yoga, libraries, and copy cats

i went to yoga this morning... bright and early at 7:30am.. it was lovely, a great way to start the day. then i came home and the girls and i hung out and went grocery shopping and to farmer's market while charlie was at the library. yes, that's right.. all day he was in our local berkeley branch studying for the LEED exam - a certification for sustainable building practices. reminiscent of college days a bit! more of the same tomorrow, no doubt!

sammy is in a total copycat phase - she just worships her sister and loves to do whatever stella is doing. today i guess stella decided she was hot (no idea how that's possible since it was a cool day here) and so she stripped down naked. then sammy came over trying like hell to pull her shirt and pants and diaper off, saying "OOFF!" (aka "off")... then she too was running around naked!

i refrained from taking pics of their cute booties and posting them for you all to see - i am proud.

stella also decided that she should copy ME - and she had me put my baby carrier on her (way too big, so I had to do some crazy rigging up!). and then she put her little cabbage patch in there for a ride for the next hour or so!

all in a saturday's work for the wellborn girls!

tahoe snow!

we went to tahoe this weekend, with grandma and grandpa neuman.. it was lovely -we stayed in a great house (a friend of mine was so kind to let us stay at his place since he was not coming up this weekend). stella had her first adventure on skis - she went to ski school at Squaw Kids, and was too adorable! great balance, didn't fall much, but didn't really get the whole "slow down with the snow plow" thing... as a reward for her hard work, she got to jump on the bungee tramp for a while and had a great go of that (sammy preferred to hang out on grandpa's shoulders and just watch the whole thing)...

we had plenty of snow, so we build a snowman (really more of a snow bear/dog) in the backyard. and we went sledding - which was great fun! we had fun in the hot tub, made snow angels and just relaxed.

stella really enjoyed the foreign substance we call "snow", but sammy wasn't having ANY of it... (see pics!)

it was a great treat to have grandma and grandpa join us - their first time to tahoe, and they were good sports - getting on their snow suits/boots/etc. and joining in on the sledding adventures! grandpa made an amazingly realistic carrot out of the playdoh during "arts & crafts" time, and he also played a mean game of hide & seek with stella! grandma exercised a lot of patience - playing game after game and puzzle after puzzle, and she also brought some pretty darn cute snow outfits, hats, mittens for the girls!

grandma ginny's visit

grandma ginny came to visit us for a long weekend... she spent some time looking for an apartment out here in berkeley- we are soooo excited that she's planning to move out here in may! the girls are going to be happy to have her close and get to spend more time with her - because, as stella says, "texas is TOO far away!"...

we hung out together, had dinner at pizziaola (so tasty, especially their thin crust pizza with fresh arugula on top!), and went to see a native american dance/story performance, and she even babysat the girls while charlie and i had valentines day romance - we went to the oakland zoo and learned about the mating habits of the wild animals... and then topped it off with sushi, chocolate fondue, and dinner at our local favorite indulgence - corso.

thanks grandma!

can't wait to see you in may!

beach babes & squirrels

we decided to drive down the hill, a whole 6 minutes away... and go to the beach for the day! daddy was (still) working on the bathroom remodel, so the girls and i packed up our shovels, beach blanket, water, and some cookies!

we had a good time playing in the sand and wading (NOT swimming) in the water. the girls were having such a great time playing in the sand that they shared an impromptu kiss - warms my freakin' heart!

then, we busted out our snacks and a squirrel came RIGHT up to us and stella offered him her cookie. he sat there, about 2 feet away munching and crunching and then he came back for more and frankly wouldn't leave us alone! then he called his little friends and it felt a bit like a seen from "the birds"! stella was a bit regretful about the cookie, and sammy was downright pissed that he might think he was getting away with any of hers!

no wonder the sign (that i saw on the way out) says "please, don't feed the squirrels!"...

chinese lunar new year

stella's pre school teachers arranged for some dancers to come celebrate chinese lunar new year with the kids in all the classes at the girls' school. it was quite a to do and stella was held in rapt attention during the entire performance.

afterward, she even posed with the lion/dragon costume head, but sammy was having NOTHING of it... she buried her head into my shirt during the whole thing and didn't look up until the drums and music and cheering had stopped!

go team! cowboys & cheerleaders

one of stella's dress up outfits is NOT a princess or fairy (believe it or not), and it's a cheerleader outfit, complete with little pom poms... and one of our favorite outfits to put sammy in any day of the week is her tony romo cowboys jersey! so stella and sammy happened to have each of these things on and decided to yell "go cowboys!", and "go mavericks!" and "go stars!" and "go giants!".... (sorry rangers, you've been replaced by one local SF team!).

they were too cute, rah rah'ing all over the place... but don't let those fierce faces fool you - check out the shoes they had on their feet while raising the roofs with their cheers....

my future is so bright... i gotta wear shades

these girls kill me... stella got some sassy sunglasses and decided to pose for me with them, out front with the camelia bush. it was quite cute... she "kissed" the flowers, put them up to her face, smiled, got serious, etc... quite the photo shoot! then sammy got in on the fun and swiped the shades when stella went to the bathroom and she also gave the camera some love!