more cooking with Monroe!

I took this video a few weeks ago on a run-of-the-mill weekday morning. If I may say so, I think Eben is a very good dad for involving Monroe in the breakfast preparations so often! What a fun guy.

making pizza with friends

Last week Olivia came over for dinner when her folks had to work late. Monroe had more plans for what she and Olivia would do together that night that would have made sense in a 12-hour playtime marathon. One thing we did manage to squeeze into their packed agenda was making pizza.

Pink Rebel Motorcycle Club

On Saturday, we convened at the park for the first rally of the newly-christened "Pink Rebel Motorcycle Club," which consists of a few rockin' 3 year-old chicks who just so happen to have matching trikes.



Watch out, open road. These chicks are coming for you!

Somersault School

Today Monroe and her daddy worked on her somersault skills at the city park. She was very very excited to show off her cool new trick at home, but it took a few minutes for her to remember how to do it.

Enjoy!

P.S. For a larger-resolution version of the movie, follow this link:

http://gallery.me.com/sunshinecook/100151

Crunchy Fall Leaves

At Big Bear Lake last weekend, Monroe had her first experience walking through piles of crunchy fallen leaves.

Alpine Slide in Big Bear Lake, CA

This past weekend our dear friend Amanda turned 30, and to celebrate she rounded up a big group of well-wishers to share a cabin rental at Big Bear Lake, a ski destination 2-3 hours from Los Angeles.

Monroe loved sleeping in her portacrib at the cabin, and we loved dinner / video games / hot tub time with friends that did not require us to hire a babysitter!

On our return trip we stopped to take Monroe on the biggest slide she'd ever seen in her life. Of course the camera came out for this!

...sing the song of Halloween

Monroe sings the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars

...you know, "The Imperial March"--that sinister music that plays whenever Darth Vader appears on the screen?

Coloring with Monroe

Here's a little glimpse of my afternoon coloring session with Monroe.

Our camping trip to America

Now that Monroe is getting so verbal, soon I won't have to bother coming up with things to write in this blog--soon she can tell all her own stories!

Today I got this recording of her talking to me about our recent family camping trip in which we visited two beautiful national parks in Utah. According to her, we went "to America"--she must agree with all those who think of California as a land unto itself.

I snagged the recording with the handy voice-memo feature of my iPhone, and then only way I could figure out how to post this adorable recording was to put a few pictures with it and post it as a movie. Enjoy.

Video Chat Song Time

This is one of Monroe's favorite activities:



This blog and video chat technology have been a Godsend as far as keeping in touch with loved ones is concerned. I am very grateful for the conveniences of this modern era. And all these fun uses of the computer mean Monroe is ready to be a technologically literate little kid--she can already find "M," "E," and "O" on a keyboard!!

More Labor Day Weekend fun

Last weekend we went to the Malibu Kiawana's Chili Cook-Off and Carinival to celebrate our friend Chris' birthday. Monroe had a great time with all the rides she was tall enough to ride, and we all agreed that it was the best view we'd ever seen from a ferris wheel!

Labor Day weekend beach day

A red lobster

everyday life

For most of us, when looking back through an old photo album, life seems to skip from highpoint to highpoint--vacations and trophies and birthdays and parties and holidays without much anything in between. But that's certainly not how life feels, huh? :-)

The everyday stuff is rarely photographed--or at least that used to be true... before the cell phone camera and blogging and twitter put a more of a microscopic focus on sharing mundane details. I think part of the new focus on these moments of "in between time" is that they do capture the flavor of existence better than the highpoints-only review people used to create when photography was more difficult and expensive. This phenomenon is particularly relevant for children, who tend to shine brightest when you are just hangin' out.



You should be able to see a full-screen, higher quality version of the movie here:
http://gallery.me.com/sunshinecook#100018

Interview with Ms. M

I have neglected this little blog lately because we've been so busy. It is also sometimes difficult to put lots of energy into what essentially amounts to one-way communication. (I'd like it so much more if I could hear everyone else's stories too!) But I remind myself that with the distance, and the time zone difference, and the general pace of life, I will never get to have as many phone calls or ichats or in the flesh chats with my family and friends as I might like, and this medium DOES help keep me in touch with friends and family and it makes a few people (mostly grandparents) really happy.

So tonight, rather than neglect the blog further, I've turned to its subject, Monroe, for the content of this evening's post. I've been interviewing lots and lots of teachers and students for my job in the past six months, and I guess I have that format on the brain because tonight I grabbed one of the cameras we use for work and did a little spontaneous informal "interview" with my favorite person of all!

a beautiful father-daughter duet

I snuck up on the adorable performers and made an audio recording of them singing in the bathtub.

have pigtails, will dance

Silver Falls Hike

This video is from a couple months ago when we visited Uncle Adam in Portland. The 4 of us went on a day trip to Silver Falls State Park, where we hiked a looping trail that passed 3 waterfalls 6 times.

Tonight Eben told Monroe that we'd go hiking this weekend and she said "Adam!!"

Bathtime chat

Monroe has been mentioning our friend Debbie often lately. I caught it on film the other night.