Big Sis / Little Sis Dancers

One of Quinn's cutest qualities is her desire to mimic every sound and movement her big sis ("cece") makes. Here she is trying to learn some ballet moves from Dillon. [Song is "Swan Dance" from Swan Lake by Peter Tchaikovsky.]

Wordless Wednesdays (87)

Taken Fall 2016

Clifford Pays a Visit

Dillon's class has a yearlong project where every weekend a different student takes the class pet home for the weekend and documents the activities. Let's just say Clifford had a very active weekend at our house!

Making cornbread!

Eating cinnamon rolls!

Hiking! (Duh.)

Eating FroYo!

Brushing teeth!

Nighttime cuddling!

Hi Ho Hi Ho a Hiking We Will Go

Hiking with the kids and dog is one of my favorite activities these days. Here is a smattering of pix from several recent hikes:

Super cute duo!

Love this photo of Dillon on Cowles.

Scrambling with pal Layla.

Bridges of San Diego County.

Walking across the old dam with my Zeus.

Is Dillon Bigger than an Orca?

Never let it be said that we are unpredictable. More SeaWorld!

Interesting size comparison to an orca.

Dillon and Natalia celebrate Christmas
with their new dolphin friends.

Christmas selfie!

Sissies.

Wordless Wednesdays (86)

Taken 3/29/2016

Silent (and Blind) Auction Portrait

So Dillon's ballet school had a silent auction and flipping through the items I saw there were a few portrait sessions to bid on. I thought it would be nice since we didn't have any formal pictures of the family since Quinn arrived, but I'm afraid I didn't investigate closely, because it turned out the session was in Orange County (!) and involved a very stylistic oil portraiture. Which if you've been to our house you'll realize is not nearly fancy enough for such a thing. But we kept an open mind and the end result is actually quite lovely. Dillon looks so beautiful in the photo and Craig and I both still fit into our wedding clothes! Quinn didn't cry and that's the most you can really ask of a baby. In a funny twist, Quinn's hair is now much longer and Dillon's much shorter. This is the longest blog post I've ever written.

Adventures in Learning: Mockingjay

Now that Quinn is in daycare but Dillon is in elementary school, I had to adjust the post title a little bit. It's also harder to post pix of Dillon because we don't have an Instagram feed at her school (some mumbo jumbo about protecting privacy). Still we have managed to scrape together a few photos!

Three billy goats gruff.

Shaving cream!

Made in the shade.

Wrestling + xerberts.

Dillon and classmates showing of DonorsChoose gifts.

Rocking out with Daley on the game truck.

En route to see "The Nutcracker."

Kiddo Museum of Contemporary Art and Academics (17)

Still not too much happening with Quinnster, but Dillon continues to output creative pieces.

Super tall flowers.

Royal resist tape.

"Two girls with pet alligator"

Quinny handprint!

 We're also going to start seeing some schoolwork from our kindergirl.

Learning objects can have more than one color!

I had Dillon fill out this questionnaire when school started.

As you can see, Quinn thinks painting is a treat for the palate as well! Mmm...delicious paint.

Charlie Chaplin mustache.