Buscho Family

Summertime

2011-07-19T08:02:00.000-07:00

We are having the best summer and just trying to soak up the days at home...Gianna starts preschool in less than 3 weeks and while this may clear up some time for me to spend with the boys and get other things done...I am dreading it. I don't know how to feel about someone else being a big influence over her (and the boys in the future). Up until this point I have kept my kids pretty sheltered/protected in a little bubble. Who knows what will come along with the time away from her?

For now, I am going to just try to enjoy the next few weeks... maybe we'll try to get in another session of swim lessons or just spend some time playing with friends. Maybe a quick family getaway? Who knows. I just want to be here and giggle about Connor's deep voice and look on lovingly as Gianna is the best big sister I have ever seen and watch her learn and explore her world, and watch Brennan continue to be the biggest trouble maker yet! The kid opens cabinets and pulls books off a shelf like no other 10 month old. They are all learning so much about their world and exploring it together in such a special way.

If there was a pause button, this would be the time to press it.

Boys are pretty too

2011-03-16T16:33:00.000-07:00

Connor gets pretty excited about anything his big sister likes, so as you may guess he loves princesses, anything sparkley or shiney. It's really not fair to be a boy and wear brown and blue when your big sister has black patent shoes with rhinestones on them and fuschia glitter mary janes.

So lately Connor has been reminding us that he is pretty too. After I put Gianna's hair back (our daily battle) he brushes his and says "Look Mommy, I pretty too!" and he constantly parades around the house in princess high heels and Gianna's too-small patent church shoes asking if I like his pretty shoes. Of course I let him know how pretty he is.

And so very sweet too.

What a year can do...

2011-03-09T13:36:00.000-08:00

It's been over a year since I last blogged. Even longer than that if you count when I was regularly blogging. But I find myself at the beginning of Lent and thinking about Lenten promises, making use of our time and reflection. I miss being able to look back at the blog and read our fun experiences and remember those moments. I've thought about restarting my blog often over the last year. Although to be honest, the further I got from regular blogging the more daunting it became to catch up on the amount of time I had missed. Now I am at the point where I wanted to start blogging so much that I am going to skip to the present and add some catch up as I go along. I'll also use the blog more to just record phases, expressions and things the kids are doing along with photos. I hope that this will make it easier to keep up and just add short posts and anecdotes when I only have a moment.

For now: The biggest news of the past year is that Brennan joined us on September 17, 2010. He is a sweet baby and has added so much to our lives. Right now, at almost 6 months he has rolled front to back but has very little interest in doing it much. He can sit up assisted but isn't too steady yet. His favorite thing is to jump. He LOVES his freestanding jumperoo and also uses the johnny-jump-up. He can bounce so high and could do it forever. The only thing better than jumping is having someone's full attention while jumping. He is so cute.

Connor is 26 months and is a lively "terrible two" he throws many tantrums daily and keeps me on my toes. His new favorite thing is running. This can be both scary and hilarious. Luckily he understands parking lots so it hasn't gotten too scary yet. Yesterday it got pretty funny when we were getting ready to leave the mall and he didn't want to leave so he ran as fast as he could away from me and into a lingerie store. He ran straight to the back and hit behind a rack of garters. When I found him he threw his shoes to the left and ran to the right...smart boy. I finally caught up with him somewhere around a rack of neon green bras and we giggled our way out of the store. He is a happy boy when he wants to be and is a climber and outdoorsy kid. Nothing makes him happier than bouncy balls, riding bikes and daddy coming home from work.

Gianna is 4 years, 2 months going on 13. She is little miss bossy and has an opinion about everything. She can be shy in newer situations but once she feels comfortable she can be pretty outgoing. She is enrolled to start preschool in August and is finally getting excited about it. She loves learning but is unsure about being away from Mommy and her brothers. She defines herself by her role as a good big sister and nothing makes her happier than making Brennan smile. She loves books and going to the library and even has her own library card. She is also in a combo ballet/tap class and is starting to learn a dance for her recital in June.

In other family news: Justin is training for a half ironman in July, I am getting back into running, and we are staying busy. We are settled at our house in Brentwood and love our neighborhood. We have a new (to us) minivan after totaling our car in November on the way home from Justin's parents house in Oregon (everyone was fine but our old ford escape). We are looking forward to planting a new garden this year and having a great summer.

Thoughts on cleaning

2010-03-11T11:35:00.000-08:00

Bear with me as I rant/ramble.

I am one of those people who hates to clean.

Don't get me wrong: I love a clean house, but I hate the process.

One of the great things about moving is supposed to be starting fresh with a clean house, although about 12 hours after moving in here we realized that the people who lived here before us (renters) hated to clean too. But apparently they did not care about their living condition. I haven't decided if this makes me feel sorry for them or us more.

Anyway, we have spent a good part of the last 2 months doing "little" cleaning jobs between the major repairs that have come up as a result of some crazy rain + tornado + bad window seals I am starting to feel a little like we have almost rid ourselves of the old resident's left-overs but every time I clean something I find something else....some things are just going to have to be completely renovated (in time)...like the kitchen cabinets that didn't have handles on them and have very odd things going on as a result of 16 years of oils from hands on them (plus water and whatever else)...and the louvered laundry room doors that I have cleaned for hours and still look dirty (pretty sure those were never cleaned since this house was built)...and then there's the sheet rock repair that needs to happen because of the previously mentioned rain.

I really hate cleaning but I get such a sense of satisfaction when it's done....plus, then your house isn't dirty! I have no clue how the previous residents lived in such a gorgeous house and stared at the 2000+ square feet worth of base boards every day and didn't feel one nagging pull of "I should clean those." Weird, because I did.

I love that we are finally getting to the point where we can just do "maintenance cleaning" and I know I will gladly do it...if nothing else to avoid having to do any major cleaning anytime soon.

Like I said I hate cleaning, but at least I love a clean house.

Dentist Success!

2010-03-09T20:49:00.000-08:00

The kids had their check-ups at the dentist today. I take them to a great dentist who is so patient with them. This was Gianna's second appointment and Connor's first. I was hoping that Connor would watch Gianna in her portion first and see what's going on (plus it helps Gianna to feel calm when she knows she is teaching her brother something) but he fell asleep on the way there. Turns out that was for the best because Gianna wanted to sit on my lap for her appointment.

The difference between her first visit and this time were amazing! Last time he barely got to count her teeth. This time he counted them all and she was interested then he flossed her, brushed (!!!) and even talked to her for a bit. She was completely cooperative. She was very happy to get her goody bag and prize at the end.

Then it was time to wake Connor up for his turn. He was a little tired but once he got to hold his new tooth brush he was pretty happy. He LOVED having his teeth brushed (of course he loves this every night) and was so calm during that part. Gianna talked Connor through everything Connor was doing and was very excited when he got his goody bag and prize at the end too.

One of Gianna's favorite parts is that the dentist gives her her own "dentist kit" with gloves, a mask and a small mirror to see in her mouth. She wore the mask for the next hour. I am sure people driving by us in the car were wondering what she was up to. Haha.

****

On a totally unrelated note: On the way home today Gianna told Justin and I that she wants a "real dog" out of the blue. Uh oh....

Learning consequences

2010-03-07T10:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning we told Gianna that if she was nice we would walk over to try the frozen yogurt place that is near our new house. She said okay then proceeded to spend the morning testing us. She was pretty mean-spirited and had an attitude all morning. She must know us well: Justin and I were still so tempted to go to frozen yogurt because we had been looking forward to walking there and having some too. We finally decided that with the amount of tantrums she had thrown and with the way she had been treating Connor that we wouldn't go. She was genuinely surprised. I guess I'm usually a push-over.

So this morning she woke up in an amazing mood and has been very sweet and listening well (with very few exceptions). Of course, she has asked if she can go to frozen yogurt and we told her she has to be a good girl. So far the difference is night and day.

