Cute stuff

I'd better put some cute stuff on here so Sara doesn't get mad about the next post...

Joey and Clara enjoy a popsicle dessert at the Cassanego's house last weekend:



Joey and Gitte zone out in front of TV before bed time.



Ice cream before...

Ice cream during...

Ice cream after....

Happy ladies

Happy family...thanks to Sierra Mist for the product placement fee.



Where'd mommy go?



Clara gets a kick out of her musical birthday card.

Here's how the Lyhnes and Cecchins rolled to Martha's Vineyard from Boston. 4 kids, 4 adults, lots of luggage in a 12-person van. I can't believe we fit T and his guitar in here on the way back to Boston.

Joey and Gitte get the giggles...careful, it's contagious.

Clara gets a ride on a boogie board thanks to Joey and Gitte.

Clara shows concern for Joey up high on the sand dunes.

The Stuff Sara Won't Show You

Here's some stuff you won't see from Sara....


Here's how the Raleys control 3 granddaughters (in their defense, this was entirely Joey's idea...and the girls enjoyed the damsels in distress role)










When the balloon lady didn't show up for Clara's party, Hop was the enthusiastic stand-in.

Admittedly, I get way too much enjoyment out of my kids' inability to pronouce "a fork for you!"

Joey is having fun with soccer but he's a little slow in picking up some of the training concepts...

Keep an eye out for the streaking orange shirt (partially blocked by the coach). They're playing red light, green light. But Joey is the only one that doesn't stop when the coach blows the whistle. The poor little girl in the pink pays the price...(volume up to catch my reaction)

Watch Joey in this one...they're supposed to stop when whistle blows and copy what the coach is doing. Poor kid is always one comical step behind.

Here's another thing Sara won't tell you...sometimes, every once in a long, long while, Clara cries.

...but she stops if you put her in front of Wow Wow Wubzy.

Expert flyers

They got plenty of practice this summer. I think this trend will be dying down now that we need to fork over for Clara's ticket too.

Time for a Tim Post

Had a great visit with Mike and Linda Cassanego while in SoCal. Thanks for the great company and fantastic bbq. Joey and Clara enjoyed the drums, piano, and swimming pool.

LBDs and Lawnmowers

Who knew that Little Black Dresses and lawnmowers could be this much fun??

Here are the "big girls" in the Raley clan playing dress-up... Bridget and Megan are naturals in heels, and have even mastered going up and down stairs in size 8 women's shoes!







We watched cousin Tommy a couple of weeks ago, and the un-Sunset-like warm weather practically begged for popsicles and mowing the lawn! Note that Tommy is definitely a Sunset kid at heart; he could only manage to hold on to the popsicle if he had a "mitt" on... namely, a pair of shorts we rustled up from his diaper bag.

Don't make fun of our "city lawnmower" that's plugged in instead of powered by gas!

Are They All Yours?, Part Two

We're such veteran travellers that this weekend we accepted the ultimate challenge: Fly to Orange County (and attend Tim's cousin Gina's fabulous beach wedding!) and then return home with four children instead of two!



Megan and Bridget spent a week with Hop and Mop, getting the royal treatment after 6 months of life with two younger siblings... and then were ferried back home in style by Aunt Sara and Uncle Tim! I know, the picture looks scary, and trust me, I think many fellow travellers suffered whiplash from swivelling around and counting all of the toddlers in our crew as we weaved our way through the airport, but the plane ride could not have gone more smoothly! This bodes well for any future plane trips that Shawna and Matt decide to take!

No Hands!

Joey started soccer last week, and absolutely loves the concept of meeting other kids to play a sport. Genius! (Especially when one of the kids is his preschool crush, Bridget, a little sprite of a girl who looks like Ramona Quimby - they greet each other with squeals of delight, and if we're running late for preschool in the morning, Joey worries out loud in the backseat, "Hurry, Mommy! Bridget is already sitting in circle time!!").





Here's a peek at Bridget's back:



He told us that after soccer is over, he wants to play on a baseball team, and then a football team!

After the first disastrous practice, when Clara realized that soccer was for Joey and not for baby girls, she's come to grips with her role as flower-picker (at least for this season!!).

New Reality

Can you tell we have a child in preschool?

The fridge ornamentation is the least of it. I feel like my life has turned into a bad mommy lit book. The plot goes something like this: Plagued by guilt that my child missed a whole week of school for a family vacation, I was suckered into a volunteer position planning the annual Halloween festival, along with another mom whose name I don't know how to pronounce (despite asking three times already). I've made do by addressing her with an upbeat, "Hey there!" every time I see her. Unfortunately, we've been together a lot over the last couple of weeks, rooting around in the school's supply closet for acres of purple and orange felt, googly eyes, spider tattoos, and meeting for coffee to discuss carnival strategy (who knew it could be so involved?) while I wrangle/ entertain a willful toddler. Every day, it seems like 2 or 3 new forms need to be filled out, a check needs to be written, or I need to sign up to bring a snack or volunteer in the class.

I thought the school years were supposed to be easy, but right now, it feels like a full-time job -- and I really don't know how those with a full-time job do it!!

Happy Birthday Clara!

We celebrated yesterday at Parkside Playground -- the park at the end of our block, and our usual weekday haunt -- and made it extra special with lots of ladybug trimmings, including on the birthday girl herself.







Here she is flitting around, loving the costume Mop made for her!






Luckily, the San Francisco weather gods threw us a bone and the fog lifted for exactly three hours, rolling back in only as we were packing up! Joey really embraced his big brother role when it came time to blow out the candles... it looks like he has her in a vise grip here, but he gave her a kiss for sharing the spotlight :)

Thanks to all who celebrated with us and made it a special day!

Many more pictures of all the cousins and friends can be found here.

Back from Martha's Vineyard!

We ended the summer with a bang with a week on Martha's Vineyard, celebrating Brooke and Moh's fabulous wedding!

We're re-adjusting to West Coast time here, and after being woken at 3 am and 5 am the last couple of days by wide-awake, chipper children, I'm feeling too lazy to post any of my millions of pictures here.

Our crew is below, posing in front of our classy 12-passenger van on our last day. Check out the Picasa slideshow for many more glimpses of an amazing island, a beautiful couple, and an unforgettable wedding!

This About Sums Them Up

The decibel levels in the back seat have been reaching all-time highs lately, with a combination of giggles, screeches, back-of-the-seat kicks, choruses of "Wheee!" and shouted tutorials ("Clawa, say 'jelly.' Now say 'bean.' Now say 'jellybean!' Good job!!").

Lake Temescal, Part Two

Preschool may cramp our style on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but on Tuesday, we took advantage of our gorgeous Indian summer weather, and hit up Lake Temescal again with Grandma and cousin Marco.