Roan loses his second toth

Roan lost his second tooth in March. Lucky for him (and likely expensive for us...), he'd already sprouted the "grown-up" tooth behind his baby tooth long before!

Deven the Fighter

Well, Deven has checked "visit the emergency room" off of his list. It seemed inevitable that he would be the first to go, and sure enough....he took a tumble this evening. We're unsure what happened. Happy as a clam one minute, then screaming. Mandy went in to find him sitting in a laundry basket by the coffee table with a huge bloody gash over his eye. Most likely he was trying to climb onto the table using the laundry basket. Luckily they were able to tape it up and glue it so we could avoid stitches. He didn't let him keep him down long, but he did milk it enough to get to hold Daddy's iPhone for the first time at the hospital.

Thanksgiving 2011

Roan's teacher kindly let us stay in her cabin for Thanksgiving. Here are some pictures from our trip to Camp Sierra. The kids had a blast swinging, playing games, and running wild for a few days.

Halloween 2011

Mali was a fairy, Roan a "baseball man", and Deven a dog for Halloween this year. Deven got the idea of trick-or-treating before the night was over and, fortunately, did NOT get the idea of what to do with candy.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

We made our annual pilgrimage to the Pumpkin Patch. It was VERY hot this year, but we had a great time.

Giant's Baseball Game - September 2011

Jan surprised Roan by picking him up early from school and taking him to a Giant's Game with the rest of the Celigo team. Roan is ALL about baseball right now so it was super exciting, not to mention spending a day with Daddy.

Camping in Yosemite National Park - September 2011

Jan took Mali and Roan to Yosemite National Park to camp in September. Friends Amelie and Colby came as well with their dad and everyone had a great time, in spite of thunderstorms.

Deven Turns 1 Year!!!!

It's so hard to believe Deven turned 1! He had 2 birthday celebrations - the first with some of our playgroup friends at a park and the second at home with some friends. Here are some pictures of the kids from August as well as his birthday celebrations. He's extremely social, loves to flirt with people, and as his doctor says, "he defaults to a smile". He's still really big--off the charts on height at nearly 33 inches and at 95th percentile on weight at 27.5 lbs. He still just has eight teeth but is very close to cutting his molars.


He got much better in his walking this month and has moved on to dribbling a soccer ball:



He loves all kinds of balls, but especially covets those his brother and dad play with most often, like tennis balls, the football, and the basketball. He loves to play catch with the family in the evening:


One of his new skills of the month is pointing, which involves his whole arm and then some, but is adorable:

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

Camping at Carpinteria State Beach (August 2011)

We ventured down to the Santa Barbara area to do some camping at Carpinteria State Beach in August. The big kids had a lot of fun playing in the waves on "the world's safest beach". Deven was not such a fan of camping and was extremely annoyed at how hard it was to practice his new walking skills! The weather was less than ideal, but we had a lot of fun times.

Trip to Houston, July 2011

Mandy took the kids to Houston in July to visit Grandma and Granddad. Her brother, Ryan, and his family were there for the first week so the kids got to meet their cousins for the first time! Mandy also got to visit some dear friends the second week; her college roommate/maid of honor Kinsey came through town with her 3 little ones and her childhood friends from Oklahoma drove down from Dallas as well. Mandy and the kids also spent a day with college friend Arjun and his wife Simy. The kids had a blast at a local pool. Here are some pictures:

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It was a great trip and we all survived Deven's first flight. Deven used his time in Houston to learn how to stand up on his own in the middle of the floor, clap, and even take his first step.

Fourth of July 2011

We took a day trip to the beach to celebrate the Fourth of July. Here are some pictures.

Deven's Eleventh Month - He's Walking!

Deven spent a great deal of time working on standing on his own during his eleventh month and figured out how to get from the ground to standing without holding anything toward the end. He made his first airplane trip to Grandma and Granddad's and did quite well. He's very smiley and friendly and loves to socialize.

Deven took his first steps just before he turned 11 months while visiting Grandma and Granddad. He saved his best efforts for once we were home and he could show off for Daddy.

