Saturday, December 17, 2011

Post AGU...

I can't believe it is almost Christmas.  November went by in a flash.  I made it through the term teaching two classes, one of which was brand new - Planetary Geology.  It went really well.  My students really enjoyed it and I even have a student continuing to work with me in the Winter.  Slowly but surely, I will make a place for myself here at Stanford. 

Here's my favorite photo from the past month.  Kids are so good at banking brownie points.  Gryffin has started leaning into my arm at dinner, looking up at me and saying "I love you too sweetie." I guess I say "I love you too sweetie" a lot to Jesse and the kids have picked up the phrase.  Now, this little move of Gryffin's melts my heart - right up until I noticed his sticky, slimy, hands wiping dinner bits all over my shirt.   But, let's be honest - he's still banking serious brownie points!

From November 2011



So, Zailey is really into dressing up these days.  She has a few favorite outfits and on some occasions all outfits are worn simultaneously.  In this picture she is wearing a new tutu, a new fighter pilot jacket from G-Pa and her all-time favorite train conductor outfit.  She wore it out to dinner and right up until we forced her out of it for bed.

From November 2011


The middle of December is always super busy for us, with the end of the quarter and our annual conference, AGU.  My mom came out to help us with the kids - thank goodness for GAMMA!!!  Andrew, D'Arcy and Riley also stayed with us for AGU. Breakfast was always a group activity.

From December 2011


Post-conference festivities included a trip to a steam train ride through a redwood forest.  The kids had a blast.  Riley even took a nap on the train - we figure the rhythmic rocking and occasional choo-choo's were somehow soothing.

From December 2011


From December 2011

Such cute little elves!

From December 2011


I'll just leave with a few pictures of the kids and their "trains."  Trains have become incredibly prevalent in their lives - books, Thomas trains, train rides, and making trains out of chairs.  They love to bring their chairs into a room and line them up and then sit together and play train.  It's super cute.

From November 2011


From November 2011

And just to clear, any chair can become a train - including their potty chairs.  This is their ever-popular potty train "Chugga-chugga, pooooo-pooooo!"

From November 2011



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