Happy Summer

Hello All,
The blogging has slowed considerably as life has ramped up with our children's growth!  I wanted to send out a few pictures though... especially because we finally got a new camera.  Realize that most of the pictures we have posted this past year have been taken on my iPhone.  So the real deal is a huuuuge improvement and Matthew has been very busy becoming the family photographer.  He is a natural.  So here are a few shots of the cuties over the past three months...

Matthew working on his new camera skills as Whitney paints the house with a sharpie!  cute picture, though :)

Mommy and Lyell on a recent hike at Wilder Ranch State Park.  Lyell loves his hiking backpack, and insists on packing it himself with every special treasure he owns before we leave the house.

Whitney absolutely loves her "baba."  When he isn't home, she walks around the house carrying some article of his clothing and saying, "baba, baba." Usually it's his shoes, which makes for some heavy lifting :)

Here is Lyell at his birthday party.  Turning three was monumental for him, as it was the first birthday he could comprehend.  He told us that he wanted a piñata, a parade and cake.  When the day turned out to be 105 degrees, we were very happy we had planned it at the river.

It is very difficult to keep clothes on Lyell, and his party was no exception.  Here we are banging on the piñata.

Blowing out the candles.

Time for Cake!!

Lyell has discovered the ocean, waves, salt water and sand castles.  He is a big fan of all.

We have loved spending time with cousins Leandra and Katie, visiting from New Hampshire.  They are such beautiful young women and role models for our children.

All dressed up for the Fourth of July.

Whitney and her necklaces.

Lyell and his beloved bike.  Biking and swimming are his favorite sports right now... wonder if his triathlete mom has anything to do with that :)  Sometimes I will be foggily drinking my coffee first thing in the morning and Lyell will say something to me like, "Mom, its really time for you to do your running and biking now."  

Wish I could tell you that they are always this cute and hold hands and blow each other kisses all day.  But I'll take these moments and cherish them.

Lyell goes hiking with his buddy Tamzen.  It was one of my first letting-go-mommy moments, as Lyell says to me, "Mommy you can go ahead, I just want to hike with Tamzen by myself."

Summer exited for one long weekend- just in time for the Strawberry Music Festival- so we bundled up big time to dance in the rain and snow.

Listening to the Sunday morning Revival at Birch Lake.

A typical backyard activity for Lyell and Whitney.  No matter what I do, they always end up in their birthdays suits and doing some kind of experiment with water.  Here they are putting the finishing touches on a 5 gallon "stew" they just brewed up.

This pictures shows two of Whitney's loves right now, fashion and boxes.  She likes to accessorize with hats and shoes and necklaces and usually has pulled all of her clothes out of her closet drawers by the end of the day.  And she is at the developmental phase where putting things in and taking things out of boxes consumes her for hours.

The typical summer playdate...

Lyell and Whitney doing their thing on the banks of the Merced. 

Lyell's buddy and neighbor Marley.

Matthew and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary with a trip to Half Moon Bay.  It was the first time we have been alone in over 3 years and it was amazing.  

This is me remembering how to relax.  It took a little while and then I became an expert for the next 48 hours.

The view from our balcony.  Ahhhhhh.....

A rare family photo (although I am hoping they will happen more often now that we are blessed with the self-timer function on our new camera.)  We look forward to swimming and playing with many of you this summer, and send big love to those a little farther away.

Whitney Turns One

Can it be??  Will I turn into yet another mother asking, "Where does the time go?  How can my little baby be ___ already?"  Alas, it seems like yet another thing I said I would never do and then come to realize that it is an inevitable part of parenthood.  Here I am celebrating my daughter's first year on this earth and I truly feel like it was yesterday that I was holding her in my arms for the first time.  My current favorite phrase to capture this phenomenon goes something like, "The days are long, but the years are short."  And boy have we had some long days here in the Marcis household.  Days filled with diapers and food all over the floor (and ceiling) and paint spilling down the stairs, and full speed ahead wipe outs on the asphalt, and more diapers and much more food on the floor.  Then all of a sudden your little baby girl grabs your hairbrush while you're brushing your hair and tries to comb her own hair while grinning in the mirror and you realize in a blink she will be 16 and getting ready for the prom and where has all the time gone??

