Peanut

Have you heard the news?




Molly May is 14 months, and STILL a peanut. We took her for a weigh-in on Monday, and she's slipped from the 5th percentile in weight to the 3rd, at 18 pounds even.

Her pediatrician doesn't seem overly concerned, but we've been instructed to just keep trying to fatten her up with high-calorie foods.

If only we all had this problem!

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Tubing in Tahoe

Last weekend, we rented a powerboat and an intertube with our friends Thomas and Sabrina, strapped five kids into life vests, and motored off to the center of Lake Tahoe to school our kids in the age-old sport of clinging to the plastic handles of an intertube while bouncing around in a choppy wake.

Equally hilarious and nerve-wracking, the trip turned out to be a giant success with the kids, who a)didn't mind Tahoe's ice-cold water; b) might even be ready for skis in a few years; and c) may have had the most fun laughing hilariously from the rear of the boat as their parents took turns being tossed from the tube.

I know, I just called the rear of the boat "the rear." There's a more technical term for that, isn't there? Luckily, we had Uncle Kyle with us, along with all of his Coast Guard know-how. He drove and docked the boat, and actually was by far the most responsible party on board. It was a day of firsts.

All of the kids tried the tube at least once, but Joey turned out to be the tube hog of the bunch. If he looks like he's in a Zen state of mind in that tube as the wake spray splashed against his goggles, and the snow-covered mountain ranges whizzed by, it's because he was... he only broke out of his trance long enough to give a thumbs up every now and then ("Speed up, Uncle Kyle!").

The other highlight for the kids was disembarking at the tiny island in Emerald Bay, which boasts a small, dilapidated stone "tea room" in the shape of a castle. We had them at "hello." Most of the adults got off the boat and helped the kids clamber up to the top of the island, and all of the little explorers loved it!

Of course, we had an ulterior motive for this crazy expedition. There always is one.

Under the Influence

Joey made this visor during an arts and crafts station at his swim team party last night, while surrounded by little boys and girls decorating much tamer hats with buttons, stickers, paint and markers.

We're thinking he just might be spending too much time with a certain bachelor uncle who loves superheroes, light sabers, and weapons of all stripes.

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Star-Spangled Weekend

Our Fourth of July weekend turned into four days of barbecues, birthday parties, and fireworks extravaganzas. We loved all the red, white and blue festivities, and celebrating with friends!

We started off the weekend with the Raley cousins manning a pirate ship in our backyard.

I love the tan line that Joey (aka Jose) is showing off here! Is he really related to all these pale Irish girls??

It's always neat to see different cousins playing and interacting... here's Bridget and Clara pretending to be cover girls, and Megan snuggling with Molly.

Later that evening, we barbecued with the Martin-Millers... I'm not sure how hygienic it is to ask eight sweaty, grass-stained kids to shuck corn for dinner, but they had a blast!

The next day, we headed to Loomis to celebrate Briana and Brandon Alfonso's second birthday! The kids loved all of the bouncehouse and water fun to be had there!

I love these pictures of Molly and her doppelgangers... in case anyone is wondering what she'll look like in a year, they don't need to look any further than Annie and Tessa!

On the Fourth, we celebrated with all of our Lamorinda Davis friends, with more pooltime, BBQ, and some sparklers and poppers!

Bad-A**

At three and three quarters, Clara seems to be sloooowly moving out of her "terrible threes" phase. She can be an angel when she wants to be, but for the better part of six months, she's much preferred living on the edge and indulging the devil on her shoulder.

It's been a wild ride. Why eat your dinner when you can gag on it instead? Why put your carseat straps on when instead you can be taking stealth sips of three-day-old soda from the drivers' console while Mommy is strapping in the baby? Why play nicely with your brother when there's so much fun to be found in punching him in the arm? And best of all, why go to sleep at night when pounding your feet on your bedroom wall and waking your baby sister is clearly the better call?

Needless to say, she spent a lot of time over the last year parked on her bottom in the corner of the living room, thinking over transgressions like talking back, hitting, whining... and worst of all, smirking. We don't want to jinx ourselves, but we're finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with a sweeter, more obedient and more compliant little girl who is helpful, remembers her "pleases" and "thankyous," and seems to actually relish chores like feeding the washing machine, brushing her teeth, and practicing her letters. 

But while she's easier to manage these days, she's retained a fearless, wild-child edge that is both terrifying and hilarious. Are we raising a sociopath, or merely a future Army Ranger? You be the judge.

Her favorite pasttime right now is donning her bike helmet, jumping on her bike... preferably without pants... and racing around the backyard, dodging patio furniture, BBQs, dogs and babies.

She jumped off the diving board last week into nine feet of water (thanks to Adam Koplan for spotting her!), wearing her life vest only under duress. And at a barbecue over the Fourth of July weekend, she wowed a yard-full of party-goers by being the first kid in a packed pool to brave the diving board. In classic Clara fashion, she made me swim far away from the diving board so she could jump "all by herself."

Her pain tolerance continues to be off the charts; factor in the fact that she often lives in a rich alter universe, and she might be destined for the circus. After falling off the concrete steps outside our back door the other day, Clara stood up and dusted herself off quickly, and with typical bravado, assured me, "I'm okay, I'm okay."

I wasn't so sure.

"There's blood dripping down your leg, Clara."

 "That?" She peered closer, licked her finger, and wiped the blood away. "That was just a hair from my Ariel doll."