Touch her toes

Elise turns four months next week.

Her favorite pass time activity is to grab her toes and curl up like a ball.

After every diaper change we try to give her a little time on her changing pad to do her exercise.

Let it snow

The most incredible snow storms hit the NE this winter.

There was so much snow, mail boxes were caved in.

Some people tied a bucket to a pole and stuck it in the ground to collect their mail.

My camera was at the shop when it got SO cold that all the tree limbs iced over

which made them look like sparkling diamonds everywhere.

If there was a time to invest in a good snow blower this winter was it.

Lil helpers.

They helped widen the tunnel Kyle created to get the

snow blower out from the shed to the bottom of the drive way.

Awe, so much love.

Elise's first time in the snow.
Naturally she tried to catch the
flakes in her mouth as it snowed on her.

Thu's 30th Birthday

Today, Thu celebrated her 30th birthday. Given the significance of this milestone birthday, I decided that a surprise party was necessary to help her celebrate.

Orchestrating a surprise party with 3 small children and a wife who doesn't necessarily go with the flow presented a significant challenge. She once ruined a surprise visit from her sister, Thanh, because she wanted to do something else on the planned weekend and wouldn't accept any excuses from me. Also, we are just not that good at keeping things from each other and usually end up spilling the beans because we can't handle the secrets between us.

Even with these challenges, I invited 7 of her closest friends in CT, her sister (Thanh), and their spouses to a surprise party at our favorite Indian restaurant, Thali, in Westport, CT. I thought for sure that someone would slip up and tell her or she would not agree to do as I had planned for the evening, but she did.

As you can tell, she was completely surprised when we arrived at the party and still cannot believe that I pulled it off. It probably only happens once in a life time, so it will be awhile before I try a surprise party for her again.



I will let her fill you in on the rest of the party and her thoughts about the evening's events.

Thu -

Happy 30th birthday! I am a very lucky man to have you as my wife. I look forward to celebrating many more birthdays as we grow old together.

I love you!

Your husband and friend,

Kyle

Kyle's Fiesta

This cute little guy grew up to be the world's best husband.

Happy Birthday Baby!

For the record, Aidan was the first to wish Kyle a "Happy Birthday" today. Being the first at everything has become increasingly important in our house between Aidan and Ethan. Aidan gave Kyle a lucky penny he found in our family mobile and a home made card that displayed how well he can write his lower and upper case letters of the alphabet.

Once Aidan left for school Ethan and I start the preparation for the Kyle's party. While pumping the balloons to make party hat's Ethan says "This is going to be daddy's fiesta day" Since when did Ethan speak Spanish? I asked " Ethan, what does fiesta mean?"

"oh, it's a party mommy. Yup fiesta means party. Happy fiesta to daddy day.'

How did Elise help with the celebration? Ummm, she stayed up late enough to help her daddy blow out his birthday candle. She also was the source of entrainment with her silly glasses on.

Morning Dialogue

Aidan and Ethan are watching Elise watch Special Agent Osso. Aidan comes running into the kitchening where I am giving Kyle morning birthday kisses, and
Aidan says " Elise just said her first words"
Thu " oh she did?..."
Kyle " What'd she says?
Aidan " I do, she said I do"
Kyle " do you mean ahh chew"

The kids are at the counter asking for waffles.
Aidan says " wouldn't that be neat if you and dad had two boys and two girls?"
Ethan adds " Yeah and no parents so we can buy all the gum we want!"

Three months

What a cute profile. I love how round her features are.

Elise has always had good head control. She's been sturdy and strong from day one.

She's a happy girl. Elise is calm most of the time. When she is fussy it worries all of us because we know there's something wrong.

See what I mean?

Happy.

All day long we fight to hold her.

She's so yummy.

NYC and the other Mr and Mrs. Bitting

Two Christmas's ago, the other Mr. and Mrs. Bitting came to town.

We took them to the NYC.

Here's why I love them so much.

Not only did they give life to the love of my life but they are life long learners.

For many, many years my father in law was adverse to the idea of flying.

But once he did, he did it in style - first class to Switzerland.

My mother in law is a fine example of someone who is very adventurous in my eyes.

For all the things that I love to eat and drink that she's never even heard of before such as bubble tea, she always takes a thank you bite before saying "no thanks".

It's so awesome to me that my in-laws are open minded!

The Brooklyn Bridge

Statue from World Trade Center

That's alot of trash.

Grand central at night.

China Town

Makes me hungry just looking at this picture.

Do you see the giant snow flake in the sky?

Rockefeller square was very crowded. During the holidays, the ice rink is shown on TV so much, by the time I saw itin person, I was over it.

Broadway