His backpack makes him look so little!
(Hey, look! only 2 months behind!)
26 August 2008
1st Day of Kindergarten
My baby boy is in Kindergarten! Check out his nifty lunchbox ;-).
His backpack makes him look so little!
(Hey, look! only 2 months behind!)
His backpack makes him look so little!(Hey, look! only 2 months behind!)
15 August 2008
Calm before the storm of Kindergarten
Following Tor's visit, we had a few calm weeks before the the leap into our crazy autumn. In just a few short weeks Iain will start Kindergarten and we'll enter the whirling storms of Elementary School.
For now, though, Ria naps:
Ria learns to build...UP. as Iain cheers her on:
Finally, Ria gets a new bed decoration, and the kids celebrate.
For now, though, Ria naps:
Ria learns to build...UP. as Iain cheers her on:
Finally, Ria gets a new bed decoration, and the kids celebrate.
11 August 2008
Cousin Tor visits!
Iain and Ria's oldest cousin, Tor, visisted in August. He flew on the airplane all by himself, and we all had a wonderful time.
Iain and Tor at the Jungle
Tor and Ria
At the playground:
Thinking big thoughts:
At the Childrens discovery museum
Iain and Tor hiking at Castle Rock State Park
And a family visit portrait!
Iain and Tor at the Jungle
Tor and Ria
At the playground:
Thinking big thoughts:
At the Childrens discovery museum
Iain and Tor hiking at Castle Rock State Park
And a family visit portrait!
01 August 2008
Home again!
Back home, and the kids enjoy playing on their own turf.
Bubba Iain makes a comfy chair!
And below, you can see how Ria has finally taken to the joy of playdough!
Note the mixed color chunk of playdough she started with on the left, and the resulting new color she made from it. She spent a good 30 minutes saying "ISH" (for "squish"), as she melded the colors quite evenly. Iain named the new color "sink".
Bubba Iain makes a comfy chair!
And below, you can see how Ria has finally taken to the joy of playdough!Note the mixed color chunk of playdough she started with on the left, and the resulting new color she made from it. She spent a good 30 minutes saying "ISH" (for "squish"), as she melded the colors quite evenly. Iain named the new color "sink".
28 July 2008
England IVb - London with Uncle Tom and Sarah
Finally, on our last day in London (and England), we met up with Uncle Tom and Sarah.
William and Sarah help Ria along as we walk along a London canal looking for an interesting place to eat.
The shot with me in it didn't turn out well, but this one was lovely! Unfortunately, Ria had just hit meltdown, and couldn't be included in the photo. Luckily we'd already got that cute one above with her walking with Sarah and William.
Outside the cafe was the end of one of London's canals..... heh.
William and Sarah help Ria along as we walk along a London canal looking for an interesting place to eat.
The shot with me in it didn't turn out well, but this one was lovely! Unfortunately, Ria had just hit meltdown, and couldn't be included in the photo. Luckily we'd already got that cute one above with her walking with Sarah and William.
Outside the cafe was the end of one of London's canals..... heh.
27 July 2008
England IVa - London w/ David and Delphine
Next we visited David, Delphine, and their little guy Adrien (~ 6 months older than Ria) in London. We blew it and didn't get any photos with David and Delphine, but we got the kids!
Here's the 3 of them building a fort of some type.
Just a cute photo of the 2 boys. Iain really enjoyed playing with Adrien.....just by being a boy, he interacted the way that, I think, Iain wishes Ria would play. You know, the usual run around screaming in circles that boys do. The boys had fun together.
Ria with Bert stuck to her chin
We visited Highgate cemetary, and not too far in we paid homage to this particular resident.
David took this cute video of Iain and Ria walking through the cemetary. 1st Iain takes Ria's hand to help her walk along, then he makes silly noises with his fingers & lips, and if you can see it, Ria copies him and starts doing bub-bub-bub with her fingers and lips too. Then the minute Iain sees that there's a video being taken, he becomes the big guy, too cool to hold his sister's hand. Heh!
Finally, while Ria and Adrien napped, Iain and Daddy built this masterpiece!
Here's the 3 of them building a fort of some type.
Just a cute photo of the 2 boys. Iain really enjoyed playing with Adrien.....just by being a boy, he interacted the way that, I think, Iain wishes Ria would play. You know, the usual run around screaming in circles that boys do. The boys had fun together.
Ria with Bert stuck to her chin
We visited Highgate cemetary, and not too far in we paid homage to this particular resident.
