area (Sarah was riding a horse)

Hawaii Presents

My parents celebrated my mom's retirement with a little trip to Hawaii.  They of course spoiled us with real flower leis, chocolates, jewlery, soaps, lotions, and mumus.  Thanks guys!

Walkin in a winter wonderland

Earlier in the day the yard looked like this.

 entertaining themselves by running up and down the wood ramp (for the lawn mower)

 Abby sporting a diaper

Then the snow came...

Nate was at a soccer game, so I woke Katelyn up to come share in the joy of the first snowfall.  She really was excited, just not about the flash.

And the next day...makin snowbunnies with Ava