Finian Artist

We just started to take “art” classes. What an artist Finian is… is there any psychologist reading the blog that can analyze these paintings? ?

Teo Artist

Ara fa unes setmanes que hem comencat a fer classes d’”art”. Quin gran artista que esta fet el Teo… algu pot analitzar els dibuixos, hi ha algun psicoleg que llegeixi el blog

Zoo with the playgroup

We have recently joined a playgroup of other moms in the neighborhood that have children the same age as F and T. Although I’ve seen them only twice so far, I can tell we are going to have a really good time. This week we went to the zoo, and a side from everyone being terrified about the HUGE goats, we had a great time. The owls and the steam train were a big hit. Something amazing happened, we were able to sit ALL the children together to take a picture, I would have never thought that was possible. Click here to see all the pictures. Also the video shows the enthusiasm the boys have with the word Owl, I guess they need to say it loud. The same happens with the word Airplane: AAAAA-irplane!!!

Aquest ultim mes m’he ajuntat a un grup de mares de nens de la mateixa edat del F i el T que es troben per fer coses juntes amb els nens. Fins ara nomes hi he anat dues vegades pero em sembla que ens agradara. Aquesta setmana hem anat al zoo i a part de lo espantats que tots els nens estaven amb les ENORMES cabres, ens ho vam passar molt be. Els mussols i el tren de vapor van ser els guanyadors. I sorprenentment vam poder fer una foto de tots els nens junts sense que se n’anessin per totes bandes. Cliqueu aqui per veure totes les fotos. El vide ensenya l’entusiasme que el T i el F tenen per dir la paraula Owl (mussol), sembla que nomes ho poden dir cridant. Passa el mateix amb la paraula airplane (avio): AAA-irplane!!!

Potty training

Just quan vam tornar de Barcelona vam decidir ensenyar-los al F i al T on han de fer pipi i caca en lloc del panyal. No els hem forcat a res, pero si que intentem anar-ho repetint i dir-los que ho provin de tant en tant per acostumar-s’hi. Mica en mica van millorant, i l’altre dia el Finian va fer pipi a la tasseta tot sol, sense que nosaltres li diguessim res! Doncs apa, 3 fotos de quan vam comencar.

Morning pancakes

The boys don’t eat a lot of things, but pancakes is the one thing that they will always eat (guess what, waffles is the other thing). Recently they are waking up really early… 6 o’clock is great for us, so don’t be surprised at the looks of Owen and the boys in this pictures… You can see them enjoying dad’s whole weat blueberries pancakes (they love helping dad making them too!). More butter please!

Flying Donnelleys

Anna Marie Panlilio is a friend of ours who takes amazingly beautiful pictures of dancers jumping around. A few weeks ago we met with her at a studio and she took these awesome pics of us. She has a lot more incredible photos on her site, check it out. http://www.annamarie.me/ Thanks Anna Marie, it was a lot of fun!

Happy Halloween…

A friend of ours sent us this recently… scary family… Thanks Claudine!! (click on the image to view)

Barcelona 2009

He trobat aquestes fotos de Barcelona a la camera que no havia penjat.

Tarda al Golden Gate Park

ahir a la tarda vam anar a passar l’estona al Golden Gate Park. Tenim uns cotxets per nines nous, i els vam anar a fer passejar amunt i avall del parc. Vam veure els anecs, tortugues, les flors, arbres… Ara que comencen a parlar ho volen dir tot, ho fan en una barreja de catala i angles: flor!, duck!, arbre!

Twin games

These are a few videos of the boys doing cute things around the house. Don’t think they are always like that though… I wish…

Aqui hi ha algun videos dels nens fent coses cuques per casa. No et pensis que sempre son aixi… Que mes voldria…

Cooking in the kitchen

Aquest mati ens hem posat a cuinar a la cuina, mmmm!!! Quins cuiners mes bons que tenim a casa! Ens ho hem passat the conya!

This morning we have been cooking in the kitchen, mmmm!!! What good cooks we have at home! We had a blast!

