"decorating"

dottie has taken an interest in "decorating" lately. not so sure this will be her calling but we will see...

Midwest visit 2011

We have been struggling getting pictures up recently because it takes so long to weed through all of the photos taken on any given trip or outing. These pictures were taken at the end of July/early August on our week long trip to the midwest, starting in Detroit, Michigan for Grandma Clara's 90th birthday celebration and ending in Milwaukee at Grandma Cam and Grandpa Bill's house. This trip was especially great because we got to see many people along the way...aunts, uncles, cousins, best friends, ... best of all, Aunt Stephanie and Eli were able to come out the same week we were there and we were also able to see the Linden's again for a day!! Chuck and I also got to sneak away for a day and left the kiddies in Muskego to venture to Madison. We checked out old haunting grounds, got to see some old friends who all happened to be meeting up that same weekend, and see Jeff and Danna who live there. It was a perfectly perfect visit and we can't wait to go back next year!

To see even more pictures of our trip, CLICK HERE.

Aunt MaryAnn, Grandma Clara, and Bill at the birthday luau


The fan getting in the sprit of the luau. I had to get this up just for the sake of wanting people to check out that shirt on Chuck... :-)


Esther


Dottie (cute truck skirt made by Grandma Cam and the red shoes were mine as a 3 year old)


Eli doing a little climbing


On the Amtrak from Detroit to Milwaukee (with a stop in Chicago)


Cousins! (Eli and Esther)


State fair


Cream puffs at the State Fair in Milwaukee


With the Lindens, Aunt Stephanie, and Eli at Chuck's parents house


On the Terrace in Madison


Chuck with Jeff and Danna in Madison

Hello Sweet Peas!

Dottie's first day at her new preschool, Sweet Peas!
She attended on Tuesday and Thursday of this week and so far she absolutely LOVES it! She came home the first day and said that she, "got to see a real live caterpillar!".

Saying goodbye to our friends & teachers at Kelly's

3 days a week for the past 2 years, Dottie has been attending school/daycare at a little place that is about 7 blocks away from our house called Kelly's Family Daycare. It has honestly been the best experience with daycare we could have ever asked for. Dottie has loved every minute of it since she started, not even once having tears we leave her. The teachers, Kelly, Dee, tara, Lindsey, and Tracey are all fantastic and provided lots of love and support for the kids and the space is perfect. They even have chickens in the backyard! Every day of the year, rain or shine, they get the kids out and go on an expedition. This might mean a walk to the park or a bus ride to the library. Upon leaving, they gave her a board book filled with pictures from the beginning and a heart filled letter about her growth. Chuck and I both got teary when we read it. She made so many friends (Boone, Maisie, Sam, Sydney, Nola, Lucy, Cooper, Claire, ...) and learned so much that we have had no worries about her starting at her new school, Sweet Peas, this past week.

Lucky for us, they take the kids to the park down the street from us fairly often so we have already run in to them twice!

A quirky tidbit from her time at Kelly's is that the teachers are mostly from other countries specifically South Africa, Ireland, and Australia, ... Dottie has been there for 2 years and I've been asked by many people what her accent is so funny enough, we think she might have picked something up from one of them!!!

A child has to be 18 months or older to attend at at KFD so perhaps sometime after March of next year, Esther will be following in her sisters footsteps...


These pictures are from her last day. Missing from the pictures is Tara who is one of her absolute favorites!
Dottie and Kelly


Dottie and Dee


Dottie and Lindsey


Dottie and Tracey




dottie and her buddy sam

the elmo scoot

dottie decided to put her elmo slippers on esther the other night

silly sisters

it's such a joy to watch dottie and esther get so silly together!
pretty funny that their laughs sound so similar too! People always think they are crying when they are really laughing. :-)

who knew?

a box could be so much fun!

a blue face and a pink eye

poor esther had pink eye this week but it didn't stop her from getting into mischief with a turquoise marker...

oh poor piggy

piggy has gone through a lot lately. several weeks ago he spent the night at lowe's and this week after missing for about 4 hours, i headed to safeway at about 11:00 pm and i found him on the pineapple slicer rack right by the bananas and kiwi.

new rule in the house: piggy only leaves for school and trips.

catching up...the petaluma county fair

about a month ago!
pretty sure the jeep picture is a little peep into the teenage years...

for more pictures, click HERE.
(cute dress on dottie made by grandma cam/ice cream sundae bubble on esther was mine as a baby)

target

(in detroit)

san francisco zoo

with kim, frannie, and jane and a chance meet up with boone!!!! i'm looking forward to when esther can run around with the kids too!

for more pictures, CLICK HERE

samesies

dottie showed up at school the other day and her friend sydney was dressed almost exactly the same as she was. they were just tickled over it and giggled like crazy when they looked at each other...

olallieberry picking

a few weeks ago we headed south of the city to go olallieberry picking. it was a little further south than planned but it well worth it we ended with a nice lunch (and a well deserved beer!) in half moon bay with kim and her family. the kids were very into picking berries and we went home with way more than we could handle. had i planned, i might have made a pie or jam like kevin, jim, and bruce. next time!

jane gets the award for the most olalliebierries consumed, and dottie for the least. dottie tried 1 and decided she didn't like them and never ate another one. esther enjoyed them too as you can see from the last picture in our house the next day.

to see more pictures from our berry picking, CLICK HERE



dottie, frannie, and kevin


jane before she was absolutely dripping in berry juice


dottie and esther

"dada"

i have been a little in to posting short videos lately because it's just amazing how many new things esther has been doing lately. 9 months truly is a wonderful age! chuck has been pretty excited lately because esther says "dada" when he walks into a room...
(i promise we won't post a new video for every new word she learns :-)

dot's first manicure

on the way home from school today i promised dottie we would pop into a nail salon to have her nails done (her first time getting them done at a salon). she was so excited and planned which colors she would select ahead of time. pink on one hand and green on the other. she was over the moon when we left the salon and kept on saying, "i am so happy, i am so happy, i am so happy..." over and over again. amazing what joy a $3 manicure could bring to a 3 1/2 year old girl!



and the finished product:

a scoot and a shimmy

maybe not as efficient as crawling but it does the trick...





anytime we put music on, esther does this cute little "shimmy"...

the linden family

lily (8) and andrew (almost 4), cabin camping, foils dinners, s'mores, 3 ticks (2 on chuck and 1 found on dottie's head), a VERY long hike to the beach, a skunk, santa cruz, huge donuts, big beers, face painting, a log flume ride, the monterey bay aquarium, hammerhead sharks, jellyfish, did i mention lily and andrew?.......................................................

this past week the linden family (dave, julie, lily, and andrew) came for a visit from rochester, minnesota via L.A.. the linden's are long long long time family friends of the mortimore's and "uncle dave" was the best man in our wedding. we honestly had the most fun and jam packed as much as we possibly could into 3 days. we decided to do a little "camping" (in cabins at costanoa) because chuck and dave grew up camping every labor day and memorial day. it worked out so perfectly and the kids had so much fun that dottie has been asking every day since they left if she will get to play with andrew and lily. we miss you linden's!!!!

to see even more photos click HERE