tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86614112012-02-16T13:40:22.419ZStephen and Anne try to raise their two daughters, Lily and Isabel in Cambridge (UK).Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.comBlogger317125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-66826455658570704052012-01-15T23:03:00.001Z2012-01-16T07:26:57.194Z

I was going to write up a post about Lily's sixth birthday party on Saturday. I was going to go into some detail on the preparation, the effort we went to, the face painting, Anne creating a cake which would bring Lily a little joy, my buying props and learning magic tricks mixed with some whizzy chemical reactions. Fortunately though Lily received a journal as a gift, and was keen to write about

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-38033696742085383552012-01-07T21:53:00.000Z2012-01-07T21:53:12.453Z

Happy new year etc. In the Kent-Taylor house now that Christmas is done we're approaching Birthday Season, with both the kids' birthdays coming up in the next month and a half. As if they haven't had enough excitement. In the past I've marked these occasions with videos of their years or something else special, but this year I've made a single video of the last year for all of us. We did lots

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-18524698643441369432011-12-24T13:14:00.001Z2011-12-24T13:14:37.620Z

Lily and Bella have recorded a message, which says a lot about them and their attitudes to life and Christmas. Happy Christmas Everyone.

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-84212912552821740712011-12-21T15:42:00.001Z2011-12-21T15:42:55.893Z

I covertly filmed Lily and Bella for six minutes yesterday as Lily tried to teach Bella a song. Bella saw me, Lily was oblivious. I edited down to one and a half minutes of their (mainly Lily's) weirdness. In days gone by this would be creepy and frowned upon. It probably still is. Lily seems rather keen on Mistletoe and Wine.

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-38170167344772756182011-12-07T22:19:00.001Z2011-12-07T22:24:43.902Z

Lily asked me about university this evening as she and Bella ate tea. I explained that it's somewhere you go when you're 18 if you want to continue studying, and you can choose what you want to learn. Lily: "I want to learn about the elements." Me: "Well, that's Chemistry. Mummy did some of that. She did Biochemistry and Genetics. Genetics is about DNA." Lily: "That's what I want to do.

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-76628437916676348732011-11-24T07:01:00.001Z2011-11-24T07:01:40.967Z

Bella wrote a message to Anne earlier in the week, with me and Lily telling her which letter came next on the last bit of the message. The 'biro jgmsy' bit Bella wrote herself. Not sure what it means, but it has since become a favourite phrase of the kids.

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-17670736108149328582011-09-08T22:02:00.001+01:002011-09-08T22:02:58.991+01:00

Maybe I'll use this blog more often now there's an iOS Blogger app.

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-50799586703909484342011-08-11T18:05:00.003+01:002011-08-11T19:16:51.142+01:00

I love watching UPS (and similar) parcels wing their way around the world to me, even when (as in this case) I'm in no real hurry to receive the item. It's an aspect of the internet age that gives me (ridiculously) great pleasure. The example below gives me an extra bit of pleasure as I was in Eindhoven last week. I especially like with some couriers I can see that it's been delivered to

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-16549168990863870582011-06-19T19:46:00.000+01:002011-06-19T19:46:49.296+01:00

Father's Day today and my mum's birthday tomorrow, so my mum visited for a double celebration. Anne wasn't well, but managed to cook a roast dinner and a nice chocolate and chilli (!) pudding, before flaking out in bed this afternoon (thanks Anne). We got a swing from Toys R Us and tied it to the apple tree in our garden. The girls seem to be enjoying it, and at bath time this evening Lily was

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-91335997159763363652011-06-17T18:43:00.000+01:002011-06-17T18:43:15.610+01:00

Here's a video of Tickle Time, before the evening bath. And we wonder why they're not calm for bed... Video here also if it doesn't appear above.

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-55480823968101363952011-05-26T08:00:00.000+01:002011-05-26T08:00:20.862+01:00

In April we went on our now-traditional spring holiday around Norfolk and Suffolk. We stayed near Beccles, on the border of the two, and it took us a bit of time to work out which county we were in (it was important to Lily we found out). We were very lucky with the weather, and had a really good time. We took the kids' bikes with us, and Lily made good progress towards learning to ride without

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-18240486223601689522011-02-27T22:56:00.000Z2011-02-27T22:56:46.586Z

I hope we gave Bella a weekend to remember. She jumped in puddles, had a mini party thrown for her, including face painting, watched Dumbo, went swimming with her family, went out for lunch with Granny KT, had a visit from her Auntie Lindsay and Uncle Chris, and ran into a door frame cutting both her cheek and her chin. She's the girl who has everything! She got out of bed on Saturday morning

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-13310496627441014912011-02-26T02:00:00.001Z2011-02-26T02:00:00.169Z

Isabel turns three today. We have a fun weekend planned for her, with a mini party on Saturday (which will include face-painting - this is all she seems to care about), and family coming over on Sunday. I've been looking through video from the last year to put together three minutes of clips from the last year (below), and it's been fun for me to see her changing over the year, and hard to