What can you do but try your hardest to stay present and celebrate each moment.  We had a lovely joint birthday party with a baby born just a few weeks apart from Whitney down the street at our little play park.  We all had a blast and I finally learned how to make a cocktail (15 short years after turning 21:)  Whitney is now an advanced crawler and working hard on her climbing skills, but doesn't seem too interested in walking.  She does manage to get herself in all sorts of precarious situations; one morning she pushed my guitar across the floor to use as a step to get herself onto the couch.  She then crawled across the couch to the end table, where I found her sitting on top and calmly leafing through a magazine.  You may wonder why I didn't notice this happening:  he whole guitar to couch to end table to magazine maneuver took her less then a minute.  She is a quick one.

Lyell has picked up on all the terms of endearment we use for Whitney, calling her, "Darling" or "Sweet Baby."  He loves to have her up on his new big bed, where they play endless rounds of diving under the blankets and then suddenly reappearing to squeals of laughter.  Lyell also insists on picking out Whitney's daily wardrobe, a practice that has resulted in some bold new fashion pairings.  And don't think you can smile and then swap out a shirt while Lyell's not looking- he will be onto you before you know it.

Lyell continues to make me laugh out loud and steam with anger simultaneously.  He is exploring his world and his boundaries with great zeal right now.  An example from our day: Lyell is playing in the backyard where I can watch him easily from the kitchen window while I do dishes.  However, he cannot see me watching him and thinks he is all alone.  I watch him pick up a shovel from the sandbox toys and carry it over to our little pond.  He looks around casually before dangling the shovel over the pond and letting it drop into the water.  He waits, looks around again, and heads back over to get another sandbox toy to drop in the pond.  I watch him for a few minutes and then quietly walk outside and catch him just as he is about to drop the next toy in.  "Lyell, what happened to the sand toys?"  I ask.  Lyell puts his hands on his hips and looks up and me.  "I have no idea,"  he says.

Now it so happens that I am reading a chapter from the book NurtureShock about children and lying, which explains why this is a natural reaction, and as I stand with my son and a pond full of sand toys I cannot help but laugh out loud when he continues, "Mommy, I have no idea what happened but I think we need to make a fishing pole to get them out."  A-ha!  Once again I have my friend Curious George to thank, as George made his own fishing pole to use in his pond.  I think I'll wait a few years before I start him on the Swiss Family Robinson stories.

Roasting marshmallows during a Potluck Preschool "campout" on a stormy day.

Lyell got on skis for the first time this winter and got progressively more excited with each trip.  He seems to be very happy about skiing as long as Matthew sticks right by his side.

Lyell even got to go up a chair lift by the end of the season!

We took a field trip to our local fire station and Lyell was a captive audience.

Lyell gets to try on the "big mask"

A rare moment of tranquility in the bedroom.  

Whitney sporting a dirndl that we bought almost 30 years ago when my family travelled in Europe.  

Lyell and his buddy Cooper take a walk in the rain.  We had given the boys umbrellas and looked away for a minute and they had taken off up the street on their own little path.  

Whitney showcasing her special talent for eating just about anything that is put on her plate.

Lyell and Whitney "helping" me make Birthday Scones for Whitney's birthday brunch.

Notice who is doing most of the opening of Whitney's birthday presents.  Fortunately, she didn't seem to mind.

Whitney on her first birthday.

This month Lyell says farewell to his cousin and best friend Georgia as they are moving back to Hawaii.  Don't worry, Georgia, we will be visiting very soon! 

Whitney enjoys her carrot cake muffin at her Birthday Luau party.

Sushi, spring rolls and kebabs were on the menu for the birthday bash, along with our 'signature' Mai Tai. 

We had a joint birthday celebration with our neighbor Phoebe, who was born 3 weeks after Whitney.  

The craft table at the Luau

We joined in the Easter fun at the annual Yosemite Valley egg hunt.  

It was an epic spring day in the Valley, with Yosemite Falls raging behind Lyell as he looks for eggs.

The Easter Bunny himself even made his way up to the mountains to see us!

Lovin' on each other in the Radio Flyer.

Lyell and Grammy making Easter cookies

Three generations of Marcis boys having a picnic in our backyard!  

                                               

The drawers of our new bunk bed seem to be the current favorite play spot.  The game goes like this: climb in with all your stuffed animals and scream at the top of your lungs.

Matthew and I snuck away for a final ski date as a cold April storm blew through and dumped 2 feet of snow!  The quiet of the forest in newly fallen snow brought us gently back into balance.  We are thankful every day to live in a place so filled with wonder!!!