Merry Christmas from the Gongs!

Tomorrow (Christmas Eve) we will pack up our car (with substantial overflow in Grandmommy and Granddaddy's car -- that's how we roll these days) and drive up to Sebastopol, where we will spend 2 days at Full House Farm with Grandmommy, Granddaddy, Uncle Wesley, and Auntie Kristin. Needless to say, there's much excitement in our house today -- Fiona can even say "Sebastopol!" Before we go, we thought we'd share some highlights of our Christmas season.

Decorating the house:

The girls in front of our little tree (which Erick, nostalgic for our NYC days when we would walk the tree one block back to our apartment, carried back the entire 1 mile walk from the lot to our house).

Exploring Macy's Union Square:

And today's adventure, baking sugar cookies for the first time...
and washing up afterward.
(We are shocked and thrilled that Fiona shows such early aptitude for washing dishes. It was arguably more fun than making the cookies. Each dish was washed multiple times. When we tried to get her outside for a bike ride, she actually said: "NO, I want to stay here and wash dishes!" We may have to remind her of this in a few years).
The finished product, which will travel to Sebastopol with us:

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Lookalikes

Like most parents, we tend to think of our children as unique. However, recent photographic evidence has suggested that our daughters may have been separated at birth from pop-culture alter-egos.

Take, for instance, Fiona, who has suddenly developed a great love of the harmonica. She can play it, folks, I'm not just tooting her horn here (excuse the pun). And when she plays it, as most recently during a spontaneous outburst at our Christmas caroling party, she does so soulfully.

Much like legendary harmonica player Bob Dylan. (Although if we ever catch Fiona with a cigarette in there, too, there will be a SERIOUS time out!)

And then there's Campbell. Our second daughter has always had quite a head of hair (unlike her older sister), but recently her hair has taken on a life of it's own. Check out her hair in this photo: it just does that by itself, and nothing we can do will stop it.

But with the holiday season upon us, we've wondered whether Campbell's hair is paying tribute to the not-as-legendary-as-Bob-Dylan-but-still-sort-of-legendary Cindy Lou Who from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Just giving you something to think about.

Fiona Turns Two: Part II

FINALLY I am getting to the second installment of Fiona's second birthday -- almost exactly a month after the fact!

When we last left you, Fiona had celebrated her 2nd year with a party at the park the day before her actual birthday. The morning of November 18 dawned clear and sunny, much as it had two years earlier (except this time without the chest pains that would send me to the hospital for an unexpected delivery of little Fiona!). Fiona woke up to find her big-ticket gift, a "Hello Kitty-Cat bike and a pink helmet," waiting for her. She been asking for this exact thing for months. It is indeed a blessing to be able to give your child the desire of her heart (and it probably won't last long, so we enjoyed her excitement immensely!).

The rest of the day was actually quite laid-back. After a ride around the block on her new bike ("ride" is overstating it -- her grandparents pushed her the entire way!) and a visit to the Studio Grow playspace (we forgot to take pictures), we all gathered: Fiona, Campbell, her parents, and both sets of grandparents, for a Chinese feast at one of our favorite local restaurants, Asian Pearl.

Fiona enjoyed her food...

...and the undivided attention of both grandmothers.

Campbell enjoyed having her parents' undivided attention for once. (With 4 grandparents managing Fiona, we were extraneous).

Following what felt like a 264-course meal, we went home for MORE cake. She had the whole candle-blowing ritual pretty down by this point.

It was, of course, a hit.

The whole birthday was a lot of fun. We can't wait to see what the next 2 years will bring! She's a kooky kid, but we'll keep her.

Fiona Turns Two: Part I

Okay, I realize that this is almost a month late in coming. Thankfully we have forgotten to bring our camera to just about every major event since Fiona's birthday, though, so I have plenty of time to catch up! Maybe we'll actually get some documentation of Christmas; I make no promises.

Since Fiona is still so young, we had envisioned her 2nd birthday as a laid-back affair. In reality, the festivities began the day before her actual birthday, with a party in our neighborhood park. The guest list was limited to 3 friends: Constance, Luther, and Elisa. The theme: Hello Kitty, which Fiona has decided she loves solely based on owning a pair of Hello Kitty rain boots. There was a Hello Kitty balloon....
...and a Hello Kitty cake. (I plan to produce this picture in the future whenever Fiona accuses me of not loving her).

The guests arrived. The hilarious thing about 2-year-old birthday parties is that nobody quite knows the etiquette yet. So Fiona greeted Constance awkwardly....
...and rebuffed Luther's attempt to give her flowers.
But apparently everybody understands the etiquette of cake eating.

In the end, a fun time was had by all. And Campbell is already longing for her own chance at birthday fun. Eight months to go.....

A Week of Spoiling Begins!

We were all delighted to have Nana and Boom visit us last week -- a visit that encompassed Campbell's baptism and Fiona's 2nd birthday. Nobody was more delighted than Fiona. No sooner had Nana and Boom deplaned, but she received a Red Sox cap and fuzzy bunny slippers. Both of which she insisted upon wearing to her nap. Whether or not she turns out to be a Red Sox fan, she is definitely a Nana and Boom fan!

And there was much more to follow. More presents, and daily fun activities. But of course, we forgot to bring the camera to most of those activities, so instead I'll just post some of the amusing faces that Fiona makes at the dinner table.
Coming soon: the 2-part series that was Fiona's birthday.

Campbell Gets Baptized

A week ago, Campbell was baptized at Christ Church of Berkeley in the presence of 14 family members and countless friends. She wore the christening dress that I (Faith) wore back when I was baptized -- as did Fiona. I can't think of much witty commentary on dedicating Campbell's life to God, so I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves; it was a really special day! (Admittedly, it was a little nervewracking to have both girls up on stage for the ceremony - a looong 5 minutes! -- but everyone was amazingly well behaved).

Halloween Hilarity

I think I've oversold our Halloween a little with that title, but Campbell's 1st and Fiona's 2nd Halloween was very nice. Fiona dressed as one of her favorite foods: a cupcake. Complete with a disproportionately large cherry on top. We carved the 3 pumpkins that we picked earlier this month. The "Mommy & Dadoo" pumpkin got the traditional treatment:
But Fiona & Campbell's pumpkins were decreed "Pony" pumpkins and carved accordingly. (Erick, the knife-wielder, was begging me for no more curved lines after those two).
After Campbell awoke from her nap, she was dressed as a ladybug (a costume commissioned by her older sister. As you can see below, it nicely accentuates her enormous cheeks).

Then, we headed off to the "Fall Fest" party thrown by our church. It was so much fun that Fiona was completely exhausted after the first hour. But she had enough energy to compete in the costume contest, in which she made the Top 5. (I suspect sympathy points for that enormous, homemade cherry. Or maybe it's all in the attitude -- I cannot explain the face she's making below).
In other news, Campbell is now lifting her head 90 degrees. This means that mobility is not far behind.

What will we do with two who can move?!? Halloween nothin', that's REALLY scary!