February's Favorite Fete

It's that time of year again. No, not Groundhog Day. Not Grapefruit Appreciation Month, either. It's our friend L's birthday again! This time around, it's pirates!

Stylin' swashbucker

L's birthday's are always big dos, there were plenty o' pirates swarming a local pizzeria. Besides costumed adults, the biggest of whom made balloon swords and parrots, there was a pirate movie and pirate decorations. Gold doubloons topped the cupcakes.

Readin' the treasure map

Chimpy requested a snake on her turn at face painting.

Slitherin' snake

And L wanted a pirate ship.

Sailin' ship

And here's why we love L so much: despite having all her school friends there, she had time for the littler pirates.

Arr mateys


* * * BONUS PICTURES! * * *
The Sailor's Hornpipe, performed by First Mate Chimpy

Four Picture Friday: The Return to Mocha

After nearly a year's time and with much anticipation, Chimpy finally returned to Mocha. We had last been there with Jojo as a seat-strapped infant and it became obvious he wanted to get his hands into things. Everything. We decided to wait for a time when he could take part in the art before renewing our membership.

An off-hand comment by Mama on her way out the door made us think today could be a Mocha day and so we got ready to go. After a busy morning of getting a pot roast into a crock pot and an exciting drive where we passed a cement truck on the road Jojo conked out just before getting to the art studio so we let him cat nap.



And he woke up to find himself in a wonderland of color where they don't yell at you for getting paint on the floor...



Or tell you how to paint...



Big sisters excepted, of course.



Then it was lunch outside.



For us and the pigeons.



A portrait of the artists as a couple of goombahs.

The Dead Bird

New Feature: Masterpiece Theater Monday

Where we re-create famous scenes from art/film/history. Today, a re-enactment of the Voyage of the Beagle with Jojo as Captain Robert Fitzroy and Chimpy as Charles Darwin.

Motivation, Chimpy Style

Season's Greeting Cards

Santa Sunday

French Toast and the Grinch

A perfect Saturday morning.

Four Picture Friday: Oakland Children's Holiday Parade

After receiving a late tip from Little Chickling, we rushed downtown to catch the Children's Holiday Parade. We parked on the 'wrong' side of downtown and walked a few blocks and found ourselves, unexpectedly, at the headwaters of the parade and a few feet from Chimpy's TV friend (and parade Grand Marshall) Miss Rosa.




The woman in purple is Miss Rosa, PBS Kids' morning block host. Chimpy was a little starstruck but I called to Miss Rosa anyway. The wave and smile Miss Rosa gave to Chimpy affected Chimpy in a way I've never seen before and immediately afterwards she was emanating happiness and excitement.



Another block and we found ourselves suddenly under the parade floats. This had a huge effect on Jojo who couldn't understand why I was taking pictures of things other than the balloons.





We caught up with our friend, M., and sat down to watch the parade go by.



You're missing the balloons again!

Like much of what goes on in downtown Oakland, the parade seems to be overlooked by the rest of the Bay Area, which was great because it wasn't very crowded. Plus, it wasn't unusual for the parade watchers to suddenly rush the Curious George (for example) float. Here Chimpy and M. pose with the dancing Christmas tree ladies.



We took off a little early as the parade overlapped nap time so we missed Santa but we had a great time.

JoJo, Man of Mystery

What happens when you don't blog about your son for three months? He becomes a little man, that's what.

My happy, handsome son.

Sometime around Halloween Jojo's personality, comprehension and communication all shot through the roof. He's using signs now, asking for books, registering opinions (complaints) and has developed the inevitable boy passion for trucks.

Feeding himself?

No big deal.

Lemur attack?

I can handle it.

Merry-go-round?

Well, maybe just a little help.

His relationship with Chimpy is very typical (long moments of peace interrupted by sudden hair-pulling or toy-grabbing). It's obvious he loves his big sister, in this picture they were eating cupcakes when he spontaneously needed to give her a hug.

A perfect moment.

Here we are on our way to pick Chimpy up from preschool. The hand waving is his sign language for 'music.'



That's an update on our wonderful boy. I'd write more, but I often feel like I'm just getting to know him myself. I love this guy!

Twitter Tuesday

Technically, this should be called "Facebook Friday" as these are screenshots from Facebook. I try not to write too much about the precious things the kids do because a) I'd be writing all day and b) I don't really want to be that person. Still, it's inevitable that most of my tweets will be stay-at-home-dad-isms. Here are a couple for those of you not linked to me online.

I could probably write some variation of this twice a day, everyday. Such is my life.



This was a proud moment.



It's hard to out-wit cousin Lisa but she sets herself up here. The joke's on me, though, the deck still isn't finished.



Jojo's costume was awesome, see below.

We're Thankful

photo by Lara El Khazen, via Tom Reid (Thank you!)

Skating Surprise

We surprised Chimpy with an afternoon at the ice rink. It was her first time on skates and she did amazingly well.




Jojo and I stayed rink-side where he charmed all the ladies, as usual.

"Here comes that little blonde girl again..."

"Hey, where are you going?"

"Call me!"

Fall Guy

This is Jojo after taking a faceplant at the park:

No, you da man!"

What a guy!