Memorial Day

How quickly we forget the true meaning of Memorial Day.... more often we think of it as a day off of work marked with warm weather and a bbq but the true meaning, remembering those who serve and have served our country should not be lost. We had a special treat this year when Opa put on his Air Force uniform to be part of a ceremony and celebration in Napa. He stopped by afterwards so the kids could check out his sharp looking duds.Everyone was very impressed with all Opa's ribbons and medals... and even his nametag.
Madison even got to try on Opa's hat.Thank you and God Bless all those that our serving or have served our country.

New tricks at the park...

Watch what I can do... is a phrase we hear a lot around our house these days. Madison is climbing and jumping and swinging from everything.. probably time to pick up those gymnastic classes again. We love meeting our friend Riley at the park in the afternoons to work on our tricks! Here are a few .....going down the slide headfirst....Going down the slide on our knees??
Hanging upside down on the monkey bars....
and the newest and coolest... going across the monkey bars all by herself

Tante Friedel turns 100!!

On Saturday Tante Friedel turned 100... an amazing milestone for an even more amazing woman. For those of you who don't know who she is... she first started taking care of Mark when he was 10 months old. She started out as a babysitter but quickly became a treasured friend and family member. We enjoyed dinner with her every Wednesday night until recently and this always included a wonderful and long back rub!! She lost her husband to the concentration camps in Germany and has seen so much in her lifetime but she is always positive and full of class. She has a hard time hearing and seeing but other than that is in great health and even better spirits!! They held a tea for her at the Heritage House where she lives. In the pic below you can see she is just slightly appauled at Jack's meltdown....but he recovered quickly and charmed her with a birthday kiss. Tante Friedel came to see Madison in the hospital when she was born and watched her grow and develop over the past 3.5 years... we feel so blessed to have her in our lives! This was a picture of Jack charming all the ladies with his piano "skills". I am sure the place is still recovering from "hurricane Jack"
Happy Birthday Tante Friedel.... we love you and wish you many happy returns!

Bollywood Party

One of the auction items we got this year was for a "Bollywood Party" put on by two of the moms in Madison's preschool class. The party was on Sunday and it was so much fun... they had the kids dress in traditional garb, wear the "bindi" (jewels on the forehead), they tried Indian cuisine and the highlight was learning some traditional Indian dances. These are pics I downloaded from Andrea so they are blurry until I can get the originals....
The three muskateers....

Mother's Day

It was a busy Mother's Day trying to celebrate all the wonderful moms in our lives. We kicked off the weekend with a wonderful picnic in the Marin Headlands with Lena and John and Kami who was visiting from NYC. Lena is feeling good so thank you for all your prayers we have a lot to celebrate in that!! (Note: the black eye was from an accident with a cart at Home Depot)We brought a wonderful lunch, some kites and some bubbles to enjoy the beautiful views and vistas. Oma loves spending time with Madison and Jack and we are lucky she is so involved in their daily lives. And they love their Oma... from her patience in a 2- hour walk down Chestnut with Jack who has to stop and wave at every bus, truck, and dog or teaching Madison German and and taking her on special playdates which usually involve french fries and some form of chocolate... but that's what Oma's are for. Thank you for all you do for us... we love you!!Sunday... we were off to Danville to celebrate with Grammy....and the crew. My mom is such a source of inspiration, I am constantly wondering how she did it with all of us and now to see her as "grammy" we are so lucky. The kids love the time they spend at Disneyland... I mean "Grammy's" and all the fun projects she has for them. She is a role model for me and has given so much of herself and her time to help me be a good mom... so thanks Mom for being you and for all that you do.. we love you!!
This was a Mother's Day cheers... to all the moms (especially Julie who was celebrating her first Mother's Day) and more importantly to having successfully gotten all 6 kids down for a nap so we could enjoy a calm and quiet lunch.
It was a wonderful day spent outside by the pool. My favorite part of the day was the recordable card Madison made for me that I have played at least 100 times since I got it. Time flies but I feel so blessed to be the mother of these two lovable munchies!! Thanks also to Mark for breakfast in bed and letting me sneak out to the gym... you are a wonderful husband and Dad... I love you!! (It's Mother's Day.. I get to be a little cheezy on my blog, right?)

