Final 2009 Moments - A SNL Christmas

What year would be complete without remembering some of the people who made it worth remembering? You may think we only have three kids, but really, since we started the college group on Sunday nights, we have many! These fabulous young adults come over almost every Sunday evening (since May) to eat a meal (to say they enjoy it might be a little prideful), hang out, and hopefully experience the love of God and discern some of His direction for their lives. Mostly - I feel incredibly blessed by their good attitudes, BIG hugs, laughter, and interaction with my kids. They make me feel young (and old) and I'm so thankful to have them in my life.

*the crowns came from the party poppers Abey brought over. Pretty cute, huh?

Last Hurrah

Our last trip of the season to Six Flags.

Train up your child in the way he should go . . . what? not this kind of train?

Daddy's the best ride out there . . .

We made this trip with the Whartons, but were having such a good time (and such a crappy camera) that we didn't take many photos . . .

Random Acts of Cuteness

We got our cowboys hats back (after loaning them to some friends a few months ago) and had to play, well, Cowboys (and girls). You'll never guess what we do after we eat our daily meal of beans.
I think Ezra lost his hat on the high prairie - it's windy out there you know.
SO CUTE. I love this kid.


AND . . .on another day. . . we spent some quiet time drawing. Aurelia's signature high-heeled cat.
Ezra's nude technique and illustrative drawing style. Every drawing has a story or two . . .

Because, what's a blog, after all, without arbitrary shots of a mother's daily work displayed in the lives of her children?

Island woes

Update on our kitchen . . . the island is still far from being exotic.

Play Dough!

With Oliver's track record of eating (or trying to eat) everything he sees, (which is how he keeps up his chubby figure) I was holding out on trying playdough. I mean, he eats crayons, markers, pencils, beads, you name it - he's a tactile kind of kid. But for his first run with the salty home-made playdough I was surprised! Maybe it's because he only got to watch the big kids for a while, but he did not put it in his mouth, and that was "a good thing."

A tower.
A cookie (cutter).
A dead thing.
Oh yeah - Ezra: "see?"
and Aurelia, the "eighth" dwarf!


*my camera has been dropped too many times, which is why the date on the photos is off . .

Winter Wonderland

If you live in the Bay Area, you are aware that we don't often get know here in the winter (which, of course, is WHY we live here), but in order not to deprive our beautiful children of the opportunity to sled we headed out to Martinez one afternoon to enjoy a few hours of sledding and snow play.

Aurelia's face is so serious - she's not sure she's going to like this. . .
but, oh see, she does!

Here's Ezra the fearless - he knows he's going to LOVE it . . .
and sure enough, he does!
Twice as much fun when you go down together!


After about 15 trips down the sled run, we (the three of us) played in the little icy snow area for a while. The kids could make snow balls, they just couldn't throw 'em.

Ta-Da!

* This trip was sponsored by Shell Oil and Grama Sama who works there :) Thanks, GS!

Award Deserved, or, Presents from Great Jeni

For the past three years, Jason's Aunt Jeni - now known as "Great Jeni" has given all her great nieces and nephews "25 Days till Christmas." A present extravaganza countdown to Christmas. The kids adore opening a present each day till (except that this year I think we made it 14 days and they Oliver couldn't resist and opened ALL his presents, which, of course, prompted Ezra and Aurelia to follow suit). Here, is one example of a gift opened.


Ezra opens and makes a 3-D lion thing. Very serious about not wanting his photo taken.

Aurelia, shows her creative prowess, by using the extra pieces to become(unbeknownst to her) the freakish pin-head character.

Later, she alters it to a full, yellow beard and proceeds to wear it half the day. Christmas.

Temorary Digs

Remember the leak in July? Well, perhaps that leak didn't dry out, or perhaps the leak caused rotting which caused a new leak . . . either way, we had lots of mold. The bad, icky, black kind. Temporarily we have plastic up so the walls can be demolished and the air can be clean. In about a week the room should be available for use. Who knows how long till we've got our sink and dishwasher back.

The "doorway" into the "inner sanctum"
The view of the left hand side. I still have access to the pantry.

Inside. You can see the filter on the left.Some of the mold. eeeewww.
Good times at the Ward house.

Our Hawkmoth

Here's our hawkmoth's new home for a while. Actually - one of our hawkmoths hatched, but maybe we moved it too much, or it didn't have to struggle enough (being not in the ground but in a jar of dirt) and it came out deformed and unable to fly. It died in a few days, but this moth might make it? It moved when poked, so we reburied it. Anywho - here it is.

Most Creative Girl

Aurelia received the "award" of recognition for being the "most creative" kid in her class. All the students will receive an award at some point in the year, but Aurelia certainly deserves this award. She is always drawing, writing and creating. I am so proud of my little lady!

Rudy and Maria get married

Aurelia and I celebrated with family and friends the union of my cousin, Rudy, and his beautiful, Maria (Ibarra). Here they are dancing their first dance as a married couple.

After a beautiful ceremony, we grubbed on Kinder's, and then boogied down for a couple of hours. Aurelia was pleased as punch and exhausted at 9PM. Oh, what a night!

Who's there?

Knock Knock. . . Saint . . . S'aint your mother!

well, okay. Maybe it is.

Maybe she should wax . . . (budump pum! Thank you, thank you very much!)

NOW you look Gorgeous, dahling!

Maybe something more manly?

Whoa!

Habitot Habits

Fun times at Habitot! Me and my gal friend loaded up the kids and headed to this great play and explore place just for kids (ages 0 thru 7) during the 2 week school break. The kids had a blast and we also got to have some really intense conversation - I was so blessed by this opportunity!

Aurelia getting made up.
Oli working the "farm"
the kids loved the water area (oli's eyes are so black because of the anti-red thing I used and it made him look crazy! owell)
Ezra really IS crazy!
Two brushes for two hands. It makes sense.
Who needs brushes anyways??
It was so sweet to find Ezra in the quiet room reading.
Oli checking out the carrots.
Ezra needs to apply more paint.
Ezra and his little gal pal posing as ducks just before it's time to go.

Garage Sale Day

We had a garage sale. Here are some photos that Ezra, Aurelia and I took over the course of the morning.


My little faerie - she bought these wings from our neighbor who was also having a sale. 10 cents!
Ezra wearing some wake boarding boots. Probably playing with a pincher bug.
Upset about something - I don't remember what . . .
Ezra took this picture of Aurelia making plant soup.
Aurelia took this photo, I think.