Lake Anza

We recently went to Lake Anza up in Berkeley and the boys almost got into the water completely. Maybe next time… It is a nice place because you are surrounded by nature in a beautiful lake, there are no (scary) waves and there is a sand beach for the boys to play. We definitively have to go back. Oh, the few pictures we took are all blurry because Owen changed the settings to Macro… thanks Owen….

Pool at our deck!

The weather has been really nice lately and another couple with twins gave us this awsome pool so the boys have been having some fun recently…

Ultimament ha fet molta calor aqui a San francisco i uns altres pares de bessons ens van donar aquesta piscina, aixi que els nens s’ho han passat de conya jugant amb l’aigua…

Cotxes i Trens

Ultimament el F iel T es passen estones llargues (anava a dir hores, pero no hi ha res que els entretingui mes de 20 minuts seguits) jugant amb trens i cotxes. Els fan anar per tota la casa, i de vegades muntem pistes amb trossos de fusta, blocs, plastilina…brruum, bruuum!!!

Lately F and T spend a long time (I was going to write hours, but there isn’t anything that keeps them busy for more than 20 minutes) playing with trains and cars. They make them go all around the house, sometimes we make slides with pieces of wood, blocks, playdoh… brrooom, brooom!!!

More OAEC pond

OAEC pond

Aqui hi ha una foto que ens va fer un amic fa unes setmanes quan vam anar a banyar-nos al llac de OAEC

Barcelona

We are back from Barcelona. We have been there for 2 weeks and Fin and Teo have walked around the Gothic neigborhood, seen Castellers (human towers), gotten into the Mediterranean sea, celebrated the National Catalan day, celebrated their 18 month birthday, seen family and friends… they seem to be eating much better! It took a week to adjust to the new schedule but it was great to see everyone and all the nice places in Barcelona. We got to dance a tiny bit too! Here are some pics

Barcelona 2009

Un any i mig! One year and a half!

I will translate this whenever I have time… sorry…

Doncs ja han fet un any i mig, com passa el temps. Aquest cop ho hem celebrat a Barcelona amb els avis. Quan faci el resum del viatge a Barcelona ja us n’explicare mes detalls. Ara nomes vull fer un resumet del que fan a 18 mesos:

Parla:

doncs diuen bastantes paraules, no senceres, pero es fan entendre. Aigua(wawa o agua), iaia, avi (ava), noni, buble, car (broom-broom o txcar!), more (mo), vaca (mu), nena (nene), pilota (ba), boat (bo), chair (txe), i moltes mes, pero aquestes son les que ara me’n recordo. Encara no diuen cap frase.

Fisicament:

Acaben d’aprendre a fer anar un cotxet dels de muntar-se, comencen a pujar i baixar escales tot sols si no son molt altes, el Finian corre una miqueta, si els ajudem una mica poden fer tumbarelles al llit,

A les nits:

Doncs encara no dormen massa be. De vegades han dormit 8 o 9 hores seguides, pero en general es desperten unes 2 o 3 vegades cada nit cada nen i si podem els caminem i si no, els dono el pit. Se’n van a dormir entre les 7pm i les 9pm i dormen unes 11 hores total. Ara com ara per posar-los a dormir els dono el pit, pero d’aqui a poc aixo canviara… Fan una migdiada al dia, cap a les 12p, durant 1 o 2 hores. Ah, i encara dormim tots junts a la mateixa habitacio, encara que de vegades en posem un al “living room” i llavors es desperten menys.

Menjar:

Fins ara han estat molt tiquis-miquis, i no els agraden massa coses: pa, formatge, pasta, salsa de tomaquet, polenta, espinacs (dissimulats), mongetes, mantega, craquers (peixets), panses, pure de patates… aixo es el que els agrada mes. No toquen la fruita, les verdures les hem de dissimular, i el peix i la carn, mai se sap, de vegades si, de vegades no. Ultimament estan canviant, i sembla que mica en mica mengen mes i mes varietat… creuem els dits. Ah, tambe els agrada el Kombucha, te tela!

Jocs:

Els encanten els puzzles, cotxes, trens, peekaboo, anar despullats, L’AIGUA (qualsevol cosa que impliqui aigua, per sort tenim una terrassa a casa), fireta, nines, pilotes, blocs, pintar, plastilina, musica, ballar… vaja, quasibe tot.

