The Show

Every year at Gina's school, they have a variety show that involves many of the kids in the school, either as performers or backstage. The teachers are not involved in this, it is entirely run by the kids and their parents. It is such a big production that they actually have two different shows and this year they limited the acts to 1 1/2 minutes so that everyone could participate without the show running 4 hours long. For kindergarten, a parent usually arranges a group act that all the kids can participate in if they want to. For Gina's class, 20 kids agreed to sing The Ants Go Marching. They have be practicing at lunch time for the past two months and made cute little antennae headbands.

So today they got to perform the song twice, once this morning for the school and then this evening for the parents. This evening, I dropped Gina off at school early and then hurried home to get Vic and Andrew. With the rain, our babysitter was a little late so once we got to the school we had to sit in the very back but we made it in time for the start of the show. Gina's class did a great job on stage, singing their little hearts out and marching in place. It looked like they were all having fun. Then we sat through the other acts.

Half way through the show, Andrew was getting antsy and so we had to leave. We went back to the Green Room to get Gina but of course, she didn't want to leave because of a promised cupcake after the show. So we hung out in the Green Room, Gina watching the rest of the variety show on the TV, Andrew watching Land Before Time on another TV, and Vic and I got to chat with the other parents. Then it was time for the Final Bow with everyone on stage. And of course, Gina got her cupcake on our way out.

Here is Gina in her ant costume:

The Playdate

This morning did not start off so well. Gina wanted to play with her Critter family and so did Andrew. BUT, Gina did not want Andrew to play so there was much screeching and hitting and throwing of objects. Andrew ended up on several time outs. Dylan was also trying to get his two cents in.

But then, saved by a phone call. The mom of one of Gina's friends at school called to see if Gina could come over to her house. Apparently Noya was bored and didn't want to be stuck entertaining her baby brother all day. So everyone got dressed, a little side trip to get some coffee and hot chocolate, and then Gina was off to her playdate. Andrew was a little bummed that he was not invited but he got some special time with Nana later in the afternoon.

Dylan spent much of the afternoon practicing taking a few steps. He is very unsteady but he had a grand time taking a few steps toward me or Nana. Nana of course was thrilled to watch him taking his first few steps. I'm sure he will be running in no time.

Ice Skating

On Thursday, Gina had her first ice skating lesson. Ever since she saw A Charlie Brown Christmas, she has been hooked on the idea of learning how to skate. So for Christmas, her grandpa gave her ice skating lessons and she has been counting down the days ever since.

When we first arrived, it was really crowded with kids and moms and skates. I lost track of Andrew a couple of times. I had to buy Gina new mittens as well, so we squeezed into the tiny shop with two kids and a stroller. Once on the ice, Gina was a little unsteady, but overall, she did really well. There were a lot of moms standing by the side of the rink so it was difficult to watch her all the time and even more difficult to get a good picture, but several times when I looked over, I would see several kids falling down and Gina still standing. She didn't do much actual skating for the first lesson, mostly holding onto the side, but she loved it. Afterward, she asked if she could go skating every day.

Andrew on the other hand was very bummed that he couldn't go skating too. He was a little side tracked by the video games that were in the waiting area but he kept asking if he could go out on the ice. The Snowball class for 3-4 year olds starts in a few weeks so I guess I will sign him up for that. In the mean time I am going to have to figure out how to keep him distracted during Gina's lesson.

The Mud Car

Last weekend was raining so the kids wanted to try out their new rain boots and Andrew's new remote control car. He got the car from Boppa for Christmas and when he saw the car in the box, he immediately decided that this car needed to go in the mud. And when you have a lot of rain, you have a lot of mud.

Park Time

I've spent a lot of time these past few weekends at the park with the kids or watching the kids play outside in the front yard. They are so much better at home if they have had a chance to run around outside, climb on stuff or play in the sand.

I took the three kids to the park yesterday and Gina had fun taking Dylan down the slide. Dylan loves climbing up the stairs on the play structure and I am constantly running around the platform making sure he isn't going to suddenly dive off one of the open areas.

He doesn't have any fear about going down the slide head first. Another daredevil in the making.

Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend to end the year. We drove up to see Vic's mom and celebrate yet another Christmas. Her house was fixed up with lights, moving reindeer, and snowy village scenes. The kids loved opening up more presents. Andrew got a remote controller monster truck, Gina got a doll, and Dylan got a stuffed dog. All three kids also got sleeping bags.

Vic's mom really enjoyed seeing the kids, especially Dylan. The kids also got a night light aquarium which fascinated Dylan.



We stopped at a park on Sunday after going to Grandma's house for breakfast so that the kids could run around. Gina loves the swings and was swinging so high she was almost parallel to the ground.


