Belmont Greek Festival

Every Labor Day weekend, the Church of the Holy Cross hosts a 3-day Greek Festival.  Since it's only a 5 minute walk from our house, we decided to take the girls to check out the festivities.  The festival features homemade Greek food and desserts, live Greek music, dancers, cooking demos and boutiques.  John and I went a few years ago and still talk about how yummy the food was.  I don't have any pictures of them because we were too busy feeding them (and feeding ourselves).  Anyways, our girls had their first taste of Greek food and they really liked it.  Not too shocking since they are generally pretty good eaters.  

Random pictures taken Labor Day weekend

Happy Birthday to Mommy

Singing Happy Birthday to you

We celebrated mommy's birthday with a short trip to the SF zoo again and then came home for cake.  

I think they have been to several birthday parties (for both kids and adults) that they are beginning to understand the whole birthday concept.   

• First, sing Happy Birthday
• Second, blow out the candles
• Third, enjoy cake!!! (and have seconds)

Daddy surprised mommy with a cool gift...a digital photo frame, which proudly displays pictures from the past 20+ months.  

Hannah having seconds

Grandma and grandpa with mommy

San Francisco Zoo

The girls are checking out the penguin pond.

Family picture by the Bear Gulch.

We have family passes to the San Francisco Zoo so we took the girls to see some animals today.  It was a bit chilly, but they love going to the zoo so the cold weather didn't seem to bother them.  I just bundled them up in lots of fleece.  Unfortunately, mommy and daddy didn't have any extra clothes, as we were freezing in our shorts.   Some of their favorite sightings were the giraffes, zebras, tigers, hippos, polar bears, penguins and flamingos. 

Swimming

It seems like I have been signing the girls up for so many classes.  Since the classes are only once a week, it doesn't feel too overwhelming and I schedule them on days when I have at least another adult to help me.  When they were 14 months old, we started to take them to a 20-week gym class at The Little Gym.  It was quite amazing how comfortable they got climbing all the gym equipment, jumping on their own and running around the tumbling mats.  

Here they are in their swimrobes getting ready for Water Babies.

In July, they started a Water Babies class.  We have been getting them used to water (besides bathtime) at water parks and the wading pool at our local gym.  They are so eager to go to swim class as we change them into their swim attire.  Alexandra is our best "swimmer".  She likes (or should I say, doesn't mind) being submerged in the water and she seems to have the most fun playing all the swim games...Humpty Dumpty, Motor Boat, Ring Around the Rosie...

20 month check up

Alexandra, Hannah & Sophia (l to r)

Our girls had their 20 month check up today.  They are all growing and developing so well.  Here are their most recent stats.

Sophia - 26 lbs. 4 oz., 34 1/2 inches

Hannah - 27 lbs. 7 oz., 33 3/4 inches

Alexandra - 26 lbs., 34 1/2 inches

We always thought Sophia was the shortest, but maybe she had a growth spurt in the last month.  Either that or she stretched herself out on the examining table when the nurse was measuring her.  Hannah had a runny nose so she wasn't feeling that great and was crying when I lay her down on the table.   Anyways, they are all doing so well and we are so proud of them.

  Sophia and Hannah sharing a laugh.

Gelato

View from our Club Level seats

John got a pair of free tickets to a Giants game today so we took a little break (from the kids) for some fresh air and soaked up some sun.  It was a beautiful day in the city.  We had good seats and I indulged in a cheeseburger, fries and gelato.  

John enjoying his gelato

I have always been a Peanuts fan.

We got home before the girls' dinner time.  They were in good hands with 

grandma and our nanny.  Here, the girls are just chilling out after dinner, wearing the necklaces they made in art class.  

Helping mommy with laundry

I have 3 little helpers...

The girls like to help me push the laundry basket down the hallway to the staircase so that I can bring it downstairs where our washer and dryer are.  Somehow, their short attention span and quick thinking made them decide to use the laundry basket as a toy.  The picture is a bit blurry since they were in motion.  

I am surprised that all three can still fit in this basket, even when it's full of laundry!  After a while of fun play, I did decide to take it away as they were fighting for space and tipping the basket as if it were a row boat. 

My First Art Class

I signed the girls up for an art class at our local community center.  It's more of an art exploration class (50 minutes of different art stations and 10 minutes of music).  So far, they are enjoying it and I have been able to display their creations on our walls.  This past week was an animal theme.  They made caterpillars out of egg cartons, turtles with colored rice, snake balloons, and owls with colorful feathers.  There is always a play doh station which has been Hannah's favorite.  

Playground fun and a splinter

I took the girls to a local playground today for lunch and to burn off some of that dynamite energy.  They have gotten so much more active in climbing the play structures and fearless in going down a "big kid" slide.  Check out Hannah taking that huge step on the spiral ladder as her sisters watch and follow her lead.  I still watch them with an eagle eye, but they just seem more and more comfortable each time we go to a playground.  Our tiny Little Tikes slide at home has been outgrown...already!

All three are pretty fearless, but Alexandra is our most fearless little girl in terms of pain tolerance.  Ever since she was a couple weeks old, she has not been afraid of shots and needles.  I mention this because she got a little splinter on her left index finger today, probably from playing with the tanbark.  She didn't cry or complain about it but pointed it out to me when we got home.  When I finally figured out what she was trying to tell me and saw a tiny, flush splinter in her finger, I tried to squeeze it out.  That didn't work.  So, after dinner when John came home from work, he used a needle and tweezers to pull it out.  Their hands are so tiny, we had to use a magnifying glass to help see it.  All three were fascinated with daddy's magnifying glass.

Cupcakes, Piano & Bubble Wrap

I love the fact that our girls enjoy being together, whether it's snacking, playing, reading or just hanging out.  I made cupcakes a few weeks ago and froze some as an emergency snack.  It's a simple, low-sugar apple muffin recipe.  I defrosted them the other day so here are the girls having their own cupcake, in their own bowl.  If they saw me break a muffin in half and place them in separate bowls, there would be a meltdown.  Hence, each has her own bowl, plus her own, whole cupcake.

I think this piano shot is pretty cute.  They were so into making music together.  I did get a few shots from the front view but when they saw me with the camera, they stopped playing nicely and decided to climb the piano.

There is something about bubble wrap that kids just love.  It must be the unique sound it makes when 6 little feet stomp away to their own little "bubble wrap tune".

A year in photos

Many of you have seen pictures from their first year of life.  We tried to take posed photos of all three each month among the millions of other posed and candid photos we took on a daily basis.  Here are just a few of our favorites.