Bonding

Just a cute photo of Hansel bonding with Mathis.

Mathis Feeding Himself

Mathis likes to feed himself. It occupies his time, and it allows me to eat. Below is a photo of him eating avocado and tofu.

Sibling Sleepovers

In Los Altos Maile and Beck shared the same room. But during the summer, they often slept in seperate rooms on the bottom floor, which was a lot cooler. In Palo Alto, the kids have their own rooms. Lately, we've let them have "sleepovers" in Maile's room on the weekends.

Below is a shot Hansel took. The lights were actually off, and only a night light was on.

Last Gilroy Garden Trip of the Year

Since we had season passes to Gilroy Gardens but had only gone twice, we decided to go one more time before the passes expired at the end of November. Mathis fell asleep on the ride over, so I stayed in the car with him while Hansel and the kids went in first. When Mathis and I caught up with them, Maile and Beck were walking on top of (vs in) the mini hay maze.

Hansel had a lot of fun with the SLR camera that day.

While I took Beck on a fish ride, Hansel took Maile on a little roller coaster. The ride is tucked behind other rides. You can see the entrance but not the ride. So no suprise when Hansel and Maile ended up being the only ones in line.

Hansel took the below photo on the ride.

Doesn't the first photo look cooler than the second.

A couple of parting shots.

Scrunchy Face and Heavy Breathing

So for the past month or so, Mathis sometimes scrunches up his face and starts breathing heavily through his nose. Maile did the same thing around the same age. The photos of Mathis are from 11/15 when he was 10 months old. The video of Maile is from when she was a little over 10 months old. I think most of the breathing you hear in the video is from me.

Hansel's Birthday, Veteran's Day and the SF Zoo

Both Maile and Beck had Veteran's Day off. Hansel's birthday is on Veteran's Day. So we decided that Hansel would take the day off and we would take the kids to the California Academy of Sciences. At breakfast, we gave him one of his presents -- a camera bag for the SLR. I had taken the kids shopping earlier in the week. We gave it to him in the morning, so he could use it that day.

As we were about to turn right on 9th Ave to go to the California Academy, we saw that cars going into the park were backed up to that intersection. So I suggested we go to the SF Zoo, which ended up not being crowded.

Beck waiting for the Zoo train

Maile trying to get Beck to look at the camera

Maile measuring her span against a gorilla's

Later we gave him his second present, which was a laptop fan pad he could use when watching TV (which is pretty much every night). I did better this time on gifts. We didn't return or exchange either of them. After the kids went to sleep, Mathis and I presented Hansel with a home-made pumpkin cheesecake. It hadn't cooled in time for Maile and Beck to partake. Oh well, more for us :p

Mathis' Security Blanket?

Mathis doesn't have a set bedtime. I haven't followed the same schedule I did with Maile and Beck, much to my own detriment. So, he typically falls asleep on my lap while Hansel and I watch TV. While he's on my lap, he plays with my hair. I've told Hansel that I want to get Mathis a Barbie for Christmas that he can sleep with, esp since I plan to cut my hair. Is that weird? Am I encouraging a future fetish?

Fun with Cups

These days Mathis likes to raise objects over his head. I usually say to him in Chinese when he does that that that he's wearing a hat. This day he was doing it with one of his stacking cups, so I decided to put it on his head for him.

Isabella's 4th Birthday Party

Sunday, 11/8, was Isabella's 4th birthday party at Pump It Up in San Francisco. Isabella was outgoing and definitely in her element with all her friends and family. Maile and Beck had a great time and especially liked the big slide in the second room.

We got a shot of the birthday girl's younger sister Sophia, but not one of Isabella. I actually brought the stacking cups in the photo. Funny thing is that at one point Isabella and some of her preschool friends were playing with them.

Our New Used SLR Camera

At the end of October, Hansel bought a used SLR camera off eBay. Below are photos from the first week of using it.

The very first photo taken on the camera on 11/1.


It was sometimes hard to get a photos of Beck, so we settled with some photos of him in the background. We like the look of these types of shots.



Here's an action shot.

More shots of Mathis. The first shot is a little blurry, but I love his expression.

Mathis trying to get my phone.