Rest in Peace, Bernie

Jamma’s dad, Bernon Morningstar, passed away yesterday after 14 months of ups and downs. My heart is with Jamma today and I wanted to post this old picture I found last year of her and her dad. There is some discrepancy as to whose motor home it is (since the hideous orange interior was apparently quite popular), but I think it’s ours. I’m guessing my dad had driven it down to the Rose Parade route that year and partying with the out-of-town relatives ensued.

Jamma and her dad

Christmas Tree: Dead

Our tree was so incredibly dry this year that I couldn’t wait to get it out of the house. I think it has something to do with the fact that neither Bruce nor I ever watered it after the first day we put it up. We’ve been a little distracted.

So Bruce enlisted Finn’s help to carry it to the curb.

Dead tree

Finn and Bruce take out the tree

Happy New Year!

We went to the Heffernans’ [now annual] East Coast New Year’s Eve party, where we all ring in the new year at 9:00 and then head home to get to bed at a decent hour. The kids ran around like crazy people for a while, but then they started to crash. This picture was taken at 7:48; I thought we were going to lose some of them.

Looks like we're losing the kids

But they rallied! Noise makers helped … well, helped the kids. Not so much the adults and they were banned for another half-hour. Finn really liked this blower.

Finn starts to celebrate

Kai spent at least an hour, maybe two, making this awesome robot with Bruce.

Kai and his robot

Then we gathered around the TV to get ready for the countdown and watch the ball drop.

Getting ready for the countdown

And then … Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!

Later I realized that Bruce and I hadn’t prepped Ezra and Finn for New Year’s Eve festivities, when Ezra asked what “all that counting” was about. Oops.

Superhero Moves

I asked the boys to show me their superhero moves the other day and here’s what I got. Ezra’s kicks and Finn’s wiggles are my favorite.

Ezra’s First Lost Tooth!

Yesterday Ezra lost his first tooth! He and Finn were at gymnastics camp in the morning, and when I got there to pick them up, the teacher said, “We have a surprise for you!” Ezra came out and handed me an envelope with his tooth in it. It had been hanging on by a thread for a week or so, and apparently he just pulled it out and showed it to the teacher.

Showing off the hole

Trying for a smile

Of course, the Tooth Fairy showed up last night. Ezra was extremely excited to leave his tooth under his pillow (on the outside corner where the Tooth Fairy could easily reach it). He was afraid that he would forget to look under his pillow in the morning, so he made me write him a reminder note and tape it to his door. However, he ended up waking up about 1:30 and he found the envelope the Tooth Fairy left; of course, he woke us up to show us. Here’s what she left.

The Tooth Fairy came

Christmas Vacation, Week 2

In an effort to keep everyone from going mad on this soggy, seemingly 17-week long vacation, we’ve had a couple of outings this week. On Monday we met the Becks and the westside Moisions at La Brea Tar Pits. I think the kids would have been content to run up and down this hill the entire time.

Running down the hill

Ezra and Finn also really liked the guy playing folk music outside the entrance. They were captivated (again).

Ezra and Finn enjoy the music outside

Yesterday, along with the Heffs, we tried bowling for the first time at 300 in Pasadena. The boys had a great time and have already begged to go back. Here’s Ezra rolling his ball down the little ramp they have for kids.

Ezra's turn

And here’s Lucy. She has a flair for the dramatic.

Lucy's turn

Finn got a spare early on and gave himself a round of applause.

Finn claps at someone's effort

And, lastly, some video. That is, HD video from my new camera! Thanks, Bruce!

Christmas

We had a pretty fun Christmas this year! After last year’s stomach flu debacle (Bruce and I got sick on Christmas Eve and had to cancel all plans) we were happy to be sickness-free and able to travel. We stayed home and had a very mellow Christmas Eve — made pizza with the boys, opened presents, played with new toys, etc. The boys went to sleep without their usual haggling after being told that Santa Claus would only come once they were asleep. (I wish we could use that line the rest of the year.)

We moved the couch away from the fire place so Santa could get in and it worked! Stockings were filled, presents left, cookies and milk consumed. The boys were thrilled to wake up to a Batcave for Finn and a new bike for Ezra.

It took us a while to get moving but we finally tore the boys away from their new stuff and hit the road to visit the Becks in Temecula. We had a great time celebrating in their new house. Always fun to have all seven cousins in the same place.

Of course, I took a ton of pictures. Here are my favorites in the form of a slideshow.

Eaton Canyon

Bruce took the boys on a hike in Eaton Canyon on Christmas Eve. Despite the chilly temperatures, they loved playing in the water, digging in the sand, throwing rocks, etc.

Eaton Canyon

Ezra

Finn’s awesome feet.

Finn's feet

Finn took a couple of pictures, too. These two are my favorites.

