Mother's Day Tea!

Today I got to attend Maya's preschool Mother's Day Tea.

In front of an audience of proud glowing moms, the kids from both the morning and afternoon classes performed a series of songs and poems (written specifically in honor of Mother's Day).

Afterwards, Maya gave me a beautiful present...a plaque with her handprint and poem.

We then ate bagels and doughnuts together and sipped lemonade.

I can't imagine a better way to spend a Tuesday morning.

Thank you Maya, for making me the luckiest Mom on the planet.

Happy Birthday Kai...Part 2!

Our favorite boy is 3!!! When asked what he wanted to do for his birthday, Kai immediately responded "I want to go to the Choo Choo place". So that's exactly what we did.

There's a great restaurant not far from us called Tyler's Tender. We sit on bar stools around a counter and wait for the model train to deliver our food.

While we're waiting, the kids love pushing the buttons to make a model train neighborhood come to life. One button makes the helicopter go while another activates the train and so on.

As we're eating our yummy food, we anxiously watch the clock count down until it's time for a real train ride. The kids proudly give their train tokens to the conductor and climb in the train car of their choice...Maya and Kai always choose the engine car so they can ring the bell. After 3 or 4 trips around the room, the ride is over and it's time to go play in the arcade.

Towards the end of our visit, the train makes one last stop at our bar stools to deliver fresh baked chocolate chip cookies for the birthday boy and his sister. They devour them and wash them down with their old fashioned milk shakes.

What a great birthday! Happy Birthday Kai. We love you so much and can't imagine life without you.

Kai's Birthday Celebration...Part 1!

I can't belive our favorite boy will be 3 tomorrow!

Kai had a great birthday celebration today. It was small with just family. We felt so lucky to have Auntie Jil and baby Ely here to celebrate with us.

Kai was so excited when he opened his light-up Thomas shoes and his "Cars" bike. He also loved his Lightning McQueen cake. Maya was such a great big sister and did a nice job passing the spot-light to him for the day.

Our First Visit with Baby Ely!

My sister Jil came to visit for a week. This was our first chance to meet our new cousin and nephew, baby Ely. He was just 2 1/2 months old and such a great baby. We all fell in love with him at first sight. The kids were enamored with him...especially Maya. She held him, fed him, burped him, played with him, soothed him, and always wanted to be next to him.

Thanks Auntie Jil for such a great visit. We can't wait to see Auntie Jil, Uncle Drew, and Ely again this summer.

Happy Forever Family Day Kai!

One year ago today, we held our beautiful son for the first time. We can't believe a year has passed so quickly. In some ways, it feels like we were in China yesterday, but in other ways, we can't even begin to remember life without Kai. It feels like he's always been with us.

We celebrated Kai's day by taking full advantate of a beautiful 70 degree day. We spent hours at the beach digging in the sand, running, and playing with the dogs. When I asked Kai what he wanted for his special Forever Family Day dinner, he said "eggs". So off we went to Round the Clock (one of the kids favorite spots for dinner) where Kai happily devoured his egs and sausage.

We feel so lucky to have such a wonderful son (and brother), who makes us laugh with his witty sense of humor, and touches us with this thoughtful ways and sesnitivity. Kai, we love you to the moon and back!

"A Walk Through Preschool"

I can't believe that we have arrived at that place in our lives...the one where we are actually sitting in an audience excitedly anticipating the performance of our 4 year old as though a popular movie star is about to appear on stage.

Today, we enjoyed Maya's first live performance...her preschool spring program. Of course we have enjoyed many live solo performances at home prior to this day. You know the ones...singing into her toy microphone, jammin on her hot pink guitar, or dressing up as a princess/chef/doctor while doing a creative dance. Today, however, was different. This show involved planning, practice, multiple players, and even a bit of performance anxiety. Needless to say, the show was FANTASTIC!

The Spring Program took us on a journey through perschool as the kids sang and rehearsed their favorite songs and poems that they had learned throughout the school year. Maya sang with such confidence and poise. We're so proud of her.

Earlier in the day, Maya received a special delivery from Auntie Jil, Uncle Drew, and baby Ely. Inside the small box was a beautiful wrist corsage. Thank you for such a thoughtful gift!!!

Maya arrived at her program with her own entourage...Nanny who traveled all the way from Miami, DiDi and Papa, and of course her mommy, daddy, and Kai.

I guess we can cross another milestone off the list of life...the first spring program...check.

Indiana winters can be so beautiful...even in March!

When you wake on March 1st and look outside only to see heavy falling snow, you can do one of two things. The first would be to go straight back to bed and sleep most the day away (a definate pre-kid choice). The second option would be to embrace the snow and appreciate it for its' beauty.

I decided to opt for number two today and take the dogs to one of my favorite hiking trails just minutes from my house. I was the only person there. I have to say there's something so therapeutic about walking through quiet wintry woods. I even saw a group of five large buck running through the woods (thankfully my dogs were too busy sniffing every tree to notice the deer running 20 feet to their side).

I wish I could find the time to put a hike like this on my daily schedule. For now, once or twice on the weekends will have to do.