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.)
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 🙂
Last week Lauren got a mild case of Hand Foot Mouth. We took her to see the doctor and while we were waiting she was serenading us with some of the new Chinese songs she’s been learning at school. (As a side note, pretty crazy how fast she is picking up the songs!)
Christine and I got a kick out of the fact that whenever she wanted to change songs, she “swiped” herself to the next tune. Maile thought every screen could be tapped and touched. I guess for Lauren she just thinks life, in general, can be swiped.
(Click here for the video.)
by Papa K on September 14, 2015
We hope all of our Jewish family and friends are having a wonderful Rosh Hashanah! We celebrated last night with some apples and honey and a delicious roast chicken meal that Christine put together. Maile led us in a recap of all we should be thankful for and Lauren, of course, followed her lead (Mommy is high on the list as she should be 🙂
Rosh Hashanah family picture (Maile 6 and Lauren 2.5)
by Papa K on September 10, 2015
This video from 5(!) years ago reminded me of the one yesterday with Lauren…
Moral of the story is that not much has changed in terms of me getting any rest!
(Click here for the video.)
by Papa K on September 9, 2015
I had a long end of the week at work, so last Friday night, I was pretty exhausted and falling asleep on the couch. Whenever this happens, Lauren reenacts one of her favorite scenes from Frozen and tries to open one of my eyes while saying “Do you want to build a snowman?”
Its too adorable to get angry about 😉
(Click here for the video.)
(Presidio Knolls staggered the start for the little ones – so although Maile started today, Lauren doesn’t start until tomorrow. So we get two first day of schools this year allowing each girl to star on her own day!)
So. Long. Ago.
That was 4 years ago. Today it looks more like this…
So. Old.
It was awesome walking back on to the Presidio Knolls campus – the place was buzzing and when we left her Maile was already running around and catching up with her friends. When she came home she declared it was the “best day ever” – that sounds like a good start to the year to me.
Daddy, Maile and Mommy and day 1 of first grade...
Maile is very curious about having Lauren at school. She told Christine that if she needs to come out of class to help, she will. But she doesn’t want to miss too much.
Lauren is very excited for school.
Maile and Mommy
