happy birthday daddy!

dottie seriously can't wait for you to come home so you can open your present. she has been lugging it around everywhere today! i am thinking she might want to help you open it...

like father, like daughter

having grown up in wisconsin, i would say that chuck pretty much loves and appreciates anything with cheese. dottie is following right in his footsteps. here are some pictures of her thoroughly enjoying a grilled cheese. yum! she even took a moment on a step to really sit down and enjoy it.

dot and dad

a few pics of dottie and the best dad ever from this past weekend in honor of his birthday today!

daredevil

at the village at northstar in tahoe, they have this thing set up with bungee cords and trampolines that allows one to jump really high and do flips and such. the sign said 20 lbs. to 210 lbs. so we thought we'd see if dottie might be into it. she was a little apprehensive at first but by the end she was laughing with glee waving at our friend brian and me on the sidelines. she did not attempt any flips...

well turn it up

on our trip east last week, i got the hot pink headphones on the plane to watch a little tube. dottie has been very into putting the headphones on and walking around our house this past week so we decided to bring them to tahoe with us for amusement. chuck had the brilliant idea of actually plugging them in to music this morning so dottie could see how they really worked. she walked around smiling with the headphones on while holding on to the ipod and even did a little dance for us to the music (the curious george soundtrack). very cute!

not this year dottie...

we are up in tahoe this weekend celebrating chuck's birthday and getting a little r & r. dottie is very interested in chuck's goggles (looks confused, eh?)... she'll have to wait until next year to hit the slopes! until then, she is happy to help her daddy bring some margarita's back to mommy at northstar village.

more NYC...

as i wrote before, we just returned from NYC. we had an amazing time and got to meet our new nephew eli! unfortunately dottie will have to wait to meet him until next time because he is still in the NICU and kids (and their germs) are not able to go in. she can't wait to show him the ropes very, very soon! luckily, chuck and i were able to spend some quality time with him and dottie's auntie steph (chuck's sister) and uncle paul. little eli is just as sweet as can be and is gaining weight like crazy so we are thinking he will be able to go home soon.

we were also so excited to spend some time with dottie's uncle tom tom (my brother), aunt julie, ellis (5), and sadie grey (2 1/2). her cousins couldn't have been cuter with her. last time she saw them in november, she was crawling around and was really still much more of an infant. this time, she was running around after them and laughing up a storm.

we were a bit concerned about the long flights before we left but thankfully, dottie's latest obsession is planes! before takeoff and upon landing, she peered out the window making plane noises. she was mesmerized. hopefully she will be equally as captivated or more on the next flights!

to see more pictures of our trip to new york, click HERE.
(dottie looks like a bit of a bruiser in some of these shots because she fell a few too many times and got some scrapes! she is back to normal now)
thank you for such a lovely visit uncles, aunts, and cousins! we love you...

first pic: chuck, aunt stephanie, and eli
second pic: sadie grey, uncle tom tom, ellis, and dottie at a bookstore in brooklyn
third pic: dottie and her planes...

new york...

we just got back from a trip to new york to visit cousins and aunties and uncles. we have a ton of photos and i am just weeding through them. until then...

signed, sealed, delivered

dottie helped me get several packages together to send out this morning. it was a hoot for us to watch her trying to carry this box around. we hope you like what's inside sarah & kate!

dottie as a prop

today we took photos of our house for one of our favorite blogs, design sponge. dottie decided to make an appearance in some of the photos by cruising in on her scooter.

waiting for daddy...

dottie and milo waiting for chuck to come home from work last evening...

flowers

dottie is still very into flowers. right before this picture was taken, she gave her little friend liam (in the background) one of her flowers. it was a very sweet moment. we're hoping she continues to be such a gentle child!

sippy cups

dottie and lula enjoying swinging together the other day. each one insisted on drinking from the others' sippy cup! (i don't know why, but for some reason, lula has been a little cut off in this picture. asking chuck to help with getting her back!)

seeing double

lately dottie has been loving up her stuffed corgi (courtesy of auntie stephanie and uncle paul for her birthday). she taunts milo with it, she takes it on walks in her stroller and makes sure to put the ball in right next to it, she gives it hugs, and kisses, ....

a day at the zoo

today it was nice and sunny so we decided to go to the san francisco zoo (no, dottie didn't get attacked by any tigers). last time we went, dottie was about 5 months old and wasn't quite old enough to enjoy it like she did today. she loved seeing all of the animals. as per usual, her favorites were the birds. she rode a carousel for the first time and waved with glee at allie and me every time she and chuck rounded the corner into our site. when saw the lions and tigers, chuck tried to teach her to roar like a lion. she spent the whole drive home trying to figure it out and did not really succeed. her attempt sounds like she is clearing her throat. hmmm. she has mastered woofing like a dog and mooing like a cow but i guess it might take a little more time for the roar! to see more pictures from our day at the zoo, click here.

a flower (and toothpaste)

every day, chuck, dottie, milo and i take a morning walk and an evening walk up the hill to the coffee shop. on our morning walk several days ago, we stopped for a moment to point out some flowers on a bush we passed. on the way back down the hill, we pulled one of the flowers off of the bush (one that looked like it was on it's last legs) and gave it to dottie, assuming she would tear the petals off or stuff it in her mouth. instead, she held on to it and held it like a prize. grinning as we strolled her down the block. we got home and she walked around taunting milo with it and then putting it down gently in a little cubby. how funny is it that she knew to be so gentle with such a fragile thing? here are some pictures of dottie with her flower (and a tube of toothpaste that she came across in my target bag)...

party girl

we attended our friend sam's first birthday party today. the first picture is of dottie getting ready to go in the door with a daffodil for sam. unfortunately, after practicing a couple of times, she got fed up and threw the flower down on the ground. so much for courting! anyway, sam just got this great little wagon/pushtoy for his birthday and he was all about pushing his friends around in it. dottie was lucky enough to get a lift...
(p.s. thank you for the darling dress marie, siena, and nick!)

at last, the bernal slides

it has been a long time coming! as i have written before, dottie is obsessed with slides. about 3 blocks up from us is a little public park that has stairs that connect 2 streets and there are also 2 very long slides. dottie was lucky enough to go down the slides with chuck today (3 times!) and she absolutely loved it! as many of you know, these slides have been one of milo's favorite things to go down on our walks. it will be fun to watch them race down them together when dottie gets a little older....

friday afternoon at the park

just some cute pictures of dottie at the park with her pals on friday afternoon...

a new obsession

dottie is SERIOUSLY obsessed with milo's ball thrower as of late. today she spent at least 45 minutes running around after the ball and milo with it. she got frustrated because she couldn't get the ball in the ball thrower so i would help her and alas, she would get frustrated that she couldn't toss the ball to milo with it. then she got frustrated when milo had the ball because she wanted it and so on..... fun (and very cute) times!

isa comes over for a visit

our friends tray and isa stopped by for a long overdue playdate. as funny as it is, we swapped first birthday gifts for our girls and their birthdays were in december and january! it was great fun to get the girls together and it was wild to see how much they have grown. the picture of them looking out the window/doors is of them looking out at milo. it was very cute! the last picture in this group is from when the were both only months old and then some pictures from today.