Westward Ho!

We took a fabulous trip to New Mexico (to visit Nate's family), Arizona (to visit my sister Lindsay), and Utah (to visit my sister Monique). Here are a few photos from this fabulous trip. Those who scroll to the bottom will be 'rewarded' with a little video clip. Note: most of these fabulous photos were taken by my sister Lindsay and my father-in-law Karl--both of them amazing photographers.

Emi, busy at Lindsay's house. Homemade lemonade, not from concentrate. Fresh squeezed, straight from trees...it's really really great. Yumi with her 'mimi' (Nate's mother), sliding down the sand at White Sands, NM. Mayumi at a bouncing place in New Mexico. Emi the Good! Emi with her papa Karl.

My new darling nephew Niels.

Mayumi wrestling with her papa Karl.

Emi impressed with her uncle Nolan and his trumpet.

Yumi with her great-grandma Gloria.

Emi and her Mimi.

Cousins!

Yumi and her great-grandma Tonie.

At the Alamogordo Train.

To Dada, with love

This video clip was made for Nate, just so he could see a slice of his daughter's life while he is away. Any other viewers might question why I posted it, but Nate will understand. All of you, however, will hopefully understand the cuteness behind this photo of my bedroom as I found it one day after leaving Mayumi playing unattended therein. From left to right: Barbie and Teddy.

Emi uses a spoon

Warning: this clip violates my 'no-pictures-of-children-with-food-on-face' policy.

Emi the Sad

Cuteness (and water) Strikes Again

I think these pictures speak for themselves, so I won't say much. Only that we've just experienced Flood Number Three (the water heater decided to leak last night, dumping who knows how many gallons of water into our downstairs basement). What ELSE can possibly leak and require us to replace our basement carpet/padding? This is the THIRD TIME. :-) But on a happier note...look at these cute girls:

A Holly Jolly Christmas

Christmas 2010--loads of fun!

Here--fondue and a "Little People" nativity with our great friends The Lisles' (Brittany, Mark, Juliette, and Baby Vienna). The tutu that I made for Mayumi:

Mayumi opening said tutu:

Both girls, enjoying some of their gifts:

All I want for Christmas is...

Another girl! Three's definitely not a crowd (I hope). Haven't decided on a name yet. My favorite choice (Aisha) was immediately and vehemantly vetoed once again. We'll see if if we stick with the Japanese-Arabic combination. While I love it, Nate has rightly pointed out that I've chosen these last two times and he should have the chance to choose.

Emi the Good

We love you Emiko, Emi-ness, Emichan, Emibaby, Emlette, Ems, Muffin!

p.s. I can't stand the picture upload function in Blogger. Impossible to get pictures in the order you want them...so in spite of my best efforts, these pictures are NOT in chronological order. Alas! She's still darn cute.

Ballerina Fairy Princess

If you ask Yumi these days who or what she is, she'll say: "I ballerina fairy princess!" She has only recently conceded that she is ALSO Mayumi.

We moved her to her "Big Girl Bed" the other night--with perfect success, no bedrails required. Notice the sheets!

Thanksgiving 2010: New York, or Bust

I wanted to do something different for Thanksgiving this year, to challenge myself. So, when my old roommate and dear friend Amber invited us to come up to New York for the weekend and stay in her neighbor's flat who was travelling--I felt we had to say yes. And so we went! Now--the travel to/from NYC was horrendous. Six hours each way, with Emi crying much of that time (and throwing up on the way back). Not fun. But many many aspects of the trip were great. For example: Thanksgiving Dinner, hosted by Amber and attended by 16 friends. This dinner was no ordinary Thanksgiving meal. Amber has a recipe testing project going on (learn more at her blog: http://www.recipetestnest.blogspot.com/ ) and this meal was one of her famous twice-monthly 'Test Nests.' We all were asked to SERIOUSLY contemplate our taste buds and rate each dish. I contributed a dish of baklava, the score of which I do not yet know--but judge for yourselves from the photo. Delish. Nate graciously carved the SAGE INFUSED turkey. Emi and Yumi entertained the guests--every last one a saavy single New Yorker who probably hadn't been around a child in several years--but were very kind and cute with the girls.

I was excited to take Mayumi to the Macy's Santa Land. I was not very excited, however, when Mayumi threw a large tantrum in the elevator to the 8th floor and home of Santa Land. In spite of the fact that there were millions of people crammed into that elevator on Black Friday, Mayumi still found a way to lie down and throw a fit. Amazing. I could not actually get Mayumi to approach Santa Claus (a little overawed, I suppose). Not for lack of encourage by the extremely enthusiastic Elf.




Good times were had, however, when we went to the Central Park Carousel. And Times Square. And on a jog through Central Park. And on the Staten Island Ferry (make sure to look in the background of this photo of Emi and me).

Definitely a highlight of the weekend was getting together with my dearest old friends Amber, Sally, Mala, and Mala's roommate (and new friend, Beth), to see a show! Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Not the most amazing show, but featured some of our most favorite Broadway performers and we had a GREAT time. Thank you, Nate, for indulging me--and making this trip possible. Thank you Amber, Sally, and Mala for being excellent hostesses and great friends.