Kyalo's baptism

Oh, summer vacation how I love you.  How sad I am that you are coming to an end.  We're back to NJ on Sunday night and things get back into full swing pretty quickly.  I'm savoring these long, slow, summer days...except for in the afternoons when it seems Kyalo's decided to boycott his afternoon nap.

Something that has long been on my to-do list is to have Kyalo baptized.  We had intended to have him dedicated at the church we were going to in Kenya, and have his family there to celebrate that time with us.  But the dedication weekend was the weekend Dexter went to NJ for a little interview at UMDNJ.  

In the end, we were able to have him baptized at the church I grew up going, which was extra-special for me.  Also a bonus, the priest who did the baptism has a long relationship with and love for Kenya, so it seemed especially fitting!

a small sampling of the people who turned out for Kyalo's big day!

Finally got a picture of these dear friends!  Bill and Keziah live in Beverly (15 min away) and we spend a lot of time with them each time we're back in MA.  Bill is the cousin of the best man from our wedding, and even went to high school for one year with Dexter.   I love small connections like this.  Having these friends here always makes coming north a little more exciting.  

And then there was a little gathering back in Essex. 

 Covenant spent a lot of time playing with Kyalo

not a bad place to sit and chat

It was a perfect day, and I was glad we did it here in Essex, surrounded by friends who will love and pray for Kyalo.

28 months

We were in CA when 28 months hit, and as well intentioned as I was to get his pictures, it just didn't happen. I snapped a few upon our return to MA.

This has been a fun month as his imagination and personality has really been taking off.

He was really excited to go to 'Glandma's house' prior to our trip, and would often hop in his car (which he is way too big for now) and 'drive' to her house.

(please note the little pony tail puff - his request - in his hair)

We were at Jenny's house a few weeks ago, and she was making meatballs. Ever since then he's enjoyed making his own meatballs. This usually involves pulling everything out of the fridge and strewing it around the kitchen.

Prior to our month-long departure from Belleville, we spent a lot of time with Jenny and Ellen. Kyalo and Ellen are fast friends, and he often asks to go to "Ey-yen's house" before he's even out of the crib.  Here they are watching a little Sesame Street.

I've mentioned before that Kyalo always asks us to 'pway! pway!' Lately, we'll hear him listing all the people he knows.  The earnestness and simplicity of it is so sweet to me.  If he's met you - and can pronounce your name - you're probably on Kyalo's prayer list.  One of my favorite memories is a time when we were driving and he asked to pray (and to hold hands) and the only person he prayed for was me!! But we'll often hear him praying in his car seat, his crib, his high chair in the middle of dinner.  

My hope is that he always loves praying as much as he does now.  

28 months 

(and a few days)

On this particular day, he was coloring with his new crayons, and having a grand time. So I just kept snapping away.

I guess he was pretty excited about this coloring!  I love the facial expressions.

A few other things. . .

- a bottom tooth is beginning to peek through. He's really taking his sweet time to get his teeth as there are still a few more to come.  

- we were doing pretty well with potty training until we hopped in the car and headed to MA.  A four + hour car ride is not ideal settings for potty training, plus then we had long travel to California.  We'll hammer it out when we get back to NJ.  

- he has a serious throwing habit -- he loves to throw things (usually things he shouldn't have), and I'd say he has fairly reasonable aim most of the time. I'm trying to figure out a way to channel that energy/strength.

- as I think you can see from his pictures, he is a happy, smiley, (relatively) easy-going kid.  We can't imagine life without him.

Vacation has been wonderful -- I'm already dreading the return of normal life -- and so there will be more happy vacation posts to come...if I'm not too busy enjoying vacation!

aerial

One thing my mom and I got to do while in CA was see Abby, my 13-year-old niece go to her Aerial Dance class.  This is basically dance in the air - seriously. Think Cirque Du Soleil, I guess.  Abby's only been doing it for a little while, so she's not that crazy yet, but  I know it will only be a matter of time.  She did ballet for a long time, but because of always living overseas I never got to see her perform, so it was a real treat for me to see her doing this.

I will also admit to some heart palpitations when I turned away, turned back and saw that she has shimmed up a VERY thin silk-like rope.  Racing heart aside, it was pretty cool!

friends

The day we were there she was doing trampoline work which looked like fun, and then work on that loop thing you see.  Her favorite thing is the trapeze so I'm sorry we missed her working on that.  She's enjoying it, so I'm hoping we'll get to see all her new tricks - and perhaps a performance? - next summer.

Thanks for letting us come, Abby!

the pizza

I have a sneaking suspicion that my brother was a little bitter that he didn't get in the photos from yesterday's blog post. Little did he know that there would be a whole post dedicated to him! - or, at least his pizza.

Dexter and I make a lot of pizza.  Whip up a batch of dough late afternoon, slap on some (homemade, at least) sauce, shred some store-brand mozz and call it a pizza.  Not so, Adam.  His dough needs 2-3 days to 'rest' and then a double rising time. He gets fresh, whole mozzarella that he slices (never shreds), fresh basil, a light sauce, etc.  And then, into the wood oven in his backyard it goes.  He takes pizza making to 100x times what we do.  It is a production, to say the least.  Clearly, though, it brings him joy.  Getting some of him pizza was high on everyone's list, since the pizza oven is a new addition in the year since we've been there.  It was worth it!

 roasting some corn and Brussels sprouts for toppings

Dexter lending a hand

jalapenos

 into the oven it goes!

for about five minutes

and then, perfection

I think in total there were eight types of pizza - all with a different topping. So if you didn't like the first one, another option was never far behind.  

My dad wanted to try his hand at cooking in the oven, and so he scooped up a bit of salmon while at Whole Foods earlier in the day.  

No finalized photos of the fish as it got to be too late, and I was hiding from the cold inside.  But it was also very tasty. We threw it in a pasta dish the next day, and everyone was happy.

Unfortunately, the Mulandis won't be venturing into brick oven pizza ourselves anytime soon.  Bring on the one-hour dough and generic mozzarella! 

annual shoot

We're back from a long weekend in California to see Adam and Noelle and their six kids.  It was a weekend filled with simple activities: time at the pool (even in the 60 degree weather!), watching Abby at her Aerial dancing class, time at the house, conversations around the fire pit, eating pizza from Adam's backyard pizza oven, and a Wilco-My Morning Jacket-Bob Dylan concert.  Oh yeah, we're hip.  That concert also involved the first time I've left Kyalo with a babysitter other than family or a good friend, and was also the longest I've been apart from him (10 + hours) since he was born.  It was time.

Like last year, we had a day of family photos, done by Noelle's friends Blythe.  I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures as well, though am confident that Blythe's will come out better. Can't wait to see them.  Here are a few of my favorites from the day.

 happiness is a backyard with a tree and some swings

 Campion

Noelle and Abby

 So much gorgeousness

but I think Noelle was ready for the photos to be done

 Vivienne, 3

Love this shot and her golden hair

Vera, nearly 18 months

I'm realizing that I didn't really get any pictures of Caroline, but that's because she pretty much hates it.  

So there you have it, a few shots from our family photo shoot day.  More of those pictures to come, for sure.