Friday, December 31, 2010

Crawling is so 2010

We have another full-fledged walker!


2011 will be full of new adventures with two fully mobile Jacobson girls on our hands. Look out world! Happy New Year!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

The Not Its!

So I don't make it to many grown-up concerts these days, but luckily, Seattle has a rockin' kids music scene! A bunch of moms in my playgroup took our kiddos to a concert by the Not Its!, a Seattle kids rock band. B warmed right up and was groovin' in the mini mosh pit up front in no time at all.

Snaps to our excellent Tacoma Public Library system for putting on fun concerts like these. Super fun on a sunny winter day! And the kids were definitely tired out afterward. :)

Sorry for the wobbly camera work. Mommy may have been dancing a little bit too. :)

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Merry Christmas to all!

Hope everyone had a magical Christmas! We're discovering the magic of holidays with kids (We thought Christmas was fun when B was a baby, but wow! Christmas with kids who really get into it--like 3 and up--is a whole different story!)

Bianca woke up at 6am sharp. Steve talked her into staying in her room, but 15 minutes later we heard her knocking on her door, wailing "The clock is NEVER going to say 7!" I remember how hard it was to wait until Christmas morning when I was a kid. So I let her come out and take a peek at the tree and all the presents. :)

This is Christmas Eve, in their Christmas jammies. (These photos are out of order, sorry.)

Opening her dress up trunk. We were treated to fashion shows all day long!

Mia loves hats!

YUM!

Mia's exact words: "Cheese cheese cheese cheese cheese."

Beauty queen smile. She just never gets tired of hamming it up.

Giving a concert.

Every princess needs an iPhone! No, she didn't get one for Christmas--it's Aunt Laura's.

It was wonderful! But Christmas with kids is tiring. I think I need a holiday to recuperate from the holiday. :)

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Snaps

Just some fun snaps of Mia from around the house...

Actually saying "cheese."

"Here, mom. I pulled this off the tree. And I want you to have it."

Having a par-tay with sissy's books!

Our sleepyhead. This one is a sleeper. She'd snooze all day if I let her. I was trying (and failing) to wake her up from a nap. I love sleeping-baby pics...and her little round belly.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Santa!


We visited Santa today. Love B's deer-in-the-headlights look! "Um this is a little bit more intense than I thought it would be and I don't really feel like talking much but they're telling me to smile and I will get a lollipop in a minute so I'm just going to FREEZE and get this over with!" She told him she wanted "a present." OK--that can be arranged!

Mia was a bit, oh, bored with the whole thing. :)

Here's our shot from last year, with the same Santa. However, last year he looked a bit rosier. This year he looked like he might have been spray-tanning. Hey, no judgment here--Santa's got to keep up with the times! Really, he's a great Santa and very good with the kids (we went to the Tacoma Mall).

What a difference a year makes!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Swirly crayons!

Last week we had some kids over for a playdate to make big, swirly crayons. I've wanted to do this project for ages, and I've been faithfully saving our broken crayons. We pooled our "savings" with a few other families so we would have enough to fill up the muffin tin.

Make sure to grease the muffin tin with Pam or something similar, then add the broken crayons and melt them in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes, let cool (we sped up the cooling process in the fridge), pop out of the muffin tin, and voila! Big multicolored crayons that little fingers can grip.

They're so cool-looking!

I found a cool site with tons more projects for broken crayons: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf666289.tip.html. Can't wait to try more.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Happy. Crazy. Fun.

I chose (well, B begged and I agreed) to have B's 4th birthday party at a local indoor jungle gym because I thought it would be less crazy than having it at home. You know--no cleaning beforehand, no clean-up, and you just have to bring the cake.

Turns out, a dozen preschoolers running around like little hooligans make for one crazy party--no matter where you are! We were SO wiped out afterward. But everyone had a blast. I'm so glad we did it.

Bianca was so excited for her party for weeks. The day of, she was so excited I thought she would burst. Steve commented that it's a good thing the party started at 11 am. She probably would have imploded from anticipation if she'd had to wait until the afternoon.

Picture of a happy girl!

Blowing out her candles.

The cupcakes--the Hello Kitty decorations were rings for the kids to wear.

In the jungle gym with her pal.

Baby races! Mia had a pal there too.

It was a wild little whirlwind of a day. And I can't believe we have a 4 year old! She's an amazing little ball of energy and she just gets more fun, and more interesting. Here's to another great year, Nonni! We love you!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Macy's parade

The day after Thanksgiving, we headed to downtown Seattle for the annual Macy's parade. We've been hearing about it for years from Gene and Julie...I'm so glad we decided to go this year! It was the perfect parade for little ones. Lots of bright, colorful costumes and fun stuff for them to look at.



I loved watching their faces as they watched the parade...too cute.

Sophia kept trying to give Bianca a lift to "help her see". Luckily B didn't mind too much. :)

Every holiday parade needs a Santa!

Warming up back at their hotel. Sophs was so cute with Miss Mia.

Later on that day, Steve's mom threw a sixth birthday party for Sophia (since she lives in Dallas and isn't here on her actual birthday).

Birthday girl

Pretty cousins in their holiday dresses. It was the end of a long day and they look soooo tired, but the dresses were too sweet and we just had to get a shot.

Happy Turkey!

We had a great turkey day at the Jacobson home in Redmond. Unfortunately, cousins Jillian and Holly were sick and had to stay in Arizona. So Mia and Bianca got to play with Sophia, their cousin from Dallas. Lots of good food and good fun!

Mia loved the toys in the playroom. We even caught a rare glimpse of Maya the reclusive cat in the background.

Julie, Sophia, and Dan's son Tommy setting out the new placecards.

Yummy!

Sophs was so sweet with Mia.