Happy Be-lated Birthday Uncle Leo

Leo happened to be away during his birthday (Jan. 25th) so we celebrated today!
The weather was so perfect (after all the rain we've been getting!) - so they played outside for awhile.  When Leo bought his new house, the previous owners left this playground structure --awesome!

The boy in the background is Zach.  He is the 8 year old son of Leo's good friend Jackie, who was visiting at the same time.  He also brought his daughter Zoe.

I went to the store with Ethan to buy Leo's birthday cake and came home to see M&M doing this:

Comfy aren't they?!

Matt made a delicious dinner -- baked chicken (Matthew helped to season it apparently - he announced that he liked the garlic smell but did not like the thyme), Yorkshire pudding (OMG, it was the best thing I've ever had! Matthew ate one whole serving by himself!  If you look in the photo it's pretty dang big!), mashed potatoes (Morgan's favorite - she can live on that stuff!  During dinner, she stabbed at a chunk and said out loud, "somebody did NOT mash this all the way!"  She said it in the most annoyed tone with all the added attitude.  Luckily, Matt and Leo thought it was funny!  I was mortified! To her defense, I believe she said it thinking Matthew was to blame - even though Matt did most of the mashing once they became bored of helping!), and of course, carrots and broccoli (all 3 children's favorite).  

Morgan got busy with making a card for Leo:

When the cake was ready, Ethan ran into the living room and said to Leo, "Uncle Leo, birthday time!"

"Cheese!"

After having his cake, Matthew went to the bathroom to wash his face.  He asked if Matt could go and wait by the bathroom.  So, Matt did... and Ethan decided to join him.  While standing there, Matt measured Ethan and marked his height with his right hand.  Once Matthew came out, Matt measured him with his left hand.  Well, Morgan wanted to do the same!  Matt did not have any hands left, so he used his foot to measure Ethan's height, his left hand to measure Matthew's height, and his right hand to measure Morgan's height.  Pretty talented, huh?!

Thanks for a great visit!

She will be so angry in high school!

because I posted this photo today...

She had spent more than half of the day with Matthew, Ethan, Kiran, and Nikash at Marailee's house.  While Vince, Srikanth, Matt, Leo, and I spent the afternoon moving our furniture into mom's house. I guess she played hard while we moved.  At the end of the evening, after dinner, I walked away to do something.  The Sripatis were getting ready to leave... and this is how we found Morgan -- passed out!  Marailee and I had a good laugh -- she looks so sweet and yet so silly! Marailee quickly grabbed her phone and took a photo.  I couldn't find my camera... but I eventually did!  Anyway, she was playing some game where she had that scarf thing (which mom made) in her pants as a tail.  She was wearing that green vest Karen had bought her -- as a dress of all things!  She thinks it's the best dress up outfit in the world!
Gotta love it!
Have a great weekend everyone!

Happy New Year!

We have been back from Atlanta since January 4, 2010... and where have I been?!

Well, let's do a year in review... and that should get us all caught up to today!
Get ready for a very heavy picture post!

January:

They played with the sandbox that Linda and Rob gave them for Christmas the month before!

Matthew finally began to show interest in writing -- on his own!

We watched our first African -American President get inaugurated!

February:

The children played with their new "rides"....

They sat quietly and observed nature with Aunt Clare at Vasona Lake Park...

Our first annual snow trip to Dorrington with the Varnell Family was AWESOME!

It's funny how they all wanted to taste the snow!

March:
The boys were finally getting used to Morgan being away at school and started to play together better!

Morgan enjoyed reading to them before and after school -- remember -- she is in kindergarten here!

Although it was fun playing as brothers -- they missed their big sister and LOVED playing with her every chance they got!

Being home with me brought out the domestic side in Matthew!

We can't forget our first lobster dinner at Matt and Leo's!

Then Jim and Clare finally returned from their trip to Germany forgive my mistake -- they were in Brazil!-- it was a long month without them!

By the end of March the children and I were busy gardening and beautifying our backyard.

April:
Matthew began his first soccer class.  While Ethan "watched" from the sideline...

Matthew also started his karate class!

We took a memorable trip to Southern California where we:
spent the afternoon with Anita,

then after watching Bao and Gina exchange their wedding vows,

we headed to Disneyland where Morgan met her favorite princess -- Ariel!

and Matthew met his favorite "car."

It was a great trip!

May:
Thanks to Amanda, we discovered the Oakland Zoo -- where we are now frequent visitors!

The children enjoyed the Academy of Sciences -- thanks to Uncle Tony and Aunt Christine!

Vince gave me the best gift of all for Mother's Day -- pictures of our beautiful children!

Morgan performed a few songs and a cute dance with her class at her school's Open House.

June:
The Daisy Girl Scouts ended the year with a wonderful mother/daughter tea at their leader's home.

They found some cardboard boxes one day... and built an apartment complex in the backyard!

They made their own pizzas for the first time!

Then Morgan graduated from Kindergarten!

9 years... it's been wonderful!

With the beginning of summer came some fun and new activities:
piano lessons with Aunt Clare,

gardening with Uncle Jim,

swim lessons,

and enjoying  the slip and slide!

July:
Summer involved A LOT of swimming,

attending concerts (Andy Z's to be exact!),

meeting an amazing musician and dear friend of Jim and Clare's -- Margaret Bradford,

and Vince experimenting with his camera

August -- August will NEVER, EVER be a boring month!
Morgan began the Home Depot projects,

These 3 amazing children turned 2,4, and 6!  (that's Kiran in the background! ;)

We enjoyed 2 weeks with the Yeh family driving from San  Jose through Oregon and Washington and then back home right before school started for Morgan!

In Washington, she lost her FIRST tooth!!!
Before -- on July 29 it was just wiggly:

After -- on August 10 it finally came out!

Morgan started first grade!!!!

September:

Matthew handled his first real live fish while visiting Half Moon Bay -- with promises from Vince of a return trip to go crabbing!

Vince made it to our traditional waffle breakfast with Jim and Clare!

Matthew began his first day of Preschool at Almaden Community Center's Kindertot!

We attended our 5th year of the Discovery Meadow Pumpkin Patch!

Morgan and I attended our 2nd year of Princess on Ice.

Morgan loved being Glenda the Good Witch at school.

The Gang went trick or treating again for the 6th year!

November:
The children and I spent the afternoon paddling at Stow Lake in San Francisco -- it was so much fun!

We picked persimmons at Uncle Jim's backyard -- we love persimmon season!

We celebrated Clare's birthday!

Morgan lost her 2nd tooth!

We played at Natural Bridges (and saw some butterflies!)!

We spent Thanksgiving day relaxing at Matt and Leo's new home!  YUMMYYY!

December:
December came and went very quickly!!!!
Matthew's 1st session of Preschool ended with a holiday performance.

We had another yummy dinner with the Yeh family.

We began to pack up our house...

We helped to deck out the Schoenfelder's house!

Then the children and I hopped on  the airplane to Georgia!!!

Where they met Santa,

had an amazing time with their cousins,

and met up with old friends!

January 2010:
Today.... we are doing well!  We rang in the new year in California with Jim, Clare, Corinna, Annemarie, Hans, Yoris, Liz, and their 3 beautiful girls!  It was a wonderful gathering!

Our house is currently on the market... anyone interested in buying it?!

So, here's to a new year AND welcome to our new blog!  
We hope you will all continue to follow us and see what we have been up to!