Date Weekend in Seattle

I realize we are fortunate in so many ways. I feel it now more than ever:

1. We have 3 sets of grandparents who are more than willing to take the kids for any amount of time, big or small
2. We live 3 hours driving distance to Seattle, which is such a great city
3. We can decide the morning of a Seahawks game to scout out tickets, buy them, and then go to the game!
4. The list goes on....

Dae and my date weekend in Seattle was fun, fun, fun. We spent two nights downtown. Dad's brother Sung roomed with a guy named Mark Canlis in college and (fortunately for us!) they are still really close, so we got reservations for dinner at Canlis restaurant, which was an experience to remember. Mark was so nice and gave us a tour of the entire restaurant and kitchen and wine room and everything (I forgot to ask how they have your car waiting at the end of your meal, per Ev's request and curiosity). We did find out from Mark that when Top Chef filmed there two years ago the Top Chef candidates' food was pretty much inedible, and they shot 'dinner' at the restaurant from 8am-noon. It would be hard to eat dinner at 8am!

Canlis with Mark! What a beautiful experience!

SO much energy in the stadium...

We broke down and got 'Hawks gear. I am also wearing gloves knit by Ev, and am trying to display a 1 and a 2 for "12th man" - unsuccessfully. Also, Ev purposefully knit a hole in the right index finger area for my iPhoning needs. Always thinking, that Ev.

Outside Century Link field. It was both Dae and my first NFL experience and it was awesome. We won 20-6 thank goodness and I am now a huge fan of Marshawn Lynch, aka the Beast :)

Oysters at the Walrus and Carpenter oyster bar in Ballard. The food is to die for in Seattle (and Portland). We are absolutely starved for real good food in Richland...

Merry Christmas 2014!

We had a really nice Christmas day. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and somewhat warm (well, not bone-chilling cold). Today's timeline:

• 5:30am Leelee gets up because he needs to go to the bathroom. Goes back to bedroom.
• 6:30am We all get up and open presents

Leelee got this train set. He has asked for a remote control train with tracks FOREVER. He loves it!

Olin, lover of all animals, liked this horse stall at a friend's house so I ordered it. Melissa & Doug, $13. What a steal! 

You can't see very well, but you can name the horses and label their stalls. We asked Olin to name his horses and this is what he came up with:

1. Chocolate
2. White Tail
3. Grey & White & Grey
4. Pizza Pie
5. White Dot Horse
6. Wuffie
7. Anudder Chocolate Horse
8. Woofie

Continuing with the timeline:

• 7:30am We eat hoot 'n Annie breakfast (Dutch babies). Look how big and fluffy it gets! The kids don't get as excited about the rising pancake as I imagined they would. The novelty has worn off.

We spent the rest of the day playing with trains, eating, relaxing. Dae's parents made mandu (Korean dumplings) that were so delicious. Also, the kids actually got a few other gifts from various places/people (including us) that we ended up stashing in a cabinet to bring out at future holidays. They get too many gifts! It is a good problem to have, I know. 

Merry Christmas Eve

 I took the kids to Costco today, and here they are in the cart having fun...

Ah I love this photo. It showcases what I love about Olin's laugh - the scrunched nose and the missing tooth. 

Major concentration, cross-eyed

Christmas Eve was a successful "Indian-off". Kelly was convinced that Masala Indian tastes better. I was convinced that Love Curry tastes better. So of course we had an Indian-off (blind taste test) on Christmas Eve to see who was the victor. Masala won hands down on the Palak Paneer. Love Curry won hands down on the Dal. Split decisions on the Butter Chicken.

In the spirit of blind taste tests, we also blind taste tested champagne (Mumm's $13.99 vs. Moet $36.99), white wine (Bookwalter $13 vs. Anelare $36) and 72% dark chocolate (Theo vs. Trader Joe's). Everyone except Dae picked the Moet champagne, but I seriously could barely tell the difference. The white wine was the same...I could barely tell the difference. Just goes to show - we don't have fine palates!! haha!

"Ice Skating"

This is us attempting to ice skate with the kids for the first time today. We lasted 40 minutes. (Woohoo!) Dae and I were sweating by the end of it trying to manage these little guys. Next time...figure skates with toe picks for the youngsters!

Leelee, who contrary to this picture did quite well!

Olin didn't quite get the hang of it yet...

