The Life of Young Fences

Happy Holidays

2011-12-28T15:43:00.000-08:00

As many of you know - Tom has been suffering. He started with some radiation to hopefully rid himself of three small brain tumors and then he got hydrocephalus which has turned into a bigger nightmare then the tumors in the first place. In the last few months he has had 3 surgeries to fix it, but he is still not fixed. He is in a lot of pain (headaches) and suffers from lack of his ability to be his normal self. Hence it has been a rough Holiday and end of the year. However, we still try to count our blessings and we still have many.

We are very grateful to our family and friends who have been so supportive and kind. That is truly the silver lining. Tom has been able to be home and that has allowed extra time with the kids and he has enjoyed that. Here is one of the many towers he and Gabe have built.My mom moved closer to us in the last year, just one town over - and we are so lucky. She has been able to spend lots of time with the kids as we have gone back and forth to the docs and spend long hours away. She can also come last minute most of the time when things have run long. It has been good for her and given her joy and has been a lifesaver to us. Here the girls are - we went with the Daisies to the Nutcracker and it was great.
It was sort of a rough Christmas as Tom had his 3rd surgery a couple days before hand. We were lucky to have his Dad and ACey come out to help us make it happen and to bring some happy Holiday spirit into the house. I think the kids enjoyed themselves. We did all get matching family pajamas this year - the kids are in theirs below.

Here is the clan getting our tree. We were able to pull off both sides of our families together in a very nice and fantastic way. Another silver lining. Oh yes, you might see my boot - fracture. Not fun. But not a big deal with what Tom is dealing with. Really pisses me off that he steals all my sympathy.
Hope you are having a wonderful Holiday season. This year, we didn't do cards and we didn't get to host our friends over here like we like - but we did enjoy all of your cards and loved to see the friends that we did. Many of whom have been so kind as to stop by with kind words or food.

We are hanging in there and are trying to count our many blessings while we continue to hope that soon Tom will be back to his old self.

October - Happy Halloween!!!

2011-11-11T14:21:00.000-08:00

Due to popular demand (ok a couple people) who have requested Halloween photos - here you! I thought I was also throw in some big events shots as well to keep you up to date and remind me of what we did! Our family rode a 10 mile bike ride to raise money and awareness for brain tumors in honor of Tom. Fi had no problem and we all had a nice time!
I had wanted to get us T shirts to show our Team Fenster spirit - what better way then Eagles shirts??!! So we wore them proud and now we can still keep on wearing them for years (ugh) to come :-)
For Halloween we had a rabbit and a carrot... They had a lot of fun, we did a pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins, went to a party, a school parade, and of course trick or treating. Gabe was beyond adorable, I had forgotten how much fun it is to take a two year old house to house for candy. "Mo house! mo house! Tick o teeeet!!! tank eeewwwe!"
Holding a chicken! We also went will all our buddies from Fi's moms group to a great park - we brought the wee ones too - too many photos and so here is one!
Baby G and Baby C after trick or treats!
The big kids, here Andrew is thinking of his true love... :-)
Our trick or treating group!
Tom and I decided to take advantage of two things: 1. his recent surgery and 2. our good friend who is a doctor (my costume was delivered that evening :-) We were patient and doctor and of course we had the bunny and carrot thing going. - we all needed explanations!

Happy happy Halloween!!! Hope you are all doing well. xoxox C

Gabriel, the Live Doll

2011-08-10T07:13:00.000-07:00

The girls first put on a fashion show - P mermaid and fairy, Fi was Ocean, and Maya was Hawaiian. Next thing you know, everything is on Gabe. He loved it. I can definitely see these pictures being used in his future.

Summer Shots - Philly Vaca and 4th of July

2011-07-13T21:02:00.001-07:00

Just a few pics of our wonderful trips to LBI and the Poconos! We got to hang out with a couple of Tom's long time best buddies and also I got some bonding time with the Mrs. - and of course the kids all got to play - wonderful!

E and L with baby A - a bit younger then Gabe but much bigger - nicknamed, the beast!
Stocky got his "fun" in with with kids playing in the ocean and also - getting ice water thrown on him over and over again.
The elegant bath tub at the shore house!
Family Pocono's house and 2011 guests! We miss you all - so fun!
Youngest body boarder ever...
Tackled by "auntie Liz"
They're BAAAAAAACK!!!!!! And we are so happy. During the bike parade at our 4th of July block party! D take baby C out while Daddy Fence took Baby G.
Driving the Fire truck!
Together again!
Guys shot, with a mysterious head sneaking in....

Great summer memories and fun so far - and we are only 1/2 way done!

Loss of teeth and hair...Milestones

2011-07-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

As we have now finished Kindergarten we are also changing so quickly - things are just falling out or being asked to be removed!

For those of you who haven't seen Fi in a while, she has lost both the top front teeth and looks adorable with it. After a heated debate the tooth fairy left $3/per tooth, but the Costa Rican fairy threw in a couple bucks and then of course the Colombian Rat Fairy left a gift (via the mail). Too cute. Fi also asked that we cut her hair. She had wanted it for a while, and so as painful as it was for mommy, we did it. We actually decided to follow many people's leads, and we are donating the hair to Locks of Love - the longest hair when wet was 10"!. I will miss seeing those long blond curls, but she still looks cute and this new do is certainly much easier to care for. See the photographic evidence below:

Before:

After: It turned out very cute and she really loves it! In other news, Fiona (fortunately or unfortunately) started to potty train baby G. He is not really ready - he is not leading the charge - but she found that if you put him on, then we can get a result. But, I am a bit worried that this play might delay the whole process. We will see. For now, we celebrate any success! And it was very cute to see the team in action.
Grandpa Alan came for a visit and enjoyed the kids - we did Fi's play and the beach, and a couple of birthday parties - the weather was not cooperating nearly as much as we would have liked - but he did get some California sun.
Big sister can still hold and carry Gabriel, when he is willing.
More soon!

Cyberknife

2011-06-22T22:23:00.000-07:00

After many years of following me post my two surgeries, the doctors have seen some growth again. This time the benign tumors (remnants from the prior surgeries that they couldn't remove) will be removed via a wonderful procedure that doesn't involve a scalpel or screws in my head (the way the used to do it in the good ole days). This radiation surgery involves many rays of low-grade radiation intersecting at the bad spots (tumor) and hopefully not at the good spots (other grey material). They said that the procedure was a success, but bad signs would be "really bad headaches or vomiting in the next 48 hours" or "brain swelling in in the next 3 months". Unfortunately, Fiona has come down with a stomach flu and has vomited multiple times today - very exciting considering we have a flight back to Philly on Saturday morning. So here is to hoping that my head won't be swelling and Fiona's tummy won't be evacuating, and we actually make it to the plane for vacation. In case anyone has every wondered what it is like to be spiderman or Hannibal Lector, here is a pic that my lovely wife took in the surgery room.

The only thing funnier than the picture was the fact that the doctor must have taken lessons from Dentistry school, as he insisted on asking me questions when I was not able to move my lips, so I attempted to answer with muffled mmm-hmm and hmm-hmm to differentiate yes's and no's.

- Daddy Fence

A sprinkling of happy moments to share!

2011-06-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

Luckily it was the cheap lipstick,

2011-05-23T22:25:00.000-07:00

because there is nothing left worth using.

April in a nutshell!

2011-05-16T20:09:00.000-07:00

Fiona's back to school night - highlights: Abuela was here to share it. We saw so many new and old friends and got to catch up that we are really starting to feel a part of the community at this school - pretty great after only 1 year. and getting to know all the kids/and other older neighborhood kids. Fi was thrilled. She wanted to wear matching clothes with mama - so under our sweaters we each had on light blue dresses. I was so happy that she wanted to do that... I liked to do that with my mom too.
Gabe using the computer in class...
Abuela getting help blowing our her candles - Gabe learned very quickly and tries to blow out anything that even slightly looks like a candle now.
Fiona's first science / food creation - of which there have now been a few. You see dates, carrots, sugar, and chocolate etc. Yes, I made her Dad try it.
Gabe with some big shoes to fill.
Love the swing. Love the fun new things I find on the swing. Love all the laughter that has come from that swing.
Oh yeah, baby - big planes - too cool to visit and play with.

Daddy pitching to his little girl ball player. Go Team YF! Lucky they have me to yell "bad pitch" whenever Fi misses - I do my part to contribute.
One day the wee one will be ready.
Easter outfit - belly full of candy.
The cousins on Easter!
Crammed into the plane - ready to go!
Some of Fi's homework - where she said mom works at home and dad on his computer. I like how I am as big as the house. I am sure that psychologically that means something, I am going to hope that it is good and not worry about it. :-) Don't tell me if you know otherwise. Or do, but only if her mental state is in danger.
Cuties! Part of the Daisies and new friends piled on the rocking chair.
April is a wrap! Whoot, whoot! Caught up to May! PS: Tom and I saw Bridesmaids and couldn't stop laughing - it is humor a bit vulgar but .... if you like that (like we do) - go see it. In a second side note - Reading the book Free Range Kids - love it. Anyone else a free ranger out there? or one in training?

