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.

just a cute picture

i really like the combination of this hat and coat, both of which are a bit big. Arwyn also frequently sports a headband that i should really get a picture of, as it's really cute. anyhow, this is just a snapshot i grabbed while we were outside playing one evening (she's still really into walking & just being outside when it's dark out).

TWO halloweens?

what could be better from a kid's perspective, right? first we had our town's Halloween parade, which was held the friday before the big day. Arwyn had just started to come down with a nasty bug (oh, it got much worse...thankfully she is finally coming around now) but she was still pretty excited. basically, the town children all got dressed up in their costumes and took part in a short parade with their parents through the center of town. where the parade ended there was lots of excitement, music, and treats from the local businesses. Arwyn definitely enjoyed herself and we think looked super cute in her pink kitty cat costume. we had hoped to stay out with Lorri's parents in town a little longer but Arwyn was pretty tired after the parade.





















by the time Halloween rolled around Arwyn still wasn't sleeping well (stomach bug = frequent waking for all) but she perked up when it came to wearing her costume & getting outside a little. here's a cute picture of her and her mommy after getting ready to head out for trick or treating :)





















not surprisingly, Arwyn got the hang of the routine very quickly - or almost, i should say. she didn't quite grasp that she should wait for someone to answer the door and instead would say "trick or treat" right after knocking. one thing she did get was that you got treats at every house! i think we may have a little chocolate fiend on our hands, it seems. we did the tour of our little neighborhood and then called it a night. we felt bad the next day because Arwyn wanted to go out and do it all again (she kept saying "treats" and was knocking on our door) but didn't quite grasp our explanation that Halloween was over until next year. thankfully she seems to have moved on from that now!

a poultry update!

ok, let's break it down what's up with the poultry in our world:

1) the ducks have grown...a LOT. this picture doesn't have anything to help with scale but i assure you, they're getting big. their feathers are coming in nicely now and they finally sound "like ducks" after all the weeks we've had of peeping.
















here's a short video clip showing one of their favorite pastimes, which is following us (especially Arwyn) around the yard when they're out of the coop. it's a few weeks old at this point so they're a bit small here but you'll get the point.




2) the coop is done! thanks to much hard work by Lorri and her dad (they let me help a little but they did nearly all of it), casa de fowl is finished. the ducks moved out from their basement home to there full-time today. the picture below is from the 90% complete stage, before the door between the two sections and the floor was installed, but you get the idea. i think it came out great!
















3) the chickens have arrived so we're on to phase II! we got three each of two different breeds, Buff Orpingtons and Silver-Laced Wyandottes. they've grown a lot in the last two weeks but they've still got some more to go before they can join the ducks out in the coop.

nana visits & we pick apples

ok, so i got a few weeks behind on the blog again... we had a nice visit with my mom a few weeks ago when she came to CT. Arwyn certainly enjoyed the extra attention :) one thing we did, in keeping with the season, was to go apple picking at a nearby orchard. Arwyn loves apples so of course this was a great fit.
















we also went for a nice hike during the weekend to an area park that has a "fairy village", in which children paint small houses for the forest spirits and leave toys. needless to say Arwyn got a big kick out of that.







































in all we had a great weekend. Arwyn really enjoyed her time with her Nana (and enjoys saying her name) and i think my mom was impressed with just how much the little one has grown up in recent months. i'll finish with a short video clip of my efforts to capture Arwyn drawing with Nana. i failed miserably as i was caught red-handed try to be sneaky, so of course she stopped drawing :)



PS - post #50! wow, didn't think i'd stick with it this long...

PPS - if you hadn't heard by now, yes, i (obviously) cut my hair. time for a change, right?