Finally a Saturday with nice weather! We headed out to our usual fun places which includes looking for diggers, the horse barn and the Farmer's Market. We were in for a special surprise at a nearby construction site today!! Most Saturdays no one is working, so we only get to tromp around in the mud and look at the big track hoes and rollers. Today though, we were just about to leave when a huge truck pulls up with a giant some-kind-of-thing-I-have-no-idea-what-it- is, but really really huge construction vehicle. The guys hops out and unlocks the gate and they pull it in to take it off the truck! Very very exciting for David!! This process took about 10 minutes. We thanked the workers for letting us watch and not kicking us off the site, and one of the guys offers to let the kids climb up in the huge vehicle!

David loved it!  He sat in the chair and touched just about every button and control on the dashboard.  He turned he steering wheel a little, and bounced up and down in the seat, and even told me to get down so he could have complete control!  In between his pushing me away, I managed to get a few pictures done. We also got an authentic hard hat  to take home! People can be so nice!

I was very surprised last night to see/hear the reaction BOTH of these kids had to a particular piece of music. Of course, we all know that well written, well performed music can evoke an emotional response. Actually, any music can evoke an emotional response I guess. But I always thought that had a lot to do with our experiences while we listen to some music. And how many movies we have seen.

I'm not just talking about whether a piece of music is pleasurable or not, but an actual emotional upwelling. OK, so what am I talking about? Last night I got home with the kids, and as I was preparing dinner, the kids were coloring and playing with Matchbox firetrucks. I pulled up a podcast from one of my favorite shows, called Radiolab, out of WNYC. This show happened to be about Wagner's Ring opera. They started talking about the second part, Die Walküre. And up comes this most famous piece of music, Ride of the Walkures, or Valkyries in English. Well bith kids stopped, and looked at me. Isabelle says, "Daddy, what's happening?" with a very concerned look on her face. "What's the matter?" David, sensing he's not alone in this feeling, says, "I don't like that! What is that?"
Followed by Isabelle," Daddy? Daddy, what's happening?"

So I turned it down, and I told them it was just a piece of music, and some prettier music would be on soon. I had to catch myself before I went into this diatribe about what was happening in the opera, and who the Walküre are, and thousands of years of Norse myth and so on. But I was also very happy that they were in fact, listening to the music too. And I was kinda amazed that it would have elicited the response it did in them. I mean, we've all seen What's Opera, Doc?  And I saw Apocalypse Now! in the theatre, one with the best surround sound of the day, maybe 15 years ago. And after that, 'Ride of the Walküres', and 'the End' will always have a slightly more powerful impression on me. But these kids have never seen, and thankfully never experienced, anything like that, but the music still raised the hair on the back of their necks. How cool is that?

Now I have to look for music lessons. Hmmm. Piano? Guitar? Kazoo?

One of the gifts the kids received this year were stuffed horses. Actually, a stuffed horse for David, and a stuffed unicorn for Isabelle. And these creatures are almost as big as they are! But the kids love them. Sometimes David will bring his horse with him into our room in the middle of the night, and then he kinda 'falls' into bed. You see, he also has his ever present zebra and a big bear, about half his size. So when he comes in at 4:10, with just a little light from the nightlight in the bathroom to guide his way, and arms full of animals, he can't really see where he is going, let alone maneuver up into our bed. So he kinda runs and 'falls' onto the bed. Once he's got them on there, he can right himself and start kicking us properly.

Isabelle also has a cute sweet stuffed animal behavior.Sometimes when she goes to bed, she asks for one or two of that days favorite stuffed animals. usually she just puts an arm over one and goes to sleep. Sometimes she tucks them in next to her, to make sure they are all cozy, then gets herself covered up for sleeping. And not so often, but still in the sometimes category, she brings her big unicorn to bed with her. When we say good night and close the door, she has it next to her and she's under the covers. Then I go in to check on her, maybe 30 minutes later, and she has put her unicorn right in the middle of her bed, got him all covered up and tucked in, and I see her all uncovered at the edge of the bed, making enough room for her unicorn.

This last week was all rain, so the kids didn't get outside to play much. So out came the blankets to make forts. We had a few bumped heads, but I guess that's all part of learning about indoor makeshift forts.

We've had a pretty crummy week for birthday celebrations. Everyone got sick, with the common cold, but which was worse for the kids. Julie had it first for a few days, then David, then Isabelle got it real bad, on her birthday no less! Little kids like ours sure look pathetic when they don't feel good. I think David spent most of 72 hours in our arms, or on our chests at night

By the end of the week, they were feeling a little better, but still needed to sleep a lot, and didn't really have much energy for birthday celebrations.  So we had to postpone the family gathering for a day.  We headed out to a new place for us, called Piatti's.  

 Pretty good food, and they had a buffet for Sunday brunch, which was also good.  Another good thing about that was there is always a lot to choose from so we're more likely to find something Isabelle likes and Davis likes.  One of the things the kids really liked was that we sat next to a big fireplace, with a burning fire.  It reminded me of my childhood when I would spend a lot of time just looking at the flames and changes in the wood as it burned.

