Returning to our Simple Renaissance....

Ben and I were sitting outside the other day and had a sudden revelation.

Since the baby was born, the time that we have spent being out of town or having a sibling staying at our house is more than the time that we have actually been home. Alone. Or rather, just the four of us. 

Wow.

No wonder we feel like we haven't quite adjusted to having two kids!  Or maybe it just takes longer to adjust to another little one.  Especially when the new little one is so very different than the first little one. 

  We have so much fun with our kiddos, even if they keep us on our toes and keep us up at night.  Each day brings new experiences for both of them, and there is nothing quite like watching your very own children discovering the world around them with such delight.

Lilyana's vocabulary is very impressive.  She loves to count (almost to ten, now!), "read" to herself and to Zorro, draw, play outside, trip because she's moving much too quickly, and help me make cookies.  Zorro is trying ever so hard to crawl so that he can keep up with his big sister. He has grown SO fast! He is currently bigger than Lilyana was when she turned one. Crazy. He LOVES LOVES LOVES kisses, and books, and Lilyana, and his daddy, and to eat, and just being with people. We have fun children. And, we think, very cute ones.  See...

 Lilyana still loves good food!  Zorro is dying to eat some real food. We keep reminding him that his soft boiled eggs yolks are just the beginning of goodness.

Welcome to Treasure Island!!!

 Yes, I know the coloring us funky...the settings were set to incandescent, so I figured I'd make it look really funky. The picture was too cute not to upload. 

 Awwww....

 And the great city. Maybe, some day, it will actually be very warm when we go there...

Okay, now tell me that she isn't cute?

A sleepy guy. We hope that one day soon he will sleep like this at 3:30 am....

 My little curly top.

He's such a smiley little guy!

Lilyana loves the zoo.

 Lilyana loves this picture. When she sees it, she says "Two! Two babies!!!"

 "How do you do?"

 A trip to Grandad's firehouse is always so fun!

See? We even find the crazy people they pick up!

*laughing*

Sorry, Kathryn (a.k.a. Nina, or Nonny depending on Lilyana's mood)...couldn't resist. :P

 So he likes turbans!

So did his sister. *grin*

 Can't touch this...

 And Melissa came to visit!!!  We got her for two weeks before we had to return her...I don't think that Garr would've been very happy if we kept her. *grin*

 The dinner party. The elephant was a good friend...the sign outside said no dogs, but they didn't say anything about elephants.

 And more crazies. 

 Grocery shopping!  One most always be prepared for a long road trip.  We were seriously crazy and drove out for Melissa's wedding with two kids. It was fun! Except for almost dying in the freak snow storm, getting stuck in the middle of Wyoming, barely making it to the rehearsal, etc.....  But the kids were so good!

 And when we arrived, William and Emma offered to wash our car!  How sweet!

 Mimi got to meet her great-grandchildren! 

 What? We don't know why we have markings either...

Impossible Astronaut Day.

Okay, so we're Doctor Who fans.

 Our new tradition...coffee with Caleb!

 We had a spa party with the girls (oh, and William!)...it was SUPER fun!

 Back home, Zorro trying so hard to get his entire fist in his mouth.

He is always so interested in what is going on around him.

Food!  Oh, we do love food!

FLASHBACK!!!

Lilyana at 5 Months.

       Zorro at 5 Months.              

Aren't they SO CUTE?!?!

 

Dapper little chap.

Sweet baby girl.

AAAAAAANNNNDDDD!!!!!!!!

Three years of sweet wedded bliss...

Everyday gets so much better.

Everyday I fall deeper and deeper in love.

And so I leave you with a sneak peek of our next post...

While Melissa was here, I had the great privilege of making her wedding gown...and, of course, we went downtown to take photographs, it was so fun...but more on that later!

Cheerio!!

Tiffany for BTLT

Of Babies, Anniversaries, Weddings, and Big Cities...

...where Ben and I have realized that we have NO idea what to do.

We LOVE small towns, cozy little fun places to window shop, hit the favorite cafes, soak up local color, etc...  But when it comes to big cities, we are completely at a loss!  Maybe we like the small towns because you can just go to one and find plenty of things to do without much planning, but large cities require maps, working around traffic, knowing where you are and where you want to be...and what in the world you want to do.  Maybe it's because we are very laid back, old-fashioned, very old world kind of people.  We love the slow pace of small towns and hate the busyness that is so normal today.  We're weird...we know.

