Catching up

It has been so crazy here in NY!  I'm sure you've seen the pictures in the papers and the news.  There are so many devastating stories.  So I thought I'd provide some uplifting stories and shots. 

We took a visit to the Bronx Zoo one beautiful fall morning and enjoyed some snacks while waiting as Big Sister checked out the snakes exhibit.

We then came home and helped Daddy rake the massive piles of leaves we had in the yard.

And the next day the storm hit, so we all hunkered down, lit a fire and got cozy.

And the next morning, we all woke up happy and felt so grateful that apart from a bunch of limbs that fell down and some shingles that fell off the roof, we were all OK.

After a few days of being cooped in the house, all the parents in the neighborhood were happy to get out to celebrate Halloween together.

Cutest jaguar and lobster ever!!

Luke has been very busy lately.  After visits to the zoo and being a mouth watering lobster, he's also been pulling himself up on the furniture and doing a bit of cruising!  

But he still gets around the fastest by slinking around.  He's quick isn't he??

Have a great rest of the week!  And despite the falling temps, Luke says "stay cool as a cucumber!"

First day of SCHOOL!

Yesterday was Malina's first day of school and she was a total STAR!

She brought Pete the Cat along with her -- because Pete goes to school too!  

We walked into her classroom and met her teachers, Miss Nina and Miss Carol.  I went to do some paperwork and left Malina as she played Mr. Potato Head with some of the other kdis.  After about 40 minutes or so, I quietly stalked the classroom expecting for her to be waiting for me.  But no!  She was in a circle, dancing and clapping with the other kids.  The director told me it was OK to leave and so I left...  and sat outside the building for about 20 minutes.  I came back about 15 minutes before class was over and did a little more stalking.  Malina was a total star -- listening to her teachers, singing songs and smiling.  

She had a great first day (mommy did OK too, apart from the crazy stalking)!  

And we'll do it again on Thursday because (as Pete the Cat says) "it's ALL good!"

Happy Birthday, Chiara!

Happy Birthday, KiKi Monster!!  

We love you so much!! 

Malina's first haircut!

Malina got her first haircut this weekend!  Crazy, right?  The girl is 2.5 years old.  I'm pretty sure there are some babies who can barely sit up that have a haircut under their belts.

Anyway, this was our girl's first and it was pretty special.  We made it a mommy/daughter moment so of course I snapped a bunch of shots.

Everyone loves before and after pictures, right?

Here she is the morning of her cut (the photographer's direction was to give the camera some "attitude"):

And here she is mid cut (OK, I lied, these are before, mid and after shots -- she's just so cute!).

(The duration of her actual haircut was so short she didn't even get to finish a lollipop!)

And the big reveal!!

Ta-DA!

We had so much fun that we got super crazy and let Maggie drive home!

On the move...

Wow!  All the Santees are on the move -- even our littlest one, Luke!

Over the last few weeks, I've really logged some miles -- traveling from NY to Denver, from Denver to Dallas, then back to NY.  And then a few days later I hopped on another plane to go from NY to LA.  Yuck.  But I'm so glad to be home now!

Anyway, on to more interesting moves...

Bryan is officially on the move!  Starting on November 4th, he will be an employee of Frito Lay!  His new position will be a Zone Sales Lead where he will be managing a local territory.  But first, he will be behind the wheel of this pretty thing...  sexy, isn't it?? 

And Luke...  oh, Luke...  He's always on the move, still slinking around the house, always with a big smile on his face.  He loves riding on his little fire truck and if you're lucky, he'll give you a wave!   

Our biggest mover is Malina!!  Starting next week she will be a diligent student of a great two's program around here!  Doesn't she just look ready?

We know Malina will be a total star and we can't wait to see how she grows!  It's hard for me to think that she's actually starting "school"!  Granted, it's only two days a week for a total of four hours, but still!  They're growing so fast! 

I also wonder how Luke will take the news that Big Sister will be out doing big sisterly things.  He's going to miss her, I know he will!

It's been pretty busy around here so I thought I'd just give you a random photo dump of the kids.  They're growing up so fast!

Luke's 8 month doctor appointment went swimmingly (again).  Oh don't worry, he's still in the 90th percentile for weight.  He also got two shots and didn't even cry!  Stud.

Last weekend we took a quick trip out to Stone Barns.  Did I mention how much Luke hates riding in the car these days?  Here is a picture of him in his car seat upon arrival.  It's hard to see, but those are huge tear drops on his cheeks.  Heart breaking, isn't it?  :(

We stopped and had a really yummy snack at the cafe.  Everyone say "goat cheese!!"

We had SO much fun with Amma and Papa this weekend (thank you so much for coming!).  Papa worked really hard to help us pull our yard together.  And he quickly put Malina to work while Luke supervised.

Big Sister got cozy with Luke before heading out to Super Soccer Stars.

And then we had a dance party to celebrate our Korean heritage...

Super Soccer Stars!!

Malina started soccer today and she was a total star!  Short action video to come...

Crackers...

I shot this video about a month ago, but it cracks me up so I thought it should make the blog.  (Apologies for the "mommy voice").

Our tour of the Midwest

Aunt Renee is celebrating her 37th...  ah-hem, I mean 40th birthday next week so Bryan and I packed up the kids for a tour of the midwest last week.  Here are a few pics of our adorable kids and a surprise ending!

In preparation for the trip, I bought Malina some new headphones so she could wear them on the plane and watch movies on the ipad.  We practiced at home and she loved them!

Luke decided he wanted to try them out too.

Our trip started out Wednesday morning.  Everything was great, the kids did great all through security and as a bonus, we were able to secure a seat for Luke!  Hurray!  But right when 9 am hit, things turned a little sour.  Luke cried for about 30 minutes as we were about to take off, but thankfully he settled down and we were able to enjoy the rest of the flight.  

Two rows behind me was a different story.  Malina was enjoying her movie on the ipad and I SWEAR I saw Bryan reading his Kindle.  Row 12 sounded like first class to me!

We got to harlmoni and harlabogi's house without much of a hitch and the kids did great!  It was really nice to see my parents and spend some time with my mom and dad.  We visited the Botanic Gardens (and the amazing butterfly exhibit!), did a little mall jamming and visited one of my college friends.  Harlmoni and harlabogi were so happy to see the kids.  And as a bonus we got to eat awesome Korean food and some truly organic food from harlmoni's garden -- YUM!

We then drove about four hours to Indy.  I would say about two hours of that trip was spent listening to Luke scream bloody murder.  But fortunately for Malina she almost forgot she had a little baby brother.  "Brother?  What brother??"  What is our lesson here? Everyone in the family needs a set of noise canceling headphones.

We arrived safely to Indy where we were greeted with snacks and cold beers (mommy needed a few to take the edge off) and Luke quickly returned back into the lovable baby he is (thankthelawd!!).

...while Malina found her new best friend, Charlotte (or as Malina called her, Charlie), Reagan's new kitty.  

It was so cute to watch Malina follow her around the house.  She would sometimes find her curled up sleeping on the couch and shout -- "CHARLIE'S SLEEPING!!!"  ...  Charlie would wake up startled and Malina would smile, point to her and quietly say -- "Charlie's awake!"  Hilarious, this girl.

The rest of our visit was great!  The kids had so much fun and it was really nice to spend time with the family.  Our return flight was not so great.  I'll spare you the details but let's just say that the passengers on AA Flight 365 have unanimously voted to put Lukey onTSA's No Fly List.

But our big surprise of the weekend was that Luke started crawling!  Go Luke!

Big Sister is super proud!