Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Looking forward to seeing everyone in 2009!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Happy Holidays!
This year, I decided to do the annual photo for our Christmas card, although we were a little dubious at how well the photo would turn out with two active kids as the subject matter. We were pleasantly surprised by our photo shoot, in which Kyle very much played up to the camera, and even used his own creative ideas when he decided to pick up Hannah (sitting on the brick steps, uhoh!) which turned out to be the best photos after all.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
Looking forward to seeing everyone in 2009!
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Looking forward to seeing everyone in 2009!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas
It's hard to believe that after all of the preparations, the big day is finally here. Kyle's been looking forward to the day all month, despite breaking in to tears at the sight of Santa Claus!
Kyle loved the kitchen that Santa left for him and Hannah, and promptly whipped up some breakfast (carrots) for us,
while Hannah was crawling around on the floor chasing after the salt and pepper shakers.
More of Kyle's favorites were all of the PlanCity toys that he received
and Hannah now has her own baby doll, courtesy of Kyle, so she doesn't to take his all of the time!
And of course, the gifts Dave and I enjoyed most were the special moments with both Kyle and Hannah.
We were also very lucky to be able to share Christmas Day with Auntie Laura and Uncle Scott who drove down from Washington, as well as Maemo & Granpa, Noni & Papa, Uncle Mike, and Great-Uncle Charlie & Great-Aunt Doni. It was a full table again at our house!
Kyle loved the kitchen that Santa left for him and Hannah, and promptly whipped up some breakfast (carrots) for us,
while Hannah was crawling around on the floor chasing after the salt and pepper shakers.
More of Kyle's favorites were all of the PlanCity toys that he received
and Hannah now has her own baby doll, courtesy of Kyle, so she doesn't to take his all of the time!
And of course, the gifts Dave and I enjoyed most were the special moments with both Kyle and Hannah.
We were also very lucky to be able to share Christmas Day with Auntie Laura and Uncle Scott who drove down from Washington, as well as Maemo & Granpa, Noni & Papa, Uncle Mike, and Great-Uncle Charlie & Great-Aunt Doni. It was a full table again at our house!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Visiting with Gabby
Our visits with Gabby (Hannah's closest friend age-wise) have unfortunately been too infrequent, so we had to make sure to see her along with Kim and Robert for the holidays. Who would have thought that getting 3 kids together who live an hour apart would be so difficult??
Gabby has super fashion sense, and is always eager to match with Hannah, but unfortunately, trying to get them to look at the camera, smile and NOT hold something in front of their shirts proved too much for our beauties to handle, so this was the best shot of our coordinating girls.
Kyle was very excited by his gift from Gabby, a set of three PlanCity construction trucks, and was far too distracted to sit still for a photo with the girls.
It was so much fun to see Hannah and Gabby interacting, and hopefully it won't be too long before we can get them together again. They are both growing so quickly, and before we know it we will be celebrating their first birthdays!
Gabby has super fashion sense, and is always eager to match with Hannah, but unfortunately, trying to get them to look at the camera, smile and NOT hold something in front of their shirts proved too much for our beauties to handle, so this was the best shot of our coordinating girls.
Kyle was very excited by his gift from Gabby, a set of three PlanCity construction trucks, and was far too distracted to sit still for a photo with the girls.
It was so much fun to see Hannah and Gabby interacting, and hopefully it won't be too long before we can get them together again. They are both growing so quickly, and before we know it we will be celebrating their first birthdays!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Train time
We gave Kyle his first BRIO train set for Christmas last year, and the collection has been steadily growing since then. We're not sure it would be wise to get a train table for him, as he wouldn't be able to fit his large track set ups on the small tables, instead they ramble across the entire living room floor. He's great at composing these elaborate tracks himself, which shouldn't be so surprising as he is super with jigsaw puzzles as well.
Unfortunately, Hannah always wants to playing with whatever her brother is playing with, so she tends to turn into Hannah-zilla, tearing apart the long trains or tracks and bridges that Kyle has created! We've had to resort to playing trains while Hannah is napping so there isn't as much controversy, although Kyle does now create a small train for Hannah so that she has her own...
