December 2014

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  We're having so much fun decorating, and mostly singing Christmas carols.  Trajan has turned in to quite the little performer, and Percival is insisting on telling jokes this year at our family  Christmas Eve program, so that should provide a laugh (on many levels)!I attened the math conference in Monterey this week.  Silly though it sounds, but it really did leave me longing for the Oregon version in Lincoln City. . . 

I'm teaching this semester in a converted green room in what used to be our theater.  It's lined with black curtain along the back and when my students finally go around to exploring they found the comfy chairs.  Good thing it was the last day of class!

I wish I had taken pictures of our first real storm of this winter (first of what we hope will be many).  Trajan and I attempted to walk Percival to school in the morning but couldn't actually cross the first 'rainy day river' without the water being way over Percy's rain boots - so we crossed anyway, just so we could cross back, then went home, changed, and drove.  By the time I headed to work an hour later the drains were clear and the flooding in our neighborhood has subsided, but for a while there, we thought some of the cars would actually float away (some of the wast bins actually did)!

These pictures are from a few days later, showing the runoff from the hills behind our neighborhood.

You have to admit, it's cute.  Besides, we've had kittens for a few months now and I have somehow resisted the temptation to post hundreds of pictures and even video.  This picture is striking because it just amazes me that they don't just run from Trajan whenever the hear him coming.  As parents, part of the reason we have pets it to help our children learn to be gentle and loving with animals.  Trajan is getting the loving part, but I think he's learning about tolerance (their's toward him) and gentleness will hopefully come soon!

Leaf Art

Leaves, Leaves, Everywhere!

Though the rain has been wonderful, we're always appreciative when it stops at least long enough to rake the leaves.  The fact that we do so pretty much every weekend in our shirtsleeves, reminds us how grateful we are to be back in Napa!

Goffy Kids!

We tried for about half an hour to get a decent picture of all five of us.  Obviously, we were unsuccessful :)  Poor dad is probably going to need surgery on his other arm from holding the camera!

We'll try again at Christmas and you'll get to judge if we've made any progress.

This was actualy Thanksgiving day, as we were on our way to Medford.  Patrick was camera man for the day and since his phone recently crashed, we are once again without any pictures of Thanksgiving.  So the pictures are all in our memories.  It was a much smaller crowd than usual, which changed the feel a bit, but it was still great to get together and count our blessings.

November 2014

We have taken full advantage of our mild fall this year.  Although everyone around here has been hoping for more rain, the mild November was lots of fun!  

Percival's 9th Birthday

Well it really happened.  Percival turned nine.  He hosted is first official sleepover and had lots of fun constructing Mine Craft cubes out of cake.  

Visit

We were unable to get away for the weekend of the Potato Festival so Mom and Dad brought Grandma Eunice down and we had a fabulous visit.  Stanley Lane Pumpkin patch was in good form and a lot of fun.  Hadrian go got to go the following week with his class as a field trip.  They walked all the way from school! 

 

Hadrian and G-ma went on a puzzle making spree.  It was particularly challenging since Trajan kept coming along and reversing their progress.

Once we rolled back the clocks we had to give up eating dinner outside but it was great while it lasted!

 We celebrated all of our fall birthdays with a fabulous Pineapple Cake (Mom, Dad, Percy and me)..

October 2014

 West Wood Hills in the fall, what a treat!

We thought for a while that Trajan wasn't going to be the climber his borthers are, but here is in a parking lot in Anderson.  We stopped for a few minutes and he actually climbed a tree on his very own for the first time - we had a major celebration - and a much longer stop that planned!  I am assured he can't actually get to the top of the chicken coup without help . . . 

Here are our Halloween Hobo, Pirate and Ninja, saying, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!"

We were a bit early with our carving this year.  They had long rotted before Halloween, but still a lot of fun!

Cats!

As the one year anniversary of cat-less-ness approached (I know, not really a word, but you know what I mean)  we realized we were just missing cats.  Though really, it may have been that we were missing Mom and Dad and Kona, but getting them to move to Napa is a bit more complicated that a visit to the shelter.  

So here they are:  Leibniz Drazella also known as Cat One or even KC (for Kitty Cat) - she's the grey one.  

And her sister Artemis Archimedes Bastet, also known as Cat Two or DC (for her poor choices regarding her bathroom habits - like using the leather chair in our bedroom, or even worse, using it while Patrick is sitting in it).

These are from the day they first came home in late September. Honestly, I don't know how anyone has kittens without three young boys to wear them out each day - they are crazy!

But they're also incredibly cute.  And they start purring at maximum volume at the simplest of attention - or at times just because they notice you exist. 

Leibniz learned to climb the tree fairly quickly.  Her sister only made it half way up until last weekend when Kona came to visit  and she had some serious motivation!

Earthquake

August's Earthquake was far and away the physically scariest thing I've ever been through.  It struck in the middle of the night.  Percy was in bed with me and awoke about half way though as our bed shifted over a foot while the light cover above us shattered and the armour fell against it.  Upstairs was much less impacted.  Patrick slept through most of it and was shocked to find out it had been such a big one.  Trajan slept all the way though and Hadrian sat up at the end but went right back to sleep.  Which, once we knew we and our neighbors were all okay is what Patrick and I did too.  All five of us in the kid's room.  The one place where everything seemed normal.

And a few days latter, here is the after picture.  All back to normal.  We have only a mismatch of stemware, and in general much fewer breakable things (as expected, its the old family pieces and gifts from our loved ones who have passed on that we miss the most), a small hole in one wall from the piano, a few cracks in the drywall, but a much better perspective on how fortunate we are to have each other - and a lingering gratefulness for our reliable infrastructure, that had power, gas, and water all working in a very short time.  

And despite all the calls, texts, and emails we received lamenting our timing - earthquake and all, we're glad to be back in Napa!