{Kick off to Fall Weekend of Activities}

Fall is my favorite season and it's also the busiest time for us. I guess the beautiful weather is just so encouraging to do a lot of fun activities.

Our season kicked off with a neighborhood party. We have a nice courtyard centrally located in our community and everybody just hang around and listened to our neighbor Kevin play his guitar. William was so into it and was pretending to be rocking a guitar himself!

It was too cute.

Samantha loves being outside so she had a great time partying it up! Beautiful day with wonderful neighbor!
The next day we met up with a group of friends to celebrate Mike's birthday at the newest German restaurant in town--Der Biergarten. We were pleasantly surprised by how kid friendly this place was. The patio seating is perfect for fall outdoor dining.

Cheers to Michael!The Moms enjoying our apfelschorle-a softdrink apple cider and mineral water.
Allison and William!
Yummy Wurstplatten!


Happy Biertday Mike! Hope you had a blast!

{Celebrating Culture:2010}

I love how the kids' school offers a lot of parent interaction events. My favorite of these activities is the Celebrating Culture day. We are extremely thankful that our kids have the wonderful opportunity to learn about diversity and different cultures.


With that said, I should have known better to order a Filipino costume for the kids ahead of time (must remember this next year). Luckily, Aunt Sonja and GG recently vacationed to Hawaii and picked up a matching Hawaiian outfits. Perfect sibling outfits. Just as Ed suspected, one of the parents asked us if we were Hawaiian. Thanks lady...for proving to my husband that he always right :)

Here's a family photo. William was too busy enjoying his pizzelle cookie. Each family brings in an international dish to share with the school. I cheated this year and bought roasted pork from a local Asian bbq store. Very similar to a Filipino dish called "lechon". It was a crowd favorite!

Music time with Mr. DougOne of the activities involved learning to use chopstick and focus on enhacing fine motor skils. Ed snapped these series of pictures of me trying to stop William from eating the cotton he picked up with his chopsticks. He has seen us used it numerous time to eat and he's been using the chopstick he got from Isaac's goodie bag to "eat" food.

Mommy and William! Ed helping William build his Kazoo.
Testing out his Kazoo. Success! It was loud!
Picture of us taken at William's classroom.
Sibling love! My "Hawaiian" kids :)

{Samantha's Baptism}

Our precious lil girl was baptized last Sept 25th. We were joined by friends and family to celebrate this special day. Many have traveled a long distance (from Pakistan and Philippines) to witness Samantha's big day.

Our lil princess look so precious in her custom baptismal gown.I am a proud momma!Samantha was baptized by Fr. Bryan. He married Ed and I, confirmed Ed and baptized William. He has moved to a different parish but comes back to our church to conduct special ceremonies. We are thankful.
Samantha is very fortunate to have a wonderful set of Godparents. Sara (Ed's sister) and Nestor (my brother) will be a great source of guidance and inspiration for many years to come.Here's a family photo. William looks so handsome in his dinosaur tie and blue coat.He was more interested in hanging out with his friend Allison than participating in the ceremony:) A photo op with both sets of granparents. With my side of the family. Ed's side of family More pictures with family and friends.

The celebration continued with a lunch reception at Goldfish restaurants. The food was delish and everybody had a wonderful time!

My aunts and uncles from the Philippines.

Friends enjoying lunch reception.

Welcome to the Christian world Samantha!

{Samantha:5 Month Old}

Samantha bean I can't believe that you are 5 month old! Time flies.Your Dad and I were just commenting on how fast you are growing. I often cradle you and hug you tight to cherish this stage of your life. You are our baby!

• The other day you started sitting tripod on ur own. You were able to hold the position for about a minute
• You are still a mover! Funny how when you want to grab something, you'll roll to it. You love grabbing your foot and you recently started blowing bubbles and finds it funny!

• We didn't had any success with rice cereal but you love oatmeal! We added some bananas to your oatmeal and you are all about it. You've been sitting on your high chair during dinner time.

• You can now hold your bottle.
• You are your brother's biggest fan and he is yours. You love being around him.

Look who joined you on your 5 month shoot. You guys love each other sooo much! It's precious.

Happy 5 month to my sweet and adventurous lil girl!

{A Day of Celebrations}

For the past eight years, Sept 11 mornings are solemn for us but this year grief gives way to celebrations. We woke up anxious to join our friends in their big day. A birthday party for a special boy in the morning and in the evening we witnessed our friend marry the man of her dream.

Our family joined the Lim family in celebrating their son Isaac's dol.Ed and I couldn't stop raving about how beautiful the ceremony was. Dol is a Korean tradition that celebrates the birthday of a one year old baby. It's a big deal! The Lim family looked so pretty in their traditional Korean outfit.

Samantha's favorite part of the celebration was the violin. She was kicking her legs everytime the violinist hits the high notes.

(Picture by Karen)

They served traditional Korean food and had the travelling Korean taco truck Yumbii. OMG these tacos are sooooo good. We had no shame and tried almost(except tofu) all of their offerings - chicken taco, pulled pork taco,beef taco and quesadilla. Yummy! The decorations and details of Isaac party were so special. I wish I had taken a better picture of the cake topper. It's a lil guy designed after Isaac.
William and Samantha had so much fun at the party! Here's William posing at the photoboard and Samantha checking out everybody.
Evening came, Ed and I got dolled up to attend Elisha and John's wedding. My parents and brother were so sweet and babysat the kiddos. The wedding was held at Dunwoody United Methodist followed by a reception at Cherokee Town and Country club. It was a very elegant wedding filled with traditions. Elisha's husband is the 12th and it was neat to hear about his family's history. Hope that they continue the the tradition and have their 13th. Elisha is a GaTech grad and her hubby surprised her with the Rambling Wreck. Against Ed's will, we took a picture in front of it. After all I'm Rambling Wreck from GaTech and a hell of an engineer. A helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva, hell of an engineer :)

{William making Samantha Laugh}

{Two Kids}

I'm not gonna lie having 2 kids is hard work. One was a breeze but two definitely shook(and is still shaking) our world. Add to that two full time working parents, it gets really busy at our house.

Two kids is hard work but so worth it!

I'm always in awe by how much these two love each other. It seems like it's instinct for them to be siblings and to look out for each other.

William was so excited for Samantha to finally play in the Jumperoo. He couldn't decide which "feature" to show her first. Samantha loves it!This lil girl is a busy lil one. Lately, she's been sitting a lot in her Bumbo and playing with her toys.She's a mover and a shaker. It's very rare for her to be in her back. You put her down, she'll quickly roll over to her belly. Somehow someway she finds a way to get from one end of her blanket to another. This lil gal also had her first cereal. She doesn't know what to think of it. I think she wants real food!And the smiles just keep coming! I love how she laughs whenever we play with her. Her laughs and giggles are now with sounds and all.This big boy on the other hand is growing so fast! So witty!

Always remind me that William and Daddy's team is Auburn. Samantha and Mommy's team is Yellow Jackets! Soo cute! I love it when he says "Hey, we have the same"

My sous chef and ever reliable assistant baker. When he sees me working on the kitchen, he grabs his stool and always try to help me. He's actually pretty helpful for his age!

A very creative kid! I love how he imagines things and builds it. He's also so methodical and picky with building things the right way. He is his daddy's kid.I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. And he's been asking for silly bands. We got him some this past weekend. He loves it. We even got them in his favorite Ironman! Two kids is twice the work but twice the fun! Wouldn't trade it for anything!