I wonder if she will stop thinking of me as a push over? We'll see.

Quick minute

2010-03-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

Since I have the treat tonight of having both kids in bed before 8 (yay!) I thought Id share a few quick things:

Gianna is really into "middle naming." She can often be heard through out the day yelling, "Connor David!" or ... all too often: "Mommy Margaret."

I laughed the first 50 times or so. I wonder where she learned to do that? Lol.

Connor just figured out how to high-five and thinks it's awesome. Added benefit to me: he loves it so much that he'll run across the room if I bribe him with a high-five. Works great in the mornings while I'm trying to get my little escape artist dressed.

February 2010

2010-02-27T12:46:00.001-08:00

Time to play catch-up once again. So much has happened since I last blogged (oh, 5 1/2 months ago...and that was a catch-up too) that I'll divide this catch-up into months.

February started off with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa. They came down to spend time with us, see the new house and to help Justin with some repairs that needed to be done. We had a great time together.

Just before Valentines day we got mail! The kids love getting packages in the mail and you can tell by their faces how excited they were to receive a card from Great Grammy, and packages from Grandma and Grandpa and from Ooda and Poppy. Thanks for thinking of us!

On February 10th our friend Sophia got a little Brother! Here is a picture of Nathan and me from the hospital. He looks so tiny...but he was already so big: 10 pounds! Congratulations to Sophia and her mommy and daddy.
Since Sophia's mommy and daddy were at the hospital, Sophia got to spend a few days with us. The kids all had fun playing together and I think it's safe to say that Connor adores her. We loved watching all of them be silly together.Next it was time for Baby Karlie's first birthday. Baby Karlie is one of Gianna's favorite baby friends (we even have a doll named after her). The kids had so much fun playing at the party and especially loved the horses to ride on.Gianna liked the bouncy one best:

Connor liked the mechanical one (although we think he wanted it to go faster).

Last week was the beginning of Lent. We went to Ash Wednesday mass and tried to get pictures of the kids before they wiped off their ashes...we were pretty unsuccessful (you can see Connor's a little more than Gianna's).

Other than that we've been keeping busy trying to get the house cleaned up, decorated, unpacked, organized and moved-in. We've also been spending time exploring the parks in the area and doing lots of crafts. Hope you've been having fun too!

(As a side-note, I have been writing more about the kids on facebook, but since I gave up facebook for lent I might have a little more time to blog....we'll see)

January 2010

2010-02-27T12:26:00.000-08:00

Time to play catch-up once again. So much has happened since I last blogged (oh, 5 1/2 months ago...and that was a catch-up too) that I'll divide this catch-up into months.

We started the new year by taking Gianna ice skating for the first time. She liked it more than I thought she would and now she won't stop talking about it. It was so cute to see her put on those tiny skates and then skate around the rink. She went during a time designated for toddlers and preschoolers so they let the kids bring chairs on the ice for stability and they had a little skating lesson. What fun! We can't wait to go again.

Putting on her skates.
Practicing gliding.
Having a skating lesson.
That was fun!

Right before January we moved into our new house. Our new house came with lots of surprises so it had been keeping us busy, but we weren't too busy to have a little party for Gianna's 3rd birthday.

Okay...I know there aren't any pictures of Connor in this post, but it's only because we were too busy moving to take many pictures and I am trying to move on to the fun-filled month of February.

December 2009

2010-02-27T09:57:00.001-08:00

Time to play catch-up once again. So much has happened since I last blogged (oh, 5 1/2 months ago...and that was a catch-up too) that I'll divide this catch-up into months.

December was one of our busiest months ever. Besides all of the stuff that comes along with buying a house we also had lots of Birthday Parties (including Connor's), Christmas parties and dance recitals to go to. Plus, with our new tenants moving into our old house in early December, we had to get ready to move out. We were very fortunate that my parents let us move in with them for a while and we also had wonderful friends and family who let Justin stay with them during the weeks while he was working. I have no idea how we crammed so much into one month, it was busy but so fun!

At the beginning of the month we took Gianna and her friends to get their pictures taken in their dance costumes. The girls had lots of fun entertaining themselves while we waited.
The kids are a little unsure of Santa so we were happy to find out that Santa was spending an evening at a local toy shop where the kids could spend some time getting used to him before taking a picture (versus the pressure of the mall). Surprisingly enough, Connor was more nervous than Gianna, so I got to be in the picture too.
Gianna had 5 dance recitals in December and they kept us busy but we never got tired of watching her do her dances. She is so good!The day that we moved out was also our playgroup Christmas party we hung around and we were so glad we did because Santa made an appearance and even brought presents for all of the kids.The next day we made our annual trip to San Francisco to admire the Christmas decorations. Here we are in union square.
The following day Justin took the day off work so we could go get a Christmas tree. Here we are with the tree that we picked. The kids loved helping cut it down.The following weekend was Connor's first birthday. We had a ball themed party and Connor (and all of his friends) loved playing in the ball pit. Connor's favorite part of the party was definitely the cupcake, he ate the whole thing.The week before Christmas was spent getting ready for christmas: sight seeing, wrapping presents and baking! Gianna loves baking cookies.Connor decided to go to bed early on Christmas eve (you know, so he could wake up early on Christmas) so Gianna had to take on the task of writing a letter to Santa all by herself.The tree on Christmas morning:
And the kids playing with their presents:Connor took a nap during Christmas dinner so Gianna had some time to be all dressed up with the grown-ups and her baby.On New Years Eve the Snoopy museum in Santa Rosa had a special noon-time NYE countdown and the kids loved watching the balloons fall from the ceiling. They also enjoyed checking out all of the snoopy and charlie brown stuff there.Happy New Year!

November 2009

2010-02-27T09:50:00.001-08:00

Time to play catch-up once again. So much has happened since I last blogged (oh, 5 1/2 months ago...and that was a catch-up too) that I'll divide this catch-up into months.

November was busy for different reasons that most months: we made the decision to amp up our search for a new house and also decided that we would start looking at neighboring towns. Needless to say, this kept us busy and there aren't many pictures but here is one from a day we spent at Tilden Park with Uncle Johnny and my parents and then below that is a picture of the house we bought (although we didn't close until January).

October 2009

2010-02-26T21:24:00.001-08:00

Time to play catch-up once again. So much has happened since I last blogged (oh, 5 1/2 months ago...and that was a catch-up too) that I'll divide this catch-up into months.

The month of October was jam-packed with pumpkin patches, parties, playgroup, busy weekends, dance classes and preschool. Here are the highlights:

The first weekend in October we went to Gilroy Gardens to meet Great Grammy, Ooda and Auntie Sarah there. The kids LOVE Gilroy Gardens and didn't want to leave even after we spent a full day there.
In October Connor also started becoming a lot more mobile. He started taking a few steps at a time and gained a lot more interest in playing with his big sister. Here the kids are after playing in bed for a while. They are such great friends!
The next weekend Gianna went up to Santa Rosa to spend the weekend with Ooda and Poppy. She had a lot of fun and we had fun with Connor that weekend too. We took him for a hike in the Sunol Regional Wilderness and he loved the parts he was awake for.
That weekend was also the end of Fleet Week. We were hoping to see the Blue Angels but when their show got cancelled due to fog, we had some extra time to spend with our friend Tracy. Here is Connor all dressed up for a day in the city.
After we left San Francisco we met Ooda and Gianna in Petaluma to play and pick up Gianna. The kids had fun playing at the Pumpkin Patch.

That week we hosted playgroup at our house and Connor was having so much fun he wouldn't take his morning nap. After everyone left he fell asleep while eating lunch. Gianna thought this was very strange.

That week it rained and Gianna was so happy to go out and give her rain coat and boots a test.

