Friday, December 17, 2010

Gingerbread "Festivity"

Our gingerbread projects, on two different days, didn't start out "festive", but I'm afraid ended that way when Rowan had complete meltdowns because they both didn't go exactly how he had imagined. The house didn't look just like the picture on the box, and we didn't have any candy for the gingerbread people, as they had had when he decorated his gingerbread man at school.

Team Gingerbread House

Gingerbread House

Niamh Decorating Her Gingerbread Man


Gingerbread Tragedy
I was only able to keep my temper for the second meltdown by documenting this tragic face (taken post rolling on the floor, kicking and screaming).

Muriel Eating Gingerbread Man

gingerbread man bokeh
It was too late in the afternoon for good light in this photo, but I still had fun playing with the tree bokeh.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Rowan's Holiday School Program-2010

Little Star Song

A few weeks ago Rowan's school had their holiday program. He was a little nervous beforehand, but did really great. I found it interesting that the school did not have a Halloween party since not everyone celebrates Halloween, but that they did sing some religious songs for the holiday program. Maybe they figure that since there was a Hanukkah song in with all the others it was okay?





Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Morning in San Francisco

The morning before Thanksgiving we spent a little bit of time in San Francisco. Not too long, because we were worried about afternoon traffic getting out of town, and we were also all a little grumpy from not going to bed until (at least) midnight the night before. We made a quick-ish stop at the Ferry Building where we got donuts (egg free!), chocolate, bread, and cheese. After that we went to the Golden Gate Bridge for a quick walk before heading to Santa Rosa.

Bay Bridge GBW
the bay bridge

checking out the bay CV
Ro outside the Ferry Building

The Embarcadero CV

Niamh With Donut & Attitude CV
Niamh's first donut ever! Complete with four-year-old attitude.

Muriel + Donut + Carseat


R @ GG Bridge CV

Niamh @ GG Bridge CV

Muriel @ GG Bridge CV
I wanted a picture of all three kids together in front of The Bridge, but that wasn't in the cards.

GG Bridge w- Sunflare CV

Monday, December 6, 2010

Little Bird

Soaring Like a Bird
"Mama, when I jump it feels like I'm soaring like a bird!"

12.6.10

Chocolate Stare
St. Nicholas visited our house last night, leaving the kids a few treats,

Ostheimer Angel
three new figures for the nativity scene,

St. Nicholas Day Mess
and three new Christmas books. This year Muriel received Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree, Niamh received The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, and Rowan received Christmas Day in the Morning.

Italian Peppermint Hot Chocolate

We ended the morning with Italian peppermint hot chocolate and a sad, sad attempt at making eggless St. Nicholas bread. I thought that a sweet dough like what is used for cinnamon rolls would be a good substitute for what the bakeries in Morges make. Cook's Illustrated has a recipe for quick cinnamon buns that don't have eggs. It sounded perfect! The recipe though did not have yeast, which made it more like a biscuit dough, which is very hard to shape into little St. Nicholas men. So next year I will try again, this time with a yeast dough!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Static Electricity

The Static Electricity Is Out Of Control

The static electricity in our house since we came back from CA has been out of control. It's not only doing crazy things to the girls' hair, but every time we touch a light switch we get a nice jolt of electricity. I hope that this won't last the rest of the winter!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Back Home!




Half Moon Bay in B&W
Half Moon Bay, CA

We returned Sunday afternoon from our Thanksgiving weekend visiting Pat's family in California. There were a few bumps, such as the kids not going getting to bed until midnight (CO time) on Tuesday night due to airplane issues and me getting another round of strep throat. I'm also pretty sure Niamh was feverish for a few days. In spite of all that it was a pretty good trip. Most of the photos I took are all still on my camera; these are from my iPhone. We are slowly, slowly getting back to normal here, so hopefully I can get some more pictures up this week.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

A Sixth Birthday Interview With Rowan

I've come across several bloggers that have a tradition of doing birthday interviews with their children. I'm hoping this is something I can maintain year to year with each of our own children, as it's such a great idea!



A couple of notes: Rowan's alleegah is his bunny (pictured in the post below), the Shinkansen song he talks about is Bullet Train by Choo Choo Soul, and the airplane book he talks about is DK Big Book of Airplanes by Caroline Bingham. We did a practice interview a few hours before this one was recorded and many of his answers changed in that short amount of time.

Rowan-Six Years Old

Rowan on the Tracks Serious

Rowan on the Tracks Smiling

Driving Rocks

Walking the Tracks With Alleegah

Happy sixth birthday to our sweet boy!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Train Party!!!

go trains go!

birthday boy + party hat

train cake decorating

candles on the cake


Rowan turns six tomorrow (!!!), and had his birthday party yesterday. Including our own children there ended up being thirteen kids at the party, which was quite chaotic. At least, that's how it felt to me. Ro had a great time, and it seemed like the other children did too, so I suppose we can call it a success. The kids played with Pat's electric trains (a huge hit), decorated train cakes, played games, and ran around like crazy.

A special thanks to our friend John, who took all of the above photos. In all the madness I took none, so I'm very glad John volunteered to be our party photographer!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Friday, 11.12.10

fence in the AM
misty sunrise

egg-free pancakes
egg-free chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast

Sick Rowan
sick boy

Muriel on the Potty
potty practice (I think Niamh was as excited about this as Muriel)

colored pencil + train engine
preparing for Rowan's birthday party next week

Muriel Wearing Ro's Dino Hat & Backpack copy
trying on her big brother's hat & backpack

niamh & muriel snow melting backyard
playing in the melting snow

niamh with a pile of snow
Niamh loves the snow

Muriel & the Blue Tonka Pickup Truck
poor mitten-less Muriel

Thursday, November 11, 2010

First Snow in Colorado

We woke up to a bit of snow this morning. It's melting now, but the kids had fun playing in it this morning. Even our little sickling, Rowan. He is in the midst of another one of his bouts of fever, where he has no symptoms except for a high fever which comes and goes.

summertime toys B&W

Kids Snow Tonka Truck B&W

Muriel Mittens B&W

Snowball Coming At Mama B&W

Niamh & Ro in Front Yard B&W

Niamh Snow Angel B&W