Societat:

Son bastant oberts amb la gent, diuen hola i adeu generalment, i somriuen a desconeguts. Juguen entre ells de tant en quant a perseguir-se al voltant del sofa (divertidissim), i es donen coses si els ho demanem. Tambe es barallen de vegades si nomes hi ha una joguina i normalment es el Finian que mossega al Teo (he llegit que sempre n’hi ha un que mossega a l’altre, de bessons).

Transport:

No els agrada anar en cotxet, ens costa posar-los, un cop hi son de vegades hi estan be, pero de vegades ploren fins que els treiem. El cotxe tampoc els agrada, encara que ultimament els hem comprat un DVD player i l’Elmo ha estat el salvador dels viatges amb cotxe. El bus els flipa.

Altres:

els hem tallat els cabells dues vegades, nomes una mica de la part del darrera.

Dades:

pesen 22 pounds cada un. El metge diu que estan dins del 10% de la majoria de nens en pes i el 50% de l’alcada. O sigui, que han de menjar mes.

On es…???

Ultimament el F i el T estan creixent rapisissim. Estan aprenent a dir moltes paraules i sembla que ho entenguin tot molt be quan els parlem. S’ho passen pipa ensenyant on son les diferents parts del cos. Ahir en vaig fer un video, estan maquissims.

Lately F and T have been growing so fast. They are learning to say a lot of words and seems like they are understanding much better when we talk to them. They have a lot of fun showing the different parts of the body when I ask where they are. Yesterday I made a video of it, they are so cute!

Finian: ha dormit 9 hores i mitja seguides!

finalment, el Finian ha dormit 9 hores i mitja seguides! A un any i mig… se de molts pares que deuen dir: que??? fins ara no ha dormit 9 hores seguides? Be, cada nen es un mon i tenir bessons no es facil…

Finally, Finian slept 9 hours and a half straight! At 1 and a half years old… I know of a lot of parents that might be saying: what??? until now he hasn’t slept 9 hours straight? Well, each child is different and having twins is not easy…

Brian & Sunshine wedding

We went to Brian & Sunshine’s wedding last saturday in Walnut Creek. It was a beautiful day and the boys enjoyed running around, chasing the ducks, smelling the flower and dancing around. Here are some pictures from Ana Marie and Nora.

Noni’s present for Teo’s leg

When Teo broke his leg, Noni gave to the boys two little piggies, one of them with a wraped leg, like Teo’s. She also made a card with pictures of people with casts on and she herself wrapped her leg as if she had a broken leg too. What a great grandma Fin and Teo have!!!

Quan el Teo es va trencar la cama, la Noni va donar als nens dos porquets de peluix, un d’ells amb una cama embenada com el Teo. Tambe va fer-los un llibret amb fotos de nens amb cames enguixades i es va embenar la cama ella mateixa. Quina iaia mes bona que tenen el Finian i el Teo!!

keep it cool

it seems like we will have to freeze the boys at night so we can have some rest… just kiding See this article

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/health/04real.html

Traffic

There is some traffic lately at our house. This is one thing they love, drag pillows all over the house. Up and down the house, over, and over. So much fun!

Ultimament hi ha molt the trafic a casa. Una cosa que els encanta es es arrossegar coixins per tota la casa. Amunt i avall, una vegada i una altra. Divertidissim!

Academy of Sciences with Moriah

We finally made it! This morning we went to the Academy of Sciences with Moriah and her boys. As expected, Teo and Fin’s favorite part was the fishes. This time we visited the toddler room, which was a hit as well. Here are some pics. The video is of Teo trying to catch the very fast fishes. You can also see him walking in the cast, not too bad! On monday we will go to the doctor and if we are lucky the cast will be gone…

Breastfeeding twins sculpture

I’ve never been as rested and calm with the two boys feeding. They move so much, this position would be impossible with Fin and Teo. Also, where is the feeding pillow? those arms must be strong..

