We’re back in San Francisco now, working off some jetlag (4:30 AM wake ups for both girls this morning – ugh!) and thinking back on a great week in Boston. This year was special for Thanksgiving since a lot of Grandma Jill’s family came in to celebrate with us. Of course, we did a horrible job taking pictures with any one – but that’s because we were having too much fun!
We did take a few pictures as we went about our week though and we had a ton of fun going all over the place…
First stop, getting our teeth all cleaned - and more cavities filled for Maile Girl 🙁
Lauren is the coolest dental patient around!
Then we headed into Boston to see Daddy's high school play at Fenway Park!
My first football game at Fenway Park! Do they always play here?
Lauren accompanied Daddy for his annual tackle football game with his childhood friends...
And we saw some Good Dudes in Boston on Sunday...
Getting in the spirit of the season...
Oh yeah, and Maile lost tooth #2 (with an assist from Papa Mike)!
And she got a little sick one day too 🙁
Lauren found a big giraffe made of Legos...
... and an even bigger Christmas Tree!
by Papa K on November 29, 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...
by Papa K on November 16, 2015
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.)
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.)
One of my favorites from all way the back in 2010 – timely as well because Christine has been making noise about cutting her hair again…
(Click here for the video.)
On Saturday, before we headed out for some trick-or-treating we headed over to Golden Gate Park for a pumpkin carving party thrown by one of Lauren’s classmates. Apparently, this is a tradition that’s been going on since 1998 or so – pre kids(!) It was an awesome time – check out some of the highlights below…
Family Picture - Halloween 2015 (Maile 6 and Lauren 2 and 3/4ths)
Maile made her very own trick-or-treating bag - she used it for a bit that night, but was concerned it wasn't big enough for all the candy...
Some serious pumpkin carving going on...
Maile was very excited to pose for the caricature artist...
... and loved the result too!
Lauren putting some good thought into painting her pumpkin...
You’ll need to wait until Sunday to see this year’s costumes, but thought it’d be fun to take a stroll through Grandma Gail’s creations over the years…
2014 - The Bees
2013 - The Unicorns
2012 - The Flower
2011 - Maile Elmo
2010 - Curious Maile
2009 - Totoro
This weekend was my 15th Stanford Reunion – kind of crazy to think it has already been 15 years. On Friday night, Christine and I headed down solo and had fun catching up with old friends. On Saturday, we took the girls down for the day and had a great time running around campus. They really put on a fun event for the whole family – we had a blast spending time with Nerd Nation!
Lauren Nerd
Maile Nerd
Daddy Nerd and Maile Nerd
Lauren Nerd and Mommy Nerd (Lauren Nerd is in the 'avoid pictures if possible' phase...)
The hot dogs were delicious (and cute!)
The girls got their portraits done - Lauren kept a close eye on things...
... and then did her best to sit still when it was her turn (which was super hard to do.)
And, of course, plenty of fake tattoos.
This past week, my sister Elyssa and Stephen celebrated their second wedding anniversary. Reminded me that their wedding was our first as a family of four – and boy did we have a good time dancing up a storm!
Daddy and Maile all dressed up and ready for Auntie's wedding!
Mommy and Lauren - taken a few minutes before Lauren passed out for the ceremony 🙂
I'm a lucky man!
Headed to bed tonight on the eve of our anniversary and I found this picture just lying on the ground near the girls’ art supplies. I imagine in due time it will turn into an art project ode to mommy. But for tonight it is simply a reminder of what a lucky man I am.
Happy anniversary, baby, I love you!