The next week was a preschool fieldtrip to another Pumpkin Patch. We got to bring Gianna's friend Kaylee with us and the girls had so much fun visiting with the animals, learning about growing pumkins, and picking out pumpkins to bring home.
We all loved the hay ride.
In October Gianna finished her potty chain and was ready to wear underpants. She was very excited and has been doing a great job ever since.
The next weekend was our mom's club annual trip to the pumpkin patch. The kids loved feeding the goats, participating in a costume contest and checking out the pumpkins with friends.After we left the pumpkin patch we headed over to Berkeley to watch the Cal game and to see our friend Jenna march in the halftime show. The marching band was both of the kids' favorite part of the game. Thanks for the tickets, Jenna!
Here is Gianna during one of her weekly dance classes. She really got the hang of the class and loved to do the routines the teacher taught them.
Here is Gianna (dressed as Pebbles) and her preschool class during their halloween party.
And here we are all dressed for Halloween. Justin and I dressed for trick-or-treating this year and we got a lot of compliments on our family costumes :)

September 2009

2010-02-26T20:56:00.001-08:00

Time to play catch-up once again. So much has happened since I last blogged (oh, 5 1/2 months ago...and that was a catch-up too) that I'll divide this catch-up into months.

Right after my last blog we headed up to Santa Rosa for an awesome -and busy- weekend. We started off Saturday with the Viking Opener at Spring Lake. This is one of the first races that I ran every season in high school and they have an alumni race. Since this is the first year I've been ready to give it a real effort we decided to run it. I ended up finishing 10th among women and got a medal! Justin and I crossed the finish line together-that was fun.The rest of the weekend was jam-packed. We hiked up to lake Illsanjo (at the top of Annadel) and practiced lake swimming--it was both of our first lake swim in a while and we were training for the triathlon so it was great practice. After we hiked back down we headed over to set up camp. We spent the night camping at Spring Lake. Gianna loved the hammock and the s'mores. Connor was not the biggest fan of camping and ended up going back to the house with Justin at some point during the night. The next day was very hot so we hiked for a bit then rented a kayak and boated for a bit, then decided the heat was too much and called it a day.The following week was spent doing some final training for the triathlon and then resting for a few days so we were ready to go for the big race. On Saturday we woke up very early and headed out to Oakdale. After getting all of our transition clothing and equiptment set up it was time to head down to the water. After a long pep-talk from the race coordinators it was go time. Justin and I both started off the swim slow because it's pretty nerve-wracking to be in the water with that many people. Justin picked up speed and I stayed at the back of the pack. He was getting ready to leave with his bike by the time I got to mine. We both did great on the bike. Justin is awesome at biking and I improved my average speed by over 1.5mph from any of our training rides. The run was...exhausting. After an hour and a half of cardio running 3 miles felt like forever but we both did it and finished strong. Justin finished 52 seconds ahead of me and we both finished in under 1 hour and 51 minutes. I was surprised to find out that I finished 3rd for my age group in the race and got a medal too!All in all it was a great experience and I would gladly do it again.

One of our favorite parts of summer is the Farmer's Market and we could be found there having a picnic pretty much every week. This was always so much fun, especially when we met friends there and the kids got to play.

Gianna also loved buying food at the farmers market. Her favorite were strawberries for eating fresh and freezing for smoothies and anything that we could pickle. Here is a picture of her super excited about making pickles and pickled green beans.

The last week of September Gianna started going to a combo ballet/tap class with her friends Kaylee and Sophia. She had a hard time at first but quickly decided she loved it.

Metallica!!!

2009-12-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

So I'm going to the Metallica concert saturday night and being the huge Metallica fan I am, I had to teach G how to say it. She has proven herself. I'm thinking of taking her, she can rock out better than anyone! She is awesome.

The best I could get

2009-11-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

Connor is walking all over the place at home. He is VERY cautious (just like big sister) and doesn't like to do it on command. He also only likes to walk to soft things like our couch or ottoman-smart cookie. In fact, if he's walking and realizes he doesn't have a good "landing pad" he'll just sit down on the spot.

That said, here is a very short video of him walking, it's the best I've been able to get so far. You can tell that he's pretty sturdy and does that cute baby arm scrunch thing while he's walking.

Hopefully we can get a better video soon. But we hope you enjoy this for now:)

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

2009-11-16T19:37:00.000-08:00

Gianna got took this book from Ooda and Poppy's house (with their permission) and it is one of her favorites. Lately she has been 'reading' it to us a lot. We finally caught it on video.

Here are the words so you can see how close she is (in case you aren't familiar with the text).

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

"In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf. One Sunday morning the warm sun came up and - pop! - out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar. He started to look for some food. On Monday he ate through one apple, but he was still hungry. On Tuesday he ate through 2 pears, but he was still hungry. On Wednesday he ate through 3 plums, but he was still hungry. On Thursday he at through 4 strawberries, but he was still hungry. On Friday he ate through 5 Oranges, but he was still hungry. On Saturday he ate through one piece of chocolate cake, one ice-cream cone, one pickle, one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop, one piece of cherry pie, one sausage, one cupcake, and one slice of watermelon. That night he had a stomachache! The next day was Sunday again. The caterpillar ate through one nice green leaf, and after that he felt much better. Now he wasn't hungry any more - and he wasn't a little caterpillar any more. He was a big fat caterpillar. He built a small house, called a cocoon, around himself. He stayed inside for more than two weeks. Then he nibbled a hole in the cocoon, pushed his way out and...he was a beautiful butterfly!"

Next: finally catching Connor walking on tape.

Oh and I'd just like to add that I'm very proud that she calls the cupcake a muffin :)

Summer fun.

2009-09-16T14:50:00.000-07:00

Where have we been?

For those of you who know us well, Justin and I have spent the summer training for a triathlon (it's coming up in just 9 days!). Between that, all of the summer travels, regular activities and Connor being extremely mobile I have very little time to update. And the time I do have is spent trying to pick up my house from hurricane Gianna or to [maybe] have a chance to rest. Whew. Hope I can update you a little. Here are lots and lots of photos and explanations to let you know what we've been doing for the past 2 months.

9/16 - Gianna's first day of Mommy and Me preschool for the year. We had so much fun doing crafts, singing and playing.
9/13 - Gianna's favorite thing to do this week is run around our coffee table in circles. She cracks us up.
9/12 - Portia's 4th Birthday party. This is particularly noteworthy for a few reasons: 1) I can't believe Gina has a 4 year old. Seems like she was just a baby. and 2) Justin decided to ride his bike to the party (which was in Palo Alto)...from Livermore. 60 miles = crazy. But he had a great time. Anyway, here are some pictures from the party.

Connor LOVED the bounce house.
Gianna bouncing and Connor watching.Giggle girl.

9/11 - Gianna picked tomatoes and basil for bruschetta with dinner. Yummy!
9/11 - Cooper's first birthday party. It's hard to believe it, but Connor's friends are turning 1 already! Connor is just around the corner. Eek!
9/9 - Connor cut his 3rd tooth. No picture yet, but it's definitely note-worthy.
9/6 - Justin and I used the left-over peppers (and some extra tomatos from Marade-Thanks!) and made more salsa. Turned out so yummy!
9/4 - I went for a girls' night at a friend's house and we canned salsa, pasta sauce and strawberry jam.
Marade, Natasha, Jesssica, Michelle
8/31 - Gianna talking to Ooda on the phone to say thanks for the cow socks....and Connor cruising.
8/29 - Justin's 45 miler. I should let Justin blog more about this, but I wanted to add some pictures. At the end of August he went on a 45 mile bike ride with most of the groomsmen from our wedding. These guys have all been friends since they were born, pretty awesome. Justin, Ryan, Scotty, Andrew and Pat.
In case you didn't know how skinny Justin is... haha!
Taking a break.
Riding across the Golden Gate Bridge.

