bathing beauties

lately on friday mornings, dottie and i get together with kim and her girls, frannie and jane. last friday the weather was so gorgeous that we made plans to go to the beach. kim beat us there and decided that the beautiful sunny weather we were having in our neighborhood hadn't quite made it to the beach yet. plans changed and we met up at a local park in the mission, dolores park. the girls had so much fun running around, picnicking, eating popsicles, sunbathing, and just being silly that many tears were shed upon leaving. at the very end of the visit, we met some people who let the girls try on some cool "capeshirts" (they were clean...these people were looking for 4 year old models to shoot pictures for their website). i ended up buying dottie a red and orange one and she honestly didn't want to take it off for about 2 days. (it was also fun to see BB, frannie and jane's grandma who is friends with my parents in sewickley!)

the countdown is on...

next tuesday we find out the gender of baby #2! we can hardly wait... i honestly find it hard to imagine the baby being anything other than a girl because we already have one but it is most certainly possible that it's a boy. as of tonight, i think it's a girl and chuck thinks a boy.

what do you think?
(vote in the sidebar to the right)

skate betty

this weekend is ian and pooja's wedding so we have a bunch of friends visiting from out of town. they have been doing a bit of touring of some of the local skate parks and dottie and i decided to join them at one that is near our house. dottie was very excited to watch them skateboard. when they rode by, she would say, "hi daddy" or "hi luke" and of course was a touch worried when they fell. chuck started off not wearing his helmet and dottie made sure that changed. if she has to wear a helmet, so does he, right? she was bummed out to learn that she has to be a bit older to go in the skate park.

dottie, chuck, brian, and luke...

it's nice to take a break

this past saturday, in honor of both of our birthdays, chuck and i headed up to calistoga for a night of relaxation while our dear friend allie stayed with dottie. we have both been away on several trips without dottie since she was born but this was the first time we both went without her (not including our night downtown last year to get a full night's sleep when i had mono). it was dreamy. of course we missed her but we certainly enjoyed a leisurely dinner, swimming at 11:00 pm, and waking up late the next morning. dottie had so much fun with allie that i don't think she even noticed we were gone. she kept on saying, "slumber party with allie!" excitedly even hours after she had gone home.

thank you allie!

helmet head

dottie was so excited about her new helmet that she wore it pretty much all weekend (not including sleep).

4 wheelin'

thank goodness the child who brought this awesome electric 4 wheeler to the park today was happy to share with dottie and tai. made for a VERY fun morning for both of them!

dinner party

this past saturday our friends anne and evan invited us for dinner along with kim and jon and of course all of the kiddies. our three girls slade, frances, and dottie all get along really nicely so it was fun to watch them run around in dress up clothes giggling together hysterically (as you can see from the little video clip!). we popped on a little tube for them when it was time for the adults to eat and it worked like a charm (see second picture!). even 6 month old jane was tuned in for a bit and we got to enjoy a lovely dinner!

perfectly sunny

last week we had gorgeous weather in sf! we were happy to meet up with frannie and kim for a playdate at the park, lunch, and the best part of the day....ICE CREAM (mint chip of course)!

dottie and isa

a lovely evening at tray, jeff, and isa's last week for dinner at their gorgeous new house in fort mason. dottie and isa had a fabulous time playing together running around calling each other's names, twirling in their tutu's, and we got to meet sweet baby luella (dave and adele's daughter). so happy to also be able to hang out with essie again.

easter!

easter morning, i woke up and could hear dottie saying excitedly in her crib, "easter bunny! easter bunny!" over and over in several different tones. i actually hadn't realized that she had grasped the concept as well as she did. i pulled her out of her crib and we crept up the stairs together only to see her easter basket with a life sized dora the explorer balloon attached to her basket. i think she just about fell over she was so excited (she has a serious love of dora that we don't know the origins of)! she proceeded to check out her loot (her slinky was a favorite!) and hunt for easter eggs squealing with excitement every time she found one. she walked around with a basket, 2 purses, a backpack, and a makeshift cape while doing so, collecting the eggs in all of her bags.

i don't think i have mentioned before that dottie is a bit of a squirrel with candy and sweet treats. she loves them so much that she actually saves things until later in her pocket or some kind of container, saying, "save for later". this is not something she learned from her sweet tooth mother who gobbles up sweets as soon as she gets them! this is what she did with the few pieces of easter candy she got this year. she tasted one m & m while gathering her eggs and then slowly ate one here and there throughout the day. she still has a bag full of easter eggs with little bits of candy that she hasn't touched.

after all of the fun at home, we heading out to park chalet to have easter brunch with the ricci's/godbolds/jones. it was pouring rain so we were happy to be inside delicious food and 4 really well behaved kiddies (floyd, wyatt, malcolm, and dottie). we were happy to be included in such a nice brunch! pictures were a bit spotty from the brunch. wishing i had a few more to post...

*the picture of erin and dottie was taken a couple of days before easter. dottie was having fun helping erin decorate her cute easter tree.

*chuck was in tahoe for a bachelor party snowboarding thing which is why he isn't mentioned in the easter posts. we were happy to have him back sunday evening!)

the festa's

my best friend, jenn, from my childhood when i lived in england now lives in san francisco and we reconnected on facebook about a year and a half ago (to see funny pictures of us when were little, click HERE). this past weekend her parents were visiting from atlanta so we were invited over for cheese and beverages. so fun for them to meet dottie and to catch up! i spent many summers with them until i was 18 years old so we had some fun memories to laugh about...

essie!!!!!

our friend essie is visiting from south africa right now to see friends and family and take a letterpress class in san francisco and we are SO excited!!!! we haven't seen her in 5 whole years! we were lucky enough to spend a good amount of time with her last week because dottie was on spring break from school and dottie has been missing her ever since. we had fun running all over town with her and dottie even got to come along to see her try wedding dresses on at marina morrison. every time she came out in a new dress, dottie would exclaim, "i like that one!". this morning at breakfast she said, "where's essie?". lucky for her we are going to see her at dinner tomorrow night!

happy birthday daddy!

we helped chuck celebrate his 36th birthday last wednesday by going downtown to meet him for lunch at the ferry building and then dinner at our house. dottie LOVES singing happy birthday and giving birthday hugs so she was in all of her glory when she was able to share the glory with her dad a bit by singing to chuck and helping him blow out the candles.

lunch with pals

dottie and i had a super fun lunch last week at basak's house with her 2 kiddies, lula and adele, and our friend anne and her 2 kiddies, sam and william...

dottie, lula, and sam