Catching up with Frank Gore

Emma as Belle

Emma loved wearing her friend Evie's

Belle dress recently at a birthday party and getting her arms
 painted with pretty roses.
Tonight she looked at me and said, "I love you, Mom." She is so much fun these days, and helped me feed Lily dinner tonight as well as clean up her sister's puddle of tinkle when Lulu speed-crawled away after I changed her poopy diaper. I feel so lucky to have these two.

Sweet friends

Kaela and her Dad, Ryan, wound up joining Josh and the girls at the Kids Fest.

Concord Kids Fest

Josh took the girls to the Concord Kids Fest today while I was working. Emma was very excited to see Sponge Bob, even though she isn't allowed to watch his show. :-)

Scooby Em

Emma had so much fun wearing Declan's Scooby Do costume she is considering borrowing it for Halloween this year. Quote of the day en route to the zoo: "I wanna be a mommy and write about baseball." :-)

Retro girl

Emma is loving wearing my old dress (the brand tag inside is Cinderella so that helps!). It's a size 6 but she doesn't care. And the mix-and-match shoes are part of her regular look these days, along with the baby with blue marker on her face because she is sick.

Cull Canyon with Kaela

Maleficent ... a success!

Who knew Maleficent was SOOOO hard to find at Disneyland? Good eye by Mary and we finally found her in a huge Disney store outside in Downtown Disney (nobody could quite believe a 3-year-old wanted a VILLAIN!). Emma's first question when I got there to pick her up: "Where's Maleficent?" She then went crazy when I handed her over and said, "Where's her raven?!" WHEW!

Beach exploration

Moments after Mary voiced her wish to see "signs of life" we discovered a great spot with open mussel shells (we think, anyway) and little hermit crabs. FUN! The green algae felt good on our hot feet.

Art day for all

It was too hot for the park this afternoon, so we went indoors to the Oakland Museum of Children's Art to do lots of fun projects. It's a great deal for this area - $8 for unlimited projects and only Emma had to pay (not Lily or me). I think we might wind up regulars.

On the water for work (kind of)

What fun to ride along with Cal and U.S. crew coach Mike Teti last week on the Oakland Estuary as he prepared the U.S. eight-man boat for the final qualifying regatta this weekend in Switzerland, a winner-take-all, 2,000-meter race for the last Olympic berth to London.

Preschool pajama day

Emma and Kaela also wore matching sandals (and they LOVE these princess nightgowns we found on sale at GAP Outlet last weekend - can't go wrong, really). :-) Declan wasn't sure what to think.

New spring 'do

Special plate

Emma sent me to work at the Tigers-A's game today with this pretty plate she wanted me to have "so you can feel nice and happy and have a good day at work and do things at work."

Special girls

I'm so thankful for these two girls (and Josh, too, of course, as he had dinner ready when I got home of chicken breast, greek salad, grilled veggies, hummus and tzatziki yogurt sauce with whole wheat pita - delicious!)

Quick visit from the Brew Crew

Good friends

"Say Hey" Lily's 1st birthday

We're so thankful to have sweet, smiley Lily in our lives. And she really did change Mom's plans a year ago when she was headed to the ballpark in San Francisco for the game and Willie Mays' 80th birthday festivities. (Mom delivered in her work clothes Lily was so eager to join the world!).

Lounging poolside