On the way back home, we stopped by to visit Uncle Rich and Aunt Toni for a few hours. We don't see them nearly as often as we should since they are only an hour away from us. The kids were very active and loved rolling the balls on the pool table though Mollie the dog was not thrilled.

Dylan discovered stairs and had a great time crawling up and down the four stairs from the kitchen to the living room.

Toni got a great picture of the Gina and Andrew just before we left. Say "Jellybelly".

Christmas Recap

Last year was the year without a Christmas tree (though the kids did get to decorate one at their Grandpa's house). This year Gina made sure we got a Christmas tree, with a constant reminder that we didn't have one yet. So Saturday night, 10 minutes before closing time, we picked out a nice little tree (and on sale too). All day Sunday Gina asked about putting the ornaments on the tree. No one does persistence better than a 5 year old. As I was putting on the lights (and swearing at the tangled mess of lights) the kids happily started to decorate the tree.

After the tree was decorated, I tried to get a picture of all three kids but this was the best of the bunch. It is sure hard to get all three smiling and looking at the camera.

I had planned on Sunday to take the kids to see Santa, but Gina nixed that idea, preferring that Santa just bring a surprise. So no Santa pictures this year.

I didn't get much baking done this year though I did make a very nice Buche de Noel, complete with meringue mushrooms. The description of that endeavor is on my food blog.


For Christmas Eve, the kids got brand new pajamas and watched The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and Horton Hears a Who. They were very excited about Christmas coming and it took a while to get them settled in bed.

Christmas morning was a whirlwind of paper and boxes and toys and clothes. Gina got her Critter kitchen which she has been asking about for ages and Andrew was fascinated by his remote control "Mud car". Dylan wasn't sure what all the fuss was about but loved playing with all the ribbon and boxes.



















In the afternoon, Nana, Auntie Alice and Uncle Steve came over for a second round of presents. Dinner was my first attempt at Vic's favorite dish, Fried Chicken. It actually came out fine though unfortunately, Dylan has been sick and seems to have passed it onto Vic so Vic wasn't able to enjoy the dinner.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

This weekend was filled with holiday events. On Saturday, we went to the 04 LM holiday party. Nana was visiting this weekend so she came with us and let Vic have a quiet evening at home. The night before, I had helped a little bit to decorate the room. I let Gina stay at her afterschool care for an evening of pizza and a movie, not thinking that it would only give me a little more than an hour to help with setup. The other moms did a great job with hanging snowflakes from the ceiling, blue and white balloons on all the tables, and lights strung around the room.

The kids had a lot of fun at the party, though I was reluctant to put Dylan on the ground with so many people. Nana and I took turns holding him all evening. One of the dads dressed up as Santa and for the entertainment, we had Andy Z, the kid's favorite musician. One of the moms took a great picture of Gina with Andy, he seemed thrilled to see her (He used to teach music at her preschool). Andrew was more taken by the pile of presents on one of the tables, and stood by the table the whole time Andy was playing. They each got a very nice book at the end of the party.

Today we got to go see the Nutcracker ballet. I've been waiting five years to take Gina to see the Nutcracker. I have very fond memories of going to San Francisco with my Grandma every year to see it at the Opera House. I think she first took me when I was three and I think I fell asleep that first time. So for their first Nutcracker experience, I decided to go with a 1 hr children's matinee performed by the Ballet San Jose, especially since Andrew wanted to go as well. We got there early and had a chance to see some of the performers outside. Both kids were a little unsure about seeing the Nutcracker and Mouse king up close. Inside, they had singers and lots of little Christmas trees. Of course, the kids also wanted a snack so I shelled out $6 for 2 bags of M&Ms.

During the performance, the kids did very well. Andrew was a little squirmy and spent part of the time sitting in my lap and part of the time sitting on the floor. They were both scared by the BOOM from the canon (Gina said she wanted to leave) but they enjoyed the rest of the performance. I miss seeing all the dances in the second part but for the kids this year, sitting through the first half of the ballet was plenty.


Since the ballet was so short, we had time to pickup Dylan after his nap and drive over to Andrew's preschool for some snow play. By the time we got there, a lot of the snow had melted but there was still plenty to make snowballs. Gina and Andrew had a lot of fun throwing snow balls and slipping and sliding on the icy snow. Gina's preschool friend Alexandra was also there and they had fun playing together. Dylan liked hanging out in the snow, I'm sure he was wondering what all this cold stuff was.

After a day full of activity (and no grocery shopping) I took the kids to a local restaurant for dinner with the promise that we would go see some houses with Christmas lights afterwards. I guess it was the right incentive, they were great for dinner and so we headed over to see the display. Several houses are covered in lights and they have music playing, with the lights synchronized to the music. It really is amazing with all the lights. We watched from the sidewalk for awhile. Andrew was mesmerized by a moving text display near the ground. He left only with the promise that we would return for another visit.