8/28 - Connor took his first step. No walking yet, just a step or two here and there. But a step!!! Already? Geez, he's only 8 months old.
8/28 - Gianna's Babies. She is such a ham...she wanted me to take her picture with her two favorite babies: hear baby and baby Karlie (named after the real Baby Karlie).
8/28 - Gianna's first dentist appointment. It went pretty well. She was great except for the part where we wanted her to open her mouth so he could see her teeth-haha! I think now that she knows what's going on she'll do even better next time.
Brushing her teeth at home the morning of her appointment.
In the waiting room.
Picking what she wants from the toy machine.
Pretty smile!
8/26 - Making Dinner:
Laying out the potatoes for scalloped potatoes.
So proud of what she made.
8/21 - Uncle Johnny is home!! We made a trip over to the airport to see him when he arrived (late 8/20), but we just had to hear all about his trip so we headed up to Santa Rosa for a quick visit.Playing Guitar with Uncle Johnny.Connor going for a ride.

8/18 - Playgroup trip to the zoo. Last time our playgroup went to the zoo was when the big kids were babies. Now we have a bunch of new babies so we thought it was time to make another trip over there. Gianna had fun visiting the zoo with her friends. We hope it won't be quite as long between trips next time.
Gianna and Sophia check out the Meerkats.
Gianna brushing the goats.

8/16 - Gianna got this Easy Bake Oven from my aunt Mary and she loved baking a cookie in it. She needed lots of supervision because the pans come out hot, but it was fun for her to mix it up then eat the cookie. Although I think she was a little surprised that it only made 2 cookies, but that was all she needed, so it was perfect. We are looking forward to many more easy bake treats.
Waiting for it to be ready. Talking about baking. The finished product.
8/15 - Connor chillaxin' at a BBQ at Keri and Kenny's house.
8/15 - My first paid cake job. It was for a bridal shower (every time I upload this picture it turns and I have no idea why...so here it is...sideways).
8/14 - Gianna at the park. She wanted me to take her picture.
8/13 - You only really need to watch the first few seconds of this. It is Gianna jump-roping. And those first 5 seconds are hilarious (then she gets distracted and shy).
8/12 - Connor at the Park. Doing his favorite thing.
8/7-8/10 Trip up to Applegate, Or to visit family.
We made the long drive up to Oregon late friday night (arriving somewhere after 2 am). Having kids means you have to get creative about car trips that may not seem so hard without them. Justin and I chose to share driving and do it late at night in hopes that we wouldn't have to stop for me to feed Connor. We made it until 1am without stopping. Not too bad, right? Then we spent the weekend hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's with lots of visitors: Jarrod, Kelly, Jadyn, Cole, Great Grandpa, Greg, Marilyn, Joyce (and we just missed Brad and Geoff).
S'mores!
Gianna with Jadyn and Cole.
Roasting a marshmallow.
Connor in the highchair that Justin and Gianna used.
Mastering the Pincer grasp (first time!).
Group photo.
Gianna and Cole.
Gianna and Great Grandpa.
Gianna on Great Grandpa's suspension bridge.

8/5- We've got a climber! Connor at just 7 1/2 months trying to climb up our living room slide.
8/5- Look at these cuties just goofing around after one of our weekly walks. They are such fun friends.

7/31-8/2 Trip to Santa Rosa and the Sonoma County Fair
One of the highlights of summer is getting to go to the Sonoma County Fair. The kids had a great time looking at the animals, eating ice cream, watching the horse races, participating in a diaper derby (Connor), looking at art projects, seeing a pig show and the Budweiser Clydesdales and walking through the hall of flowers. And then Mommy and Daddy even got to go back later at night without the kids. It has to be one of the best fairs around.
Trying out a jiggle foot.
Family photo in the hall of flowers.
Gianna is pretending to be asleep in protest of having her picture taken while Connor is smiley as always.
Gianna got to bottle feed a baby goat.
Milking a "cow."
Gianna, Ooda and the Budweiser Clydesdales.
Connor is really excited for the diaper derby.
At the starting line...
With his prize-a "Sonoma County Fair Diaper Derby" hat, and a ribbon for participating.

7/31 - The kids love swinging together at the park.
7/29 - Gianna loves helping Mommy cook. This plastic cheese knife from Grandma was perfect for mushrooms.
7/28 - Connor's first time in the push-around buggy.

Family Getaway (7/26-27) We took a couple days to get away to the coast at the end of July. We went to Gilroy Gardens, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Santa Cruz. It was so fun and the kids loved getting away and staying in a hotel. It was a busy two days but worth it. On Sunday we went to Gilroy Gardens, left there in the afternoon, made a quick stop by the outlets and then headed down to check-in at our hotel. After that we went to the Aquarium because they were staying open until 8pm. We saw half of the Aquarium and left the rest for the morning. After a good nights rest we headed back to the Aquarium, saw the rest (spent a long time in the kids' area) and then took off to Santa Cruz where my parents met us for the afternoon. We loved playing on the beach and Justin and I even got to do a little body surfing while my parents watched the kids. Then it was time for rides. By the time we made it back to the car, the kids zonked out and we had a nice quiet drive home. What a fun trip!
First ride of the day: the cars!
Gianna drives us crazy.
Connor in his own seat on the water ride.
Gianna in her own seat.
Gianna on the kiddy car ride.
Gianna driving Connor in the fire truck.
She giggled through the whole fishy ride.
Carousel.
Connor's first time on the carousel.
Choo-choo train.
Swinging on the rings.

Next stop: the aquarium.
Connor checking out the fish.
Touch pool.
Gianna-sized tank.
Daddy and Connor.
Starfish.
Bro and Sis.
In the kids area.
Family picture.

Last stop: Santa Cruz!

Gianna loves to dig.
Gianna in the hole.
Daddy in the hole (yes, he's standing up).
Mommy and Gianna on the race cars.
Big girl rides the carousel by herself (and gets a ring from Daddy).
Connor's first time on the Santa Cruz carousel.
Connor on the dragon ride with Mommy.
Gianna and Daddy on the dragon.
Cars.
Boat ride.
Whew, what a long 2 days!

Montana trip! (7/16-21) Justin already posted some pictures he received from his cousin, but here are some additions:

Whoever said, "The journey is as important as the destination," has never traveled with kids. Haha!
All kidding aside, our kids were great for the plane ride there if you don't include the total meltdown Gianna had because they even make KIDS take their shoes off to go through security.
Mommy and the kiddos go for a "ride."Watching them load our plane.Connor's first time on a plane!!! He was so excited he fell asleep.Thank goodness that Connor wanted to rest for the first flight. It made it super easy.
During our first take off.

Daddy and the kiddos during our layover in Denver.

Hitching a ride with Mommy.
Connor's first time on a Tarmac (Gianna's an old pro).
Flight #2Connor was pretty amazed by the whole thing (now that he was awake!).
Justin's parents rented a house for us all to stay at that was just a short walk to the family reunion. It was a great house with lots of space for the kids to play and we had so much fun staying all together.
Connor playing.
Connor playing with the big boys.
Gianna getting ready to walk over to the reunion.
Connor testing out the backpack for the first time.
Mommy and Gianna hanging out on the dock at the reunion (looking at the baby fish).
The kids at the reunion.