Just do it...

2011-04-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

Had a nice write up on these pics, but I waited to long to publish and when I tried, I lost all the writing - so short and sweet! 1. Naked baby love - my favorite.
2. Wonderful visit a couple months back with FLA grands. Here you get the slide/action shot w/ Gpa Tom.
3. Daddy and son (obviously)
4. The grands loving on Fi as we wait to go out for that home cooked meal (the feeling of it).
5. First actual carni ride!
6. a rock - and my kid.
7. The big news - we didn't know it when they were here visiting with us.... BUT!!! Our dear friends Annnreeeew, and his family are moving BACK! Almost 1 year to the day since they moved away. We are thrilled! Annnnreeeeew's daddy got a great job at the hospital near us, that never comes up and they are packing as we speak. We can't wait for your arrival!
8. Annnreeeeew, Fi and their baby bros hanging and coloring in the PJ's before bed. Life is good.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T09:27:00.000-07:00

This morning we found two little bunnies in our yard. Since they only had 1 pair of bunny ears between the two of them, we thought it was better to photograph them separately...

As soon as Gabe realized that there was candy in the eggs, he just focused on opening the eggs and pouring the contents into his mouth. Some were filled with cereal, which was ignored entirely until all the candy was gone. The Easter Bunny also left some great toys in the baskets this year which were sports themed for both kids and they have been having a great time playing with them this morning. Fiona woke at 5:30am, so I am already ready for a nap. We will head over to my aunts soon to have a second egg hunt. :-) Have a great Easter!

Fi is 6! And more happenings.

2011-04-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

We are habitually behind schedule here, but we are making a triumphant comeback with this post! Fiona turned 6, and she had a wonderful birthday. She chose to wear a dress that she loves, that was mine when I was a child - and that my mom sewed for me. It is amazing to me that it is still in such good condition and that she enjoys wearing it. The crappy hat I bought at target that wouldn't stay on will not be around so long....
We had about 12 kids come celebrate - all of whom were 'old' friends for Fi - moms group friends she has had her whole life and a couple neighbors were the majority. At her school, most people invite the entire class or at a minimum all the girls and we thought that would get a bit large - so we chose to just have the school celebration that they do with all the kids and for the home party not invite anyone from her class. Fi wanted to have a home party with games, we did telephone, put the sticker on Fi (instead of tail on the donkey) and above you see the ending of the pinata. It was great fun.
For a super special treat Anreeeew and family drove up and were able to spend a couple days with us and celebrate Fi's bday too. More pics of that next time. But what an amazing treat for all of us and especially Fi. Her cousins were able to come too - and they played hard.
Here her uncle K is using the pliers to pretend he is going to yank out a loose tooth. Fi was all for it.
Family pic on the bday party day.
Fiona detailed her every desire of the cake design and we ordered it together. This is becoming a tradition - I can't make them but I can help her order her dream cake...
Gabe is in love with P - it seems to be a a family trend. He will run up to her and hug her around the knees - squeeling in delight. Too cute.
Dog pile on cousin Chris!
Bday balloons were a big part of the festivities - I probably could have gotten away with just leaving out the balloons and calling it a day!
We also celebrated one of Fi's dearest and longest friends Ashley's bday - which was at build a bear at the mall! They are about 1 week apart - so we always celebrate the two bdays very close together.
We also were thrilled to get a visit from our dear friends Brian and Pamela! And we hosted a baby shower for them - the baby boy is due in about a week! It was wonderful to see them and get a chance to hang out. She is a fitness guru and is one of the cutest preggers I have ever seen. Brian is maintaining his pregnancy weight very well too :-).
Kind of for fun, and kind of for personal motivation I have become trained in teaching Pilates. I am still continuing with my training, but I am teaching about 1x / week at our local YMCA. One of the classes that I took was Anatomy in Clay - where we built the majority of the muscles from clay and put them on our little model. Above you see my guy from the back. We only built one side and it took 3 days.... ugh. Learned quite a bit tho.
St. Patricks day - Fi wore a bunch of green and let me do her hair (for once) with lots of little green things. I loved it.
Fi in the fire station truck.
We took the Daisies to the fire station and it was so fun. It was also super educational. We still have homework that we have to do from it - but it was a wonderful trip. We specifically went to one of our local firehouses that happens to have 3 female firefighters on the staff.

That is a good update for now - next update will be a bit faster then it has been...

Hope you are all doing well!

Fiona in Practice

2011-03-28T19:19:00.000-07:00

Here is the new generation of baseball players in the Fence family line up! Fiona at practice. They had their first game Sunday - cute to say the least. Tom is assisting coach, but can only make the Sat games - but to see them both out their in matching outfits was adorable (Tom and Fi that is!) More to come later - xoxo

January still wrapping ...

2011-02-24T21:26:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is Fi's 6th birthday! We have visitors with us (Annnreeeew! is in the house and he brought his family) - the Fla. Grands just left a week back. But we are still trying to get through some Jan pics. Too cute to pass up.

Climbing in the crib together.
Climbing in the drawer. Photo immediately prior to removal.

One day after school - hanging with some Kinder buddies.
Has some time for loving with the brother (when all the other kids weren't carrying him around).
Scooby, Fi and Daddy.... Cute.

So Proud!

2011-02-18T07:53:00.000-08:00

Look Ma, I can feed myself.... ! If you are wondering, it's sweet potato!

Very good for the skin, and hair, eyelashes etc.

He's still young enough

2011-02-11T07:30:00.000-08:00

and sweet enough to be excited to borrow his girl friends footed jammies AND take a snuggly picture with them on... Love it. And love the potential blackmailing in the future. I love the arm slung over and Fi's little hip curve action. Cuties.

Uh Oh, 250 pics dowloading? Someone has been slacking!

2011-02-08T12:45:00.000-08:00

Well, that is sure evidence that it has been a while. I haven't even downloaded my pics from the holidays. Very unlike me. Things are too busy and blogging has become lower on the priority list. I still think it is very valuable for the friends and family not close by - but something had to give!

What is happening in the YF household? Shoes and toilet paper can be found in the washing machine at any given point and at many given points, Fiona can never find her dance clothes when she has a performance, and Tom is commuting to SF at another start up - driving a dagger into my heart daily. :-)

Just kidding, here are some cute pics... that's what you really came for.

Gabriel sucks his thumb, but you would never know it. He does it only when he is in his crib - so we were surprised when we found out. He almost never does it during the day, it is his nighttime secret pleasure. That, and his blanket (also pictured) - which he is totally attached to.

A few of my Daisy scout troop girls - agreeing to share the pushing of Gabriel in the stroller.

Gabriel loves headbands like his big sister! He will sometimes wear 2 or 3 on his head, forehead and face.
This is not a great pic of me.... but it is very cute of Gabriel - so - keep your eyes on the prize here.
Great family Christmas - we were blessed to have my mom and her big sister both stay with us over the Holidays. We had Christmas morning out our house and Christmas dinner over at my Aunt Becky's house where Grandpa and Gma were there too! So it was a full house with all the cousins, and with my Grandpa there, we had 4 generations.
Gabe can open his own gifts and prefers to do it in his own way!
Fiona and Gabe in the aftermath.
Me enjoying my little half naked present.
Fiona and her cousin K barely tolerating the photo session.
Wouldn't be Christmas pics without one of Daddy Fence in his robe!
Bye bye for now! Hopefully it won't be so long till our next update!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season! and are enjoying a wonderful New Year! Go 2011!

Supporting the husband... trying something... but you can feel free to use the deal. I bought address labels. :-)

2011-01-13T20:30:00.000-08:00

Save up to 80% on custom printed products at Vistaprint. Order today!

Her dress

2010-12-20T21:13:00.000-08:00

Oh, how I love this dress on Fiona. I just wanted to show those grands who aren't with us now. This is her Christmas dress, and Gabe in his suit. They hopefully will wear them on the actual day and I am hoping to get a picture of the two of them in their outfits (sans us holding him down) - wish us luck.

Photographing Gabe is like trying to catch a lighting bolt with a Polaroid camera.

New stud on the block

2010-12-16T19:45:00.000-08:00

I like my milk, shaken, not stirred.

Turkey Day!

2010-12-05T19:29:00.000-08:00

Quick recap of a terrific turkey day! First, Fiona's school had a play - each child got to say one line and pick either Native American or Pilgrim hat to wear. They also made a 'feast' and decorated their place-mats. It was really really cute. We lost ALL the video, so just trust us. Actually and oddly, this is the only photo we took: (the rest was video). :-) Here are some pics from our home Thanksgiving - Good friends joined us -- and they brought these adorable place settings!
Even one for Gabe on his highchair -
But it didn't last long!
We reused the pilgram and native american hats! Too cute... Aminah asked that I call this the green bean series! (there are more photos of this that include Aminah biting eating and chewing the green bean!).
Hope you all had a wonderful turkey day! xoxo C, T, Fi and G

Urgent breaking news...

