Cairo and Santa

Cairo thought Santa was loads of fun! He didn't hesitate for a second to get on his lap and tell him all about his Christmas list...and his birthday list for the day after.

Angel debut!

Big breakthrough for Windsyr last week! It was the first time she overcame her stage fright enough to perfom on a stage without chickening out. She sang her little heart out as an angel in the primary kids reenactment of the Nativity. It was perfect timing too, since her TaVaci performance is this weekend and after four months of enjoying the classes but insisting that she didn't want to be in the show, she now says she can't wait to get on the stage and perform with her TaVaci friends. Yea! Staten, ever the performer, made a pretty snappy shepherd this night too.

Wish list

This is a car made by the FRENCH company, Bugatti. It runs a mere 1.5 million if anyone wants to give it to us for Christmas. Thanks to the anonymous commenter (from France, by the way) who corrected my Italian reference. Do you think my mistake had anything to do with my association to oh, say, ................MANICOTTI??

car show

We met Papa Dave at the car show in LA yesterday. Here are some of the pictures highlighting the event including: my 'teenagers' on wheels (a sign of things to come), some concept cars, and Papa Dave in the "Sky" (coming soon to a garage near him...)

Team WOW

This was the start of what we plan to make an annual tradition for our YW: Running in the Southern California 5K/ Half Marathon event (that takes place right in our neighborhood.) We'll need to talk the rest of our 26 YW into joining us next year. Want to guess which part of the race we ran? OK, so 3.2 miles is not quite 13, but I ran it with a nasty cold (armed with a fanny pack full of kleenex for nose blowing) and still broke a record (as in, beating my personal best in all of my week and a half long of treadmill training!) Oh, the glory.

Color Blind

Well Papa Dave has a successor for his color blindness. Staten came to me the other day to show me the funny Balance Bar he was eating (Balance bars are his favorite breakfast.) So this was a new kind of balance bar--peanut butter flavored, coating and all. So it was tan as could be, but Staten came to show me the funny green balance bar. We had noticed it before with the multi-colored rug in his room of which he can correctly identify MOST of the colors. But there were two shades of green he calls silver. So his problem is with greens, greys and tans from what we can tell. I knew I was a carrier because of dad and that my boys had a fifty percent chance of being color blind. Well, it didn't impede Papa Dave much in life--especially in the avenue of art--so we're crossing our fingers that if the color blind gene passed to Staten, maybe the art gene did too!

Creative Flair

We knew Staten was hard at work on a project yesterday, but didn't know what he was making until he surprised us with these home made pirate accessories. He thought of every detail, from slits in the vest that would look like sword gashes right down to the personalized belt with his name written on it. Quite the creative flair, we're thinking. Today when he got home from school, he put on the garb again, adding two paper cuffs to his pant legs. Also noteworthy--his dad made the pirate flag in the back ground. Two peas in a pod!

Look who's on two wheels now!!

Swiss Family

So on Thanksgiving we got a very interesting visit from our Uncle John's daughter (Christina) and her boyfriend...who live in Switzerland! We had never met each other, but Aunt Linda encouraged them to look up Uncle Dave while in California, and since he was with us at the time, we had the pleasure of meeting them and making fabulous plans for our trip to THEIR neck of the European woods someday. Her boyfriend spoke mostly German but understood English well. They brought us Swiss chocolate, which we let Cairo sample, and it was the first time he used the little sign language word we have taught him for "more." Obviously a hit with him!

Thanksgiving on a Ship

We had Thanksgiving dinner on the Queen Mary this year. The kids were enthralled being on a boat, although Staten asked why we didn't choose the Mayflower instead of the Queen Mary. We met Papa Dave and Uncle Myron in Long Beach and feasted to our hearts' content before exploring the ship. It was yummy, fun, and memorable.

Classic costumes

I just have to post these Halloween pics. The Scooby gang is hilarious and my favorite thing is Bradon's cooler than cool expression. As for Savannah, she took second prize in a costume contest in Sanibel, Florida (or was it in Ft. Myers, Dan?) She is a pooch to be proud of.

