books.

siena loves books these days. we mainly read them at night, but if she's not reading them she is walking around with one or stuffing a few in her backpack. alexis was over the other night around bedtime and siena plopped herself right down in alexis' lap to read a few stories. it was very sweet.

big kids.

khalil, ayamila and siena are so big these days. i sometimes miss my babies...

teacher.

so nice to have an older friend to teach you things like what an eraser is for. previously siena thought erasers were to put into her mouth and take small bites of, but muluk cleared that up the other day when he showed her how to erase pencil lines (look closely at siena's tongue). then they ate pickles.

jumping...

siena is a major jumper these days, i think i've mentioned this before. last week while hanging with the cousins she had too much fun on their trampoline. giancarlo, khalil, muluk and siena had an amazing jumping/wrestling/playing time together. i was totally impressed how giancarlo made the experience almost tear free and entertaining. after the trampoline aya helped put cream on muluk's booboo while siena watched closely, what sweet children they all are.

a cat...

siena got a new cat this past friday. her name is dos gatos because she has two heads.

multitasking.

siena is very into multitasking these days. in these photos she is riding her bike while eating peaches and holding onto some very special toys including her doll penny. also notice the black and yellow jordan's that auntie tartar gifted us with. i swear that siena jumps higher in them, no joke!

barrel tasting...

on sunday we drove up to my dad's barrel tasting and got to not only taste great wine, but visit with some family. it was pretty hot up there so we went to the square to run around under the trees and feed the ducks some bread (thanks baba for getting us the bread). it was a nice end to a full weekend.

the pool.

lucky for us grandma magda and grandpa seymour live in a community with a pool. siena and i made our way down there for a quick dip and even got to play with auntie tartar, lindsey and papa. the cool shades were a gift from papa, too cute!

school!

today was siena's first day of school (really daycare, but it's more fun to say school). she's attending a small home daycare run by a lovely woman and her assistants, with about 12 children. today i left while siena was riding on a tricycle in the backyard. i told her to say good- bye to mama and she looked at me and waved. so i took my cue and left. there where no tears, it was beautiful. she was there for about an hour and then i picked her up during circle time. when i came to pick her up they were singing a sweet song that i often sing to siena. the whole experience made me feel really good. let's hope tomorrow is just as smooth.

getting closer...

even with 11 months between them, you can see sinai and siena growing closer in their interests and abilities every day.

our friend miss toscana.

siena and i went over to visit toscana and aleishall the other day. the girls loved seeing one another. there were squeals, running in circles around the house, and even some dress-up. i love these two girls!

tahoe with papa.

last weekend papa treated us to a lovely trip to tahoe. we stayed at a very nice resort and despite siena being a little under the weather, had a pleasant time. siena loved the golf carts, the water slide, and the arcade the best. we also went to the top of squaw and swung on the swings, biked next to the truckee river and ate ice cream by the pool. it's a treat to get away, thank you papa.

tacos & beer.

our friend toby turned thirty recently so we celebrated at this great place called the beach chalet across from ocean beach. on tuesday nights they have cheap tacos and beer. siena and muluk were in heaven as soon as we got there. big grassy area, kids running around, over a dozen dogs, live music and yummy tacos. there were other birthday celebrations going on as well and the kids got their hands on lollypops from an pinata. this was a first for siena and she was loving it. after i thought she had enough i asked her to pass it to me and she did with no fighting, what a good girl. we danced into the night and the kids fell asleep within minutes of getting into the car. a nice summer evening it was.

park fun...

just another afternoon at the park with friends (rachel, hudson and muluk).

khalil & aya.

the wonderful cousins came for an overnight and siena couldn't have been more excited. we played at the park, watched movies (siena is not really interested yet, thankfully), ate tons of snacks and sang happy birthday to georgia. i think siena's favorite part was waking up sunday morning and having the cousins crawl into bed with us. we love khalil and ayamila!