Saturday Morning

Okay, this is the last of the 8 hour updates...

Keira holding a book and flipping pages back and forth (not quite "reading" yet)...

Keira putting a pencil to paper and then crumpling everything up (not quite "drawing" yet)...

Katharine and neighbor Michaela finally hook up...

Goofing around with the boys...

Friday Night

The kids went down reasonably well.

Everyone asleep before 8:30 when they are missing their Mommy = success.

And it looks like Katharine will be keeping the bed warm for her tonight.

Here are some books that we read before bedtime:

Now I'm off to play some video games :)

The next challenge will be waking up in the middle of the night when the kids need me. I sleep like a log, and will have to bring the baby monitor upstairs and put it on my night stand if the little ones are to have any hope of getting a new diaper or bottle.

Friday Afternoon

We had a fun afternoon.

Katharine and I started drawing a Scooby Doo book together. She assigned me the "Freddy at a party" page, and Lukas helped color it.

Katharine drew Daphne at the party.

Lukas drew the first semi-representational figure drawing that I have ever seen him create. From left to right: Superman (note the cape), Batbaby, and Batman (note the pointed ears).

Lennon drew a duck. I think that I can actually see a head, bill, and arched neck in there... nah, can't be.

Bath time for the boys.

Nap time (!) for Katharine. This is the first time I have seen her take a nap in years.

We played dress-up upstairs while Katharine slept.

But before it got too girly' Lennon went for the body slam.

I ordered pizza in from a new local restaurant. The kids loved it.

And Lukas especially loved the mozzarella sticks.

Hard to tell what Keira is thinking here, but she did clean off her plate.

Outside after dinner. This is what he looks like when his daddy dresses him.

We threw the football around for a little bit. Here is a great trading card pose.

Finally, the kids waited around for their neighbors to come home. And once they did, they had to turn right back around and go out for dinner. Maybe we will catch them tomorrow morning.

Friday Morning

The kids are currently glued to the TV as I catch up on some work and blogging (it's a Miyazaki movie at least), but they did participate in some worthwhile activities earlier this morning.

All of the kids love puzzles. Here they are finishing up Katharine's latest one.

Here is Katharine teaching Lukas how to hula hoop. Katharine can keep it going indefinitely, and Lukas has yet to get it going- but our little guy is still trying real hard.

Once Keira wakes up I'll make them lunch and then see what other fun activates we can do (and that I can photograph). Iria is out of town today and tonight, so let the Daddy time begin!

Katharine and Keira

Splashing around with Trinity and Gwen

Here is the latest in our never ending posts of pool pictures- this time starring the gang with their good friends Trinity and Gwen.

Ice Cream Aftermath

This is what Lennon always looks like after finishing an ice cream cone.

Lift-off

Keira is starting to let go of the furniture and stand up by herself. She can only do it for a few seconds at a time, but the pitter patter of little feet is not far behind.

Fun with Fashion

Katharine is working on a fashion magazine that features Iria. Here is a preview of some of the new styles to look out for this season:

"Superstar"

text:

"Super Star, what a look"

“What a fashionable sight”

“Need more clothes”

“Make-up is great!”

“Shopping is a woman’s best friend”

“Need that purse”

“China”

text:

“Onboard the plane”

“China is a great place”

“A dragon up ahead… Ahh! Run!”

Time to start hiding the wallet...

Ponyo

Today we saw “Ponyo” with Maya, Jeramy, Liam, Aiden and Brian. It was directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who also created other Doescher household favorites “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service”. The art and animation were superb, and the story thoughtful, funny and engaging. All of the kids - and adults - loved it (Maya and Katharine were jumping up and down in their seats at the end), and I appreciated seeing an animated movie with my kids that didn’t have the now obligatory pop culture asides and fart jokes.

In the spirit of the movie, Maya came back to our house afterwards and the kids all got a little wet.

Moon and Stars

Katharine has been writing quite a bit of poetry recently:

Moon and stars high above,

So beautiful in the sky.

Shimmering nighttime.

And when a baby

Laughs a star will

Fall from the sky.

Saturday Gallery

We were drawing this morning in anticipation of seeing "Ponyo" this afternoon.

"Rainbow Princess Fairy" by Katharine

"White Shark" by Katharine

"Hawk" by Lukas

"Bug" by Lennon