Colin is 3!

What a big boy Colin is! We can't believe three years have gone by since he came into our lives.

Colin is sweet and playful He can be shy at first, but quickly warms up. He surprises us more and more with his growing willingness to try out new things, like this pony ride:


Colin loves to hear and tell stories. His stories can become quite imaginative and detailed, especially if prompted. We have on occasion had to correct misinformation provided in embellished stories he's told to his teachers.


Colin is also showing a lot of interest in reading. He knows all his letters and their sounds, and can recognize a few basic words. He's also got nearly the entire Frog and Toad series committed to memory. He's not quite there yet, but he's certainly trying to pretend to read!

One of Colin's favorite things to do is help prepare food in the kitchen with his dad. He's constantly offering help. In his pretend kitchens, he's been whipping up some dinosaur pie, lately.

 Of course, his favorite part of food prep is eating, and this boy loves his desserts. Here's Colin  enjoying his reward after an exhausting family photo shoot:

Mostly, Colin just loves hanging out with his best pal, Anna. He's also developing some friendships at school and in the neighborhood, and he seems to have developed his first crush on a 10 year old girl in our neighborhood :) But mostly, he wants to be with Anna, doing what she's doing:

We love our adventurous, silly, sensitive, rugged and loving little boy!

Click to see more pictures of what we've been up to!

Colin's 3rd Birthday

Anna turns 5!

What a wonderful five years we have had with Anna in our lives. She is a brave, inquisitive, kind little girl who brings her family joy!



We had a tame day and enjoyed spending time with one another.  Anna celebrated her birthday at the beginning of the summer with a joint birthday also honoring her friend from school, Sophie. With the formal celebration out of the way, we spent the day on the courtyard playing, as usual! Anna chose a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs and a pink ice cream cake. Her big gift was a big girl bed - a loft bed! Other favorites include American Girl paraphernalia, a bean bag chair, Legos, and of course - BOOKS! Here's Anna using the dunk tank she built using a kit she got from her grandparents:



We included some pictures from throughout the summer - everything EXCEPT Hawaii, which is covered in the last post. Highlights include:
the last day of school, with Anna's crew of faculty kids

• Anna's gymnastics themed birthday party with her pal Sophie
• the San Mateo County Fair, where Anna and Colin had a blast eating funnel cake and dancing with one another.
• Anna exercising her inner artist at the Cantor Arts Museum here on Stanford campus
• The family enjoying a San Jose Giants (minor league) baseball game 
• The kids playing on the Pacifica beach
• Fourth of July parade and fun in Menlo Park, including the kids' first experience with ice cream truck treats
• Strawberry picking in Pescadero
• Anna's ballet camp
• A trip to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, CA
• A trip to our old stomping grounds in Sacramento
• Colin's Mommy and Me trip to Happy Hollow
• Anna's Daddy and Me trip to the Exploratorium in San Francisco

What an amazing summer! Anna is thriving and so excited to go back to Sacred Heart for pre-Kindergarten.

Colin just got promoted to the next classroom at Madera Grove- he is now a "Sparrow" and doing so well! He tells wonderful stories and he and his sister get along so well.

Take a look at some pictures by clicking below:

Anna is 5!

Our 2014 Hawaii Trip

We had another wonderful visit to Hawaii this summer. This time we got to visit two islands. First, Oahu where Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop joined us at Ko Olina. Then, onto Kauai where Grandpa, Grandma Barb and Aunt Laura met us for fun at Poipu Beach. The kids had an amazing time - take a look at this video at the resort in Kauai:

 
Mom and Dad had our share of fun, too: we were lucky enough to celebrate our ten year anniversary with special dinners on both islands thanks to grandparents watching the kids. We also enjoyed an amazing hike along the southern coast of Kauai. Other highlights included a trip to the Dole Plantation, the traditional road trip to the shrimp trucks, and an absolutely incredible helicopter tour of Kauai.

Click on the picture below to see more!