After a long day, the kids fell asleep pretty quickly with little fuss.

Growing baby

After being sick the week he turned 1, Dylan finally had his first year checkup. He is now 31 inches long (80th percentile) and 21 lb 4 oz (20th percentile). He is still well behind his siblings in the weight department but is starting to catch up. At nine months, he was at the 5th percentile. He also had a few shots with only a little crying. Andrew got to tag along and wanted to know if he could have a shot too. Well, he was in luck, it's flu shot time. He had no problem with the shot, no crying or fussing and he was happy to get a lollipop at the end. Gina on the other hand, didn't go today, but started complaining at the mere mention of getting a shot in the near future. The boys are definitely tougher.

The pictures are from Thanksgiving weekend when Auntie Alice was visiting.

A Moon Day

In Gina's Kindergarten class, the AM kids are called Suns and the PM kids are called Moons. Occasionally all the kids are Suns such as for a field trip or special day but today they went on a later morning field trip, so all the kids were Moons. Since Gina didn't have to be at school until 10am it seemed like a good day to sleep in and have an easy morning. Dylan had other ideas. He was awake and unhappy at 5:30am. A bottle of milk helped to settle him back down but only until 6:30am. So it was time to get up. But the rest of the morning went more smoothly than most. Andrew didn't fight getting dressed or leaving the house. Gina got dressed and had breakfast with no problems. We had time to get a treat at Starbucks and dropped everyone off at daycare and school on time. If only every morning could be like this.

Thanksgiving

So Thursday was Thanksgiving and I cooked ALL day. A huge meal with all the fixings for the five of us. It did seem a little like overkill, but I love all the traditional stuff for Thanksgiving. The turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce, roasted sweet potatoes and for dessert, pecan pie and pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pie but only have it at Thanksgiving and Vic only likes pecan pie, so I always make both.

Once we sat down to dinner, Andrew announced that he wasn't going to eat any of it and so I made him a peanut butter sandwich. Gina at least ate the turkey and a roll. Dylan, the least picky of the bunch, ate a little bit of everything. And so we have been eating leftovers all weekend.

Nana and Auntie Alice came to visit on Friday. So the kids have had a fun two days, going to Los Gatos, going shopping, and just running around. After 4 days off of work and school, it is going to be hard to get up on Monday morning.

Happy Birthday Dylan

Dylan is now 1 year old. He is still the easiest of the three kids though he has his moments of difficulty.

Here he is in his new car seat. We kept him in the infant car seat much longer than the other 2 kids. I think Andrew was out of his infant seat by 6 months. He is still rear facing though since the seat recommendation is 22 lbs for forward facing. He is just over 20 lbs right now.

He is showing interest in trying to draw now too. Here he is drawing with a crayon for the first time. It is not surprising since Gina is drawing all the time and Andrew has also become very interested in drawing too.

We didn't do much for Dylan's birthday. It is so close to Thanksgiving and he was sick the previous three days. So he got a carrot cupcake for dessert.

And it looks like he enjoyed it.

Big Sisters

The other day I was getting Andrew dressed in his Spiderman costume. As I was putting on his socks (beige), he asks, "Are these Spiderman socks?" Of course I answer, "Yes, these are Spiderman socks" He is perfectly happy with the answer. Then Gina chimes in, "Those are NOT Spiderman socks." Aren't big sisters great?

Halloween Fun

It seems like we have been celebrating Halloween for a long time. First it was Gina's field trip to the pumpkin patch, then Andrew's class went to the same pumpkin patch for his first field trip and then there were a variety of activities this past weekend.

On Sunday we first went to the 04 LM group Halloween party. All the kids were dressed up and had fun doing all the crafts and playing outside. At the end they had trick-or-treating with several stations set up that the kids went through in a line. Gina insisted that I stay close by and then she went mute at each station. Instead of saying "Trick or treat" or even "Thank you" she would look quizzically up at me and then refuse to move on without a push from me.

After Dylan's nap it was off to the pumpkin patch again to meet up with other friends. Gina changed from her queen costume to a ballerina costume for this outing. The kids had a great time running up and down the hill, going into the haunted house and jumping in the jump house. At the end we actually got most of the kids on the hay bales for the annual group photo, only Gina and Gabriel were uncooperative.

Yesterday was yet another Halloween event, Vic's work had a Halloween party. So the kids got to dress up again, Gina as a queen, Andrew as Spiderman (there were A LOT of little Spidermen running around this year) and Dylan got to be a zebra. There was a lot of good food, and crafts and candy for the kids. Gina even ran into a couple of her preschool friends.

