Thanksgiving with the cousins

This year for Thanksgiving, we decided to take a drive down to Orange County and spend some time with Mommy's side of the family. We had a big turkey dinner with the family and followed it up with a trip to the Long Beach aquarium the day after.

Love and Hate: the story of sisters

Well, it's been quite a while since the last posting. Ayla had her 5th birthday back in September and Izzy is about to turn 3 in November. Our Ayla, who was once a cute little drooly bald headed baby, has started kindergarten as well. Thanks to Paul's dedicated home-schooling for the past 2 years, she now reads at a 1st grade level and enjoys her bi-weekly visits to the library. Izzy is still being home-schooled and is well on her way to reading simple one-syllable sentences about Zac the rat who likes to swing bats and take naps next to fans. The necessity for diapers and bottles has been replaced by the frequent need for referees. Now that the girls are 5 and 3, their interests seem to be similar. This is the cause for many "that's mine" fights. Ayla is struggling to find individuality while Izzy is busy trying to do everything her big sister is doing. Even though they fight, they're still the best of friends. They love to sing, dance, and make each other laugh.

Lil Baby, not so little

Born Aria Isabella Sperrazza (aka "Izzy" or "Lil' Baby"): Thanks to her Daddy, she's stylin' a new hairdo...no more palm tree pony tail for our little girl. She knows her letters, a ton of songs, and a number of other critical things you should know when you're 2 years old. When asked "how old are you?" she answers "Las Vegas"...not sure if she's being funny or if she's confused. There's one thing we're sure she's confused about though: how to find matching socks. At least she's good at matching shoes. And it looks like we've got another singer in the family. Izzy is constantly singing tunes from the Toxic Audio show which she and her sister have seen at least 15 times. When we're on the road, Izzy entertains the car load with original songs which are all in the tune of Toxic Audio songs but with made up lyrics about skipping to the park and hugging her blankie.

Ayla vs. The Wall

Ayla's Hajee (a kid-shortened version of the Korean word for 'grandpa') was an avid mountain climber back in his younger years. Although he won't be scaling the Himalayas anymore, he continues to share his passion for the outdoors with the youth at his church. With the help of other dedicated parents, he erected a professional grade 20 ft climbing wall right on the church grounds. When his granddaughters visit, it's a prime opportunity to show off that climbing runs in the blood. Here's Ayla (properly trained by her Hajee) conquering the wall, reaching victory at the top, and repelling back down.