Class photos

Bedtime continues to involve a crazy extra burst of energy after bathtime. After brushing his teeth tonight, Z said "first pajamas, then silly". Indeed. Sometimes I'm convinced that I'm just reading stories to myself while the boys run around the room or climb up to the bunk bed. But tonight, everyone magically ended up snuggling in bed with me for two whole stories. When I said good night to Z he said, "bye, have a nice weekend" (it's Sunday, so I'll take that as appropriate).

A few weeks ago at toddler group, they had a professional school photographer come. Meh bravely elected to bring Z along as well for sibling photos, and the images that came back this week are certainly evocative of the many years of our own school pictures growing up. The matching union jack sweaters are excellent, and I particularly dig O's prop:

Meh's Magical Mystery Tour

Meh's birthday was on Wednesday - unfortunately a work day this year, so we didn't get a chance for a good solid family celebration (though I did sneak her some flowers towards the end of the day at the office). But mima, papa, and I coordinated a slightly belated birthday present: they watched the boys at their place overnight (mima was careful not to call it a 'sleepover' with her doubt of any sleep actually happening) while I took Meh on a secret outing; her only clue as to the destination was to pack sandals (though she didn't end up needing them anyway). Despite me missing one turn that turned into a slight scenic detour of the quirks of the Washington state highway system, we had a nice drive, listening to a fairly riveting book on CD, and she was finally tipped off as to the general vicinity of the trip when we approached the Mukilteo Ferry terminal: we were off to the lovely Whidbey Island.

We stayed at a cute B&B in the cuter Langley, the weather cooperated by staying mostly clear, we walked along the beach (where both a large bald eagle and heron were hanging out), toured the little seaside city (mostly closed down on a pre-high-season Friday night, though a cute little Italian restaurant was still open and hopping), relaxed, and most importantly, got to sleep in the next morning! After the nice breakfast part of the B&B, we checked out a local farmer's market (smallish despite the enormous amount of incoming car traffic for it), bought some new plants and herbs for our garden, toured a few more shops, then headed back across to meet up with the boys, mima, and papa for afternoon birthday cake. It was a very short trip, but we had a very nice time - and it sounds like the slumber party actually did involve some slumber, at least for the boys. Huge thanks to mima and papa for the very generous birthday present!

Winding down

Isn't the whole bathtime and quiet reading routine supposed to be to help everyone mellow out for bedtime? This is the typical end result in our house. Followed by...

Say Uncle

The boys' Uncle B is visiting for the weekend! We didn't book any formal activities, but kept quite busy just hanging out with the boys. There was much outdoor time, where Z and O showed him our garden, went on the swing, watered the dump truck (?), and discovered the joy of snatching Uncle B's glasses off of his face. I'm not quite sure why Z finds this so hilarious, since daddy wears glasses every morning too, but it's become his new favorite game to stealthily approach then snatch. The weather was also fabulous, so the boys dined al fresco on our deck on Friday night.

After watching what I might argue to be one of the most impressive hours of early 2000s WB television programming on Friday night, Uncle B graciously gave Meh and me a date night on Saturday, which we thoroughly enjoyed. On Sunday, we had a nice brunch with mima and papa, then B watched O while I ostensibly took Z to swim lessons. Unfortunately, I forgot his swimsuit, and by the time we doubled back to grab it, it was too late to make the class. But the four of us (Meh was at friend S's baby shower, amazingly planned and executed once more by Meh) did get to go on a nice walk around the neighborhood and then played on the local school's track and field, before having dinner at the house of one of B's high school friends, who has not only two similarly aged boys but also a treasure trove of vehicles. I was very proud of the boys - they played very nicely, shared with each other (and as importantly the toys' owners), actually ate dinner at the table, and didn't fall apart when it was time to clean up and head home.

Present Perfect Tense

We're still getting occasional hints of spring here, which means it's time for gardening. The boys love to help water our plants, though they also enjoy plucking flowers, and apparently are also into pulling up seed markers. Hm, we may have to limit backyard play time just to give our garden veggies a fighting chance.