On Saturday we went over to Glacier National Park. The drive up there was gorgeous, we loved the "Going to the Sun" road--we got to enjoy it even more because they have a wonderful FREE tram to the top, which meant the kids didn't have to ride in carseats and Justin and I both got to enjoy the view. We were headed to a hike that Justin had been on about 10 years ago, but while on the shuttle another family told us that there was an amazing hike to "hidden lake" at the top of the park. We decided it sounded like something we shouldn't miss so we headed all the way up to the trailhead. The hike was not a dissapointment. It was 1.5 miles out through a beautiful canyon, across a boardwalk, through snow, up hills and steps to an amzing view. Then we got to do the 1.5 miles back noticing things that we never saw on the way up. The kids were awesome, they both rode the whole way up in their packs and then Gianna hiked the whole way back (minus the snow). She is still talking about our fun "kike." We saw lots of cool wildlife too: chimpmunks, marmots, mountain goats and sheep.
At the trailhead, heading towards the boardwalk (and lots of stairs).
Gianna, Mommy and a friendly sheep.
Connor, Daddy and a herd of sheep.
Rock through the boardwalk.
Snow in July!!!
Family photo at the top.
Gianna found a perfect spot to admire the view.
G and a goat.
Starting to hike back down.
She loves to hike. And Connor made lots of friends on the trail.
Beautiful View.
Almost there!
We were very lucky that the reunion was right on Flathead Lake. There were lots of fun things to do on the water. Our kids are a little too young to go boating or skiing, Gianna and Daddy did have fun playing with a tube and on the edge of the water.
Chatting on the dock.
Gianna gives the tube a try.
Daddy and Gianna floating.
Connor hanging out while Gianna and Daddy float in the background.
Kisses!
Mommy and Connor.
Family Photo (Connor is really excited about the grass).
Gianna and Great Grandpa talking.
Hugs.
Alpine sledding 7/20: Alpine sledding is like a downhill luge (basically a way for ski resorts to make money during the summer). It is super fun! Mommy was very nervous riding up the ski lift, but we made it safe and even Connor decided to go for a ride.
Gianna, Daddy and Grandpa heading up the lift for the first time.
Great Grandpa coming down.
Mommy and Gianna--she giggled the whole way down.
Family snapshot on the lift.
Getting ready to take off.
That night we went to dinner at Justin's great Aunt and Uncle's house. Dinner was delicious and we kept ourselves entertained on their gorgeous property beforehand. We all especially enjoyed visiting their cherry orchard and picking cherries. Then after dinner we walked down the hill to the lake and enjoyed the beautiful sunset.
Beautiful garden.
Gianna picking cherries.
Here's a nice little tree.
Connor and Daddy in the orchard.
Showing off what she picked.
Probably asking to wash them so she can eat them.
Showing great grandpa.
Down at the lake after dinner.
Enjoying the view.
Daddy and Connor skipping rocks while Gianna looks on.

The flight home was rough. Both kids were tired and missed their afternoon naps. We kept them entertained with food and books and coloring for G, but by the time we landed in Oakland we were all happy to be off the plane.

At home, before the reunion, Gianna ate a bunch of blueberries and her hands got dyed blue. She said she has "Poppy Hands". Dad, you should appreciate that :)

7/13 Last day of Preschool summer session. Gianna loves going to Mommy and me preschool. We have just started fall session and she is so happy to see Ms. Linda again. Her favorite part is doing crafts (notice the necklace).
Wheee!
Going through the tunnel.

On Sunday 7/12 while Daddy worked (to get ready for vacation), Mommy took Connor and Gianna to the zoo. We were lucky enough to have Ooda meet us there to play for the morning.
Gianna climbing on the big spider web.

First time on the Lily Pads.
Taking a picture with 2 kids looking is like herding cats. Haha!
Gianna up on the snake.
Mommy and Connor by the elephants.

That should bring you up to date. I can't promise I'll keep up the blog as much as I used to (before Connor was mobile). But I'll try to be better about at least keeping you updated with what we're doing.

Montana Reunion

2009-08-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

Here are some cool pictures of things we did in Montana. Jess and Connor coming
down the alpine slide.

Justin and Gianna having fun on the slide.

Getting off the slide.

This is a cool picture. 4 Generations of Buscho dudes.

This was a nice one of G and C.

July rainstorm?

2009-07-15T14:26:00.000-07:00

On Saturday it rained for a little while and Gianna was so excited to finally get to use her umbrella. I figured, well it's like 85 degrees outside and the raindrops aren't even sticking to the ground, so its the prefect day to play in the rain. She had a lot of fun hanging out under her umbrella. Although the party came to an abrupt halt when she realized that her umbrella was all wet and decided to come in the house to dry it off.

Growing up too fast!

2009-07-15T14:15:00.001-07:00

Not long after I wrote about Connor crawling he decided he is going to go the extra mile and started pulling himself up. First to his knees, then to his feet. Luckily he isn't even close to cruising or walking yet (knock on wood), but we have some serious re-baby proofing to do.

Playing trains early in the morning.

Family Park Time

2009-07-15T10:05:00.001-07:00

In order to get ready for our vacation that is coming up, Justin has been working a lot (including over the weekend). So we've been making sure to do lots of fun family things in the evenings. On Friday we went to the park and had lots of fun all hanging out together.

Gianna and I got buried in the sand:

We took turns sliding:
Connor liked going with daddy:
He liked it even more the second time:
And the kids spent a LOT of time swinging. I love that Connor is old enough to swing now (and that he likes it as much as big sister). Swinging finally isn't back-breaking work for me anymore, Yea!
Gianna getting into it:
Laughing so hard:
The shirt says it all:
Loves the swing:
Swinging together:

A fun video, enjoy!

Funny Picture

2009-07-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a funny picture of Gianna putting on Kaylee's shoe at the farmer's market on Thursday. They did this over and over for about 15 minutes. The best part was when Kaylee came up to me after and told me that Gianna put on her shoe.

Thank goodness for technology

2009-07-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

Technology is amazing. It's the reason I can share these pictures with all of you and the reason we get to keep in touch with Uncle Johnny (for free) while he is studying in Portugal.

Gianna holding the microphone.Video chat.

Holding hands

2009-07-15T09:53:00.001-07:00

Sophia and Gianna love to hold hands...

They do it on walks...
And at the park.

What a cute pair.

Making Jam

2009-07-15T09:43:00.000-07:00

Since I can remember, making Jam has been an essential part of summer. My mom would help all of us kids (or we would help her) make any variety of berry jams (and later in the summer, pickles). Now that Gianna is old enough I thought it was time to start this tradition with her. So we picked up some strawberries from our farmer's market and gave it a try. The result is so delicious! We will definitely make more before the summer is over.

Gianna helping mommy make it (she loved washing the berries and taking off the tops).

Giving it a taste:
Yum!

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-15T09:34:00.001-07:00

We had a fun 4th of July. My parents were happy to come visit us, and we were glad to entertain them. The day was filled with barbecuing, swimming, reading, naps, and fun. I think the highlight of the day for Justin and I was going to the pool with my parents and being able to play while they watched the kids for us. There were many cannonballs, can openers, cartwheels, flips, and even a new trick for flipping out of the pool that some day we'll have to catch on video. It was so fun to hang out with my parents and the kids and enjoy the day. Connor took a nice long nap and all of these pictures were taken during that time, so I'll have to get some pictures from my parents later and add them on here.

Gianna loves to water the plants:Poppy and Gianna reading:

Later that night after bathtime and jammies we drove to go watch the fireworks from the side of the road. Connor slept through that too, but Gianna was captivated enough for the both of them.

Justin's First Oyster

2009-07-15T09:26:00.001-07:00

On the 4th of July my parents came over to hang out and Barbeque. My dad brought one of his favorite BBQ treats: Oysters! Justin had never tried one before so he decided to give it a try:
Pretty soon he was an Oyster pro trying all kinds of combos of toppings: butter, garlic, BBQ sauce, and a variety of hot sauces.
Gianna checking them out:

After the shells cooled down, Gianna put one to her ear and told us she could hear the beach.

Park with friends 7/2

2009-07-15T09:17:00.001-07:00

Here is a cute picture and a video of Gianna and her friends Kaylee and Sophia. These girls have been having so much fun playing together this summer.

Connor is Crawling!

2009-07-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

On 4th of July Connor decided to celebrate his own independence by crawling!!! He is still so young, so he was slow for the first week, but he's getting the hang of it now. Here he is crawling today, after a week of practice.