2010-12-04T09:42:00.001-08:00

Fiona has lost her first tooth! She is ready for her drivers license and right to vote. Can you believe that it happened at a friends house during a sleep over? That's right, we didn't even see it! She said it was so loose that she pulled it out and it didn't hurt. We had to ask the tooth fairy to come back tonight since Fiona wasn't here.... I will add a photo when I get one!

Here we have the new smile, probably going to be continually changing for the next years....

Trimmings

2010-12-03T12:02:00.000-08:00

We had a camera malfunction (side note - human error) and we will see if we can recover our Thanksgiving photos.... In the meanwhile, just took this one of Fi this morning on her way to school,

loved her in the little frilly socks and skirt and coat. She dressed herself but I did her hair - it was very soft and easy to comb today - maybe that was what made today photo worthy?? !

And speaking of hair, this week Gabriel got his first haircut (14 months old)! We didn't touch the back and his little curls, but we had to trim the bangs in front. I don't really want to cut those curls, but I really can't have him in a mullet either.... Time will tell!

What's up Putty Tat

2010-11-15T13:58:00.000-08:00

Today, Tom started a new job! I am very happy for him. It was nice having him home for a bit. I think Fi was a bit sad. She loved having extra time with Daddy to ride bikes to school and push her on the swing. His new job is with Extole, and it is in SF - a longer commute but he really likes the people there and we both think that is worth the drive (or sometimes train ride!).

I have been doing some interesting marketing consulting work for a company that was started by an x-colleague of mine and it has been a great addition to my life.

My mom is staying with us right now while she begins her journey of relocating near us! She is getting used to the driving around here, becoming more confidant and learning where the grocery store, gas, Dr. all are. It is a big adjustment!

Kids are both doing great - I am loving watching their relationship develop. It amazes me that at Gabe's young age that he already interacts with Fi so well, they love each other and play together - and it amazes me when I see it. They are a lot of fun. My neighbor told me that he will save is biggest smiles for her, and she was right. Here they are playing with the curtain:

Fi found my costume, and doesn't she look adorable!
All the food that he doesn't want never gets wasted....
Went to this hippie meeting with some hippie friends :-) and Fi got her face painted. Here she is laying down like a the kitty she is.
Fi took this pic of lavender with a little bit of guidance from me. I worked on getting her to get closer!
Hippie circle and Gabe's put me down face! I guess Gabe's not much of a hippie dude.
Fi holding a friendly chicken! Another women helped us get the chicken and hold it, not a skill I am blessed with.
Hope you are all doing well! Miss you! xoxo C, T, Fi and G

Uh oh, someone in footed Jammies stinks...

2010-11-03T21:06:00.000-07:00

All better!
PS: Happy birthday to Connor! We hope you had a wonderful day. Kisses!

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T20:09:00.001-07:00

From Cleo, The Pharaoh, Super Girl and Super Dog.

First School Walk a Thon

2010-10-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

Fi had her first Walk a Thon this year - she probably walked a couple miles for it. It was 50 laps, but they gave the kindergartners tons of double, triple etc laps for doing little things. You may notice that you didn't get a call asking for money to sponsor her. That is because her school is very smart - you pay ahead of the walk a thon and then if you want to get sponsorship for it, you do that. Hilarious. Times have come a long way from door to door collecting 10 cents per mile. We just paid. We all had a great time - great music, many of our neighbors and friends were dressed up and helping.Fi was so proud to get to walk with her 'big sister' neighbor.
Cousin Court is now at Illinois and gave Gabe this adorable outfit. Perfect for a day of exercise! :-)
Three of the neighborhood in a row.PS: I am blogging now and keeping my distance from Tom. Phillies just lost. Not a pretty moment here in the YF household. We will be wearing full black for a week and avoiding all mirrors.

Fiona Waiting for Her Phone Call

2010-10-07T20:42:00.000-07:00

in this case, from Abuela. I caught her sitting with the phone clipped to her shirt, waiting for it to ring (literally). When I tried to get the picture, she played it cool by taking a sip of the lemonade...

Some Fenster Updates From September

2010-10-02T07:45:00.000-07:00

In no real particular order we have a few pictures from the month. Here is Gabe and one of his friends from his mom's group. This particular little girl also has a big sister in Kindergarten this year, so the play date was well matched! They played a duet for a few seconds :-)Fi and G
Gabe and good friend A's daughter Reagan. They are very close in age and it is always fun to see them play and grow together. I don't do this sort of thing nearly often enough. Fi got to do it 3x/week and Gabe is more on the 1x/month schedule.
Angela and Reagan snuggling on the couch. Beautiful blue eyes (I am always surrounded by them!)
Gabe trying to plant a big open mouth kiss on Reagan (prompted by my asking). Hopefully not all the girls in Gabe's life will back away from his kisses! -- Well Mama certainly never does, but I do sometimes have to wipe them off a bit.
OOOH soccer ball. Forget the piano.
Another girl from our play date who is a younger sibling, but her sister is only 19 months older.... Wow!
A couple of the older girls in our neighborhood and Fi on our swing - they were laughing so hard - it was ADORABLE.

Helping make cupcakes - the batter is always the best part of course.
Dada!
Snuggling in bed one morning - mama taking a break from the latte!
One of Fi's new good buddies from Kinder - we'll call her K. They have been having a few play dates and both are sufficient swimmers so that I can just sit back and watch in peace. K's mom and I are both helping withe Daisy troop this year - I actually signed up to lead it. More on that one day... :-) 14 girls so far.
Gabe's one year Dr. appt. This is a funny reminder for me - I started this blog after Fi's one year - see it here. Gabe's doing great, the Dr said that is just going to be thin (still 5th percentile for weight and 50th for height). She said that actually in a world where his chance for being malnourished is basically zero and his chance for being obese is pretty high that perhaps I should be happy. That is the part that I am going to focus on, because even though I am not a jewish mother I am always trying to feed him. :-) It was impossible not to also note that he was very active - notice the walking check up.
So handsome with his comb over.
Adorable gift arrived in the mail - well a few - but this one was too cute. A Color Your Own Shirt! Thank you Des and Anreeew! Fi loved it clearly. And I had to finally pry it off her to wash it.
More cupcake making. How she has grown.
A favorite place to hang out - our fire place. Currently empty and clean for obvious reasons.

Happy First Birthday Baby Boy!

2010-09-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday our dear baby boy! The first year is so special, and never replicated. The amount of growth, getting to know each other and falling in love. We celebrated on the actual day with a small gathering - just the basic 4 (us), my mom, and Adriana. I made his favorite, meatloaf and sweet potatoes, and yes, one of those horrid wheat, sugar free carrot cakes that I made for Fiona. Yuck! But he and Adriana, for that matter, liked it. It is just tradition! All YoungFensters will endure! This weekend we will do a party at the park with his other one year old buddies from his moms group. Most of them are a bit older, but we just got lucky with the date so close to his actual.

He loved his balloons!

Here, with the not-good-enough-for-most-adults-to-eat cake... NOTE: I also made Fiona a 'congrats on being a big sister birthday cake' - lemon (her request) and it was delicious! Fi was happy to blow out the candle for both of them!
Half patty cake or perhaps the more sign??? We don't know why he sometimes puts his hands together while eating... but we love it.
Fiona made a bunch of signs for decorations - this one she wrote the Happy Birthday song to her brother and put balloons on the top.
Feeling the one year blues, I took him over to document some actual footage better then I can these days - sadly, I again took him to the picture people at the mall. Ugh. I don't really think they do that great of a job and they are overpriced - BUT MY GOD IS IT CONVENIENT. It is just nice to get it done so that we have some.
I was sweating because every time I put him down, he would run (sometimes toward the camera) and she would get ONE snapshot if she was lucky before he was off the backdrop. Pick up, repeat x 30.
I do really love this one of him. My sweet, active, love of my life. Happy Birthday.

Obligatory Messy Baby Eating Photo

2010-09-08T20:30:00.000-07:00

He is very messy. Very. He likes to eat the food, well half eat it, reach and pull some out to show you what he is eating (as in photo here) then either drop it on the floor, in his lap or perhaps if we are lucky finish eating it. After every meal we need a full hose down of hands, clothes, face, tray and chair. Luckily, thanks to Abbey and Scooby the floors are usually cleaner after his meal then before.

Fi's First Day of Kindergarten

2010-08-25T18:43:00.000-07:00

The outfit (thanks grandma Tita) and the lunch bag (thanks to Adriana) and the shoes (thanks to Abuela)!!! Wow, what a lucky little girl to have so many loves! I did her hair with a little braid in front and a ponytail in the back - she insisted on the pony.
Very excited to go!
Sitting down on the floor mat to hear about the plan for the day. We were late (I know) so Fi is in the back row.
There are 3 - yes 3! Fiona's in Kindergarten. Can you believe it? So she is going by Fiona Marie.
Coming home (car seat 'borrowed' two or more years ago from Nicci) - still in Daddy's car... and here shown with her FIRST ever piece of homework from school. She was very proud and pointed out the pockets she added - one to the shirt and one on the pants that is under her hand.
She had a wonderful first day and I hope that she has a wonderful first year of school. We love you Fiona!

