Our cute ballerina!

We had a ton of fun last night walking up and down the street with Naomi going "Toc!Toc!Toc!" (Knocking in French) Naomi loved it and we hit about 7 houses and let her eat some M&Ms. She was an adorable ballerina/princess--outfitted by Aunt JoJo (Marjorie). I'm attaching another sweet picture of her and I from the other day playing the piano which she is loving! Will write more detail about life soon...

Fun in Chicago

We went out to Chicago for a long weekend to visit our dear friends Beth, Kyle and Owen Hubbard who moved from Connecticut this summer. We were wishing Beth a happy 30th a week in advance and enjoying the time with people who we miss very much. Here are some photos...

Mrs. Elizabeth Goodman!

Beth and John had the most wonderful wedding on October 11th and she was the most beautiful bride. It's so exciting to watch one of your best friends get married. Beth and I have now been friends for over ten years now!!!! I was really emotional watching her walk down the aisle and get married! Tucker and I were happy to celebrate with them (without Naomi :)

Nearing November

Naomi in Summer 2007 with Franc-O-Fun friends
Justine Combelles-Baum and "Auntie" Kimberly Fox
Sobersides Naomi with Grandma summer 2007 with hat from Great Aunt Marsha
Missing my baby girl...as Naomi rounds the bend towards her second birthday!

The fall has flown by for us three. We're now located in Wilton with my parents and trying on various jobs for sizes---Tucker is working at a cancer research foundation learning about non-profit software and business practices and helping them throw a huge gala/fundraiser this weekend. And I'm trying out being a high school french teacher at a nearby private school...it's just for three weeks as the teacher recovers from eye surgery. So I'm back into reading French lit...which is ironic as I haven't made much time for reading in even English since Naomi's been on the scene! The colors here are beautiful and life remains busy. It's been a really wonderful fall with two weddings---my brother's on Sept 13 in the Catskills and my dear friend Beth in Pennsylvania on Oct 11. We made a trip to Boston in Sept and a trip to Chicago in Oct to visit two sets of close friends who have recently moved and who are greatly missed by the three of us. I've recently regressed back to my old camera which I've been missing so I'm posting some photos that are old--some classic black and whites as well as some pictures from Beth's wedding and our trip to Chicago. I'm glad to have "real copies" in hand in an attempt to get caught up on my long lost photo albums! Hope you all are having a happy fall.

Catching Up

The summer has flown by for us in many ways and unfortunately I haven't taken time to write (in my journal or on this blog) or take many pictures for that matter. We spent the summer in Stratford living with Tucker's parents. It afforded us the space to give a room to Naomi (an air conditioned attic) as well as the space in our condo to get it ready for a perspective renter/buyer. In the end it took all summer to pack, clean, fix, buff, dismantle and GET OUT OF THERE but praise to the Lord we have a lovely young couple living there as of Sept 1. We are so thankful to have this huge burden lifted, if just for this year when we look for more renters and/or sell. I am deeply greatful to Tucker for ALL of his hard work and long hours at our place and to our realator Jean for her love and care in the matter! We are also thankful to the Lord for having had such a wonderful first home together. It was sad to pack up and move out and on from that place. There we many happy memories, good meals and dear friends and family to pass through those doors.
I have to say that despite a "heavy" summer we had many moments and memories---mostly of just playing outside with Naomi in the backyard and in the parks of Stratford. Stratford is like old-town America in some ways with places to walk to, a town green with summer concerts outdoors, public beaches and friendly people to talk to. Not as isolated as other towns in Fairfield County. We also enjoyed the month of July spending time with and saying good-bye to our very dear friends Kyle and Beth and Owen Hubbard who all three of us miss deeply. They moved to Chicago on August 1 and it's hard to believe a whole month has gone by for us without a play date, cup of tea and deep conversation with them. We're hoping to plan a road trip out there to celebrate Beth and Tucker's 30th birthdays. July was also the summer of Julia's last French camp (she was Mme Gateau this year) , Tucker's last missions trip with Apostles (PA for a junior high trip) and Naomi's last month without molars. Which leads us to co-hosting a really fun margarita party in the backyard in August with friends and family...grilled shrimp, beef kebabs and lights on the arbor and margaritas too of course. It was a lot of fun to entertain even while walking through a tough season of life. It feels right to do things with and for others even when your own life feels a bit out of sorts. It was a good party. (And Naomi's molars are successfully in!)
So about Naomi. She is definitely almost two. Or thinks she is. She's getting more independent and cuter by the day as she says new things and reacts to new environments---she's been really into cooking in her little kitchen lately. She puts her play tomato in a demi-tasse and passes it to me to have a taste. (She clearly hasn't been paying enough much attention to the way I make coffee!) I tried to put an apron on her but she'd have none of that. I did outfit her kitchen with some French paraphernalia and raided the kitchen for mini whisks and such. We've been sticking with French for the past six months and she's been doing great with it. We've been playing French bingo together and expanding on vocab and comprehension although she is still sort of reluctant to articulate many of her words. Her clearest word is "Agnus"...my aunt's bichon frisee dog whom she adores. Her other clearest word is "No." Typique!
We had a nice weekend up in the Catskills this past weekend....remembering fondly our weeekend with friends in June (my highlight of the summer). We'll be back up there in a week and a half for Jonathan and Charlotte's wedding---for which I am in charge of baking the cake!!
My first try was successfully tasty (mom ate at least a slice a day which says it was pretty good). Need to work on the decorating effort...not my forte.
So now we are temporarily living in Wilton with my folks until we figure out "what next." Most likely a move to the Boston area but we are currently uncertain of when and for what. Huge factors that need to be prayed through. Next time I'll write with more pictures and stories...for now just a summery of where we've been and what's going on.

