Catching up

Lily and Elsa have been very busy entertaining all their guests, going on adventures and learning new tricks.
--they have started waving bye-bye. very cute! They will both wave at the cat and sometimes at people.
--They have started swimming lessons at the Berkeley warm pool. Lily is like a little fish in the water. She splashes like crazy. Elsa screams bloody murder for the first minute. Then she relaxes and has fun, too. We play games like motorboat and dancing. They also are learning how to blow bubbles.
--Elsa has figured out how to clap. Patty-cake is hilarious.
--They love to read books and like to flip the pages.
--They are both amazingly verbal. And they've started talking to each other. Every morning they babble away at each other. They hardly ever wake up crying anymore. We just hear giggles and cooing coming from their room. Its the best! They also like to make each other laugh by making raspberries. Thbbbbt!

Now for the pictures


Here's Elsa and her mom up on the Skyline trail in Tilden Park.


Elsa lounging in the backyard reading her book. (notice her trademark concentrating tongue and monkey toes).


Lily has been working on her teeth like crazy. Her top two are clearly poking through. Her third bottom is almost all the way in and the fourth is almost here. That makes 6 teeth. She has been an excellent sport.


Lily and Elsa ride in the double cart at Costco.


This weekend my best friend Olivia and her husband John came to visit. Here's John entertaining the troops.


And Olivia holding Elsa.


Lily giving her trademark grin (does it look familiar?) on top of dad's shoulders.


Like mother like daughters, the girls are starting on Mexican at an early age. The girls each had a plate of rice and beans at Juan's place this weekend. Big hit! They also love tortilla's. Here's Elsa getting a bite.


And Lily looking for more. Notice that we now sit in the high chairs at restaurants. My girls are growing up.


We also took the girls to the Pride celebrations in the City. Lily's trying to take the yellow balloons.


Another cute picture of my girls in the City. Lily with a big grin. They also had their first BART ride. They were angels all day.


And finally, a picture of Aunt Mary and Uncle Mark who joined us for dinner on Sunday. Sara was here, too. They had all been adventuring up at Shasta. As you can see, Lily was a bit overtired from her big day.

9 month photoshoot.

Lily and Elsa at 9 months, wearing special outfits from Aunt Chris.


Annoyed at mom for taking yet another picture.


Starting to ham it up.


Until Lily finds the cat. 50% distracted.


100% distracted.


Elsa learns how rocking chairs got their name. Lily's still looking at the cat.


Shoot over.

Happy belated Father's Day everybody.

Hi Daddy

Miss you,

XXOO
Lily and Elsa

Pictures for Daddy

Mark has made it safely to Boston and he wants to see lots of pictures of his girls.


Here is Aunty Chrissy, Lily and Elsa at the Berkeley Rose Garden. Aunt Chris flew all the way from Indiana to spend the week with girls (and to help keep me sane while Mark's away).


She brought them cute little ladybug outfits with matching hats.


Here's mommy and her girls.


And a cute picture of Chris and Elsa.

Teeth, cars and other subjects

Teething time again. Lily is getting upper and lowers at the same time. Looks like Elsa is close behind. Here's Lily and Elsa working on some teething biscuits. Needless to say emotions are running a bit high this week. Lily has been surprisingly cheerful and good natured considering she's getting four teeth at once. Elsa has been a little terror. This is probably because Lily is sleeping a little more than usual, Elsa a little less. Notice their characteristic hairdo's. More often than not, Lily's looks neat and styled. Elsa's is all over the place. So cute! I really love their differences.


This week Johnny brought us his 1990 Camry and drove the Geo home to Uncle Erik. We were very sad to say goodbye to our little red car. But, we felt much less sad when we put the girls in the Camry. It is an order of magnitude easier to get them situated. The other great part is that I can actually fit strollers AND groceries at the same time. Having a trunk is pretty nice. Yesterday, I took both girls to Target by myself with no problems. I put Lily in the baby carrier and Evil Knievel (I mean Elsa) in the shopping cart. Elsa seems to love an adventure, especially action rides. They were so good at the store that I got several compliments from strangers. If only they knew our teething troubles. The girls have a tendency to show off in public.


Here's a picture of Johnny and Elsa from our hike at the Albany Bulb. After living here a year, we discovered that Albany has its own beach and hiking trails on the Bay.


There is a bunch of urban artwork down by the shore. Here's Lily and I standing in front of an arch.


These pieces are made out of "found" materials. (things that washed up on the shore or were dumped on the fill). I really like this sculpture.


Johnny and I were both a bit creeped out by this series of paintings. The subject material was pretty dark.


This weekend the girls had their first trip into SF. We were invited to my supervisor's house for a BBQ. Frank my boss is kneeling next to me. It was a fun event. There were lots of little kids.


Also, we have been spending more time in our back yard. We bought this hammock last year when I was too pregnant to move. Its so much nicer to spend this summer with the babies on the outside!


Finally, I wanted to post this picture taken a couple weeks ago. Its my happysad picture. Elsa,lt and Lily rt.