Little Models

We braved the wind and the fog on the beach two nights ago to get some pictures of the girls taken by a friend of mine. Lorraine Murphy lives in our neighborhood and takes her two little boys to all of the same local haunts that I drag the girls to every week. She's been taking amazing pictures of her boys for the last couple of years, and just recently decided to start her own photography business. When she asked if she could photograph the girls to build her portfolio, I jumped at the opportunity, especially since I've seen what a beautiful job she does.

We decided to meet at Baker Beach, which is just west of the Golden Gate Bridge. (And, yes, these photos were taken just a few days ago, in the middle of the summer. Not all of the beaches in California are sunny and beautiful over the summer!!) We got several pictures there, although the babies were literally shivering, so we decided to move to another park near the Cliff House for less wind and happier babies! The first half of these pictures were taken at the beach. Matt and I weren't quite prepared to be in the pictures, so we weren't really dressed for it. But, I am not choosy about pictures that contain all of us, especially when the result looks like this!

Homeschooling

Yep, you read that right. We homeschool. It's never too early to begin educating, and we run a pretty rigorous program here -- lots of crayon-chewing and book-eating. Very academic.

Our subjects include:

Reading

Art

Choir

(I apologize in advance for Bridget's super long and very unique rendition of Wheels on the Bus. Who am I to decide how long it should be? Besides, I just can't bring myself to edit video. It's even harder than deleting pictures. In 20 years, I'll want every last second of this video!)

And, recess, of course!

Obviously dress code is not strictly enforced. Sometimes we let the upperclassman come to school without their pants on.

- Posted using BlogPress from my handy-dandy iPhone

Happy Birthday, Bridget!

Our little Bridget turned 3 this weekend! It's hard to believe that she's had three birthdays now, but for a walk down memory lane, here you go (note the big cheeks that have been there since day one!):

July 11, 2007, born at 11:11 pm

(she was destined to be a lucky little girl)

1st Birthday, 2008

2nd Birthday, 2009

and,
3rd Birthday, 2010

Her big day began with presents from Mommy and Daddy, and Mop and Pop. If anyone can get excited about a card, it would be Bridget...

so you can imagine the show she put on when she opened Snow White!

Later, she had a blast at her party. She was a perfect little hostess. She even excused herself mid-present opening to use the bathroom. She's all "growns up" -- sniff sniff.

For even more pictures, you can head here. We're so lucky to have a professional photographer right next door, who is always coming by with his camera. Al got much better shots than we did!

Happy Birthday, Bridget! We can't wait to see what the future holds for you, but are enjoying every moment with you right now :)

Helping Daddy (Tutu Optional)

Matt's honey-do list is pretty long these days, since he needs to fit any house projects we I want done around his work schedule and the needs of four little girls. So, you can imagine his my excitement over his lighter summer schedule. It means that he can tackle some of the things that have been bugging us me for a while. He started this past weekend (on our anniversary, no less. I know, I'm definitely the wife of the year!) and painted the peeling railings on our front steps and interior staircase.

Of course, the hard part is not the work itself. Invariably, Megan and Bridget want in on whatever Daddy is fixing, so he has to wrangle two eager and chatty handygirls while he does his "manly" work --- a delicate balance made more delicate when one of the handygirls insists on wearing a tutu.

By the end of the weekend, railings were painted, Matt knocked some items off of his list and I added a few more ;) Since I don't think I've posted a picture of our house before, and because the handygirls insisted on posing everywhere that day, here is our work in progress:
(And, no, the color is not off. That's the color of our sky during the summer. Fog. All.of.the. time.)

Annie and Molly...

...a one-sided love affair.

Little cousin Molly came for a visit two days ago, and while all of the big kids played together, the babies had a chance to bond a little. Yes, I still call Tessa and Annie "babies," even though I'm very aware they should be called "toddlers" by now :(

Tessa poked a finger or two at Molly, giggled a little, and then settled down to read her books (her favorite thing to do lately when she's not doing some stunt to make Annie laugh). Annie, meanwhile, took this little sit-down very seriously. Imagine a 15-month demanding to hold a baby. That's what happened, over and over again, and Sara just kept giving in and placing Molly on Annie's lap. Annie can be very persuasive :) Doesn't she just look so serious here and motherly here?

When it was time for Sara to hit the road back to Moraga, no one was more sad to see them go than Annie, who clung to Molly's car seat in a desperate attempt to keep her at our house, and then threw a little tantrum. I think Molly was glad for the change of scenery when she was safely in her car!

Clippies, Climbing and Cattiness

Another day, another Stecher party :) This week, we celebrated our nephews Jack and Aidan turning six! They are the first set of twin grandchildren in the Stecher family (that's usually not something you need to differentiate!), and I can't believe they're six already. They had a great pizza party, and the girls had a blast, except for the fact that Tessa and Annie refused to let anyone else hold them. Stranger anxiety x 2 ... except that the "strangers" were Grandma, aunts and uncles. You'd think they'd be more than happy to go to some open arms and some undivided attention for a change. Maybe next time!


Before leaving for the party, I tried something new. Since Tessa and Annie's hair has been slow to come in, they've never had anything in their hair. Sure, I could have been doing cute headbands this whole time, but - let's be honest - I barely manage to change them out of their pajamas most days, nevermind adorn their hair. So, I was attempting to put little clips in their hair for the first time for this party, but they had other ideas. It's hard enough to have a toddler "allow" clips in their hair without yanking them right out. Add in a grabby sister or three, and those "clippies" are doomed. I did manage to get some pictures before Annie's was stolen, and Tessa managed to keep her's in all night. They looked so...old :(

Of course, while I was doing all four girls' hair, things were being undone. This is my life. Matt may be the physics teacher, but I can tell you this: Anytime I try to do anything productive, something opposite and destructive is happening elsewhere. For every action, there is an opposite reaction. While I'm doing the dishes and cleaning up breakfast, the girls are playing "boat" and piling Bridget's bed with every object in their room. While I'm changing a load of laundry, babies are pulling every book off of their bookshelf. I feel like a clean-up crew, just one mess behind the kids all day long. The mischief during our "salon" time? Tessa and Annie decided to perfect their new act of climbing onto the dining room chairs, and then climbing onto the dining room table from there. And then prancing around on the table. Over and over again. Hilarious, right?

Now, chairs can not be trusted on the ground when the babies are on the loose. Or, the babies can not be trusted with the chairs. Either way, something tells me that this will get old:

When we were finally ready to leave the house, we had a little team chat:

Me: "Okay, girls. Raise your hand if you're going to be really friendly tonight."

Tessa: Blank stare. (Obviously she was plotting exactly how loud to cry when a friendly relative attempted to hold her.)

Annie: Blank stare. (Plotting how loud her sympathy cry should be. She still needs to add real tears to this act for it to be believable.)

Bridget (hand up high): "Me! Me! I'm going to be very friendly!"

Megan: "No, I am!! All of the beautiful people...I'm going to talk to them!"

???

No time to even question where that came from. We scrambled out the door and I was left wondering which Disney movie I'm to thank for instilling this principle.