So Cal with Annreeew and Family

2010-08-23T20:11:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a wonderful week with Annreeew and family in So Cal. We had the best time, the older kids were great and slept in the same room every night, and the the babies were great with their parallel play. The oldest kids (us) had a great time too - and it was a joy to get to lounge and hang out the week before Kinder started for us.

So we hit Lego Land this time - very fun!
We hit an awesome beach, here you can see little man G walking the beach w/ dad but in big sister's pink hat. The size differential between these two loves of my life kills me.
Super girl!
The babies in their matching booster high chair things. Only the wee-est one still throws food down and rubs everything in his hair. Next year I can look forward to the older version.
The babies playing the piano. The big kids took turns too - it was really cute.

Happy babies in the baby pool (big happy kids in the big pool) the lounge chairs were right in-between the two pools. Nice.
Old married couple out to eat.
My snugalicious-for-a-moment-better-enjoy-it active baby boy.
Kids with Dad for a swim.
Time for ni-ni. Annreeew, always the gentleman gave Fi his bed.
Go Penn State! Except only in rooting for sports as he will be attending Stanford close to mommy.
Very cool aquarium at Lego Land! Lots of touching stuff.
Lego Land - is this a good guy? bad guy? At first I thought he was a storm trooper. Shows my age.
Cuties.
Me with the munchkins.
I asked this woman to take our picture under the LEGOLAND sign. She said you will be small - do you want the people or the sign? I said the sign - for this one - thanks. Oh, here we are at Aliforn.
Awesome beach, still. Andrew got all the water and brought it back to the 'kitchen' for Fi to cook. She also created a mud foot spa area for me to get my feet massaged.
Adorable mommy and baby moment sharing a cracker at the beach!
Friends!

Ta Ta's and the like

2010-08-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

I am opinionated and so I often keep my trap shut. One of my many opinions is that people make their opinions and decisions based on the info that they have - and as information changes, opinions change. So even when opinions vary greatly from my own (correct) opinion - that we are all just doing the best we can. So I too am sharing this video that I have seen floating around in honor of breast feeding awareness month (what? I didn't know that they had it either!) Because I believe in the cause strongly. One of the things that kills me is to see so many people who don't have the financial means to buy formula or healthcare spending money on formula when the 'ladies' are free. And there are many benefits that people don't know about - hence, the following... enjoy (and sorry, you won't see any actual boobs in this).

My Fairy Princesses

2010-08-19T19:34:00.000-07:00

I love these visions in pink....

Adios Abuela (y Abu)

2010-08-12T13:10:00.001-07:00

Abuela has been such a wonderful influence and inspiration to our family, and especially the young Young Fences. It was a sad day when we took the Abus to the airport, but we'd rather focus on all of the good times vs the goodbyes. I can't even write about all of the experiences that we've had over the last few years - I can just say that Abuela has left her indelible impression on the children, and that they will forever be affected for the better because of her influence. Adios for now hopefully means Bienvenidos in the future.

More Fensters in town!

2010-08-07T20:30:00.000-07:00

We have had a full and will keep having a full summer of family visits - this time is was Daddy, Daddy Fence and Acey. We had a great time and kept them very busy :-) We went with Abu's to the space museum and checked out exhibits and Fiona saw Venus in the telescope that day. We also were able to 'see' the sun by looking through this darkened shade thing (yes, that is the technical name). During that we saw two movies on 'educational' stuff - and I only fell asleep in one! But we also went to Toy Story and none of us missed a beat.
Of course we had to do some swimming - Des, notice that swim diaper? Thank you, we use it often!
Baby G still loves the water.
Mr. Magoo rears his adorable head above with this otherwise great shot of AC.
The 'nipple' ball - a big winner with Gabe and I believe baby Conner too - I'm sure that there are plenty others.

Sitting on the porch Gabe even drifted off just for a minute in AC's arms.
Semi-documenting Gabe's walking - I will have to show that sometime - but he is walking and now very well. But he is always carrying something with him - and he loves to carry two or three items - often flip flops are very high on his interest list.

Thanks for coming for a visit! We had a great time and really enjoyed it.

Out of Retirement

2010-08-04T20:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a while since I photographed anyone for work, but this fitness website seemed to be a good reason to dust off the ole camera equipment...

Not sure what it was that called me to it. :-)

Well, it is all in a hard days work.

PS: Most of time was actually spent photographing my awesome friend/trainer (got me in wedding shape so that I will forever feel fat afterward) who is launching a new site.

One of my favorite things

2010-08-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

Seeing Fiona be so excited to dress crazy for her sports camp on 'silly day' was a blast - she wanted to wear her underwear on top of her head and who were we to say no! We were a bit worried that she might get teased badly and that the whole thing could backfire into a big mess, but it worked out. A couple kids did tease her (great prep for kindergarten), but she shook it off - and enjoyed all the laughter and support from the coaches and kids who were cool with the underwear head thing. She can be shy and is not the one to talk out of turn in class or be comfortable in front of an audience, so it was really fun for me to see this silly side of her come out on this day. Plus we got tons of humor while we pulled the two pig tails out of each panty leg hole.

Left to its own devices....

2010-07-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

An artichoke will bloom.... Did you know that? They are actually quite beautiful! Can you still eat it? No idea. Takers?

Fenster Happenings

2010-07-27T13:35:00.000-07:00

One of our neighbors who is also staring Kindergarten next month - they went to one of the very popular camps together for a week and had a great time. Anytime there are matching shirts/outfits involved I must take a picture.
Really love the above pic of Fi - her true smile and happy self shining through - and wearing something that she actually likes that is SPF 50 - Yeah! A dream for me. Her face still gets burned with all the swimming and those freckles are multiplying at the speed of light, but we try to keep the fair maiden fair.
He actually smiles when I point the camera at him - I don't know why or how but it is like a reflex. Makes it very easy to get those cute almost toothless grins (we are up to four chompers now 2 and 2). He does like to cruise by the piano (literally) and hit a couple keys for fun.
Fi has actually been wanting to do bball for a couple of years. We finally signed her up at the Y. Mostly, I really loved her outfit here... :-) But she does like it and that would be the first team sport that she has really shown a liking for. I had a lot of fun taking her, since my skills are about the same level - we are learning together.
Looking out the window - he must see all the action.
Little happy face on the other side watching daddy.

Beach Babes

2010-07-22T06:56:00.000-07:00

Bestest friend from HS and I met for our annual beach vacation with the munchkins sans hubbies. As usual it was a blast (well except we missed our hubbies incessantly and discussed such constantly). We go to this hotel right across from the beach - old, and the key doesn't always work but part of the charm. They do have a great deck and the location can't be beat. Above, Gabriel's first crawling in the sand - and consideration of boogie boarding.
Fi and CC are the dearest of buddies, even tho they only see each other a couple times a year. They played restaurant for HOURS making food out of sand and other various pretend play.
Gabe post sandy nap with drool.
O with a sand beard after some good ocean time.
More Gabe waking up.
Fiona telling the ocean who is really the boss around here.
Having a blast playing in the sand. I was very delusional thinking that I could sit with him on the blanket and he would play with the clean, dry sand toys. He crawled everywhere.
Pretty CC.
The Lynberger and O strolling down the beach. Such a nice moment.
Bad, bad group shot.... but the only one we got on this trip!
Cuties. Nicci was very impressed with Gabe's easy going manner. I pretended like he is always that good. (but he was very good - all the kids around kept him in great spirits).
Mr. Magoo out for a diaper stroll along our hotel.
The 'cousins' we call them. We pretend that they are related. Since I am an only child, I take what I can get. But I think they love each other as such, so why not!?
Is it just me, or do they look like a little couple? :-)
Still waking up.
Asleep in his sandy mess.
Gabe getting a piece of the restaurant action. All the kids were amazing with Gabe, I was shocked. It was a great trip!

Rocking the 4th of July Block Party with Gma Tita

2010-07-19T07:48:00.000-07:00

This is our 4th year of the 4th of July block party - we went from pushing a trike, to riding a trike to training wheels and this year real bike style. Plus a baby in arms. So I guess we will get to do it all one more time. What a fun tradition.

All the kids on bikes, adults on foot and neighborhood doggies follow the fire truck around the block. This year, Fiona was riding with all the big kids and we were so far in the dust we didn't get to see her finish or even close. By the time we came around she was into a new thing.
We did some good pool time during the nice hot long weekend. We are already getting Baby G into the water and under the water. He sometimes looks surprised but he hasn't cried even with a dunking. Overall he really seems to enjoy it. We hope that he will be a little fish like Fiona - I smell some easy summer days in a couple years if so.
Tom snapped this one when I left Gabe's side for a second - he wanted me to post it under the title "what I saw when I got home" - or something like that.... :-)
Riding together on the raft.
Gma and the boys in SF at the warf - it was a beautiful day for walking, chocolate and clam chowder.
Tom took this one, I think he must have been the "see no hear no evil monkey".
Gma and Fi having a nice chat poolside.
Snuggles on the walk from the lovely lunch at Betlenut on Union down to the wharf.
The girls - you can't see the GG bridge but it is behind us!
One of our neighbors grabbed a quick family shot for us at the end of the 4th of July party. That is the one day you will see me in red. ugh.
Thanks for visiting Gma Tita, we had a great time seeing you and look forward to next time!

