Rest in Peace Popi

The girls' great grandfather, Maynard Franklin ("Popi") passed away last night at the age of 92. He will be missed.





[from top, Popi with Molly and Clara in December 2007, Popi with Henry Baron ("Pop") and Judd in spring 1983 or thereabouts, Maynard with his father Ben Frankenberg reading to Charly Franklin ("Pa") in the around 1950 or so]

Molly's Flowers!

Uncle Nouri sent the most beautiful bouquet of flowers to Molly on her birthday. They arrived just as she was getting in bed and she was clearly delighted! She sat right down and began examining them, picking out her favorites and asking about each type. 

Birth-Day Photos

Pictures from Molly's birthday:
a few presents; a birthday girl; opening the train set; organizing her train set; cupcakes for school; with Zach at dinner.

H-A-P-P-Y-D-A-Y

Molly, spelling out Happy Day with her hands, ready to go to her party!

Happy Birthday Molly!

Dear Molly,

I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of how strong you are, how hard you try, and your insatiable curiosity. It's been a big year at school: you finished up preschool and started kindergarten. The transition wasn't entirely easy, but you've really blossomed in Ms. Kim's class. You started in your usual style (watch and learn) and since winter break you've gone on to master the subject of Kindergarten.

At home you've struggled a bit with what it means to be a big sister to Clara, but the two of you seem to be working it out in a really positive way. It's so much fun to watch the two of you act out stories and play for long periods of time - you clearly both enjoy each other's company.

I can't wait to see what six-year-old-Molly has in store for us. I'm sure the year will be filled with curious adventures of all sorts!

much love,
Mama Sofia

Adventure Playground - painting things

Because Berkeley really is a small town (especially if you have kids) we ran into two of Molly's best buddies at the Adventure Playground. They played, painted, and hammered for hours. Here they are painting. Trying it out on everything. Yes, you can paint the dirt. It doesn't really look like much though.

Adventure Playground - building things

One of the many attractions at the Adventure Playground (besides the Trolley and playing on the crazy structures) is the opportunity to add to the playground. Kids can turn in 5 pieces of trash, 5 nails, 5 splintered pieces of wood, or 1 "Mr. Dangerous" (a piece of wood with a nail sticking out) to get one tool in return. The tools are either: a saw, a hammer w/ 5 nails, or a paintbrush with some paint. There are almost no other rules - the kids go from there depending on their interests, age, and abilities.

In the past the girls have focused on the painting - there's always a moment of silence when they figure out that they can paint on *anything*. Today, they both enjoyed painting (I'll post pictures of that soon), but they also both got into hammering. Clara really focused on figuring out how to drive that durn nail. Molly had more vision - she gathered the pieces to make a sailboat, then a clock. She also took the time to thoughtfully find a place for each of her creations in the playground.