PS I'll finish up catching you up on everything else we've been up to later, but I wanted to share this exciting video right away!

My sister is funny!

2009-07-11T21:18:00.001-07:00

After we ate one night Gianna got Connor laughing so hard just by saying "buckle you". I have no idea why this was so hilarious, but it eventually got us all laughing. After about 5 minutes I decided I should probably get some video, of course he was winding down at this point, but he's still really giggling.

Big boy now.

2009-07-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

Connor is growing up so fast. He is really showing an interest in "toddler" toys. He loves to sit at this Fisher Price stage and look at himself, the lights, and push the buttons. It's such a bummer that he's not a little baby anymore but it's also so exciting to see him forming a personality. We get to learn a little more about him every day, and it is so awesome. He's such a happy smiley kid, especially now that he can do more of the things his idol (Gianna) can do.

First trip to the pool this summer

2009-07-11T20:53:00.001-07:00

On June 28, Connor had his first dip in a big pool. And it was our first family trip to the pool this summer. Our community has a pool for us to use and we definitely love being able to go there. Here is a shot of Gianna doing her favorite thing, hanging out on the steps:And here are Mommy and Connor.

It sure feels nice to go for a swim on days where it gets up over 100!

The harvesting (and eating) of the first tomato.

2009-07-11T16:40:00.000-07:00

Gianna was very excited when the first tomato of the season finished ripening (she is very patient and waits for them to be the perfect shade of red). She even wanted to take a picture of it with her own camera.

Here are some photos (and a video) for the occasion.

Our first family camping trip

2009-07-11T16:08:00.001-07:00

Near the end of June we went on our first camping trip as a family. We went up to Lake Del Valle here in Livermore and it was such an awesome place to go for a first trip because it didn't involve a long car ride and it was just one night.

We went with Gianna's friend Sophia and her family and the girls had a blast hanging out together:Connor loved the idea of outdoor living and happily played in his pack-n-play for a long time. He watched the girls play and looked at the trees and was very content.
Some friends came up to play for the afternoon...
...and later went home for the night.
Then it was time for a campfire:And roasting s'mores:
Gianna getting ready for her first s'more:The next morning we went down to the lake to play before heading home before it got too hot (it got up to 108 degrees in Livermore that day).

Renee's baby shower

2009-07-11T15:44:00.001-07:00

A few weeks back our playgroup got together to celebrate that Renee was about to have another little boy (who was actually born this week). Here are a few photos from the evening!
The mom-to-be-again (with the cake I made):
A game.
Baby blocks cake.

Mud Pit

2009-07-11T14:29:00.001-07:00

While we were in Santa Rosa my dad needed to drain the water tank. Gianna was happy to make good use of the mud that was a result. It was definitely a photo op. We loved watching her play in the mud, and she loved playing with Poppy and then later on her own. Luckily it didn't disturb my mom's garden too much :)And getting cleaned up afterwards:

Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building

2009-06-28T16:07:00.000-07:00

After staying the night in San Francisco we woke up and walked down to the Ferry Building for the biggest farmer's market you've ever seen. The kids were great and rode in the stroller for most of the time. They loved all of the people watching and tasting all of the yummy food.

Here is Connor having a taste of Acme bread (he squealed in frustration if I moved it out of his reach).Gianna's favorite part was the pickles (yep, she's definitely related to me-haha!)

Tonga Room 6/19/09

2009-06-28T16:01:00.000-07:00

Great Grammy and Ooda (Jessica's mom) were headed to the city for a night last week and we decided to tag along. On Friday night we went to the Tonga room, a "bar" at the Fairmont where the theme is tropical and it rains every 20 minutes. It was so fun, everyone had a great time.
Gianna holding her mini umbrealla during the rain storm:
Connor has his first trip to a bar at the ripe age of 6 months:
The buffet for happy hour is yummy and under $10, and the atmosphere is great. We definitely recommend going there next time you are in San Francisco.

Free Movie Day 6/18/09

2009-06-28T15:54:00.001-07:00

This summer Regal theaters are offering a free kids' movie series. The first one was Madagascar 2 (which also happens to be the first and only movie Gianna had previously seen in a theater). We got together with some of our playgroup buddies and took the kids to see Madagascar and Gianna (and Connor) loved it.
Here are Gianna and Sophia, waiting for the movie to start:
Kaylee was nice enough to share her popcorn:
Connor was so good during the movie. He watched it for a while then took a nice nap and woke up to watch it again at the end. He was dancing along to all of the great music and definitely was happy to watch the girls and watch the movie. He even laughed when the other kids laughed. What a sport!
As always, we ended the outing with a little sillyness and hugs.

Livermore Rodeo 6/11/09

2009-06-28T15:40:00.000-07:00

The Livermore Rodeo has a family night where admission is free and hotdogs and drinks are only $1. We took Gianna last year and had so much fun that we went back this year. They had local team steer roping and a really funny event called "Wild cow milking." In wild cow milking one cowboy (on a horse) ropes a wild cow while another cowboy (on foot) chases it down, and milks the wild cow (into a beer bottle). It was pretty hilarious.
Gianna clapping for the cowboys (and girls).

Although Gianna's favorite part of the rodeo was definitely meeting her friend Sophia there and having some time to play in the grandstands while Daddy took a sleeping Connor for a walk. There is a funny video of the girls goofing off here.
Here are some action shots of the girls goofing off:

Tasty Indian Dish

2009-06-28T14:39:00.000-07:00

Below is an a-bomb fire hot Indian dish that Jess whipped up yesterday night. Jess usually makes mild Indian food but this time I asked for something with a kick and got it. It was unbelievable. Look at the color, you know there's flavor when your food looks like that. This is one of the best ever. It was a chicken tikka masala with extra garam masala and a little cayenne. The vegetable dish is slow cooked veggies with masala.

Connor 6 month check up etc

2009-06-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

On Friday Connor had his 6 month check up. The Dr. said he looks great. He had the usual immunizations and got weighed and measured.

Weight: 15lbs 10oz (10%tile)
Length: 26.75" (75%tile)

Looks like hes gonna be the tallest one of us so far.

****************************************

Also, Gianna has been getting sick a lot so we had her blood retested for anemia, turns out she's pretty anemic so they drew A LOT of blood and are running some tests and doing a full "spectrum" of her blood. The Dr. thinks she has a type of anemia that is not iron deficiency, but rather a problem with her red blood cell walls. We are going to have another appointment later this week or early next week when they get the results back. I'll keep you posted.

Video for Johnny

2009-06-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

We all miss Uncle Johnny (Jessica's brother), especially Gianna. She talks about him constantly.
Here is a little video I made of her talking about him (our typical conversation) yesterday during lunch. Note her fine table manners.

She knows that he is in Africa and she knows what animals live there, but I'm sure she has no further understanding than that (and the fact that she hasn't seen him in a while and misses him).
Don't worry Johnny, she knows exactly who you are and even remembers that you cut your hair. There's not even the slightest chance she'll forget anything about you. Hope you're having an awesome time in Zanzibar, can't wait to see pictures.
Johnny has a blog (that he rarely updates) for those of you who are interested:
http://jawnstravels.blogspot.com

Gianna's braids

2009-06-11T14:42:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I french braided Gianna's hair in 2 braids for the first time. She was surprisingly patient while I did it, and then very cooperative for a picture afterward.Don't worry shes been spending lots of time doing my hair too.

Family Hike

2009-06-11T14:36:00.001-07:00

After the Baptism we went up to Pleasanton Ridge for a hike. Justin and I took turns wearing each of the kids--Connor in the Bjorn and Gianna in the backpack. It was so much fun and we obviously got a good workout because we are both still sore.

This was a great hike, but let me warn anyone who wants to go there: there is about a mile of uphill switchbacks right at the beginning before you get to the rolling [up]hill part and the great views. Definitely worth it, especially if you don't have a kid on your back/front! :)

Gianna and Mommy
Family Photo
Gianna shows us the way home.

