Ava's 7th Birthday

Our little bohemian princess is 7. The years are flying by us now. My love for her continues to grow. It amazes me how strong it is. She is devoted to us. If you asked her her favorite thing to do she'd say "spend time with my family". She loves holidays and decorating for them, something mommy isn't as fond of, but I love her enthusiasm.  If you peeked in on her at home you'd find her playing school up in her room, or drawing, or writing a story, or, miraculously, sometimes, playing with Nathan without fighting. :)

She is almost finished with 1st grade and has made some really sweet friends. I couldn't believe that she wanted to try and have another party with friends after the end of last year's party, but she insisted. She wanted a mermaid party and she knew exactly who she wanted to be there. Every one of the six girls she invited came to celebrate with her, which touched my heart, especially because she struggles so much with going to other people's birthday parties. It's overwhelming for her and I get that, but I also feel sad for the other girls. I want them to feel supported by her too. I know she loves them. It's just her anxiety over anticipating something she can't predict. Genetics I wish we didn't have in our family. I'm hoping it's something she'll grow out of eventually- I can see myself looking back on writing this someday and wishing she didn't want to go to parities in high school. ha! life is funny.  I have amazing support for my struggles with her emotional sensitivity though, so I can work through it with people who know and adore her, and approach it the best way for us. Right now that means not forcing her. We're going to start with one on one play dates at a really close friends home and getting her more comfortable without me and we'll see what more is revealed from that. Sometimes I fear others judgement, and lack of understanding, because I don't go out of my way to explain myself too often and people see how attached she is. Some comment with an undertone of "is that normal for her age?". Ha! No such thing as normal. It's normal for Ava, so I'll go with that. Doing anything but loving her through her stresses I look back on with regret. Forcing her to be someone she isn't is not an option. Brad and I talked with her, trying to encourage her to attend a sweet friends party. She immediately got worked up, began crying, and in the course of our talk through her tears, said "I can't help it, I was just made this way." It struck both os us, Brad asked if she had heard me say that. Nope. She KNOWS. She wants us to listen. This culture doesn't support introverts very well at all, but our family does. That's probably why she feels like she always wants to be here. A work in progress- like all of life. If you know her and have a softness in your heart, you love her. She just does that to people. Hence, her wonderful friends. 

She's a lucky #7 now ;)

 

Here's the Birthday Girl waiting for her guests...

 Auntie Mina was here (specialist treat for me too!). She helped us decorate. Seaweed and a big wave of streamers.

 fishes and crabbies in the seaweed

For snacks we served mermaid food: Goldfish, Sea Cucumbers, Seaweed and Sand Dollar cookies.

 The Girls colored mermaids which we cut out so they could hang them....

 Painted Seashells....

And found a special treasure at the end of a scavenger hunt.

They also put on some cute silver and gold boho tattoos. I love this photo of Megan.

The girls left to right (well you know who that little cute tag along is ;)

Mariella, Megan, Zoe, Natalie, Ava, Ava F, Mariko.

I love all of them. Such sweethearts. I couldn't be happier with her choice in friends.

She loved her mermaid cake

And opening presents with her friends. 

You are a true gift, my lovely girl. Thank you for being just as you are. You are LOVED. Forever.

Happy 7th Birthday.

*On her real birthday, Hailey visited and we had pancakes for breakfast, homemade Nutella sandwiches for lunch, a picnic dinner downtown (pizza) and stopped by Yogurt in Love on the way home. yum! #toomuchsugar

Nathan is 3!

How is time going by so fast? I ask myself this so often as I watch Nathan grow. Maybe it's because he's my last baby that I cling to his babyhood and mourn a little as it slips away from me. His skin is still so soft and smells so sweet. He still wants his mama and I eat up every instant of that. I know it's impermanent, as is everything. The goodness that comes from knowing that is the immense appreciation I feel in the moments I get when his little arms wrap around my neck, or when he giggles until he [practically can't breathe when I tickle him. I couldn't even attempt to describe who he is growing into. You have to hang out with him to know his charm and absolute adorableness. There's nothing like it. I know, I'm his mom, and I'm biased, but I really do think his little personality is something special, unique and he is SO LOVED by all he has in his life who get to know him well. The things he says! His language is soaring right now and he cracks me up! I need to write more down. He's trying to have power as the littlest in the family and his efforts are valiant. His big sis, as wonderful as she is, can also be sure to put him in his place. What she doesn't realize is how things will shift as he grows and becomes bigger that she is! He's devoted to her. Those moments when they tell each other 'i love you' are the gold in my day. There's nothing more gratifying to a parent. yes!

He's BOY all the way. Loves his trains, cars, helicopters, baseball glove, bats and balls, he loves to read books and watch shows, his mimi goes everywhere with him and comforts him to no end, he loves to wrestle with daddy and have dance parties with mommy, he eats a ton of food, poops 4 times a day (it's a big job- potty training can't come soon enough!), makes up silly words like "mucka bucka" and "ouchie bingo", His smart as a whip and picked up on memorizing knock knock jokes he over heard from Ava. His favorite which he told one night out of the blue at the dinner table was this:

nathan: knock, knock.

us: who's there?

nathan: Ice cream soda

us: Ice cream soda who?

