Christmas Photo, Santa Streakers, and the "Cissy Bus"

I'm not kidding - of the 30 photos we took to get a family Christmas photo, this is the closest we got to having everyone looking at the camera and everyone smiling (Stella's doing her "camera smile"):

Nothing better than being naked while wearing a santa hat!
New bath time fun - Bubble Beards!
Stella's:
Fiona's (well, it's almost gone, but she did get another one):

Our new Saturday routine is to take a trip up to the library after breakfast and before naps. To make this trip even more, insanely exciting, we take the bus ("cissy bus" as they call it). It's an easy, 5 minute ride. We spend about 10-20 minutes in the library, then walk around the block, and catch the bus home! It all takes about an hour and it excites them enough to fall asleep quickly for their nap, and talk about all week.

A few photos from the bus ride last Saturday...

Stella making sure the driver's watching the road:

Fiona - "Is that damn camera in my face again?"

Uh-oh! Someone's getting on the bus

Cookies, Carousel, Camera Smiles

This year, Stefan and I decided to begin our own family tradition of baking a batch of cookies and letting the girls help. I found an egg free recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies (egg free is important because of little fingers being unable to resist the temptation to eat cookie dough - and I mean Stella and Fiona's little fingers, not mine). They loved being able to help make the cookies, and now call cookies "pat, pat, pat" because their job was to pat the cookie dough flat.

Some photos from Thanksgiving Cookie Hour:

Stella patting the cookie dough into shape:Fiona patting her cookie dough:Little fingers picking out a raisin:Stella really wants a cookie, but is being told that they are too hot:Fiona looks out the window in an attempt to distract herself while waiting:Fiiiiiiiiiiinallllllyyyyyy:

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, I realized that for as much as we talk about buses, the girls have never been on one. Nor have they ever been downtown (I generally avoid it at all costs). So after breakfast, we schlepped them to the bus stop, excitedly hopped on the #11, and both girls promptly started crying. Fortunately, the crying was only in bursts, and the ride was only 8 minutes. We passed the morning at the Westlake Center where they've just lit up a (sadly anticlimatic) Christmas tree, there is a carousel, and Santas are doing photos in the windows of Nordstrom's and Macy's. While looking at the carousel, a man overheard us wondering how much tickets were and gave us a couple of extras that he'd bought. The fake Christmas trees in Macy's were a little confusing, but the jingle bell ornaments were a hit. Boots on display in windows drew more interest than anything. The bus ride home was much happier, and we've been hearing about the "city bus ride" all day.

Here are a few photos from the morning (we weren't obnoxious enough to take photos on the bus)...

Stella enjoying the carousel ride (from the bench seat):Fiona was a little more apprehensive:And remained so:Waiting for the bus to go back home:

A few more odds and ends... talking is pretty much underway, and the conversations are getting funnier and better. Some stuff they pick up and decide to say in German, others in English - there's really no rhyme or reason to it. They can both climb into their own high chairs and Fiona is getting the buckles down. Stefan's pulled out his guitar and learned Rock-a-bye Baby and Old MacDonald, and to hear the girls "singing" is enough to melt hearts.

Stella's latest "camera smile:"
Fiona's latest "camera smile:"

Watch the video to see if you can catch everything going on here. It's an example of how the girls know exactly what they are talking about, even if Stefan or I don't understand exactly what they're saying:

We're eating cauliflower, which Stella has been calling "broccoli." I asked Fiona what she's eating, Stella points to the stove (where more cauliflower was in the pan), says "broccoli" (well, she says something like "botli") and then she she starts doing the sign for "flower" (putting her hand to her nose as if smelling a flower). I wasn't putting all of that together, and couldn't figure out what she was pointing at, which is when I ask if she saw a flower. Notice how they both correct me when I ask if Fiona has a flower on her shirt.

I was still confused as to what Stella was talking about and why she kept signing "flower" so I changed the subject so that she wouldn't get frustrated. That's when I asked about the bibs, because it's always an amusing conversation. Fiona is wearing the coveted bib that says "I am your tootsie wootsie." To try to make the other bib appealing, we call it the "funky monkey bib." They call the bibs "wootsie" and "aa-aa" (as in a monkey sound). At the very end, just as the video is ending, Stella starts suggesting that Fiona (Vri-vri) wears the monkey bib instead.

After I stopped recording this video, Stefan finally put together what Stella was saying. "Broccoli" and "flower." Excitement and excessive reassurance that we finally understood what she was saying followed.

