Milestones this week for Lily include self spoon feeding. She has progressed with her spoon feeding that she can eat an entire container of yogurt by herself, with only about 25% ending up somewhere other than her belly.
Chris is less indulgent of the spoon training than I am since inevitably, it involves losing multiple outfits to the yogurt - both Lily's and whoever is in charge of cleaning her up! Another milestone is that she is dropping her morning nap and moving to only one nap per day in preparation for her to start 2-day-per-week pre-pre school. Notice the Norsk colors Chris is striking a pose with in the photo above. That ear warmer was a gift from Aunty Anne Ma who visited last week all the way from Norway,
We were so happy to have her stay at our house - and what a treat for the kids. She had so much energy to play, to read and to keep up with them. She also was extremely helpful cooking and cleaning and her sense of humor shone through in everything she did. We were lucky to have her stay with us. The fact that she came with Grandma and Grandpa Faiola was icing on the cake.
Proving the bounty of our familial love, Aunty Sharon also visited. She was here for a book faire and conference. She cooked her "famous" kaftakari lamb balls and also played the piano. The children were rapt with attention as she played the most splendorous version of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.'
We figured out that Lily is the perfect size to fit inside a roll on, carry-on suitcase and she loves it. Chris spent an entire hour rolling her around and she did not want to be done with it. She crawled in herself many times over this last week, and we've finally hidden the suitcase to protect her from (a) freezing in that position of (b) accidentally getting stuck with no parent around to help.
With the last rays of summer eking away, we have been getting in as much park time as possible. It rained much of this week so whenever we see the sun, it's a beeline to the park and outdoor activities. These kids have energy to spare!
This picture was taken the day Chris got back from his latest trip to Saudi. He literally drove in and I hopped into the car with Jamisen and drove out, leaving Chris at home with Lily. Jamisen's new school had a school picnic and we wanted to go to get better acquainted with other families at the school. Jamisen proudly introduced me to a little boy, stating "This is my friend!" Of course, he didn't remember his friend's name (Henry) but I was pleased he felt like he was making friends.
This is a snapshot of all the rough draft soaps that I'm designing for my next book, Pure and Natural Soapcrafting. All of these colors are achieved with a combination of nature-identical oxides and pigments and/or herbal infusions. Additionally, they're all fragranced with essential oils and over 50% of them are Palm-Oil free, a controversial ingredient in the natural and organic communities. The book manuscript is due in 6 days so this will be a week of focus and concentration as I edit and put the finishing touches on all the chapters.
We were lucky and got to take care of Baby Alise for a night so Uncle Erik and Aunty Cheriss could go celebrate their anniversary. What a joy to see our kids play nicely with their cousin. Jamisen is especially tender and kind.
This photo makes me laugh so much. The kids sometimes play really well together in the tub and other times, they wish they had the tub to themselves. I think you can guess which one would prefer to be by herself in the tub. =)
This Thomas the Train Shirt is part of the most adorable 'back to school' outfit I got Jamisen. He loves Thomas the Train still but seems to be drifting from the cartoon to more realistic depictions of trains. Ah, I suppose it is all part of growing up.
As always, we are blessed, happy and thankful for our close family and extended family all over the world.
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