Owen's vocabulary continues to expand. Tonight when I was getting his and Z's bath ready, he said "The water was cold. Now it is warm!" Meh also reports that he's started saying "but not Owen" as a comparison. (Example use: "The cars go in the box -- but not Owen!") And while it's perhaps a bit silly, one of my favorite activities is when he asks me to sing the Hebrew song "Ooga" with him, which involves holding hands, walking in a circle, and some sitting down/standing up. Nothing really beats how happy he is at the end of the song when there's a final "lakum!" ('to stand' in Hebrew) and he gets to jump up -- but equally impressive is how he knows and belts out all of the lyrics. And yes, far more accurately than daddy does.

Of course, he's equally cute with single word sentences:

Need not be present to win

Happy Passover! We had a lovely first seder at friends J & S's house. The boys did great, both sharing the coveted (cue heavenly chorus) cars of our hosts and even occasionally sitting at the table and enjoying some food. We'll just ignore that most of Z's choices were chametz (Cheerios, goldfish...) - I was stunned to see him actually try the parsley that's ceremonially dipped in salt water. In the meantime, O was his fairly adventurous culinary self, trying matzoh, charoset (which he keeps calling 'jam'), and one of the fun square eggs that J & S had made into a fabulous pyramid scene complete with lego slaves and taskmasters (the latter of whom were cast as Star Wars stormtroopers). The boys made it fairly far into the evening, though mima and Meh eventually took them home when they started turning into pumpkins, while papa and I stayed to the end.

One of the traditions of Passover involves the person leading the seder slipping away and hiding a piece of matzoh (always impressive that this succeeds when ostensibly everyone is sitting at the table - just a sign of the chaos and distractions I guess?) for the kids to try to find; the meal technically can't conclude until it's found, and there's often a prize involved for the lucky winner. I didn't even really notice that the matzoh was gone, nor that it had reappeared in time to conclude the seder -- but friend J indicated that it had been found by Z. Really? Well, it had originally been hidden in plain sight in their son L's jumperoo, and the next time they looked, it was over in the living room changing table/pack and play. Since Z was the only child tall enough to get it over the bars -- or old enough to have the coordination to throw it I guess -- he was declared the finder in absentia. His reward? A wrapped box that he eagerly tore open the next day ("present!"), which contained the hit new board game "Matzkoman". We've had no opportunity to play the actual game yet, but the boys helped me sort through the many shapes and sizes of playing cards. Owen spotted the four brightly colored dreidels, and has been asking for them ever since, walking around the house happily with fists clenched around them -- we'll see if they disappear before we get our opportunity to, um, free slaves and make matzah while avoiding plague cards! While I somehow forgot to snap any during tonight's slightly smaller but still very nice dinner at home, a full set of first night seder pictures can be found here.

Back in Time

When film festivals and comic book conventions collide... Last night's date night/"Back to the Future" film screening turned out to be tons of dorky fun, as well as Meh and my second film seen at a theater in three days - crazy! After battling our way in the car through the Convention Center's Comicon pedestrian traffic (several superheroes, not so much on the more traditional cosplay), we first enjoyed a lovely dinner at the Melrose Market. Then we headed onward to the main event, a screening of my favorite film, complete with opening Q&A with Lea Thompson. The queue for the theater was already well around the block, but we got to catch up with friends J & S and friends S & J (heh) while we waited. There was a parade of apparently 23 DeLoreans (on the main street; they came by sporadically one-at-a-time down our side street), and of course there's a Pacific Northwest DeLorean club -- how, well, Pacific Northwest of us. Anyway, there was much cheering as they drove by, mostly with their gull-wing doors open (at least until the rain started).

Once we got into the theater, there was a costume competition (a bunch of Marty's, three docs [one with an impressive head-mounted mind reading prop], random 1955 high school prom attendees, and even a Jennifer) and it was just so fun to see the film on the big screen again with a big enthusiastic audience. There was a little girl sitting behind us who just kept giggling every time Doc was on the screen, and it reminded me of just how I felt the first time I saw it.

My mostly blurry photo album is here; for far better shots of the pre-show festivities, check out these two instead.