Favorite Moments

2010-07-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

Above you see one of the reasons, I suspect, men die before women. We show our love by cooking them what they love. For father's day Fiona and I made Daddy Fence the following: chocolate chip pancakes with chocolate sauce, whip cream and chocolate sprinkles on top, 2 fried eggs, 2 chicken apple sausages, hot cocoa with whip creme and sprinkles, and hash-browns. Although Fi was a champ at helping prepare it, and you can see by her chocolate smile that she was the taste tester, it almost killed her to have to give it to daddy. Of course she got some later on too.
Just a big magoo grin with those two teeth poking out. What a lover this boy is.
This was when G was about 8 months old... before he could crawl, you still had to watch his lunge. He had been sitting in the middle blanket, someone put their plate down on the edge of the blanket - you see the result above.
Love this big grin - and we have an almost identical picture of Fi somewhere. One day if I find it, I will have to put them both up. She was a bit older, but they look so similar in the shots. Tom is holding them in each one the same way and it produces the same smiles!
Since we have the piano it turns out most people can play - just not us. But we are working on it! However, it has been wonderful to see so many of our friends play - and I love this shot - seeing my two good friends playing and laughing brings me joy. xoxo Ladies!

Modes of transport.

2010-06-29T08:18:00.000-07:00

When you are 5, you and your good friends can rock and roll on the coasters! We miss these guys so much already.
When you are 9 months, you crawl while dragging one leg behind you. He is a one knee-one foot crawler. He gets around tho. Luckily not as fast as he would be on two knees, that buys us some time to move dangerous and breakable objects out of the way.
Pure cuteness. We are hoping that they will learn to play! Fiona and her parents have just started taking lessons from an adorable 18 yo genius. He does great with Fiona, but might be just a bit tired of me already - "which one is D again?"
Sleep over with good friend, J - up till 11pm. Up again by 6:30. So tired. So so tired, that mom had to take a nap the next day.

A few tidbits from June...

2010-06-17T08:39:00.000-07:00

Summer is here! We have had a very busy couple of weeks/month. Above, Tom and I in our "LA" themes... We realize that we aren't really LA, but the point was to give our friends who are moving a glimpse of what they might find.... maybe even scare them so badly that they decide not to go? I think the chest hair and gold necklace on Tom might have done just that.
Some of us with the munchkins - we couldn't keep the kids out of the pool any longer so we did a quick photo and sent them swimming.
Above: Fiona's Spanish graduation. It was a really nice ceremony. We had our Spanish familia there and Fiona was thrilled. When they handed out the diplomas they announced that Fiona was a dedicated big sister, always friendly and active... They also got to wear these adorable gowns for the ceremony.

Grandpa Alan came for a visit, and we had a great week. He was here for the English graduation and then we did some fun activities as well.
Fi and Grandpa right after they did the roller coaster ride at Happy Hollow.
We had a sleep over with my cousins and Fiona's cousins - they spent HOURS in the pool and then wanted to take a bath together - they stayed up till atleast 10 and were up by 7. They all three slept on a blow up bed in our 'extra' room - they had a wonderful time.

Playing in the Grass

2010-06-08T19:50:00.001-07:00

Fiona's PreSchool Graduation

2010-06-05T09:15:00.000-07:00

We went for the last time to her English preschool yesterday - at least with Fiona as a student. We had her graduation yesterday and it signified the shift to elementary school and the last of the three years we attended that school. It was also significant as one of Fiona's dearest friends (and ours) who she has attended all three years with is moving at the end of this month. Luckily they aren't moving out of state, just a bit south. You probably know them as Annnreeeew and Des. Just to try to make us cry Des made a beautiful picture book of the two of them over the last 5 years as a gift. Here are some shots of the ceremony and a couple of afterward. They are, of course in reverse order of the actual event....

Fiona, Gabe, Ashley, Abbey, Scooby, Andrew and Connor in the paper!

2010-05-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

Yes, we made Scooby wear a mini pink fluffy "tutu" and he LOVED it... Abbey was elegant in her purple hand made by me tutu (made for Fiona but looks better on Abbey). We were the Princesses and The Frog. Gabe was the frog. :-) Andrew and Connor and family (not pictured) were all dress in the school T-shirst and colors and make a splash in blue for our preschool who lead the parade. Adorable and so fun. PS: before she calls me on it, I stole the scanned image from Des. Thank you!

Quickly becoming one of my favorite things to photograph

2010-05-26T16:38:00.000-07:00

Beep, Beep!

2010-05-19T19:45:00.001-07:00

Hey Man, Watch Where You're Going!

In all seriousness, this is his normal I am having fun but concentrating face....

Gabe and his walker and the Pet Parade 2010

2010-05-17T12:47:00.000-07:00

These are a bit out of order..... First we have Gabe sitting next to his 'walker' after a recent spill. Doesn't bother him much though. He can make it down the hall and back w/ this walker and it is too cute. If he falls, he is good about landing on the diaper.

This one kills me. We had our annual pet parade in town this weekend. Really fun. The last couple of years we have gone, Fi's preschool gets to lead the charge and we bring both Scooby and Abbey. This year, we didn't realize til the end that Abuela matched Abby perfectly! Once she was walking Abbey even strangers started photographing the perfect purple pair!

The kids and their dogs. So cute. Fi and Gabe were the princess and the frog. We dressed the dogs too - in Fi's homemade tutu and for Scooby a hair band. Ashely joined in and helped walk the Scoobster.

"If you need me, I will be in my room."

Happy Pill for the Day

2010-05-16T19:39:00.000-07:00

This picture just makes me laugh (you might be able to click on it to see Gabe's face bigger)... Hope it puts a smile on your face that looks almost as big and ma-goo like as his.

Gabe with his new buddies from the new-new moms group.

Quick update of the Young Fence Summer Startings....

2010-05-14T13:20:00.000-07:00

Fiona and momma making crazy photos on the floor. Here Fi was hanging off my neck while we shot the picture from below. Annreeew's mini-me enjoying some water-wings-melon on a hot day.
Ladies who lounge.
Watermelon isn't just for big kids. It is a great teether too.

Baby swim party! Gabe's first time in our pool. Gabe is fairly unphased when he face plants into the water. Soon we will get up the courage to try the dunk.

Hoe-Down School Event

2010-05-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

Fiona's english preschool hosted a very fun Hoe-Down country western celebration at a local park. Tom, Fi and I rode our bikes over and Abuela brought Gabriel and all the picnic food to the park. Fiona and all the 5 year olds from her school (four classes I think) performed some wonderful old fashioned songs and then square dancing. It was beyond adorable.

Here she is with one of her good friends - as her hoe-down dance partner.
This is a boy who came to my attention recently with a crush on Fi. He has an older sister who I think has encouraged him to flirt - but one day a "Fiona, I love you" was screamed as we were walking away.
And her and her number one cowboy, Anreeew! They sat next to each other for the singing portion of the evening.
One a her friends from school that we have gotten to know better this year - adorable girl, two brothers - very fun.
Thanks to Abuela for the family shot here!It was really fun to hang out in the beautiful weather and see all the families and watch the kids sing and dance. Love spring. Only one month left of preschool...

Fi's friends loving on the baby - in thier own way...

2010-05-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

Cannon Flop!

2010-05-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

Fiona's Cannon Ball - this is not the "best" - aka funniest example of her cannon ball - but you can see the idea. It consists of screaming cannon ball, and then a belly flop.

Mom's Day

2010-04-26T14:56:00.000-07:00

Fiona comes to the kitchen and says - "Mom, Mom, Gabe's awake." I don't pay much attention as I can't hear him - so to me, he isn't really awake. a few minutes later, "Mom, mom - Gabe's awake!" I finally say, Fi - if he isn't crying then don't wake him. Then she says, no mom - I have been singing to him in his crib! Awe. So cute. So I went in to see her singing to him and he was happy to wait.
Fiona with her teacher Erin. Erin was her 'main' teacher 2 of the 3 years she has been at preschool. Only one more month and that is it... sniff sniff.
Above and below, pictures from the Mom's day celebration at school. Thank's do Des for the above pic! Look at the dear friends we have below. Friends since basically birth - now big. We love you Annreeew!
And because we love you Anrrreeeew, we can tease you just a little! Here are the portraits that the kids made of their moms for mom's day.... That is me on the right, with the Jay Leno head - and that is Des on the left - with the bald head and the psycho clown face.... OMG, we laughed so hard. He really nailed your essence, Des! :-)

Kindergarten Round the Corner

2010-04-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

This past week we have had some Kindergarten prep going down. A couple months ago we had to register Fiona for it, involving a number of hoops already. Quite a bit of paperwork including 5 items to prove where we live - like car registration, mortgage paperwork, utility bill, insurance etc. Plus some paperwork and a Kindergarten assessment test. And this is all for public school! It is all new for me, and so I was surprised by somethings.

We also had to do dental and Dr. appointments to verify that we do in fact brush her teeth and vaccinate her. Check! Here you can see her at the DDS office laying down watching a movie on the screen above her. Needless to say, she doesn't mind going to the dentist one bit.