So, the last few weeks have been somewhat busy.  Life is starting to get back to normal...I think.  Okay, so maybe after the upcoming homeschool convention and a friend's wedding...maybe after that.  Or maybe this is the new normal.  But I don't think so.  

Our anniversary was in May...I still can't believe that we've been married for two wonderful years!  Since we were eagerly awaiting the arrival of our niece and I had been traveling back East, we decided to wait until June to go anywhere.  Since we were already going down to LA for a very dear friend's wedding, we thought we'd save some money and celebrate our anniversary at the same time!

 This little cutie-pie wasn't coming on this trip, though.  Her top teeth were coming in, so what is better for that than a good coconut creme pop?!?  We dropped her off with Granddad and after she got over her initial confusion when we split up, I think she had a good time up at the ranch!

 Ben and I hit a fruit stand to get some goodies for the road...nothing like a bag of fresh cherries!

Once we made it down to LA, we grabbed some iced coffee while we waited to check in to our room...no pictures of that, however...we were tired!  Then we freshened up and went to a lovely wedding.

 The groom (on the right) was just so happy!  I mean, he's always happy and smiling, but we have never seen such joy and bliss before.  Our dear friend Hohn was about to marry his best friend, and we are soooo happy for him!  What an honor to be at his wedding!

The radiant bride, Heather, and her parents.

And they are living happily ever after.

The next day we went to the only winery left in the city of LA...the San Antonio Winery.  We read about this place in the Smithsonian magazine's food issue, so we had to go!

 It was such a treat!  A must-see place if you are every in LA!  

 The winery has been family owned and operated since it was founded in 1917. 

I had no idea that they stir wine...

Surrounded by goodness.

Two years and still so in love. 

And then Ben took me to a rather gross place for lunch....definitely a guy place for food!  The birthplace of the French Dip sandwich...which ISN'T French...

...but he made up for the manly lunch by treating me to a suite on the 11th floor of the historic Biltmore Hotel...where the Oscars were held many years ago. 

 It's always nice to know where the fire escape is...

11 stories up...

...means it's a long way down. 

AH!  The Tiffany Room!  Love the columns...and the ceiling...and the doors....okay, so I love it all!

Ben is totally in his element. 

More iced coffee!

Appetizers in the club lounge.  It wasn't quite time for dinner, so we grabbed some snacks to keep us from starving. 

Back down in the gorgeous, very Art Deco lobby, Ben is asking about the best restaurants in town. 

 More hotel beauty...and a good looking guy, too!

YUM!  Must go back....

Dinner was goooooooooooood.  I love pasta.

The next morning we had breakfast at another very popular local restaurant, just a few blocks from our hotel.  Oh, the pastries and breads reminded us of Spain!

The many chefs.  

We had our very first Macaron cookies.  We have got to learn how to make those!

Off to the Getty Museum!  The weather was perrrrrrrrrrrrrfect!

Ben fell in love with this piece.  

Enjoying the warm sunshine. 

A day bed from 17th Century France.  Very pink...

See any resemblance? 

And then we began the long drive home.  It was a very fun trip, and it was very relaxing.  No diaper worries, or nap worries, so snack worries...wow, it was very different!  But,  it was also kind of sad.  Every time we saw a bird or a dog, Ben and I would get so excited and turn to find Lilyana and show her...and she wasn't there. :(  So, we've decided that we'll keep her around for a while.  She's too fun, too cute and such a sweetie pie....and we love having her around!  

So, there you have it...our random, rather unorganized adventures of being in a big city.  Like I said, we didn't really know what to do, so we didn't do much.  We just walked a lot, and talked and spent time together, which was very nice...but next trip we'll stick to a small town.

 When we got home, we waited for Grandmum to bring this sweet little face to us.  She was tickled pink to see  us, which was nice, because we were tickled pink to see her, too! 

And because she wasn't on our trip, and therefore not in very many pictures, I'll post a few extra of just her. *grin*

Have we mentioned that she LOVES corn on the cob?

A teething ring and the wooden rings that actually go on the stick...but she was impressed with her stacking skills.

And I just heard Lilyana calling me, so I had better run!

Thanks for all of your well wishes and congratulations!  You are all very sweet!