Christmas 2014

Christmas in California!

Our kids had many new experiences this year, such as making gingerbread cookies, in our large (relative to New York) kitchen...

sledding on imported snow...

and chopping down our own Christmas tree, rather than buying one off the Broadway sidewalk.

More pictures from Christmas are here.

Here is the scene Christmas morning...

... and here are the kids Christmas afternoon, before going to the grandparents' house for dinner.

One!

Our sweet Tess has turned one!

We celebrated with grandparents and, wonderfully, a visit by Charlene.

We like to joke that Tess is the perfect #3.  She is our most easy-going child, a good thing when there are two older siblings constantly fighting to be at the front of the line.

Tess is patient, laughs easily, eats well, and falls asleep quickly.  She doesn't cry much, except to express her desire to be held -- she does prefer to perch in her parents' arms.

Her brother and sister adore her, and she adores them.

Silas likes to come up behind Tess, reach around her chest, lift her off the ground, and lug her around the house.  Tess loves it.

Rosemary likes to put her head right next to Tess's and shout "Hey you baby!"  Tess just laughs.

Tess is a happy kid who has immeasurably increased her family's happiness.

Charlene flew out for Tess's birthday, and of course to see her other two babies.

Silas and Rosemary have been more excited about Charlene's visit than about Christmas.

We weren't entirely sure this would be the case, but Tess definitely remembers Charlene.

Tess was shy for about five minutes, and then was happy to have Charlene hold her the rest of the day. 

Here's Tess giving Charlene the "why don't you pick me up" look (Charlene took this picture).

Laurelwood Park

Silas never misses much.

He noticed this stairway in our neighborhood, disappearing between two driveways.

Silas thought it might go somewhere interesting.

On inspection, I realized that it was indeed a public stair.  So we set off to see where it led.

Turns out Silas had found a back entrance to Laurelwood Park.  After about half a mile, we came to this spot.

More pictures from our hike are here.

Pancakes Good, Crabs Bad

 Rosemary's reactions to two recent meals.

Thanksgiving

The Kelly portion of the Thanksgiving crew.

Grandparent Overload

The kids have become used to seeing the San Mateo grandparents on a regular basis.

But now that we are a short flight from Washington, the kids will be seeing a lot more of the Olympia grandparents as well.

We showed the folks a little sunshine.

Books were read, hoops were shot.

Next visit: Christmastime!

Solar Eclipse

Rosemary is shown here holding a device for viewing a solar eclipse.

She and I made this pinhole projector (okay, mostly I made it) in order to view the partial eclipse that occurred here recently.

We brought our show on the road and demonstrated the projector for Silas' class, who took turns creating an image of the eclipsed sun.

The next solar eclipse in this area occurs August 21, 2017.

That will be just before classes begin (fourth grade for Silas, first grade for Rosemary), so there won't be a schoolyard viewing.

The next solar eclipse after that will be October 14, 2023. 

These kids will be in the tenth grade.

Halloween First Steps

Look who took her first steps on Halloween!  (Caught on a grainy cellphone video.)

Lion and Tiger getting ready for Silas' class costume party:

Rosemary volunteered for the mummy-wrapping contest (that's Silas as Buzz Lightyear).

We trick-or-treated with our neighbor Selena and saw some elaborate Halloween displays.

Many more pictures are here.

Seven!

We celebrated seven years of Silas on October 21... 

... followed by a jam-packed birthday weekend.

We had a great party with neighbors and classmates, new friends all.

Here's Silas wiping out with Trenton in the three-legged race.

On Sunday we hosted the grandparents and cousin Liam's family.

Aren't Tess and Liam sweet together?

Many more pictures from the birthday weekend are here.

Tess Videos

Pastorino's

Longtime followers of our blogging will recall Silas' trip to Pastorino's, in Half Moon Bay, when he was two.

Silas has changed.  Pastorino's has not.

Yet the second trip to Pastorino's was even more enjoyable...

... perhaps because we tripled the fun?

Actually, quadrupled the fun.  Cousin Liam came along too! 

Liam and Tess posed for this one while Silas and Rosemary crept through the Haunted House with Uncle Pete.

Here's the whole crew with Grandpa Ray and Grandma Charlotte.

Ready for Halloween!

Silas and Rosemary

The first few weeks in California, Silas and Rosemary fought a lot, for whatever reason.

Perhaps stress from the move. 

Perhaps celebrating their newfound ability to rumble without disturbing the downstairs neighbors.

Silas told us at one point, "Tess is the sweetest baby sister. 

And Rosemary is the most annoyingest sister!"

Now two months along, their fighting frequency has decreased significantly.

Maybe that's due to Meredith's propaganda ("You two are best friends!").

Maybe it's because they have become co-adventurers in exploring San Mateo.

At any rate, it's welcome.

Here are some pictures of the two.

  

Top photo: Enjoying ice cream at Beresford Park.

Next:  Rosemary scoots with Silas to his school every morning.

At left:  First haircut on the west coast (missing Ray's barbershop in Inwood).

At bottom:  Glow sticks for evening ghost stories.  (Listening to my fractured version of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.)

Soccer!

Rosemary is playing soccer, which she refers to as "baseball."

She looks great out there.  This will come as no surprise to anyone who knows her -- she can really kick the heck out of the ball.

Rosemary is the only girl on the team.  Which is so lame! What is up with the other parents of three-year-old girls around here? 

Tuckered out after Sunday afternoon practice.

Silas and Sisters

Silas and Rosemary spend half their time fighting and half their time having a ball.



This is the game they call "tread":



Silas could not be sweeter with Tess:

First Day of Preschool

Rosemary loved her first day at
preschool.

Standing (with support)

Tess, now eight months, loves to pull herself into a standing position -- and is so pleased with herself every time she manages it.

In Meredith's words: "Tess, you're a biped!"

New School, First Day

The fact of our move really sunk in today, as Silas arrived at a new school filled with strangers. He waltzed right in, though.

Kelley, Owen, and Bunk Beds

Kelley and Owen were our first overnight guests in San Mateo.  They were vacationing in California and spent their last day with us.

That last day was no vacation for Kelley.

She had built Owen's loft bed in NYC, so we declared her an expert and pressed her into service building bunks for Silas and Rosemary.

Meredith was hoping the bunk beds would take an hour to build.  Kelley was hoping for three hours.

Unfortunately, the manufacturer included some incorrectly-sized half-moon nuts (which hold the bolts that hold the whole thing together).

After a couple of hardware stores, we settled on cross-dowels as a replacement -- though they didn't always quite fit.

Kel and I jerry-rigged a series of great solutions and, at nine p.m., finished the bunk beds.

Looks beautiful!  It should hold up, at least until the first earthquake.

Meredith was on child-care duty that whole time.  She took this great photo of all the kids -- still playing with boxes.

Here's Owen early this morning, trying not to drop Tess.  He was successful.

Message to other New York friends (and other states, of course):  Come visit us!

We probably won't make you build anything.