Golden birthday

Happy six on the 6th!





Lena worked her way through three party outfits, two "fancy" dresses from Nonni, followed by her new ballet outfit to go with her beautiful new ballet doll named "Rose." (Notice the toe point in the last photo.) And Eli and Stella were very gracious and loving toward their big sissy.

Some Christmas shots

Sweet little Stella.



Lena holding the ornament she made for us at school.



And opening the "magic castle" from Papa and Winnie. It comes with about 3,000 pieces and takes two adults about 3 hours to put together...but totally worth it for the look on her face.



Lena and Eli with their light spinners.

Toothy news...

Before...



After (the first tooth)



After (the second tooth)


All in one week. Pretty cute little "window."

Blizzard-y

I don't think I remember ever seeing so much snow here. We have up to 8" and now there's freezing rain to boot. After this photo, we shoveled the front walkway. That's a rare event in this city! I also got to put chains on for the first time in my life (in the Walgreens parking lot after getting stuck...ugh).




Meanwhile, stuck inside for days on end, Lena and Stella get creative...

snowball fight!

 

the big sister

 

the baby

 

the boy

 

Stella quotes

Chris: Are you riding your horse?
Stella: Yeah, I'm riding.
C: What's your horses' name?
S: The horse.
C: You could call him Charlie horse.
S: No, that's not him. He not Charlie horse.
Lena interjects: You could call him Barbie!
Stella: (pause) Yeah! It's Barbie horse!

(Oh dear.)

Lena quote

We let Lena watch Star Wars this week - all 3 original movies.

For one, she's now "in love" with Luke Skywalker (that's my girl).
For two, she actually said:

"Jabba the Hut looks like a pastry"

And if you think about, he really does look kinda like a croissant.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Childrens' Museum

Before...




After...

heart castle

From a recent beach trip. I just came across a bunch of photos from this fall - I'll have some good ones coming soon!

Neither rhyme nor reason

Ok, here's a random bunch of photos. I'm going to use my perennial excuse for why things are not better organized, more coherent, cleaner...etc. "I HAVE TWINS" !!!



In this photo, Stella is wearing a dress that my grandma gave me as a baby. I love having old, familiar things to use again, so thanks Mom for keeping this all these years! And I love the way she and Lena look together...sissies. Don't they look alike in this photo?



Lena at a friend's birthday, getting some serious air on the trampoline.



Shoe-less Stella at the park in Redwood City, CA. We visited my grandparents for my grandma's 85th birthday, it was wonderful!



Here's Lena and her GiGi. This is one of my favorite pictures ever. Oh, and that was another one of my old dresses. Lena loves it as much as I did!



Me and Eli. A lot of times he'll say he's "Mommy boy" (which is different than a mama's boy...OK?) but lately I've been asking if he's "Mommy's guy" and he'll say, "No, I'm Papa's guy" (meaning my dad). Pretty cute. If pressed, he'll say he's Mommy's boy, and Papa's guy.

Time for the annual "BOO!"

Lena = Mary Lennox from the book The Secret Garden (see the key around her neck?) Note: that was my dress when I was about 7. That was her p.m. costume. In the a.m. (for school) she was Arial, those photos are on my other camera...

Eli and Stella = Little fur children ala the book Little Fur Family (a Tinker family fave)

Hope everyone had a happy Halloween :)

Elijah quotes

Upon hearing any unfamiliar sound...

"What's that noisy?"