Hawaii 2014

Anna at Dance Camp

Anna was thrilled to participate in a ballet camp  this week. Here are some videos:

Anna's last day of school videos

Some highlights of the show Anna's class put on for the last day of school.

Colin is 2 and a half!

Colin was thrilled to turn 2 and a half today. Like in all things, he wants to be just like Anna... and since she has "a half" attached to her age, he wants one too!

Colin is a happy, rambunctious yet sensitive little boy. He loves baseball, football, jumping off high places, singing, taking off his shoes, Curious George, dinosaurs, zooming cars, tractors, and messing up his sister's room. He is thriving at daycare and happy to tell us long stories about his teachers and friends. Every day he picks out his shoes based on his plans to play soccer with his friend Tate! He has recently become a little bit interested in his appearance. I recently bought him some clothes which I had him try on, and he marched over to the mirror after each change and did a pose.

Colin is in a fiercely loyal stage. It's not unusual for me to be talking to a neighbor or acquaintance and have Colin come running over to say, "That's MY mommy" and attach himself to my leg. But just a few short minutes later, he typically is willing to be chatty and friendly.

Colin's been doing great with his letters and will usually spell any word you point at in exchange for having a book read to him. His appetite for stories is seemingly insatiable. He has begun looking through books on his own, pretending to read (again, he wants to be just like his sister!) He's got a good memory, so often he will spout off a few memorized words from any given page, which is adorable.

Now that summer is here the whole family will get to spend more quality time together. We can't wait to see what Colin has in store for us!

Take a look at pictures from the last few months by clicking below. I'll also try to get some videos up soon!

Colin at 2 and a half

4.5 Years of Anna!

Today is Anna's half birthday, so she is officially 4 and a half (or "haf" as she wrote this morning, silent "l"s are hard!) She's still doing really well, enjoying her time at Sacred Heart, biking around the courtyard, and now starting tennis lessons. And, of course, enjoying our unseasonably warm winter (sorry, snow-bound east coast folks). Anna continues to be a great reader.  Lately, she's somewhat obsessive about it, and we often have to pry a book out of her hands at bedtime. Her current favorite is "Little House on the Prairie", although she has an assortment of Disney stories that she's reread numerous times too.

As she gets older, it's wonderful to watch Anna develop friendships with children of all ages in her classroom and neighborhood. Frustrated with the fact that the "older boys" in her classroom (that is, five year olds) won't play with girls, Anna has happily moved on to playing with the four year old boys in her class. She is now enjoying a weekly playdate with a female classmate very close to her  in age. In her neighborhood, Anna is able to enjoy the company of most anyone... from writing notes with the seven-year old, riding bikes with the five year and three-year old, and telling stories to the one-year old. Her favorite playmate is, of course, Colin. The two of them dance, sing, and lately wrestle playfully (usually!) They are so happy to see each other every morning, which is heartwarming.

Colin continues to thrive as a Bluebird at daycare. He's using more and more words every day, and we even get long stories from him about his day, or about his preferred sequence of events. He's definitely a two year old: he knows what he wants, he's not afraid to tell us, and he wants it now now now!

Lots of pictures of our winter adventures below!

Christmas 2013

December was a busy month! Grandpa and Grandma Barb visited, Brian had his birthday, everyone wrapped up their fall semesters/quarters, and we all flew back East for the holidays. Everyone did really well with the travel, and the kids got to have three Christmases (again).

Anna got to play Mary in the Christmas concert at school. Here's a snippet from the dress rehearsal:
More of Anna's school Christmas songs, including an Anna solo:
We had an early Christmas here in California before our travels back East. Here are the kids coming down for their first Christmas morning.
Anna and Colin opening their presents for each other:
And the obligatory signing snowmen video:
Colin got a rocket for Christmas. He likes it a lot!
Opening presents on Christmas morning at Mom-mom and Pop-pop's house:
Click below to see our December pictures:

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