target and a pool

as mentioned in a previous post, it has been a pretty miserably cold summer this year in san francisco. this week we got a 2 day snippet of what it's like to be VERY hot. it's funny, we complain about it being too cold and then when it gets hot, we can't handle it. it was in the upper 90's (broke records for august in sf) and of course now we are back to the upper 50's. we took advantage of the heat and dottie and her friend tai did a little hanging out in the pool. on our quest for a plastic kiddie pool, we hit target as well and i couldn't resist posting a picture of the kiddies in the shopping cart.

goggles!

hope you enjoy this fun new kids video that my brother directed. dottie absolutely loves it! i am pretty sure we have watched it about 30 times already.
look for cameo's of dottie's aunt julie, tom tom, sadie grey, ellis, and even kiki and grandpa...

hula hooping

at the bay area discovery museum

in search of the sun...

it has been so grey and chilly in sf this summer (the worst since we moved out here 10 years ago. i know, hard to imagine when the rest of the country has been seeing such extreme temp's) that this past weekend we went in search of the sun. we headed to fairyland in oakland and thankfully by mid-day, the sun came out to stay! penny, jason, wyatt, and malcolm met us over there and the kids had a ball riding the rides and running around on the playgrounds together while we all enjoyed the day. the only downer of the day was standing in line for the train only to get near the front of the line only to hear that the train was down for repairs. lots of sad kids for sure! she was so tired out by the visit that she zonked out about 5 minutes into the ride back to the city. we will certainly be back to fairyland!

flair for fashion?

dottie plays dress up and we aren't so sure where she gets her unique fashion sense...

violet

this past week we FINALLY got a chance to get together with brigitta and violet! i know brigitta because her husband, matt, used to be the computer tech for paper source in chicago and they moved out here several years ago and he now works for google. we got together several years ago before we had kids and had a great time with them so it was fun to catch up and meet each others kiddies. violet is cute as can be at just under 9 months and it was pretty darn sweet watching dottie around her. she brought out all of the toys she considers to be "baby" toys (a soft ball, her baby dolls in their bed, a little teething toy...) and placed them by violet when they first arrived.

they are in the process of possibly moving back to chicago right now so hopefully we'll get a chance to see them again before they leave!

green

in potrero hill on a sunday afternoon

ice cream

at chuck's company picnic in golden gate park last friday, dottie just HAD to get an ice cream cone painted on her face. our only regret was that we didn't suggest mint chip to penney the clown. dottie would have been in absolute heaven! they also had a jumpy castle which was almost as good as the face painting clown...

we can do this!

last week marie, siena, rocco came over for a mid-week lunch. we had some sandwiches at the park and then the girls had a fun running around being silly together and (mostly) taking turns with the babydoll stroller at the park. the tire swing also got very big smiles!

siena was an excellent big sister role model for dottie and honestly, marie makes it look like a breeze having 2 kiddies. thank you for the inspiration marie!!

oh my goodness, and how cute is rocco in this first picture?

kiki, "gampa", and aunt marsha come for a visit!

a few weeks ago, we were lucky enough to have kiki & gampa (my parents) and aunt marsha (my dad's sister) came for a visit! we had such a ball that dottie is still talking about it. for the first part of their trip, dottie and i headed up to mendocino with them. i can't say that riding in the back seat with a carseat/toddler and another adult for 3 1/2 hours on winding roads was the most pleasant experience but it was definitely worth the drive. seriously gorgeous. chuck and i had been several years ago before dottie so it was nice to visit again. unfortunately the weather was a bit grey and chilly the whole time they were here but we made the best of it! many books were read, hide and go seek was played, we went on walks, they visited museums, dinners, chalk drawings with kiki, candy shops were visited, ....... the last full day they were here, i had to work at the renegade craft fair all day and chuck went golfing with my dad so dottie had some serious kiki and aunt marsha time and she loved it! she is already looking forward to their next visit which is looking to be sooner than later seeing that the due date for baby girl #2 is quickly approaching. Only 48 days left!!!

to view more photos, click HERE

scoot scooting

dottie on her "scoot scoot" (as she calls it). she has been taking tips from chuck...

SKATE OR D(ott)IE!

dottie did a little skateboarding with her daddy today and loved it!
(at the end it's hard to hear but as she's running she says, "i wanna do it again!")

these girls LOVE ice cream!

if dottie could have ice cream (mint chip of course!) every day she would be the happiest girl in the world!


frannie and dottie

a work in progress

we have been doing some work on potty training as of late though dottie has figured out that spending time on the toilet sometimes means reading books and it has turned into more storytime and less potty as of late. we'll see what the coming weeks bring... she of course can't resist the "ice ceam" underwear!
(she is going to hate us for this picture/post many years down the road)

school buddies

we are a bit sad that some of dottie's little buddies will be leaving her little daycare to move on to preschool in the next month. dottie has a late birthday so we have decided to keep her where she is until at least january or possibly next fall. two of the little girls who will be most missed are her buddies nola and lucy. when i showed up to pick her up today, she was in the backyard doing ring-around-the-rosie with them giddy with laughter as they all fell down. here are a couple of pictures of them after school today. luckily, dottie's buddy sam has just started there this week!