After a good lunch, we headed outside to the patio for our gift exchange.

The weather was accommodating, and the kids also had a little trail of brick path to follow in a circle around the patio and through some bushes.  Nothing goes so well after lunch than a little adventure hike.  The hike, which was actually nothing more then a circular pattern about 20 feet (6 meters) in diameter, was also accented by a few noisy sparrows and a cat.  Unfortunately, both Isabelle and David got very tired, and then we had a few fall and general fussiness to contend with.  But lots of fun before hand made it worth while!

We still have a lot of hugs and crying though, because David is cutting his two year molars!

I have to say my grinchy part about Christmas... I don't like it. It's over wrapped, over commercialized, over done! However, since the kids, my heart has grown 3 sizes and now I enjoy it enough that I could carve the roast beast. Anyway... this year, I think I most enjoyed having a big tree with lots of lights and having the house decorated. David really likes that part too. 

We left the tree up way longer than we should have considering the needles falling off with any breeze of air. ( And I watched MythBusters... It's highly unlikely that a tree will catch your house on fire these days even if you leave it on all night with a ton of lights.) After we took it down and threw it on the curb, which feels really wrong, David asked me every morning for 3 days...

"Mommy, where'd our Christmas tree go?"

And I had to say " Christmas is over sweetie, we put the tree outside for the tractor to pick up."

Then he'd say " Mommy, that Christmas tree... sad, sad sad."

We're getting a fake tree next year.

The kids got a Frosty the Snowman video before Christmas which became a big hit, even though they have never seen snow and don't really know what a snowman is. Isabelle doesn't really understand what frost is either, so she related the name to something she does know about and loves! Frost- ING... so for a while until we corrected her, she talked a lot about Frosting the Snowman and Jack Frosting. 

I love her.

The kids really don't get the whole concept of Santa and him bringing presents and all that. So before Christmas Isabelle and I were talking about what she hoped Santa might bring her for Christmas and I suggested that she write him a letter to let him know. 

" I should write him a letter? " she asks me quizzically

"Yes," I reply " you know Santa is a busy man and it's a lot of work to think  about what each kid would like the most for Christmas, so sometimes it helps if you write a letter."

" I should write him a letter and he will bring me presents?" she asks again

"Well, you have to be really really good too, " I say.

"OK, mommy, I will write Santa a lot of letters! I will write a I and an O and an S and a T and a..."

you get the idea : >)

Today we picked up our Christmas tree.  We had a fun morning at the farmers market, then headed to the lot with all the boy scout dads and a few boy scouts.  We visited this place last year, as they have lots and lots of trees to choose from.

The kids liked to run on the ground through all the trees, but we didn't let them.  When you're carrying a tree that is taller then you, its hard to see little things darting out in front of you.  So they helped us select trees.  Although, I think David just said, "That one!" for every tree we walked past.  We eventually selected a Douglas Fir that matches me in height.

We tied it to the top of the car on home we went.  The kids went down for naps, which gave me the opportunity to get the tree off the car, and trim the lower branches to leave room for all the goodies.

Then came the decorating part.  Now, as many of you know, the time it takes to decorate a tree rises in proportion to the number of children taking things off the tree.  So we pretty much spent the rest of the day applying ornaments.

Well Autumn is certainly here.  This weekend we got all bundled up, since we had a gust of the ol' north wind, and headed to the park.  Boy, was it still cold.  And all that wind blew most of the leaves from the trees.  Well, there's one thing we remember from childhood and cold autumn days.....

David is almost potty trained!! On December 4th, he just ran into the bathroom at the same time Isabelle went in to take care of her own business.  We have had a little training potty in the bathroom for a few months to get David used to it.  He's been sitting on it almost every night before bath time, but that's all he would do, sit.  Well, on Tuesday, he followed her in there, pulled down his pants AND took off his diaper, (which itself has been a whole new game of put-the-diaper-back-on-the-partly-naked-little-boy-as-he-runs-around-the-house,) and pee'd into the little potty!  After that we've been keeping him in underpants, and only diapers during night time and naps.  He's so proud of himself, and so are we.

Then he did himself one better, and went poop in the potty on Wednesday!

We still have a few accidents, maybe once a day, but he's really getting consistent about this little milestone.

Sorry, no pictures.  ;-)

Last weekend we took a trip to the railroad museum in Old Sacramento.  They were having a special train ride with Santa called "the Polar Express".  In reality, it was more of a leisurely run south along the river, but the kids, and most grown-ups loved it anyway.  
The museum brings out many of its classic restored rail cars from the 20's-50's, although not all are completely restored.  We didn't get to ride any of the real old (pre 1900) though.  But each car was unique nonetheless.  The kids had a blast!  Getting on a big train, pulled by an actual steam engine was almost all they could stand.  When we were waiting to board, the train pulled up, and you never saw so many fingers pointing and hearing so much "Look, look, look!"

