We had a few really nice days in February and were able to get out some hiking in our local park. The kids did great. They walked nearly a mile in total and loved picking up sticks and leaves. The weather was so beautiful that we went hiking 2 days in a row. The 2nd day we went hiking on a gravel trail and it was Gabe’s mission to pick up as many rocks as he could. We quickly determined that if we didn’t put them in the backpacks, we would never make it to the lighthouse.

Ciara is doing an awesome job working with the kids to teach them colors, letters, and words. They say a lot of words but sometimes get very frustrated when we don’t understand them. They amaze us every day with the things they say or observations they make. For example, I learned that when I’m looking through their closet to find them an outfit I say “hmmmm, what should we wear?” I now know this because they both started going through the clothes going “hmmmm.” It’s pretty funny when they pick up on things that you don’t even realize you do!

Poor Zara continues to be a klutz. As she was running back the hall chasing Gabe, she fell head first into the corner of the wall. She had a huge goose egg on her head and our wall had a huge dent and crack but like a trooper Zara was up and running in no time. Zara is one tough little girl! She won’t let a boo boo or a rough brother get her down!

The kids love going to art class and doing art at home. They are so proud to show us their art creations!

View our February 2012 photos.

Posted in Activities, Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Outdoor activities 109 Comments »

We took the kids sledding for the first time in January. We found a little hill near the ski resorts (about an hour away) that was perfect for the kids to go with us or by themselves. They had a blast sledding but found walking in their snow outfits difficult.

I had a genius idea to let the kids finger paint while sitting on the floor. I didn’t really think thru the whole leg/foot thing and would have been better off with them sitting at the table! Our kids really hate being dirty and having a “mess” so I’m not sure what they thought of it. My luck ran out when Gabe got paint on his toe. He flipped out and was done painting.

We had our first big snow in the city this year. We had gone to the Aquarium for the afternoon and didn’t bother to carry our jackets inside since we parked right across the street. By the time we came out it was like a blizzard and the roads were pretty terrible. About 2 miles away from the downtown, the snow stopped and there was not a trace of the snow for the next mile or our neighborhood. While we did not get any snow the entire first day, Ciara (our nanny) had over 6 inches in her neighborhood only a few miles away. It was a strange storm! Seattle historically doesn’t do well in snow storms because they have very few plows and do not believe in salting the road (affects the salmon population). We ended up working from home the entire week because we only had one car (Z’s car doesn’t work in snow!), and he would pick Ciara up and bring her here so we could both work from home. We had a lot of fun sledding in the neighborhood with the kiddos but by the end of the 7 days, we were all pretty happy to be back to our normal routines!

Zara and Gabe are continuing to talk more and more. Our favorite word is helicopter pronounced something like keli-cop-cop, other favorites include pocket – pock pock, airplane (we live in the flight path!) – bear-plane, clementine – clem-tine. Maggie is no longer nah-nah to Zara, she’s Cat. They’re starting to have a lot of opinions about what they want to wear and do (or not do!). They love giving kisses (and blowing kisses on skype), they love it when I jump out and say BOO, and they also love the water.

We took them to this award winning pool that is essentially a large baby pool with fountains, water dripping from above and a padded floor, a deeper pool, and a pool with a lazy river. The kids had a blast. We took them to the deeper section where they had floating mats you could jump off of. Even though they were wearing life jackets they still went under when they jumped in. We thought they would be upset but they immediately said MORE Please when they came out above water. At one point Zara lost her balance and fell backwards off the mat to the other side. I quickly swam under and met her on the other side but she wasn’t bothered in the least! We’re excited that they like the water so much and are looking into swimming lessons in the spring.

View our January 2012 photos.

Posted in Gabriel and Zara, Outdoor activities 1 Comment »

Each month seems to get more fun.

Gabe and Zara are talking more and more each day.

The kids continue to eat almost anything we put in front of them but they developed a bad habit of throwing their food onto the floor when they got mad about something. We tried explaining to them that we give them good food and it was “not nice” and “rude” to throw their meal on the floor and explained they made a “mess”. This had little impact so one day after they made a particularly large mess I made them pick the food up off of the floor before they could play. This pretty much cured Zara of all food throwing but Gabe could care less. He eagerly picks up the food he threw on the floor.

