"Yesh" and "no"

More from Luke's birthday

As I mentioned, Luke's first birthday, (his "dol") was a really great celebration with our immediate family.  We were so lucky to have our family come in for Luke's big day (thank you Harlmoni, Harlabogi, Amma, Papa and Samchoon for traveling all the way up to NY!  And the celebration will continue when Aunt Renee comes in just a couple of weeks -- hurray!).

Here are some fun pictures I wanted to share.  

And for the fun "fortune telling" tradition part of the celebration, Luke was presented with four items: a book and pencil for "a scholarly future", a long sting for long life and money for well, you know... Guess what he picked??  Thataboy!!  He picked the money!!

And since everyone was cheering, he decided to pick more stuff.  What do you think the orange signifies??

What a fun celebration!  Thank you again to our wonderful family.  And a big thank you to Luke -- for having the best little smile that makes his mama's heart swell.  We love you!

Catching up...

Now that I'm taking a bit of a "sabbatical," to be a stay at home mom, I'm not sure if I'll have more or less time to blog.  We shall see!!

The holidays were pretty good, but with Bryan coming down with bronchitis (poor guy... waking up at 2 in the morning for a month is not human) right around Christmas and me, with a sinus infection on New Year's, I know we can do better next year!  Regardless, the kids had a good time which is more than half the battle. 

Anyway, here are some photos of the kids to bring you up to speed.

One day we decided to get super messy and finger paint all over the kitchen table, which was a lot of fun!

But then we decided to make the mess super fun by dancing to the band, fun(period).  Every time the beginning of this song comes on, Luke claps -- how awesome is that?  And yes, that's finger paint on his forehead.

Like I mentioned, Christmas was pretty low key since we were a bit under the weather, but we still managed to sneak in some fun presents!

Malina got this awesome princess dress which she absolutely loves.  Thanks, Samchoon!

As you might have seen, we had Luke's first birthday (his "dol") earlier this week.  Here's a cute picture of him and his harlmoni...  so sweet, he's such a lover.  

And today, I got this cute shot of the kids in the back seat on our way to dropping Malina off at school.

Just a few for today

I had this post saved and even though it's almost two months old, I thought you'd still enjoy!

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We had a really wonderful time in Ohio over the Thanksgiving holiday.  The kids did so well on the flights but more importantly they had so much fun with all their family.  Here are a few pictures.

Happy Birthday, Luke!

Happy Birthday, Luke!  We love you so much!!

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!"