Grammy's kids

It's not often that Grammy gets to have all f our of her grandchildren at once. Before long they'll be too big to all climb on her like this! From top left: Zoe - 18 months, Sophie - 2 1/2, Chase - almost 5, and Tanner - 2 1/2.

Chanukkah

We got to celebrate a few nights of Chanukkah while my mom, sister and nephews were visiting. The kids did a great job trying to recite the Hebrew prayers, and none of them blew out the candles on the Menorah! Being a whole year older, they were all very excited about getting new presents. On the first night Sophie got her own digital camera and a Pooh bear and piglet bath toy. Zoe got a play-doh set and a truck book. Chase got a transformer pillow and transformer figurine. Tanner got a great game called Hi Ho Cherry-O and Brobee singing and dancing doll from the show Yo Gabba Gabba. The girls were really fond of that doll and we may have to find one for them:)

Cousins

The girls had so much fun with their cousins this past week. Chase did a great job being the oldest, and Zoe just adored him. She would walk around calling, "Chase?" They all had fun playing with toys, running around outside, and watching movies after bath time. We were sad to say good-bye to them this morning and look forward to our next visit in Maryland for Passover.

Giesekes and Gilligans at the Zoo

Michelle and the boys couldn't wait to go back to the zoo so they could feed the giraffes. Chase was the only child who actually fed the giraffes a cookie. Sophie declined the opportunity right away, and Zoe and Tanner changed their minds once in front of the giant animals. Michelle and I got to distribute the leftover treats. Another highlight of our day at the zoo was seeing the polar bears play with each other, and seeing the lion up close with his tongue sticking out!

Holiday Crafts

We've managed to get a couple of crafts done before the holidays officially begin. The first one involved painting a foot and both hands. After I painted Zoe's foot brown, she refused to let me put paint on her hands. We improvised with red chalk! The other craft was inspired by some leftover sequins and other items that we found while looking for my gold glitter glue. I even let the girls experiment with - gasp - glitter. Sophie was very careful to just tap the container and only use a little bit. On Thursday Sophie will be bringing home the crafts she's been working on at school, so check back to see how those turned out!

elf yourself

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Serenading Chase

A song for Tanner

Sophie can't wait to see her cousins next week!

Showing Off

Here is Zoe showing off for you. She loves to say her colors, and now knows: yellow, red, green, blue, pink, brown, black, purple and orange. We're so proud of her!

Fun Day with Grandma Laura

On Saturday Grandma Laura met us at the park for some outdoor playtime. After lots of trips down the slide and a few minutes on the swings, we headed into the library next to the park for story hour. One of the stories was all about a hippy Grandma! After story time I took the girls to get their haircuts, then we headed to Grandma's for lunch and naps. Uncle Josh helped a bunch during lunch and when the girls woke up from naps. Then it was time to head home for supper. Sophie and Zoe looooove their Grandma Laura and Uncle Josh, and can't wait to see Papa Chuck on his birthday this Sunday!

Hi Lauren!

Here is a video that we made for Lauren while her parents were away. We were having problems with blogger, so we couldn't get the video up until today. We hope she has fun watching it!

Favorite Place

This week our playgroup went to the zoo, which by now everyone knows is one of our favorite places. Really I just chose these pictures so I could post an update on Zoe. She sure has grown! She weighed in at 28.5 pounds (90%) and measured 33 3/4 inches tall (95%). I love the zoo pictures because you can see that Zoe isn't that much smaller than the 2-year-olds. During the last couple of weeks I have been putting away lots of the 18 month sized clothes, and today we took out some outfits that Sophie was wearing only a few months ago!

Seaport Village

One of our favorite places in San Diego is Seaport Village. It's full of little shops and walking paths right on the bay. We took the girls there twice to run around on the grass and enjoy the views of the bay (and play with the toys at the best little toy store - Applebox Toys). They were fascinated by the public art, especially these semi-circles made out of some sort of metal that they could climb on. Zoe also enjoyed climbing in and out of the stroller and trying to buckle herself in. Both girls were excited to find a Nemo kite at the kite shop, and they loved trying out all of the hammocks and swings at the Swings and Things store. Sophie quickly learned to spot the Coastguard, and everytime they got near a boat she would say, "Are they getting in trouble?" Overall, this trip to San Diego has to be the best family vacation we've had yet. I don't know if it's because the girls are getting older and are easier to travel with, or if I've just had enough practice now to know what to expect on vacation. Either way, I'm so thankful to Andy for working as hard as he does so that we can take trips like this and make such wonderful memories. I love you honey!!

18 months old

Zoe turned 18 months old while we were on vacation, but we didn't bring Pooh along so she had to wait to get her picture taken. Her check-up is on Thursday, so we don't have any height or weight stats, although I promise you she weighs more and is taller than her last check-up! She has also blossomed a lot in just the last month. Her speech and vocabulary have increased exponentially. Today she counted to seven by herself while counting pennies and putting them in the piggy bank, and I've heard her count up to at least 13 with Sophie. She knows lots of colors (black and pink were the first that she learned a couple of weeks ago, and now she can also identify blue, yellow, brown and sometimes green). Zoe is very strong and can hang on the bars at the playground for a very long time, and she also enjoys climbing and going down the slides by herself. Her favorite things to do at home are read books, throw and catch a ball (she has quite an arm and can actually catch the ball pretty well), play in her kitchen, and play with her dolls (which she likes to put down for a nap). The thing about Zoe that can't be described in a blog post is her expressiveness. I've never seen a child with such a variety of facial expressions and such joy about life. That is something that you have to experience in person!

Breakfast with Elmo and Friends

I think the highlight of our trip to San Diego was the Breakfast with Elmo and Friends. The girls loved meeting all of the Sesame Street characters, and the set-up allowed the kids many opportunities to interact with their favorite furry monsters. Both girls were shy at first, but after a few minutes they were eager to get hugs from Elmo and his friends. At the end of the breakfast, all of the characters danced to a few songs, and the kids got to get up and dance with them. It was absolutely adorable, and we HIGHLY recommend this activity to anyone with little ones who are heading to Sea World.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay, so we're a little late. We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We enjoyed spending time as a family in chilly and damp San Diego where we cooked dinner in the home we rented. It made a great place for us to come back to after our activities during the day. We hope to stay there again someday!