San Francisco Zoo

Evan spider.
Evan-araignee.
Not a mere cat...meerkats!
Euh..."suricates" (?)
On the train...
Sur le train...
My favorite: a humungus fluffy owl.
Mon animal prefere: un hibou geant.
C'mon, look at the size of this thing! I want to use him as a pillow!
Regardez comment il est gros! Je veux l'utiliser comme coussin!

Joyeux Noel!

Voila des photos des 2 dernieres semaines, jusqu'a noel...
Here are photos from the past couple weeks, up until Christmas...
* * * * *
Evan's Christmas performance... He was Santa! The girl on the left is his "princess", the one he talks about every day, the one he draw pictures of.... He's had a crush on her for several months!

Le spectacle d'Evan...Il etait le pere noel! La fille sur la gauche est sa "princesse", il a un faible pour cette fille depuis plusiers mois! Il parle d'elle tous les jours, la dessine...
Christmas eve: Elia was so happy and smiley, while Evan was distracted with TV...
Le reveillon de noel: Elia etait tres contente et souriante, pendant qu'Evan regardait la tele...
Christmas morning...Woa, where did all those presents come from? From Santa, of course!
Le matin de noel...Wow, d'ou sont venus tous ces cadeaux? Du Pere Noel, bien sur!
Santa ate all the cookies and drank the milk we left him...
Santa a mange tous les gateaux, a bu tout le lait, qu'on a laisse pour lui...
Let the unwrapping begin! (Evan was so sweet--he found a present for Elia, and brought it to her, and helped her open it, before even touching a present for himself.)
Allons ouvrir les cadeaux! (Evan etait adorable--il a prit un cadeau pour Elia, et l'a emmene a sa petite soeur, l'a aide l'ouvrir, avant de toucher un cadeau pour lui-meme.)
We were so happy with our gifts!
Qu'on etait content avec nos cadeaux!Evan does karaoke (um, that game is Mommy's, by the way!)...
Evan fait le karaoke (euh, ce jeu est a Maman!)...
And what are holidays for if not the food? OK, yes, family first...and then food! (click on the link for the recipes! yummy!)
A quoi servent les fetes si ce n'est pas pour manger? OK, oui, la famille...et puis la cuisine!

White bean and prosciutto crostinni with sage
Pine nut cheese crisps (with sage)
Smoked salmon with sour cream and chives (no recipe--just put that on pita bread, with a squirt of lemon!)
Saumon fume...
Jean-Robert made sauces for a meat fondue (with filet mignon), fries--yeah...a bit heavy...but so good!
Jean-Robert a fait des sauces pour une fondue bourgignonne, frites--oui...un peu lourd...mais tres bon!

For Christmas JR made "poulet aux ecrevisses"--chicken and shrimp (well, that's crawfish, but he used jumbo shrimp). I made green beans with shallots and hazelnuts.
Pour noel Jean-Robert a fait poulet aux ecrevisses. J'ai fait des haricots vers aux echallottes et noisettes.
Evan was working on his own dish--"pig":
Evan travaillait a faire son propre plat--"cochon":
We made a gingerbread house...or almost....OK, the cookies are gingerbread and the house is cardboard/paper.

On a fait une maison en pain d'epice...ou presque...OK, on a des gateaux en pain d'epice, et la maison en carton.

Photos at the park--from a couple weeks ago and from today, since the rain finally cleared...
Des photos au parc--de il y a 2 semaines et d'aujourd'hui, parce qu'on a eu enfin une pause entre les orages...
Leaving you with our lit-up house--the photo does not do it justice at all! The lights are actually very bright!
Je vous laisse avec notre maison allumee--la photo ne montre pas comment les lumieres brillent fort!

Diwali Dance

Finally...the videos of our dance:
Enfin...les videos de notre dance:

(part 1:)

Diwali Dance 2010 - part 1 from K M S on Vimeo.

part 2 (will go to YouTube)

Evan dances: Christmas show and then some...

Evan will be in the annual Christmas performance at his daycare. But this is the first time he has the leading role--he will be Santa Claus! All the other kids will be penguins, but one will be a Christmas tree. This leads me to believe he really is one of the favorite students...along with the fact that he loves to sing and dance and isn't shy about doing it on stage...

So, here are the 2 songs that will be in the show. Yeah, they are kinda long... Elia joined in too! Well, first she gets bored and leaves but then gets more into it.

