Aiden might have been more concerned with the animals on the map than the ones in front of us most the morning.

Graham didn’t quite make it the whole time.

The boys got surprise plates, a movie, and a slumber party in our room. Surprise plates are when I find samples of random goodies throughout the kitchen and give them to the boys. They don’t get to make requests or know what they’re getting. It’s also how I go through leftovers in the kitchen.

Some mornings we get donuts then run errands at the grocery.

Other mornings, we get donuts and then visit Andrew’s office. Oliver was not at all scared of the giant figures and kept saying “this my frand”.

One of Andrew’s co-workers saw Oliver’s photo with Atriox and was nice enough to add a more authentic background.

Aiden met his first goal in speech therapy and got to pick a prize.

These two boys have fun together! Oliver wants to do everything Aiden does. He will not be left out for being little, and Aiden loves teaching Oliver how to do all the things.

Sometimes, it’s soooo easy to please a 5 year old. I pick Aiden up early from daycare on speech days so he gets to go home and do things without Oliver. One of his favorite things is to “take a bath up to his shoulders”.

Ishrat, Arshan, and I have been doing a lot of string art.

They flew to China together and sat so nicely in their seats for the flight. If only they did that on real planes.

One kid is taking great care of those pandas and one is take care of himself.

We rode the holiday slide and the carousel.

Gabe and the boys broke out all the instruments and had a great time…. and made a lot of noise.

Aiden built and decorated a gingerbread house (while Oliver napped). We also went to the Redmond Luminary Walk. They had face painting, food samples, and fireworks at 6pm which was perfect because it wasn’t too late for the boys. Then we walked a lighted path from City Hall to Redmond Town Center. There were carolers, a live nativity, and decorations along the path. I forgot my phone and took no pictures.

Aiden and our neighbor Arshan decorated cookies and watch The Great British Baking Show one afternoon.

I spent some time with Axel and Hanako. We shopped, drank coffee, and watching this little guy push carts around.

A tiny artist and his “process”!

I crocheted my first thing, a rooster.

Relaxing with daddy, eating ice cream by the Christmas tree, and taking over Ana’s job at daycare.

We decorated holiday cookies with Rambo and Axel. Us moms secretly consumed our own icing an cookies in the kitchen while the boys weren’t looking

We met up with Elise, Harper, Blakely and baby Dawson to go see Santa. It was our best Santa photo to date. We went to Country Village where they also have shops and farm animals. It’s a unique, quirky little place.

]]> http://blog.solanis.net/2012/02/snowboarding-with-specas/ Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:34:00 +0000 http://blog.solanis.net/2012/02/snowboarding-with-specas/ Oddly enough, I didn’t take any pictures of the Speca’s when we went snowboarding except for this one of Emily. She’s the one in the green coat (I promise).

Here’s Andrew at the top of the mountain. It was a gorgeous, clear day.