David took this cute video of Iain and Ria walking through the cemetary. 1st Iain takes Ria's hand to help her walk along, then he makes silly noises with his fingers & lips, and if you can see it, Ria copies him and starts doing bub-bub-bub with her fingers and lips too. Then the minute Iain sees that there's a video being taken, he becomes the big guy, too cool to hold his sister's hand. Heh!Finally, while Ria and Adrien napped, Iain and Daddy built this masterpiece!
24 July 2008
England IIIb - Winchcombe still
As for the visit to Guiseley, there are many lovely pictures on Adeline's blog. See her 4 posts from our visit at:
http://martoomanypictures.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post_25.html
http://martoomanypictures.blogspot.com/2008/07/winchcombe-visit.html
http://martoomanypictures.blogspot.com/2008/07/visit-to-cotswolds-july-2008.html
and
http://martoomanypictures.blogspot.com/2008/07/last-day.html
The joy of the BALL PIT!
Ria strikes an acrobatic ball pit pose.
Iain winks!
And we're on our way to London.
http://martoomanypictures.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-post_25.html
http://martoomanypictures.blogspot.com/2008/07/winchcombe-visit.html
http://martoomanypictures.blogspot.com/2008/07/visit-to-cotswolds-july-2008.html
and
http://martoomanypictures.blogspot.com/2008/07/last-day.html
The joy of the BALL PIT!
Ria strikes an acrobatic ball pit pose.
Iain winks!
And we're on our way to London.
23 July 2008
England IIIa - Winchcombe with Grandmother
Of course, I SAY I'll do fewer picture, but I'm not really capable of that! Between me, and Adeline, and the arrival of lovely SUNSHINE, many photos were taken. This will span 2 posts!
Hanging in the back yard with Grandmother:
At the miniature village at Bourton-on-the-Water:
(this is Iain and Ria in the periscope mirror....its supposed to be turned around so you can see them as monsters in the little village ;-)
A pint and a tea...
and then back to Winchcombe, where Ria indulges in her tendancy to channel Imelda Marcos. Even better when the shoes are BIG and PINK!
Hanging in the back yard with Grandmother:
At the miniature village at Bourton-on-the-Water:
(this is Iain and Ria in the periscope mirror....its supposed to be turned around so you can see them as monsters in the little village ;-)
A pint and a tea...
and then back to Winchcombe, where Ria indulges in her tendancy to channel Imelda Marcos. Even better when the shoes are BIG and PINK!
20 July 2008
A Visit to Guiseley - England II
Oh, goodness.
The last time I put up a bunch of posts in 1 day, the goal was to be able to put up pictures from Iain's 1st day of school....that was 6 weeks ago, and I'm still nowhere near there!
I'm going to have to change my posting style so that I get these things up faster. Its pitiful to still be in July! I'm generally of the "more photos is better" brigade, but I'm going to try to err towards fewer photos, and more timely. But in the meantime, I still have to get from July to October! Engand, Tor's visit, start of school, Vancouver, and Iain's birthday. Lots missing!
That said....after visiting Miles and Margaret, we were off to Guiseley to meet our littlest cousin Rowan! Oh, what a cutie! And we got to see his parents, Alastair and Bev, too!
We appeared to have taken very few pictures in Guiseley, but A&B took lots of LOVELY pictures that are on on Rowan's blog. So, be sure to visit http://rowanspages.blogspot.com/2008/07/visit-from-william-mona-iain-and-ria.html
to see great pictures of our visit to Guiseley.
Here is Iain, Ria and I looking at some ducks:
while cousin Rowan slept in his stroller:
Here is a picture Iain took of Ria and Rowan trying to get out of their baby cage!
And here is the lovely group photo Alastair took just as we were leaving....No, Ria is NOT picking her nose, she is saying "shhhhhh". ;-)
The last time I put up a bunch of posts in 1 day, the goal was to be able to put up pictures from Iain's 1st day of school....that was 6 weeks ago, and I'm still nowhere near there!
I'm going to have to change my posting style so that I get these things up faster. Its pitiful to still be in July! I'm generally of the "more photos is better" brigade, but I'm going to try to err towards fewer photos, and more timely. But in the meantime, I still have to get from July to October! Engand, Tor's visit, start of school, Vancouver, and Iain's birthday. Lots missing!
That said....after visiting Miles and Margaret, we were off to Guiseley to meet our littlest cousin Rowan! Oh, what a cutie! And we got to see his parents, Alastair and Bev, too!