Nathan: Ice cream so the whole neighborhood can hear me!! 

He got the family dinner table in hysterics that night. Got every word totally right!

We try and be firm and these's 3's have hit us hard with temper tantrums, so I do hold the line, but sometimes he's too charming and we melt. Brad told him to "sit down!" in his high chair one night, which he replied by saying "You're rockin' the boat!". So now every time we say "nathan please sit down. it's not safe" He's says "sit down! you're rockin the boat! Say dat to me mama!" It's become a joke for all. 

I'm so thankful for photographs. This first one is a film photograph and it captures his spirit. captures who he is to me. Something about film does that. I'm so glad for what I do.

He's potty training and we're slow going, but getting there. He just walked over to the potty and pooped the other day, didn't tell anyone! Impressive, but loves to talk poo-poo talk now too. Not so impressive. So boy. 

I could write for days about him. He's easy going, but not a push over, like his mama can be and I love that about him. He recovers quickly from injury, emotional or physical and is quick to forgive. He just wants to smile and laugh and play. What a great little master we have living with us, teaching us how to get back to what's important every day. 

I love you Nathany-buddy. You have my heart.

xo

caught, trying to catch a squirrel--only nathan would think he could! 

That smile kills me every time. I smile so much more with him in my life.

wake up from nappy takes a while. He needs lots of cuddle time.

remote control anything, yes please! Tools, real tools. This kid wants what's most dangerous. knives, saws, hammers, lightbulbs, etc. Of course we say no and he has to settle for his toy version. boo hoo. worst parents ever! 

For his birthday we had a glow is the dark dance party. Nathan gets so excited when he sees things that glow. He'll say "it blows!!" So mama stocked up on some glow sticks, a disco ball and made a Nathan themed dance party mix, invited grandparents and Auntie Laura and Amalia and we partied. HARD. It was awesome. If he's in the right mood, all you have to say is "shake your booty, Nathan" and he'll boogie down right there, music or not. 

We got him a banana cake with chocolate frosting from icing on the cake. My mouth is watering just thinking about how good it was. And this series of him blowing out the candles cracks me up. Everything done with such gusto! My mom used to describe me that way. ha!

This is sweet Amalia. Born just 4 months before Nathan. So fun to have kids close in age with friends that you love. And Amalia is such a doll. She made the party extra fun with her energy. She was so into it. 

Ava all decked out in glow gear!

Amalia all decked out too!

Nana decked out and instagramming for our east coast family, which we missed so much.

Poppi put a new spin on wearing glow sticks altogether, had them around his ears and head. SO MUCH FUN. Everyone danced for the whole duration of the CD, even the grandparens. And we're talking dancing to anything from Raffi to Katy Perry. We had a BLAST! 

Happy Birthday little Bud. You make life so fun! 

Happy New Year! Hello 2015!

Holidays 2014

Christmas came back!! We had such an awesome holiday this year. Ava was so into it and Nathan fed off of her excitement, so we felt a lot of joy and anticipation of family coming and, of course, the jolly old St. Nick. He was so good to us! We did a lot: decorated Gingerbread Houses at Nathan's school and Ava's, Sang Carols at both schools, made Great Grandma Koch's Christmas cookies with Grandma and Grandpa in Pleasanton, went to the LG holiday parade, went to see Santa, picked out our own tree and decorated it together....And we made Great Grandma Green's Pignoli cookies. 

Oh. my. deliciousness. 

There are more photos and some darling video's of Nathan acting as Santa Claus on my personal instagram account, which you can view here:

http://instagram.com/greenbeanmama/

My mom and Dad completed their cross-country trip just in time to arrive in LG and spend Christmas Eve and morning with us. We made traditional Cioppino and alio olio, and antipasto, but the very best part....Auntie Mina and Uncle Sash were here for a week!! yes!

Below are some images of our fun decorating the tree and house.

Kiddies in their xmas jammies...

so proud of themselves!

making cookies at G & G's. #sugarhigh

Xmas morning!!!! matching Auntie glasses and a ribbon wand from Auntie!

Nathan got his own Nutcracker and Ava her own dog that really walks, as requested. Good Job, Santa.

Nathan loved his trains and Cranky to lift them up

G & G got Nathan a balance bike!

And he loved some movie time with Uncle Sash when the whole morning got too overwhelming.

We barely found time to have a family breakfast. Totally forgot to squeeze fresh juice from our oranges this year! Having way too much fun! But we ate some panetonne and had a nice dinner in Pleasanton that evening. 

We missed seeing Auntie Coley, Uncle Dave and Sarah and Grandpa Great, but they were in our hearts and on face time on our phones ;)

'Twas a Merry Christmas, indeed!

xo