July

Here's the newest addition to our backyard. Jeremy has been working on this since Caraline was born and it looks terrific. Still a few more things to do. Our neighbor asked us if we were building a temple. It's just a shed to store all of our stuff in!


Caraline turned 5 months yesterday. She is such a happy baby. Her newest tricks include rolling over, grabbing toys, and she can move herself 360 on her back if she plays for a while on the floor. So she's ready for break dancing.

Yesterday we welcomed my mom home from a month in Bangladesh. She spent the day at Lafayette Reservoir. Gail and Ben brought their kayaks and the girls got to go for a ride. It was a lovely day. Abigail is sporting a wig that Nani brought from Aunt Linda to add to the dressup collection.

Aftermath of a sandy headstand.

Spent last Saturday at the beach, so Olivia had about 5 tons of sand in her body. At one point she was drinking sandy, ocean water from a puddle further up the beach. Lovely! This adds to her current collection of things she has injested from the ground, including cotton candy from her shoe, peanut shells at As stadium, water from the lily pad area at the zoo, etc. It nevers seems to bother her tummy.

We celebrated Daddys birthday last week. Abigail wanted to go to chuck e cheese, but we settle for burritos at home.

Jeremy watched the girls one Saturday morning while I was at a baby shower. They went to Lowes and built binoculars. Adorable photos!

Monthly Post

So it seems that I don't get to updating this blog much more than once a month. There's a lot that has happened since the last time, so here are some photos and updates.

Olivia got to decorating her face the other day, with Abigail's help. Not to be outdone, Abigail wanted to get a picture of herself in daddy's clothes.

Shot of the girls with Gail at her graduation party. She had a busy June...graduated, married, bought a house, and got a new job.

The Jelly Belly Factory tour - always a hit. They are funny about making us all, Caraline included, wear the hats.

Our big event this month was Aunt Gails wedding. Overall, the kids did great and we had a blast. Olivia and Abigail shared a queen bed at the hotel and it was so exciting that they didn't get to sleep until after 10pm that first night. When we pulled up to the hotel (Holiday Inn Express) Abigail was very impressed with how fancy it was. If they weren't running between our and Nani/Papas hotel room next door, they were in the pool. Abigail told her cousin that her mom lets her swim at 10pm every night (not true). Olivia has no fear of water and loved jumping in with the big kids. Abigail has become quite the swimmer and got around just fine.

The girls did great on the wedding day. I learned from last year, threw any biblicial parenting skills out the window and bribed the girls with jelly beans if they would smile for the camera. It worked quite well. Olivia fell asleep right before the ceremony started so we didn't wake her for it. Abigail did a terrific job on her own. Caraline had her cute matching dress on, but also some crazy orange pants because it was a bit chilly until the sun came out in the afternoon. It was a lovely day. Aunt Gail looked amazing and Abigail really enjoyed being part of the festivities. As usual, Olivia was a complete mess by the end of the day. She was really impressed with these banana slugs some little boys found (the wedding was in a park). She came up to me with her own stick and kept saying slug please. For the slugs sake, I didn't help her find one. Olivia walked around and begged food off whomever she saw and had a lot of fun. It was a really special day. Jeremy was an amazing help with the girls too!

Our lovely cousin Melissa played with my kiddos during the rehearsal dinner. It was at the Wilson complex in Santa Cruz, where Ben's folks and grandma live. It was a beautiful setting.

Here are some photos from the wedding.

I wish I could include all of the photos that Abigail snapped during the wedding. They were pretty priceless. Here are just two of them.

Olivia was a total mess, surprise, after the wedding. She helped herself to baskets of strawberries and ate enough sunflower seeds to fill a swimming pool.

Our attempt at getting a photo of the girls with the bride and groom. No such luck. Caraline didn't make many of the photos so we snapped one back at the hotel room of our cutie pie.

That next day we had a day at Natural Bridges State Park. Really nice beach and I loved showing Olivia crabs in the tide pools.

Caraline is four months old now. She weighs 12 pounds and is a typtical petite Smith kid. She is really happy most of the time and loves interacting with her big sisters.

This are their silly faces for the camera.

Caraline's 4th outfit, thanks to the Sidors!

Zoo and Party

We had a lovely day at the Oakland Zoo last week. Sort of a makeup for what I was planning on doing the day of Olivia's birthday, when she ended up with a fever. We went by ourselves and took it easy, having lunch with the chimps and enjoying a nice ride on the carousel. Below is Olivia's I am so happy to be riding face. She doesn't do quite as well getting off but is learning.

We celebrated Olivia's 2nd birthday with 30+ friends at our place for a birthday breakfast. Had lots of yummy food. She was most happy when all of the kids were singing to her.

Elmo cupcakes and party dress compliments of the Sidors.

May Fun

Here's a photo of Caraline on her 2 month birthday.

Fun with our friend Ashton and Olivia with a few extra stickers on her face compliments of Abigail.

It finally warmed up enough for the girls the swim. They had a blast.

Bangladesh jammies. Abigail pretended like she was doing karate in them, which she calls doing Pilates. Then a photo of us girls with our slings and babies about to go on a walk.

Walk for Life 2011. The girls all had a blast and Abigail walked the whole 2 miles on her own!

Olivia was quite pleased we gave her a burger and Sprite, which she clutched tightly to her body most of the afternoon.

Some pre-birthday celebrations with daddy. Can't believe that Olivia is 2! Then, pink doughnuts on the special day. We have the party next Saturday. I am hoping to be able to make Elmo cupcakes.

Some classic Olivia smiles and outfits.