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inspired by caine's arcade and the imagination foundation, we hosted a cardboard challenge party for bailey and her friends from school. this really amounted to us hoarding cardboard and recyclables for a week and turning them into toddler-friendly games. i must admit that the prospect of conceptualizing/hosting this event was daunting. but it actually turned out to be ALOT of fun for us all. after the girls went to bed, i'd design games, design fun passes, and signs. matt is really the architectural wizard that made the complex stuff like the puppet theater (and bailey's house, car and boat).

and we were able to raise a little bit of money for bailey's non-profit co-op school. yay!
pics from the event can be seen here.

on sept 23, brynny was baptized at the church of the good shepherd by rev. erika meyer. all of our family (her godparents: uncle john, aunt denise, and uncle sam; grandma merry; paw paw; grandma carol; uncle michael; aunt fran and uncle mike; auntie lesley; uncle conrad; uncle nathan) were there to witness it along with nanny gaby and aunt marni and aunt shnow.

 although bryn was asleep for the beginning of the baptism, the water on her head, definitely woke her up. surprisingly though, she barely cried. what a good baby :-).

 the week was filled with a great visit from grandma merry and paw paw who graciously and generously watched the 2 girls while matt and i went on our 1st vacation away from them. too scared to go too far, we ended up at buttermilk falls inn for some great food, movie, sleep, and hiking. though we (and my boobs) missed the girls, we had an AWESOME time.

back in new york, we pigged out, literally. our first family meal was at momofuku ssam bar where we had the bo ssam pig roast. it was pretty extreme and exceptionally delicious. that meal was followed by a birthday dinner for aunt da at casa nonna. then, at the baptism, gaby and jorge's friend catered an outstanding mexican meal for everyone. to end the family weekend of food, we had a sundae prix fixe at dovetail on the upper west side. yum.

happy dieting everyone and thanks to all our great family for coming. for a link to the pics on flickr, click here.
we love you.
xoxo
v

sometimes weekends with no plans are the best! bailey had a weekend of many firsts. it was her first real mini golf outing, first time seeing the statue of liberty and first time riding a bike with daddy. 

after gymnastics on saturday morning, we packed it in and went downtown to a recently renovated pier on the hudson. it was AWESOME. they have a skate park, mini golf, beach volleyball, soccer field, and kick-a*% playground. we met up with matt's co-worker, jeff, and his son zachy. then we sat by the water and had burgers at pj clarkes. on sunday, after church downtown, we found ourselves at back in battery park and right by the statue of liberty. 

according to matt (and i'm starting to come around too), we'll likely find ourselves moving downtown in the near future.

brynny has teeth... well, kinda. while gnawing on dad's knuckle this weekend, her first teeth (bottom) broke through. now, i must be on nipple protection watch. yay brynny! in other news, she has been getting up on her knees lately threatening to crawl. i guess it's just a matter of time before all hell breaks loose.

it's unbelievable that brynny is almost 6 months old. time has been flying by! quick updates: