Christmas 2015

Christmas morning: two pictures required prior to present-opening.

From Tess' point of view, on the final day of her birthday celebration there were a few gifts for her siblings.  Perhaps so they wouldn't feel left out.

Ready for dinner with the grandparents.

This toy is life-sized.

Tess is 2

Tess is two, and she knows it.

She saw what happened with Rosemary in May and Silas in October -- and it turns out she was paying attention. For the past few days she's been saying:

"My birthday! My present!"

And also: "I like my cake!" ("like" means "want").

Tess loved opening her gifts, though all of her toys wound up with Rosemary, who graciously tested them out.

The weekend fell right in between Tess' birthday and Grandpa Ray's, so we had a joint family celebration on Sunday.

Silas is teaching his tricks to Cousin Liam.

The birthday boy took good care of the birthday girl.

Tree Farm

On a chilly Sunday morning, we drove to a Christmas tree farm near Half Moon Bay and met friends for a tailgate.

The kids searched a bit for a tree, but mostly played with the other kids.

Failed photo op, but...

...a successful tree decoration.  More photos are here.

Thanksgiving 2015

Silas, Rosemary, and Tess were on cloud nine with both sets of grandparents for Thanksgiving this year.


Many more pictures are here.

Cub Scouts

You have to embrace those moments when your child's interests diverge significantly from your own.

Silas joined Cub Scouts with his two closest friends, and he has had a lot of fun.  He loves the camaraderie and even the uniform.

The den leader is fantastic and I have to say, the activities have been enjoyable.

Pictured here:

Collecting cans for a food drive (above).

Veterans Day ceremony at our PTA meeting (middle).

Some sort of Scout handshake (below).

The Scouts' prohibition on gays ended this year, in July. 

The prohibition on atheists and agnostics remains -- but seems not widely enforced.

The exclusion of girls has federal support, currently; the Scouts have a Title IX carve-out.

I've enjoyed the chance to discuss with Silas some of my views versus some of the Scouts' views.

Silas' views will be forthcoming, and meanwhile I'm happy for him to realize that parental philosophy is not black-letter law.

Halloween 2015

The kids on Halloween: bat, ninja, Hawk Girl.

Many more photos of this year's festivities are here.

Tess had a ball.  She seems to understand everything that's going on these days.

Last year on Halloween night, Tess took her very first steps.

Eight Years in the Maze of Life

On Silas' eighth birthday, we found ourselves at a Half Moon Bay pumpkin patch, on a school trip for Rosemary's preschool.

Meredith took the girls; Silas and I charged into the hay bale maze.

The maze was two acres in size and (we discovered) had secret doors within. 

Silas led the way.  To find out whether he solved the puzzle, see the extended birthday photos here.

 

Frank and Ellen flew out to the Bay Area and we were so happy to see them. 

They used to be our nearest relatives.  Now, as one of the sadder results of our move, they are among our farthest.

During their visit, we had a great family birthday party at the grandparent's house. 

Pictured here are Uncles Frank, Tsutomu, and Pete; Aunts Ellen, Hildie, and Theresa; Grandpa Ray and Grandma Charlotte; and cousin Liam.

Science Fair

The College of San Mateo had a science fair today, with college students on hand to teach kids about physics, chemistry, and biology.

Activities included creating slime in the chemistry lab,

playing the skull-guessing game,

and making new friends.

Student of the Week

As student of the week, Silas had to present a timeline of important life events.

I printed 14 photos and Silas selected the 6 he wanted to discuss.

On subsequent days, Silas had to bring in a prized possession (a book about Teslas), be interviewed by classmates, and talk about a person who had influenced him (his mother).

At week's end, Mrs. Murphy asked the class what they had learned about Silas, and wrote up the results (at left).

Students were particularly fascinated that Silas' first bed was a drawer and that
he had a lot of experience with snow.

Each classmate then wrote Silas a letter.

This one was a favorite:

"I didn't know that you had no pets.... I feel bad for you."

Return of the Grandparents

Since moving to the west coast, visits with grandparents have become so wonderfully common, we no longer blog every grandparental sighting.

That said, here are some quick takes from the most recent long weekend with the Grandparents Keithley.

Rosemary and Grandma made banana bread.

Grandpa walked Silas to school every morning they were here.

Mom brought this photo of her one-year-old self in 1940, and we think she bears a resemblance to Tess.

Saturday swim

Rosemary and Silas will be swimming each Saturday morning this fall.

Their lessons are at the College of San Mateo's beautiful outdoor pool.

Silas' crawl stroke is looking pretty good. 

The instructor asked what our goals for Silas were and I said, "If he falls off a boat, I want him to live."

Pre-K

When Silas began second grade in mid-August, Rosemary began asking every morning whether it was time for her school.

This chart solved the problem.

Rosemary's first day was today and she was thrilled to be back.

This is her second year at Transfiguration Nursery ("the Fig").

This morning as we drove to school, Rosemary said:

"Remember all the schools we visited last year?"

I said I did.

"Well you picked the best one!"

One photo too many.

We're happy to have our across-street neighbor and friend Chase in school with Rosemary this year.

Four-word sentence

Tess uttered her longest sentence ever yesterday.

Four words!

And they were:

"I want some chocolate."

Second Grader

San Mateo schools switched to a mid-August start date.

I think the idea is to increase retention of knowledge by lessening the summer break.

When every day of the year is basically a summer day, starting school on August 12 doesn't seem to register as a negative with the kids.

Silas was champing at the bit.  He is thrilled to be seeing his friends every day. 

Rosemary is desperate to get back to preschool, but much to her distress, her school is still on the post-Labor Day schedule.

Orcas Island

The last week of July, we joined the Grandparents Keithley and Blair's family on Orcas Island.

We got off the ferry and went straight to the beach, where we met Grandpa.

Silas in the Salish.

At low tide, the kids turned over rocks.

At high tide, they looked for shells.

We also celebrated Mom's 76th birthday -- with goody bags, of course (at Rosemary's request).

Dungeness dinner, with Aunt Lisa doing all the hard work.

The obligatory family photo.

More pictures of Orcas are here.

Pen Pals

With a secret agenda of keeping Silas' handwriting in shape, we encouraged him to write to New York friends this summer.

Backyard creatures have played a prominent role in several of Silas' missives.