Uncle Stephen’s mom always brings fun presents with her on Thanksgiving. This year she brought us … turkey hats!
Yep, its a turkey that's a hat!
We put it on Daddy while he took a nap. Hehe...
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From the monthly archives:
November 2015
(Dad note: my apologies for the lack of posts from the past week! I got caught up in some late night/early mornings for work and then we traveled to Boston last Tuesday which messed up my schedule even further. We are all well and enjoying Thanksgiving on the east coast! We head back to SF on Tuesday AM – will work to get things back on track with the updates 🙂
As we’ve discussed, Maile is getting more and more into cooking – so it was a no brainer to get her and Lauren involved in the Thanksgiving cooking this year. Before we left for Boston, the whole family made a pumpkin pie to give away to a charity that a friend’s school participates in to give away pies to families in need over the holidays.
Lauren manned the mixer - not exactly chef gear, but we let it ride...
Maile was in charge of the pie crust...
And Mommy showed the girls how to bring it all together...
And once in Boston, Maile made her traditional apple pie in muffin tins – a big hit last year that is now a part of our annual tradition!
Maile Girl preparing apples for her mini apple pies...
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The cooking continues…
This week Mommy made homemade pasta with Chef Maile and Chef Lauren. Excuse me, Big Girl Lauren (watch to the end of the second video.)
We’re definitely enjoying this new phase. Delicious too 🙂
(Click here for the first video.)
(Click here for the second video.)
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Well, we have a new favorite app – Triller. One of Christine’s friends from work gave her the tip – and we are in love.
The app makes it dead simple to make fun little 15-30 second music videos with different clips edited in to one another. Not sure the result is “professional” – but it certainly is fun.
We made a bunch after dinner tonight and I imagine we’ll be doing it again really soon…
Go get the app!
(Click here for the video.)
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It was only a matter of time – the tooth had been hanging by a thread (literally) for about two weeks. Every morning Maile would show it to me and we’d wiggle it and I’d ask her if she wanted me to pull it out. Of course, she’d always say no. We had a few consultations with Papa Boston as well – he was keeping an eye on things from afar.
And then on Friday, out it came! Let’s hear about it from the source…
And now we have a new smile…
Maile's new smile
(Click here for the video.)
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Busy week at work and at home, so no post tonight, but since its Thursday, a #tbt “wore Daddy out” picture from 2011…
I think I wore daddy out...
Have a great weekend!
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Meanwhile…
While Maile has been off running and cooking, Lauren is hitting the birthday circuit hard. The parties have begun and Lauren is loving it – particularly when bubbles are involved and for three year old shindigs, the bubbles are never too far away…
Lauren is ready to party!
Lauren and her friends become the bubble! Hold on tight...
(Click here for the video.)
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Maile watches a show before bed and then we read a few books. She often asks Christine or I to watch with her. A little while ago I started get tired of the same old cartoons she’d watch over and over so I started looking for something else we could enjoy watching together. We started with American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance? last year. This fall we added The Amazing Race and then the other day I asked if she wanted to try watching one of the cooking shows that Christine had saved. She absolutely loved it and has been on a cooking show binge ever since.
In parallel, the girls have been complaining about dinners. It can be really frustating (particularly for Christine) – get home from a long day of work, cook something nice for dinner and then get two little pouty faces. No fun. A couple weeks ago we had the idea to involve the girls more in the dinner planning process in an effort to make them feel a part of it (vs. us just dictating what they were eating). It’s actually worked out pretty well so far – each week, each of us gets to pick a meal for a night and then the last night is a wild card.
On Sunday, we decided to combine both! Maile chose to make some recipes that she picked up from a Giada de Laurentis episode where she did some cooking with kids. And then she did all the cooking herself (with me as her sous chef 🙂
We made Baked Macaroni and Cheese Cupcakes and Rasberry Ice Cream Sodas. We had a lot of fun – and boy was everything delicious!
First, Maile carefully chopped all the veggies...
... then she sautéed some ground chicken...
... then Maile filled the cupcake tray with some macaroni, some cheese, some veggies and some bread crumbs.
And then we posed for some chef pictures 🙂
The cooking team - chef and sous chef!
And, of course, after all that cooking, we had to try it out – two thumbs up from the whole family…
(Click here for the video.)
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A couple weeks back one of Maile’s friends reached out to see if she was interested in being the running leg of a three girl team competing in the Marin Triathlon (Family Relay division). Apparently, word had gotten out about Maile’s very strong debut at the Aloha Run a few weeks back…
So on Saturday, we headed up to San Rafael for the race. We had two teams – a team of girls and a team of boys – all friends of Maile’s from school – in fact, she’s known all of them since she was basically two years old. Maile’s friend, Tori, was going to a 50 yard swim, then Sophia would complete a 1 mile bike ride and, finally, Maile would run a half mile to the finish line.
The day was a great success – all the kids had a blast. The boys team had a little trouble (broken bike chain and a wrong turn on the run), but everyone overcame the challenges and we were all smiles at the end. I particularly liked see the girls (and boys) work as a team – cheering each other on during each one of their legs. We will definitely be keeping an eye out for future triathlons in the future – and, who knows, if we can get those pesky training wheels off the bike, we might not be too far away from Maile completing all three legs herself!
Here's the crew - Aiden, Ian, Kai, Maile, Tori and Sophia
Maile Girl strikes a pose - ready to rock!
Even with the kids they did the whole setup - Maile got her numbered marked on her - just in case her number got lost amid the action...
I asked them if they wanted to come up with a name and they just said 'Girls!' - so here they are. All business.
Maile and Aiden were the runners - here Maile is talking some last minute strategy while they await the bike leg to complete...
At the finish, Maile was quite pleased to have collected a medal...
Celebrating a great job!
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