by Papa K on November 29, 2015
(Dad note: my apologies for the lack of posts from the past week! I got caught up in some late night/early mornings for work and then we traveled to Boston last Tuesday which messed up my schedule even further. We are all well and enjoying Thanksgiving on the east coast! We head back to SF on Tuesday AM – will work to get things back on track with the updates 🙂
As we’ve discussed, Maile is getting more and more into cooking – so it was a no brainer to get her and Lauren involved in the Thanksgiving cooking this year. Before we left for Boston, the whole family made a pumpkin pie to give away to a charity that a friend’s school participates in to give away pies to families in need over the holidays.
Lauren manned the mixer - not exactly chef gear, but we let it ride...
Maile was in charge of the pie crust...
And Mommy showed the girls how to bring it all together...
And once in Boston, Maile made her traditional apple pie in muffin tins – a big hit last year that is now a part of our annual tradition!
Maile Girl preparing apples for her mini apple pies...
by Papa K on November 19, 2015
The cooking continues…
This week Mommy made homemade pasta with Chef Maile and Chef Lauren. Excuse me, Big Girl Lauren (watch to the end of the second video.)
We’re definitely enjoying this new phase. Delicious too 🙂
(Click here for the first video.)
(Click here for the second video.)
Hey everyone, it’s Lauren.
I know its been a long time since I wrote directly, but something horrible happened this weekend and I needed to share.
Daddy and Maile were out and it was just me and Mommy. Mommy took me out to dinner. It was wonderful. Noodles! And she taught me how to use chopsticks. So I thought we were cool.
I asked for ice cream for dessert and Mommy said since I was such a good girl we could get some. I was happy.
Doesn’t sound so horrible, right? Yeah. Well, then, the horrible thing happened. Mommy gave me too much ice cream. Yep, you read that correctly. And then she wouldn’t take it out. She just left it there and said I didn’t have to eat all of it. Can you believe that?
Too much ice cream. Awful. It’s basically the worst thing that has ever happened to me.
(Click here for the video.)
by Papa K on November 16, 2015
Well, we have a new favorite app – Triller. One of Christine’s friends from work gave her the tip – and we are in love.
The app makes it dead simple to make fun little 15-30 second music videos with different clips edited in to one another. Not sure the result is “professional” – but it certainly is fun.
We made a bunch after dinner tonight and I imagine we’ll be doing it again really soon…
Go get the app!
(Click here for the video.)
by Papa K on November 11, 2015
Meanwhile…
While Maile has been off running and cooking, Lauren is hitting the birthday circuit hard. The parties have begun and Lauren is loving it – particularly when bubbles are involved and for three year old shindigs, the bubbles are never too far away…
Lauren is ready to party!
Lauren and her friends become the bubble! Hold on tight...
(Click here for the video.)
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.)
The girls watched Inside Out this weekend. Lauren isn’t a big fan of Jangles the Clown.
Woah. Who's that?
Just tell me when its over.
Mommy comforting Lauren Girl...
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...
This year we had a couple of princesses on our hands (well, technically Maile was a character from Lalaloopsy). Once again, Grandma Gail outdid herself with a couple amazing costumes that the girls absolutely loved. They got good use out of them too – wearing them to school on Thursday for a Halloween parade and then out and about on Saturday for some serious San Francisco style trick-or-treating on good ol’ Avila Street (fast becoming our traditional spot).
Maile Girl in her Lalaloopsy outfit.
Our Orange Princess, Ms. Lauren
The full crew ready for some trick-or-treating...
And we're off! The parents were playing catch up the rest of the night...
Thank you Grandma Gail! Maile and Lauren are already thinking about what they want to be next year!
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