Sunday baptism and birthday

2009-06-11T14:21:00.001-07:00

On Sunday we went to Courtney and Mackenzie's Baptism (and Courtney's 2nd Birthday). The Baptism was nice (what I caught of it anyway, because both of the kids got pretty fussy about half-way through). And the BBQ at the park afterward was awesome.
Mackenzie being Baptised:
Courtney being Baptised:
Courtney and Gianna swinging at the park afterwards:

Sophia turns 2!

2009-06-11T14:11:00.001-07:00

Saturday was Sophia's 2nd Birthday and we were so happy to help her celebrate!

The party was Tinkerbell themed and Gianna and Connor (and Mommy and Daddy) were so impressed by the decorations and yummy food.

Gianna loved playing in the sandbox with Sophia.
And having a cupcake.
Sophia got very shy while everyone sang to her.
Sophia blows out the candle.
Yum, cake!

Growing up too fast.

2009-06-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

Connor's newest trick lately is to get on his knees and rock.
It seems really early for that. But maybe it's because he has always loved tummy time. Or maybe it's because he just can't wait to join in the action.
I'll try to get a video of him getting on to his knees.

Dancing Queens!

2009-06-10T21:24:00.000-07:00

As would be expected, the girls didn't take the longest naps when Sophia was here. So we also spent a good part of the afternoon dancing.

Here they are warming up. Gianna is at the age where she always wants to know what's coming up...you can hear her ask "What's next?" in this video (long before the song is over).
Also, listen at the end of the video for Sophia's suggestion of what they should do next.

Did you hear Sophia ask Gianna to jump? Well the next video is the result of short naps and great ideas of 2 year-olds. Jenny, I'm sure you'll get a kick out of this.

Disclaimer: No toddlers were injured in the making of this video. Hahaha! I wish my legs were that short so it didn't hurt when I fall down.

Gardening Girls

2009-06-10T20:51:00.000-07:00

Last week Sophia got to come over for the day and in the afternoon we planted our herb garden. The Girls had an awesome time and I couldn't pick just a few pictures so I added a bunch. I think they are so adorable and really tell a story.

Really excited to get started:
Dig in!Adding dirt:A video of the girls filling the pots with dirt.

Having fun (I love this sequence of photos):

Watering the plants:All Done!

Happy Birthday Grammy!

2009-06-10T20:43:00.000-07:00

On Grammy's birthday we met in Alviso (google it...it's a tiny town in the edge of Milpitas) at a cute old restaurant called Vahl's for Lunch.
At lunch Gianna had her first taste of clam chowder, and loved it. Both of the kids were so good and at the end Gianna was happy to help Great Grammy blow out her candles.

Gianna's last day of preschool

2009-06-10T15:52:00.001-07:00

We have had a great time during our first session of Mommy and Me preschool. I wanted to share some photos from the last day to give you an idea of what a typical day at preschool is like.

Walk to class, don't forget your lunchbox!
Put your things in the cubby.Crafts.Free time, Gianna likes to paint.Snack and recess.

Camp Fire Reunion

2009-06-10T15:45:00.001-07:00

Thanks to the magic of Facebook etc. I have gotten back in touch with old friends. I was thrilled to get together with Kate and Megan (who moved to Oklahoma after 6th grade) and Megan's mom, Carol and son Will--and also to have them meet my family too.

Gianna and Will Loved playing together.

Grandpa and Grandma Visit

2009-06-10T15:41:00.001-07:00

At the end of May Justin's parents came to visit. Here is a sweet photo of them reading with the kids.

Happy Birthday Madison!

2009-06-10T15:38:00.001-07:00

We have had quite the month of Birthdays. Gianna loves it. Here is a picture of her friend Madison blowing out her candles.

Memorial Day BBQ Fun!

2009-06-10T14:49:00.000-07:00

We went to Grammy's house for a Memorial day BBQ and had a great time hanging out with family (even Justin's parents and cousin and kids met us there). Here are the photos from the day:

Connor (picture courtesy of Jarrod):
Connor and Grandma (picture courtesy of Jarrod):Connor and Grandpa (picture courtesy of Jarrod):Cole, Jadyn and Gianna (picture courtesy of Jarrod):
Love this pic of Connor and Courtney:
Gianna, Connor, Courtney, Mackenzie.
Big sisters Courtney and Gianna eating cake (they're still not sure about each other).
Ice cream!Gianna's just doing her part...
Excited to be holding 5-day-old Mackenzie Anne. She's so pretty. I could have held her all day!

Waiting for a Blessing

2009-06-10T14:46:00.000-07:00

Here Gianna is waiting for her blessing during Memorial Day Mass. This is always her favorite part of mass.

Happy Boy

2009-06-10T14:42:00.001-07:00

Connor was all smiles after the wind fest.

San Ramon Wind Festival

2009-06-10T14:24:00.000-07:00

We went to the San Ramon Wind Festival over memorial day weekend. It was colder than we expected it to be, but everyone had so much fun.
Gianna got her face painted for the first time:

And they had a ton of kid's crafts her favorites were making a kite, and painting a ribbon to wave in the wind. And the finished product:

Line 'em up!

2009-06-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

One of Gianna's favorite things to do lately.

House needs batteries!

2009-06-08T09:25:00.001-07:00

Jess called me at work to tell me that the power was out in our house. No real big deal, it was a planned outage because PG and E had to do some work. So we knew about it. When Jess called me to tell me I could hear G in the background saying "Needs batteries! House needs batteries!" That made my day.

Johnny's Travel Blog

2009-05-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

My brother is doing some awesome traveling this summer and I am happy to say that he is keeping a blog of his travels. Some of it is hard to read because he is trying to update from internet cafes as quickly as possible, but it's neat to read about.

The blog is:

http://jawnstravels.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

We miss you Johnny. Gianna "called" you today to ask you if you saw any Zebras drinking water

Happy Birthday Justin

2009-05-22T17:33:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday Justin turned 27.

Here he is with his kids and his ice cream cake (no, I did not make that).

And Gianna singing to him.

Scared Silly!

2009-05-22T17:26:00.000-07:00

Connor laughs at a lot but the thing that gets real belly laughs is to scare him a little. Like a really excited game of peek a boo. In this video he is laughing so hard at my mom playing with him.

Marshall Gulch State Beach 5/17

2009-05-22T15:45:00.000-07:00

Gianna has figured out that my mom and dad live not-too-far from the beach. So every time we go to their house she manages to spend most of the car ride asking if we'll go "at the beach". Of course, we love the beach too so we are happy to oblige. We took a tip there last Sunday. The last few times we've gone to this beach (Marshall Gulch) or the one just north of it. It is WAY less crowded than Salmon Creek and the sand is almost like tiny pebbles (or really coarse sand), which is great because you don't get too much sand in your car. We highly recommend it...but not too highly because we don't want it to get too crowded too :)

Connor feeling the sand between his toes."I like long walks on the beach..."
Playing in the sand.

Happy.
More playing.

Mommy and Connor.
Beach feet.Justin, Poppy and Connor.
Ooda and Connor.Talking about where we are.

Connor's Ocean Baptism

2009-05-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

On Sunday (5/17) we went to the beach north of Bodega and Connor dipped his feet in the Ocean for the first time. This always feels like a big deal for me. Here are pictures.

Getting ready:
Dipping the toes!
Wow! That was cold...but I liked it.

Watering

2009-05-22T15:30:00.000-07:00

After the party we headed up to Santa Rosa to start Justin's Birthday celebration. That night Gianna was very interested in helping Ooda water her plants. Here are some pictures after this had been going on for a while (that's why she's already soaked). What fun!

Don't get wet!

