October 18, 2011 by Dad.

Not quite sure if you could call this evidence or crime scene photography but this is what we found after Lanelle baked brownies and left them to cool on the stove.

Etienne had seen her making them and had even told her “I like dat”. Lanelle then went upstairs and left Etienne downstairs thinking I would keep an eye on him.

When Lanelle returned she found Etienne sitting on the floor in the kitchen, he had helped himself to the whole dish, it is amazing that he did not drop the dish. He got it down and poked the brownies full of little finger holes. See the delight and satisfaction and total innocence on his face…

Posted in Just Everyday | Print | No Comments »

October 15, 2011 by Dad.

Etienne has been asking to paint for a while and so as a treat I setup the outdoor easel for him and he loved it. We also did some pumpkin painting as a “fall craft” which he also really enjoyed but when that was done it was back to the easel…

It was actually warm enough to turn on Cezanne’s water hopscotch which she loved but Etienne was a little bit more cautious of. He gets cold pretty quickly and needed a helping hand to hop through the sprayers.

Posted in Just Everyday | Print | No Comments »

October 11, 2011 by Dad.

Cezanne had her first field trip and parents were encouraged to attend. Lanelle and Etienne joined the class for a morning in the corn sandbox, pumpkin picking and running around in the hay maze. The “big kids” did not seem to scare him off and he warmed up soon enough and then was in amongst them as if he was one of them…

Posted in Places Visited, Just Everyday | Print | No Comments »

October 4, 2011 by Dad.

While Cezanne is away at shool Etienne has found her “art desk” to be a great place for him to also “paint paint”. Here Lanelle has set him up with the color wonder finger gel. In the second photo he is saying “ta da” while showing off his masterpiece.

Etienne ( or Eti-anne as we have now begun to refer to him as ) is in serious need of a haircut. Lanelle and I love the long blonde hair so and it is going to be really hard to see it go, but the poor boy has now been called a little girl ( not sure what people were thinking when they use the word little ) a half a dozen times… The long locks are going to have to go…

Posted in Just Everyday | Print | 1 Comment »

September 30, 2011 by Dad.

Etienne had his weekly gymboree class this week at the same time as Cezanne’s Gator Gallop ( a fun run fund raiser for her school ). I ended up taking an hour or so off to take Etienne to his class so that Lanelle could cheer for Cezanne. Lanelle is now one of the 3 classroom mommies and had a hand in making the costumes so it was only fair that she be there, more on Cezanne’s blog when I get there…

While we did miss seeing Cezanne run, we got there to watch the class enjoy popsicles and Etienne enjoyed a bottle of water.

Posted in Just Everyday | Print | No Comments »

September 28, 2011 by Dad.

Etienne really enjoys playing outside - really !! Here are just a few photos from a random afternoon playing outside on the grass running up and down and then moving around to the new concrete side yard where the sand and water table have been moved to in order to try keep the mess off the main patio - yeah nice idea but really that sand is everywhere ! They do love the side yard though - it is all just for them and so was well worth the effort !

Posted in Just Everyday | Print | No Comments »

September 17, 2011 by Dad.

During the late afternoons we leave the back door open and the kids can come and go as they please. What we need to be aware of is when the constant noise that they make dies down to that ominous quiet, when it does you know they are up to something.

When one of us needs to ask where is { insert child’s name here } then you know they are doing something they shouldn’t…

In this case I found what had been a clean, fully dressed Etienne playing in their “water bucket”. Playing with the water was just not enough, he had to be in the water… After a change and a wipe down with one of the towels that is now permanently on had near the back door, he rushed off to play cars on his new mat ( IKEA $15 ) with his wonderful big sister. We did at least manage to get a fresh, dry diaper on the boy before his escape.

Posted in Just Everyday | Print | No Comments »

September 14, 2011 by Dad.

Come see Dad | Etienne “all wet” | Ta da !!!

Working with foam, pause, back to work !

With one child now in school each and every day of the “work week” we find that Etienne needs to be kept busy. His sister had been filling that role but now this falls to the mother to do. Etienne is lucky to have a mother that loves him and get him fun things to do. In this case a simple bucket of water with dish soap turns into a foam party.

I was working in my study and Etienne called me to come and see. When he shows you something now we does so with a “ta da” and arms in the air…

Posted in Just Everyday | Print | No Comments »

August 31, 2011 by Dad.

Lanelle set Etienne up to do some art while Cezanne was at school. He really gets into his colors ! I am just not sure these photos were to show Etienne drawing or to show the magic trick involving the cap for that purple marker… I guess there are only 2 photos because that is all Lanelle could take before she had to put the camera down to fish the cap out of Etienne’s mouth…

Posted in Just Everyday | Print | No Comments »

August 26, 2011 by Dad.

We had a little phonics train - we bought it at the Naperville yard-sale for like $5, but it was not in great condition and after Cezanne had played with it along with all the other kids that we shared it with it was really not in great shape by the time Etienne was now ready to play with it. Turns out that Jeffrey had the same train and it was looked after very carefully and was in such great condition that when it was handed down it was done so in its original box ( I even think the original gift receipt was still attached to the box ! )

Long story - but here are the photos to prove just how much joy this hand me down has brought Etienne, we can only hope that our donated set brings somebody else as much joy !

Posted in Just Everyday | Print | No Comments »