Daddy's Birthday

This Saturday is Lillian's Daddy's birthday. So today she helped her mommy make Daddy the brown cake he requested (brown cake is a reference to Lillian's Color's and Shapes cards). We used his grandma's chocolate cake recipe that he always enjoyed as a kid. We did have to make some substitutions. Since we keep neither Crisco nor Spry brand shortening on hand we had to settle for butter. In the frosting recipe since we were lacking the full pound of powdered sugar that the recipe called for, so some coco powder was substituted for a super chocolaty mocha frosting. Lillian was very excited to have another opportunity to sing and help blow out the candles and is eagerly awaiting Mommy's birthday in a few months.

Lillian's 3rd Birthday

Today we hosted Lillian's third annual birthday extravaganza. We had a ducky themed party as Lillian is a big fan of ducks and birds of all sorts. For a party game we used a baby pool to create a ducky pond and gave the kids nets to fish for duckies. The ducky fishing was great fun, but eventually the kids decided to start throwing dirt into the pool and then decided to dip their feet in the mucky water so we had to bring an end to it. Eric also made some ducky themed yellow cupcakes which were topped with blue frosting and yellow duckies (actually yellow Peeps, but Lillian didn't know the difference). Here are some pictures and video of the birthday girl in action.

Lillian's Ponytail

After we read the book Stephanie's Ponytail. Lillian wanted a ponytail of her own coming right out of the front hanging down just like Stephanie has in the book. The result was pretty cute!

Happy Easter!

Lillian poses for a few cute pictures in her pretty purple dress before the Easter Egg Hunt.

Bartagins

The title here is a bit of an inside joke. Lillian's cousins love a TV show called The Backyardigans about a group of characters who play in the backyard and often referred to it as Bartagins. Anyway, now that the winter rains are mostly over and spring has sprung here in California we have been spending a lot of time outside. Our new house has a great big backyard (by California standards anyway) which Lillian is at the perfect age to enjoy exploring.

Lillian has also been learning how to use new forms of transport. Over the winter she mastered riding the tricycle and now she is working on learning to use a scooter, we hope to try a balance bike next.

Of course proper safety is key with all of these new modes of transit, so we got Lillian a helmet. She was so excited about it she wore it all afternoon.

Lillian has also become quite the croquet buff as well. She likes setting up the course more than actually hitting the balls with the mallet.

Here she is hammering the stakes in for her own custom course.

Of course the most exciting form of transit is Nash riding. Nash didn't appreciate it very much, but he was a good sport as always.

Totally Entertained

What could all these kids be watching so intently? Construction equipment digging up the sidewalk near the park. Fascinating!

Thanks to Efsun for snapping this incredibly cute shot of the kids.

Hosting

Last night we hosted our first potluck for our friends. We were a bit less ambitious in cooking than our friend Efsun was at her last potluck but we still did alright. We managed to put together two salads (one of which was made of Miner's Lettuce growing wild under our oak tree), a big batch of Sangria and get the house into a presentable state for the party. Good times were had by all especially when Lisa brought out the frozen fruit Popsicle for the kids.

Babies on Ice

Last week I took Lillian ice skating. Our first outing was such a success that we decided to make it a regular activity until the outdoor rink closes for the season in a few weeks. This time we were delighted that Lillian's friends Ellie, Sophia and Jessie joined us in the skating fun.

Lillian really loves being on the ice. On our first trip she went from slip-sliding around, to kind-of-sort-of skating while holding onto both my hands, to skating while only holding one hand. This week she tried her hand at skating all by herself without holding on. We have some rather short videos of her skating all by herself.

Lillian all ready to go with her little tiny ice skates. Note the short selves, today it was in the 70's so the ice was a little mushy.

Lillian and Sophia take a break from skating.

Sophia and Jessie take to the ice.

Chandiler, Curtians and Ikea

We've been very much looking forward to resuming our weekend routine, (being lazy, going out for some fun baby-centric outings, walking to the farmer's market) but alas our work on the new house isn't quite done so we're trying to squeeze in a few chores to our typical routine.

This morning Eric got busy installing one of the last new lighting fixtures for our new home, a Tiffany style chandelier that hangs over the dining table. Eric has become quite the expert in home electrical so the chandelier went up in a flash.

After hanging the chandelier we took a little lunchtime trip to Ikea and we were surprised and delighted to find that they were offering amazingly inexpensive plates of Swedish meatballs today. Lillian also made her first trip into the småland playroom where she was able to climb and play with lots of other kids while we shopped for a few odds and ends we needed for the house.

Here are some pictures of our new chandelier and the beautiful new curtains that we finally got around to hanging up.

Lillian enjoying her evening snack of nuts and raisins under the warm glow of the new lighting fixture.

Kristen is very happy with her new light. And check out those curtains Elaine made!