The kids have also started interacting with each other more. They spend a lot of time giggling at each other. Any time one does something silly or mischievous, the other quickly does exactly the same thing. Unfortunately, interacting has also meant a bit of biting, pushing, fighting over toys goetc. If they’re being mischievous we count to 3 then they go to “time out”. If they’re mean to each other we tell them it’s not nice to be mean to each other, we send them to timeout, then they have to say sorry and give each other a kiss when timeout is over. One of the first clear things they said was “not nice.” Zara usually waddled over to Gabe, leaned down and said “not nice.” It’s pretty hard not to laugh at them sometimes!

We flew to the east coast for the holidays to visit our family in PA. The kids did awesome on the flights and have become quite the little travelers! Zvonimir and I normally only get a few hours a day with the kids during the week so it was really fun to spend 10 whole days with them. They change so much so quickly. The kids loved being around family but Gabe was very shy at first. They got to see all kinds of animals including Clydesdale horses, parrots, cows, dogs and cats. They loved it but they were very excited to see Maggie when we had returned. She had been in boarding at our vets while we were gone and she was thrilled to be home. I’m not sure that she was so excited to hear the kids screaming but she was happy to be home.

We have 2 picture galleries this month.

December Seattle Pictures

View our December 2011 photos.

PA Visit pictures below:

View our 2011 holidays photos.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara, Travel 1,409 Comments »

November was a really fun month. Gabe and Zara are starting to chatter more and more. Every square truck is a “mailman” and they scream excitedly when they see a bus or a truck. Their vocabulary is growing by the day (tractor, ball, shoe, sock, backpack, diaper (pronounced biaper by Gabe), and many more). Their favorite activity is looking at picture books and pointing to the pictures when you say the words. They also know their body parts and when you ask where their nose is, they stick a finger up it. Even more fun is when you ask where your nose is… better move quickly or you’ll have a finger jammed up your nose! Gabe still chatters more than Zara. He’s still very loud and very high energy. Zara loves to sing along with music and is quite content sitting on the couch or your lap reading a book. They often get into battles about who gets to sit on my lap to read a book. Recently, Gabe started saying “Mama, Mama” and getting the Inside, Outside, Upside, Down book. He knew exactly where in the book you said “Mama Mama I went to town…”. They also love Go Dogs Go and hold their hand up when the dogs are at the red light (stop dog stop). It’s pretty amazing that they know exactly where in the book you say certain words.

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Seattle. We recently joined a club that has a Thanksgiving dinner. It was a great meal and the kids were awesome. They ate a ton and didn’t make a peep. I love being able to take them out to restaurants and have people comment on their good behavior!

View our November 2011 photos.

Posted in Friends & Family, Gabriel and Zara 73 Comments »

October was a beautiful month here so we spent a lot of time at the park. Gabe loves walking to the park but Zara would prefer to be carried!

We enjoyed a beautiful weekend at Fort Worden state park on the Olympic peninsula where we celebrated Willow and Jonathan’s wedding. Their wedding was on a former military base where the former military housing can be rented out. While the houses have not been updated for quite some time, they are large fully furnished and a great value. Our unit was a 4 bedroom portion of a house that was bigger than our own house. The wedding was very nice and Gabe & Zara did their best to be quiet (they weren’t very successful!).

Gabe continues to be very shy around strangers. His latest thing is to cover one eye when a stranger looks at or speaks to him. Zara could care less about strangers!

We also attended Croatiafest, a local festival to celebrate the Croatian culture. Gabe and Zara wore their Murter tee shirts to show their Murter pride.

The kiddos have started trying to repeat words we say. They love hiding their face and saying “boo.” They also love blowing kisses and have even started giving kisses. When they hit you or give you a boo boo you can expect a big wet kiss with sound effects (mwah!). One night Z heard the kids talking after we put them down for bed. After a while he heard Gabe say “Za-Za”, no response from Zara then “Zaaaa-Za.” It cracked us up so from time to time we call Zara Za-Za.

This year we dressed up as the 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf. We didn’t really trick or treat but it gives us a reason to stop and meet our neighbors once a year.

View our October 2011 photos.

Posted in Friends & Family, Weddings 99 Comments »