1.13.16: Carrying the Crew

When the girls were really small I used to carry two (one in each arm) and then put one in the bjorn.  This is how I got in/out of the children's museum, etc without a stroller.  I was much stronger back then.  Tonight we decided to react that experience - but it was much harder than I remember.  Thankfully Stella, Daphne, and Fiona held on tight.

1.10.16: Flourishing Flowers

Today we started our science fair project: Flourishing Flowers.  Our experiment was to put some flowers in different solutions and see which flowers lasted the longest.  The added benefit was that we had flowers all over our apartment for weeks!

1.2.16: We found seals

Out for a hike at Wilder Ranch and we ran into seals enjoying the sunshine just like we were.  Daphne, Kari, Stella, Fiona, Brant

12.30.15: Sisters

Sisters are the best!  Fiona, Daphne, Stella

12.29.15: Aquarium

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is truly an amazing place.  The jellyfish room is like no other in the world.  I love that the girls are going to grow up completely spoiled by this magical aquarium.  Today was calm enough we were able to capture some great pictures of the adventure.

Stella attracting a puffin while Daphne and Fiona look on.

12.26.15: Banana Slug!

The UCSC mascot is the banana slug - and we have heard about these banana slugs for months now, but apparently they are seasonal.  Today, while out for a walk, Stella found our very first banana slug - turns out they really are as yellow as people say.

We woke up this morning with a very serious ant problem in our bathroom - needless to say, it was a good thing we left the house.

12.25.15: Christmas

The ONLY thing Fiona wanted for Christmas was a folding hula hoop.  She is an expert hula hooper and was determined up her game with a folding/traveling hula hoop.  Thankfully santa pulled through and our little girl was out hula hooping by 8:30am Christmas morning!

The girls (Daphne, Fiona, Stella) also got these neat kits where they could pretend to be archaeologists and dig for jewels/stones - future archaeologists? maybe.

12.24.15: Christmas Eve

Christmas is always a special time of the year, but the girls are especially lucky because they get to celebrate two days.  For Christmas Eve, we celebrate/open presents with my side and Christmas we celebrate/open presents with Brant's side.  This gives us two solid days of festivities!

Stella was most excited about this drawing projector that displayed her artwork on the ceiling (good thing we have such low ceilings) 

Daphne was really excited about snap circuits - taking different pieces of electronics to create something that moved or lit up was a big treat.  I caught Brant getting into it a bit too.

Fiona loves her perler beads.  She got a kit that helps to leave spaces between the melted plastic - making it easier to create necklaces or flowers with stems.

Then after an entire day of playing and opening presents, we had to leave out cookies for santa and carrots for the reindeer in preparation for his late night visit.  We weren't sure how his visit would turn out since we didn't have a chimney - but Brant and I reassured that girls that many people around the world somehow gets visits from santa even though there is not a chimney in their home.

12.23.15: Climbing Trees + Christmas Lights

We started off our day at the nearby park - except this time we decided we each needed to climb our own tree.  Stella, Daphne and Fiona have apparently outgrown the play structure and find comfort climbing up in the trees.

Daphne, Fiona and Stella smiling in the backseat while we drove through Vasona Park.  We have never been to this giant park in Los Gatos, but learned it had a huge light show and knew we needed to see it.  There was even a coordinated radio station when we heard our very favorite new song - Dominic the Donkey.  This will forever be our family Christmas song.

This dragon was a big favorite.

12.19.15: Gingerbread playdate

Sophia's very brave mom invited all of us over for a gingerbread house making play date.  The girls had a total blast eating sugar, spilling anything they could and maybe, just maybe, constructing a gingerbread house.  Daphne, Fiona, and Stella had a great time and the houses even survived our drive back home to our apartment. Then we ran into the real problem - where on earth are we going to keep three gingerbread houses in our very small apartment?