We appeared to have taken very few pictures in Guiseley, but A&B took lots of LOVELY pictures that are on on Rowan's blog. So, be sure to visit http://rowanspages.blogspot.com/2008/07/visit-from-william-mona-iain-and-ria.html
to see great pictures of our visit to Guiseley.
Here is Iain, Ria and I looking at some ducks:
while cousin Rowan slept in his stroller:
Here is a picture Iain took of Ria and Rowan trying to get out of their baby cage!
And here is the lovely group photo Alastair took just as we were leaving....No, Ria is NOT picking her nose, she is saying "shhhhhh". ;-)
17 July 2008
England 1: Visiting with Miles and Margaret
Off to England we go!
The flight over went pretty seamlessly....at least, as seamlessly as a flight can go when its 10 hours long, you are travelling with a 21 month old and a 4.75 year old (Iain was a dream, Ria was a handful), and your kids have slept HARDLY AT ALL before arriving in London at 7am England time (11pm California time). Ria got a 45 minute nap in, and 1.5 hours of night sleep. Iain got in just that 1.5 hours of night sleep.
Then we cleared customs, took the airport train to Paddington station, then a cab to Euston station, then waited 2 hours for our train to Lancaster. It was during this chunk of time that we determined that Ria is a "happy drunk" when she is utterly sleep deprived. Iain is more of a somewhat maudlin, but on the happy side, dude when exhaused. All in all, less painful than we had feared!
During the ~3 hour train ride, Ria (thank heavens!) napped the whole way. (She tried mightily to stay awake, but lasted maybe 3 minutes). Iain gave in for about 10 minutes, but other than that didn't sleep. We got to Lancaster, got picked up at the train station by William's Uncle Miles, and the children proceeded to STAY AWAKE until 7 & 8 pm, respectively (I think...), happily playing and eating and running around and smelling flowers. Their resolve to stay awake when anything remotely interesting is happening around them is truly astounding!
Iain had only 1 bad night while acclimating....Ria had 5 bad nights (this can also be read as: Mona had 5 bad nights). But the days were wonderful!
1st up: Miles' and Margaret's house in Brookhouse, near Lancaster. On our 2nd day, William's dad John, along with Alastair, Bev, and little Rowan, showed up, as well as John's and Miles' cousin Cherry.
Here's Cherry:
Margaret turns out to have "baby magnetism", Ria LOVED Margaret, and would turn to her for a snuggle and a kiss when she got an owie, despite the fact that her not-nearly-so-beloved Mommy was standing right there!
I stole this lovely group photo from Alastair's blog, as I didn't have the forethought to get a group photo myself. Top row: John, Bev, Alastair, Rowan, Cherry, Margaret & Miles. Bottom row: us.
On one end of the table: John, Miles and William.
On the other end of the table (well, tecnically also the next night ;-), is Ria with her best buddy, Margaret, who she had by this time christened "MarMaMa".
The flight over went pretty seamlessly....at least, as seamlessly as a flight can go when its 10 hours long, you are travelling with a 21 month old and a 4.75 year old (Iain was a dream, Ria was a handful), and your kids have slept HARDLY AT ALL before arriving in London at 7am England time (11pm California time). Ria got a 45 minute nap in, and 1.5 hours of night sleep. Iain got in just that 1.5 hours of night sleep.
Then we cleared customs, took the airport train to Paddington station, then a cab to Euston station, then waited 2 hours for our train to Lancaster. It was during this chunk of time that we determined that Ria is a "happy drunk" when she is utterly sleep deprived. Iain is more of a somewhat maudlin, but on the happy side, dude when exhaused. All in all, less painful than we had feared!
During the ~3 hour train ride, Ria (thank heavens!) napped the whole way. (She tried mightily to stay awake, but lasted maybe 3 minutes). Iain gave in for about 10 minutes, but other than that didn't sleep. We got to Lancaster, got picked up at the train station by William's Uncle Miles, and the children proceeded to STAY AWAKE until 7 & 8 pm, respectively (I think...), happily playing and eating and running around and smelling flowers. Their resolve to stay awake when anything remotely interesting is happening around them is truly astounding!
Iain had only 1 bad night while acclimating....Ria had 5 bad nights (this can also be read as: Mona had 5 bad nights). But the days were wonderful!
1st up: Miles' and Margaret's house in Brookhouse, near Lancaster. On our 2nd day, William's dad John, along with Alastair, Bev, and little Rowan, showed up, as well as John's and Miles' cousin Cherry.