Olin was basically carried the entire time around the rink

Life in a Box

I finally understand what all the fuss about brown boxes is. The kids have really taken to a couple of the brown boxes that have arrived. In this particular box below, they managed to do the following tasks:

• put together a puzzle
• play
• eat lunch

It has been all things Christmas this week:

Annual Christmas program. Leelee upper left (white stripe), Olin lower right (green hat, yellow shirt)

Christmas cookie decorating at AJ's house

I love my job, and the people!

Hilarious ornaments from school. It's like action figure cut-outs mod-podged onto clear plates. Olin's face is a crack up.

Out of nowhere, Leelee whipped up this curly-Q writing for gymnastics teacher Abby's Christmas card. I didn't teach him this, but I love it!

Olin free-falling. I can't believe he doesn't get scared to go straight down. And I fret about those front teeth of his!

December Happenings

1) We've still been doing the December Advent calendar but these boys' standards have gone up. Now they are no longer interested in any of the days that don't involve candy, gifts, or toys for themselves. "Make a book" day was not met with a lot of enthusiasm. "Dance Party Night" didn't rouse too much excitement either. Next year I might slip in a few phrases or scriptures or something as their actual activity, just so they aren't expecting some major treat every day of December. Tis the season for giving, after all, not just receiving! Sheesh.

No lack of enthusiasm for this particular Advent activity!

 2) Olin kept dipping his little foot in to check the temperature...

3)

Soon enough they will be equal (too soon, I am sure). Speaking of, Leelee is pretty lean. He even has a little six-pack at times. haha.

4) Basketball photos were pretty funny. It's a motley crew for the 3-4 year olds...

5) It has been pretty sunny the past couple of days. Dae took them miniature golfing, without jackets! Nice as it looks, he said they were cold. So we warmed up with some Fujiyama dinner.

Me + My Boys

Me, my boys, and their bangs, reading before bedtime.

Christmas in Seattle (2 of 2)

There were some funny happenings in Seattle this weekend:

1. Three of the kids got remote controlled helicopters as their Christmas gift. They were hard to handle and no one could quite get the hang of it, so they were pretty much out of control. They even flew up onto my mom's popcorn ceilings and several 'kernels' came flying down, more than once. haha!
2. Mei Mei's little voice yelling "mom" was so funny. She is 2 years old and super cute.
3. Olin the 3-year-old pushed Mei Mei the 2-year-old around in her new doll stroller, meant for a doll.
4. I need an ugly sweater for my office party so I asked my mom if she had any. She said she was sure she had some ugly ones, so we went into her closet. I deemed most of them not ugly enough and then asked "hey what about that white one that has all those ornaments and stuff on it", and my mom stops for a second and then says "well I was going to wear that one today!". We were laughing so hard! She even had it laid out in another room ready to go! Luckily my mom is a good sport. And it's not necessarily ugly, just not fashionable for any time of year except Christmas. hehe.

He loves to fake sleep. I guarantee he's not asleep in this photo.

Remote-controlled mayhem

Olin, at your service, for all of your stroller and wheelchair assist needs.

Christmas in Seattle (1 of 2)

My mom had us all over for Christmas in Seattle. This might be our 5th year? It is always fun, always filled with kids, lots of food, and champagne. This year Dae and I stayed an extra night at a hotel in Seattle while my mom babysat on Sunday night. It was a nice little somewhat stay-cation!

There was not nearly as much iPad-ing this year as there was last year, thank goodness!

The view into Seattle as we were leaving my mom's house.

Carousel at Redmond Town Center. We always have lunch at Haiku Buffet where we get our sushi fill.

Didi's hair will always be Ginger to me...and now I match! Mine just didn't come about quite so naturally...

See that attitude on baby's face? Stubborn little rascal. New hats from Pike Place Market. These kids get spoiled at Pike Place market. We almost always get some pastries from Le Panier, a balloon from the balloon guy, and apple cider. Lately we've been meandering over to the Piroshky place, too. And I get flowers of course.

More 'tude from baby. Leelee insisted on putting his knight's shield over his eyes.

Cappuccino's and dessert at Le Pichet

1) We had a great time downtown. We checked in (and got a complimentary water view upgrade, and a glass of champagne on checking in!), then we went to a bar and relaxed a little bit, then went to do some shopping, then went to dinner at sushi and dessert at this French restaurant I loved in dental school, then home to watch some reality TV. A great evening! haha!

2) Olin can't pronounce L's. Still. So when we play our animal guessing game and he picks giraffe, he says "I'm thinking of animal, it has yong yegs (long legs), yong knees (long knees! How hilarious is that?)". He also said that Ev's dog Blue was on a "yeash"at my mom's house.