Unfortunately, Hannah always wants to playing with whatever her brother is playing with, so she tends to turn into Hannah-zilla, tearing apart the long trains or tracks and bridges that Kyle has created! We've had to resort to playing trains while Hannah is napping so there isn't as much controversy, although Kyle does now create a small train for Hannah so that she has her own...
Monday, December 1, 2008
Happy 7 months!
Our little girl is on the move, pulling up all of the time and cruising everywhere. She also seems to be thinking about crawling, and we would be surprised if she isn't crawling by Christmas! It's amazing how much she has accomplished in these past seven months, which have flown by ever so quickly.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving
We have just returned from a week-long vacation to Lake Almanor. The kids mostly survived the 5+ hour drive each way, although definitely more difficult on the way home than it was on the way there! We took the kids to Mt Lassen National Park for the first time, and Kyle was very excited for his first experience with snow there
Unfortunately, there was no snow at the house, but Kyle was quite happy to spend the majority of his week there digging in the sand instead!
Hannah was just happy to cuddle up with Mama or Dada (she did quite a lot of bonding with Dave over the week!) and was happy to be moving around, getting very close to crawling now...
Maemo and Granpa (Fiona's parents) joined us for part of the week, arriving Wednesday evening, in time to help for all of the meal preparations and having a couple of days to relax before we all left for home Saturday morning.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Monarch butterflies
This week we took a trip with our play group to Santa Cruz to see the Monarch butterflies at Natural Bridges State Park. It was amazing to see them hanging off the trees, and fluttering around in the sunshine, and unfortunately I think that most of it was lost to the kids. A few more years and they may appreciate it. Still I greatly enjoyed it, and plan to take a trip to Ardenwood soon to see the butterflies there.
It was difficult to get a decent photo of the butterflies on the trees of flying, but we were lucky to observe a newly "born" butterfly in the milkweed garden, still freshly out of the cocoon and unable to fly. It reminded me of an email forward that has circulated in the past which is also very relevant to the children in our lives and having to know when to let them struggle through things themselves!
It was difficult to get a decent photo of the butterflies on the trees of flying, but we were lucky to observe a newly "born" butterfly in the milkweed garden, still freshly out of the cocoon and unable to fly. It reminded me of an email forward that has circulated in the past which is also very relevant to the children in our lives and having to know when to let them struggle through things themselves!
The story is told about a man who once found a cocoon. It seems a small opening had just appeared in the cocoon and through this small opening the man watched as the young butterfly struggled to escape the confines of the container that had protected it during its metamorphosis.
After several hours it appeared the butterfly’s progress had stopped completely, prompting the man to take action. He very carefully took the cocoon in hand and used his fingers to pry it apart at the opening begun by the butterfly.
When the butterfly emerged the man noted its strange appearance. Instead of a beautiful butterfly he saw a swollen body and shriveled wings. He watched to see if it would continue to develop into the graceful beauty that adorns gardens but nothing changed. The butterfly just sat there unable to fly.
The man then began to realize that the butterfly would never fly. For it is through the struggle to escape the cocoon that the butterfly completes their transformation as the effort to break through causes the bodily fluid to flow to the new wings and gives them the strength they need for flight.
After several hours it appeared the butterfly’s progress had stopped completely, prompting the man to take action. He very carefully took the cocoon in hand and used his fingers to pry it apart at the opening begun by the butterfly.
When the butterfly emerged the man noted its strange appearance. Instead of a beautiful butterfly he saw a swollen body and shriveled wings. He watched to see if it would continue to develop into the graceful beauty that adorns gardens but nothing changed. The butterfly just sat there unable to fly.
The man then began to realize that the butterfly would never fly. For it is through the struggle to escape the cocoon that the butterfly completes their transformation as the effort to break through causes the bodily fluid to flow to the new wings and gives them the strength they need for flight.
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