Sitting Independently

2009-05-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

Connor was so excited by the party that he thought he'd have some fun too. While he was hanging out with Daddy in Elmo's World he decided to sit independently. This picture is when he was getting tired so he's a little hunched over, but its still so exciting!Not even 5 months and sitting!

Kaylee's 2nd Birthday Party

2009-05-22T15:09:00.000-07:00

Round 2 of birthdays has officially begun, and Kaylee (and her family) kicked it off with a bang! They created their very own Sesame Street in Keri's parents' backyard and it was awesome. There was everything from games, to Elmo tattoos, to a pinata, a real visit from Elmo Gianna was too scared to get close), an Elmo's World playhouse, a mechanical horse to ride, a sand box and a bounce house. It was so fun that no one even noticed that it was 100 degrees out.

Here are [a lot of] pictures from the party.

Playing in the Sand Box.
Gianna's pull string from the Pinata.Loving the horse.
Bounce house.
Oscar tattoo.
Gianna and Sophia hanging out in lounge chairs.
Gianna playing in Elmo's World.

Elmo cake/cupcakes.Getting ready to eat.
Yum! Yum!

Free birthday ice cream.

2009-05-22T15:05:00.000-07:00

If you join the Coldstone birthday club you get a free ice cream for your birthday (up to one week before or after). Since our birthdays are so close Justin and I got to have our free ice cream on the same night. Gianna loved watching the people making the ice cream and then making her own "ice cream soup" and eating/drinking it. She had us laughing.

Mother's Day at the SF Zoo

2009-05-22T14:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks to our friends, we found out that the San Francisco Zoo was going to be free on Mother's Day. This sounded like a great way to spend the day so we loaded up the car and headed to the city.Here are Daddy and Connor in front of the Polar bears.
Gianna as a Peacock.
And meeting a real one.Gianna as a Kangaroo
The definite highlight of the Zoo was the Grizzly bears playing. This video, while amazing, doesn't even begin to do them justice. This was so cool to see. We could have watched them all day.

Pictures of the bears (the second one is them behind viewing glass...you can see Gianna's pink sweatshirt, we were so close!):
Meerkats:
Petting (and feeding) the goats:At the end of the day, Gianna saw a bench and said, "Look, a bench. Sit down, take a rest." So we did.

Park on 5/9

2009-05-22T14:34:00.000-07:00

We went to the Pleasanton Farmer's Market on May 9 and took a break to play at this great little park in downtown Pleasanton. Everyone had a great time.

Growing up Fast!

2009-05-08T21:23:00.000-07:00

Gianna is growing up fast. Every day she is more interested in "Big Girl" things. Today she had a big milestone: I painted her toenails!
She was so Excited about her newly painted nails.

Ooh, Ahh, You wish you were a Bronco!

2009-05-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that Justin is going back to school this fall (for his Masters in Mechanical Engineering Design). I just wanted to let everyone else know and congratulate Justin again on getting in to Santa Clara. We're so proud of you!

Happy Birthday to Mommy

2009-05-07T20:56:00.000-07:00

The joys of a 2 year old (I've put all of these videos because they are all hilarious, especially the one where she starts to pick her nose):

(This is also what Gianna decided to do today *instead* of napping...lets just say I didn't mind too much)

Underpants!

2009-05-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from our trip to target this week to pick out Gianna's underpants for when she finishes potty training.
Lining them up so she can decide which ones she wants.All lined up.She picked the princess ones.Standing under her "potty chain" (yes, those are underpants on the wall...at the end of the chain).

Connor 4 month Stats!

2009-05-03T20:54:00.000-07:00

Connor had his 4 month check up on the 21st and he weighed 14 pounds 2 ounces. He was 25.25 inches. He can now roll front to back and back to front and sleeps through the night (most nights we get 6 hours straight). He isn't a great napper unless he's in the bjorn, we're out an about or he's in the swing...but he is a pretty happy baby.

Pixieland

2009-05-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we headed up to Concord to visit Pixieland with our friends, the Eisenbies. It's a cute little amusement park with about 7 or 8 rides. Gianna is no doubt a product of Justin and I because she loved the rides (of course this could also have something to do with us taking her on EVERY ride we could at disneyland or maybe it's because we put her on rides in Santa Cruz when she was barely 6 months old, who knows). You can tell how excited she is if you just look at her expressions. Connor liked watching Gianna and her friend Sophia go on rides and he loved riding the train with everyone.

First are duck pond pictures and a video. Gianna loved feeding the ducks and geese and we were lucky enough to see some baby ducks and even a few turtles.

Here Gianna is waiting for the train to go by.
And a video of her waving as it went by. This made more sense to her when she got to ride the train and wave to passers-by.

We rode the carousel first.Then Gianna rode the cars with Daddy.
Next we all rode the train.

Then Gianna rode the airplane.

Gianna went back on the cars with Mommy.
And finished up the day by riding the carousel again with Daddy and Connor.

Connor's first solids.

2009-05-03T17:27:00.000-07:00

After we got the "Okay" from Connor's Dr. at his 4 month appointment, we went ahead and started introducing him to solids. At this point he is just learning what it feels like to have a spoon in his mouth and he is learning how to swallow and not force everything out of his mouth (a natural reflex). He seemed to like being part of the action at dinnertime and getting to eat like everyone else.

Happy Kiddo

2009-05-03T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a cute picture of Connor all ready to go on a hot day.

Ardenwood Farm

2009-05-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

Our playgroup recently took a trip to Ardenwood Farm for toddler time. It was so fun: the guy running the program was great with kids, and he had a fun schedule for them. We had story time and then the kids learned about growing and harvesting corn for animal feed. They even got to crack the corn and feed it to the sheep. At the end we all got an ear of popcorn to bring home and pop. It was awesome and I recommend it to everyone.
Gianna liked seeing the peacock walking around when we got there.Storytime.Gianna's turn to crack corn.
Enjoying popcorn-on-the-cob at home.

Downtown Livermore

2009-05-03T17:01:00.000-07:00

We headed to downtown Livermore to hang out on April 19, Gianna loved playing with the fountain and we all enjoyed some sunshine.

Picnic Day

2009-05-03T16:32:00.000-07:00

On April 18th we headed up to Davis for Picnic Day. I hadn't been feeling great, but Justin and Gianna were going up there with Johnny so Connor and I decided to tag along. We were glad we did because it was lots of fun and I even got to see some minor celebrities (Toni and Dallas from the Amazing Race).
Watching the parade.Gianna trying her first rice crispy treat outside Plutos. The verdict: she's still not sure.Planting clover seeds in a newspaper pot.Gone fishin'
Making a bracelet.Blowing bubbles.Showing a horse the bracelet she made.

Planting Beans

2009-05-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

In Gianna's preschool class they made little greenhouses (super fun and easy project: Just dirt, bean seeds and a little water in a Ziploc bag taped to the window for a few weeks). When we brought the new plants home from preschool she could not wait to transfer them to our gardening beds. Of course she didn't mind that it was a zillion degrees outside (okay, it was really only about 95), but she did get to wear this cool hat!
Showing off her greenhouse.
Excited to plant beans.
Watering the plants.
Proud of her work.

Cute Baby

2009-05-03T16:17:00.001-07:00

Connor is a traffic-stopper. I'm not bragging, but people actually stop me all the time to tell me how cute he is. Okay, maybe I'm bragging a little. Here are some pictures from tummy time (same day as previous post) that show how cute he is. I love his blue eyes and we can almost always get a smile out of him. What a trooper!

Flirting (he does this a lot)Cutie!Smiling.

Bro and Sis

2009-05-03T16:14:00.000-07:00

Connor is pretty easy going when it comes to his sister. Here the are about 10 days ago hamming it up while Gianna holds Connor. Of course, as my luck has it, they never smile in the same picture. But both of these are cute anyway.

Cute 'do

2009-05-03T16:12:00.000-07:00

Gianna's hair is finally getting long enough to try new styles. I liked this one a lot.