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Photos

Of Owls & Tuk-Tuks: Guatemalan Loot

I was delighted to score the fam a bunch of good presents during my time in Guatemala. I’ve never seen a country more into owls, making it a perfect place to get “Oswaldo,” an owl bank who now hangs out with Henry’s guys Ollie & Catamaran. Finny got a rooster (from our bedtime stories), and each guy got a typical Guatemalan vehicle–a “chicken bus” for Hen (<--appropriate? :-)) and a "tuk tuk" scooter for Finn. Now our "T.A.L.B." is a nonstop story of "bad dudes" stealing tuk-tuks & getting chased by a Guatemalan guy named Hubert (a real person!), etc. And not to be left out, Margot is enjoying some freshly picked coffee, chocolate-covered nuts & pineapple, and a new necklace. Check out the guys meeting their new buddies.

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Miscellaneous

Reunited!

You know what’s a pretty great thing to come home to? This! 🙂

Our feelings can be summed up by this classic from our archives:

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Miscellaneous

Dad-o’s Sabbatical, Week 1

Many of you already know that John’s on sabbatical in Guatemala right now. The boys and I are entering Week 2 of being without Dad-o, and so far everyone’s holding up really well. This is in no small part due to my sister (a.k.a. Auntie Laura) staying with us during Week 1. She arrived last Saturday, the day after John left for his trip, and stayed with us the entire week – lucky Mom-o and lucky Micronaxx!

Laura loves her little nephews to bits, and they had a blast hanging out during the day while I was working. She took them to Happy Hollow and the Children’s Discovery Museum, among other destinations, and she also took them to preschool on Wednesday. Since the boys are in bilingual preschool, Laura got to practice her Spanish quite a bit, which was fun for her. She taught them all kinds of words – their favorites being “uvas” (grapes), and “calabasitos” (pumpkins).

When they weren’t out and about, the guys were spending tons of time playing in the backyard, sandbox, and making art in the basement. They were also playing in their new pirate tent (also courtesy of Laura!), which they love. We had pajama parties on Laura’s bed in the TV room, which was perfectly situated for watching Mighty Machines and Thomas videos. Henry, in particular, couldn’t get enough of hanging out on Laura’s bed. Every night he asked if he could sleep in there (presumably, to watch more TV!). And every morning Henry would ask, excitedly, “Is Auntie Laura still here?” then go running to look for her.

And Laura was a big help to me, providing great company – helping me run the household & wrangle toddlers into the car, baths, pajamas, beds, and play clothes. We all had such a good time with her here, we plan on making it an annual event if we can! 🙂

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Miscellaneous

Beach n’ Butterflies

Our friend Maria snapped some fun shots of me & the guys in Santa Cruz during her visit in November (the same day G-Man tried to induce butterflies to get into his mouth :-)). Thanks, Maria!

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Miscellaneous

“The Toddler Brain”

We can’t take any credit for it, but this image was too funny not to share. 🙂

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Photos

Punks in Bunks!

Another exciting milestone for the Micronaxx: G-Man is now the proud occupant of his own big boy bed–and a bunk bed at that!

Margot did most of the assembly last weekend (with me contributing my usual strong-back/weak-mind stuff), and the dudes are suitably enthralled. They love the presence of “the trundle” that hides underneath the lower bed, though they were a bit disappointed that it’s no good for the requested “zooming around the room.” The plan is to keep the guys in their separate rooms/beds for the foreseeable future, but the bunk gives us nice options for the future.

I grabbed a few reaction videos that we might get to share soon; for now, though, check out the young pirates in their new “ship.“

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Babyslang

Werds

We get a huge kick out of our boys’ verbal stylings. Sometimes, they simply can’t quite pronounce a word correctly, and the results are pretty funny. But other times, (thanks to their goofy Mom-o and Dad-o) they’ve picked up the tendency to play around with language and create a lot of their own words. Here’s a little sampling of both sorts:

Confibian: a vehicle that operates on both land and in water
Deppity: The sheriff’s right hand man
Trankalizer: what you shoot into the butt of a rampaging dinosaur
Toothpoke: what Dad-o likes to use on his teeth after a meal
Constructions: what you have to read in order to build Lego helicopters
Hasta Moo-Lego: Micronaxx interpretation of “hasta luego”

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Photos

Helmet Ecstasy

Q. What’s better than going to a party, getting fed warm homemade tofu, and getting to “threaten” partygoers with promises of “causing mayhem”?
A. Doing all those things and then getting to try on a real firefighter’s helmet!

Thanks to Mom-O’s friend Sue & her husband (the SJFD veteran) for their hospitality.

Categories
Videos

Goin’ Solo (Han & otherwise)

Our guys are pretty physically cautious. Whereas their little buddies bomb around on Strider bikes & swing from monkey bars, our guys tend to creep along.

That’s why I was so pleased to see how much they took to “giant bouncy land” on Saturday night. Both dudes threw themselves into the fun–literally–and kept charging up and down the big slides. Finn decided he was Han Solo riding a tauntaun, making me a ferocious wampa. Here’s a rough little clip of me chasing him. Would you believe that Henry not only followed in Finn’s footsteps, but solo-bombed the big slide himself?

Categories
Christmas Photos

Reindeer CSI!

