6 yrs, Pre-K and knitting!

September! Indisputably the best month of the year - although this year we've had more of a humid hot month than usual - STILL! The weather is cooler, the farms are busting with the best produce  of the year in my opinion (can you say pumpkins!?!) and it marks the milestone of my wedding anniversary - 6 years now to be exact. We celebrated by going to see Once on broadway - based on the movie which I highly recommend (both movie and show) - excellent! Also happy birthday Grandma Lynn!!

Maya started Pre-k - her third and final year at her preschool in LIC, we are anxiously awaiting the completion of their new space which has faced some construction delays that will hopefully be sorted out in the next few weeks - not that the kids have noticed, they are having a blast in the same space they have known for the last two years - doing more with letters and numbers and the classroom science project of the moment - tadpoles! Actually totally amazing. They have also done classroom interviews of their peers - here's Maya's:


Lia: What’s your favorite thing to do?

Maya: I like to make a tea party. I invited Sophie and Henry. I like to cook my cookies.

Nicole: Do you like Barbies?

Maya: I like to play with Barbies and brush their hair

Henry: What’s your favorite ice cream?

Maya: Chocolate chip cookies

Evan: What do you like at school?

Maya: I like to bring my pony book and show it.

Emanuel: What’s your favorite Barbie?

Maya: She has a horse to ride. Just a girl who likes to ride horses

Eva: What’s your favorite kind of music?

Maya: Sleeping Beauty

Eva: What’s your favorite book?

Maya: My Mermaid book and my Sleeping Beauty Book

Avelene: What do you like to write?

Maya: I like to write and draw bunnies

Nicole Czajkowski: What’s your favorite fish?

Maya: Sweet fish when they taste like carrots and look like lobsters

Jessica: Where do you ride real horses?

Maya: In a stable. I have to take a car.

Cat: Who’s in your family?

Maya: My big daddy and my little sister Laila

..... and Mommy gets thrown under the bus and totally forgotten - AGAIN! And I can only assume that 'sweet fish' was swedish fish not sure about the lobster reference except that she thinks it's funny.

We also made it to the NY Renaissance Faire this month - always an interesting experience  - where we rode a camel, saw some shows, jousting (yes, really, horses and all, one guy actually fell off - oops). It's quite an event.



And finally - my fall project has been to re-launch my little knitting shop on Etsy - Urban Baby Knits. I am really enjoying it and it keeps me busy. You might recognize some of my models.

This weekend we are headed to Hershey Park in PA with Roshni and family who have relocated to Delaware and are therefore much closer. Maya is looking forward to seeing her friend Liam... we'll see how they both do with the rides, but we seem to have lucked out with the weather :)

Happy Birthday Maya!

4 years old! Maya and her classmates celebrated with her at Jane's Carousel in Brooklyn Bridge park with an Olivia themed event, lots of Uruguayan specialties and a piñata and lots of mini cupcakes.

She is very excited to be four, and asked me all summer when her birthday was, and if she was four yet and if she could now go to pre-k. Going to pre-k is a big deal apparently because it means she will be in her separate classroom and be the oldest group in her preschool.


On that note, pre-k thankfully starts tomorrow for a half day of school. I am ecstatic at getting back into a routine. Although our summer was lovely - most of it spent in East Hampton with time divided between YMCA camp, beach, pool, yoga and horse back riding! Maya started taking lessons and we went together to the barn once a week and both rode - it was nice to get back into it having not ridden regularly since college. And Maya loved the whole experience from getting the horses ready, to her lesson, to the sponge bath she treated her horse to afterwards. Merrylegs is the name of her white pony by the way and she talks about her frequently.

  We've spent the last several weeks taking advantage of all those fun city family amusements that we hadn't gotten to all summer - Natural History museum, Bronx zoo and I think there is a Renaissance faire trip in the future - any excuse to be outside in a medieval princess dress and eat a turkey leg. Some pics from her birthday party. Happy September everyone!

Closed

Our first time in our apartment....

... and our last.

These pictures have the same orientation. The space behind Brain in the first picture is the kitchen, you can make out the doorway also behind Lynn that became the door behind me in the second picture. There are also a few more people in the picture that didn't exist before. We will miss our cozy 2 BR, our first experience as home owners and the place where we became a family, having moved from Murray Hill when Maya was 3 weeks old, and welcoming Laila home to it the day after she was born. Where we said goodbye to Kahlua, and welcomed Burger. Maya started school, we both changed jobs and I transitioned into full-time mommy hood. Couldn't imagine packing more into 4 years then we did while we lived there. But it's all in the planning for the next big change sometime next year. Onwards!

Happy 1st Birthday Laila!

 Awwww.. little girl turned 1 year old. The year was a crazy blur managing two kiddos, part-time work and planning for our future moves, but she is at an adorable age if I do say so myself - has already taken several steps on her own before hitting the 1 year mark but doesn't trust herself, only two teeth (bottom) but we're working on that and already a dessert connoisseur (did Maya have sugar before a year old?). Hey it's the second, you're a little more relaxed and probably so are they.

But we had a little celebration for Laila (albeit in the middle of a hail storm!! no seriously hail the

size of peas crashing to the ground as we stared
 out the windows in the lobby of our new apartment building wondering when we could make a run for it!). Laila had herself an ice cream party at Malu, local shop with several brave neighborhood friends who came out with their kids despite the end-of-the-world summer thunderstorm we were experiencing.

It was super cute - ice cream for everyone and strawberry ice cream cake for Laila. Of course when we got home the storm was over and the clouds parted, I'm sure rain (and hail?) are good luck on your birthday in some cultures.

After her party we packed it up and headed to East Hampton to celebrate again with Tata and Abuela for a double whammy re-do for Laila and a happy birthday to my mom who turned 45 +/- the next day.

Nice dinner, and two cakes of course for a double singing. Happy birthday Laila! Happy Birthday Mom! What should we do next year? :)

Swagger Wagon

Oh yeah! We went there. The NYC Hennessey clan is now rolling in a minivan- 2012 Toyota Sienna XLE to be exact. Here we are checking out our new wheels on our first day. We are loving our new car now that we have figured out how to get in and out of our tight fitting garage without hitting anything - and took it for a little road trip to Wellesley this weekend. Maya loved her widescreen DVD player and we all loved the storage and general ease of being in a new car.

And if you're still not convinced.... don't be a hater!!!!

Spring Training

9 months old!

Laila the menace

The little crawling speed demon is now pulling up on everything and anything that might get her even an inch off the ground, and before really mastering the whole balance thing and getting herself back down she likes to show you how she can hold on with one hand, or no hand at all. This has quickly led to her learning how to bend at the hips and throwing herself back to land squarely on her tush. She is quite the busy body, evan tackling the playground steps this week for the first time. Very motivated to move perhaps to try and keep up with her sister. Favorite activity right now seems to be pulling clothes out of the laundry basket and sometimes taking the bully stick away from the dog for a taste herself. Delish. A little video catching her red handed.