Happy 2nd Birthday Esther!

(for some reason the format of blogger is running everything together so sorry about that!) This past Monday, Esther turned 2 years old!! People keep on saying to us how fast time flies but honestly until recently, we no idea just how true this was. She has almost completely turned into a toddler with very little baby left in her :-(. Esther has become the most funny yet really feisty little girl ever . Honestly, even if someone is around her for 5 minutes, their first take on her is that she is "so young for such a big sense of humor" and "wow, she is really feisty isn't she?". She is also incredibly social and has a hard time leaving pretty much any party or social gathering. Most importantly, she loves and looks up to her big sister so so so very much. It will be just lovely to watch their relationship develop over the years. Esther was fortunate to be joined by her Grandma Cam and Grandpa Bill for her big day this year after they spent a week with the 2 girls while Chuck and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in the Turks and Caicos. The most amazing week followed by a great return to 2 very well taken care of children. We didn't worry for even a second while we were away and we are so grateful for it! I took Esther to the doctor for her 2 year check up and here are the details: weight: 23 lbs (10th percentile) height: 33" (25th percentile) head: 49 1/2 (90th percentile) *go figure!

efficient shopping

(taken in a grocery store on our recent trip to wyoming. more pictures to come soon!)

6 california kids

and their beans, rice, and cheese burritos! a staple in our lives

dottie

some recent pictures of our rapidly growing (not so) little girl

Esther does the Cha Cha Slide

Who know she would be so good at line dancing? Esther at 21 months old on a recent trip to Vail, CO

father's day weekend!!

for a good start to father's day weekend, dottie brought home yummy chocolate moustache cookies from school yesterday. we couldn't wait until sunday to open them!!

cuteness

big girls and little girls

a few sundays ago, dottie, sladie, and frannie (the big sisters), headed down to the giants game with their daddies. meanwhile, esther, jane, and vivi (the little sisters) got to chill with their moms in the mission enjoying yet another gorgeous day strolling through the street on "sunday streets". we ended up at a park where we ate burritos and the girls stripped down to their diapers to enjoy the water.

a gaggle of girls and their popsicles

on a gorgeous friday afternoon a couple of weeks ago. very fun to see esther getting to the age where she is a part of the gang of older kiddies. from left to right: vivi, esther, audrey, frannie, jane, sladie, dottie

Bear Wants More

Last week Sweet Peas had their spring performance which was the kids acting out the book, "Bear Wants More". Dottie as a little timid about being a part of it about 4 weeks ago and declared that she "actually wanted to just watch" but not long after that she jumped in wholeheartedly and was so totally excited about it. We read the book MANY times and by the day before the bid day, she was reading it to Esther because she has it so memorized. She had a countdown going the week of the play and would wake up every morning and say, "The performance is in 2 days..." As we were walking to my car the morning of the big event, Dottie exclaimed, "I am so excited Mama!!! The day is finally here!". The play was all of 5 minutes but Chuck and I couldn't have been more proud. Dottie was a bunny with her buddies Lulu and Sasha and excitedly waved to us when she saw us in the audience. Esther was also very eager to watch her big sister on stage and clapped excitedly at the end. Check out Dottie's big debut as a cute little bunny... Dottie and her buddy Audrey...

A much needed makeover

This past week, our house got a much needed makeover with a new paint job. We said goodbye to the yellow that was on the house when we purchased it and hello to the tannish grey (and added the red door just for a pop of color!). Dottie and Esther have been enjoying posing in front of the newly painted door...

sunday streets in the mission

During the summer in San Francisco there is a monthly event called "Sunday Streets" where the city closes off all auto traffic on a select area of streets in a select neighborhood and opens the streets for just pedestrians and bikes, scooters, skateboards, etc. Fortunately the Mission has been chosen for at least 3 of the monthly events this summer which gives us the perfect opportunity to enjoy it because it is so close to us. As I mentioned previously, the weather has been stunning this year which makes it even super easy for us to get to! We walked down with Mie, Ella, and Erna and met up with Kim, Jon, Frannie and Jane and after walking around for several hours, couldn't resist ending the day with yummy ice cream cones!

cinco de mayo

We have been in San Francisco for almost 12 years now and this year is one of about 3 that I can remember having such consistent gorgeous weather. We have had little to no rain (sadly this means little to no snow in Tahoe) and warm enough weather to wear short sleeves regularly...an odd thing in SF. Yesterday we enjoyed a perfect cinco de mayo with a very fun water balloon fight and margarita's & fresh guacamole on the back deck. The day ended with the "super moon".

hey pebbles, where's bam bam?

When I got home from the studio today, esther came out to great me with this little "do" that blanca had given her.

monkey bars!

Dottie has officially mastered the monkey bars!

tulip sweatshirt 2 years, 8 months apart

i dug up a photo of dottie wearing the same sweatshirt as esther has on today.

Dottie at 17 months (sadly she wasn't smiling in the picture I found)



Esther at 18 months

Easter 2012

We had a very fun easter weekend this year!
Egg dying Saturday night with Wyatt and Malcolm (and of course Penny and Jason too!) and then a very fun easter brunch with them and their extended families at Park Chalet which was topped off by also getting to see Frannie, Jane, Kim and Jon who were brunching with their family there as well. I would say that Dottie got more excited about Easter this year than any other holiday so far. For the past 2 weeks or so, she has been asking about how much longer she has to wait until Easter. She was also very sweet to leave the easy to find eggs for her younger sister and hold our for the tougher ones which ultimately left her with less eggs... We weren't sure how into Easter Esther, at 18 months, would be but she had fantastic time dying eggs with the big kids and then was so excited when she spotted an egg during 1 of 2 easter egg hunts she went on.

To see more pictures of our Easter, click HERE.

dottie hits the slopes

from our trip up to tahoe with Grandma and Grandpa Mortimore

check out the little unprompted pose at the end... :-)

off to the mountain with G & G Mortimore

Last week Chuck's parents came out for their annual trip to the mountains to get a little skiing/snowboarding in. We spent some time in SF and drove up to Tahoe for 3 nights. We had an absolutely lovely time with them and even ended up getting a little snow in Tahoe (that melted within hours falling).

To see more pictures from their visit, click HERE.

Highlights of their visit...

Grandpa Bill took swim class with Esther


Who could drive up to Tahoe and not stop at In-n-Out burger (no buns for Grandma and Grandpa!)



hitting the slopes with Grandpa


A post bath snuggle


and making delicious cookies with Grandma

Target

A quick trip to Target last week was made much more pleasant because of this super duper cart that kept the kiddies strapped in... Last time we went, Esther was all over the place and wanted nothing to do with the normal cart!

puddle jumping

the rain has finally come to san francisco and the girls have been having a ton of fun with it

bolinas

Chuck and I have been in San Francisco for almost 12 years and I am pretty sure this is the most gorgeous winter we have had. This past weekend we ventured up Highway 1 to Bolinas with the Svane's for some lunch and playtime on the beach. The weather was so perfect that the girls, including Esther (who LOVED it all!), actually got in and stayed in the water looking for shells. It was a perfect early March day.

to see the picture set from Bolinas, CLICK HERE.

Esther doing a funny little pose on 1 knee...