bye 2016

bye 2016.  bye felicia.  oh man.  although the world seems to be in crisis, and it was difficult to navigate through the extremely disunifying election season, our year wasn't all that awful.  it wasn't smooth sailing for sure, but when i put things in perspective, it's not that bad.  and in an effort to focus on the positive, i'd like to go through some of the fun stuff we did this last year.  in pictures, of course:

baby's first snow

first snow of the year!

painted birthday cards for our friend

went to the zoo with friends

learned how to smile

fluffy hair don't care!

went for rainy day walks

dug out and filled in a stepping path in the back yard garden

were gifted a fourth generation family play kitchen and re-painted it!

2 months old!

ate at one of our favorite restaurants and Z-ahem-made friends with this statue

big brother gave baby sister a "haircut"

played with play-do ALOT, and mama got good at assembling tiny play-do roses

celebrated Ayyam-i-Ha, day1

more Ayyam-i-Ha!

practiced painting

walked to the neighborhood parks

me and hubs finally got to check out din tai fung and eat their delicious soup dumplings

celebrated Naw Ruz!

played at the children's museum

put little toes in the grass for the first time

visited san diego

and went to the beach in carlsbad

celebrated Ridvan!

started sitting up!

climbed a lot

visited palo alto

mother's day!

travelled to davis, ca

visiting grama and papa

worked on our garden

6 months old!

pigtails!

played in the kiddie pool on hot days

had our front porch replaced with concrete

started teething---ouch

painted some bird houses for the yard

baked a lot

turned 3!!!

z wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, so i made that and then he added his favorite----hucklberries---to the top.  actually, the tartness of the huckleberries broke up the richness of the chocolate really nicely!

updated the laundry room!

scraped, repaired, patched, sanded, primed and painted the deck---one of the most laborious projects we have done on the house to date!

volunteered at the Bahai booth at the local town festival

started standing up

hubs modified a grill to make a pizza oven

went to a farm with some friends

played at the children's museum some more

played at the bounce house place

started preschool

took another trip to davis

visited a farm and did some fall-like activities while in CA

did some more fall activities back at home

started climbing and standing on everything possible

dressed up for halloween and did a little trick or treating

learned about chemical reactions

turned one! had a birthday party at home and one in davis

flew back to CA and had thanksgiving in palo alto

played in the snow in our backyard

first time playing in the snow for this girl

removed the wallpaper and painted the kitchen

hosted christmas eve dinner with both of our families, and basically spent a lot of time with family and friends hanging out and eating and drinking tea.  it was such a wonderful time.  my heart was so full.

of course there were so many other memorable moments throughout this year; we hosted lots of different friends throughout the year from out of town, hosted some baby showers, had some parties and Bahai celebrations, became more involved in the Bahai communities around us and started taking the kids to children's classes, and had the opportunity to offer various types of service.  we worked a lot on our house.  we had some struggles, too.  and lots of room for growth.  crisis and victory.  i'm excited for the new endeavors that are swirling around in my mind, i just have to find ways for them to be made manifest.