Happy 2nd Birthday, Ennio!

Ennio turned two today!
What a privilege it is for me to be the mommy of this wonderful little boy!
Oh sure, he is a handful sometimes, but look at that smile... it makes every effort, big or small, worthwhile!

We didn't have a big celebration today, as we just returned from a fabulous vacation in Tahiti (which we considered to be enough of a birthday present...). Today it was back to work, school, day care,...

Of course, we sang Happy Birthday to Ennio this morning! A funny anecdote: I first woke up Lily around 7:00 and asked her to come with me to go to Ennio's room and sing Happy Birthday to him. She got totally excited: "Is Ennio 2 today? Is he not a baby anymore???" I told her: "Yes, he is two! And no, he's not a baby anymore now!" We went up to the room and Marcus and I started singing. Lily stopped in the middle of the song and looked totally disappointed. Then she cried: "He is still the SAME!!! He is still a baby!!!" I was so surprised at her train of thought! She honestly expected to see a different Ennio, as compared to yesterday. A little toddler boy, instead of the big baby boy he still is right now. A person with whom she could talk and play, rather than having Ennio randomly babble and (sometimes) hit her. It took me some time to sit down with her and explain that Ennio was indeed 2, but that he couldn't change like that from one day to the next, that he would continue to grow slowly, just the way she is growing... She accepted it, but was still a bit let down...

After work, I picked up Lily from school and we went straight to the store to buy chocolate cupcakes and birthday candles. We had dinner and had the cupcakes for dessert. Lily put the candles on and helped Ennio blow them out. After that, she put the candles on her own cupcake and I had to light them again and again, after which she sang the whole birthday song again and again, and blew the candles out -- at least five times!!! It really made her evening! Ennio couldn't care less about the candles... he just dug into his cupcake - nose first - and had a feast devouring it!!!

Happy Birthday, Ennio. We love you so much! Big hugs and kisses from all of us!

P.S. More on Tahiti in one of my next posts!

Friends...

How wonderful it is to have good friends, but how sad it is to see them leave!

I mentioned it in other posts already that Lily's friends Nicki and Valentina will be moving back to Germany with their parents at the end of the month. We met up again last Sunday for a play-date (the last one, as we won't have another opportunity to see them before they go). The girls play so nicely together and you can really tell that they like each other a lot. Oh how we will miss you, Jenny, Marius, Nicki and Nina! Thanks for all the good times and until hopefully soon again, here or in Germany!

Having a drink while holding hands.

Valentina and Nicki on the hammock!

We went for a bike-ride to the playground.

The neighborhood where the Ruhlands live (Westlake Village) is really nice.

Ennio on the BIG slide!!! He climbed up and went down the slide all by himself. A bit shocked when he landed (the slide went really fast), but after a few moments, he wanted to go again! Brave boy!

Back home. Cuddling up and watching a movie.

Trying to get a photo of the 4 kids before leaving... Not easy!!!

That's it!
Have a good week!

Everly's 3rd Birthday Party

On Saturday, we were invited to Everly's 3rd Birthday Party. We have known Chad and Sofia, Everly's parents, for a long time. We even went to their wedding in Cuzco, Peru, in 2007. Where is the time?

Sofia is a VERY crafty person!!! From the invitations, to the food and drinks, to the entertainment, to to to... EVERYTHING was handmade and soooo beautiful! The theme was all about fairies, a magical forest, pixie dust,... There was a "fairy factory" where the kids could paint their own bird houses to hang in the trees, everyone got a set of fairy wings, there was music, dancing,... too much to sum up! A great, great, great afternoon spent in lovely Long Beach!

Lily at the arts and crafts table where she is decorating her bird house.

Mixing Pixie Dust!

Music and Dancing!

Ennio's artsy side!

Lily likes to spin around in her dress!

Hanging up the bird house!

Cupcakes!

Allie (Chad's sister and Everly's aunt) is 9 months pregnant but still spent the whole afternoon at the party and painting the kids' faces!

My little angel is enjoying a cup of ice cubes!

Birthday girl Everly (right) and her cousin Madeline

Just some funny photos...

Last night, I was going through my iPhoto folders (a huge chaos, I just don't have the time to sort out all my photos!) and so I stumbled on a few pictures that made me smile.

