Dad & Ava After Her Ballet Performance

Dad & Luke Camping

Sweet Pea

Lisa and the Kids

Luke Walks!

Luke took his first walk around the living room today.

Luke is ONE!

Luke celebrated his first birthday in grand style on Thursday with a chocolate cupcake and frosting goatee.

He's a happy boy and eats all his dinner and then some.

Amazing Day at the Beach in February

We went to Limintour Beach in Point Reyes on Sunday for and discovered a perfect summer day. This is the best beach in the Bay Area. Wide swaths of squeeky white sand that go on for miles. Grassy dunes. Calm water. Not many people.

We ate lunch and played in the sand. Then Luke and I went for a walk up the beach toward the white cliffs in the distance. We must have walked five miles through desolate stretches of beach and still didn't reach the end.

Merry Christmas 2005

Thanksgiving on Mt. Tam

Trick or Treat

A view from inside the neighbor's house as we headed out for some halloween excitement. After this, we went to a street in Fairfax where all the hippies go trick or treating. We witnessed a halloween bongo drum parade and found a house where they gave out glasses of wine to the adults.

Ava scored a huge bag of candy, which Mom and Dad ate later that night. Luke groweled and hissed.

Grrrrrrr...

Beauty and the Beast

Ava and Luke try out their halloween costumes.

Ava Gets Ready for School

Ava has been dressing herself for school lately. This is the outfit she picked out today -- glasses and necklace included. Must be all that Velvet Underground she's been listening to lately...

Meet Luke

After eight months of mixing up "Evan" with "Ava" we've decided to change his name to Luke. We almost named him Luke originally, but Evan won out. Since then, we've ended up calling both Evan and Ava "Avan" on almost a daily basis. Not good.

So, Luke it is. Unfortunately, in Califoria this involves quite a lot of legal hullabaloo, including court filings, newspaper notices and an appearance before a Superior Court judge where we must "show cause" for the name change. But we think it's worth it.

Lukie likes his new name and so do we. Ava still tends to call him Evan, but old habits die hard when you're three.

Luke and Grandma

Rock Climbing

Grandma's Birthday on the Mountain

Luke Wears a Hat

Ava joins the Kiss Army

Ava goes for the Peter Criss look and sports a bandage on her forehead from an altercation with a rattle at daycare. All in all, a good day.

Lisa on Candid Camera

Portrait of Lisa taken by Ava, hotshot photographer.

Evan at Six Months

He eats rice cereal and sweet potatos. He drinks from a cup. He's one cool customer.

Evan's First Food

Evan takes his first bite of rice cereal, chews on it with a sour look on his face, then spits it out and asks for more.

A Nice Day

On Saturday we set out for Stinson Beach, but it was foggy, so we headed up to Bolinas Ridge for a picnic to wait for the weather to clear.

The contrast couldn't have been more dramatic. Cold and grey at the beach; 95 degrees and sunny on the mountain.

Ava collected pine cones. We ate cheese and salami and watched huge dragonflies buzz by.

Ava and Mom

A Photo by Ava

Spa Ava

After the fog cleared we headed back down to the beach. Ava spent much of the day laying in the hot sand.

She also perfected a new type of spa treatment, which consists of rubbing wet sand on your legs, pouring water on them, and scraping them really hard with a toy sand rake. It's invigorating.

Later, we ate softserve.

Ava's New Veil

Ava tries on a veil Grammy Carmen made for her by hand.

Evan Smiles

Lisa and the Boy

At the Beach

Michael and Ava fly a kite at Stinson Beach.

Ava Bunny

Ava dressed as a bunny at the Marin Art & Garden Center Spring Fling.

Ava and Evan

Ava smiles for the camera. Evan spots a hot chick on tv.

Mommy and Kids

Lisa, Ava and Evan showcase their gender- appropriate clothing.

Making Cookies

Michael and Ava make chocolate chip cookies. Ava is very good with the wisk.

Easter Day

Easter day 2,
originally uploaded by meikhael.

Ava and Evan on Easter Day.

Jackson, Cole and Ava

Ava and her daycare friends go for a ride in her new wagon. Our favorite mode of transportation for trips to the beach.

Evan Sits Up

Evan is a nice boy. He is now five months old.

Say Hello To Evan Turner!

Say Hello To Evan Turner!,
originally uploaded by meikhael.

He's Here! Evan Edward Turner was born on February 9 at 8:31 AM at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. He was 6 lbs. 13 oz. and 19.5 inches long.

Evan is an Aquarius. According to our astrologer, he is extremely ambitious, tends to be very opinionated and is generally bored with the status quo. And here's the coolest part: because Evan's Uranus is in 05 Degrees Pices, he is "extremely idealistic and wants to change society by completely reorienting its highest religious goals and aspirations." How cool is that?

Evan likes to sleep a lot. You can see his eyes moving and his lips twitching, as he formulates his plans for world domination. We're not sure, but he may already have an FBI file.

Ava has been an AWESOME big sister! She loves to help us take care of Evan and likes to hold and kiss him. Stay tuned for more of the Ava and Evan files...

It's a Very Play-Doh Christmas

playdoh,
originally uploaded by meikhael.

This Christmas Ava has a lot to be thankful for. Like the Play-Doh Fun Fridge packed with more than 20 pieces and eight different colors of Play-Doh. She also received a Bitty Baby by the American Girl Collection, which comes with its own diaper bag, diapers and wipes. Just a few other things. Santa gave her three books, a Groovy Girls backpack, a tiger flashlight that growls when you turn it on, a puppet show set, a wooden doll with magnetic dresses, big girl underwear, Mary Poppins, Muppets from Outerspace, Thomas the Train, play horses, Dora the Explorer and Winnie the Pooh Christmas ornaments, tub paint, a sequined purse, wooden blocks with pictures on them, crayons, pens, finger puppets, a Cookie Monster lunch box, candycanes, a bell, and a bunch of other stuff I can't remember right now. Between all the toys and the pies and eggnog, Ava is so overstimulated and jacked up on sugar right now that she's half crazed. She turns from one toy to the next, yelling and hitting things, crying one minute and laughing the next. Next year she may get some Ritalin in her stocking too...