Siena's birthday party

On the day of our holiday party just before Christmas, Sophia and Thalia went to celebrate Siena's 4th birthday at her house. Here are two photos taken by Toscana's mom - photos of Sophia with Toscana.

Camera Trick

This isn't really a trick but this pair of photos is fun because it shows Thalia and I taking a photo of each other!

On Christmas day we opened gifts in the morning. Sheila, Mike and Harley came over. Mari was here for awhile, too. And my Mom and Dad. Lots of gifts to open! Then we cooked a big champagne brunch and dinner and in between we played at Codornices Park.

Last night we had dinner at Mike's sister, Jeanette's house in San Ramon. Sheila left yesterday and Mom left this morning. Dad left on Monday. Hanukah candles on most of the nights of Hanukah and we went to a children's service at Northbrae Community Church on Christmas Eve.

Tonight Vic and Kate came over for dinner. This caps off our holiday celebration. Its been a full holiday season for us!

Tall Sophia

Hanukah

Christmas Eve

Nana and Papa are in town today for a few days. We are having a nice time just relaxing, doing art projects, reading books, taking walks, cooking, preparing for Christmas tomorrow! We are making home-made ice cream. Tomorrow Sheila and Mike come over to help us open gifts and cook some more.

Music at our holiday party

Our holiday party

We must have had about 50 people at our holiday party, many of them kids. At one point some of the kids, Ronan, Jasper, Leila, Sophia were sitting in the living room playing instruments together. Making music! Here is a photo:

Big weekend

This weekend we had Sophia's ballet recital (the nutcracker), and a holiday party at Mike and Shelly's house. Then on Sunday a birthday party at Siena's house and then Sheila arrived! right before our own holiday party. Here are a few photos. More to come, soon I hope, but not tonight.

Will there be drums in her future?

Thalia spotted the drums on the stage at the Blue Bear party last weekend and made it clear she wanted to play on them. She had a lot of fun, too. Who knows? Maybe we will have to get her a drumbset!

On another note, Sophia keeps asking for a violin. Again tonight she asked Santa, who was at the Ducks Nest party, for a violin. She doesn't know that she will be getting one! Almost every day she asks me to tell Daddy that she wants a violin.

"Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens" this is a song they both love to sing right now. I taught it to them. They are good! I will try to get Steve to record them singing this song.

Eight parties in eight days...I'm about 2/3 the way through and fighting a cold. I'd better go to sleep now!

More from Randall's Event

I especially like this photo of their wedding.

More

Photos from Randall's Service this past weekend

There was a wonderful collage of photos from Randall's life on display at Randall's service this past weekend. I took a few photos of these photos with my iphone.

Sheila with Santa (years and years and years ago!)

I remember when Sheila used to look like this!

Jasper

Jasper is Sophia's new friend from Ducks Nest. They are like two peas in a pod. And lately whenever I drop Sophia off in the morning he comes running up to give her a big hug. I've heard him tell the teachers "Sophia's here!"

Ellie

I love this girl. I can't believe Rosie was pregnant with her when I moved to Berkeley. She is the same age as Thalia. We tried to have a photoshoot at the carousel in Tilden Park today but it was closed until 5:30. We made do. I love this photo....

Santa with the girls

Santa

This year the girls were very cooperative sitting on Santa's lap. In this photo Santa is asking Thalia what she wants for Christmas. Her response: "a present."

Some candy after the party

I dressed the girls up today so that I could have their photo taken with Santa. On our way home from seeing Santa we stopped by our friends house for a holiday open house. Both girls got a small bag of chocolates for party favors and I let them sit on a pretty pile of golden leaves so that I might have another photo opp. I like this photo a lot. What a day - earlier this morning we had another holiday party at Roxana's and then a playdate at home with Jasper from preschool. I hope to post more photos soon.

More at the fountain

Grace Cathedral

Our Day in Nob Hill

Today was such a wonderful way to officially start off the holiday season. We drove in to San Francisco to meet Zachary at the Fairmont Hotel, to see the giant gingerbread house and Christmas tree in the lobby. Fortunately it wasn't very crowded yet. The kids wrote letters to Santa and put them in a special mailbox in the lobby. Photos soon.

It was such a beautiful day that we decided to take a walk. Our first stop was the playground across from the Grace Cathedral, then across the street to the Grace Cathedral where they ran around the maze, and finally to the Nob Hill Cafe where we stopped for a refreshment.

Here are a few photos from the day. Sophia and Zach have known each other since they were six months old. They act like old friends and it is always so nice to see him. Thalia loved to play with him today, too.

A sidenote about Thalia: sweet Thalia told me again today that she will throw me in to the fire and cook me for lunch. She says this with conviction.

First Photo from the Fairmont

Much more to come! We spent this morning in Nob Hill with Zachary - at the Fairmont to see the giant gingerbread house and a few other things.

We are off to see a play with Ronan this afternoon.

Sophia's worm

Happy Thanksgiving. I have some photos to upload from yesterday's dinner. But this will have to wait until later this weekend. Today I had two photo shoots and tomorrow I have two more. I'm tired! But this photo of Sophia was taken after my second photoshoot, which took place on the Cal campus. Steve and the girls waited for me at Cafe Strada and when I met up with them Sophia greeted me with her new pet worm. I love this photo because it shows her girly side (her love of pink) and her tomboy side: face dirty, hair messy, worm in her hand.

In the Studio

"I am the Queen of Daddy's studio"

Can you guess who said this today? Sophia of course. Both girls had their first recording session today. First, Sophia recorded some songs while Thalia napped and then it was Thalia's turn. Photos to be uploaded soon. CD will be released on December 25th....

Steve says Sophia was a pro, she would sing what he asked her to sing, except for the ABC song. She didn't want to sing the ABC song. And they she'd want to hear it again.

Thalia was shy at first and took some coaxing to get her to sing and then she gave it a try and really liked it.

Autumn Leaves

Autumn Leaves

We just went outside to collect some autumn leaves for a class project (and for an art project at home). We have some beautiful fall foliage right now. While we were collecting leaves, Sophia searched for snails and she was thrilled to find one - apparently she loves snails. I didn't let her bring it home as a pet although I did let her bring a lady bug home.

Claire Bear

Yesterday I did a photoshoot with Claire, one of Zola's friends. (Zola is Thalia's friend from preschool).

Today's Photoshoot with Alex

Proud Thalia

This is Thalia's proud look, taken just now. I see this look a lot!

Feeding the Ducks

Sophia loved feeding the ducks, especially the mallards because she is in the mallard class at school. We had a little picnic at the Palace of Fine Arts and then fed the birds. This time we didn't see any swans or turtles.

Thalia at the Palace of Fine Arts

It was so nice to be back at the Palace of Fine Arts yesterday. I miss being able to just walk down the street and feed those ducks!

Thalia's Eye

Poor Thalia has had a black eye since Sunday. It hasn't bothered her a bit fortunately. This photo was taken at Fort Mason yesterday while we were in San Francisco.

A day at the Palace of Fine Arts

My New Logo!

Cafe with the Girls

I love these two photos of the girls at the cafe. This expression on Sophia's face I see all the time. It means she is doing something she knows she is not supposed to be doing. And this is Thalia's favorite expression.