The inside of the cars were also decorated with the usual holiday fare, and each car had a conductor which would point out some of the sites and history as we passed.  Then, of course, Santa came through.  He also had an entourage which provided a little light humor for the adults, and led everyone in a sing-along of a few Christmas jingles.  And the kids got a little present too, even if they didn't know what the guy in the big red suit was all about.

couple more...

Here are some pictures I took when John and David were playing around. I should have had the video going, but got some sweet still photos...

Here are some pictures from a dinner party with John's work group,

and a silly one of Isabelle

Happy Thanksgiving! This year we had a quiet day at home. John's sister and Mom came in the afternoon and spent the day with us, which is always a great treat for the kids! We did miss his other sister and brother-in-law, but it was good for the kids to have some one on one time and we were happy to get together with whomever could make it.




We had lots and lots of good food, but the kids were a little too excited to eat very much. After dinner and bath they settled down to read some books and get some quality cuddle time in.

Today I went to the grocery store to shop for Thanksgiving dinner. Taking both of the kids to the store is always an adventure and I have to time it just right to get out of there before David's patience and weariness (because he gets up at 5am every day) causes him to have a big scene at the store. So anyway, needed to buy lots of food and different than the usual list today, which required extra concentration and time so I needed a little leverage. I brought the raisins in a box and some cookies just in case and told the kids that if they were my big helpers while I shopped we could get a balloon at the end.

So all went well, aside from a little pushing in the stupid car cart, and they both got balloons. Very happy little kiddos... until on the way home David squeezed his balloon a little too much or something and, "POP!!!" no more balloon for him. Isabelle immediately goes into her mommy voice. "See David? That's why we don't squeeze our balloons like that 'cause then it pops, " and then mean Isabelle " I'm not going to share my balloon with you... you can't have my balloon."

"Isabelle" I said "you don't have to say that to him."
"But I don't want to share my balloon!"
"And I didn't ask you to and neither did he, but he's sad that his popped and it's not nice to say that you won't share, especially if he isn't even acting like he wants yours."

So we get home and I'm unloading all the groceries, and Isabelle is asking over and over if she can play 'ants in your pants, 'and for some reason, I've had to tell her 12 times to take off her jacket. So I get them all set up and they are playing happily when Isabelle walks over to David and says " I'm sorry I hurt your feelings David, here..." and hands her balloon to him.

My heart melted.

A few days ago we were out at a restaurant, and David was really interested in a lemon which came in our glass of water. So we gave him a slice to play with. He just couldn't stop biting it, and then making his face do all sorts of contortions and shakes. Then he'd smile at us and try another bite. The pictures are a little bit blurry, 'cause I was laughing so much.

Today we went for a quick trip to the Nut Tree Family Park! What fun that was!! The park is pretty small and just perfect for something to do outside on a nice day when you don't want to make it an all day ordeal of driving someplace and then not getting to see everything before you have to rush home for lunch and nap.



They have various rides there and unlike Traintown all but one could be ridden by both kids. We rode the carousel, which was a beautiful reproduction from an 1864 carousel in San Francisco... and it had all different kinds of animals on it and not just horses. Although Belle loves horses, so she rode horses both times we rode.



They had a little train there too that just cruised around the park. My favorite part was when you go through the tunnel and the bubble maker shoots bubbles at you. I think the kids liked that too.



We also rode Rescue vehicles, which are sort of like those rides you used to see outside supermarkets. I think they are still around, and now cost fifty cents instead of five or whatever they used to be. But these rescue vehicles were bright an shiny and had buttons to make authentic sounds and flashing lights! And instead of only being 3 on a turning base there were about 10. This also adds to the noisy fun! Very, very fun, unless you have a headache or a hang-over. We were fortunate enough not to have either one.



Isabelle and John rode the rollercoaster too. David was too small to ride, and I don't think he would have liked it. Isabelle said later that it went too fast and was scary. She's funny about these things though... she didn't seem traumatized by it or anything.



After this we went to a plcae close by to have pizza. They gave us 4 tickets for a free ride so we went back to ride the train. That was a good way to end the afternoon.

Halloween gets to be more fun every year!! Isabelle and David are old enough now that they like dressing up and are less afraid of the other costumes. This year Isabelle was a horse, or rather rode a horse since I couldn't find an actual horse costume; and David was a bear. (That was a costume Isabelle wore a couple years ago.)

We took them to daycare to party with their friends, who were also in costumes, and then they got picked up early from Grandma Jeanne and Dad to trick-or-treat downtown. Davis does a big downtown thing were all the stores hand out candy from about 1-5pm. It's great because they kids get to see a bunch of other costumes and they get candy. Candy is a relatively new treat in our house. The kids really like candy!


After trick-or treating we went home to have Chinese take-out for dinner and then out again to see some of our neighbors. We live in a pretty friendly neighborhood and also one with lots of other kids. Isabelle thought it was really neat to be out walking around at night!

Last weekend, we went to a bounce-house birthday party! It was great fun! The kids always take a little time to get used to all the people, but once they were warmed up... look out! They were bouncing maniacs! Isabelle was very concerned that there might not be cake. I asked her if that's her favorite part of birthdays and she agreed that it was!