Potluck

A few months ago our friend Lisa decided to start having monthly potlucks for all the families in our baby group. The potlucks are a fun way for the dads to get to know each other and to give the kids even more opportunities to play with their friends. This month is was our friend Efsun's turn to host. As usual Efsun provided us with lots of wonderful Turkish food and warm hospitality that puts us all to shame. Next month it's our turn to host and though we're not sure we can match up, we will try.

Thanks again to Lisa for taking pictures!

Yum, look at all that good food! Lillian wants some of that.

Eric helps himself to some too.

We managed to get almost all the kids lined up on the couch for a photo until Samuel (the only little boy in the bunch not counting baby Marc) decided to escape.

Birthdays!

Spring has come again, and these days that means it is birthday season. Lillian has been talking about birthdays since last summer when the previous wave of partying ran its course (with a brief interlude for Christmas in between). She's been waiting for parties and cake for quite a long time, and finally it is happening!

Ellie's birthday is one of the first in the bunch, this year Ellie had her birthday party at the "Little Gym". The party featured a program that incuded lots of running, bouncing and playing. The first activity involved the kids lining up to slam themselves into a giant cake shaped mat while the other kids chanted "slam that cake". Lillian was so excited at the prospect of slamming the cake that she kept trying to cut in line. She also had a great time using the gymnastics equipment.

Thanks to Lisa and her snazzy new camera we actually have some images from the big event.

Lillian patiently waiting for instruction.

Lillian and Jessie on the uneven bars, those two have been pretty inseparable lately.

When Lillian saw this picture on the computer she said "That was Ellie's party, I was pretty there!". Yes, yes she was.

Lillian's daddy helps her out on the balance beam while Jessie cheers her on.

Home Sweet Home

It's been a while since we've done much posting on the blog. As you have probably heard we've been in the process of renovating our new house prior to moving in. The big day was Wednesday, February 10 and as of now we're finally moved into our new house! So hopefully we will be able to resume our routine of baby activities and blogging now.

We've put together an album of before and after pictures to show what we have done with the place over the past few months. We've made a lot of changes to the unexciting things like heating, electrical and roofing. They keep the house warm, lit and dry but don't show off well in pictures unfortunately. We did make some cosmetic changes that you may notice however, especially in the kitchen.

Lillian seems to be handling the transition well. When she is ready to go home, she specifies she wants to go to the new house. She really seems to enjoy her new room and her backyard.

Baby in a Box

It's been a busy month around here, we are doing some renovations on our new house in preparation for our move in a little less than two weeks. This has left us little time to do anything else like go on fun baby centric outings and take cute pictures. We are almost done with the renovation and are looking forward to getting settled in to our new home. In preparation Lillian packed herself and her baby doll into a box. Is this girl ready to move or what?

Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year from Arizona.

Christmas Spactacular

This week Lillian's daycare staged a "Winter Program" a festive hour of singing, dancing and general toddler cuteness. Lillian had a grad time singing and dancing to songs in both English and Russian. The program also featured appearance by Santa Claus, poor Lillian was shocked when Santa entered and refused to sit on his lap but did muster up the bravery to retrieve her present from his bag of gifts.

Christmas Stuff

This year Lillian is finally old enough to get Christmas, so she's really been getting into the spirit. She's watched both Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Coming to Town, so she's officially an expert on all things Christmas. There have also been lots of activities to get into the spirit. As usual we went to the Mountain View city tree-lighting ceremony (though the pictures didn't turn out this year). She also got her very own, tiny Christmas tree, which will double as a rosemary bush for our new house.

At daycare, she made a reindeer hat, which later ended up living on the tree.

And just tonight we went to a gingerbread house-making party, which Lillian helped decorate between eating the building materials and playing with her friends. Eric is particularly proud of the lamppost.

Family Photos

While in Portland our sister-in-law Deb had the forethought to take some family photos while we were all together, here is a sampling of the photos she snapped.

Lillian's first time in the snow

Living on the coast of California means that most winters come and go without any snow. Seeing snow involves going somewhere else, like up into the mountains or to another part of the country. Seeing as Eric and I both hate to drive and Lillian doesn't enjoy riding in the car, we have been reluctant to make the 3 hour drive to the mountains to see snow. So when visiting uncle Joe in Portland we decided to take a little drive up Mount Hood to give Lillian a chance to play in the snow for the first time ever. She didn't like the drive much, but once we arrived she was very excited to play in the snow. She and cousin Raquel did some sledding, although after a few slides Lillian was a little frightened of the big fast hill and decided she would rather wander around in the deep snow and build a snow man. After the snowy fun, we stopped by a brew pub so the kids could warm up by the fire and the adults could enjoy some tasty Portland micro-brew.

Lillian walking around in the deeps snow.

Raquel sledding.

Unlce Joe crashed out at the bottom of the hill.

Lillian and the snow man.

Raquel and Lillian, snugling by the fire.