"The Nutcracker," take 2

After Audrey's performance of the previous evening, it was Kate's turn to take the stage and dance to "The Nutcracker." Mama, Dada, Honey, Honey Grandpa, and GG all came to cheer her on.

"The Nutcracker," take 1

After practicing with Ms. Kat for several weeks, Audrey and her friend Hannah had their "Nutcracker" ballet performance this evening. For one selection, the girls danced with actual nutcrackers. Honey, Honey Grandpa, and GG came to watch.

Great-Grandpa's birthday

Audrey and Kate joined Lily and Cora for a picture with Great-Grandpa Darrel to help celebrate his birthday at a gathering at Great-Aunt Marcia's house.

Christmas outfits

Audrey and Kate model their Christmas ensembles before heading off to the birthday party for Great-Grandpa.

Decorating the Christmas tree(s)

Audrey and Kate helped decorate the Christmas tree they picked up yesterday, as well as their mini-Christmas trees Honey gave them a couple of years ago.

Picking out the Christmas tree

After saying their goodbyes to family following the ride on the Holiday Express, Audrey and Kate went to pick out a Christmas tree from a tree sale at the Archbishop Howard School, then helped start decorating it.

Holiday Express

Grandpa Dave and Judy treated the girls to a trip to see Santa on the Holiday Express today. Audrey and Kate were skittish about seeing Santa, but Audrey did manage to be brave and have him sit next to her when he came by. The girls and Lily walked around to explore the train a bit. It was a sunny but very cold day, and everyone got a little chilly as they went to watch the locomotive take off to pull the next load of passengers after their ride was over.

Beach trip

After spending the night at Lily and Cora's house after Thanksgiving, Audrey and Kate headed to the "beach house" for the rest of the long weekend. As with previous trips to the beach house, highlights for the girls included swimming in the condo swimming pool (they didn't have the pool to themselves this time like they usually do, though: lots of other kids swimming there), eating at Mo's (twice), and visiting the Newport Aquarium. They also walked around the historic section of Newport, watching people catching crabs and sea lions resting on a dock.

Thanksgiving/Cora's birthday

Audrey and Kate headed to Beaverton to celebrate Thanksgiving and Cora's first birthday at Lily and Cora's house. All of their grandparents were there as well. The girls enjoyed making Thanksgiving crafts, eating lots of rich food, and singing "Happy Birthday" to Cora and helping her open her presents.

Audrey and Kate spent the night with their cousins so they could get a head start on their trip to the "beach house." They and Lily put on a little puppet show in the morning before saying their goodbyes.

A "Frozen" evening

Audrey and Kate went to see the new Disney movie, "Frozen," with their friends Charlie and Finley this evening. They enjoyed the movie, as well as the movie popcorn (Kate helped finish off a large tub of it). The movie had opened today, and so they got to see one of the first showings in Portland. It was their first time seeing a wide-release, first-run film in a "real" theater (usually they go to the Kennedy School to see movies ending their theater run).

Honey Grandpa's birthday

Audrey and Kate helped Honey Grandpa celebrate his birthday this evening.

Audrey hosts a "sleepover"

Audrey hosted a "sleepover" this evening for her friends Hannah, Cecily, and Claudia. They had pizza for dinner,  watched an "Eloise" show in the basement, then called it a night at 8 pm.

Edgefield staycation

Audrey and Kate spent the weekend with cousins Lily and Cora at the McMenamins Edgefield. The girls and Lily loved playing on the bunkbeds in Audrey and Kate's room.

On Saturday, the girls braved the rain to visit Multnomah Falls, stopping at Crown Point and the Vista House on the way. In the afternoon, they went for a dip in the soaking pool. On Sunday, they toured Edgefield grounds and posed for some pictures before checking out and heading home.

(If the slide show below doesn't appear or doesn't work, click here.)

Kate's Beauty Bar

Mama let the girls look through and try on -- and try out on her -- some surplus makeup items this afternoon.

Master builder

Audrey assembled her gift from the "Candy Witch" this morning. She asked Dada one question about the instructions but otherwise put together the whole thing herself.

Halloween 2013

Audrey and Kate had a busy, fun, sugary Halloween night tonight. They rushed home from ballet (Audrey) and preschool to get ready for trick-or-treating. GG, Aunt Jill, Uncle Mark, and cousins Lily and Cora braved rush-hour traffic to join in the fun. Everyone enjoyed a festive Halloween-themed dinner of "mummy dogs" and some creative and healthy side dishes prepared by Aunt Jill before suiting up and heading out on the candy hunt.

After hitting a few neighbor's houses, the girls met up with Audrey and Kate's friends Charlie and Finley and headed towards the "Holiday House," which, as always, was drawing a huge crowd and dispensing loads of candy to a long line of trick-or-treaters (one of the owners said on the news that she had candy for 3,000 people). Elvis was back after taking last year off, and there was a Voodoo Donuts van selling donuts and a rumored flash-mob performance of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" dance (although we didn't actually see it). The kids met up with Hannah and Noah at the Holiday House and continued trick-or-treating for a bit before heading home to count their candy and get it ready to donate to the "Candy Witch."