Twins

Twins separated at birth? You be the judge.

Not Pixie Dust!

This is a picture of one of MANY piles of dust the termites are leaving as they slowly destroy the exterior of our house. Everyone keeps telling me this is just part of living in a wood house. Seems like the house is going to be hollow if they keep at it at this rate! I do have an inspector coming this week so we'll see if he can work any magic.

Different versions of soccer

These pictures are from Staten's last soccer game. He did a great job, even scoring a goal in the last few minutes of the game. Windsyr's version of soccer was going on just outside of the boundaries and was awesome. She walked along in her fancy sparkly skirt and pink tank top, kicking the ball, clutching her purse, and tossing her braids. That's my girl.

November in sunny Cali

This is why we love living where we live. Swimsuits in November.

Spanish graduates

I just wrapped up my six week course of "Spanish for Kids!' I taught 28 students in 4 different classes ages 3-10. (OK the three year olds were a little young...next time, four will be the minimum.) I developed the curriculum from scratch and learned a lot in the process. I had a great time teaching, both because I enjoyed the students, and because I enjoyed immersing myself in the language again after so long. I'm due to teach Course Two in February, and I might start another round of Course One at some point too since I already have the curriculum done. I'm posting a few photos of my cute classes.

Kids, commandments and more

Kids are so funny. Today Windsyr and Staten were happily playing along when she matter of factly informed him in whatever game they were playing that she was going to kill him. Well before I had time to correct her extremity, Staten retorted with: "You can't kill me because it's not OK to kill people." Windsyr said, "But we kill bad guys." Staten said: "No, we don't kill them. We just protect ourselves from them, because one of the ten commandments says: Thee shall not kill."

Cairo has taken to shattering glass. One big glass dish out of the dishwasher last night, and a glass candle holder at Bath and Body Works this morning. He has hit the age of destruction and we are gearing ourselves up for the endless stream of messes, mishaps, and mischief. It is so interesting to watch his developing personality and try to figure out what he's going to be like. He is intense and observant and has much less to say than our other children did at his age, although when he chooses to be verbal, he's learned to be heard. He is an excellent sword fighter and makes us all laugh so hard at how he can hold his own in any duel.

Lights on Broadway

Just posting a few pics from Lights on Broadway. Thanks to everyone who went out of their way to see the show (in whatever stage it was in) and supporting Staten and I in our Broadway debut. Next stop: Big Apple.

Halloween Haunting

What do a ninja turtle, a cheerleader, Jack-Jack, Ariel, and Dumbo all have in common? They all have more candy than they know what to do with! Between Trunk-or-Treat, Trick-or-Treat, and various Halloween parties, these kids have definitely got the goods.

Testing, testing, one two...

Found the problem...

Ah hah, found the problem. I have three blogger accounts, only one of which I have actually worked on. When I logged in I was logging into an old account for which I never made a blog...hence my inability to access this particular blog. After some correspondence with blogger support we have corrected the problem and now I can update my blog.

This being said, however, in the short time it took to iron out this kink, I have designed an entire website to replace this blog. (Mac makes that really easy, by the way. It makes me sound cooler than I am.) Now I have to decide which route to take, so I'll keep you posted. Either way, we're back in the business of family documentation, so we hope there will be one or two folks out there who stop in for some cyber visits.

Last third of the Madness

And bringing up the rear we have little Cairo. (Little being a relative term.) What an awesome caboose. He is loved and adored by all and makes a great vacuum for our rugs as he crawls around sticking any and all stray objects and scraps in his mouth.

Two thirds of the Madness

This is one of those "picture's worth a thousand words" examples. Really, what can I say? How lucky are we to be hang out with these awesome munchkins?

What started the madness...

Amazing how two people in love can so innocently turn into a family of five.

Hey Maughans!

Inspired by Savannah Sombrita Del Mar's well-documented Canine life, I am kicking myself into gear to get our little humans better represented out there on the world wide web. We have three very cute ones, so this should be a worthy endeavor.