Sebastian doesn't hold back...

Cherry tomatoes

Seabastian loves to pick tomatoes in the garden. He also finds it fun to knock them over and squash them with his fingers.

On my door handle

The other day when I left for work there was a praying mantis on the front door handle! Who knows what it was doing there.

Peek-a-boo

The other day when I picked up Sebastian from day care his teacher, Morgan, said she had never met a baby that enjoys peek-a-boo more than Sebastian. He really loves it!!

Leaves are falling

Another autumn poem Julien learned at Kindergarten.

Witches in the air

Julien recites a fall poem.

Day Care

Sebastian loves his daycare. Here you can see him at the water table with his teacher Rachel. He used to cry every time I dropped him off, now he is usually just happy to see his friends and get involved in the activity.

Going to school

This is Sebastian in the morning on the way to school. Doesn't he look proud of his shoes! He always hopes that he can go with Julien to the bus stop, but that only happens once a week.

Sebastians word update

Sebastian has several words that he uses- his favorite being "hi" and "bye" with a wave. He also says draw (dwaw), dada, mum mum, Keey (kitty), Caa (cat) and occasionally he repeats what we say.

This last weekend, we had a babysitter while we went out for a great meal of moules frites and other delicacies (yum yum). While we were out the babysitter, Michelle, explained how to make a heart to Julien by saying "loop loop" and Sebastian took to imitating it. Now when I say "loop loop" he repeats it saying "loo loo." It's super cute.

Goooooaaaaallllll!

Tackle

Sometimes the game can be quite rough as they all mob the ball.

First soccer game

This last Saturday Julien had his first real soccer game. And I have to say, it was fun to watch him play. Basically, Julien made all the points for his team and one kid on the other side made all the points for his team. I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise that he would do so well, considering his speed and his love of soccer, but it was kind of amazing to watch him control the ball. He is aggressive in the field. In soccer they let the kids play the field without shouting directions. The concept is basic: you try to hit the ball into the goal and not let the other team hit the ball into their goal. Much simpler than t-ball or football (I played football with Julien in the yard last night. I tried to teach him what little I understand about football, but it was just too complicated. We ended up just playing throw and chase).

In the beginning of the game you could see that Julien was surprised to be challenged by the other team. But once he got into it he started to figure out how to maneuver the ball away from the other players (sometimes from his own team!). Julien even passed the ball a few times to his friend Jun. I felt guilty that I was so proud of how well he played, but as Richard said, some things he enjoys and is enthusiastic about, but with such things as swimming he clearly struggles. Soccer, as Julien once said, is his sport.

Sebastian dances likes he means it

Cutters

This last Tuesday Julien had his first Cutters soccer practice. And it was a scene! Field after field filled with young kids playing soccer. Julien has eight kids on his team. Oddly enough, his new best friend at school, Jun, just happened to be on his team! That was an exciting surprise. They had a scrimmage at the end of practice and Julien was very excited to make a goal.

This Saturday will be his first game. It should be fun.

Resting Cowboy

The kids were very tired after the party. Julien continued to wear the hat and badge he had been given as a party favor the rest of the evening. He also quietly listened to a mix of cowboy songs he made with his dad (which includes some old classics song by Gene Autry). One of his presents to Adrian was a CD mix of his favorite cowboy music. It occurred to me that his Grandpa Bill might enjoy the mix too, for old times sake.

Cowboy Party

This last weekend Julien went to his friend Adrian's cowboy birthday party. This coincided very well with Julien current interests. He has been loving to listen to cowboy music recently. Sebastian loved the party. He kept picking up balls and standing in the middle of the action. This didn't seem to bother the kids in the least, they just played soccer and other sports around him. Abby, the mom of the twins and Wade, was also at the party. We hadn't seen each other in awhile, so it was fun to catch up.

I didn't get many pictures of Julien, He was moving too fast. And then my batteries ran out.

Little Astronauts

Julien recently got a book out of the library about Mars. Now he has a new obsession- space! He has decided that he wants to be an astronaut for Halloween and that Sebastian should be an alien. That seems OK, but I can tell that Sebastian would like to be an astronaut like his big brother! We already started working on the costume. This was a mock up.

Sebastian LOVES the air tank and keeps asking to have us put it on his back.

Show-and-tell

Julien has show-and-tell every Thursday. When he showed his cleats for the first show-and-tell he was wearing a Brazil soccer shirt that we had made. Who would have guessed that another kid in the class, Jun (who is from Brazil it turns out) would come with an actual Brazil soccer jersey! They are now best of friends and tell Brazil jokes together at lunch including the following example "How do you get to America from Brazil without a car? You take an airplane!" Much laughter from Julien. He said Jun brought his brother's soccer shoes with him to show and tell today.
Julien brought an NASA astronaut shirt that we made for his halloween costume (he wants to be an astronaut this year). Apparently it went over well because he said the kids exclaimed, "that's so cool" and one of his friends asked him how he made it. Julien said that he drew him a diagram of the steps it took to make the shirt (I assume including the ironing) and gave it to him to take home.

Getting muddy

It has been very hot and dry this summer, so we have needed to water the garden. Sometimes the kids like to get watered too.

New shoes

Julien and Sebastian both got new Shoes recently. Julien finally got cleats (he has been asking for them for a long time) because next week he will start Cutters Academy a local soccer league. He loves them so much that he brought his cleats in for show and tell last Thursday.

Sebastian has suddenly learned to love his shoes! He will bring them over to us and hold out his foot for us to put them on him. He wants to be like his big brother.

Birthday visit

Bill and Jan came into town a couple weekends ago. We celebrated my Birthday and Sebastian's. They gave me a beautiful turquoise necklace that they got on their southwest trip (which I have worn many times already). They gave Julien a beautifully illustrated book about Native Americans and gave Sebastian a keyboard that is made to play with your feet. Julien and Sebastian love stomping on the keyboard. Occasionally a cat plays it as well! They also gave Sebastian a shiny blue recorder which he carries around the house playing with great glee.

The last hurrah

On the way back to the San Francisco Airport on the final day we stopped at Pigeon Point light house.

The end of a very long and varied trip.

Walking among the redwoods

Don't mess with me

I couldn't resist this photo of Sebastian flipping the bird.

At The Beach

We spent quite a lot of time in Santa Cruz at the beach, mostly at Natural Bridges. As usual, it took a while for Julien to trust that the tide would not sweep him away. And Sebastian would run off in every direction until finally collapsing.