nerd to be

What hairy, toothless beast is behind those goggles?

I met Santa Claus. I know he was real. I pulled his beard!

A quick roundup from the last few months:
I beat Daddy at the Dreidel Game.
I had a fabulous Christmukkah (Spoilt by all. Thanks guys!).
I’ve been to Florida twice to hang out with the family and escape from the cold.
I had heaps of special zoo classes (I even got to go behind the animal enclosures), gymnastics, art with Granny Nora, and piano! I rock on the keyboard!
I got to have a lot of fun at the College Art Association Conference in LA. The papers were boring, but the running and dancing was cool. I also got to make art with Mummy and Daddy and friends for the Non Human Turn conference here in MiWi!
Add to that school fieldtrips, lots of game time, learning to read, becoming good at math, refining my drawing, attending parties and dinners and playdates, and LOSING MY TEETH! Oh, and of course, being silly, and funny, and loving, and using lots of big words, all made for a busy and delightful whirl of a winter-spring.

Miss you all. Hugs and Kisses and Fairy Princess Wishes! (Because I was one you know. When I lived with the other fairies, mermaids and the dinosaurs, before I decided to get into Mummy’s tummy).

Originally uploaded by nathaniel s.
see more of my latest pix here.

Next: TURNING SIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Popop, Babba, Nonie and Pink Ball. A Portrait.

A few winter pics for Nonie’s fans. Sorry they are so meagre, but Nonie has now learned to use the video and the self-timer on the camera (but has also changed many of the settings, unbeknownst to all. So, many, many photos blurred and under exposed — most not included here, as you will be relieved to see).

It has been a remarkably mild winter here on the third coast. We are usually pretty precocious about snow, beating the winter start (December 15) by weeks. But, other than one bone shattering day (15F and -12C) it has almost been balmy with a few inches here and there, but nothing that has stayed on the ground.

Thanksgiving (with Babba and Popop, and Rob, Nakia and Sunny — a delight) has come and gone, the Christmukkah Bush is trimmed, the gifts are wrapped, Nonie has met with Santa (he was real, she pulled his beard to check) and the social whirl has gently escalated as we continue the season of celebrations.

We now officially have three accents in the family: South African-English with an Irish tinge, Brooklyn-Midwest with an Afrikaans flavour, and Brooklyn-English-Midwest (with the “why don’cha” Wisconsonian edge coming to dominate). The other day Nonie flummoxed both Nat and me when she announced she was going to do some pombs (rhymes with bombs). Took a good while for us to get that it was poems she was going to share!

Wishing you and yours all the very best of the holiday season.
Love the N Cubed in Milwaukee!

Originally uploaded by nathaniel s.
see more of my latest pix here.

I wrote the whole thing by myself, and drew a picture at the back - daddy only helped me with the spelling. It says:

deAr nAnCY:

SchooL is
greAt. thAnk
U 4 AsKing.
i miss U And
i <3 U LoVe,

Sidonie Stern

Nonie and Leo in Costume for Halloween

The family met up with Leo and Stella, Auntie Sam and Uncle Emy, and Babba for a long weekend at Disney. Much fun was had by all.

Thanksgiving next! Stay posted.

Originally uploaded by nathaniel s.
see more of my latest pix here.

Bumper car mayhem! Its long, so be patient.

Nat and Nonie take advantage of the unusually warm, but usually blustery, Cape Town weather.

All Together Now: Aww, Cute!

This is Nonie and her new cousin Kaylee.

Welcome beautiful girl!

As you all know, we have had a remarkable series of summer/winter adventures.

First Nonie “graduated” from Lifeways, then it was off to NYC, Montreal, Mekoos with heaps of delightful folks and art-making (Generating the Impossible, indeed!), then back to NYC and off to Joburg, Cape Town (where we also got to hang out with Milwaukee folks: Rob, Nakia and Henderson), Joburg and many, many, many fantastic visits with friends and family (and dogs), as well as a glorious road trip with our friends from Milwaukee Yev and Jim, through Mpumlanaga, Limpopo, Kurger Park and Northern Kwa-Zulu Natal, ending on a beach house on the Dolphin Coast.

Then it was back through NYC and off to big girl school full time.

We had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of photos, so this is just a snapshot (hee!). But sadly, we also burnt out, so many wonderful times and fabulous peeps are not captured here, but are in our hearts.

Originally uploaded by nathaniel s.
see more of my latest pix here.

Just watch.

Some silly party games. Enjoy!

And, Rock Out!

So, Nonie’s birthday extravaganza started with a wonderful evening silkscreening beach bags with Jessica, Isaac and Yoko. Followed by pizza and presents. She had a special birthday ceremony at big girl school, and cake and singing at Lifeways. We then hit the kite festival and got very good at flying kites (no pictures as all hands were needed for the kites). And then, the big party — the theme of which was “Make Summer Arrive.” For a while it worked and we got to have almost two weeks in which it was warmer than 65/20 for the first time since September. It didn’t last, but for the birthday celebrations we actually got to be hot. We got to decorate flip flops, paint beach bags, learn to hula hoop, bash a pinata, and do silly fun things all afternoon. Then, as the lead in to Daddy’s birthday bash, Nonie got to dance and celebrate one more time.

Thank you to all of Nonie’s fantastic family and fabulous friends for making her fifth such a great and memorable event. Thank you for spoiling her and loving her and playing with her! She had a great time!

Originally uploaded by nathaniel s.
see more of my latest pix here.

Nonie sings at the farm themed music recital at “big girl school”.

A short video of Nonie’s dance class.

"Don’t look now Grand-rents, I think there’s a white bunny on our tail. Hee"

Despite a wet, grey, cold and nasty non-spring, April and May thus far has been bright for Nonie. She has gotten lots of opportunities to perform and got a jump-start on her birthday while visiting the family in Sarasota. More dance recital and birthday celebrations pics to follow soon.

A few Sidisms from the last week:
“What means …?”
“Is that ridiculous?”
“Could I have some privacy, please?”
“Woh-la!”
“What is it that makes me love you so much? Is it the kisses?”

Originally uploaded by nathaniel s.
see more of my latest pix here.

Here are four li’l Nonie vids from our Chrismakkah Holiday, 2010, for your viewing pleasure!

1. Opening our present - a kitchen!
2. A self-portrait with art tools from Sam, Emy + Leo!
3. Bubbles at Disney
4. Princess Nonie DANCES to African music!

I Won’t Have Fun!

Nonie started big girl school (with a “dress code”); we had a huge blizzard and she got a new sled, which was useful to get out of the front door that day; she got a fabulous “big girl” haircut; and we all went to a conference in St. Louis (Missouri).

We had a longish road trip there and back and Nonie was not too enamored of my paper (”what does mean give a paper, Mummy?”) and was too sick for Dad’s, but other than a great time was had by all at the Arch, on the Mississippi river (when Nonie of course made friends), at the zoo and, best of all, the City Museum (a fantasy play world for kids of all sizes). As this was where the conference closing banquet was, we were all a tad overdressed, but that did not stop fun from being had, for the most part.

Nonie’s moment of pique, serendipitously captured below a poster that says pique!

Originally uploaded by nathaniel s.
see more of my latest pix here.