Mai he estat aixi de relaxada quan dono el pit alt nens. Es mouen amunt i avall, aquesta posicio aixi asseguda seria impossible amb el Fin i el Teo. I a mes, on es el coixi? deu tenir uns bracos fortissims…

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?blogid=46&entry_id=44992

Pictures Forest Lodge

Finally I had some time to download the pictures. Sorry I didn’t take very many pictures of the family… There’s a lot of pictures of the house, some of them blury or dark, but I wanted to have them as a memory for everyone. Some of the pictures were taken by Rick, Liam and Jasper. Enjoy!

Forest Lodge-Matteson Reunion 2009

Forest Lodge

Ara som a Forest Lodge, a Cable, Wisconsin. Ens hem trobat amb tota la familia de l’owen, per part de mare. El teo esta molt be. ja camina sol la majoria de les vegades. El Finian l’imita fent-se el coix, si puc en fare un video perque fa molta gracia.

Ara ja diuen mes paraules: Noni (nene), Bubbles (babu), boat (bo), door (do), aigua o water (aua o wawa), duck (da), calent (au!), boom!, wow!, no!

Quan tornem del viatge ja penjare fotos.

Now we are in Forest Lodge in Cable, Wisconsin. We are in the Matteson family reunion. Teo is doing great. He walks most of the time by himself (in the cast). Finian imitates Teo’s walk, jumping on one foot, if I can I’ll post a video of it because it is really funny.

Now the say more words: Noni (nene), Bubbles (babu), boat (bo), door (do), aigua o water (aua o wawa), duck (da), hot (au!), boom!, wow!, no!

De Young Museum with Moriah, Matisse and Soren

Moriah and I had the brilliant idea of going to the Academy of Sciences the day of the month that is free… There was a line of 2 hours at 9.30 am!!! So we decided to go to the De Young instead. The favorite part for the boys was the sculpture garden, specially the apples which had some rain water on the top that they could play with. Moriah and I will try to keep getting together and take the boys to museums and interesting places often, next: Academy of Sciences…

Teo’s Tibia and Fibula fractured…

Yesterday Teo fell from the swing and fractured his tibia and fibula. He’s been doing pretty well today, but a little frustated that he can’t walk. We have bought a buch of table toys (puzzles, stacking blocks, threads…) so he can play seating. He will have a cast put tomorrow, I’ll be showing more pictures of it later.

They are getting big…

So this happened a month ago… They are toddlers now, they walk. One day I decided to go to the park walking, instead of using the stroller. Bad idea! They went in all the directions possible, none of them the same as the other brother, so I had to carry them both to the playground, and there it is, my wrist has some sort of a tendinitis. And now is starting on the other hand as well…

Riding six white horses

Here is a funny video of myself. Even though I’ve been in the US for about 5 years, there’s some words or combination of words that are still hard to pronounce. Here I am having a good time playing the guitar and Owen is just pushing my buttons wanting me to say it all right… I’ll make him say “setze jutges d’un jutjat mengen fetge d’un penjat”… wait for this video.

More words

Teo and Fin are starting to “say” more words. They don’t completely say the word, but they try to say it. Here is a list of the ones we can identify:

Bye-bye, Dog, Bird (ba), Ball, Aigua (wawa), Milk (mo), No and Nose or Nas, au (when it’s hot), thank you (tatoo)

El Teo i el Fin estan comencant a “dir” mes paraules. No diuen la paraula sencera, pero intenten dir-la. Aqui hi ha una llista de les que nosaltres podem entendre:

Bye-bye, Dog, Bird (bo), Ball, Aigua (uaua), Milk (mo), No and Nose or Nas, au (quan es calent), thank you (tatu)

Wipigaki

These past few days we have been in Wipigaki, Winsconsin, where the boys have enjoyed being all day outside, splashing in the water at the lake, playing with other babies and kids, playing around the fire… It’s been great. The best thing it’s been that the boys have been able to be around their grandparents (Owen’s side) for a bunch of days. Noni and Bubbles have been great taking them around, which really gives us a break from time to time. We’ve been able to have a meal until the desert, visca! Julia and Chloe (2 girls from the camp) have been playing also with them a lot, they were so happy every time they saw them Fin and Teo have a tan for the first time, and a few mosquito bites on their bodies, nothing bad. Next year we go to Wipi they will be talking, wow…

