Merry Christmas!

Fiona went to bed last night with dreams of sugar plums or at least a lot of sugar in her head...and woke up this morning with a rejoicint HE CAME!!!!!!!!

As expected he brought an owl and plenty of books and puzzles. We all sat in front of a beautiful christmas morning fire and not one of us was swept away in the a slide of wrapping paper.

Hope that you and yours are having wonderful day too.
Love

Louise
A note left for Santa and the cookies munched on.

reindeer poo outside!

Stocking loot.

Owl found in the tree.

Salmon Art

Fiona made this picture of a salmon for Devon the other day. Its good to have art supplies in the car...you never know what will come out of the back seat!

The Visit

We made the annual pilgrimage to the mall today to meet up with Santa who visits there every year. On the way there Fiona accounted for the "few"times that she hasn't been "nice" and wrote them off as days when she was, "just a bit tired." She insisted that there wouldn't be many more of them in the future.

Her request of Santa this year:

• An "owl of any size" as we discussed that if he brought a "Giant Owl" which had been a first choice there wouldn't be much room on the sleigh for other kids' stuff. This owl thing comes from her recent Harry Potter obsession and the owls featured therein.
  

• She also asked that Santa bring a "present for kids who don't have a mother or father"...Sniff sniff. He assured her that he would.

I don't know if she will still be a true believer next year...but I hope so.

Love Louise

By The Book

I'm sure I've used this picture before somewhere, but now I use it to remind myself what a bright wonderful happy girl we have...BUT...Will the sass ever stop?!?
It seems like every morning starts with the same endless negotiations, storming off, whining, manipulations and then end with the whining, negotiations, manipulations and then some storming off for good measure.

I smiled today at dropoff to kindergarten when another mother looked like she was having the same interaction with her kid. I didn't smile to show that I was happy that she was about to throttle the child, but rather that I was not alone in feeling like I am in some sort never-ending psychology experiment... and I'm not sure if I'm the test subject or the investigator.

The book we have about five year olds uses words for the five and a half year old as: "indescisive, overdemanding, dawdling, antagonistic, and as having an all-too -great-readiness to disobey"....At least she's by the book!

Two Wheelin!

Today I biked on a two wheeler. It was my first time. I thought it was fun. My mummy ran along the side and sometimes she would not hold on to my bike. Then I rode by myself. I went to the end of the street. It was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.
I want to ride all the time.
love,
FIONA

Big Sur Again.

Our little family went on a expedition to Big Sur with no particular aim this weekend. It was a sweet getaway and didn't involve any small engine repair or laundry which is a nice change for us. We relaxed at a friends cabin ant Big Creek. Apparently there was rain...perhaps even snow in the night but I was sleeping too soundly to notice. We thought back to the first time Fiona came down here with us . One story we apparently failed to put in that entry was the bit about changing a crappy nappy in the night in the tent without a flashlight.YEEECH..Things were much easier this time around! We hunted abalone shells on the beach, missed whole food groups for lunch and dinner, and Fiona was sure that she could see Australia on the horizon. So lovely to get away from the daily grind! Autumn is here and life is good.

Fiona and Louise at Big Creek under the bridge.

Our fire.

Devon and Fiona on the rocks.

INCOMING!!!

Fiona and her Giraffe and the whole ocean behind them.

Witch & Cheetah

Pumpkins

It must be fall because there are pumpkins everywhere, but we've been having the best weather of the year these last few weeks. Here are a couple of photos from recent activities-- the annual search for the perfect pumpkin (which Fiona intends to decorate with glitter instead of carving), and then her biggest fiddle performance yet, on a real 'stage' (a farm wagon) at the fall harvest party at a local organic farm.

Butterfly time

We welcomed the butterflies to Natural Bridges park this weekend...Fiona took part in making her own wings at one of the craft tables...there she is in the front of the picture, orange pants facing the action...it took her a bit to figure out the point of the interpretive dance segment when the kids all followed one of the grown up butterflies around to the eucalyptus grove and back, but by the end she was as silly as the rest of them.

A good time was had by all and we even saw some of the butterflies when the sun came out.
Love
Louise

Family Portrait

In the first week of kindergarten the kids have all drawn their families. Here's Fiona's representation of her's. That's her in multi-coloured glory holding Rio's leash. I like too that she has the dirt under the grass and that she didn't include any of my gray hair.
Love
Louise

the napping returns!

Photo has nothing to do with text...

Fiona started Kindergarten a couple of weeks ago and decided that she no longer needed to nap. Today she cuddled into bed while I was getting a prework snooze in and she said that she was going to rest but "didn't want to sleep"... That I may "rub her back but not too hard" or else she would sleep and finally that she was going to sleep a little but wanted me to wake her up after "not too long." ZZZZZZZZZZZZ...Snoring child. Little did she know that now I would revert back to the NEVER WAKE A SLEEPING CHILD LAW that we had suspended briefly so that she could get to school on time.

HA HA
Love
Louise

check out those boots!

Hair and Nails

Hi All, No new picture to post just and oldie with fiona pre-hair and pre-care. ...technology is in the way of new photos for the time being.

Fiona has made it through the first week of school at Westlake and is doing very well. I am amazed at how fast the fashion show was upon us though. I knew sending her to elementary school would be a change from her beautiful peaceful preschool...and I was prepared for her to be inculcated into the world of fashion etc...I was not ready for how fast it would all happen though.

Through the week there has been some grumbling about clothes and shoes and backpacks not meeting up to the standard in her class. (fiona by the way has an awesome backpack, new shoes that she picked, and a lovely array of clothes to choose from) but this morning something that I had not expected..."Bronte says my hair it tangled and sticks up." Now aside from the easy ad hom attacks one could make about a 5 year old saddled with a name like bronte for her whole life, her hair sticks up too, is straggly and tangled.

