No picture, Mama!
Papa is behind me getting her to smile :)
Tattoos all over and ready for the water!
When the little pool is full, these girls just can't keep themselves out of the water!
Happy 8th Anniversary!
We went out to a winery on the old base (on the island), but didn't even drink any wine! Ha! We just ate the yummy food they sell there and enjoyed the view of the San Francisco skyline while the girls ran around in the big open concrete area. That night Zach and I went out to dinner at a nice restaurant in Alameda, while Mike and Maura watched the girls. They watched them for our last anniversary, but since then, only once for a quick meeting about Juniper starting Kindergarten, so it was a really nice treat for Zach and I to go out to dinner alone.
She had so much fun cutting out shapes and things and then I told her she had to pick up all the little pieces. That didn't sound like nearly so much fun!
Sidewalk chalk paint with Grandma at her house! Hooray!
Getting ready for a tea party! We love tea parties!
Trying to get a picture for Grandma of them in their dresses, but neither one of them are having it. :/ Stinkers.
I wish I had gotten a picture of her with her little quilt over the top, but she would make her own turtle shell like this so she could have time to herself.... that was way more fun than just going to her room. She would do it often while I was cooking dinner so she could still be near me. Sweet girl.
The morning we got our hair cut
The afternoon we got our hair cut :) I saved our ponytails to donate, but I still need to mail them in. One day.
My birthday. We were out all day and then Genevieve fell asleep in the car on the way home. She didn't even wake up when Zach carried her in, which is VERY unusual for either of her girls. I can't even remember a handful of times it has happened. I really wanted a family picture on my birthday, so we just pretended we were all asleep. I love this memory.
We had our friends over for a BBQ and they brought with more fun sidewalk chalk paint!! Billy played with the girls and the adults just enjoyed the beautiful afternoon!
Laurel came over again later in the week to bring donuts for my birthday. Juni took the opportunity to hold baby Kiera all on her own. If you can't tell, she is over the moon.
Juni loves her horses and ponies and Genevieve does too, but she also love dinosaurs, so, they all play together!!
I think I need to work more iron-rich foods into our diet, because this girl goes gaga over giant bowls of broccoli! She loves it! So thankful for her willingness to eat the foods that are so good for her body.
Our planter boxes have been falling apart, so we've been collecting any free pots we can to put in that space. Although the dirt has lost all the nutrients it once had, Juni wanted it to be her "chore" to move the dirt to the new pots. I explained it all to her, showed her the bags of potting soil. She still wanted to go ahead. I said go for it! They both had so much fun digging in the dirt this day. The novelty of dirt in an expensive Bay Area neighborhood.
Beautiful girl.
Beautiful girl. :)
I found this little motorized ATV for $10 on the Alameda parent swap page. The girls have been having so much fun with it. Nevi is still learning to steer ;)
June is SO happy her cucumber seeds and zucchini seeds from Grandma are doing so well!
As a sort of right of passage, I took Juni to Japantown in San Francisco to have afternoon tea a week before she started Kindergarten. She gets SO excited when she can wear matching outfits with her sister, so I surprised her, and wore a matching outfit to her this day. She was over the moon. It was such a special time with her.
Papa took Genevieve to go get some sushi and look around Japantown while Juni and I had tea.
Juni's perspective :)
Our seeds and plants are doing so well this year!
End-of-summer-fun-tie-dye!!
A couple more tea time pictures (from my phone)
The last week of summer I tried to take them to a new park each day. They were loving this little airplane!
Juniper was so thankful for all the special things we were doing she told me she was declaring this day Mother's Day :) and she snuck the card with a bracelet inside into my work bag. I may have cried... the whole way to work. :)
One day we went and built a big sand castle compound at the beach. I think they were more excited when they got to stomp it out.
...out of order... still cute as can be!! ;)
Nevi and Papa enjoying Japantown!
First day of Kindergarten! In her "lawn chair" as she calls it (when she scoots the two together)
Juni went to the PTA ice cream social on Friday night and met this little girl Bella who asked to play with her. And then they found out they would be in the same class. We also went to a K picnic on Saturday, where she got to play with Bella again. She was so excited to see Bella again this morning and to already have a friend! ....and Bella was wearing a sparkley unicorn shirt and had a unicorn lunch box, just like Juniper!
Getting ready for opening ceremony to start. Juni's school does this each morning on the yard, to build community with the whole school, grades K-5, and the parents back behind, then they enter their classrooms 10 minutes after.
In Juni's right hand is Aundrea, a girl she met at the picnic on Saturday, in her left hand is Bella, her friend since Friday. No fear. I had told her I would tell her goodbye at the door after opening ceremony, but she was marching right in with her friends and not looking back! For my own self, I had to sneak through the crowd and plant a kiss on her head before she was gone through the door! :)
at pick-up, by the back door of her classroom
Welcome to CA with outside doors on the front and back of classroom. The kindergarteners exit out the back door of their classroom, separate from the rest of the school.
She was happy and excited from the moment we woke her and was still that way when we picked her up. So thankful to have this smooth transition for her and so thankful for the activities the PTA and K teaches planned ahead of time to facilitate that. It made a world of difference for my girl!