Long before we had the lads, I started eyeing our long driveway and (cue chin-stroke) planning. What better landing pad for The Big Guy & his team? I just had to wait a few years to put my plans in action!

On Christmas Eve the boys put out a big bowl full of Cheerios to feed the reindeer. After they hit the sack, Margot & I got busy carving a potato into a hoof-shaped stamp. I grabbed the guys’ water-soluble* brown paint from downstairs, dunked the stamp, and got busy stamping away, then drawing some sleigh marks for good measure.

The next morning we trekked outside for a little “CSI” (“Christmas Scene Investigation”). Here are a few shots of the scene we discovered.

*(We hope!)

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Videos

Greetings from Baby New Year

Here’s to a delightfully bizarre 2012. 🙂

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Photos

Happy New Year!

On a brighter note, Happy New Year from Finny & Party Hat Leo (plus Mom-O, Dad-O, and G-Man)!

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Christmas Photos

After the Gold Rush

An inexplicably mustachioed Finnster got wistful realizing that our present-stash had been fully depleted. (And boy, the poor guy cried today while Mom-O started packing away the Christmas decorations.)

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Christmas Photos

Christmas Joy, Part 2

In today’s little gallery, you can see the covetous Finnster admiring some red velvet cake; the guys building Lincoln Logs with Grandpa; goosestepping Henry being “Dr. Bucketfoot;” the guys enjoying “Emergency kit” puzzles from Auntie Laura; and more.

Categories
Christmas Photos

Christmas Joy, Part 1


We’ve had a spectacular Christmas week with the boys, from making our traditional Red Velvet Cake (and licking the beater!), to opening and playing with new toys.

Santa delivered exactly what the boys asked for – Thomas engines, trucks, and more Legos. Needless to say, there have been many derailments, traffic jams, pile-ups, and modified vehicles. For instance, Tow Mater was turned into a Christmas tree-trimming truck! The guys also scored a set of Lincoln Logs, and are keen on learning how to build a top-notch log cabin (following the lead of their resident expert, Grandpa). Here’s our first little gallery of the Christmas proceedings.

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Miscellaneous

Merry Christmas!

From our family to you & yours, we wish you great peace & love.

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Photos Videos

A Very Lego Christmas

John and I went out to the mall a few days ago to wrap up our Christmas shopping for each other. I really wanted to get him his own elaborate Lego kit, because there are not many things John loves more than Legos (me, the kids, and his camera, to be exact). I was gun shy, though, because I didn’t want to get him a gift that he couldn’t really enjoy with the kids, because they’re still a bit too small to manipulate and build with all those tiny pieces (or so I thought!).

So, I left the Lego store empty-handed. Turns out John had also visited the store, and was drooling over a model Chinook helicopter. “Or as Henry likes to call them,” notes Finny, “‘hello-copters.'” He too walked away empty-handed, and a little bit heartbroken, for the same reason as me. As we talked more about it, we both reached the same conclusion, which was that he should go back and get that darn helicopter kit and see if it was something Finny would be able to enjoy alongside him. Worst case scenario, Finny wouldn’t enjoy it, but John would still be left with a Lego helicopter! (Henry, surprisingly, is a fan of the instruction booklets, a.k.a. “constructions.”)

I think the pictures in our little gallery will tell you everything you need to know. I remarked to John that seeing the joy on his face while observing the two of them build the chopper was the true gift. I got to see one of his dreams of fatherhood come true.

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Photos Videos

Thomas at the Seaside

Back in April Henry became a bit obsessed with the subject of Thomas (the Tank Engine) and the seaside. How great, then, that we discovered that Thomas was coming to our very own seaside! The four of us cruised over to Santa Cruz where we met Sir Topham Hatt & even Santa and his elves! G-Man was predictably standoffish, but Finny warmed right up and delivered his wish list. Afterwards we had a ball riding the huge boardwalk carousel & playing on the train tables. Here’s our little gallery, plus a very brief clip:

Categories
Christmas Photos

Tree trimming tots

In this year’s Christmas decorating, we’ve been ably assisted by two very enthusiastic “manger arrangers.” Check out our garland-slingin’, sleigh-bell-ringin’, elf-hat-flingin’ amigos in action.

Categories
Audio Clips

T.A.L.B.

I fondly remember my dad delighting me with bedtime stories, devising ever more elaborate tales of “Mrs. Mootsy” the rabbit, our colorful neighbors the Mosers, and more. We never recorded or transcribed any of them, of course, so the details are lost to history.

Finny & I carry on the tradition via something we’ve dubbed “T.A.L.B.,” short for “Talk A Little Bit.” This nightly ritual started as a recap of the day, but Finn quickly morphed it into a chance to get a bonus (and custom-made) story. Over the last year+ we’ve covered an insane amount of ground (War and Peace? short & simple compared!). Lately the stories have centered on Mr. Elefante (the elephant who lives in an apartment in the bathroom wall) and his friend Rooster, plus the neighbor cats (Tuxie & Samantha) and their endless attempts to turn Rooster into a delicious “chicken sandwich.” Putting posterity way ahead of dignity, here’s just one little slice of the story. Click the little gray arrow to play:

[audio:http://www.jnack.com/choons/TALB.mp3|titles=TALB]

If for some reason that doesn’t work (e.g. you’re on an iPhone), here’s the direct link to the audio file.