Christmas Tree

This is our first Christmas that we will be spending at home in over 5 years. We have always gone to our families houses, so we have not had our own tree. This year we are excited to spend the holiday at home and start some of our own traditions. Tonight we started by putting up the tree. We got a free tree from our good friends in Maine, so we decided not to go with a real tree. We figured with kids and now a cat it might be easier to maintain and keep upright. We got out all of our ornaments that we've been collecting over the years. The kids had a great time decorating the tree. Then Finn had fun undecorating the tree. It was a great way to start off the holiday season. 

ornament from our honeymoon

Emersyn's 1st Christmas

Off to the Airport

This morning it was time to take everyone to the airport. We decided to head into San Francisco and take a scenic drive along the water. We stopped for a view of the golden gate bridge and then headed to the beach. It was a chilly morning so we decided to take a short walk next to the breakwall. Then it was off to the airport. We were sad to say goodbye to Grammi, Grandpa Mike & Uncle Matt, especially not knowing when we will see everyone again. Mackenzie was most sad that she would not have anyone to ride next to her in the van on the way home. The kids had a great week of "new story masters", piggy back rides and using Grandpa Mike as a trampoline.

Grammi & Mackenzie at Ocean Beach

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a house full of people this week. Everyone was here to have some family time and meet the newest Malcolm, but today was all about the turkey. We spent the morning in our jammies watching the parade and football, while Jim watched over the bird. Grammi made Swedish onions, Grandpa Mike peeled potatoes, Anne made stuffing and  Matthew made broccoli casserole.  Finally it was time for the feast! With so many people in the house there was no way to have a formal dinner, so there were paper plates and tray tables. I think the boys were in heaven, turkey and football. It doesn't get much better. It was a great family holiday.

Emersyn's 1st Thanksgiving

paper turkeys

Carving the bird

Emersyn and Grandpa Mike

Doctors visit

Today Grammi and I headed to the pediatrician. Finn had his 2 year appointment and Emersyn had her 2 month appointment. Finn weighed in at 28lbs and is 34 inches or 2ft 10 inches tall. He is in the 25% for his weight and the 50th % for his height. Emersyn weighed in at 12lbs 8oz and 23 inches long. She is in the 95% for weight and the 90% for height.

Wine Country

Grammi, Grandpa Mike and Uncle Matt are out visiting for the week. Today we decided to take a girls & Matt trip to Sonoma to experience some "fruit forward". Our first stop was B.R. Cohn for a little olive oil tasting. Then we headed to Imagery and Ravenswood. Mackenzie was a little disappointed that there was no chocolate or food tasting but she had fun hanging out with the family.

Mackenzie & "Ant" Anne

Mackenzie & Uncle Matt

2 months old

Emersyn turned two months old today. She is full of smiles and starting to show her personality. She loves to sleep in her swing or her chair, but her favorite place is in someone's arm while rocking in the glider. With two crazy siblings she doesn't get a lot of floor time, so tonight after Kenzie and Finn went to bed we pulled out the baby Einstein mat and let her play.

Sitting at the table

Finn has decided that now that he is 2 years old he is two big for his highchair. He will only sit up to the big table, but he is a wild man and won't sit still so today we came up with a compromise. He sits strapped into a booster at the big table. My little man is growing up fast!

Playdate

This afternoon we had a playdate with Logan and Lindsey. Logan and Kenzie were in a playgroup together as infants and we've been happy to get together with them since we moved back. Today they had a good time playing in the sand which they were pretending was "hot lava".

Pretty in Red

Today I wanted to work on using natural light in photography. Emersyn was a willing subject and happy to smile for me while I put her into different poses. She even gave me a few giggles.

Heat Wave

We have been having some unseasonably warm weather. Today the temperature was 80 degrees. Emersyn does not have a warm weather wardrobe for 3 to 6 months so today I went through some of Kenzie's old infant clothes and pulled out one of my favorites outfits. We decided to spend the afternoon at the park. Kenzie and Finn had fun playing in the sand while Emersyn worked on some tummy time on a blanket. She is getting very strong and can hold her head up for longer periods of time. She is now 8 weeks old. The time is passing too quickly.

Birthday Celebration

Finnegan is two years old. He has energy like no one else I've ever met. He runs everywhere he goes with his hands and arms pumping the air. He loves fire trucks and motorcycles. When he hears one, even if its far away he tells me "motor cackle" "fie tuck". He knows signs for all different animals, his favorite one to do is the elephant and he makes a great sound effect like a trumpet when he does it. He has taken to calling his big sister "bird". He does not like to get his hands dirty so he eats everything, even popsicles with a fork. He is a great little helper, when we go shopping he takes everything out of cart and puts it on the belt for me. He is a crazy little man and we love him so.  

Tonight we celebrated the "big 2" with homemade pizza and cupcakes. After dinner Finnegan opened his presents. Finn unwraps his presents by pulling each piece of paper off and then running to the  garbage can to dispose of it. Its very cute, but takes a while to open gifts. So we moved the garbage can into the living room for him to speed up the process. Finnegan got a ride on buzz light year toy from us, legos from Grammi and Grandpa Mike and a football and wet wipes from Anne & Levi.

Oakland Zoo

We recently got a family membership to the Oakland Zoo, so we decided to spend Finnegan's birthday checking it out. Its a smaller zoo, which is nice for our kids. They were able to walk the entire thing. Finnegan ran most of it! Mackenzie got to pet a snake but Finn was reluctant to get near it. He was very excited to see the elephants, they are one of his favorite animals. We ended our day with the skyline ride and the train ride. The kids were asleep before we got on the highway.

Birthday Playdate

Today we had a birthday party with some of our playgroup friends. The theme was Toy Story which Finn picked out. "Buzz" is one of his favorite characters. The kids that came were Kyle, Logan, Zaira and Calitea. At the party we let the kids decorate cupcakes and then everyone played in the back yard. Finn wasn't really into decorating the cupcakes. I think his favorite part of the day was running from room to room with his balloons. For presents he got a leap pad tag junior, a new truck and a toy owl.

Kenzie and Kyle decorating the cupcakes

Kenzie couldn't make it to dinner

All Smiles

Emersyn has started showing us some really great smiles. She has certain people that she'll smile for easier than others. Her two favorite people are Daddy and Aunt Anne. Tonight she worked the camera and gave us some fabulous smiles. Isn't she cute!

Turtles with Mr. C.

Mackenzie has Mr C. from Marin Treks natural history museum come to her school once a month. He brings different animals for the kids to learn about. I was excited to find out that he also offers classes for preschoolers twice a month at his museum. This morning I dropped Mackenzie off for a session on turtles. She had a great time and was excited to show me all of the tanks and tell me everything there is to know about turtles.

Fall Foliage

Today Finn and I took a walk to enjoy some fall foliage. Finn had a great time running up and down the street checking out the different leaves. He was very into wearing his sunglasses and would not take them off for photos, but he did stand still so that I could take a couple pictures.

Matching outfits

Emersyn is now wearing 3 to 6 months clothing. I bought a few matching outfits for the girls and this morning Mackenzie was excited to put them on. Its so much fun having two little girls to dress up.