a little bit of everything and a big thank you.

the day nande arrived. li was too excited to take a nap, until i decided to get him out of bed...

mala and elias. i have not a single picture of joanna and i. mala is one of the sweetest (and most well-behaved) toddlers in the world! i hope my next is just like her! and did i mention that mala loved ada, and in return, ada loved mala. i can't wait for ada to have a little sister.

my favorite boys in the world, and they are best buds too.

ada with baby lea. after leaving our ever-too-short playdate, ada repeatedly said "remember baby lea, she was soooo cute!" and really she was, i'll take one please!

us. and my huge belly.
sunglasses, belly and all. poor kid was almost too tired to function when we met up with anna, jay and babies clara and lea.

i should start with the big thank you. early this week my mom came up and worked miracles on my little house. this woman had an agenda (and my kids didn't even notice because she gave them so much attention too!). she sorted, washed, folded and organized all the baby clothes and accessories that our pending arrival will ever need! she removed every stain from the baby's hand-me-downs (have i mentioned that i am so NOT good at doing laundry!) and now our little girl will have pristine used clothes. almost as good as new! nande also babysat one evening so reza and i could enjoy a fine sushi dinner. the kids adore her. finally she proceeded to clean and organize my laundry room and basement closets, something i have had on my to-do list since i moved in. i am eternally grateful to have such a wonderful mom, thank you!

this weekend was fun-filled with visits from lots of old friends that we don't see nearly enough. how wonderful is it to have so many visitors! when we lived in boston (and shreveport for that matter) we missed having people come to see us all the time. don't get me wrong, we had visitors (not so much in shreveport, but who can blame them!) but this is the primary reason that we moved to chapel hill. it is so wonderful to have so many family and friends stop by to visit. we love it and so do our kiddos!

i have been a total slacker with the camera lately. tooooooo busy with preschool, playdates, doctor appointments, christmas shopping, cleaning, preparing to host both thanksgiving and christmas at our house... i could go on. point being, i don't have many pictures to show for our wonderful visits, but please know, they are all appreciated.

ok- bedtime.

his weekend

i just wanted to post some pictures of elias' birthday weekend. he was a little under the weather, but we managed to have fun (snotty, teething fun anyways.) grandma came to town for the big day too! she was only here for less than two days, but we tried to make the most of it!

ada also had a great weekend. reza and i surprised her with a brand new bigger bike! she was absolutely thrilled! we gave it to her when elias was napping and she rode it the rest of the day (and every day since!) she has perfected her riding enough to be able to ride it to school, so monday morning she and reza rode to weaver street early before school, shared hot chocolate and then he dropped her off. how fun is that (especially for ME)!?!

the day after elias turned 2, he decided he better start acting the part. i can honestly say that i think the terrible two's have struck our house. HUGE fits, throwing himself on the floor at any point in time, and still incredibly sweet at the same time. it makes for long days, but i suppose it is all a part of growing up. i think ada secretly likes it though-- she is now viewed as the angel!

ada gave li so much love on his birthday. it was so foreign to him, he didn't know how to handle it!

a new truck from ada.

sick-faced but cute.

grandma, her baby, and baba's little girl

cake time! reza went to whole foods and picked a delicious "chocolate bar" cake. we, grown-ups, loved it. the kids, well, not so much. they prefer the harris teeter special!

ada on her new ride!

at the museum of life and science on sunday.

on the train. li's favorite part!

my little boy is two!

my very own little man is two today. it makes me want to cry. why does he have to grow up? he is absolutely the most perfect specimen that god could create. he is ever-so-charming and hilarious and seeks the attention of every single person he stumbles across. he never fails. he makes every single one of our days better. we laugh more because of him and get the best snuggles and kisses every night before bed. ada adores him. he has made her a better person too. he is whimsical and carefree, yet witty and incredibly bright. he is strong, fast, and sneaky. he should never be out of our sight for even one minute (did i mention that he emptied an entire tube of toothpaste on every wall, banister, hallway of our upstairs this morning? it still smells extra minty up there.) he loves bikes, trucks, motorcycles, music, dancing, chocolate milk, kraft macaroni and cheese, pancakes, train rides, swimming, running, riding bikes, but mostly he loves his family. he loves ada. he loves his baba, and he loves me. and he always shows us. we are lucky.

he is so self-motivated, he will accomplish so many amazing things in his life. but he will always be my little boy. and he will always be perfect.

the day he was born. 11/06/08. 1:21pm, 9lb. 1oz. 20 in.

his first day at home.

love.

elias' first birthday. one year ago. so many changes.

my little man.

happy birthday!

ada's first bike ride!

ada doing her butterfly dance

a great big, GIANT weekend

it was a huge weekend for us here! halloween, elias' birthday celebration with my family, and miss ada learned to ride a two-wheeler! does it get any more exciting than that!?!

to start, all of my family came to our house on saturday for a big birthday celebration for elias, poppi and even auntie m. the kids were so super excited to have everyone here. and elias got a chainsaw. can i say that again. elias got a chainsaw! and he hasn't stopped sawing for three days now. who knew it would be the only present that this kid ever needed. he loves it! the rest of the gifts were just icing on the cake (i say this as he is shaking one race car with one hand and driving a bulldozer with another-- all at 7:30 am!)

we spent quality family time together saturday, went to a neighborhood halloween festival and ate plenty of cupcakes and keylime pie! yummy!

sunday we carved pumpkins and rode bikes. li got a new glide bike for his birthday (which he has yet to realize is his since his sister promptly took it over and has used ever since!) but in one day, ada rode about 5 miles on the glider bike, perfected her balance, we took the training wheels off her real bike and she was off! seamless and without major injury. it was sooo exciting! she is thrilled for herself and didn't even want to get ready for trick-or-treating because she just wanted to keep riding!

trick-or-treating was a little silly. li got a lollipop at one of the first houses, wanted to eat it, and had no interest in any other candy! he LOVED being a dragon and probably screamed "ROAR" about 4,000 times as he passed out candy from our front doorstep! ada was very professional about the whole trick-or-treating experience (who would have guessed!) and took exactly one piece of candy from each person, said thank you, and when she saw that she had about fifteen pieces, she told me she had plenty of candy and would like to go home. where does this kid come from!? we had hundreds of kids come by our house and were out of candy at 7:30!!! our neighbors warned us to expect upwards of 600 kids, and they weren't kidding!

what a spectacular, busy, super eventful weekend! i hope yours was as fun as ours!

birthday party preparations!

testing our costumes

opening presents at the birthday party! elias was not happy to have ada helping. he kept reminding her "no ada, that's MY present!"

the beloved chainsaw.

i couldn't love them more!

the neighborhood hay maze

an exhausted elias

carving pumpkins

ada riding on her own!

ready to trick or treat!