And then...

Pete and Andréa came to visit! They were on their way to Australia and fit us in as a stopover. Unfortunately, Steve and I had to work, so we didn't get to do much San Francisco adventuring with them (or get many good pictures), but we had, as always, a wonderful time hanging out, cooking, lingering over meals and generally laughing and catching up. We are incredibly blessed to have such dear friends. I have known Andréa since were in preschool together and she's been my best friend for about half my life. It is such a joy to see how much Grace loves her (and Pete).

Dancing to Gaga. If you didn't know, this requires running toward the stereo as soon as Gaga is mentioned, then gathering everyone in the room to hold hands and then furiously shuffling your feet and giggling hysterically. Try it!

Grace was absolutely delighted to have her godparents, PePe and Daaay-a, here. So were we. Hope you guys are having a fabulous and relaxing trip. Thanks for stopping by!

Meanwhile

The weekend between Pop's two visits, Sarah came to town to attend a mutual friend's wedding.

We cooked and lazed around and did some Christmas shopping and had a lovely time catching up on the past six months. Then it came time to rally for the wedding, but it was one of those chilly, grey days that made us mutter that we'd rather just stay in our sweats and bake cookies. However, it turned out to be one of the loveliest weddings I have attended! (The fabulous Ashley agreed to babysit since Steve was on call, which made it quite a fun night out for me!). The setting was gorgeous, just over the GG in Sausalito. The ceremony was beautiful and personal and had nearly everyone in tears. The food and drink and company was terrific and we had a blast dancing the night away (okay, that's an exaggeration - we had to pack it in early, but we boogied enough to make it a night's worth).

All fancied up...

The next morning, we attended the post-wedding brunch, this time with Grace. Party girl had a blast, including wrestling a fork from me to eat an entire piece of leftover wedding cake. She also engaged the groom in a rousing game of ring-around-the-rosy (could not get a non-blurring picture, but you can sense the exuberance!). We sat on the porch and enjoyed the view of the city and bridge while Grace enjoyed the rocking chairs... singing "a rocka rocka rocka rocka".

What a fun weekend! And so good to catch up with such a dear friend. Thank you for visiting, Sarah, and for being a fab date to the wedding!

She finally updated the blog.

So... where to begin. December was busy. Full of visitors and fun and very few quiet moments for blogging.

Things started getting wild when, during Thanksgiving weekend, my dad's car was stolen from the street near our apartment. The SFPD told him that they have a 95% recovery rate within 30 days. Since he was supposed to continue on to visit friends, he picked up a rental, continued his trip (sans much of the stuff _for_ the trip that had been in the car), and we all hoped he'd hear his car had been found but we were not at all optimistic. The make/model/year suggested it was soon to be parts. Well, lucky day! The car was recovered (not 5 miles from our place), but without most of his stuff. At least we now have an easy shopping list for Christmas and birthdays.

Fortunately the car was in decent shape, so Dad returned to SF for visit part2 while the car spent a few days in the shop. I felt just terrible and rotten about all this, but he was a good sport. And it meant a second visit with my dad just two weeks after the first, which was quite a treat. I'm sorry for circumstances, but we loved having him visit and Grace adores her Pop.

A few snaps from hanging with Pop...

Learning how to put stickers on ears, nose, eyes, etc. Naturally.

It wouldn't really be a visit with Pop without donuts (nonuts!).

Ice cream (ice-seee!).

Playground. Notice we are not wearing coats. It was December.

I love California.

Making Christmas cookies. Grace had very definite ideas about how to approach this. I also turned around at one point to find her with a mouth full of cookie dough. Yes, she's clearly my child, but I'm hoping she can wait a while longer before getting salmonella.

Merry Christmas!

I had hoped to get caught up on all the crazy of the past few weeks by now. But I've failed. So, a month in review will have to follow the Christmas festivities.

In the meantime, we are looking forward to a few days off, spending time with family, indulging in lots of yummy food and, most importantly, celebrating our Savior's coming into the world.

Here are a few pictures of Grace decorating the Christmas tree, and later admiring her handiwork.

Happy Christmas to all!

Miss Independent

Not surprisingly, given her age, personality and parentage, Grace has an emerging independent (and stubborn) streak. For instance, she generally prefers to read to herself these days, at her own pace, only selecting the pages she feels like reading, and often with the book uniquely oriented to her point of view. But she remains very sweet and will make sure we have our own book to read as well before bed. That or she is trying to keep us occupied.