SofiandNatalie.com

“Why’s the kitchen shaking, Papa??”

Of course, by the time Sofi got that thought into and out of her head she was in my arms in the guest bedroom door-frame and Natalie was in Mama’s arms in our bathroom door-frame, and just like that both girls survived their first earthquake – no worse for wear.

According to the USGS:

A moderate earthquake occurred at 8:04:54 PM (PDT) on Tuesday, October 30, 2007.
The magnitude 5.6 event occurred 8 km (5 miles) NNE of Alum Rock, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 9 km ( 6 miles).

From our perspective, it felt to me as though the house was rolling a little bit, but it was over pretty quickly.  I’d say from start to finish less than five seconds, but the aftershock (our excitement at the event) in our house was much longer than that.  The girls weren’t afraid so much as reacting to our reaction, which was of concern, perhaps a little fear, and to some extent excitement as well.  Fortunately, at the end of the day, everyone is fine.  The house is fine.  We’re no worse for wear.  A Charlie Brown’s Halloween Special is on the television and there’s special popcorn.  Would be interested to know who else felt the earthquake; post in the comments and let us know your thoughts.

Papa

As parents of young children we don’t get out too often and dinner parties are few and far in between.  Sure, we’ve done the birthday parties and the regular stuff, but I think that this is the first “dinner party” that Mama and I have been invited to in some time and it was a wonderful time for all.  Fortunately, going over to see Kuma Stella (Stacie) and Ross (who we call Fross, because that’s what the girls call him), is like going to see family and everyone felt right at home.  Considering the whirlwind mess that children make – probably too much at home.  Fortunately, Ross has children of his own and is very used to the commotion, noise and mess that children can create, which makes for a very relaxed evening.

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There’s something special about getting an E-Vite that mentions a first birthday party, friends, and cupcakes.  Especially one that mentions cupcakes! Today was the celebration of our friend Theo turning one (actual birthday November 1), and we took the trip up to his house in the Berkeley hills after stopping in at Boo at the Zoo.  I’m very glad that we got to go – the friends, the food and the cupcakes were all very good.  As you can see above, Theo is growing up and looks quite thrilled to be having such great company in his honor.

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I know that this is supposed to be a blog about Sofi and Natalie and I am always excited to share their exploits, but a much as it’s about them, it’s about their life and their friends.  One of their hippest dog friends has to be Stacie Tamaki’s dog Kitai who continues to amaze his fans with new-and-improved costumes.  Now, the exciting news here (in addition to Stacie Tamaki getting married last week) is that Kitai will be on this weeks Today Show!!! as part of their costume contest.  This comes complete with a trip to New York City!  Congratulations Kitai – we look forward to seeing you on television and will continue to update our fans here with your success!

Papa

What a great weekend!  We’ve had a lot of fun and Oakland Zoo’s “Boo at the Zoo” event was sort of icing on the proverbial cake.  Basically, the Oakland Zoo hosts a mini-halloween party for anyone wanting to come in costume – and there were a lot of people that wanted to go to the zoo in costume.  It was amazing fun, and although we huffed through to get to Theo’s First Birthday Party, the girls seemed to have a marvelous time.  We even completed the scavenger hunt and each girl got a treat bag.

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Braly School (where mama teaches) was having their second annual Halloween Happening tonight and we decided to drop on over to enjoy some of the treats, fun and festivities.  It turned out to be a wonderful opportunity to see some friends, check out some very fun costumes, and enjoy some very tasty snacks.

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Saturday morning is Soccer Saturday morning and this week was no exception.  The girls got out and spent some time on the field – including as you can see with Sofi’s picture, making “ice-cream cones” and running them across the field.  (More about Saturday in the next post.)

Papa

Okay, now it’s my turn to write, I promised Michael that I would.  Please don’t expect words to flow as beautifully as his do, but I’ll do my best.

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I knew from what everyone told me that I was going to think that my children were the cutest thing that I had ever seen.  Everyone says it – how could it be anything but true.  What I didn’t realize is how overwhelming that feeling could be.  How just looking at my daughters – or even now their pictures – could make me feel warm and happy at their very existence.  In the immortal words of Marc Anthony – “I just want to hug ‘em, and squeeze ‘em” every chance I get.

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I think I mentioned this the other day, but the girls have been taking soccer on Saturday mornings.  The class is only 30 minutes, and like a sit-com there are a lot of breaks to get through that half hour.  Personally, I think they like the idea of soccer more than the playing of soccer, but it’s fun to watch and it gets them out and about pretty early.  The other nice thing is that it’s only about five minutes from the house, so we can leave at pretty much any time and not have a problem getting there.

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