November Happenings

 Just what we've been up to in November...

Even though we tried our best to celebrate Halloween, Claire and Maggie were really sad to miss out on trick-or-treating because we were at a wedding in West Virginia that weekend. Some friends saved the day by giving us the extra candy they were planning to take to the dentist's candy buy-back party (they were going out of town and had to miss it). Claire and Maggie were thrilled to have another chance to wear their costumes, get balloon animals, have their faces painted, and receive a dollar of their very own.

 

We took the girls to their first play - an adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood for preschoolers. It was forty-five minutes long, which is was the perfect length for Maggie's attention span. They loved getting to meet Little Red and her grandma afterwards, but refused to shake hands with the wolf!

 

Adam and I went on a hot date to a fancy dinner and a Chris Thile concert. We had a fantastic time - Christ Thile is surprisingly funny as well as an amazing mandolin player. Did you know he's going to be the new host of A Prairie Home Companion?

 

 

 

We celebrated Maggie's feast and baptism days. She was baptized the day after St. Margaret of Scotland's feast. For dinner the first night, we had beef stew and shortbread with hot chocolate for dessert. The next night was pizza and cupcakes - we like to light their baptism candle and sing "Happy baptism day, to you!"



I made her a baby carrier as a little baptism gift. I actually made one for Claire right before Maggie was born. It was very gratifying to see how much faster Maggie's came together. Even though I make many mistakes, I am slowly getting better at sewing. The pattern is from this Oliver + S book. I would highly recommend any of their stuff for beginners - the patterns are so well written and easy to understand.



Adam got the whole week of Thanksgiving off because his team is moving buildings. One of the perks of working for a big company with dozens of office buildings on campus!

 

On Monday, we went to an indoor volleyball court that transforms into a giant sandbox for toddlers during weekday mornings. They provide all the great sand toys and everything.

The only downside is that sand indoors is quite chilly! Luckily, it's right across the street from the Fran's Chocolates Factory, so we walked over for hot chocolate afterward. We got to meet Fran herself - she handed us some paper towels after Maggie spilled a little of hers. Totally random and exciting celebrity spotting.

Tuesday morning, we checked out the children's museum in Everett. We got in free thanks to our membership with the museum in Bellevue. It was our favorite by far out of the three we've visited in the Seattle area. The Seattle Children's Museum was definitely the lamest. We've just got the one on Bainbridge Island left on the list! We stopped for lunch at Cafe Rio on the way home, where Maggie learned to dip her cheese quesadilla right into the queso. She's a smart cookie.





Tomorrow we leave for Grandma and Grandpa's house! We are all pretty excited, evidenced by the above photos, but a little nervous about our first winter drive through the mountains.