April 30, 2012 by Dad.

I was asked to help with a project for the teachers and needed to take photos at school one day so I had the camera with me. I took a few photos of our daily “fetch Cezanne from school” routine where Etienne takes over the kindergarten playground. Here he can be seen playing with some of the girls from Cezanne’s class. They all think he is the greatest and love to chase him and have him chase them.

Tom is Etienne’s best friend though - or so he tells us

When he got bored with the chasing games he found the ball cart and helped himself to a couple of balls and showed us that he knew exactly what to do with them. This boy is SO ready for school !!!

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April 22, 2012 by Dad.

After a visit with Kiera and Liam we then joined them on a ride through Niles Canyon on the old Niles Canyon Railroad. All the kids really had a great time. Colin ( Kiera and Liam’s dad ) and I took the kids while the mothers got some free time at home. The train departs from Sunol and makes its way through the canyon to Niles / Fremont where it stops for a passenger exchange before it returns. This was a great outing and it was really so simple and easy !

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April 21, 2012 by Dad.

Sunny blue skies and warm days greeted our return from Illinois. We got the pool out and filled it up thinking we would give it time to warm up for a nice swim in the afternoon, but the kids just could not resist going right in to the chilly water. It is like water has this magnetic force and they can not stay away from it.

Cezanne asked that I put the pool next to the swing set so they could “dive” into the pool. Knowing that they were not actually going to dive I did so and then they did their “jump off dive competition”.

Etienne followed his sister’s example and with out hesitation jumped in.

When the jumping got boring Etienne pretended to be an elephant and was drinking all the pool water and then smacked the beach balls around the pool.

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April 16, 2012 by Dad.

Lanelle baked some brownies and Etienne came to see what she was up to. He is really a very helpful little boy, or at least he wants to be helpful. Lanelle gave him the beaters and he made the comment that there were 2, one for Etienne and one for Daddy. ( Cezanne was at school so I guess out of sight out of mind ).

Lanelle gave Etienne the biggest treat when she called him to lick out the bowl.

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April 14, 2012 by Dad.

Our vacation had to come to an end and it was filled with tears and lots of anxiety. The kids could tell that this was the end of the fun and that we had to head home.

Etienne looked very handsome but wanted nothing to do with the girls when we tried to take some cute photos of the four of them out in the garden. He made this clear by going and sitting behind them.

Etienne learned how to get on the swing from his big sister, here he showed me (again) how he does it.

Cezanne stood with Etienne for a few photos, I took about 50 and there was one where they were not hitting, kicking or pulling at one another. Etienne had spent most of the week on the swing so was at home in the seat !

I caught Etienne, Cezanne and Chloe playing together outside. Etienne was having so much fun - as you can see - it was hysterical !!

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April 10, 2012 by Dad.

Lanelle wanted to have the girls have their hair cut together and at the same time make sure that Etienne was cleaned up - he was beginning to look like a little girl again…

It is almost impossible to imagine that this little sweet angle can ever be as naughty as Etienne can be ! Look at that, a sweet smile and a kiss for his mommy… Wait, what is that glimmer in the corner of his eye in the last photo - is that, could it be ? Mischief ? You bet !!

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April 8, 2012 by Dad.

On actual Easter we had the Easter Bunny deliver Easter baskets for the kids. This was a big hit and they loved opening and then pulling all the goodies out of the basket.

Etienne did not miss out just because he was the only boy ! He got a giant pin wheel and a blue lollipop as well as Lego and candy and sticker books and more…

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April 7, 2012 by Dad.

Cezanne and Etienne both really enjoyed riding bikes and scooters in the Basson garage. I drew a nice big oval track from them to race around and soon enough all 4 kids were on something with wheels going rounds in circles…

Etienne is clearly allergic to wearing shoes, he took them off any chance he got.

After all the racing it was time for the Easter Egg Hunt ! Etienne knew exactly what to do and ran around the garden looking for egg. Each time he returned with an armful of eggs to deposit in the basket he proclaimed “ta da !”

Brother & Sister and their friends Chloe and Megan around the egg pile. After the hunt it was time to divide up the spoils and start eating the treasure inside…

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April 6, 2012 by Dad.

We decided it was time to make good on our promise to visit the Basson family ( Chloe - Cezanne’s BFF ). We flew out to from SFO to Chicago and each had a child sitting next to us, our own of course.

I actually think I got the better deal even though Etienne did not sit still at all for the entire 27* hour flight, I’ll take that over the alternative… ( See Cezanne’s blog for details ).

We arrived very very late ( after 1am ) and ended up putting the kids to bed and then chatting with Daleen until well after 2am.

Etienne felt right at home and despite cooler weather wanted to play outside all the time and swing on the swing-set all the time which translated to him being pushed on the swing-set all the time

Etienne and his BFF Megan on the swings. Etienne had to borrow a hoodie from Megan on day 1 since we had not yet unpacked.

Daleen had a bunch of balloons and the kids discovered a new game where they would get the adults to blow them up and then they would let them go and found it very funny to see the balloons fly around the room. The 4 out of breath adults did not see the fun in all this but the kids were really enjoying it so we got smart and fetched the pump…

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March 31, 2012 by Dad.

This is one area where Etienne and Cezanne are very different.

Cezanne, to this day, has never had any interest in building puzzles, while Etienne on the other hand will actually ask to play puzzles.

Here he is with a bunch of word & picture puzzles - we broke them up and tried at first with them still in order, he got them built in a matter of minutes, then we shuffled them up and he still took no more than a couple of minutes to figure them out and build them. I will say I am impressed but just by comparison to his sister, could be this is quite normal for a 2 1/2 year old ??

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