We had a busy January with an activity nearly every weekend. Our friends Susanne and Bill came to visit from Dallas and we had a nice dinner out and enjoyed a hike with them on their visit. We love “Sudan” and still think she’s a “pox.”

We tested our cross-country ski outfit for the first time and the kids enjoyed the stroller/skis . We weren’t sure if they would be able to be so close to each other in the sled but they quickly fell asleep and said they had fun!

Amy came down with Bronchitis and spent much of the months of January and February trying to get over it! We had another date night for Amy’s work party but Amy had mostly lost her voice so it was a pretty early night for us.

The following weekend, Amy went to Hawaii on a work trip. Her company rewards employee referrals with a trip. This year the trip was to Maui, Hawaii. Amy had a great time in Maui and Zvonimir survived the weekend as a single dad.

View our January 2013 photos.

Posted in Activities, Cross country skiing, Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Seattle 102 Comments »

December was filled with a lot of fun activities. The twins club hosted a kids concert with Caspar Babypants a local artist (formerly of the Presidents of the United States of America). The kids sat on our laps for the first 30 minutes of the concert then it was as if a switch turned and they got up and started dancing and had a blast. We also attended a few holiday parties where the kids enjoyed sweets they had never before tried such as hot cocoa. They are a big fan! We also joined Amy’s company participating in the Jingle Bell run which is a 5k race with lots of people dressed as Santa and Elves and lots of jingle bells.

We decided to pick out a Christmas tree even thought we were planning to spend the holiday in PA. We picked a super cute Charlie Brown tree and the kids had a blast decorating the tree. We celebrated Christmas a few days early since we were flying out Christmas Eve. Gabe insisted upon wearing Zara’s pink striped PJ to bed the night before we opened gifts – we figured it was just more material to show his future girlfriends. They had a blast opening gifts. Zara slowly and methodically tore the paper off of the gift while Gabe ripped each gift open as quickly as he could. Since we bought them many of the same gifts we tried to keep them opening at the same time but often Gabe was ready for the next gift while Zara was easily sidetracked playing with new toys or trying on clothes. By far their favorite new gifts were the pillows / pillowcases that Santa made for them.

View our December 2012 photos.

Posted in Gabriel and Zara, Jingle Bell Run, Seattle 94 Comments »

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving dinner at the Washington Athletic club. Our friend Jessica who had just moved to Seattle from Witchita also joined us for dinner. Z and I were also lucky enough to have a great date night and see Brandi Carlile in concert over the holiday break. It is always a great show and we had awesome seats.

We also took our first trip to the mountains this winter. There was already a good bit of snow on the ground and we had a blast playing in the snow.

This year our friends Jessica and John took our photo for our holiday card. It was a chilly day and the kids were not super excited to be out in the cold but we got some great photos!

View our November 2012 photos.

Posted in Activities, Family photos, Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Seattle 109 Comments »

We had planned for Amy’s sister Deb to visit and help with the kids during the first week of August when Ciara, our nanny was in Ireland on vacation. Z had a last minute business meeting in China the last week in July so we knew the week would be crazy for Amy before Ciara left on vacation. The day Z left for China, Amy and the kids went to a pick your own blueberry farm. The kids ate far more blueberries than they paid for and we had a few incidents of turning the buckets upside down but all in all it was a huge success and something we’ll do again next year.

On Monday morning, Amy reminded Ciara that with Z gone it would mean she would have to work more hours. Ciara’s response – you do remember I’m leaving for vacation on Wednesday, right? OH CRAP. No, the dates were in Amy’s old work calendar that she lost when she changed jobs. Somehow the dates had never made their way to Z’s calendar so he had no idea Ciara was gone (and Amy’s CEO would be in town) when he picked the dates to go to China. This meant Amy was alone with no child care, a new job and a her CEO being in town and no Z to help. UT-O looks like it’s going to be a stressful week!

Let’s just say it was a little stressful for a few days but fortunately, our previous nanny’s daughter Chelsea had just graduated from high school and was willing to take on the challenge. Thank goodness she was a trooper and saved us! The only problem that she ran into was that Gabe, who tends to be a little shy with strangers, hid in the corner of his crib and refused to get out. After a little coaxing and the promise of play dough, he came out and warmed to Chelsea. The week was crazy but Amy and the kids survived no problem. The kids were super excited to see Daddy when he returned from China and they were also excited because Aunt Debbie visited to watch them the following week.

Debbie and the kids had a lot of fun while she visited and fortunately she wasn’t freezing when she visited!! We did all sorts of fun things like the Salmon ladder, Pike’s place, and a yummy waterfront dinner. Aunt Debbie and Amy also went whale watching. It was a beautiful day and pretty scenery but I don’t know that Amy is one for “hunting” for things. It was great to have Aunt Debbie visit! We can’t wait for her to come again soon!

Aunt Debbie left a day too early and missed out on the fun of Seafare (she said she had to work or something silly like that!). Seafare is a big summer festival in Seattle. There are parades and boat races, and the coolest part is the Navy Blue Angels show. Our friend Bryley lives right on the lakefront where the planes fly so we were lucky enough to have a front row seat. It was very hot and loud so we’re not sure that the kids loved it this year but it played them out and they took a very long nap!

View our August 2012 photos.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Outdoor activities, Seattle 93 Comments »

We had a lot to celebrate in May. Zvonimir turned 40 (though he didn’t want to celebrate!) and we had a low key weekend at home. We went hiking and had a date night on the town. We also celebrated Amy’s new job. After 15 years at her old company, she took a new job working for a very small consulting firm.

Gabe and Zara are chatting up a storm. They get very frustrated when you don’t understand them but they seem to understand each other just fine. They learned at Gymboree to clean up when they are done playing with toys so they sing “Clean up clean up, everybody clean up.” They’re pretty good about putting their toys away. They also developed a love for play dough. It seems that they would be happy playing with play dough 24 hours a day! A recent ploy to get out of going to sleep is that they have to give Maggie a treat before they go to bed. At first Maggie was terrified and stayed as far away as possible, but it seems that now she’s starting to get it that she’ll get a treat if she’s there.

View our May 2012 photos.

Posted in Activities, Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Outdoor activities, Seattle 75 Comments »