November 29, 2009 by Dad.

…need I say more…

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November 27, 2009 by Dad.

We joined one of our playgroups for the annual Naperville Holiday Lights Parade on what was a mild afternoon. The temperatures dropped quickly as the sun set and we all got quite cold waiting for the parade to start. It was worth it in the end because there was candy and Santa !

James, Lily, Rhiannon & Cezanne

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November 26, 2009 by Dad.

Cezanne was having a bath in Mommy’s bath and playing with her princesses in a world of her own so we sneaked a few pictures…

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November 25, 2009 by Dad.

We were invited to join our children for a Thanksgiving feast. The kids helped make corn bread for the meal and got to taste pomegranate seeds. They sang a few Thanksgiving songs and played Find the Turkey which Cezanne won twice ! All in all a lot of fun !!

Our little pilgrim and her classmates…

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November 24, 2009 by Dad.

Now that we know what we are in for with the whole JOMites program I figured I better go and see how much better Cezanne has gotten over the past few weeks. I was taking her initially when work was quiet and I was working solo on a project, but I have not been able to take her for quite a few weeks now. I know she has issues with listening and paying attention for more than a few seconds ( unless it is on TV, then she can remain focused for hours ). She is the youngest in the class, and while there are only 5 girls some are already 4 years old and the difference is very obvious. I was impressed with he improved willingness to try the various exercises, before she would only do it when the coach was watching or telling her to do it, today she when on and did the exercises just like the other girls. She and Rachel, the other youngest seem to get along well and are always sitting next to one another and chatting nonstop. The older girls watch and listen and pay attention, Cezanne & Rachel do not and often get into trouble for this… Cezanne has come a long way - her strength has improved and her fearlessness is impressive. While I am not quite ready to turn the basement into a gymnasium, I am considering getting a few mats and maybe a bar or balance beam for her to “play” / “practice” on, especially during the long winter that lies ahead…

Cezanne doing her hand stand with coach Carter. Rachel is the tiny little girl in pink closest to the camera. The final photo was taken just seconds before the end of class where the coach promised them all a treat for good, hard work. The treat was a lollipop and a Naperville Gymnastics Club Cap. The 4 girls actually looked like a team with the caps on…

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November 22, 2009 by Dad.

Step 1 - stand in front of the subject to be photographed.

Step 2 - act crazy

Step 3 - sit next to / on top of subject to be photographed.

Step 4 - just take the camera away from the photographer and start giving new instructions…

Yes, this is actually how it went as we tried to just take a few photos of Etienne between bath, dinner and bed time.

We ended up with a few nice “family” photos so I won’t complain too much

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November 15, 2009 by Dad.

Lanelle had a Mommy’s Toy Party at Aunty Michelle’s house so I took Cezanne and Etienne to the DuPage Children’s Museum. We are members but I had never actually been before and found it to be quite an amazing play zone for kids. We started with the blocks and rolling balls testing our grasp of gravity and the fact that ball roll down. Then we moved on to the water play area and the bubble zone where we had a lot of fun. Next it was the wind tunnel and air tubes which kept Cezanne busy for quite a few minutes in fact. We then went up to try find the art area but found the push pins and the performing arts instead. Cezanne joined a performing troupe and together the players put on a show. It was a great afternoon that was over far too soon and we will have to go back to explore the areas we missed. Etienne slept through it all !

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November 15, 2009 by Dad.

Cezanne setup a kitchen tea party for us, see how we each have a place to sit at the picnic.

The “tea” was water from the dispenser in the fridge door and the “cake” was a bit of flour mixed with water. Yummy !

WARNING: Water + Flour = VERY STICKY GLUE !

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November 12, 2009 by Dad.

This week while at our special gymnastics class (J O Mites) the 4 girls stopped just long enough for a photo or two. Lanelle and Layla’s Mother were able to dash into the gym and they took these photos of the 4 busy little girls.

Layla, Ryan, Cezanne & Rachel		4 little monkeys !

After chatting with the other mothers at the gym, Lanelle eventually found out why the class is called J O Mites - now don’t laugh…

Junior Olympians and the Mites simply refers to the fact that the participants are still small.

Not sure if we are impressed by this or not, sounds like we have a long way to go. At this stage I still think the girls are just cute and cute is not going to win any medals…

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November 8, 2009 by Dad.

We needed to get a few things done this weekend so we asked Cezanne if she would be “OK” to play downstairs in the basement all by herself. She said she would be fine and did play for a while but then came back up and asked if she could paint on her board. I went down and got her all setup and then returned back upstairs. After a while Cezanne came back up and told us that she wanted to show us her lovely surprise.

I followed her to the basement to find lots of beautiful smiley faces, a blue one, a red one, a purple one and three yellow ones. The only problem was that the smiley faces were painted on the walls and not on the white board.

Let me just say that Lanelle was NOT happy !! There was a very strong talk about why it was wrong !

We dug out the paint and Lanelle did touch up while I took Cezanne up and far from a very unhappy Mommy.

At the end of the day, just before bed, Cezanne ( on her own ) apologized to Lanelle - “Sorry I painted on your walls Mommy. Did you like my smiley faces ?”

I just had to laugh…

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