Saturday, December 31, 2011

Merry Christmas 2011!

We hope the year has brought many wonderful things to all of you. Douglas and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary this year and find so much to be thankful for. We had many great get-togethers with both of our families, caught up with old friends, and made new ones as we continue exploring around the North Bay. We have been in our new house for one year and we all love it so much. The kids are enjoying having a yard and walking to school. We are looking forward to developing our garden and adding more fruit trees. Although we have done many small things to the house, major plans have not progressed as quickly as we hoped. But things are slowly moving in the right direction towards getting our rental unit ready.
 
The kids are both doing well and, although Mahala will not admit it, they adore each other. They share a room and, even though they have a bunk bed, we often find them sleeping together in the bottom bunk. When they are both in a good mood, they can spend hours playing legos, building pillow pits or playing imaginary games together (‘yetch’ and ‘mustard man’ are their current favorites!).

Mahala is 7 and in second grade. She plays soccer, loves board games, is full of curiosity and is still our 'negotiator'. She LOVES reading and has just started the first book of the Narnia series. Once in a while, we even find her reading books to her brother! She still has a strong interest in saving the environment and being the best vegetarian she can be. She loves samosas, science and playing with bugs and salamanders. She learned to ride a two-wheel bike and also learned to swim this year.
 
Noble is 4 and is in the Pre-K program at his school. He loves the chance to finally be a big kid like his sister! He is still a clown, is very loving and imaginative and is extremely talkative. It does not matter if someone is listening or not - he keeps on talking. He also learned to ride a two-wheel bike, plays soccer and had his first real swim lessons. He loves fancy clothes, math problems, kale pesto pasta and playing Uno and Memory. And, thank goodness, his food allergies continue to get better.
 
We adopted a 8 year old spaniel mix in September. People assume we got the dog for the kids but those of you who know me know who the dog is really for! He came with the name 'Stevie Wonder' although we just call him ‘Stevie‘. The kids often refer to him as 'Stevie the wonder dog'. He loves sitting on laps and being carried around. Although we still need to work on his behavior, he has been a great addition to the family.
 
We are looking forward to the new year and hope the coming year brings you peace, health and happiness!

Love, Sheeba, Douglas, Mahala, Noble and Stevie

fun with quinn


Tuesday, December 27, 2011

old roomies

alicia - my first college roommate in the dorms - moved to LA so we had a chance to stop and her and her new baby zachary!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

christmas dinner at the esparzas

this is the adult table...the kids table was too crazy to photograph!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

a pf christmas

a bit of a rushed photo since we were leaving for our big road trip early the next morning, but we did manage to squeeze in a little gift opening by our little tree :) and also, the gifts for our 'hosts' along our roadtrip!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

kids will be kids

mahala and noble being silly and mahala getting noble to do her math homework :)

more christmas projects

noble decorating his stocking armed with a glue gun and mahala finishing her sickeningly sweet gingerbread house!

sf with my girl

a rare moment for the peter-frank girls. we had a day to ourselves while noble was at school and douglas was at work. we headed into san francisco to go to the de young museum (favorite sculpture seen here) and the japanese tea garden.


grace cathedral christmas celebration

the family sing-a-long at grace cathedral was this past weekend. it's one of favorite places to go at christmas. the kids loved the show and actually sang! the labyrinth is always a hit.


transportation fieldtrip

noble's pre-k went on a transportation fieldtrip...we took the bus to the ferry and sailed to san francisco. when we arrived there, one of the dads (who happens to be a sf cop) had his police car there for the kids to play in. how many 4 year olds can fit in a police car??!!!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

holiday fun

a busy week...the kids decorated their gingerbread houses, ate latkes and played dreidel with friend miles and aero and dressed up the christmas tree!


noble playing soccer

noble just completed his first session of soccer! i even got one of his goals on video!



christmas cookie decorating

we had a fun afternoon decorating cookies with our friends millie and rod and their kids tyler, sydney and alden. the cookies were not too pretty to eat though...!


thanksgiving fun

we spent thanksgiving with in morgan hill with the franks. a big feast, lots of games and movies for all!


happy 7th!!!

we were in morgan hill with grandma, papa, david, karen, david and kayla for mahala's actual birthday. she requested french onion soup for lunch and a fruit tart for her treat...so that was exactly what we did!

jackson's visit

jackson and don came to visit before thanksgiving. the kids had a great time playing with him and at mahala's school riding bikes, scooters ad playing on the playground.

mahala's 7th bday party

we had a movie party for mahala's 7th birthday party. the kids joined us for 'kiki's delivery service' and ice cream sundaes...along with plenty of running around the house chasing each other!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

wild otters in monterey bay

amazing moments watching sea otters in monterey bay. we saw a single otter as well as an entire raft of otters.a big highlight for all of us!

monterrey weekend

we went away for veteran's day and spent a night in what now is one of our favorite vacation spots - monterey. we saw the monarchs clustering in trees for the winter, the aquarium, went to the beach where the kids went tidepooling, saw some wild seals and otters in the bay and, as usual, the kids were thrilled to stay in a hotel. We cozied up to the fire and played games on our rainy evening stay.



the witch and the cat

they came up with their own ideas this year and with a little help from my glue gun and some store-bought accessories, i had the easiest costumes to make!

pumpkin time

we went to petaluma to pick pumpkins and the day before halloween, brady came with emeline and a friend to carve with us. as usual, mahala was the only kid to stay with it!

napping buddies

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

a peter-frank in a pear tree

douglas gets the top of the pear tree from our 2nd story window and the kids in our own "american gothic"

Saturday, October 1, 2011

the homesteaders


we're getting back to basics - dehydrating! a gift from my sweetie that the whole family is excited about!

muir woods/beach fieldtrip

noble's pre-K class went on their first fieldtrip yesterday to muir woods and muir beach. they got to roam under the redwoods, eat lunch near the beach and then we went to the beach to play and hike. most of the kids went on an impressive hike up to a spot that overlooks muir beach. it was a pretty impressive climb for 4 and 5 year olds. it was such a great trip although foggy and chilly as always along the pacific!


Tuesday, September 27, 2011

two kids on two wheelers!

mahala learned a few weeks ago and noble learned this past weekend. thanks to some good training from daddy, they are on their way!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

noble's first soccer practice

noble's first soccer practice was this past friday and after a morning of being way too excited to play, and then a few minutes of absolutely refusing to play once we got there, noble jumped in and had so much fun. he ended up asking why practice was so short!

cat lover?

he claims he is a cat lover but i think we all know the truth now :)

Sunday, September 18, 2011

the vt architecture gang

14 year reunion :)