Easter celebrations

We kicked off Easter on Thursday night with an egg decorating party with Oma, Opa and Tante Renate who was visiting from Denver. Oma was right there guiding Madison through the whole process... it was so cute. Madison took the whole project very seriously and loved mixing all the colors together. On Saturday... we continued the Easter celebrations by joining the Brinkers and Grammy and Poppo for an easter egg hunt in Pleasant Hill. It was such a great time... topped off by a visit from the Easter Bunny!! This was Jack's first egg hunt so at first he wasn't quite sure what all the fuss was about but when he discovered it was an open field to run and that the eggs had treats in them.. it was game on! Madison was such a great big sister helping him collect the eggs in his basket.. but making sure she took the treats out first. It was fun to see what a difference a year makes... Madison was definitely into it this year... along with the hundreds of other zero to three year olds at this hunt. It was a wonderful morning and thank you to the Brinkers for hosting us... we will definitely be making this one a tradition. This was the sight Madison and Jack woke up to on Easter morning... we were so excited to show them their baskets... little did we know Madison had already discovered the baskets and carefully unwrapped the chocolate bunny and took a bite of his ears. For the first few minutes Mark and I were perplexed and pointed the finger at each other but soon enough Madison came clean, "Mom, I woke up and came right to the kitchen, I bite the chocolate bunny's ears, and then I took off my diaper". How can you argue with that honesty?

Jack in the corner... discovering his first piece of chocolate.

Sunday we went to mass at St. Agnes and came back to our house with Oma and Opa for brunch. Opa is known for his scrambled eggs... and this year he had an apprentice in training.

Relivin' those glory days

The Saturday before Easter we spent in Daly City for the SI Alumni Game. This was Mark's at-bat.. the second one... the first one wasn't pretty and he is STILL talking about it!!
That's a hit.... unfortunately it was still a blow out.. but maybe next year boys!! The SI alumni game is always a lot of fun and it's fun to watch the progression.... the girls all go to cheer on their boys and we went from talking dating issues, to wedding planning to pregnancies and now no one has time to talk because everyone is chasing their little ones. This is Mommy taking one for the team...
After the game... the boys took the kids to run the bases.And practice a few left-handed pitches from the mound.
I also took some great family shots of everyone after the game except the D'Angelo's.. sorry!
This was ours....
The Romios' with new addition Olive in the sling.
The Eggert's sporting the wind-blown look...The Grochol's... Steve, Robin, Ryan and Reese.
The Cecchin's... grandparents and all... they got the award for family most-decked in SI gear!!

Girls trip to San Diego

Madison and I headed to San Diego for the weekend to see the Neal's (Anne, Mike, Zeke and baby #2 due in July). Madison has become quite the seasoned traveler and loved the airplane ride.

Madison and Zeke hit it off right away (I think having a younger brother really helped). They were instant pals and had a great time getting to know each other.
Mike did a great job of teaching Madison how to feed the fish... this was a twice daily ritual. This was them being silly before bedtime after they had a special treat of some ice cream...

Saturday we headed to Irvine to meet Bishop Fleming and it was a beautiful day in Southern California. M'lissa made a quite an effort for this meeting but we were so grateful to get to hold him and catch up... lunch was a bit hectic but I think we managed to finish a few sentences.This was Bishop's first photo shoot with his new friends... Madison and Zeke who were much more interested in him than he was in them!!
M'lissa looks great and motherhood is a perfect fit!
Saturday afternoon we headed to the beach close to the Neal's house and this is one of my favorite pics....
We had to get one pic by the water... to symbolize our first mommy/daughter trip.. hopefully the first of many to come!
We ended the weekend with a wonderful lunch with Anne's parents and a quick trip to the park! Thanks Anne, Mike and Zeke for a wonderful weekend...we'll be back!!