Here's Cherry:
Margaret turns out to have "baby magnetism", Ria LOVED Margaret, and would turn to her for a snuggle and a kiss when she got an owie, despite the fact that her not-nearly-so-beloved Mommy was standing right there! 
I stole this lovely group photo from Alastair's blog, as I didn't have the forethought to get a group photo myself. Top row: John, Bev, Alastair, Rowan, Cherry, Margaret & Miles. Bottom row: us.
On one end of the table: John, Miles and William.
On the other end of the table (well, tecnically also the next night ;-), is Ria with her best buddy, Margaret, who she had by this time christened "MarMaMa".
13 July 2008
12 July 2008
Ria is 21 months!
With Eric and Cynthia's camera in hand, we can take Ria's 21 month photos!
I have no clue how tall/heavy she is.....no pediatrician visit until 24 months! ...and now that i have 2 kids, I'm just WAY too forgetful to do those tiny little 1 minute tasks like weigh/measure. 2nd child syndrome. Definately 30-ish pounds, though, and into the 2T clothes, so tall still.
-16 teeth still, 4 to go, but those are still months out. I love the bits inbetween the teething spurts.
-WALKING!!!
-Speaking in 1-word sentances, a noun or a preposition. Generally she labels something, or states what she just did with something ("in", "out", "up", "down"). Pronunciation is good for us, and some other parents, but general folk won't have a clue what she's saying.
-Iain and William have decided that she needs long hair, now that she no longer massages all her food into it. So, this time I just cut her bangs and left the rest. She hates having it put up or held back (hairbands or clips), so it just flops around in her face, mostly.
She's still happy, and he LOVES her Bubba ("Brother")! When she wakes in the morning, and we pull her out of her crib, she shouts "BUBBA", and tries to get out her door to go wake him. We don't let her wake him until 7, though. Unfortunately, she is still up notably before then, most days.
I have no clue how tall/heavy she is.....no pediatrician visit until 24 months! ...and now that i have 2 kids, I'm just WAY too forgetful to do those tiny little 1 minute tasks like weigh/measure. 2nd child syndrome. Definately 30-ish pounds, though, and into the 2T clothes, so tall still.-16 teeth still, 4 to go, but those are still months out. I love the bits inbetween the teething spurts.
-WALKING!!!
-Speaking in 1-word sentances, a noun or a preposition. Generally she labels something, or states what she just did with something ("in", "out", "up", "down"). Pronunciation is good for us, and some other parents, but general folk won't have a clue what she's saying.
-Iain and William have decided that she needs long hair, now that she no longer massages all her food into it. So, this time I just cut her bangs and left the rest. She hates having it put up or held back (hairbands or clips), so it just flops around in her face, mostly.
She's still happy, and he LOVES her Bubba ("Brother")! When she wakes in the morning, and we pull her out of her crib, she shouts "BUBBA", and tries to get out her door to go wake him. We don't let her wake him until 7, though. Unfortunately, she is still up notably before then, most days.
Summer Days at home, & the camera breaks again
The summer is here, and we have a quiet month at home (well, we went camping, but, you know what I mean!). Here is another bath-time, with Ria all poised to make a big stomping splash!
Daddy getting his exercise:
AND! a video thereof:
Guess who forgot to put the baby gate back up across the laundry room door! Ria LOVES the drier...after this photo she spent DAYS trying to get over/through/under that gate to get back into her cool hidey hole.
SNUG FEST!!
Daddy getting his exercise:
AND! a video thereof:Right about ......HERE..... you should insert a quiet little [crash]. It wasn't as loud as it should have been, but it indicated that Ria had gotten just that one millimeter taller required to be able to reach the camera stash spot. Possibly the strap was hanging down a bit. In any case, down it came. And, off to Canon it goes (again). Needless to say, it won't be back in time to document our trip to England. Poot! Luckily, Eric and Cynthia lent us their compact digital camera, so we won't be camera-free in the meantime ;-).
Here is Iain and Ribbit (the robot, which he got from Uncle Andy....Ria got a robot from Auntie Eva) having fun at the Childrens Discovery Museum:
Here is Iain and Ribbit (the robot, which he got from Uncle Andy....Ria got a robot from Auntie Eva) having fun at the Childrens Discovery Museum:
Guess who forgot to put the baby gate back up across the laundry room door! Ria LOVES the drier...after this photo she spent DAYS trying to get over/through/under that gate to get back into her cool hidey hole.
SNUG FEST!!
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