The kids transitioned very well into daycare. They love their teachers and have enjoyed making new friends. When they talk about their new friends from pre-school they always say the kids’ first and last names. We like the school a lot – they seem to do a lot of fun activities and they even have Spanish lessons once a week. We spent a lot of time outdoors in May hiking, going to the beach and to the playground.

For Z’s birthday we hiked to a fire tower. Gabe hikes so fast that it’s difficult to keep up with him. They’ve both started walking a lot more on hikes which makes it much easier for us!

We also introduced the kids to a new treat a TV show. We don’t usually allow them to watch TV so Daniel Tiger’s neighborhood was a very special treat for them and quickly became a favorite!

View our May 2013 photos.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Seattle 2 Comments »

We enrolled the kids into Pre-School starting in April. The first few days were full of tears but after the first week the kids were pushing me out of the classroom and were excited to be in school. We’re very happy that they love their teachers and are learning a ton. Getting the kids ready and out the door and dropping them off at school has been a little challenging but with each day we seem to get more and more into the swing of things. It’s $1 per kid per minute if you don’t pick them up by 6pm so at times it’s a little stressful sitting in traffic hoping that tonight isn’t the night there is a bad accident on the highway!

April has been a wee bit challenging with behavior. Whoever made of the term “terrible twos” clearly did not have children who were 3! It seems Gabe & Zara are fighting over EVERYTHING these days……even make believe items. One ride home stands out in particular. The conversation went something like this.

Gabe: (acting like he was picking fruit out of a book)
Zara: SHARE! Mommy Gabe is NOT sharing
Me: Sharing WHAT Zara?!?
Me: Here Zara – here’s a strawberry (virtually)
Gabe: NO! That’s MY strawberry

Two minutes later…
Zara: Gabe stop touching me. No thank you Gabriel, do not touch my body. (*this is something Zara learned in school)
Gabe (virtually touching Zara): I touching you! I touching you
Zara: (freaking out)

Two minutes later…
Gabe: I looking out your window
Zara: NO NO NO! Stop looking out my window

Don’t get me wrong – Zara is NOT innocent. While Gabe is very open in his harassment of Zara, Zara is much more sly in picking on Gabe. We know that Zara is picking on Gabe when she starts singing… It usually goes something like this “I have blueberries and Gabriel does not. I love blueberries. Yum Yum blueberries….” Gabe: “Blueberries! I want Blueberries! Zara has blueberries and I do not.” Etc…

View our April 2013 photos.

Posted in Gabriel and Zara, Seattle, Uncategorized No Comments »

It’s hard to believe that 3 years ago we welcomed Gabe & Zara into the world. We have so much fun exploring the world with them. Gabe & Zara notice and are excited about little things that we completely don’t pay attention to. There is not a day when I don’t drive past a construction site and see “diggers” or see a motorcycle (momo) or a helicopter and think of how excited the kids are when they see these things.

We celebrated the day of their birthday with a construction themed party (diggers are pretty much the coolest thing ever for them!). We had a second party on the weekend where our friends joined us for a party at a bouncy house.

The kids loved getting all of the birthday cards. When they got money in the cards they would say “OH LOOK, it’s mondey for the doughnut place.” They LOVE going for doughnuts and for some reason they think all mondey (their word for money) is meant to be spent on doughnuts)

March was full of fun activities. One weekend we took the South Lake Union Trolley downtown to watch the St. Patty’s Day parade. The trolley also drove past a construction site with diggers – G&Z were SO excited! The kids enjoy playing in the snow so we made a few trips to the mountains to go cross country skiing and sledding. We bundle the kids up and Z pulls them behind him. We also took the kids to their first Easter Egg hunt hosted by the twins club. It was their first time hunting eggs and they really weren’t sure what to do. It only took Zara a few minutes to start hording eggs. We finally had to cut her off to ensure other kids had a chance to pick up some eggs. I don’t know if Gabe & Zara liked picking up eggs more or eating the doughnuts afterwards (I’ll guess it was the doughnuts!). We finished off the month coloring eggs for the Easter holiday.

March was also a milestone for us. Ciara decided to pursue other career opportunities so we enrolled the kids into pre-school. It was a short time between when Ciara gave us notice and putting them in school so it was a bit stressful and we were really worried how they might react to the change. In the end it seems like it will be a good school for them.

View our March 2013 photos.

Posted in Cross country skiing, Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara 709 Comments »

We had an awesome weekend visit from our friends Chuck, Jessica, Malina, and Logan from SF. The kids played so well together and Malina and Zara were fast friends holding hands everywhere we went. We also had a lot of fun showing them our local favorites including our favorite walk in Discovery Park. It was so much fun to see him and we wish they lived closer!

View our February 2013 photos.

Posted in Activities, Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Outdoor activities 96 Comments »

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 »