April...Come she will

Here is a look at our past month:

Our friend Bailey came over for painting - we are so sad to think about her moving next month! Evelyn wore double French braids - she seems oh so grown up...

Evelyn is a master egg-cracker! So we let her crack the 20+ eggs for our house group dinner last week - she does a great job!


Evelyn and her friend Bailey again - they had just finished hunting Easter eggs at the track while the mommies got some exercise :)


Marianne went through a few days where she loved reading about chicks - she would walk around the house saying "peep peep." She is saying so many words now, and participates in "If you're happy and you know it" by clapping her hands and saying "Amen" and "Hooray." It is fun and it keeps her still during a diaper change. She likes to pick out her own books at night, and says words along with us at times.

Marianne thought this was a blast...


Fun sliding...

Two climbers...


Evelyn loved the Easter hat and flip flops that Meme and Papa sent her. She had to model them right away!

This is what Evelyn calls the "Daddy Ladder." Both girls think it is so much fun - and Marianne will belly laugh as she climbs and begs "up up."


Marianne loves to climb - but it is not always in her best interest - so we moved this chair (after we took a picture, of course)

Evelyn before her first ballet class. Campus recreation did a 6 week class for girls age 2-4. She really enjoyed it! We hope they repeat the opportunity in the fall.
We had a good Easter - I will post pictures soon!

March Recap

This Saturday we attended the Pepperdine Hawaii club luau - we took Evelyn with us and left Marianne home. Evelyn had a great time - we had a yummy meal, saw hula dancers, did crafts and played games with Evelyn, and watched a fire dancer for the grand finale. But I did not get any pictures, which is a shame, because Evelyn was very cute in her little grass skirt...

March was a busy month! We had a great visit from Granny, and then at the end of the month, my lifelong friend Amber came with her husband Russell, and their 2 boys, Drew and Josh. We went tidepooling with them and had a great time! I wish I had more pictures, though...


Amber, Drew, Kim and Marianne. Russell and Brian, Josh and Evelyn had gone exploring on top of the bluff



Sisterly love

Evelyn posing in the dress Granny brought her


Marianne loves to swing, and Evelyn delights in pushing her. They have fun together.

We hunted easter eggs and had a picnic at Alumni park when Granny came. It was a really fun day.




Evelyn and Granny made cupcakes together. Evelyn seems oh so grown up in this picture...

Marianne's One Year Photos

These photos were taken a week after her birthday at the Adamson House in Malibu. My beautiful girl!

Catch Up: The San Diego Zoo, Fancy Nancy Night and More

Please forgive the lengthy post, I have several pictures to share with family!

We took one day of Brian's spring break and drove to the San Diego Zoo. It is a beautiful zoo, a pleasure to walk through and designed well for small children. Here is Bai Yun eating some bamboo!

The elephant exhibit was not open when we went to the zoo 2 years ago - it is fantastic. Evelyn is enjoying a ride on Dad's shoulders

Evelyn thought this tunnel playground and pop up holes by the polar bears was pretty fun.




Marianne had a great time at the zoo, and was excited and conversational whenever she saw a new animal. She sacrificed some napping for the big day, but she handled it so well.

Marianne really liked all of the birds. The aviaries were beautiful, lots of waterfalls and ducks. She is shown here with Dad at the flamingo exhibit.


Both girls at an elephant playground.

Playing peek a boo near the elephants.


Marianne also really liked the pygmy hippo exhibit where she could look under the water at all of the fish...She was so excited!

A few weeks ago, we had a family celebration called "Fancy Nancy Night." Eating out is a rare occasion, so this was very exciting for Evelyn. Evelyn had completed her first chore chart for one complete week, and we decided to celebrate. Just as in the book, Evelyn chose our "fancy" clothes and we went out to eat together. She was thrilled that I wore a dress and that she and Marianne were oh so fancy. We held our pinky fingers out when we ate and called each other "darling," just like the book. It was really a fun night, and we topped it all off with ice cream!

Evelyn allowing Marianne to "play" Candyland with her. Evelyn loves to play games, but we usually have to wait until Marianne is asleep to play. She likes candyland, go fish, dominoes, charades and many others.

Evelyn learned to wink!

Evelyn and Nana during Nan and Papa's one day visit last week.

Scott and Esti surprised us with a visit when they were in San Diego for a conference. We went to the park together. Marianne loves to swing! We are glad they came!




Evelyn decked out in pink and hearts for Valentines' Day. We celebrated with home made heart shaped pizzas and Daddy took us out for cupcakes!

Marianne loves the birthday balloon her friend Lindsay brought to her little party. It is STILL floating, and she loves to watch it.


Papa with the girls and their new swimsuit cover ups they brought them.

Nana and the girls and their new suits!