how we spent our last day in 2011

For New Year's we were fortunate enough to be invited to our friends Katie & Charlie's house in Linville (technically the house is Charlie's parents) - we had a great time lazing about the house, eating, doing puzzles and playing games. On NYE, we ventured to Grandfather Mountain (we'd taken Luci there previously in the summer) - it was super cold and very windy! so we didn't walk across the Mile High Bridge - but we did visit with the animals and enjoy the views. Upon admission, you get a CD that provides an audio tour of the mountain - for some reason Luci really likes this CD and continues to request that we listen to the 'Grandfather Mountain CD' - so we end up driving through our neighborhood and hearing how on the right, there is a cliffside scenic view.

Happy 2012 to all - now that Jan is almost over, I'm finally caught up on this blog :)

ruby star

When we had Breakfast with Santa at our neighborhood club, Ruby's charisma and good looks were noticed - and she made the cover of the esteemed Woodcroft Gazette - which covers possibly an entire zip code ;) This is not the 1st time a Monast girl has been featured in this critically acclaimed publication - Luci made the Easter issue with a photo of her hunting for Easter Eggs. The paparazzi can't get enough of this family! :)

the aftermath

I love this picture of Mimi and Ruby.

And this one too - Ruby's expression cracks me up.

Snuggled up on the couch watching the Lion King. Jack looks pretty happy.

Luci loves to help give Ruby baths and she's so good at it - she's super gentle and talks to Ruby in a soothing voice -it's really cute to watch.

The Dr. Seuss washcloths and towel are from Paw-Paw and Qing. I can't take Ruby seriously in this towel.

Exploring her new Christmas bag of crinkly creatures.

Aren't they so cute?

Kai and Luci were playing Legos when I took this shot. Luci loves Legos - this obviously makes Kai very happy - I'm impressed she has the attention span and concentration to sit there and play with them for long stretches.

Luci with her new Tag reader from Aunt Heather, Uncle Jeff and Eme. She loves this as well and can entertain herself nicely by listening to the stories.

We all went out to lunch for sushi and Luci brought her camera - she took several great shots of the restaurant and her fellow diners - so what if heads are cut off? I'll have to dedicate a post to all her photographs.

Creating tissue paper art butterfly with Mimi using one of her new art project kits.

Some photos taken with our new camera post-Christmas. We were lucky enough to have Mimi and Poppi with us for a few more days after the holiday madness. This enabled us to all relax and enjoy playing with our new toys.

christmas night

Christmas Dinner was a feast! (We had worked up quite the appetite from opening all those gifts.) We started out with shrimp cocktail - we placed homemade cocktail sauce in a martini glass and then placed the shrimp around the rim of the glass. Then we had a fantastic salad with apple, blue cheese, toasted walnuts and a lemon vinaigrette, followed by a pasta course with penne, pork and meatballs in a homemade sauce, courtesy of Chef Bill. The main entree was lamb and roasted veggies. It was all so delicious! There were tons of cookies and cream puffs for dessert. And we even used the 'fine' china.

Family portrait by the Christmas Tree.

The girls with Mimi & Poppi and Taty & Captain

Ruby & Taty

Luci looking way older to me than 3.

Ruby snuggling on the couch with Daddy.

Paw-Paw and Qing sent Luci this beautiful and cozy sleeping bag. She loves it - almost immediately, she wanted to play camping and build a fort with it. We are hoping that she will get to use it on a true camping adventure some time this Spring/Summer - we have a great tent that we have never used outside of our backyard.

One of the best gifts that Kai and I received was a new SLR camera - a Nikon d3100 from my parents. It is awesome! We were getting so frustrated with our point & shoot's inability to take good pictures. Taking pictures of children is not an easy task and we are so excited to now have a MUCH better tool to help us. I will be taking a class (another Christmas present) at the Nikon school in the Spring to hopefully master the use of this camera. For now, we are having a great time snapping photos. The quality of pictures on this blog should be improved from this blog post and on.

opening day arrives

Mimi and the girls with their new stuffed animals (a lion for Luci in honor of her love of the Lion King and a panda bear for Ruby)

It was really difficult to shop for Ruby - she really does not need anything since she will inherit so much from her Big Sister. But I figured you can never have too many books!

It's 1986 all over again with My Little Ponies.

Luci loves cheering for North Carolina, 'her team', this sweatshirt is really nice and will probably fit her until she is 7.

Kai and Luci both got Lego sets. Kai's is a public transport set that now is on display in his office.

My new pasta maker - this thing is a beast! the fettuccine we made the other night was melt in your mouth fantastic.

Gifts from Aunt Liz and Uncle Bob included this new van that goes along with her new doll house.

And adorable matching 'Just Beeing Me' outfits. Also, Ruby got her own Baby Beans (not pictured)

Growing up Kai always rooted for the St. Louis Cardinals, so my mom got him a World Series t-shirt and hat.

Ruby enjoyed meeting her new glow worm.

And playing with all the soft toys that came as a part of this baby's 1st christmas set.

Ruby's new play mat - we have one that we used for Luci, but we wanted another one to keep at Taty's house since she'll be watching Ruby through June.

More books - this one is from my parents neighbors up in NY. They also gave Luci the Princess Numbers set below.

Luci's new coat - who wouldn't love a pink leopard print?

A snow globe with Ariel in it that plays Part of Your World. I'm amazed at the fact that the Ariel obsession has not waned, in fact, it continues to grow.

We had a lovely Christmas morning with my parents and my brother (who somehow did not make the cut into any of those photographs! - but he was there - he was the one who had the fun job of taking each toy out of the box and cleaning up all the wrapping paper) - we videotaped Luci coming down the stairs and taking in her new dollhouse and all the gifts under the tree. Then we had a nice breakfast followed by a short walk for the dogs (and some restless adults) and then it was time for opening gifts. Luci truly oohed and aahed over every single present - even underwear - granted it was Tinkerbell underwear, but still it was so fun to see her get so excited about even the littlest of things. One of the best gifts she received were My Little Ponies that were mine when I was a girl - (Mimi and Poppi had held onto them and brought them down to NC) - seeing those toys instantly took me back. We play ponies almost everyday. Thank you to all those that sent gifts for the girls - Ryann/Lance, the Dunns (Vincent, Dorothy & Mary Beth), the Haugs, Aunt Liz & Uncle Bob, Aunt Janet & Uncle Joe - we continue to be extremely grateful for all your love and generosity.