Finn's portrait of Papa

Finn took this one

And here’s a video.

Pre-Christmas Haircuts

We joined the rest of the Pasadena ragamuffins in need of a trim at Little Kuts last week and the boys got spruced up for Christmas. My iPhone photos are a little blurry but cute.

Ezra gets a hair cut

Finn gets a hair cut

Little Baker

I bought the Christmas cookie kit from Trader Joe’s (who could resist when they reduced the price from $3.99 to just 99 cents!) and this morning Finn and I made some sugar cookies. Finn and I did all the mixing; Ezra came in and made a few cookies with the cookie cutters. Once we made the first two sets, I let Finn roll out the dough which he really liked. Here are a few pictures and a video.

Finn rolls out the dough

Making a snowman

Finn explains the process to Ezra

Gingerbread Men

What’s better for a rainy Christmas vacation day activity than the ubiquitous (this year) Trader Joe’s Gingerbread Man kit? Nothing. The boys loved making them and eating all the leftover candy. At one point, Finn was spooning leftover sprinkles into his mouth. Pure bliss. Here are some pictures.

Getting started. Finn needed some help getting the icing on, but then he was off and running. Ezra couldn’t get the M&M bag open fast enough.

Gingerbread men decorating!

Finn decorates

Ezra really got into the piping.

Piping

Caught red-handed. Ezra could have eaten the entire bag of icing.

Caught in the act 1

Ezra’s gingerbread man:

Ezra's Gingerbread Man

Finn’s gingerbread man:

Finn's Gingerbread Man

He was very happy with the final product.

Proud Finn

Aveson Celebration of Learning #1

Aveson has a very personalized learning philosophy (which was one of the things that drew us to the school), and to enable this there is an initial evaluation and individual goal setting conference, and then three Celebration of Learning days (at the end of each trimester) to evaluate how the kids are doing toward their goals. Today was the first Celebration of Learning, and whereas the goal setting conference was teacher-driven with his advisor, Ms. Jessica, today was student-driven. Ezra’s job today was to show us his work thus far (his book, his drawings, etc.) and then show us the different jobs they do in the classrooms. It was great — he was so happy to be showing us around and Bruce and I loved seeing all the different things he’s been working on. Here are a few pictures.

This is his painting of a woolly mammoth and a saber-toothed cat stuck in tar. They are sad — thus the straight lines for the mouth.

Ezra's drawing

Here he is showing us the “Creation Station” (little blocks they make shapes with).

Ezra shows Bruce the Creation Station

Probably my favorite thing of the night: Ezra’s self-portrait in the style of Picasso.

Picasso Ezra

Afterwards, we went down to the cafeteria and had a barbecue dinner with the Bannings. Here’s Ezra and Ruby waiting patiently for the food to arrive.

Ezra and Ruby wait for dinner

Finn’s Snow Globe

Or, as it sounds when he says it, “dough gobe.” He made it at Cottage this week and it’s super cool. Moreover, he’s very proud of himself and couldn’t wait to show it off to Ezra, Papa and me.

Finn's snow globe

I think he’s been watching Ezra bring home lots of things from Kindergarten so he’s very happy to have a project of his own.

And here’s a picture Jerri took on her work day this week. Even if he is doing his grumpy face, I think it’s pretty cute.

Finn at Cottage (via Jerri)

Dinner

We took Ezra and Finn to Japon Bistro for dinner last night and ended up being blown away by the adventurous spirit of both boys. They’ve had and liked Japanese food before and they are generally pretty good eaters, but last night’s meal went beyond our expectations. It started with Miso soup and salad — nothing terribly unusual. Finn ate most of Bruce’s salad, and Ezra loved the soup.

Finn eats salad with chopsticks

Next up: deep-fried soft shell crab appetizer. They loved it. In fact, they were still talking about it today and asked if we could have it for dinner.

Finn eats soft shell crab

California roll.

Ezra eats California roll

Shrimp tempura.

Finn eats shrimp tempura

Tamago.

Ezra eats tamago

Something unidentifiable from my plate that looked so unappetizing to me that I wouldn’t even try it. Ezra ate the whole thing.

Ezra eats something unidentifiable

In fact, the only thing they didn’t eat was the white rice. I realized at some point in the meal that they hadn’t eaten anything since lunch except for a pear and an apple. Perhaps starving the children is a good way to get them to try new foods.

Christmas Tree

Much to Finn’s excitement, we got our Christmas tree this weekend. He had asked me every day last week when we were getting our “kissmas tree” so he’s finally satisfied. The boys went crazy looking at all our ornaments and loved putting them on the tree — generally in clumps along the bottom half. We couldn’t agree on what to use as a topper until Ezra made one from Lego. It’s a star.

Christmas Tree 2010

Ezra's Lego star