excitement!

rocco makes these new great faces when he's excited. they're hard to capture because they involve a lot of movement, but you can get the idea from these photos. i hope to catch it on video soon. it really is the best.

a backyard swim...

first bike ride...

nick took rocco on his first bike ride last weekend. they went all the way to a park in berkeley and back. now rocco talks about the bike every time he sees it and enjoys just sitting next to it to play with the wheels.

isla...

we had a nice dinner with isla and her parents last week. it has been some time since we got together as families and isla is a whole different girl. the kids played very nicely together and especially enjoyed the fuzzy bean bag. we hope to see them again soon.

laundry basket fun!

mimi's back...

and we're so glad to have her.

four dollar happiness...

after seeing my newly painted nails siena decided it was time to get a pedicure herself. i thought she might forget about this plan of hers, but when i went to pick her up from school she had even told her teachers about it. so off to the nail place we went. siena choose sparkly pink of course and was very excited to show off her nails to everyone we saw over the next few days.

georgia!

rocco's new favorite pal.

cousin love.

siena and aya have a deep fondness for one another that continues to grow, not very surprising. however, the fondness between rocco and khalil despite their almost 8 year age gap is pretty cool to witness. we're very thankful for cousins.

sunday with tutu...

waiting...

still waiting for julius' baby sister to arrive. the kids tried to get the process started with a jam session.

auburn!

we finally took the drive to auburn to visit noonie, auntie joan and al. it was a long drive, but a great trip. we got to see nonnie's new place, play in the garden, visit with auntie joan and al's sweet dog, and eat a good meal. i'm glad we made the trip and i hope to come again soon.

boots and ballet-tards...

siena and toscana have decided that leotards are actually ballet-tards, duh!

in the box.

home time.

santa cruz!

early sunday morning we decided to drive to santa cruz for the day. luckily rebecca and her family were free to spend the day with us. we went to a great fall festival on the campus farm, played baseball in the front yard, and ate a nice dinner. the quick trip made the weekend really feel like a weekend. hope to do it again soon.