Cyra's Birthday (recap)

Cyra turned 4 on October 13th and two months later, I will document it.



Cupcakes at her school. Kian and Lulu were special guests.



Then, we went to the Camper store (on the way to FAO Schwartz) where they got to to write on the floors and walls.





Jumping on the piano.



Lulu showing Cyra some "Cool tricks" at home.



Presents...including flip flops (pictured above).



Cupcakes.



Family.

Overheard

Last night we overheard this conversation on the monitor from the kids' room:

Lulu: Cyra. Cyra. Cyra. Cyra?
Cyra: (tired) What?
Lulu: Cyra time out.
Cyra: No, Lulu time out.
Lulu: No, Cyra time out.
Cyra: No, Lulu needs a time out!
Lulu: No, Cyra time out.
Cyra: (exasperated) No, Lulu time out.
Lulu: No, Cyra time out.
silence
Cyra: (still exasperated) OK..., Cyra time out.
silence
Lulu: Sorry Cyra.
Cyra: That's OK.
Lulu: Sorry Cyra.
Cyra: (exasperated) That. Is. OK!

Fall recap

This all happened about a month or so ago when we still needed pumpkins and there were apples on the trees.





And Kian was here. Cyra was in heaven. Seriously.



It was so nice to have Kian around. I seriously wish he were my son too. (Is that weird?)





I guess the person that we asked to take the above picture didn't really think the kids needed to be in it.







Is there anything better than eating an apple cider donut with your cousin and best friend?

Jared ran the NYC Marathon!

He ran right by our house. We were out there with signs and some friends from Church came out for a few minutes to cheer him on. He had a great run and said it was more like a parade than a marathon because the whole course was full of fans and spectators.





Jared's small, but loyal cheering squad.

Halloween

From left to right (me in middle school, the gorilla that attacked that lady, a flapper and a red octopus.)



I thought that Lulu would go nuts on Halloween. That it would be her every wish fulfilled. She loves wearing dresses, but what she loves most in this world is candy. I misjudged her. The goodies of Halloween could not compensate for the "CARY"--ness of it. It was way too scary or Lulu. At the church party we went to, she had to be held the entire time because there were a few scary costumes walking around the place.



Mackenzie and Basil, Cyra's friends from school came to the party with us.



Then we went trick-or-treating around Marcus Garvey park and we hit the jackpot. We went up and down two blocks and filled everyone's bucket with candy. There was even a guy giving treats out of his car AND silver dollars. I love Harlem. Needless to say, Lulu got really into it once she realized what was at stake. She could barely walk with all the candy in her hand and in her mouth and demanding to hold her giant bucket of goodies.



Trick-or-treating at the beauty salons and the bodegas was the best part.







Then, doing tricks high on candy.



No hands.

Then, we went to a party at our friends' house. The kids were wired, but delighted. A great halloween.



Just need to give out some props where props are due here. Jared thought up and made this costume by himself (well, Sunny helped too). It included sewing and safety pins and a trip to the craft store. Way to go Jared.

And this was the pre-halloween city party at Central Park. It was raining the entire time, but the kids had a blast.





Watching the dog show.



Eating Smartees.



Face painting.



Lulu's skeptical and then very serious about the whole thing.