Super Bowl!

As I recently mentioned, I was incredibly lucky to be able to go to the Super Bowl this past weekend, as a winner of an essay contest at work. All expenses were covered and a couple of other people on my team went as well, so it was a great time. The excitement was palpable even when I got to the airport--Seatac was completely decked out and our flight was one of the "party buses" heading to Newark. There were lots if round of Sea-HAWKS chants on the plane, even coming from the cockpit.

Before the game, I got to see Jess, Peter and the sweetest little 3 month old, Bode. He was so smiley and sweet! Thanks for the delicious breakfast, it was great to spend a little time with you, J&P!

With some free time in the city on Saturday, we walked around Super Bowl Boulevard down by Times Square, went out for meals and to some bars. I also checked out the Plaza, which was next door to our hotel.

And then there was SUNDAY! We traveled out to MetLife Stadium via subway and then 2 trains, and we were accompanied by tons of amped up Seattle and Denver fans the whole way. We got there in plenty of time and watched some of the warm up. Our seats were incredible, 16th row from the field, right behind the goals posts. We got to see a couple of the big touchdowns right by us and the field goals/extra points were awesome to watch, it felt like they went right up over our heads.

The halftime show was pretty great--we all got hats with lights in them that were controlled as part of the show. Bruno Mars was better than I expected, it was really high energy with lots of look at.

Matt sent some pictures from home...the boys were dressed and fully in the spirit of the day, and apparently there was a lot of tackling going on.

The second half was just icing on the cake, we were already celebrating early in the 4th quarter. We couldn't believe how Seattle just crushed Denver, and it was really exciting to be there and see it happen. After the game (and after the 2 hours it took to get back to the city) we headed to a bar filled with Seahawks fans and celebrated there for a while before crashing back at the hotel.

What an amazing experience! I never in a million years thought I would get to go to the Super Bowl, and to see our Seattle team play was just awesome. To get to go with my work team was really special, too, I am so appreciative that I had the chance to go do this. And as cheesy as it may sound, after this experience I'll be a Seahawks fan for life...and the boys will be raised accordingly.

After a brutal 17 hour travel day including an 8 hour flight delay, I finally got home Monday night and was so happy to see all of the boys. Matt did wonderfully with them by himself for 3 days and night, I'm so appreciative that he was able to cover the home front and let me go without worrying about anything.

So one last time...Sea-HAWKS! Sea-HAWKS! Sea-HAWKS!

Video catch-up

A few videos from the last couple of weeks:

Nate's language skills have been exploding recently, listen to him chatting as he builds with some magnatiles:



Here's another of Nate, being funny and silly at dinner. We spent most of the meal suggesting to him what bite to take next, and he actually listened...what a novel experience for us.



Here are the boys running and having fun together...



And then... lots of jumping!

Seahawks!!

We have been getting into the excitement around here, with the Seahawks making it to the Super Bowl! And I got a surprise today, finding out I won 4th place in an essay contest at work...and winning a full expenses paid trip to NY for the big game! So I'm off to buy a warm coat and some boots...in the meantime, here we are in our gear. We are still working on getting Nate to try his on, and getting Matt to buy one for himself!

Visitors!

Aunt Karyn and Fernando came up for a visit a couple of weeks ago, to celebrate a late Christmas. We had a lot of fun and they even came with us to soccer for Nate and gymnastics for Simon. We went out to brunch, played in the new playroom (at 7am, thanks to Simon) and Aunt Karyn and Simon made a robot!

Here are a few pictures of our visit, thanks for coming up!!

Christmas!

Christmas was a very exciting day! Simon woke up at 4 (FOUR) AM...we were able to coax him into our bed for a while, where he twitched for 2 hours until we finally took some pity on him and let him get up. He and I opened our stockings and then we woke up the other two to get started on all of the gifts under the tree!

I'm not going to list all of the amazing gifts they received from Santa and family members--let's leave it at there were two VERY happy little boys on Christmas morning! Here are a bunch of pictures and videos!

25 Days of Christmas: Days 20-24

This is super belated, but here's how we ended our big month of Christmas activities:

Day 20 we made a big card for Santa and Rudolph, in preparation for the big event.

One day 21, we had two activities! First, we decorated gingerbread houses.

And then that evening, we went to a Solstice celebration at a venue called the Moonpaper Tent. It was very crunchy Seattle, but also really sweet and fun. All of the employees were dressed in white and we were asked to do the same. We all made lanterns and then they involved the kids in an interactive storytime. After everyone finished making their lanterns, we went outside for a solstice walk, sang a song and then went around the circle and made a wish for the world. Both boys really enjoyed it!

On Day 22, it was cookie baking day! Sadly, I seem to have deleted the photos of the boys helping with the cookies, but imagine them eating dough and making a mess, and you have it right.

On Day 23, we made snacks for Rudolph and his friends--we put some in baggies for Santa to take with him for the reindeer on Christmas eve, but also sprinkled some on the grass out front.

And finally, Day 24 was Christmas eve, and we gave the boys new Christmas pajamas and read The Night Before Christmas. We also put out cookies and milk, reindeer food and Santa's card, and we were all set!

Coming soon...a recap of the big day!

Balloon fight

I'm still getting my act together with Christmas pictures and videos, but for now, here's a short cute video of the boys having a balloon fight. This was about 12 hours after Nate had his tubes surgery--he handled it like a champ yesterday morning!