Still no cavities, and I was pleased. I sweat every time. In a way we are lucky as she still doesn't have more then a few teeth that actually touch each other, so that makes it easy for brushing. She uses an electric adult toothbrush too - for some time now.

Above you see Gabriel sleeping in the pack and play and underneath my swimsuit cover up.

The Kindergarten test included her jumping on one foot? and answering some questions and drawing some shapes. They do it in a room away from the parents so I only heard from Fiona what they asked her to do. I wasn't really worried that she would be ok to start, and of course they said she was ready. Then at the Doctor they did some similar stuff but I was standing there - the Doc asked her to again jump on one foot? This must be some developmental milestone of some sort and also asked her how many wheels her bike had (2). I was pretty proud of Fiona when the Doc asked her if she ate her vegetables and she listed about 5 vegetables that she ate and then listed the fruits that she ate as well. Even the Doc was impressed. Then I felt a bit awkward when the doc asked her what her favorite thing to do was and she said "play with daddy on the bed". In our house we know what that means but I was a bit worried what the doc thought that meant - and of course the doc followed up. Soon the doc found out that it means doing flips and jumps on the bed, and she was not the most thrilled to hear about that either! All in all, she passed her vision and hearing tests, got 5 shots and was able to jump on one foot - so I guess we are ready for Kindergarten!

Baby boy is now able to pull himself up to standing on the Learning table that was one of Fi's favorite toys. He has continued to have a number of colds - but we look at like it is just building his immunity! What else to do? I have not been able to really find the time to hang out with other babies with Gabriel like I did so much of the time with Fiona. I hope to be able to do that more this summer and invite the mammas over for swim play dates. Our pool is open for business and Fi has been swimming already a number of times!

Spring break - family style!

2010-04-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

We went spur of the moment to Mexico for Fi's spring break and it was a lovely vacation. We really enjoyed ourselves at this very quiet hotel - the beach was almost empty most days and the hotel was no where near full. It was the best.

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T13:47:00.001-07:00

No time to discuss much now, but we had a very very nice Easter with friends and fun and food - almost all my favorites F's - missing a few Fensters in there.

Spring has sprung!

2010-03-29T17:13:00.000-07:00

Abuela snuggling the baby!
Dinner outside after our first swim party of the season! This was actually apple crisp dessert - yum!
Cold, wet and cuddly.

Baby Boy in the Bath Seat and Visit From the Greats

2010-03-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

Snapshots

2010-03-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

Baby boy can sit up well now, but still needs his uh-oh support. It was pretty much on his 6 mo birthday that he began to sit on his own. I will update his baby book, I will, I promise!
You can dress her up, but she'll still put on the hulk mask and gloves. Beautiful new dress that we bought for our family picture - the great grands, aunt becky's family and ours. Haven't seen them yet, but hopefully some good ones. We wore shades of aqua and it I think that was a nice color scheme.

Ahhh Vacation. So Sweet. So Short.

2010-03-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

We had a great vacation to the big island. We had not been, but it was great - not as lush as some of the others at all the spots, but cool none-the-less. Gabe made it into the ocean for the first time and Fiona enjoyed wave jumping and mini body surfing too.Baby Gabe is still loving his swaddle for night time and naps.
We tried many water slides and had so much fun. Tom and Fiona loved to make me do it and enjoyed watching the fear in my eyes! Fi was fearless and loved it! Tom loved it too of course!
Baby Gabriel happy in his seat.
Seeing the steam rise up at the volcano site, and the huge crater of dried lava.
Steam Vents at the volcano.
We hit the luau of course and ate ourselves sick. We all loved the fire eating and waiting the whole show for it.
I am not sure why she is mimicking me here, as if I got to do this for more then 5 minutes the whole trip.
We were lucky to have Abuela join us, the extra hands were essential and such a wonderful treat on this trip and she had never been to Hawaii.
Love this one.
Fi did a pretty impressive job on this hike, and we all had fun. We hiked down to a black sand beach and back up and it was no trouble for her at all. Sadly for Abuela it was a no-go situation, but that allowed her to take the baby while we did it.
Sitting in the black sand waiting for the waves.
During the times when we would eat outside, we would lay Gabriel down outside and he was happy watching the palm trees sway.
This was our patio where Fiona spent a lot of time coloring and reading her newspapers... at least someone was keeping up with world events.

She's 5, she's 5 and she's on top.

2010-03-05T08:10:00.000-08:00

Here, snuggled up to one of her very best buddies watching a late night movie after party party party all night.Mamma and birthday girl
This was not the pic that was to be here, but it showed up and is very cute.
Masterpiece artwork on the driveway
Cousin Love Squared
The two birthday girls at their shared party - adorable. both loved sharing the day. See the pic of them hanging on the wall from when they were about 2 years old after a long day at the beach.
Baby G in Lia's arms with proper Mo-Hawk. Next, mullet.
He can almost sit now. He does the tripod sit and then falls. Soon.

The Countdown!

2010-02-22T09:31:00.001-08:00

Fi's 5th birthday week - the countdown has begun! She is very excited.

We are planning to read a book at both of her schools - I will attempt to read a book in Spanish at her Spanish school and then an English one at that school. Then we will have her bday dinner and party at the local gymnasium with her friends. Main goal: to keep her somewhat well rested and well fed to avoid massive breakdowns at any of said named events! I spent a week making a photo book of her first year of life as her gift from us this year. I had planned on doing years 1 - 5, but time only allowed for year 1. I hope to crank out years 2-5 soon, as otherwise that may never happen.

Baby boy is getting bigger - 5 months old now. We are enjoying his smiles and laughs and still working on sleep. He started some real food-like substances such as baby oatmeal. He has a favorite pastime, toe nibbling.

Billy Joel and Sir Elton John

2010-02-17T07:45:00.000-08:00

So we had an awesome night last night - we went to see Billy Joel and Elton John in San Jose. It was a great show. And a MUCH better date night then the last one. Our last date night, Tom picked the movie. I was really in need of a good date night - and so excited to go out.

He picked, To Save a Life.

Why did he pick it? Full 5 star fandango rating. What did he miss, that it wads a RELIGIOUS movie geared toward teens chalked full of messages of the afterlife, prolife, infidelity, teen sex, alcohol use and much much more! Oh, the romance. Oh the comedy. Oh not.

Some more anal, detailed people might have noticed the LARGE CROSS over the main characters face. Or read some of the fandango comments that indicated in a ambiguous way that this was a religious movie such as, "This was the best Christian movie I've seen. It hit all the idols of the current culture and showed that there is only ONE we should hold SO high."

Anyway, since he had NO idea - we did get a very big laugh out of it. That made it actually a good date night.

Mini Fences

2010-02-10T07:21:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all of you who read our blog. And for your genuine interest in our lives and how we are all doing.

I am more self conscious now about what I write then I ever was when I started this thing 4

years ago. I think it is because I occasionally find out that someone reads this that I had NO IDEA that they read it. With Fi getting older I feel her sense of person and I don't want to invade her privacy either. Now adding Gabriel I don't want to write anything that would promote sibling rivalry when they are older either. All of that is often on my mind when I sit

down to post. So the posts come less often and are often are a little photo post instead of

content.

Today however, I give the scoop of two! (well as much as I can fit in between kiddies requests!)

I wanted two kids minimum. With two, it is harder and more complicated then I would have thought.... and I would never change it. Being raised an only child and being an only as an adult with aging parents (sorry you guys but you are aging!! we all are!) - I just really didn't want to have only one. I want them to have each other and I want to experience a bigger group of family

then what I had. And Tom is an only too - so I couldn't get a big sibling fix over there either! So I am at my core so happy that we were finally blessed with Gabriel. Thank goodness.

I am happier and more at peace now then I was the last 3 years even considering the lack of sleep and the crying. That is how I now really realize how much I wanted him. I just feel happier. (Note: could be the hormones - so just bear with me here).

However, day to day can be a real killer. I lose my temper more - and I have always had a patience issue. That is something I am working on. Fiona has the sweetest little heart but it is sometimes easy to forget she is only 4 (5 in a couple weeks) - boy can she dish it out.

She rides me like too tight jeans on a summer day. Nothing can go unnoticed. I struggle with

the best way to raise her. I read books. I talk to my friends and ask other parents that I barely know how they handle stuff. I keep Tom up at night talking about our day. I have fear about raising a girl because I know how much trouble my mom and I had. And I don't think I was nearly as spirited as Fi at 5, but my mom will have to fill me in. So any tips welcome.

She is a wonderful big sister and Gabriel LOVES her. It is so true that babies gravitate to other

kids even at 3 months. He stops crying to watch her and he gives her his biggest smiles. MELT. MY. HEART. That is the best part of having two.

Well, I am long past needing to go pack her school snack! And thanks to Baby G for sleeping in today. And I need to wish a very BIG GET WELL to Acey who had surgery last week. I have thought of you every day. Please get well and we can't wait to see you.

Puppy Love

2010-02-04T09:14:00.000-08:00

Baby G's Big Smile

2010-02-01T19:47:00.000-08:00

and cute hat.