Here he is at 1-2 steps on day 5 of "walking" (11 months, 2 days):



Here he is at 3-4 steps on day 8 of walking:




Here he is at 7 steps on day 8:

Mali's Fourth Birthday

Mali celebrated her fourth birthday at a park with her playgroup and school friends. Mali is quite grown-up these days. She loves to play with her "girls" (aka dolls) and little people, building beds and houses for them out of blocks. She loves to do the monkey bars and anything to do with water. She knows how to write all of her letters now and even learned how to spell "elephant" recently! She still loves her clothes and will change outfits all day long if left to her own devices. She's also very artistic and especially loves to draw rainbows, flowers, people, and cats (see some of her artwork below!). Here are some pictures from her birthday celebrations.

Here's a picture she drew of herself with an ice cream cone:















Here's a picture of a cat and she wrote the names of everyone in the family (except for Deven!):















Here's a picture of her and Roan with ice cream cones under the sun:















Here's a picture of the family (minus daddy or roan):

And here is a picture of some rainbows (note the gold on the clouds :)), flowers, butterflies and hearts:

Roan's last day of kindergarten!

Roan made these beautiful cards for his teachers on his last day of kindergarten...big guy!

Deven's Tenth Month

Here are a few pictures from Deven's tenth month. Deven got four top teeth this month and got really fast at his crawling!






Here's a video of Deven in the bath!

Roan's PLP Presentation

At Roan's school (San Carlos Charter Learning Center), every "learner" (they're not called students there...) does a special learning project during the year and then presents at the end. The kindergartners were given the option to do one, so Roan chose to present his state coin collection. Here is the album.

Deven's Ninth Month

Here are a few pictures from Deven's ninth month! Deven got two more bottom teeth this month, but his biggest claim to fame was learning how to crawl right before his nine month birthday! He also finds the word "no" to be very funny right now and looks for all kinds of way to get into trouble. He may be our orneriest one yet!

Mali's Ballet Performance

Here are some pictures from Mali's final 3-year-old ballet recital! Although she loves to go to class, the past two recitals have gone a bit awry as she refuses to perform. It seems like she's nervous, but we're not all that clear on why she does it. As you can see from her attire, Mali is not interested in conforming to the norm.

Here are a few video clips of the performance:

Roan Turns Six!

It is so hard to believe that our first-born has turned six! He's growing into such a sweet, curious, smart little guy. He now routinely corrects Mommy's math (in my defense, I haven't slept in years) and he's more excited by the score of the basketball game than trains (never thought I'd see the day...) Here are some shots from his birthday celebrations. We went miniature golfing as a family on his actual birthday and then he celebrated with his friends at the bowling alley the following day.

Here's a video of Roan enjoying the moment of his birthday wish:


Here is a video of Mali miniature golfing because, well, it's just too funny:


And here's a video of Roan bowling:

Easter 2011

Here are some pictures from Easter. Mandy's parents came to visit and a lot of fun was had!

Deven Month Eight

Here are some pictures from Deven's eighth month. Deven figured out how to push himself up to a seated position from his tummy this month and was VERY proud of himself when big sister noticed! Mali's new favorite phrase is "bad baby". She screams it particularly loudly when he tries to join her "picnics" which usually involve her favorite ice cream scoops and cones--items Devy particularly loves as well.

Roan is still very fond of the little guy, though did have a bad day this month and tossed (well, no, threw) a shoe in Deven's general direction. Upon questioning it seems he is not so fond of "watching" Deven from time-to-time when Mommy and Daddy have to leave the room. Fair enough, he is only 5!

Deven also got his first two teeth this month and moved out of Mommy and Daddy's room--Roan has been bumped to Mali's room until Deven sleeps a bit better at night. It didn't take long of being in his real crib to learn how to pull himself up to standing.

Deven Month Seven

Here are some pictures from Deven's seventh month. Deven is now sitting up all by himself and started "creeping" around the house as well, creating lots of headaches for big brother and big sister.

Roan's T-Ball Game

Here are some pictures from Roan's first t-ball game. Roan is LOVING t-ball and can't wait to play baseball next year!

Visit with "the Cousins"

Jan's sister, Elena, and her family came to visit us from Canada in March and it was the first time our kids had met any of their cousins. Needless to say, it was VERY exciting. It was all we could talk about for several weeks leading up to the visit and "the cousins" are still brought up on a near daily basis. Tanisha is 12 and Serena is 10 and the kids thoroughly enjoyed every minute with them. We are very grateful that they made the trip to see all of us!