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-4037614497808533512011-02-25T18:30:00.000Z2011-02-25T18:30:45.458Z

We took the kids to Duxford Imperial War Museum today, the last day of half term. We met up with a friend, Liz, and her two sons, and the girls played really nicely with them. The planes and weaponry acted mainly as a majestic but violent backdrop for the kids to run around in wide-open spaces. The girls were shattered when we got home, so we watched Kung Fu Panda on DVD while Bella asked for

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-71952814933597222732011-02-25T17:15:00.001Z2011-02-25T17:15:31.546Z

Obviously if Isabel faces away from us we won't be able to see her. It's like Hide and Seek played in the movie Don't Look Now.

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-76945875686046592242011-02-20T16:51:00.000Z2011-02-20T16:51:56.096Z

This morning Lily asked me about the war memorial in Woodhall Spa as we walked past it. (We're here visiting Anne's mum.) I explained that it was there to remember people who died in two big wars, one of which took place not long before her grannies were born. L:"Was there a baddy?" S:"Sort of. America and France were on our side, along with some other countries, and they were at war with

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-50045665618843829552011-01-11T01:00:00.003Z2011-01-11T01:00:01.817Z

 Today Lily turns five.I 'had a moment' when getting her clothes out one morning a few weeks ago when I checked the label (to ensure it wasn't one of Bella's tops) and saw the age 5-6 on it. How did I become the parent of a nearly-five year old? It's a tired cliché to say that time marches on without us being able to hold it back, but it certainly feels that way.For today though, it's all about

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-77699971152867022182010-12-24T19:42:00.007Z2010-12-24T21:04:49.879Z

We were concerned that our planned trip to Liverpool to spend Christmas with family this year might be threatened by the bad weather, but we needn't have worried. Even if the weather had been fine the illness (presumably flu) which has hit Lily and Anne hard in the last week would still have forced us to reluctantly cancel our trip - sorry Kerry, Mark and Jo.And so we've quarantined ourselves at

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-49415388593955300072010-11-15T16:18:00.003Z2010-11-15T16:29:10.235Z

Lily won a colouring competition at the baby and toddler show that Anne and a friend organised yesterday.Lily wasn't there when the results were results were announced, and the prize - a discontinued toddler learning aid, a My First Leappad - was more suitable for her little sister so we decided that that was Isabel's Christmas present sorted. The fact that the prize was for a three year old

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-63679893690012182812010-11-07T22:40:00.002Z2010-11-07T22:43:22.459Z

Lily was asking about some camera trickery today, so I had a think about what I could show her with the simple software I use. Once I'd started explaining how I could run a video backwards we quickly came up with some good things to try this out on.Here's what we came up with.Oh, and Lily's an entirely-CG creation in this video.

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-44157342706159536672010-10-29T22:33:00.002+01:002010-10-29T22:42:38.730+01:00

In a few weeks we're having some work done on the house, and while the work's being done Lily and Isabel will be sharing a bedroom. Occasionally we put them in together to see how they get on, and we've done that tonight. They seem to enjoy it, and don't disturb each other too much. Lily's in a bed, and Bella's across the room in a cot.After I'd put them to bed tonight they were quiet, so I went

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-88111958455999554932010-10-27T06:49:00.003+01:002010-10-27T06:50:37.945+01:00

Hope this video doesn't disturb the kids too much...Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-50726335056604735422010-10-16T17:52:00.002+01:002010-10-16T18:00:39.526+01:00

Last week I showed Lily the first hour of Star Wars (I mean Episode IV of course). Within minutes Lily was shocked and exclaimed "What? Why are the goodies dying?" She's used to only baddies dying in films (though come to think of it she didn't seem bothered when a goody died in The Princess and the Frog). Had I jumped the gun by showing it to her? She's quite savvy about what's real and what's

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-89112991861931684392010-09-26T11:00:00.002+01:002010-09-26T11:00:00.099+01:00

Yesterday morning I gave the kids a box each and said "Whoever collects the most apples from the lawn is the winner". Anne and I then had a couple of minutes of peace, and following that the kids returned with much of the windfall cleared from the garden. Now THAT'S parenting!After lunch I peeled a fair few of them, chopped them up and added some rhubarb from the garden. This would seem like work

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8661411.post-1024489242756599882010-09-26T10:57:00.001+01:002010-09-26T11:02:52.191+01:00

Here's a 30 second video of the kids watching Bob The Builder on Saturday. I think Lily's exhausted from school (even though she's only done mornings so far - she starts full time on Monday), but Bella looks shattered too.Given they're normally bouncing around and chatting about what's happening on-screen when they're watching TV this was certainly an odd occurrence.

Stephen Kent-Taylorhttps://profiles.google.com/106142744548300002964noreply@blogger.com0