Hour Long Walk Around the Block

If you are a friend of mine on Facebook, you may have noticed my status update recently that said this:

Stella really wanted to go to work this morning. She put on Fiona's vest (inside out), got her "backpack" (little butterfly bag), and followed Stefan out the door while saying "Del-ya wook...backpack." So I bundled the girls up and we took another lovely, hour long walk around the block.

Stella was so adamant and sweet about going to work that I looked outside to make sure it wasn't raining. It took us about 15 minutes for everyone to get socks, shoes, sweatshirts, hats and jackets on, and it still wasn't raining, so off we went.

Lately, we've been able to take some really nice walks - but I'm not kidding, they are litterally around the block, and they can last longer than an hour. The girls know enough to stay with me, or at least listen when I tell them to stop and wait for me. We'll see how long that lasts. There are a lot of distractions along the way: leaves on the ground, people to stop and stare at, people who stop and stare at them, rocks, windows, water hoses, sirens, busses, squirrels, pine cones, flowers, sticks, dirt, etc.

Here are some photos from this morning's walk. Stella is wearing the vest that my mom bought for Fiona (Fiona is fine with sharing), and Fiona is wearing the pink and white jacket.

Pockets, Monkeys, Uncle Thomas, Hair Cuts

Stella LOVES walking around with her hands in her pockets. Whether they're on her pants, sweatshirts or jacket, she's a happy little camper when she finds them:

"What's that around her neck?" you ask... Stefan's brother and girlfriend came to visit en route to New Zealand and they brought the girls a monkey that has velcro on the hands and feet. We quickly realized we'd need two monkeys (something we don't do very often is buy 2 of the same thing).

Fiona also likes pockets and monkeys, but she doesn't like being told to stand back against the wall for a photo:

Thomas and I took the girls to a local library to see fire trucks. Here are Fiona and Thomas:
On the way home, Thomas and Stella:

Stefan and I finally got up the courage to chop off the back of their fly-away hair that made them look like little Unabomber terrorists...

Checking out Daddy's sore knee while also showing off their newly (unevenly) cut hair:

Just a Phase

No, this is not allowed. And you'll notice, with the exception of the first photo, there are no chairs around because my threats of "If you climb on the table one more time, I'll take the chairs away..." are not empty.

On their play kitchen:
Problem is that once Stella gets up, she can't get down. Then Fiona wants to join her:
Two stuck babies:
Different table, different day, same Stella:

Lunch in San Francisco

A friend of mine is a flight attendant for Alaskan Airlines, and even though she's had two years off for maternity and "new mama" leave, she still gets to take advantage of some perks... like vouchers to fly stand-by for free! So, before she returns to work (in a few weeks), she treated a few fellow friends to a day in San Francisco.

The day couldn't have gone smoother or better if we had done any planning. Everything from the timing of flights to the weather was perfect. We said "bye" to our spouses and babies at 7:30 am, breezed through check in and security with enough time to get food and coffee; boarded; landed in Oakland and took BART into San Francisco. My friend Julie met us at the Embarcadero and suggested Cafe Zoetrope for lunch. We spent a couple of lazy and delicious hours there. My friend Wendi came by and joined us for a glass of wine and showed off how much her baby has grown. Then we walked a couple blocks to Chinatown where we were overwhelmed, but not above buying a bunch of cheap crap, mostly for our babies. From there, we walked down to Union Square, said "bye" to Julie, hopped on the BART for SFO, grabbed dinner, boarded the plane and got home by 10:30 pm.

It was so amazing to get away for a day, be with friends, and be in SF again! Plus, the star treatment we got on our flights will make it hard to travel without Brigette again.

Here is a photo round-up of the day...

When the flight attendant asked if I wanted Bailey's with my coffee, I said "sure!":So did Brigette:

...and Betsy:

"Hey Julie, I'm coming to SF on Saturday, can you hang out?""Hey Wendi (and Maya), I'm having lunch in SF on Saturday, wanna join us?"Betsy, Shelly, Angelica and Brigette - food, coffee and wine make us smile:
Brigette, Angelica, Shelly and Betsy at the gates of Chinatown:
And so it goes, if there's something to pose in front of, why not do it?
While posing in front of the dragon, I looked across the street and realized that there was Cafe de la Presse, where Kijrstin used to work:
Shelly and I bought ourselves slippers, and later asked "why?"
Heading back to SFO on the airtrain with the sun setting in our eyes:
One last hurrah - it's not coffee and it rhymes with ..."Rosmopolitan..."
Fiona loved the silk pajamas that I brought back from Chinatown:
Stella didn't: