Family Portrait

Gabriela started drawing much more detailed people just very recently. I've been dying for her to make a picture of her family.  She has never been interested whenever I've asked her to make a pic of us.  But yesterday I got out drawing supplies for a totally different project, and before I knew it, she was drawing us.  She drew a circle and said, "This is my Mommy. These are her eyes, here is her mouth, and her nose, and these are her eyebrows." And, this is the first drawing ever where she's actually drawn bodies on the faces!

Gabriela with the cutest smile ever on the left, Mommy, and Daddy

I have to get a frame for this as soon as possible. Can you tell I'm a proud mama? I've been thinking it would be a fun project to save drawing she does of her family over time and then we'd see how her drawings change throughout the years.

Craft Time

After a few hours of craft time and chatting with my friend Morgan, I actually finished a project from start to finish! Gabriela has been waiting for me to turn this fabric into a baby carrier for her.  So as soon as I pulled it out, she knew what it was and requested to wear it immediately!  She asked to see herself in the mirror and giggled excitedly!  

Keady Visit: Day 6

Friday after Gabriela's class was over, we all went bowling! It was fun to hang out with Rhonda too, since she'd been working all week. 

 

Keady seemed to enjoy her first trip bowling!  For a while, both girls had better scores than me, I'm ashamed to say.  Us adults had fun bowling too. 

 

Daddy showing Gabriela some fancy bowling moves.  Backwards bowling, baby.

 

Our bowling princess.

 Keady and her daddy bowling

 

Poor Gabriela was pooped after school and an afternoon of bowling

 

Keady was in charge of all the bowling balls.  Here she is, deciding which ones are okay for us to use. Just look at that face!

After bowling, we took a trip to the bookstore. The girls had so much fun playing with all the toys there and reading books.  Then, we went to the Public Market in Emeryville to grab a bite to eat before calling it quits for the day. 

Keady Visit: Day 5

Thursday was an easy going lazy dazy kind of day.  Two year olds need these days sometimes, especially when they are enjoying a week-long reunion of fun...in the rain. 

So how did the girls stay busy?

 

There was a lot of art work going on

 

The girls climbed up on the couch to watch the garbage trucks come by. Gabriela is always mesmerized by this.   They also watched a movie while eating popcorn and drinking hot cocoa.  A perfect rainy day activity!

Keady went home early on Thursday since Gabriela needed to get up early on Friday to go to her school.

Keady Visit: Day 4

Wednesday we awoke to some sunshine - finally!  I quickly started making plans for a zoo visit.  As soon as we got things straightened out, the sun disappeared and it started hailing. For real.  Luckily, it stopped after a few minutes and the sun came back out.  Unfortunately, our camera started malfunctioning and the battery died on Eric's camera about 10 minutes after we arrived.  The camera gods were against us!

 

We rarely get to see the lions, but this day we saw two, and up close even!

The girls enjoyed brushing and petting the goats.

Keady Visit: Day 3

Tuesday we drove up to San Francisco to spend the day with Keady and family.  We checked out See Saw Cafe, which was similar in concept to Play Cafe in Oakland. Except, See Saw didn't prohibit you from bringing your own snacks, it was much more aesthetically pleasing, and green.  Plus we were the only ones there for a while, which made it even better.   

The girls enjoyed the rocking sheep.  And there was a whole wall full of bins with toy cars, train sets, legos, dress up clothes and accessories, puppets, and more.  They also had a big giant yoga bouncy ball. And who doesn't like those?!

 

They had good snacks too.  The girls enjoyed a plate of salami, cheese, fresh fruit, baked snap peas, and cheese.  The dude cut the cheese into sweet little cloud and star shapes. 

Ellie stayed comfortable the entire time we were there, just resting on a sheep skin.

She's so easy going!

 

Gabriela rocked the dress up accessories

 

We stopped at a park on the way home. One of the benefits of the day being mostly rainy was that the girls had the entire park to themselves!

Keady and Gabriela shared the double stroller on the walk back, wearing shades and checking out videos on Keady's iTouch. Kids are so advanced these days.

After we got back, we played at their hotel suite, ate a delicious Thai dinner with them, and watched Gabriela take care of Ellie.  I mean, seriously.  Look at how gentle she is.  I personally think she's super excited about having a real live Pirate Baby sit on her lap.

Keady Visit: Day 2

Monday it rained all day...you know, just like Tuesday, most of Wednesday, and pretty much the rest of the week.  We had to get creative about where to have indoor fun.  Can you believe it? We've been back since May, and didn't have to worry about how to keep Gabriela busy indoors until February - when her friend was in town visiting. 

So we checked out Play Cafe in Oakland. It's an indoor place with lots of play areas for kids.  The girls had a blast. 

   

There was a playhouse the girls could go inside, several doll houses to play with. 

 Dress up attire.  The fire fighter outfits were the girls' favorite, especially Gabriela's.

 They went for a drive, still clad as firefighters. 

 Checking themselves out in the mirror

Oh, the ball pit. Another favorite for the girls.

That's right, Gabriela's still sporting the fire fighter jacket.

They did some puzzles

 

And went back to the ball pit.

The girls decided to do a little cooking in the kitchen.

What's on the menu?  It looks like sushi, noodles, some giant blocks of cheese, potatoes, pizza, and ketchup and mustard.

"sharing" their snack at the cafe outside the kitchen.

clearing the table.

And then, back to the ball pit to bury Gabriela.  

(by this time, she had removed the fire fighter costume.)