Zoe got a new bike for her birthday (thanks, Nana and Pepere!) so that means Maggie got a new trike! 
There were a few hours of clear weather, so we took the girls out for their maiden voyages.
Zoe’s a natural.
Maggie, well, she’ll get the hang of it. 
Oh. Wait for it…
Yep... There she is.
(“Dadd-EEEEE!”)
All in all, pretty, sniff, sweet stuff.
Happy Birthday, Zoe Zo!
Our big girl is 4!
Zoe wasn’t too keen on the idea of having a house full of +/- four year olds over to help her celebrate (hey, neither was I!), but she was ALL over the idea of ringing in her fifth year with the help of some of our usual suspects: Nana, Pepere and Auntie Erin (Uncle Chris was pulled away at the last minute on a working interview).
The gang came over mid-morning and were pretty good sports at helping me with cake-decorating duty 
. Zoe certainly didn’t mind the work!
Some hint of the fun still yet to come...
The star of the show
Can take the girl off the bike, but not the helmet off the girl?
It was a really great time – thanks to everyone for their special contributions for our special girl!
And we just kept rollin’ through the holidays!
For New Year’s Eve, Dave’s brother, Brian, sis-in-law, Tammy and their kids, Hannah and Cameron, came up to spend the night. The girls loved hanging with their cousins again this year and we loved that they came north! 
The next morning, we hosted a small brunch for a smattering of lovely friends. I love to have everyone around, mostly in slippers, noshing on food, hanging in the kitchen. I hope we manage to keep to this tradition more years than not!
The girls trying on some new dress-up clothes with pal, Lucy. (hee hee! a little bit of blackmail fodder never hurt anyone! )
Thanks for comin’ round, everyone! Happy New Year!
Our third and final installment of Christmas was, well, on Christmas, at our house. With Dave off all week prior to hang with the girls (daycare was closed and he had vacation to burn before the new year), we had a great and mellow lead up to a great and mellow holiday.
Friday, on the eve, I was off, too, so we had time to squeeze in the necessary tradition of baking Christmas cookies. Zoe was all over it and well, it was all over Maggie by the time she was done 
– pretty fun stuff!
Later in the day, we headed out to listen to Christmas carols (thank you Pandora via Droid!) and drive along Seattle's “Candy Cane Lane” to see the lights. Then, off to what’s shaping up to be must-do St. Alonzo family tradition: Indian food!
The girls were on to the excitement and totally game for opening their Xmas eve sneak previews:
Amazingly, we haven’t hit the age where they are too excited to sleep in anticipation of Santa's arrival, so the girls pretty well crashed. Maggie, though, true to her fashion, woke us on the early end of the morning (~7:30 which is actually LATE for her!) so we decided that sleepy Zoe needed to be woken up lest we wait the day away for her to wake her self!
And then, there wasn’t much holding back!
Later in the morning we were joined by Nana and Pepere who stayed on for Dave’s leg of lamb, some games and much merriment. It was great to spend the day in slippers and pjs and really break into the new loot!
Pepere’s girls
Picasso?
A wagon ride in your pjs? Must be Xmas!
Merry Christmas, Grandma Lani!
