Two Years Old Today

Here is the two year old challenge for all of you... WHICH one of these pictures is MILLIE on her 2nd birthday, and WHICH one of these pictures is PENELOPE on her 2nd birthday? I showed Millie the pictures of her sister and she thought it would be fun to re-create the scene! Write in on the comments section and win a prize!! As always, click on a picture for a bigger view...

Happy Birthday Dear Millie Jane!!

On September 26, 2006 little Millie Jane will be two years old. She will enthusiastically answer "TWO!" if you ask her how old she is, but if you ask her what her NAME is, she'll tell you she's two as well. hmmm. The real problem is that she thinks she is 5 years old. Maybe from having a doting older sister who is in fact 5 years old, but Millie doesn't even have any FRIENDS who are 2 years old (thus no birthday party--my first time in 5 years actually NOT having a party... I feel a little guilty, but she doesn't seem to mind).

The other day Millie went to visit Penelope in Kindergarten and she just sat on the rug with all the kids--the teacher didn't even notice her because she was just blending in with the crowd, so well behaved. She went to an assembly with them, just following along in line and sitting with all the big kids, and then afterwards sat in the little chairs like all the kindergarteners. When the teacher read a story, she would sit and listen. .. she puts up a fuss only if she has to leave the class.

She is already identifying letters, and I had no idea she even knew any letters! She brought me a book to read with ABC on the cover, and when I said it said ABC she corrected me, saying, "no, that's an O!" And when I looked at it, the C DID look like an O, because on the cover a hand is drawing the C, and covers up the open part of the C, making it look like an O. I was so surprised, I had her show me other letters she knew. And she knows M, N, and E.... and loves puzzles, so I have a wooden puzzle of letters, which we've been going through, talking about the letters and the sounds. Like I said, she thinks she is 5.

Look Ma! No Kids!

Brett and I actually got out on a little spontaneous date for the 9th annual Taste of Walnut Creek event. It was a gorgeous night, and we walked the downtown with my mom and Neil, visiting the participating resteraunts for samples off their menus. I didn't expect it to be so fun! We found a few new favorite spots to visit--an amazing gelateria that would rival any I've been to in Italy , and a cool dive called Tomy Tims that served coconut shrimp, skewered chicken, and mai tais. mmmm. SushiGroove was also very cool, hip atmosphere and yum sushi ... and a killer happy hour with $3 cosmopolitans!

Brett and Joy as a little pink couple....


Eating our way through Walnut Creek



The can you see with the gelato is a can of Milo... a drink apparently sold here (I'm so excited!) but I had only found it in Australia previously as a mix, like Nestle Quick. It is a kind of chocolate malt, but I LOVE the way the store displays their gelato, with cool 3 dimensional objects--like a bar of chocolate for chocolate or an actual mango for mango.

Go Bears!

Today was quite a day--Service Day in the morning, and Cal Bears game with the Iskanders in the afternoon. It was such a fun day, although a full one. We had to hike about 1/2 hour both ways to get to the stadium--parking is kind of a problem at Cal. After the game we went to dinner with the Iskander family and the kids had a blast. I highly recommend A+ Deli on Telegraph. Yum, and so quick! As always, click on any pic for a bigger view.

Penelope and Isabel enjoy the game... well, they enjoyed playing with their little toys at the game. Millie actually seemed to watch for a moment or two...she's the real Oski fan.


The band comes out at half-time for their coolio show. They spelled out CALIFORNIA with their bodies while playing Beatles tunes. Usually they play a Counting Crows number in honor of lead singer Adam Duritz who is an alum and a big fan. We saw him down on the field with the team!


The hot mammas: joy and liz!


Ok, the Iskander kids do a better job of rooting on the home team with their teamware--at least Millie is wearing blue! We'll be better alum in the future! :)

Painting Benches for Pleasant Hill Community Service Day

Many of you know that I'm active with the City of Pleasant Hill on the Civic Action Commission. Sounds loftier than it is--well, maybe not--anyway, it involves sponsoring the Concerts by the Lake Summer Series and now this all-city Service Day in September. This is the second year we've had it, and it has been a fantastic success. We get organizations to come up with projects that they couldn't do without help and then we get citizens to volunteer their time for a day. The Lion's club makes a big pancake breakfast and various Pizza places around the city make lunches. Our commission goes around delivering the pizzas to the groups of volunteers!

Last year Penelope helped me deliver pizzas, but this year she wanted to help serve. She heard about painting projects and decided she wanted to paint. One of the projects was to paint the bus benches for the County Connection buses at each shelter along the routes. They actually didn't get a lot of volunteers for the project, so Family Brown came in and took on our own bench. It was great fun, and the girls were so dedicated! Penelope and I actually went on to paint the gazebo back at City Hall as well.

So thanks to all volunteers and hooray for the City of Pleasant Hill and the Civic Action Commission for a job well done! As we say at the CAC, Less Talk, More Action!

Watch the transformation of our bench. . .

Sanding the bench to get it ready to paint


Even Millie gets into the action of sanding it down


Now comes the fun part!


Dad gives Penelope tips on painting her bench


P and me in our Service Day shirts--like my little green Civic Action Commission pin? That means I'm official.


Family Brown's Bench on Oak Park Road at the Safeway! After it dries, come on and sit for a spell.

hiking on mount diablo

Christi Brown invited me and the girls to join her family on a hike at Rock City on Mount Diablo. What a gorgeous day!! The views are stunning up there, and the girls loved tooling around on the rocks, picnicing out in the sunshine. We met a ranger and he gave the girls all "junior ranger" stickers!

Here Millie shows off her cool glasses... she is a cool cat.


Penelope and Jackie show off their skill as gazelles


Penelope shows off her cool butterfly glasses..