SINCE WHEN DO 5 YEAR OLDS CARE ABOUT THEIR HAIR STICKING UP!

I reminded fiona how lovely her hair is and not to worry about what other people think about our hair........ but DAMN FARKETY FARK! Would there be a big penalty for accidentally spilling glue in Bronte's such that it needs to be shorn?


Love
Louise

Fiona's First Day of Kindergarten!

The outfit: Giraffe pants, Cheetah hoodie, australian animals tshirt, silver shoes, music socks and skirt with pink flowers!

Outside the school room

The day finally came....August 31st! Fiona has been counting down to for the past 6months or so and we made it! Fiona's first Day of Kindergarten in Miss Erny's class room 20 at Westlake School.

We were worried that we wouldn't be there in time but all our practice these last weeks has paid off. With an alarm were at the table eating breakfast by 7AM, already dressed with hair brushed. That's a feat for our family.
Bag was packed with snack, and teeth were brushed, then OUT THE DOOR bu 7:50

We went on bikes, fiona's skills on her own bike aren't quite up to the challenge so I had her on the trail-a-bike. We're going to try to do a mix of walking and riding depending on the weather...Almost there...

It did feel different dropping her off in Kindergarten rather than at preschool. Certainly she's ready, it's just the thought of leaving her in the sea of all those kids that feels different than the familiar arms of her Preschool teacher Laura. But we left her there happily reading and at the beginning of her great adventure in school. She's ready and we're right with her. Fiona reading in the reading spot.

Fiona running with her friend Amelie

Bits and Pieces

Fiona had her ceremony at the park near her preschool, whereby she is no longer a "preschooler" and is considers herself a "kindergartener." All the mums and dads made a tunnel and the kids walked through emerging to receive their candle and paper which says: "May the light of this flame shine in our hearts on this day."
Fiona and her teacher Laura

We had a fun party in the park and Fiona enjoyed some good rolling in the sand with her friend Isabelle.
We came home and ditched the winter wear and fiona went about a favoured pastime: mixing chalk dust to form potions to heal animals...or kill them.
She is still interested only in being an animal rescuer when she grows up.

Here's one from a couple of weeks ago: Devon's band playing... and fiona up on the stage at her dad's feet.

Tilt your head to the Left...

Fiona joined up with some of the members of Devon's band to play her first gig...she said that she felt a tickle in her tummy....BUTTERFLIES! she liked that idea and even made enough in busking money for some Bubblegum blue ice cream afterwards.
Enjoy!

Duet Time

Here are Devon and Fiona at the end of a "good practice" Indeed we have several kinds of practice here...some involve a lot of fidgeting, awesome smiles, itchiness, occasional tears, glaring, did I mention feeling itchy...all in the pursuit of giving our daughter skills and appreciation of music. Tiger Parents we are not. We are just trying to have a bit of discipline for a few minutes a day. Hopefully Devon will post one of his closely guarded, "Bad practice videos." In the meantime...
Enjoy.

Love
Louise

Story time...

Story time is still awesome...here are Fiona and Devon reading one of my favourite books...

You can lead a horse to water...

Found this tonight when I almost tipped over their trough. At least they're not drinking out of the toilet though.

Summer Safari

We made it home after our 48+ hour girls getaway. Fiona and I left on Friday morning up to Santa Rosa for a bit of what is called "Glamping" as there was a luxury tent involved...had a safari ride on Friday afternoon, had yummy food served to us...Marshmallows were roasted, wine was drunk (not by Fiona). What a wonderful place...on our tour we saw all sorts of antelope/gazelle/buffaloish things, monkeys cheetas fancy birds, even one gazelle just a few minutes old and trying to stand up. At the end of the evening which involved the feeding of monstrous catfish just near our cabin we went to bed (tired as dogs) listening to the sounds of exotic birds and other creatures talking in the night. We'll have to come back with Devon one day.


Rather than drive home in the heat of the valley we opted to stay between the two places...I would have stopped near the IKEA in Berkley but damn if that exit wasn't meant for me....so we ended up in Fremont and stayed at the holiday inn alongside 880.... but it has a GREAT pool which we lounged in for countless hours...we saw a movie at the mall (hate malls): Mr Poppers Penguins which made Fiona laugh out loud, and slept had breakfast in bed and then swam again before coming home today.

It was really good to be away together...It wasn't the same kind of mothering as the daily grind kind 'twas more relaxed and more joyful.

Happy to be home and looking forward to Devon being back from trip on the Frosti.


Here are some pictures from our trip...

herd of something...

Something extinct in the wild.

A sweet girl rhino.

Fiona and our ride...it broke down near a herd of zebras and we came back in a similar one.

Post safari bliss.

Asleep after a swim....can never get tired of watching her sleep...

love, Louise

Summertime

Summer has arrived with warm weather and odd schedules. Fiona has been able to spend several weekends with her Grammy and Grampy and is working on her behavior. We had to have the talk about what to do when you're feeling WILD recently....

We have been mixing fun local adventures into our days like this trip with a kayak down to our local pond. Rio wasn't quite sure what to do with the boat, but devon and Fiona had a blast.

Devon is away on a ship off the coast of Northern California and so I have given Fiona a bit more responsibility in getting herself moving in the morning. We made this list yesterday and she followed it to the letter this morning. Was sweet to hear her practice violin on her own and all I had to do was put her breakfast on the table before I went to sleep...this bodes well for getting to Kindergarten in the Fall.
Fiona and I are headed off to an overnight Safari tomorrow night so our next post might include wild animals...stay tuned...Love Louise