New Glasses Envy

Nine!

We have a nine year-old!! I'm pretty sure this should be impossible, since he was just born yesterday, but we went ahead and celebrated our big guy with a fun family outing that included some of Joey's favorite things: baseball, his boy cousins, a yummy dinner, and chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

 

But first, we opened presents at home, with the Christmas tree providing a festive birthday backdrop (which I swore I would never do to my January baby!). He is now the proud owner of a massive baseball bag that can hold all of his catchers' gear, batting helmet, bat and glove. When it stands on end, it's almost as tall as he is!

 

 

Hidden inside the bag was a new Under Armour sweatshirt (the equivalent cool factor of Guess or Cavaracci for kids in 80s) and his very own tablet... 

 

 

Do you see that maniacal gleam in his eyes when he realized just what he was holding?

 

 

He was absolutely stunned and thrilled! He even has his own email address!

 

 

Finally, he unwrapped an amazing surf photograph that we had bought in Hawaii for his new bedroom in the new house.

 

This is one lucky nine year-old!

 

 

Later that day, the whole Cecchin family cleared their calendars to meet at the batting cages in Pacifica, which was as fun for the grown boys -- and Grandma!! -- as it was for the little boys! 

 

 

 

 

After batting, we headed to the Surf Spot in Pacifica, where the boys all modeled their UA gear and subtly battled for ownership of the volleyball.

 

And then, the best part in Joey's book...cake!

 

We could not be more proud of this amazing little man!

Littlest Kicker

At long last, we have a third kid on the Saturday morning sports schedule! Molly May could not be more pumped, and we could not be more stretched! But logistics issues aside, we loved seeing her excitement while pulling on her brand-new shin guards for the first time, and joining her "Little Grasshoppers" teammates in indoor soccer. This little one has been an awesome, patient bystander for a long time, and finally has the chance to be cheered on by her brother and sister!

For the first game, there was a lot of breathless running with no ball contact, a lot of spacy goal-keeping, and a lot of chit-chatting with some of her best buddies, Dylan and Ava. In other words, it was classic preschool soccer!

 

 

School Mugshots 2014-2015

The results are in: the Cecchin kids are apparently extremely unphotogenic and go on vacation at the wrong times. We finally got our kids' school pictures back, after re-takes for Joey and Clara (the first tries were truly awful), and jumping on the second session for Molly, since we were in Hawaii for the first round.

Here they are, in all their glory, 3rd grade, 1st grade and Pre-K!

 

Fort Funston on New Year's Day

Nothing gets Tim or the dogs quite so giddy as when we round the bend on the Great Highway and catch a glimpse of the sandy bluffs of Fort Funston, our old stomping ground for dog walks in the City.

We made the trek over to this slice of doggy heaven on New Year's Day, marveling at the pep in Jake's 12 year-old step as he navigated the familiar dunes and trails, and wondering just how many more trips here he would be able to enjoy.

Ringing in 2015

You know you're officially the opposite of hip when your plans for New Year's Eve begin at 5pm, and they take place at a bowling alley... with your own three kids, plus three other families. Luckily, this night was pretty much the coolest night ever for Joey, Clara and Molly. They loved everything from the dorky shoes to the fluorescent balls to the pizza to the computerized screens with their names on them!

 

Here's to a new year full of this kind of fun!

 

 

 

Snapshots from Christmas 2014

December flew by in a flash, leaving us with lots of cookies, a few extra pounds, an ungodly amount of cardboard and wrapping paper, too many toys, and some pretty fun family memories!

 

The week before Christmas, we kicked off the holiday festivities with a pageant, three class parties, a visit to Santa Claus, some movie dates with friends, and a trip to Yuba City to see rising star and friend from babyhood Lily Miller perform as a shin-kicking child in The Baddest Angel Band.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

We squeezed in some do-good time with the kids, and joined Tim at his office while he and his work colleagues assembled 65 bikes for kids at the Oakland Boys and Girls Club.  Tim has never assembled a bike for one of his own offspring, but managed to whip together five lickety-split for underprivileged kids. Maybe it had something to do with his cute assistants...

 

 

 

Before we knew it, it was Christmas Eve, time for this crazy crew of cousins to gather for food, fun, and an impromptu talent show!

 

 

Our Christmas morning highlights were a walking puppy for Clara, a Samantha doll for Molly May, and a compression sleeve for baseball and walkie-talkies for Joey!

 

We snuck in some quick Christmas morning pictures at the new property and showed Hop and Mop the progress on the new house...

... and then headed to Pacifica for a Christmas lunch Grandma and Grandpa, aunts and uncles and more cousins!

Another happy, chaotic, cousin-crazy Christmas in the books!