Easter...Bunny?

Today was Easter, and we host our family (families) each year. The crowd changes for a variety of reasons, mostly for the my family/your family rotation that just about any married couple deals with in some form or fashion - we were happy to have friends join us as well this year.

Tried some new recipes. Went with a Tyler Florence recipe for pulled pork in the oven, and I have to say...holy cow, I am making THIS again! Pulled pork, fantabulous. And the ham was good. And my MIL's lasagna. And my mom's rice pie for dessert. And like twenty other things. We have enough for for the week, I think!

O woke up CRAZY early today...this is the kid we need to drag out of bed every school day, and sleeps past 9 on the weekends quite frequently - yes, a bit odd for a 5 3/4-year old - wanders in our room at 6:45! Ugghhh. If he wasn't so cute. Really.

I always take a family photo on Easter. (Okay, this is the second year in a row. But it is a new "tradition".) Unfortunately I didn't get around to it until after my children had chocolate cake. You can see the residual damage on O. Lesson learned.

And yes, I am a super-dork and make us all coordinate. Note I said coordinate...and not "match". Very different. This retains some modicum of self-respect. Loved G's dress. Let me squish those almost-not-baby-limbs of hers. Yum.

I know. I am still working on post frequency - I'll rally!

The G2 Summit

G has turned 2! I know, she was barely walking the last time I told you about what was up with her. She is a bit of a mini-me, which is reinforced by at least one or two people weekly, and she has personality to spare. Demanding, silly, lovable little tiny girl. "Tiny" is one of her favorite words...she always raises her voice when she says it: "TI-nee!"

We had a family birthday party this past weekend. A Dora extravaganza. Please, por favor.

She was the star of her own show, looking lovely in purple and brown and a very, very special crown that was handmade by her older brother and held in place by a rhinestone headband (thank you, Crewcuts).

And now...introducing new technological leaps to LMWL...flip video! (Drumroll)

A fantabulous cake, with Dora and Boots on top. She is still at that age where all the hullabaloo over candles on a cake looks a little nutty from her perspective, I believe. Did not want to blow them out. Our big girl.



See, at least I have evolved in the last 9 months. Multimedia!

G1 Summit!

Time goes WAAAAYYY too fast.

Little baby G turned a year old this past Saturday! Oh my. How is she that big already? I'm floored. Good morning, sunshine! Thanks for being a birthday girl for us with breakfast.

And here she is opening her penguin from her brother.

We had a party and it was a blast. Family and friends joined us for her big day (which nicely fell on the weekend this year). Here are some pics from our little soiree for our little cupcake.



Her cake featured "chocolate art" created by our wonderful in-village bakery, The Riviera Bakehouse - now there's an example of a business that changed owners and remained a quality operation. It matched the invites, courtesy of Tiny Prints. (If you don't know Tiny Prints...do go online and introduce yourself.)



And here is her big birthday news...she is standing on her own! Okay, we don't have a photo yet but it's adorable...the way she kind of stands like...she's surfing. Hilarious.

She is such a wonderful, happy, verbal, demanding, love of a baby girl. Once again, we're so lucky.

Closing the Door on 2008

Happy New Year! I guess before I start anew with my first official 2009 post with a happy welcome to the new year - hello, it's the 5th of January already - I should make sure that I close out with everything I meant to post before end of year. Yeah, yeah...resolution, shmesolution.

Perhaps the best way to do that is keep with my theme for this past month and not make it just about myself but share a little bit of what we experienced throughout 2008 and especially during this holiday season.

Our first bit of awesome-ness this year arrived on February 21. Little miss G, who is our wee angel & little sister in this house. Hard to believe she will be a year before we know it.


O immediately acknowledged the fact that we had a new addition.


O finished his 3-year-old's preschool class and started "the 4s". He is officially...a boy. And so darn much fun, with a good sense of humor, mischief, and unfortunately he's also a lot smarter than his parents some days. He continues the rock star/surfer look.


G has seven teeth, is cruising, crawling on hands and knees, trying to go up stairs, can't be left alone for a second, and makes us laugh all day. When she meets you for the first time, you get an intense stare for about 12 minutes, then she warms up. She's got a lot to say but we can't understand all those coos and beautiful sounds quite yet. We think she's trying to tell all of us what to do.


C and I had a wild ride, a busy year with a new baby and an almost-conclusion to our house renovation. (Yes, I'll get to that once we get the driveway and landscaping done in the spring).

We got the president we wanted, the economy officially tanked, and I was laid off in September. In the long run, that's motivated me to further improve the work situation to emerge (finally) as a marketing and business development consultant. Economy tanking or not, I am looking positively at the coming year. There are still lots of opportunities out there.

Our trip to Aruba was great, a great underscore to all the family time we had this year. But nothing topped the holidays this year--we got to see so many friends and family, it made us realize how lucky we really are.

Christmas Eve...O with my handsome godson B. Like a big brother, he is. (God, that sounded like Yoda.)


G got her first "dollie" as a gift from her godmother. She loved it. Kissed it. We all fell apart.

Seriously, what kind of four-year -old needs to be woken up on Christmas morning? Mine.


We opened gifts with my parents at our house, had some mimosas, and got on our way to C's family. Little miss G, with so many gifts to open...just distracted by the sparkly stuff.


O goofing around on Grandma's lap with cousin J, entertaining as always...


...and C with our silly little gal, taking her turn at making like Frosty.

Ups and downs come and go but it's the real stuff that sticks. You know what I mean.

Aruba 2008

Last week, we came back from our family vacation in Aruba. We have been about 5 or 6 times before, and we always go with my husband's family - his parents, brother and sister-in-law, and usually an aunt and uncle too. (I'm one of those lucky folks who actually enjoys my in-laws quite a bit!)


These are the moments I relish the most on vacation.



We had a grown-up night out with my brother- and sister-in-law. It was a blast and completely silly; after a delish dinner we hit a piano bar. We said "one drink"...I think we left after about 6.


You get to take pictures like this, that you never have time for at home...



The coconut flan finale to family dinner out presented with great flourish by O.

We took O on a submarine ride, which was truly cool - shipwrecks and coral reefs and lots of sea life he's never seen. Down 130 feet and you get the "wow"...



Our last big dinner night out pooped out our little party girl.


Mmm. Happy.

Leave Us Together

The leaves are just so gorgeous in our neck of the woods right now that C and O couldn't help themselves but rake up a few big piles. They came and got G and I to jump right in with them.

One of our neighbors walked by and offered to take a picture of us all in the leaves...heck yes! Like C and I are ever in a photo together any more...well, figures...neither of the kids looked at the camera.


Beautiful, beautiful fall day. Saved the best for last...