arwyn loves parties; mom & dad are nuts

Arwyn is really into parties these days, no questions asked. she's constantly asking to read her "party book", which is a book we picked up at the library on how to throw kids parties. deciding that wasn't nearly enough to sate her appetite, and considering the dreary weather, we took the next step. Arwyn's birthday still 2.5 months out, we thought we'd throw a party for her favorite stuffed animal/blanket/constant companion, Karl.

i baked the cake before she got up in the morning, decorated it during her nap, and Lorri and i made a few crude party hats (including one for Karl, of course - look carefully in the picture below) as well. all we had to do was wait for her to wake up from what turned out to be a long nap - which was fine, as the DVR is getting pretty fully of TV shows these busy days.

















she was pretty excited when she came out, though a little apprehensive about the candles this time around for some reason. needless to say, when it came to the cake, she was excited. this clip doesn't really make that quite clear but it's cute in any case.




Arwyn's really been into singing of late, which is handy at party time. she wasn't so into it on this occasion but here's a (very short) rendition of Happy Birthday - along with a request for more cake.




anyhow, it was a fun way to spend part of our afternoon today. she clearly got a kick out of it, and hopefully so did Karl. then again, this shot of him makes us wonder what he thought of the whole thing - especially the eerily familiar cake...

more proof - everyone likes Rock Band

yep, here's me providing more fodder for Eric. R. to use in picking on me. no worries, i can take it. anyhow, some of you know we picked up Rock Band a few weeks ago. if you haven't heard, it's the latest in a series of music sim games, much like the Guitar Hero series - which we also have and love. anyhow, the differentiating factor here is that in addition to guitar, vocals, bass, and yes - drums, are all represented. who doesn't want to be a drummer, right? we've known for a while that Arwyn loves playing drums, so this is just another instrument to bang on. i've got a better clip of her on the video camera (as opposed to this snippet from our regular camera) but this will work for now. in case you're wondering - yes, the kitty cat ears do provide a +5 to agility [bad Dungeons & Dragons / World of Warcraft / etc humor].

thankful for family visits

what better time than Thanksgiving (ok, i'm almost two weeks too late posting - we've all been afflicted with various colds of late...) to have nice visits with family? specifically, Dad and Patty visited one weekend, and my Mom the next. during the latter, my mother's parents (Grandma Anna and Poppy Gio, if you've lost track of all the names!) came over on the ferry from NY. we're truly thankful anytime people are willing to make the trip down/up/over to see us, and we had a really nice time both weekends.

first came Grandpa and Patty's visit. i think it's fair to say that all were impressed by how much the wee one has grown - and just how much she likes her "bug coat" - i.e. the ladybug coat that Arwyn has been wearing during most waking hours for the last two months. we spent some time outside checking out the ducks (the chickens were still inside at that point) which meant wheelbarrow rides for Arwyn.




no visit would be complete without a trip to our neighborhood park, right? this video (shot by Patty, much as the previous one - thanks!) shows off Arwyn's acrobatics skills as she tackles the mini-climbing wall on the gym.




the next weekend my mother came to visit. here's a picture of Arwyn and her Nana working on a puzzle.
















Arwyn really enjoyed the visit from her great grandparents, who took the ferry over to CT from Long Island. always happy to have a captive audience, she happily showed off her skills with Play Doh. later in the day, she enjoyed reading one of the books my grandparents brought her as a gift as you see here.