SofiandNatalie.com

I was totally joking earlier today when Isuggested on Facebook that global-warming might not be such a bad thing, but it’s truly difficult to imagine that a 73 degree day in January could be all that bad.  Of course, that was at 4:00 in the afternoon on the beach in Santa Cruz, so I imagine earlier in the day could have been nicer.  It almost shattered my happiness to hear that this is the first day in the past eight that hasn’t created a new record high temperature in the Bay Area.  I hear that some areas of the country are seeing snow.

So what did we do today… after a brief visit to urgent care to see the doctor for Sofi’s mystery rash, we went to enjoy a walk through Mountain View before heading off to the beach.  Both parts were wonderful, but it’s amazing to realize how beautiful the weather has been these past few days.  There were hundreds of people at the beach and it looks like -- with the holiday -- it’s going to be a great night down there, too.  After an hour or so at the beach we picked up Babi and headed home.

I took another video and even asked the girls to tell Audrey how much they wish that she could be there, too.  I figured since she was enjoying the last round of videos so much it might be nice to be mentioned on their site, too!  Hope you enjoy it Audrey (and everyone else, too)!

Papa

I’ll have some photos coming up to the site sometime really soon, but I wanted to share with everyone that we have actually completed the unwrapping (not too out of control this year) and right now Mama, Sofi and Natalie are all playing with the new Cinderella game (complete with battery powered musical, lighted shoe) trying to understand that not everyone can win every time.

In the meantime and especially for those waiting for pictures, I’m attaching another short video clip to share some of the unwrapping.

Papa

Christmas is off to a rip-roaring start this year and the girls are as excited as can be.  So far they have found the bicycles that Santa left and cleaned out their stockings.  The first gift, from Grammy and Grampy has caused quite a stir.  They each got a barbie doll that includes a golden retriever.  The excitement from this comes from the fact that you can actually feed the dog.  Parent’s will get a chuckle from the fact that this dog also “poops” the biscuits and barbie comes with all the appropriate attachments for cleaning up the poopie.  Brief video attached for those that really must know.

Papa

This past week was a blast -- going by way too quickly.  I can’t believe that there are only 5 more days until Christmas!  This past week we went to see the lights and fun at Christmas in the Park in downtown San Jose (pictures coming in a later post).  Mike, Lisa and Audrey joined us to enjoy this annual fun-fest.  Best of all, this year we got to see Santa!!  Check out the video for an idea of how much fun we had.

Papa

The Downtown Livermore Christmas Parade was one of last years highlights.  So much so that this year we decided to get involved so that we could be a part of the fun.  After decorating the J. Rockcliff mobile and trailer – complete with Snoopy and Woodstock – we toured through the parade route in spot 49 and enjoyed the thousands of people that came out to enjoy the festivities.  As a wonderful bonus, the girls got to spend a little one-on-one time with Santa!

We’re already looking forward to something bigger and better for next year!

Papa

I didn’t realize until I took a few minutes to look back that some of the most exciting times of the year are the holidays, and they also happen to be the times that I post the least to this blog.  It seems that there is so much going on that there is rarely time to get a few words into the blog.  That said, I will try and keep up a little better, because so much of what Sofi and Natalie are enjoying right now is what I was really hoping to share with their audience.  So keep your browser open, there is definitely more to come!

Papa

Lisa C Being a Great Sport with PJ's on Her Head!

It’s been a long time since Mama and I have had a party that didn’t include a princess related theme, more children than adults or a jumper, and I realized this morning (after yesterday’s party) that’s it been way too long.  Needless to say, we did a friendly potluck yesterday (with more adults than children) and it was awesome.  Thank you so much for everyone that joined in.  The food was fantastic, the weather was amazing (especially for November), the wine was divine, and the company cannot be matched.  Thank you to everyone that joined in, we appreciate it more than you know.

Of course, no good party would be great without some stories, a few pictures and maybe a video or two.  Fortunately for all, we got a few of each.  Don’t worry, nothing too embarrassing for anyone.

Many of our friends that came to this party were co-workers of Gina and their spouses and children.  It’s nice to see that most of the teachers have geeky husbands, and that similarity seemed to give everyone something to talk about.  John Ironmonger was in town for his daughter’s basketball game (University of Oregon vs. San Jose State) and was able to make it by for a snack and catch-up.  I’ve missed seeing John every day, and am very happy to know that he’s doing well, enjoying life and very, very happily married to his sweetie.  Carolyn and Carl are (finally) engaged, which added some additional celebration, and there was plenty of good food – for the meaties and the vegies – to go around.  Everyone brought along a bottle or two of wine and I think we consumed all but one.  That made for a very light afternoon, and at 6:00PM we were still sitting outside enjoy a 71 degree evening in November!

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I think I waited too long – especially conidering that it’s almost Thanksgiving 2008, but I wanted to post a sound file of the girls singing some of their halloween songs.  We tried recording video, but they get too excited about the process and forget to sing, so we’re really hoping that the sound file will be fun enough and give you an idea.

Halloween-2008-Songs

Enjoy!

Papa

My earlier posts on Halloween 2008 already showed some of what we did at Braly Elementary and Boo at the Zoo, but we didn’t really go into the Halloween Happenings or the actual trick-or-treating that we got to do.  Everything was wild fun, but man can it be overwhelming.  I can hardly imagine how larger families do it, even while knowing that the rewards must be tremendous.

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Generally speaking, I don’t like posting items out of order, and I still have a ton of stuff leftover to share from Halloween.  That will come, I promise, but I had to share today’s trip to the beach and thought I’d drop in a quick little video to show you how great it was.  More pictures, more story, click more…

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