Z's Birthday Weekend!

We had a wonderful weekend packed full of birthday fun! Mimene, Fanfan, Granpa Wayne, Aunt Natalie and Aunt Shannon all came to Santa Barbara to celebrate little miss Zoe's 3rd birthday.  THREE. I still can't believe it.  There were so many great pictures to choose from - here are my favorites from the weekend.

Happy Birthday, silly Zoe!  With her friends Ben, Alex and Nadia.

I got creative and made some ice cream cone cupcakes - they were a hit!

Her boyfriend, Ben.

Look at that awesome 3 year old coordination ;)

Being silly with Fanfan

Chasing Grandpa Wayne

Opening presents - so many!

Thanks Aunt Natalie!

Aunt Shannon & Aunt Natalie

Maddox wanted to beat up the Mickey Mouse balloon

Sleepy Maddox

Maddox is walking with his walker!!

What do you think, do they look alike?

Frenchies  :)

Painting Z's nails with her new nail polish - such a girly girl.

I was hoping he would leave his party hat on...it lasted about 30 seconds.

Out at dinner celebrating Natalie's 40th birthday!

 

At the Butterfly exhibit at the Natural History museum!

Cuties

My two favorite little people.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Zoe!

Happy, happy birthday to our amazing little girl (but don't call her "little!")!!!  

Our yearly chair picture: 3 years!!!

Zoe, you have brought us so much joy these past 3 years it is impossible to write down in one little post.  We love your determination ("just one more book"), your silliness ("shake your booty"), your daring streak (roller coasters and running into the ocean) and your sweetness (best seen with your brother). We love you more than we can ever describe and we never want you to change. You are perfect in every way.

Here are a few of the chair pictures over the past 3 years...amazing how quickly she has grown up!

1 month

6 months

 

1 year

1.5 years

2 years

We love you more than all the candy in the world!

10 Months!

My little man is already 10 months old and I really need time to slow down. I'm so scared of forgetting all the little things. I'm trying to document it all but everything is happening so fast!  Here is the ever so popular monthly chair picture :)  Crazy how much he has changed in less than a year.

Look at this face!

Sitting down in the chair these days only happens for a split second at a time

With his favorite person in the whole wide world.

A few new things to point out about Maddox since our last monthly picture:

• 2 new teeth!  Bottom 2 came in at the end of July...a whole 4 months before Zoe got her first!
• He loves to give kisses
• He can now stand for a few seconds on his own
• He says "dada" and as of yesterday, "mama!"
• He screams like a chimpanzee (no joke) to get attention

Nor Cal

Francis was lucky enough to be able to work from our San Francisco office at the end of July so I decided to meet him up there with the kiddos for a day and take the opportunity to visit my parents over the weekend. The kids were SO good on the drive up. They both slept for 2.5 hours and I didn't need to stop until Morgan Hill. SF was beautiful with no fog which was surprising for the summer! We had dinner at Osha Thai, right across from the Ferry Building and a short walk from our hotel.The kids and I met Rosana and Nader for brunch but we were so excited to catch up we completely forgot to take pictures. Next time!

I miss this city!

We had a great time with Mimene and Fanfan. We spent some time at the lake, Francis and I were able to have a mini date night and sneak out to a movie and had lots and lots of crepes.

Everyone says these 2 look alike... 

She's gonna kill me for posting this but I just HAD to. I love it, it's so funny that my mom can't say to to her granddaughter.

Zoe painting Fanfan's toes.

The finished product - Z was very proud of her work.

 

At the lake

With Avery! 

Maddox's 1st Beach Day

Maddox had his first official eat-all-the-sand-you-can-and-rub-it-all-in-your-eyes beach day (almost 3 weeks ago but I'm super late posting this....again.)  He loved it.  Zoe did too.  She loved making sand castles and digging up sand crabs :)