Today for Halloween, Gina and Andrew both got to dress up for school. Andrew's daycare had a parade of all the kids while at Gina's school, the two kindergarten classes got to parade through the school. They were all very cute. In the afternoon, Gina's school had a carnival which was fun for the kids though Gina spent half her time swinging on the monkey bars.

For the grand finale, Gina and Andrew went out trick or treating with Vic in the evening. They each got a good haul of candy which they promptly started eating when they got home. After a little sugar induced squirrelly behavior, the kids finally went to bed.

A Country in Trouble

So this is a little off topic from the normal posts about kids and life here.

A few friends from work are living in Zimbabwe and it is just incredible how terrible the situation has become. The inflation rate is 8000% so that you never know how much things cost. The exchange rate is roughly 500,000 Zim dollars for 1 US dollar. Milk is now $12 per gallon, expensive if that were here, but unimaginably expensive in Zimbabwe. Gasoline is $8-10 per gallon. The people who work on our projects are paid in US dollars so that they are less affected by the inflation rate, but they have to take the US dollars out of the country to spend it. So they spend money on gas to drive to Botswana or South Africa to buy things like toilet paper.

Maize, the staple of the country which is used to make a dish called sadza (it is like grits or polenta), is not easy to find. My friend Seble said that she would go to a store, discover that they had sausage for sale, call friends to tell them of her find. The friends would go an hour later only to discover that they were sold out. Getting gasoline is a day long headache. It certain areas the power goes out almost every night in the early evening, making it very difficult to cook a hot meal. It is even difficult to buy stuff on the black market. Days are spent calling friends to find out who has food to sell. Seble did say that you can go to restaurants for meals, but you usually don't need the menu. Often there is only one dish available, the chef's special.

Every time I talk with people about Zimbabwe we wonder how much worse it can get and it does keep getting worse.

Dylan at 11 months old

Dylan turned 11 months old yesterday. Hard to believe he will be one next month. He is such a happy kid, but boy when he shrieks, it is earsplitting. Vic has started to wear earplugs during dinner time.

Here is Andrew hard at work, coloring. He is really good at coloring in the lines. Since Gina draws all the time, I guess it is only natural that Andrew would be interested as well. The other day I picked him up from preschool. There were six or seven boys and a couple of girls. All the boys were playing with cars and trains and puzzles on the floor but Andrew was standing at a table with paper and crayons.

Dylan stands up

Dylan pulled himself up into a stand in the bathroom the other day. A couple of days earlier I had pulled him up into a stand but now he can do it himself. He is also good at lowering himself back into a sitting position so he doesn't get stuck.

Here is Gina at just about the same age when she first stood up by herself:














And here is Andrew at a year when he first stood up by himself. He is pictured with his pacifier which he just recently gave up. He had chewed on the last one so much it had holes in it so it wasn't good anymore. After tossing that one, he hasn't asked for it since and we haven't come across any more of the old ones, though I'm sure there are many hiding in various corners.

Back to School Picnic

On Thursday I took the kids to a park for a Back to School picnic for Gina's school. Dylan had a lot of fun sitting on the grass and crawling around. Earlier in the day he kept himself entertained by pushing a ball around and then crawling after it.

Gina and Andrew had a great time running around; it was hard to get them to leave.

Fun Faire Saturday

Yesterday was a local fair and part of the entertainment was the Chicken Dance performed by each kindergarten class. Gina's class was scheduled for noon so off we went after a leisurely morning at home. Once we got there, there were kids and parents milling around, but everyone got sorted out for the dance. Once it started, Gina decided she wasn't going to do it, even with me joining in and once she decides that nothing will change her mind. So she stood on the sideline looking very grumpy, watching the rest of her class do it. The other kids were very cute.

After all that excitement, the kids were ready to tackle the slides. Gina really wanted to try the big slide. Andrew was game at first but then decided he really didn't want to do it. It turns out a parent needs to go with kids under 7 so Vic volunteered to go with Gina.

While Gina and Vic went on the slide, Andrew stood around complaining about not going on the slide. He waited very impatiently for Gina to finish so that she would go with him on the smaller slide. But then he had a grand time and went on it several times by himself.

Baby on the move

Just a few days shy of 10 months, Dylan is finally crawling. He has been on the verge of crawling for a couple of weeks, laying on the floor, stretching out his arms to get something or pushing himself along the hardwood floors. Now he has figured out how to actually crawl. He is finding all kinds of fun things to play with, little bits of paper, little tiny toys and it all goes in his mouth.

Dylan has also started waving hello/good bye. He's very enthusiastic when he does it and his whole face lights up. He also really likes it when I sing "Wheels on the Bus" with the hand motions. He tries to do the hand motions as well.