Honeybeatle

Ivy **loves** the Beatles. She listens to her favorite Beatles compilation cd, the one that her daddy (and fellow Beatles fan) made for her, at least three times a day.

Not only does she know that a cow says moo and a sheep says baa, but she also knows that the Beatles say, "yeah, yeah, yeah." She's been singing and dancing to She Loves You for quite some time and put on a really great show on Halloween night. Here's a video of her grooving to the music and trying out her new big girl shoes after our adventures on Halloween night. At 2+ minutes it's one of the longer videos that we've posted, but I just couldn't bear to edit out any adorable bits.

Busy as a bee this Halloween

Buzz-Buzz. . . Happy Halloween!

Since Ivy spends her mornings with Markie, a honeybee keeper, we thought that a bee Halloween costume was a perfect one for our little girl who already shows a keen appreciation for helper insects.

We had a great time getting ready for our family's first Halloween. The first order of business was to don a pair of sweats and do some serious pumpkin shopping:

then, this morning we rose at dawn and scooped & carved our lovely pumpkins.

Daddy is a creative genius and designed and carved our pumpkins -- they perfectly represent our current state of toddler joy:

After participating in a neighborhood Halloween parade, Ivy buzzed around the neighborhood and discovered CANDY. Here she is tasting a candy bar for the very first time. (Seriously! Up until today we've allowed her to have cookies and grandma's baked goods as special treats, but we've stayed away from candy.) Notice how she's signing for "more" in this photo:

Throughout the day I kept remembering how I felt one year ago when we were waiting for the call telling us that Ivy was ready to come home. Our families and colleague-friends were so supportive and helped relieve the constant anxiety through their support, good nature and humor. Ivy's nurturing hive is a happy, humming, and often hilarious one.

Just in time for Halloween!

The Amazing Ivini is here to astound you with her burgeoning magic abilities!



Happy Halloween!

Kiss & Tell

Ivy shows signs of becoming an astute director, cinematographer and actor. Please notice how she adeptly moves from her work behind the camera to a starring role in this brilliant little movie. I'm especially impressed with the stellar dialogue, smooth camera work and and realistic set design. We call this film, Kiss and Tell, (starring Ivy and Mama, with production assistance from K-Daddy):

How could I NOT be proud of this video?!

afternoon artists

The weather is colder and we're spending more time indoors. While Ivy and I love being outside and we miss playing in the late afternoon sun, we also treasure being inside where we make family memories in our home. One of the activities that Ivy and I do nearly every day is pull out a large tablet of newsprint and our box of crayons. We love playing with color, making bold marks on our paper and drawing the everyday objects that make up our lives.

The moments that we create with one another is sacred, mother-father-daughter time -- writing, drawing, painting and creating have always been important parts of our lives and Kevin and I hope that Ivy will associate happy, creative times with hours spent with her mom and dad.

In Daddy's arms

We recently celebrated K-Daddy's birthday. Last year the two of us spent his birthday talking about Ivy, hoping that she would soon be home, and imagining how it would feel to hold her in our arms. Now we can't imagine a time in our lives when we didn't know what it feels like to snuggle with her or comfortably carry her about on our backs and shoulders:

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Seasonal shift

A few weeks ago we packed away the summer clothes and dug out jackets, hats and sweaters. The forecast calls for frost and Mama calls for lots of snuggling. We're trying to spend as much time outside as possible before the snow flies -- and it's flying our way, whether we're ready for it or not.