Also can be used as a phone, or loud-speaking device

2010-01-30T15:52:00.000-08:00

Some funny ones

2010-01-29T11:37:00.000-08:00

I have a couple very funny photos to post... This one is the less funny of the two. The second one I will do tomorrow. Here, you see Fi and her friends wanting to do whatever I am doing with the baby with their babies. In this case, they got bottles to feed them since I was feeding Gabe. I. Was. Dying. I know that the times when the girls will be so sweet and interested in hanging out with me is very limited, so I soak up their attention.

Finally - The Comparison

2010-01-22T20:46:00.000-08:00

Fiona at 4 months and Gabe at 4 months. I tried to get similar shot of Gabe's face, but they are very different - angle doesn't help much. However you can get the idea. What do you think? Do they look alike?

Hats for Sale

2010-01-19T08:53:00.000-08:00

We just got back from Washington - and had a very booked but nice visit with my mom, dad, the aunts and uncles on dads side, grandpa, grandma and a quick one with my good friend from HS Michelle. Too fast. 4 sleepless nights and all those visits, daddy Fence, me and the kids we exhausted wired. Fi missed her buddies, so when she got home, she played w/ Paigee and they had a nice 'relaxing' bubble bath. After this, Fi had her first sleep over at Paigee's - heaven on earth for Fi.We didn't get to see even close to all the people we wanted to see, but the primary purpose was to see my mom and dad and we had to fit the rest in around that. Hopefully we will be able to do more next time. Great grandpa was quite in love with the munchkins. And the best part was when Grandpa got up to tell us goodbye and Gabe have him a huge smile.

The next best or very close was when Fiona found this stack of hats, and much like one of her books "caps for sale" - she immediately put them all on her head and started offering "hats, hats for sale".
There were many hats sold to the crowd of 2.
Pick a hat! Any hat!
Baby boys first plane ride. Not a problem. Very good baby on plane - slept much of it. Must be because the planes we took were during the day. Had they been at night, surely he would have been awake.

Tom at the NYSE and 2 Happy Birthdays!

2010-01-12T09:12:00.000-08:00

Here he is ringing the market closing bell and two down during the opening ceremony. Unfortunately his handsomeness didn't have much of an effect on the stock price.
You can see more of Tom here: http://www.nasdaq.com/marketsite/marketsite_events.stm (click on the 1/10 demandtec closing bell options - more of the sweet fence).

Happy birthday to Lynberger, a woman I admire and adore! And to sweet Annnreeew who is 5 today!

Gym Workouts and Tom on TV!

2010-01-10T20:04:00.001-08:00

Fi and baby Bro doing their workouts! Baby bro getting some rare and short tummy time - they make us do it! And Fi just playing outside of gym class. Anreeww! we missed you at gym this week - there are new kids taking over! Fi also started Karate this past week. She is now practice hitting and kicking - this might be a slightly painful stage for me. But I am very happy she likes it. Tom is in NY right now - and tomorrow .... drum roll please - he will get to speak at the closing bell of the NYSE! He will announce the winners of a school challenge that his company and their partners sponsor. The kids compete using math and science skills and the winners are awarded scholarships (Tom is getting to speak as he and some others put this entire program together as part of DemandTec's corporate citizenship initiative). By the way it has grown from one school 4 years ago to dozens this year. Very proud wife.

We miss you daddy and we will see you soon!

Happy New Year 2010

2010-01-08T07:19:00.000-08:00

I haven't written anything since I felt like I should have something original to say for the NY - or at least a picture with party hats! Turns out I don't really have either, but I do want to wish everyone a very happy new year and say that I hope that 2010 is the best year yet.

My resolutions came to me in December this year when my husband bought me all L and XL clothes for Christmas. I was like - Oh my god, he knows! - OH and if HE knows, then everyone KNOWS. I know that I was pregnant and all but I had packed on 30 lbs since we were married before that. OOOFAH. I recently read that the average woman adds 1lb per year. I have added 5+ (plus the baby this year added and extra 10). It really is a sign of the entirely new life that motherhood/parenthood brings. For me, being the first time I have had to care for the little ones, I really put my all into it and there has not been much balance. All about Fi all the time. I think now that I can see what I have done to myself I realize that approach needs some tweaking. Moms say it all the time and/or people say it to them, but I need to put myself back on the to-do list. I also feel that it isn't like you would see me being the perfect go getter mom all the time, but it is more that since her needs were first, I was kind of always on call - not really planning any me time - and hence not getting any. So, this might be odd timing with the new baby - but I am determined to turn it around. Meaning that I will be harder on him with sleep - dude, you must sleep because tired mommy doesn't equal happy family - and he has already gone to the gym child watch a number of times (aaaawk even during the horrid flu season!). Food of course will also need to change, but when I am tired and stressed I eat so much worse. So, this time I am going to work on reducing stress, getting more sleep and taking care of me so that in return I can better manage the chillens. And hopefully drop 40lbs this year.

Ahhh, anywho - who is reading this crap??? Who would want to??? I guess before I moved on to the normal cute kid pics I would just spew a bit. Maybe all that furious typing is burning more calories? :-)

I really hope this is a great year for all of you - and us too. I am ready for a fresh one!

Coke Santa

2009-12-30T19:30:00.000-08:00

We typically make the trek to Santa at the mall, and that also involved some serious line waiting. One year it also involved Fiona laying on the ground as she was

Over Waiting.

So, I was so thrilled to see that our local grocery store had a free Santa sitting on Saturday morning... So we go the kids all dressed up in their red outfits and headed off. Then I saw it! Ugh. Coke Santa. All the Coke marketing and the not so real looking Santa was a far cry from the large fancy set up we have been to in the past. I *almost* drug the family to the mall afterwards in search of the real Santa - but held back. This year, Coke Santa will do.

Fun to do our first Santa with 2 kids on the lap. Fiona did tell Santa that she would like a big bike for Christmas, and reportedly he answered "We'll see". Nice hedging Coke Santa.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T08:42:00.000-08:00

We just finished opening our presents and I remembered the bow on the bottom photo opp! We are very fortunate and feel especially fortunate to have a baby in the house this year! We didn't feel nearly that fortunate last night at 12, 2, 4 and 6 when he was up but.... :-) We miss you and wish you were here. Love Alfalfa and his Princess!

The fresh baby out of the bath - mmmmm ymmy

2009-12-21T20:51:00.000-08:00

Turkey Bowl - Take 2

2009-12-17T13:36:00.000-08:00

This was our second annual turkey bowl (it was the day after thanksgiving, but took me a long time to go through all the pics that Jerry took! thank you Jerry!) The turkey bowl is a modified event from the TB that Tom had with his friends back home. We do touch football and fun kids games old fashion style down the street at our local park. Above you see a gummy bear found by only using the face in a plate of whipped cream. This is one of the fan favorite games, and one that Fiona is always happy to play.
This was a new game this year - we did mommy and daddy races pulling a sled of kids on some of my old backdrops! Note: Mommy's team won, while Daddy's team was not so fortunate... :-)

Here is some action from the turkey bowl game itself - Sarah here is showing some serious upset after her pass was intercepted. Note: I threw one pass and it was intercepted immediately by the same ball thief.
Here, you can see the ball thief in action - go Ryan!
Already training the little boys to play!
The three legged race is a big hit - but Fi and Aminah were so into it that after the race they just kept asking to be tied together and ran all around. It was beyond adorable. They would fall down laughing.
Tug - o - war with the old electrical cord. Can't beat it. Softer on the hands!

We also did some spoon/egg races and more. It was a lot of fun. This year was a bit stressful because of Gabriel - Luckily for the actual event we had Abuela to hold him. I think if we can keep this alive it will just be more and more fun as the years go on and the kids can do more and more - and as memories are built upon.

Speaking of memories, last year we had a pulled hammie (not pointing fingers Andrew!) and this year a sprained rib (uh hum - Mark you know who I am talking about!) so next year we might start off the old fogy touch game with some stretches.... :-) Anyone want to lead the stretching work out?

Tom's Ok too....

2009-12-16T18:32:00.000-08:00

So, Tom had a shoulder surgery today - and he is ok. He is recovering fine but obviously still hurting. He is asleep now and all dopey from the oxicodone. Just like I like him, - I have to hurry - I am taking all the credit cards and doing online shopping until tomorrow... :-)

Happy 3 Months Old Gabriel and Get Well Gpa Alan!

2009-12-14T19:39:00.000-08:00

Today, my dad came home from the hospital after having a successful open heart surgery. He is now going to better then he was before and seems in very good spirits. I always thought he was in amazing health, so this came as a shock but now is heart should be as good as new, and shouldn't have any more problems with it. We figure since he is all cleaned out, he has another 60 years before he has to worry about it again!