* * * * *
Evan va etre dans le spectacle de Noel, a son ecole. Mais cette annee, c'est la premiere fois qu'il va etre la star--il va etre le Pere Noel! Tous les autres enfants seront des penguouins, avec un qui sera un sapin de noel.

Alors, voila les 2 chansons qui seront dans le spectacle. Oui, les videos sont un peu longues... Elia a danse un peu aussi! Au debut elle s'ennuie et elle part, mais apres elle a le sent un peu plus.

Little Saint Nick (by the Beach Boys)
Password/Mot de Passe: evdance1

Little Saint Nick! from K M S on Vimeo.

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
Password/Mot de Passe: evdance2

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree from K M S on Vimeo.

* * * * *
OK...That was Christmas choreography... Now time for some freeform hiphop! (just a bit coached by Mommy...) In the middle of it, he says "feel mon ventre" ("feel my stomach")--"it's got some muscles!"

OK, ca, c'etait la choreographie de noel...Maintenant, du 'freeform hiphop'! (Maman montre un petit peu a Evan ses 'moves'...) Au milieu de la video, il dit "feel mon ventre" ("touche mon ventre")--il ya des muscles!"

Imma be (a good dancer!)
Password/Mot de Passe: evdance3

Imma be (a good dancer) from K M S on Vimeo.

Motorcycle Jacket

I couldn't help myself...(it's faux leather, ok?)

Thanksgiving in Colorado

Finally, we all made it to Colorado! It was Elia's first time and Evan's second time (the first time he was only 6 months old!).

Enfin, on est alles tous au Colorado! C'etait la premiere fois pour Elia et la deuxieme fois pour Evan (sa premiere fois, il n'avait que 6 mois!).


Brrr! Bundle up! And hydrate (it's dry country, here!)
Brrr! Une bibi emitouflee! Et il faut boire de l'eau (il fait sec ici!)
The turkey...with uncle Bob!
La dinde...avec tonton Bob!
The table before supper...
La table avant le dine...
C'mon, Elia, get in the Christmas spirit!
Allez, Elia, tu sens pas l'esprit des fetes?
Elia's first time in pigtails--AWWW!
La premiere fois Elia a des nattes--AWWW!Evan watches TV with Tonton et Papa...
Evan regarde la tele avec Tonton et Papa...
Evan with cousin Logan (or, cousin once removed, actually)...
Evan avec son cousin, Logan (le fils de ma cousine, en fait)...
With Grandma!
Avec Mamie!
Alicia and Jen!
Goofy girls...
Decorating the Christmas tree...
Decorer le sapin de noel...
My sweet cousin-nieces, Sophia and Jessica! (the daughters of my cousin) Didn't get photos of their brothers, Keaton and Ryan :(.
Mes cousines-nieces adorables, Sophia et Jessica! (les filles de ma cousine) Pas de photos de leurs freres, Keaton et Ryan :(.
In downtown Boulder, on Pearl Street. The wildlife is amazing! Giant frogs...
En centreville de Boulder, a Pearl Street. La faune est incroyable! Des grenouilles geantes...
Giant snails...
Escargots enormes...
Nice pigs...
Cochons gentils...
Bear families...
Familles d'ours...
But watch out for vicious mountain lions...
Mais attention, les 'mountain lions' attaquent...
Between two boulders in Boulder...
Entre 2 'boulders' a Boulder...
A statue-cowboy that scared the HECK out of Evan...
Une statue-cowboy qui faisait tres peur a Evan...
At the Butterfly Pavilion, Elia was not at all afraid of the GIANT tarantula (despite Mommy's squealing)...
Au "Butterfly Pavilion", Elia n'avait pas du tout peur de la tarentule ENORME (malgre les cris de Maman)...
But Evan was afraid of the giant beetle. Yes, that's a beetle, folks.
Mais Evan avait peur de la scarabee enorme. Oui, ca, c'est une scarabee.
At least starfish are cuter...
Au moins les etoiles de mer sont plus mignonne...
With the butterflies... One landed on Elia during the butterfly release (probably thought she was a flower!)
Avec les papillon... Un s'est repose sur Elia, apres qu'ils en ont relaches (il pensait qu'elle etait une fleur, peut-etre!)
On the way to the airport... bye bye, Colorado sunset behind the Rockies!
En chemin a l'aeroport... au revoir, le couche de soleil Coloradan, derriere les Rockies!
It was wonderful to see my family. Thanks for having us!
C'etait vraiment bien de voir ma famille. Merci tout le monde!