Roan's Fifth Birthday!!!

There seems to be nothing as important to a five year old as their birthday! We had a family celebration on his actual birthday - chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, special lunch out with Daddy, followed by celebratory cookie from his favorite cookie place (Draeger's). Then his party was 2 days later in our yard with many of his friends. The train cupcakes were a hit.

Mali Graduates from Little Wonders

Mali very much enjoyed her two years we spent together at Little Wonders. Here are a few photos from her last couple of months at Little Wonders, including her "graduation".

Mali the Ballerina

Mali has become obsessed with all things "ballerina". She started "ballerina" classes a few months ago and now she says she is a ballerina all the time - not a girl, not a monkey, but a ballerina. If her dress gets dirty (and yes, she wears a dress nearly every day) she's a "dirty ballerina". Her favorite song is "Nina Pretty Ballerina" by ABBA. There are several pictures in here of her wardrobe choices for ballet class - it's different every week. There are also shots from her class. She also shows off a few of her many hair clips I made her recently at a "hair clip making party". She just loves to put them in every morning, often before I'm even up.

San Francisco May 2010

Jan took the kids up to San Francisco for a bike ride across Golden Gate Bridge followed by Chinese food in the city. Everyone had fun!

Train Ride in the Country April 2010

We took a less-than-impressive train ride in the "country" to view wild flowers with some friends. Although we can see more wild flowers on our back hill, a train is always a hit with the little man of the family, so it was fun.

Swimming Lessons 2010

Mali has now joined big brother in swimming lessons. She loves the water and only had to discover one time for herself that she can't swim on her own yet. Luckily Mom only had to climb into the pool up to her waist to retrieve her from under the water.

Easter 2010 in Houston

Here are pics from our Easter trip to Grandma and Granddad's house in Houston.

Roan's "Senior Bear" Celebration - March 2010

At Roan's preschool, they're each assigned a week to be the special "senior bear". Basically they bring in some of their favorite things to display all week and at the end of the week, the family comes for a presentation where they present their favorite things to their classmates as well as an "All About Me" poster. Here are some pictures from his Senior Bear day.

Half Moon Bay February 2010

We had one really warm day in February and I took Mali to her favorite place - the beach. Here are some pictures.

Baby 3....is a boy!

Monkey 3 will be joining the family around August 19!

The Rest of December 2009

Here's the rest of December.

Christmas 2009

Here are some pictures from Christmas time. Mandy's parents (Grandma and Granddad) were here again and both kids were VERY into Christmas this year! We decorated a gingerbread train this year for a new tradition and went to see the lights on Eucalyptus street here in San Carlos as is our usual Christmas Eve tradition.

Holiday Train 2009

This year's annual trek to see Santa arrive into town on the Holiday Train was a bit of a bust due to a bad rain storm. We braved it but didn't stay long!

Winter Festival at Roan's School

Roan's preschool put on a Winter Festival which included snow (hauled in of course) and Santa! As predicted...Roan took an immediate dislike to the snow, though Mali loved it, and they both agreed Santa was someone they should both fear with their life.

The rest of October 2009

Here are a few pictures from the rest of October including some from the Halloween Fun Faire Roan's preschool puts on every year. It was a bunch of fun. The kids also had portraits taken and there's a sample included!

Halloween 2009

We started Halloween a day early with the annual Goblin Walk through the shops of downtown San Carlos with our friends Amelie and Colby. On Saturday we went trick-or-treating back in our old neighborhoods with some friends. Mali was a ladybug fairy (which she would wear everyday if we let her) and Roan was a train that he designed himself.

Pumpkin Patches October 2009

We went to two pumpkin patches. The first was a real pumpkin farm with fun things like wagons and the second one was full of "fun" things like pony rides and jumpy houses. Mali's favorite activity was pony riding and Roan's was train riding, of course, though he actually did try out the ponies for the first time this year!

Roan's First Day of St. Paul's

Roan started a new preschool this year and absolutely loves it. Here are a few shots from his first day!

September 2009

Both Mali and Roan are growing up so fast. Mali can hold a pretty good conversation at this point, loves to ask "why?", and still loves her babies, "meows", and the color blue. Roan is thriving at school this year, loves to practice writing his letters, and is loving swimming lessons these days. He also seems to be developing little crushes and recently woke Jan at 5am one morning to ask him, "Daddy, are you thinking about Skye?" who is a friend of his from school. When Jan said "No, are you?", he responded "Yeah" with a big smile on his face.

Mali's First "Senior" Day at Little Wonders

Some pictures from Mali's first day back at Little Wonders this year. She's so excited to go every week and "see her friends" (whom she promptly ignores as soon as we're there).

Camping September 2009

Aaaahhhh, life is starting to get back to normal since the move. We spent a couple of days camping near Yosemite over the Labor Day weekend. We had a campsite by a little stream and the kids had a blast. Unfortunately we couldn't have a campfire due to fire restrictions, so no roasted marshmallows - the whole reason Roan went camping - but there was a miniature golf course on site which more than made up for it.

Daddy's Birthday Celebration (June 2009)

Mali's Second Birthday

Well, it only took 4 months to get these pictures up, but here they are! She had a pretty low-key birthday. We had a small playgroup gathering as well as a little barbecue with some friends to celebrate both Mali's and Dylan's (her best friend from across the street) birthdays which are a week apart.

Is the search finally over???

At the risk of jinxing ourselves, we appear to be in escrow on a house in San Carlos!

Miscellaneous May 2009

Here are a few miscellaneous shots from May. Both kids have grown up so much. Roan likes to talk all the time - he's especially talkative while driving and is constantly questioning why I stop at red lights, why the other cars get to go, what would happen if I didn't stop, what would happen if there were no stop signs or stop lights, etc. It goes on, and on. I think he'll have all of the traffic rules down by age 5. He's still really in to doing puzzles and it's impossible to keep enough maze books in the house - he'll finish a whole maze book during a 45-minute quiet time.

Mali is all about talking right now too and is very big on "I DO!!!" for everything. She's still extremely independent and such a quick learner - she quietly watches everything we do and then does it when we're not watching - this is how she taught herself to ride her brother's scooter. Unfortunately this can be dangerous as well as she's known for helping herself to whatever is cooking on the stove (like eggs in a frying pan). She just gets a fork, reaches up, and catches something. Yikes. She's still obsessed with the color blue (while her brother says his favorite color is ALL the colors) and is very into coloring, including decorating her Daddy's laptop with a dry-erase marker when he wasn't looking. She's very into clothing as well and loves to get dressed every morning in a dress, preferably one with blue in it!