Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

I still have not gotten used to the fact that we have TWO children. It is surreal/anxiety-inducing/wonderful to be able to say "our daughters". We are so blessed. Here are some recent photos of our gorgeous girls.

Ain't It Grand

There's no underestimating the importance of grandparents in Ruby and Luci's lives.
They are fortunate enough to have Kai's mom and Peter (Taty and Captain) live very close to us, making it possible for them to spend time together whenever they would like. The time that my parents (Mimi and Poppi) who live in NY and Kai's dad (Paw-Paw) and Qing who live in California get to spend with the girls is far and few between, but special and extremely important nonetheless. We are very blessed that in Ruby's first 2 months she was able to meet all of her grandparents. Here are some photos of her and Luci with Mimi, Poppi, Paw-Paw and Qing.

the Homestead Wedding

On October 22nd, the unexpected happened.... Just Jonas (finally) got hitched! to a wonderful gal, Maggie. The wedding took place on the land Jonas bought many moons ago and which he has since built (through blood, sweat and tears of several helping hands) an incredible house on. I think it is so awesome that they said their vows standing right in front of the front door to their future abode.

Our family had an excellent time at the festivities. They had a bounce house and pumpkin carving, so Luci was in heaven. She was also, along with cousin Eme, a 'flower' girl (the girls ended up handing out birdseed rather than flowers). Luci really loved the sense of honor that being a flower girl bestowed upon her. In fact, I think she loved it a little too much. There was a girl about her age who showed up wearing a princess dress and Luci and Eme discussed how she shouldn't be dressed up because she wasn't one of the flower girls. And so it begins.
Anyhow both Luci and Eme looked absolutely adorable in their beautiful dresses that Taty bought for them. After the ceremony and a potluck dinner, Kai gave his best man speech, which struck the perfect balance of humor and sincerity. And then there was dancing! And I witnessed my eldest child going crazy on the dance floor - she did not want to stop dancing - especially with Jonas or Maggie - at one point Luci and Eme were in the middle of a circle of dancers and everyone was singing the Beastie Boys 'Fight for Your Right' to them - it was pretty hilarious.
And where was precious Ruby during all of this celebration? She was snug in the Baby Bjorn sleeping away. She behaved perfectly and we are so thankful that she allowed us to enjoy this family wedding.

We are so happy for the fantastic couple and wish them many many years of love and laughter.

happy halloween

Ruby in baby's first Halloween onesie.

Kai carved Simba (from Lion King) per Luci's request into the pumpkin shown here

and this is Luciana in the same outfit 3 years ago! the 2 girls are almost the same size even though Luci was 2 months older for her 1st Halloween.

Luci this year - as Rapunzel/princess (same as what she wore last year) - posed in front of Kai's car for Woodcroft's trunk or treat - kai recycled on old chair into a skeleton - it is really cool!

and Luci as Tinkerbell for her school's Halloween parade

posing with her 'best' friend Lilliana at school

the Explorers class - Halloween 2011

carolina in my mind

for Arlo's (the adorable son of our friends Katie and Charlie) 1st bday party, we were asked to show our support for our favorite team - so we all donned Carolina Blue and took a few family photos.

ode to ryance

When I first moved back to NC in 2006, I didn't know too many people, so I joined a book club in the hopes of meeting some new girls to occasionally hang out with and talk books. I thought that if I was lucky, I'd connect with one of them. And then I met the group for the 1st time in September 2006 and it was the beginning of lifelong and true friendships with FIVE amazing people (we won't discuss the '6th girl'). Sadly, many of the girls were in NC only on a temporary basis and I've had to say good-bye to some wonderful friends - Kristen, Nicole and Liz. And now one of my best friends, Ryann, who spearheaded BCG (the Book Club Girls) and who I have shared many fun times with has headed off to Portland. Ryann and her husband Lance (who Kai has quite the bromance with) have been incredible friends to us. And have been phenomenal with Luci (even babysitting for free on several occasions)! We are very sad to wish them farewell, but are very blessed to have had them in our lives. And we can't wait to visit them in Oregon!

fall fun

this is a photo of luci and kai before they headed out on an adventure on one of kai's last days at home (the naked baby stayed home). they walked to the bus stop in our neighborhood, boarded the 'stripey bus', went to Southpoint Mall where they had lunch at Chik-fil-a and then went to see the Lion King. The movie left quite an impression on Luci, who now loves to play a game she invented called 'Simba'. She spent an hour the other day roaming around the new trails in our backyard singing 'I just can't wait to be King' over and over again. She also thinks the 'stripey bus' takes everyone to see the Lion King.

Luci helped Daddy blow out the candles on his 34th birthday - cake courtesy of Taty!

Luciana looking all grown up before attending a baby shower with me. She was very well behaved at the shower and did her best to be helpful by cleaning up wrapping paper. I was very proud of her!

Ruby's first foray onto the play mat. The same monkey that taunted Luci is back at it.

She seemed to enjoy being on the mat and looking at the different animals and the mirror. And Luci had fun decorating the mat - including draping a bunch of mardi gras style beads all over it.

We ventured to a gourd farm for some Fall Fun when Poppi (or as I like to call him Poppi Poppins) was in town. Poppi Poppins was a HUGE help. He made most of my meals, helped hold/soothe Ruby, played a ton with Luci, including several iterations of the aforementioned Simba game, folded laundry and took Jack on walks. We offered Poppi Poppins a full-time job (room and board included), but sadly he turned it down and returned to the Big Apple.

Anyhow, the gourd farm was a lot of fun. These days Luci gets a kick out of the smallest things - there were hens there which she saw when we first arrived and she was already jumping up and down with excitement. She thoroughly enjoyed the kids play area, the other barnyard animals, decorating a pumpkin and the corn maze, but the highlight was the 'spooky' hayride. The hayride, heralded by Virgil, who was quite the character was entertaining for all of us. We drove around the 'forest' that was filled with ghosts, witches, goblins and Big Bird (of course!) - many of these creatures became animated upon being activated by Virgil - which involved him poking them with a stick or clapping earnestly in their general direction - it was a very amatueur production, but all in all a total hoot and well worth the $4 price of admission.

Thanks to Amy, Ken and Tyler for Ruby's personalized chair. Right now she can stay propped up for approximately 1.5 seconds before the below happens. She'll get the hang of it soon enough!