Here they are:
Our cross-dresser Ennio!!!
Lily loves dressing up and so she has a bunch of hairclips, bracelets, necklaces, rings, etc in the bathroom. One night after bathtime, Ennio loved trying them on. I thought he looked so cute with his little flower hairclip, hihi!!!

On Easter Day, Lily walked around all day as "Mega Mindy" (she got the costume from Oma and Opa in Belgium). She LOVES Mega Mindy (we also have the DVD "Mega Mindy en de Snoepbaron" which is one of her favorite movies) and tells everyone about this Belgian superhero girl. Even her teacher once asked me: "Who is this Mega Mindy girl that Lily keeps talking about?" All her classmates now also know Mega Mindy. Yes, Mega Mindy is having her break in Los Angeles, California!

Happy Easter!

We hebben er een heel leuk paasweekend opzitten. Zaterdag nam ik de kindjes mee naar de Egg Hunt in het park bij ons in de buurt en zondag - het wordt bijna een jaarlijkse gewoonte - organiseerden we een Easter Brunch bij ons thuis voor ons clubje Duitse/Zwitserse vrienden. Het was ook een beetje een Goodbye Brunch, jammer genoeg, want Marius en Jenny en hun tweeling Nicki en Valentina keren eind april definitief terug naar hun Heimat, Duitsland. Spijtig, spijtig, we zullen hen enorm missen, maar zijn vast en zeker van plan hen ooit in München te gaan opzoeken!

Een paar foto's en sfeerverslagje.

Zaterdag: Easter Egg Hunt!

Lily bij de Easter Bunny!

Er liep ook een "fairy" rond!

Ennio aan het eitjes rapen!

In looppas naar de wei!

Blij met zijn ei!

Lily zoekt het hoger op!

Ennio in zijn normale doen... overal opklimmen!

Met een hartje op de wang en een mandje vol met eitjes gingen we naar huis!

Zondag: Paasbrunch!

Het menu bestond uit van alles en nog wat (verschillende broden, kazen, fruit, nootjes, etc) maar blikvanger was wel de retro koude schotel die ik gemaakt had volgens het recept van Jeroen Meus. Het recept vind je hier. Ik deed wat eigen variaties (bvb. halve abrikozen in plaats van halve perziken, want die kon ik nergens vinden!) maar het resultaat was evenzeer geslaagd: iedereen smulde van de zalm, de asperges in kippewit (ipv ham), de gevulde eitjes (waar ik een scheutje balsamico azijn in had gedaan), de abrikozen met tonijn,... Een erg frisse schotel, ik denk dat ik die deze zomer nog wel eens klaarmaak!

We waren met 10 volwassenen (Marius & Jenny, Rainer & Kathryn, Claudio & Martina, Thilo & Claudia, en wij) en 8 kinderen (Nicki, Valentina, Karl, Lucy, Nina, Maya, Lily en Ennio). Na het eten doken de kinderen de tuin in voor een mini-egg hunt. Marcus was 's morgens met de paashaas op stap geweest en had de eieren goed verstopt! Vooral Karl was een kei in het vinden van de eitjes (die hij nadien wel heel lief deelde met de andere kindjes) en Lily was Mega Mindy en ging voor de moeilijker te bereiken eieren! Kijk maar!

Valentina en Mega Mindy aan tafel.

Mega Mindy (we mochten haar ONDER GEEN BEDING Lily noemen), Valentina, Nicki en Nina op zoek naar eitjes!

Klimtocht naar het laatste ei!

Gevonden!

In de namiddag werd het weer bewolkt en werd er binnen verder gespeeld. Claudia had wat nieuw speelgoed voor de kindjes mee (had helemaal niet gehoeven, maar werd natuurlijk op luid gejuich onthaald!).

Lego lovers Nicki en Karl!

Gezelschapsspelletje.

Lily joins the men's lego club.

Pruilmondje... het begin van de vermoeidheid van een hele dag spelen...

En hier Ennio. Ook hij was in zijn nopjes met alle chocolade die hij overal in huis vond!!! En met de telefoons van de gasten die hij heimelijk probeerde in te pikken!!!

't Was een gezellige namiddag. Hopelijk heeft iedereen die dit leest er ook een leuk Pasen opzitten!

Groetjes!