Also, happy three month birthday to Gabriel. He is such a sweet boy and I only wish I had more time to spend with him. Actually I need to focus more on being in the moment and soaking in what I do get. At three months he smiles big smiles and just last week he laughed for the first time. He is pretty easily soothed but he loves to be held a bunch. He is long and thin - at the last Dr he was 90th percentile in length and like 30th percentile in weight. He has rolled from his front to back but only once - accident. Everywhere I go people stop me to stare and tell me how alert and beautiful he is. Something I never tire of hearing. He doesn't sleep through the night - typically still up 2x and the other night 4x. I am tired all the time. I have been tempted in my mind to feed him formula because I want him to sleep – but I won't.

I am thankful for these two things today. And... Tom is at the 49 game with a friend tonight - Thankful for that too. Hope they are having fun and that whoever they want to win, wins... :-)

Oh Christmas Tree

2009-12-13T10:01:00.000-08:00

So, we got our tree! Normally we do the whole cut it down yourself thing, and by we I mean Tom. And it is great and we typically love it - the fun and adventure plus the tree lasts much longer. But, this year we were a bit too tired (thanks Gabriel) and also Tom was sick - so we cut down about half a day off the tree getting instead - and picked one up at a near by lot. We told Fiona that she could pick one.

10 seconds later we had our tree and were on our way. She helped with the decorating and we had hot cocoa and she and DaddyFence put up the lights on the house. We are good to go. She also wrote her letter to Santa all by her big self this year. She asked for one thing, a bigger bike. Santa better get on the buying that soon!

Great!

2009-12-12T20:03:00.000-08:00

Great Gpa & Dot and Great Grandson, as my aunt put it - the most senior and the most junior in the family (on my side anyway!). We had a great visit and it was a joy to see the love in the eyes of the great grands for the wee one. On of my favorite things is when my grandpa tells me that he has been grand but I made him "great". :-)

Nutcraker by the cutest Ice Cream and Cookie in Town!

2009-12-09T17:36:00.001-08:00

Des got these shots and video - she took them to dress rehearsal today - in about an hour we will be heading over the actual performance. This has been such a pain - but also so cute. I hope all goes well tonight. Don't miss the video below, click play!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Baby Nora and Dear Meara and J braved the warmth!

2009-12-07T19:47:00.000-08:00

We love J, but he took Meara to move to Alaska - making him slightly less adorable to me. But then they had baby Nora and that improved his standing. It was so nice to get together, but I really miss her! Nora is adorable and happily went to me and Daddy Fence. I even got to feed her.
Wish we were closer but so fun to get together. And as one friend recently said to me, and I liked it so I can reuse it as if it were my own saying - "And the tribe grows!". Still hard for me to believe that I now have two kids. And Meara, this women who I traveled to England and Italy and then to Turkey - is now a mom too. We have changed quite a bit from our younger years... but I hope there will be another trip in our future - Turkey 2?

Young Fightermacher

2009-12-05T21:30:00.000-08:00

Sibling Non-Rivalry

2009-12-05T09:05:00.000-08:00

Baby Love

2009-12-04T07:47:00.000-08:00

Baby R, Angela's new baby and Baby Gabriel are snuggling up on the couch. Like in my relationship - Gabe, the thinner one of the two is probably getting ready to have a huge bowl of ice cream while she will just sip tea and gain 5 lbs. :-)

Festival of Lights Parade

2009-12-01T22:52:00.000-08:00

We hit our towns annual festival of lights parade with some good friends and Fi's cousin K. We ran into many people we know from Fi's school and our neighborhood as well. It was very fun. The kids were definitely into it this year and sat and watched the parade very intently. Even baby Gabe and baby C were mesmerized by the lights and were very happy. It was cold but neither Fi or K would wear their jackets. I was freezing. Tom was in shorts - but he was cold!The kids came up with the idea of poking the leaves on the lights - it turned out very pretty.
Cousin love at the parade (while he tolerated it!)
Baby C and mama's hands.
The big kids being silly.
The big kids showing smiles.
Anreew and baby C!
Tom loved the pizza droppings on baby G.
The grand finale!

Someone has to read to the second child...

2009-11-30T10:32:00.000-08:00

Have a Super Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T09:47:00.000-08:00

Some So Cal Vaca

2009-11-23T07:26:00.000-08:00

Rock'n out with the Lucy show at Knotts Berry FarmsTom and Fi went on this big roller coaster three times and she was still begging for more. However the first time that she went on she cried for momma the whole time, broke my heart (they had it on video) but when it stopped she wanted to do it again. The second time she asked for me a couple times, and the third - no mention of momma! I think Tom was getting sick - so we finally moved on!
It went upside down and spun... I would NEVER go on it. Fi knows that too - that just makes her like it more!
baby boy and his sucky
sunset on Santa Barbara peir.
We have a few more pics to share later!

Alfalfa

2009-11-20T08:27:00.000-08:00

Gabe was born with dark hair - starting semi far back on the head. At that time we called it the receding hair line. Then he went on to lose all of it but a little tuft in the back - so that is now longer then the rest that is growing in. It is usually sticking up. Hence, the new name. Alfalfa.

Congratulations to Brian and Pamela!

2009-11-18T19:47:00.000-08:00

Gabe's first wedding nuptials - Daddy was in the wedding party - Gabe in his first button down, both my boys looking very handsome.And then there is "uncle" erik - 'nuf said.
Finally the classy pair let loose on the dance floor for our entertainment -
K, this romantic shot is two fold - ah so cute, see the love - and two = check out her back muscles (amazing shape this woman is in!)
Babe G can't stop this party from a rock'n.
Tom is hidden by Brian's butt, he is there doing is fair share of work holding up Brian
Finally a sleeping boy
Here we are - I needed at least one shot of us withe the new dress, new hair and and all.
And no pictures of Fi... why? She was off having a wonderful time with "auntie" Nicci and CC, O and B - She slept over for the first time at a friends house! Sources say that she didn't ask for me once. She had an awesome time. Thank you so much Nicci. I wasn't not one bit worried.

Congratulations to Brian and Pamela, we loved your ceremony, reception, hotel - we all know that Tom enjoyed himself the nights before and I loved my special night-before chat with the bride! It was a wonderful celebration. Thanks for letting us be part of it.

Tom's bday bash

2009-11-15T21:31:00.000-08:00

Ha ha! Tom had his birthday the same weekend as Brian's wedding - so we did a "big-not" celebration with one of our favorite baby boys other than our own, Conner who turned one a couple days before Tom's! So the party consisted of Tom, baby C, Fi, Des and me. Whoo-hoo! However, Tom really enjoyed celebrating with baby C and he did get his favorite ice cream cake and so life was good. well other then baby C spreading his green bean all over the cake before we got to eat it.
Baby Gabe after passing the doobie.... :-)

Serious cuteness found here. Love to see the two of them together.

PS: I should add that we spent Tom's actual bday driving most of the day - but then he did get to go out w/ the other boyz from the wedding on that night and the next day - the first night was a sort of bachelor party for Brian. Resulting in a night of touring target for poker chips. Really I am not sure who should be more disappointed Tom for his driving bday or brian for his Target bachelor party? Hmmmm.

Halloween Mania

2009-11-05T20:42:00.000-08:00

The catapillar and the butterfly/fairy (depending on the time of day that you asked her). Spent more on costumes this year - and especially the little catapillar - you might also see him wearing this with Santa.
Our nighttime trick or treating gang - dinner hosted by neighbors and we hit the street w/ this cute crew.
the hosting neighbor (this costume was very mild compared to previous years)
some of the girls from our neighborhood - love them all - a lot.

Friends who we went trick or treating w/ downtown. this is also an annual tradition. not all the kids were here yet, so I missed a few.
One of her teachers, Maria from Spanish school.
Dear but crazy friend hosted a pumpkin carving event at her house - all with pumpkins she GREW herself! It was very fun but most of the kids had very little to do w/ the actual pumpkins or touching of the seeds!!?? what?? anyway, they most drew the faces on and played while us moms did the hard work!
Friends from Fiona's moms group cuddling with Gabe. It is so touching for me to see them with Fi's little brother now after getting to know them so well when we met when our babies were only 1 month old.

Halloween painting too!
Met some friends at this pumpkin patch for a quickie one day. Fi pictured here trying to hold Gabe's head toward the camera!
Pumpkin patch that just our family went to the previous weekend...
and a very special, non pumpkin event - cousin Janeen, thanks for sending the great shirts for Fi and the outfit for gabe (as you can see, she was very excited and has worn them both a couple times already)
Whew, almost, sort of... caught up to Nov!

Fell off the face....

2009-11-04T20:36:00.000-08:00

So this is the longest I have gone w/out a single post. Grands, forgive me! I have not even downloaded the images off my camera. I have been either very busy or very tired or nursing. Nothing really much in between. I have so many great shots to post - but not today. this post is simply to break my silence! We also are leaving on Friday for Brian and Pamela's wedding! Can't wait. and then we are visiting the Lynberger and also taking a few days vacation. So I hope to post tomorrow or it will be another week. On the to-do list! xoxxo

Oh wait, I have one funny Fiona-ism. We were shopping one day and ran into an older grandma style woman we know from our gym. We talked w/ her for a minute and then we were saying our goodbyes and the woman said "god bless you". As we walked away, Fiona turned to me smiling and said "ha ha, we didn't even sneeze mom!" Like, the jokes on that crazy lady! Killed me.