Go Fly a Kite

Taking advantage of a beautifully sunny, breezy weekend morning.

Time with T.J.

In Zoe's class at school, there are some special traditions practiced to celebrate each child's birthday.
1. Little birthday party with table settings and special decorations.
2. Glittery birthday crown made by Kristi.
3. A special snack brought from home to share.
4. Pictures brought from home of the child at each year of life.
5. Special circle time ritual of walking around a sun, and talking about how the child changes each year.
6. The birthday child gets to take home T.J. for a couple of days.

All of these traditions make the children feel very special, but none may feel quite as special as getting to take T.J. home.
T.J. is a stuffed mechanical bear that sings and tells stories. All the children love him so much that they could just sit and listen to him all day every day in class. So Kristi starting reserving his services for birthday children.
Zoe took advantage of this opportunity to have T.J. tell stories for about 48 hours straight. She was so happy. Nico was so happy when it was time to take him back.

"Look Mom! No training wheels!"

She's been ready for a month, but today we finally took those babies off. She complained, she whined, but she got on.
"Daddy, DON'T LET GO."
And he stood by her, hunched over, running along, holding on for her dear life and elbow skin.
And when she stopped, she forgot that the training wheels were gone, and she fell over.
And cried at her slightly skinned elbow. And through the tears, as the bike was hoisted into the back of the car she yelled out, "No! I want to go again!"

Family Date Night

So we decided to have a family date night, and thought we'd skip the naps and catch a matinee movie after a romp in the park. And a morning swim at the Y. And a backyard Easter egg hunt.
So we drove into the City and saw Rio- it was a super fun movie with cute birdies, South American flava, and Samba dancing. Right up my ally. Julian even sat (or stood, and squirmed) through the movie. Afterwards, we went to one of our B.C. (before children) cafes for a dinner of savory crepes and sandwiches. I brought a bag of toys and books, and we found an empty corner for ourselves. Julian refused to eat such utterly strange and foreign food. So he played with his cars. Then a little toddler came walking over and wanted to play too while his daddy talked on the phone. Julian was so mad that mommy made him share one of his 3 trucks that he hucked the one still in his hand at the table crashing a glass of wine right out of daddy's hand onto the table of plates and silverware below. The look on his face was priceless. The Dude still needs his afternoon nap. Lesson learned.

Fairy Princess Photo Shoot

My little muse.
I have learned to take advantage of the things she loves and just go with it.
Like dressing up. Like Fairies and Princesses. Like being the center of attention.
We combined all of her favorite things and mine- photography and the forest- and we had a great time. These were taken as practice for another time, but I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. We had a lot of fun.

In a meadow of daisies

Mini Model

Zoe had a taste of the bright lights today. A pro photographer/friend from art school needed some kids to model for a class he was teaching. So I dragged my little guys down to South City to lend a hand. Julian was a little shy about stepping onto the white paper, but Zoe sure wasn't. She hammed it UP for the students, smiling, jumping, tossing her hair, dancing- it was hilarious. She really got into it!

School Egg Hunt

Zoe's class had an egg hunt today. I went to pick them up, and everyone was playing on the emerald green front lawn, holding baskets of brightly colored eggs. They chased each other around giggling and running in circles, falling onto the soft grass in heaps of smiles.

Tiny Dancer

SacTown Railroad Museum

On a whim, as it is Wednesday, we decided to drive all the way to beautiful Sactratomato to check out their Olde Towne and Railroad Museum. Now I am not a big fan of tourist traps or Sacramento, and this was both, but the Railroad Museum was pretty cool. Of course, the Juje really loved the trains. Zoe had fun, as she can have fun nearly anywhere. She took the map out of my hands (she really has a thing for maps) so that she could lead us around... and with all the pictures on the map, she did just that.

Zoe's Birthday

San Miguel Mission Whistle Stop

On our trip back home from SoCal, we brought Nana and Nene with us! Of course, we needed a pit stop at our favorite Mission. See, Tiger needed to stretch his paws.

Swinging Giggles

Wheels in the Park

Worn Out

Vacation is exhausting.

Early Summer Beach Time

Beautiful! The weather is beautiful. The perfect day for a drive down the coast to Santa Cruz. Thank goodness the Boardwalk was closed, so we could concentrate our time on just enjoying one of my favorite towns in the glorious weather. We did our other favorite things- riding bikes along West Cliff, getting Jamba Juice and strolling downtown, looking for butterflies in Light House Field, and picnicking at Natural Bridges. Perfect.