school picnic

the school/daycare dottie goes to had a potluck picnic this weekend that was a total hit with the kids and the adults. it was held at the park down the street from our house and was attended by past, present, and future families of kelly's family daycare. the most exciting part of the party for the kids was for sure the petting zoo they had come complete with alpaca, tortoise, piglet, ducks, bunnies, etc. dottie was a little apprehensive of some of the animals at first but by the end was brushing and petting many of them.

dottie and some buddies tormenting the turtle...


because every turtle needs some grass on their shell


brushing the piggy with sam and anne

kids

dottie and some buddies at a local park



(dottie, sam, carter, and frannie)

a glimpse of the wee one

we got a 3D/4D ultrasound of baby girl #2 today at 29 weeks and 4 days gestation! dottie was excited to join and talked about the baby she saw on the big screen afterwards. she is very excited about the idea of helping rock her, feed her, and even sharing her toys with her. we will see how she feels in 10 weeks... to see some more shots from today, click HERE. (she is estimated to be around 3 pounds right now to give you an idea of her size)

you can see dottie's ultrasound shots from 26 weeks gestation HERE. any resemblance?

the park

san francisco sunday streets

last sunday was gorgeous and we headed down to the mission to check out SAN FRANCISCO'S SUNDAY STREETS which is an event in san francisco where streets are closed to all cars and the bikes and pedestrians take over. the neighborhoods where this event takes place varies but we have been lucky that it has taken place in the mission near us the last 2 times.

dottie opted for her scooter (instead of her stroller) and was excited to run into her friend nola from school who was riding her big wheel. they ran around getting silly together and then we all headed home for a very late nap.

friends

dottie started sleeping with one "friend", her "old piggy", many moons ago, and the number has gone slowly gone up. i think i have mentioned before that she is a collector and this shows just how true that is. she almost does a roll call before going to bed and makes us retrieve any missing items before happily going to bed.

currently she goes to bed with the following friends in her bed:
3 pigggies (2 "new piggies' and the top ranking friend of the group, "old piggy")
2 monkeys
1 owl named "hoots'
"big pig" the large stuffed animal
penguino the penguin puppet
tacky the penguin (a new addition from her grandma in milwaukee)
puppy (another new addition from grandma and grandpa)
3 little plastic figures of: dora, buzz lightyear, woody, and a finger monster who all usually sleep inside of penguino the puppet
and 3 blankets

it's hard to believe there is still room for her but she still sleeps soundly and for about 12 hour a night and 2-3 hours during the day. i am thinking we don't want to rock the boat by saying goodbye to any friends...

just plain sweet

this afternoon after i picked dottie up from school, we came home and decided to read a book on the couch. before we got settled to read the book, dottie patted my pregnant belly very sweetly and said, "i love you baby" and then proceeded to flip through the pages of her book. i am thinking that she is going to like being a big sister...

turkey not chicken!

last week we got together with basak and her girls, lula and adele, for what might be a last playdate before they move to turkey. we had a lovely stroll, ate a wonderful turkish lunch at a local restaurant, ate cupcakes for dessert, and then let the girls have fun on the walk home.

i explained to dottie that lula was moving to another country called "turkey" and the we might not see her for a long time. dottie got a touch confused by the idea that turkey wasn't something that you eat and the whole way home she kept on saying that lula was moving to "turkey and not chicken". silly girl!

milwaukee!!!

we headed to milwaukee last weekend to see dottie's grandma cam and grandpa bill. the trip started as a doozy with a red-eye that got us in at 6:00 in morning. i actually think it was harder on me than it was on dottie. she slept the first 3 hours and was awake for the last hour with her pig on her head not saying a word. the visit was very fun and filled with many ice cream/custard cones, a pontoon boat ride down the milwaukee river, a visit to the milwaukee zoo, cute new sundresses, swimming and paddle boating on lake brittany behind chuck's parents house, a toy story movie night, a visit with our friends the opat's, playtime with jack and chloe (their wiener dogs), fun with ellen (a dear family friend), mosquitos galore, MANY, MANY, many, books, and of course lots of hugs and kisses from grandparents! dottie was in heaven and was very sad to leave. too see even more pictures of our trip, click HERE.

rocco!

last wednesday before we left on a red-eye for milwaukee, dottie and i drove over to el cerrito to finally meet nick and marie's new baby boy, sweet rocco. though dottie was very sad that siena was at school during our visit, she was pretty excited to play with all of siena's very cool toys. she also got to hold rocco which she talked about for the rest of the day after the visit. he is absolutely adorable and we can't wait to see him again!