Aquests ultims dies hem estat a Wipigaki, Winsconsin, on els nens han disfrutat estant tot el dia a l’aire lliure, jugant amb l’aigua del llac, amb altres nens i nenes, al voltant del foc… Ha estat molt be. El millor es que els nens han pogut estar amb els avis (la banda de l’Owen) durant varis dies seguits. La Noni i el Bubbles han estat genials, fent-se’n carrec perque aixi poguessim tenir un descans de tant en tant. Hem pogut acabar un dinar fins a les postres, visca! La Julia i la Chloe(dues nenes del camp) han jugat molt amb ells, cada que vegada que les veien es posaven super contents. El Fin i el Teo estan morenos per primera vegada, i tenen algunes picades que mosquit al cos, pero res serios. L’any que ve quan hi tornem ja parlaran, uau…

Wipigaki 2009

Playdoh/Plastilina

Father’s day

Here is the “card” we gave Owen for father’s day. The boys and I made it with crayons. They are getting so good at it!

10 hours!!!

Aquests dies hem estat fent una mena de “sleep training”, ahir va ser la quarta nit, i el Teo va dormir 10 hores seguides!!!! L’Owen i jo estem cansadissims, pero molt contents que com a minim una nit ha dormit be. A veure com continua…

These past days we have been doing some sort of “sleep training”. Yesterday it was the 4th night, and Teo slept 10 hours straight! Owen and I are exhausted and sleep deprived, but very happy that at least last night Teo slept so well. Let’s see how it is the next nights… Here is a good article, which we haven’t really followed completely. http://www.drjaygordon.com/development/ap/sleep.asp

Having fun with Noni

Ens ho passem be amb l’avi, la iaia i l’Elliott

Aquest es un video de ja fa temps, quan el pare i la mare van venir aqui. A veure si quan ens veiem el Setembre ja diuem mes coses que “dagull, dagull, dagulll!!!”

Ara que ja son “nens grans”, ja tenen una taula i cadires com els grans. Ahir vam estar dibuixant amb plastidecors, tots uns artistes!

Now that they are “big boys” they have a “big boy” table and chairs. Yesterday we were drawing with crayons, we have two little artists!

Every time we clean at home (which feels like it’s constantly), the boys want to take the broom from us and play, so I bought a set of cleaning tools child size and it was a success!

Cada vegada que netegem a casa (cosa que sembla que fem constantment), els nens ens agafen l’escombra  per jugar-hi. L’altre dia vaig comprar-los un “set” d’eines de neteja a escala reduida i va ser tot un exit!

They LOVE books. They are asking us to read them all the time. They don’t last very long listening to it, but that’s fine…;-)

Nova York

Fa dues setmanes vam anar a Nova York al Festival per al Frankie Manning. La Marta tambe hi va venir des de Barcelona i ens va ajudar amb els nens portant-los a tot arreu. Ens ho vam passar molt be, he penjat un video petit de la Marta i els nens, quan tingui mes fotos ja les penjare.

Baixem les escales

The boys are learning how to go down the stairs. Here you can see the progress.

Ahir vam anar al Zoo. Va ser la primera vegada que els nens van veure ovelles i cabres… estaven una mica cansats perque no havien fet migdiada i estan encostipats, pero a part d’aixo ens ho vam passar molt be.

Yesterday we went to the Zoo. It was the first time that the boys saw goats and sheeps… they were a little tired because they hadn’t had a nap and they had a cold, but a side from that we had a great time.

Soooo Big….!!!!

Teo says quack quack!

Teo has been saying Quack quack for a while now, but until now I haven’t been able to get in on the camera. Super cute!

Play structure

The kids LOVE the play structure that Noni and Bubbles gave them for their birthday. They really are starting to interact with each other now, it is really fun to see them playing peekaboo. In this video they hide from one each other

behind the play structure. I missed them actually playing peekaboo, I’ll try to get in on video next time.

El Finian apren a menjar amb cullera

Farina/Flour

Finian has been trying to get to the flour can for a long time… well… he finally did it!

El Finian ha estat intentant agafar el pot de farina des de fa molt de temps… be… finalment ja ho ha aconseguit!