... and now it's Christmas

 Ahhh, nothing like Christmas eve at Grandma's (lots of hugs included), and then Christmas morning at home playing with your remote control monster truck all day (in your pajamas).

Almost Christmas!

We got to spent a few days in SF enjoying ice skating in union square and staying at the Ritz! Woo hoo!

SURPRISE!!!!

Eloise and Owen threw a genuine surprise party for Matt in their BEDROOM! We decorated the whole room with balloons and streamers, snuck in the kitchen table and chairs, then turned off the lights and waited. I yelled down the hall, "Matt, there's something wrong with the light switch in the kids room. Can you come check it out?"

The next thing you know there's a pizza party in the bedroom!

I'm thankful for...

these adorable bell pepper turkeys. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

butterflies...

Nothing makes you feel quite so awesome as laying on your back watching thousands and thousands of monarch butterflies at Natural Bridges.

Monkey Mouth

This joke never stops being funny, right?

Happy Halloween

Look at these creepy freaks!

Superhero!

I know it's impossible to recognize this Superhero's true identity. Let's just say that he had a super time with his family at the school carnival today. There were jumpy houses, crown decorating, cake walking, fortune telling, cotton candy and popcorn eating. Too much fun!

Bling

Eloise spotted this awesome jewelery over a week ago. She really wanted us to buy it for her, but heck, that is what her own money is for, right? She counted up her savings and haggled the price down to $3 for a necklace and two pair of clip-on earrings. Way to go Eloise!

Gina

It's so sad to write yet again about the passing of a loved one. Gina was my "identical cousin" as we used to say. She was such a great friend and fun companion as kids, teenagers, and grownups. On my last birthday she said "Can you believe we are middle aged?!". I really can't. I still think of us as we were here back in 1984 or so by the looks of it.
Gina really was one of the funniest and funnest people in my life. I have a million happy memories of her. All the way back to when we were about 4 and Gina had the idea to pick flowers from her Mom's garden and go door to door to sell them (I think we made about 45 cents!). And all the way forward to just this last August when Gina gave Eloise and Owen a bunch of presents for "Christmas in August!" How fun and sweet is that?

Ant farm

Owen got this awesome ant farm from Grandma Sandra for his birthday. We set it up with the sand and the big strong ants that came with it. Every morning Owen would run into the living room to see what the ants had been working on all night. Until one morning...... GENOCIDE!!!!
Turns out that the teeny tiny Berkeley local ants are small enough to crawl into the ant farm through the air holes and ATTACK the big ants who had no way to escape. Man, it was brutal!
We grabbed the whole ant farm and ran outside where we dumped all the ants and sand on the ground and told all the big ants to "Run for it!!!!"
Soooo exciting.

Happy Birthday Owen

Can you believe Owen is already four?!?!
Look at him enjoy the pinnacle of "the best birthday you ever heard of!" A cupcake eating frenzy after flying kites with his friends all afternoon. Nice!

Finally!

That dangling front tooth finally fell out!

hanging out in a tree

Eloise and Owen are stuck!

Stooges!

literally hanging by a thread

Eloise's other front tooth is sooooooo loose. It's just been dangling there for days and days! When will it finally fall out?????

First day of school

First grade - meet your match! Eloise is coming to get you!

Super patient!

Owen gives a double thumbs up to his first dentist appointment! Check out Eloise - she got the full cyborg/flouride treatment.

Hot Wheels rainbow

You gotta love a lazy summer afternoon spontaneous collaborative art project like this!

Eloise has a hole in her head!

Look at this tooth! Or rather, look at this MISSING tooth!
The tooth in question was getting wigglier and wigglier until, finally, it just fell out during music lessons over at Verna's. Hooray!

Ahhh, Summer at Mana & Pata's

Yes! It was yet another stunning and suuuuuper relaxing vacation at Mana and Pata's. Lots of playing in the creek, going to the park, slip and sliding, hot tubbing, fire work watching, painting in the studio and barbequeing. Nothing nicer than Estacada in August :)

chef of the family

Owen LOVES to cook. He whipped up this peanut butter and bananas on toast 100% all by himself for lunch. Looks good!

at the zoo!

One of the joys of summer vacation is to spontaneously decide to go eat lunch at the zoo. And then while you're there - go on all the rides! Here you see Owen cruising in a purple hot rod. Eloise and her friend Anna are in the green jeep in the background. Fun!

Ahhh, Capitola!

We've been here at the cabin for six days so far and it feels like it's been forever (in a good way). Lots of canoe rides, playing at the beach, eating good food and generally relaxing and having a good time. We'll be here for a few more days, but I wish we could stay forever!

Happy 4th of July!

Here you can see Owen enjoying our own little fourth of july firework show. We are having such a great time at the cabin with Doreen, Mike, Willie, Emily, Rosie, Lizzie, Sam, Susan, Pat, Martin, Melanie, Miles, Maddie, Mira, Ryan, Kim, Megan, John, Isabella, Elias, Anna, Isaac, Becky, Sophia, Bridgett, Stephanie, Dozer, Woofer and Connor ....ummmm.... Did I forget anybody?

spider head

Eloise turned into a spider head at Lawrence Hall of Science summer camp last week.

Father's Day

This letter from Eloise pretty much says it all. Papa is awesome!

Last day of school!

Ms. Kim gives Eloise a hug goodbye at the end of the last day of school. Bring on the summer vacation! woo hoo!

Owen

Here you see the angry corn husker of the family. It cracks me up every time Owen makes this face!

crazy hair day...

It was crazy hair day at school today. Crazy enough????

Capitola!

We had another great weekend with friends at Capitola. Look at Owen - he couldn't be happier than when he's playing in wet mud/sand.

hello again!

It has been a looooooong time since I've posted, obviously. My only excuse is "busy busy busy!" But now we're back!

Let me re-construct what has been happening the past couple of months:

FEBRUARY 
Eloise turns 6! Hooray! Now she can fly!

Owen and Pata are black-hoodie-twins.

 

 Eloise gets monkey bar fever.

MARCH
Eloise gets sewing machine lessons.

We all get tummy aches from donuts.

More moustaches!

APRIL
Happy Easter! 

 

We all play at the beach. Spring Break in Capitola - Woo hoo!

 

Swimming lessons begin.

Finally, a good use for pillow cases!

Ummm, I think this is some kind of rock climbing monster.

You see? Busy busy busy!

chef Eloise

Eloise invented her own after school snack. Its smashed up banana with walnuts and granola (I think). Maybe she put some cinnamon in it too?
Whatever it was, she sure liked it!

Dress up

Look at these little dolls!

Happy New Year!

These guys are not fooling around with their New Year's resolutions. It's all mustache - all year!