Starting off summer

a day at the beach in Fairfield in early May...sand is a first!

playing "cache-cache" with Grandpa in the Catskills

Babes in arms on our porch at our mother's day brunch

sweet cousins, Naomi and Scarlett

Neil Graduates UVA with masters in urban and environmental planning program!!
We cheer him on!!

Hiked up Bastien Falls, Catskills

Card Making with girls at Janeway Cottage

Canoe Trip on South Lake

Busting out the SALSA and games

Finally rallying our flute quartet

Most of us are cooking up a storm. Banana pancakes, curry hasbrowns.
Tucker was helping, in between sips of matte tea

My sweet girl

Wohoo!
We had an awesome time the first weekend in June with friends up in the catskills. Canoing, card making, cooking, singing praise music, laughing together over games and just getting to know each other better. It was a blast. Lots of people--28 in all (10 kids) but we'd do it again!! We had Neil's graduation from UVA in May and had a wonderful time celebrating with him and hanging out as a family. We've been strawberry picking, I've been doing cooking at French camp (started last week), helping dear friends move, visited the Bronx Zoo, spending time with friends and family and so far it's been a great summer. I'm going to be starting up some more tutoring soon, Naomi and I will also be moving in with the Currie folks for the summer in the hopes of renting out our apartment SOON. We have officially outgrown it and need to pass it on to another. That's the short of it...and now some photos.

Enjoying my Naomi

I am having so much fun being Naomi's mom. She is learning in leaps and bounds and it's a blast. I've been speaking French to her (and attempting to only speak French to her) since March 1 and she is really catching on. She's starting to understand more and more and I find we are building on our vocab by the hour! Tonight I was reading "Petit Poisson Blanc" to her about a little white fish looking for his mom and each page ask "Is this the fish's mommy?" And we say "no" and tonight she really got into the "non" and shook her head and "oui" when it was the mom. And she's been counting this week "un, deux" when we're in the elevator going up and down and when we count to "trois" and go "kaboom" and flop on the bead. We giggle and do it over and over again and it is the most fun thing! She walking like a pro these days and almost running, she gets going so fast. She's just a little joy to Tucker and I and it's hard to capture it...I suppose it's a parent's joy and memory. We enjoyed the amazing weather this week by going to the beach on Saturday to have our first picnic of the season with friends Chris and Amy Stroup and little Micah who just turned one. Tucker and I are just also really enjoying our marriage...it feels like finally life with Naomi is more settled so we can feel like adults and a couple and be slightly less focused about Naomi. I suppose we're finding our groove more and more. Perhaps it's time for #2? Or perhaps it's time to just enjoy our family of three and enjoy this phase of life, because it is a lot of fun! Pictures are from this week: At the beach, at the park with Grammy (at swinging all on my own!), eating a HUGE sugar cookie we got from the "boulangerie", eating a banana "nana" toute seule!, and just looking pretty in her church clothes today :)