He clearly owns this beach, baby.
Excuse Me, Has Anyone Seen My Baby? July 3, 2007
I thought he was around here somewhere.
All I’ve got is this gigantic kid in my living room.
Happy Birthday Baz! May 1, 2007
I can’t believe it!
I’m back again at celebrating the best day of my life.
The birth of Sebastian was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. It was graceful and calm. I felt empowered and complete. Those two years have gone by so quickly.
He is such a big boy now. And to prove it my weekly newsletter from babycenter.com is now calling him a preschooler! I think that was the toughest to take. All these memories and the disbelief, especially when I look at Mad, that he too will be so big and independent in such a short time….
Groundhog Day February 2, 2007
Fun for all ages.
Believe it or not we found a “holiday” Mad was not familiar with, at first.
She’s now an expert and has informed me she has passed on her new learnings to her classmates by insisting it was added at calendar time.
Like I’ve mentioned, ANY excuse for a party – and this having Groundhog Day fall on a Friday, well, party on, so they say.
I was more apt to a shadow puppet project but after a quick search, I found these. I don’t know if I’d call it adorable and I think I’d try to make it a bit more furry, but either way, we found ourselves laughing all the way to the craft table.
We attempted shadow cut outs of our heads, but some of us moved a bit too much… so we put on a groundhog and dog show instead.
Incidentally, Phil DIDN’T see his shadow and we are among the masses cheering him loudly as we welcome an early spring… nice thought as we enter a deep freeze this week.
The Welcome Home Party January 29, 2007
Daddy was coming home today!! Mad just didn’t know it yet, but she doesn’t need an excuse to party.
J has been away on business for the past couple of weeks or so and even though I saw him in Frisco, the kids haven’t at all so they were beginning to rely heavily on ichat.
This kid of mine is always ready to throw a party. Mad is excited. She knows he’s coming, just doesn’t know when – that’s the part that I was keeping a surprise for her.
It didn’t even snap when we went into the airport parking lot, or when she wrote out the signs that read “Welcome Home DAD!”. However, her cake was created with gusto though – it HAD to have sprinkles – and boy did Baz like them!
Tourist Day January 4, 2007
I found once I had kids I got out a bit less. Sure it could be more if you counted the grocery store, but not so much to see the sights. It’s fun being a tourist in your own city. It’s amazing what you’ll find and experience right under your nose. Being a tourist is easy. Most people have been one before, you have a camera, look up a lot and hopefully discover something new.
It’s the second last day of Mad’s winter break. We’ve done so many crafts our scissors need sharpening, so then it occurred to me that we needed a good day out. She’s been hobnobbing with copious play dates but where does that leave Baz? Regardless we’ve also been having some record weather up here so it was time to play tourist for the day.
We were literally on top of the world and Mad described her excellent day as a dream she had come true. How, as a current children’s entertainer, can I beat that?
Perhaps with a surprise appearance by their dad, spaghetti and mini ice cream cones?
It was really memorable, I hope, and it was great to get out again. Being a tourist with out the extended transport is fun and what’s best is that with the super abundant number of photos we snapped, we decided to skip books at bedtime and tell our own “Story of the Day”. We were able to share more with J, while he recorded the enthusiastic narrative to our slide show which he’ll overlay later.
All this and a keepsake too.
One Candle Burning December 16, 2006
One candle bur-ning
One can-dle bur-ning
One can-dle burning, burning br – I – ght.
On thi-is Hanukkah night.
(Repeats as the days progress, replacing one candle with two…three…all the way to eight:)
Mad has been looking forward to the commemcement of Hanukkah — And singing this song a lot.
Paper Tube Tree December 15, 2006
Now that Mad and I have made some great paper, I’ve finally got to wrapping some gifts. It left me with some tall, empty paper tubes and to thinking what we should do with them.
This being what we think is the big, breakout Christmas year, I wanted to surprise Mad with a small tree of her very own to decorate her bedroom. After mentioning it to J yesterday morning, we both realised a real tree might be a bit over the top.
Mad loves cutting, so I figured with a little help from her I’d surprise her as we made one for her very own.
Here’s what we used:
Three long, empty, brown paper tubes from the wrapping paper
Two green sheets of bristol board (or card stock)
Scissors
White glue
Green painter’s tape (or masking tape will do)
(Just to get fancy, a tall terracotta pot, stones, and some white polyfil stuffing.)
Here’s what we did:
The first sheet of bristol board I cut in half and the other I cut the top 1/3. Both I lengthwise.
Each piece was into the centre and cut down the middle, making 8 pieces.
I cut away about 1″ in and 3″ from the top, bottom and middle, leaving to connected tabs.
We traced fir tree shapes to the remaining piece and Mad got to work cutting.
We opened the cut pieces to reveal the two sides and the tabs in the middle.
We put glue on the tabs and placed the tube in the centre, spacing the “branches” down the trunk.
once everything was dry enough to handle, we dotted glue along the backside of teach tube, secured the base with the tape and allowed to dry.
The tree was placed in the pot and made sturdy by dropping stones through the hole in the tops of the tubes and centred (and decorated) with the polyfil stuffing.
Mad set forth and decorated with cotton balls, stickers and other (light) found objects
Holiday Tree Assembly December 4, 2006
Today was the big day. J returned home with the “Tree of 2006″.
He listens to them, you know. It doesn’t matter where we get them from, the traditional wagon riding tree farm or IKEA with their $20 tree/coupon promo, J will walk and just listen, feeling them out. He states no tree is a bad tree, imagining that the right tree wants to come home to us and home is where this one now is. It was greeted with a warm, excited welcome accompanied by the perfect squeals only the Holidays can bring.
After standing it up, watering it and listening to it’s needles fall, Mad was eager to get going. She lined up the lights largest to smallest, tied the bows, clumped the trimmings and rebuilt orniments.
She had fun and did a great job at Picassoing Santa.
We’re figuring this is going to be a great year as far as Christmas goes. Mad is totally into it, and Baz is finally old enough to be aware of his surroundings. When he awoke from his nap to find a fragrant tree, covered in lights… in his living room where the toy box used to be, his eyes locked and his face beamed pure joy.
Break out the Bing Crosby, I’m in the spirit. Prepare yourselves for pasta angels and gingerbread, we’re getting busy now.
