Birthday Girl!

Someone turned TWO!

On one hand, I cannot believe Selah is already 2. But on the other hand, I can barely remember our family without her. She's such a funny little girl. We celebrated her birthday a couple of days early at Echo Lake at my familys cabin. Selah was so excited that it was somebody's birthday and she started singing the song as soon as she saw some presents. It was so funny to watch her face as she realized it was all for her.

I loved this little party dress we got as a hand-me-down. She wore it camping on her birthday!


I didn't think Selah was going to be the princess type, but we got some princess dress-up clothes for her birthday and she loved them, so.......here we go!



Selah makes us laugh out loud everyday. She has turned into a big talker and has the sing-songy voice with adult inflections.

*She loves to sing. Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars is her favorite.




*Selah definately has some sass, but she's also a total love-bug. She loves hugs and kisses and cuddles. When she's scared she comes running to me saying "I got you! I got you!"


*Counts everything at the moment. She usually ends up at 22 but if you give her 23 she'll keep going. Yesterday she made it to 50....skipping a few along the way.
*Loves to dance. Walks around on her tippy toes and can be found often walking throughout the entire house backwards.....saying "Look! I'm walking backwards!" always narrating.


*Loves learning people's names and practicing them, introducing people to each other continuously. "Mommy, that's Octavia!" "That's Grandma Summy!" "Daddy, I'm Selah!"
*Always asks "Where's Finn?" first thing in the morning......then"Where's my oatmeal?"
*Likes to do everything herself. I constantly find her pushing a chair across the kitchen to reach a snack.
*Recently loves dress-up, and wearing everyone else's shoes.


*Is rather polite. As she's pushing you out of the way she'll always say "excuse me."
*Has become a super sleeper. Practically puts herself to bed and takes long naps.
*She's big into pretend now. When I check to see if she's awake in the morning I'll often find her just playing in her crib, pretending to put her monkey and bear to bed, tucking them in, kissing them goodnight. It's so adorable.



Selah is such a little firecracker and a joy to be around. I can't wait to see the ways she'll grow and change this next year. We love our little Selah-bob.

Random Kid Stuff

I've been trying to remember to write down the funny things my kids and their friends have been saying lately. I wish I could remember all the quirky things they do. Here are a few.

Finn eating a date: I’m just gonna eat a couple bites because I don’t really like dates. (bite) hmmm….this makes me feel like I DO like dates……but I don’t really do.
(bite) I’m just gonna take a couple more bites. (finishes date.)



I love watching Finn and his friend Gio. They play pretend so well together.
Gio: I’m Captain Gallaxer the Sea Snake!
Finn: And I’m his pirate!
Gio: Yeah, I'll be a sea snake and you guard the castle!

Later, in a game of Sea Snake Hide and Seek - Me finding Finn: "I found one of the sea snakes!"
Gio's voice from under the bed: I wonder where da odder sea snake is?



The other day I was babysitting Gio, and he came up to me and said in all seriousness, "I’m prolly gonna take my pants off and jump on Finn’s bed now."


A couple of weeks ago as Finn and I were walking home from preschool we shared this conversation:

Finn: Mom, are roses and cactuses friends?
Me: I don't know Finn. Why do you ask?
Finn: Because they're both pokey. I think they are friends. Well.....I think cactuses are the brothers and roses are the sisters.

...five minutes later, Finn gets another random thought....

Finn: Mom, are there a bunch of little eiffles living in the Eiffle Tower?
Me: What do you think?
Finn: I think that there are. But they're not scary little eiffles. They're nice.

I love my Finn. I hope he never stops asking those questions.

Now here are some of Selah's quirks:

Selah: running through the house in a panic. "Mom! Mom! A pig says oink oink!"

Sometimes she just runs through the house yelling, "Chasing!!! Running!!!" I don't know who is chasing her.

She used to call "Mommy! Mommy!" from her crib in the morning. This morning it was: "FINNER MAGOO! FINNER MAGOO!"

Sometimes she will be crying/whining for nothing in particular and then when she finally gets my attention she just says in her most pitiful voice,
"Mommy! Mommy!.......I'm crying!" It's hard not to laugh at that point.

I'll end this post with some great pics of my kids at a birthday party where black cupcakes were served. Yes, it did stain. Enjoy.

Are you ready for some Fútbol?

I love May and June! We have Nate's birthday, Mother's Day, my birthday and then Father's Day. We gave each other exactly what we wanted this year for our special days. I got some new clothes and a sushi night out and Nate got CABLE!!...temporarily, for the duration of the biggest soccer tournament in the world. If you're looking for Nate this month, here's where you'll find him.

6:30 AM


With Tivo, I don't think Nate has missed a game. This this morning our couches were full at 7am with friends visiting from SB and Shingle Springs, cheering on U.S.A's exciting win over Algeria. There's nothing like cable to bring people together! ;-)

GO U.S.A!!!!!

World's Greatest Dad

What can I say about Nate that I haven't already said. He's always been a super hard worker, but this year takes the cake. Much like the year he commuted to UCLA for grad school while teaching, we new this gig was going to be hard. True, we are settled into our own home now, closer to family and I'm not working, so that helps keep the continuity at home, but Nate has lived and breathed this new job since the very first day we moved to Northern California. He went from managing a classroom of 6th graders to managing a whole school including teachers, staff and parents. It's not easy. He leaves the house around 6am and comes home around 6pm (on a good night) and still has time and energy to be the worlds greatest dad and husband. Well, last week he wrapped up his first year as a first-time principal and I am so proud of him! He's still working all summer, but with a lot less stress. And WE get to see him so much more now!! Yay!







Things I love about Nate:

*the kiss and whispered prayer every morning as he leaves for work.
*his zest for life and action on the weekends
*the way he gently disciplines the kids
*his willingness to get up with the kids and make a yummy breakfast on Saturday mornings while I go on my long runs
*his very involved bed-time routine with Finn and finding him asleep tucked into Finn's bed.
*his music. the kids love hearing him play guitar and so do I. No matter how much I've heard him play, he always breaks out with a song I've never heard before. His repertoire is endless.
*his romantic gestures. (for my birthday last week he gave us a journal to share, where we will write notes to each other since he is up early and I stay up late. It's been fun so far.)
*His ability to fix and build stuff. (that sounds so macho but it's true)
*His willingness to eat whatever I make for dinner.
*His love for the outdoors. (we just got back from a camping trip in Fort Bragg where all these shots were taken.)
*most of all, I love how hard he works for our family and how much he loves us.

Happy Father's Day Nate. Finn, Selah and I love you more than you know.

Dirt!