reading in a box

because everybody needs a spot to relax and read up on counting...
she honestly sat there reading that book and several others throughout the day in her box the other day.

lula's turns 2!

this past weekend we had an action packed weekend that included one very fun birthday party in celebration of dottie's friend lula turning 2! it took place at recess which was pretty much heaven for all of the kids and on top of that, dottie's favorite, ENZO, played. she was honestly in all her glory! she saw him that morning and then had a repeat performance later in the day. lula looked absolutey adorable in a little tutu and played the part of a party girl by having a ton of fun with all of the kids and blowing out for candles.

ladies who lunch

after the photos, we met up with frannie and kim and went on a lunch date at a local spot near us called toast. going into lunch with 2 children around the age of 2 could honestly go either way and this lunch was as smooth as it could have gotten. honestly, dottie and frannie chatted as if we weren't there about things like blueberries, trot old joe, sunglasses, juice......and kim and i were able to enjoy at least a little normal adult conversation. they followed lunch up with a major case of the giggles walking back to the car trying to (and maybe succeeding a little bit) pick some yellow flowers. the pictures, pigtails and all, sum it up quite nicely!

school photos

dottie's "school" (daycare) had a photographer come this week to do individual photos and a group photos. dottie and i popped by for the group photo on wednesday because it was not her normal day to be there. i must say it was pretty hilarious watching them try to get all of the kids lines up and ready to shoot. i actually don't think they got one shot where everyone was in the picture but they tried. here are some pictures i took during the photo shoot. the photographers pictures will be posted on monday and i will surely share them. as you can see from the pictures, dottie didn't really know how to take the whole thing. she just stood or sat in the same place and went with it...

silliness

a little glimpse into the silliness with dottie, malcolm, and wyatt this past weekend...

tahoe

this past weekend, we were more than happy to join our friends penny, jason, wyatt (3), and malcolm (1 1/2) up in tahoe for a night. the kids got wild and crazy with each other running around with fireman and cowboy hats. we also went down to donner lake from their house and did some stone throwing into the water. amazingly enough none of the kids ended up wandering in the lake. dottie was so pooped from all of the playing that she literally slept the whole way home.

aida and zayneb

this morning we were thrilled to be able to get together with anna, aida, and zayneb. anna is my business partner and at the moment we have pretty opposite schedules so our girls haven't seen each other in forever. aida and zayneb were off from school today because of veteran's day so we seized the moment and decided to do some major playing at golden gate park today. the girls had a great time and dottie ran around behind them saying, "aida" and "zayneb" as well as she could while trying to keep up. it was vary hard to get them to leave for lunch because they were having so much fun!

fairyland

this past sunday we were inspired by friends to over to oakland to check out fairyland. the little amusement park was built in 1950 which pre-dates disneyland and disneyworld (which is very obvious in a lot of areas). all of the rides and sights were perfect for a nearly 2 year old and dottie literally squealed with joy about almost everything we did! i am pretty sure her favorite part of the day from the train ride on the jolly trolly with a close second to actually getting to go in the 3 little pigs house before is got blown down. she could have stayed for hours. she also rode the little ferris wheel all by herself which we were very proud of her for. every time it came around she waved at us and didn't want to get off at the end. the visit to fairlyland ended with a very special treat. dottie got a little red cowgirl hat which she loves almost as much as her red fire hat (aka "chief")!

to see even more pictures, you can click HERE to check out the whole album. the colors at were totally amazing which you can kind of see in the photos.

girls

dottie, frannie, and lula equals a ton of giggling and cuteness!

foxy & winston

our friend janey has just opened a shop in brooklyn featuring her line of cards and gifts called foxy and winston. in honor of her new shop and opening party this evening, dottie decided to bust out her foxy and winston guinea pig t-shirt today (okay, maybe it was me). we hope she had a successful opening party and we can't wait to visit the shop. you can check out her adorable things online HERE.

kids music party!

pictures from a little "kids music party" we checked out this past sunday. it was very crowded but the kids all actually really enjoyed it and they all got to try out instruments which was a total hit. dottie's favorite was the accordion!

dottie tries her hand at the accordion


dottie and lula hanging out afterwards


space was VERY tight!

trick or treat

last evening, we attended a halloween party and then headed down to the main street of bernal heights for trick or treating followed by some yummy butternut squash soup at sonia and erin's. dottie honestly enjoyed every minute of the night and even kept her hat on for a good portion of it. she loved saying "trick or treat" when she went up to collect candy but i think the night was topped when we let her have her first lollipop! here are some more pictures. for a few more, click HERE...

trick or treating at liberty cafe...


a shot of the fam...


pumpkin, monkey, and book. all of the necessary things she needs to go trick or treating.


close up of the little dutch girl...


sharing treats with frannie...