Visit to London and Tini and Frank's Wedding

We traveled to London for our friend Tini's wedding and to visit Uncle Jeff, Aunt Brianne, and our adorable nephews, Rory and Seamus.  

Sorry about the weird haze in some of the photos taken with my iPhone.  (It was only on this trip that I got the camera lens replaced.)

Rory is out of focus in this shot, but look at that smile!

Aviva tagged along to Seamus' activities.  They had fun together at music class.

Seamus had soccer practice on Saturday, and Aviva got to join that as well.

I can't remember where exactly in London this was, but I love it.

While we were in London, we went to our friend Tini's wedding.  Tini is a dear friend whom we met in Swaziland.  Jeff and Brianne kindly babysat Aviva, but Franklin got to go to the party!  It was a gorgeous, sunny day. 

This is probably the only time in my life I will get to do something my sister doesn't

In this photo, Frank, the groom is walking in, and behind him, you can just see our friend Erin (one of the bridesmaids) about to walk in.

The beautiful bride and groom

After the traditional Indian wedding ceremony, there were amazing drinks and hors d'oeuvres in the library.  The reception incorporated elements from Indian and Japanese culture (Frank is half Japanese.)

Congratulations again to Tini and Frank!

FFF #14: Velour Vest in London

The weather forecast for London had been drizzly and cold, so I packed lots of warm clothes for Franklin.  We were thrilled when it turned out to be mostly clear, slightly warm, and occasionally even sunny (!), but I still wanted some photos of Franklin in his autumn gear.

Here he is wearing a red 0-3M babyGap turtleneck (which, I didn't realize until right now, is apparently too small), and a white velour sleeveless 3M onesie from Petit Bateau. 

I tried to take some photos of Aviva, and then Seamus, with Franklin, with mixed results.  The whole series is pretty funny, as it was impossible to get any single shot in which at least one of the children doesn't look maniacal/distressed.

I guess that last one is pretty cute.  Aviva's wearing Seamus' pajamas (and wore various sets of them all week.)

Happy Friday!

Franklin laughs!

I've heard so much about second kids reaching developmental milestones more slowly than their older, firstborn siblings, that I've pretty much accepted the assumption that Franklin will do everything later than Aviva did.  However, I'm happy to say he's already proving us wrong.  Here he is, laughing out loud, which Aviva didn't do until she was slightly older.  Ok, the difference is probably a matter of days or weeks, but I'm just helping them develop their personal stories.

The last (fourth) clip of these is the best.



Apologies in advance for my poor singing and slightly scary behavior, but hey  - he likes it!  (Or does he sort of seem like he might start crying? I can't really tell.)

Aviva's Third Birthday Party (Photos)

As I mentioned in the previous post, we had a huge party for Aviva's third birthday.  I found a few more photos of the event, which was actually a triple birthday party, for Mia (7), Aviva (3), and Basile (1).

Natalie and Peter

Definitely more kids than should have been on the trampoline at once

The beloved green Pick 'n' Pay bike

Giant potluck spread!

Alison and Benvy

Lien, Karen, and Brandon

The two older birthday kids, Mia and Aviva, with Antonin photobombing in the back!

Basile was the third birthday kid

Aviva's Three Part Third Birthday

Per tradition, Aviva had multiple birthday celebrations, only this year, there were three celebrations on two different continents, in three different countries! 

First, we hosted 20+ adults and what seemed like a hundred kids at our house for a birthday braai (barbecue) the weekend before her actual birthday.

Before the party started, Aviva got to enjoy the leftover chocolate frosting.

Here are Aviva, the other birthday girl, Mia, who turned 7.  Aviva is wearing a very cute dress that her Grandma Susan brought her in July, underneath a green Tinkerbell dress.  The birthday boy, Basile, who turned 1, wasn't really interested in being photographed, but you can see him off to the right side.

The following week, on the actual day, September 20th, we drove to Johannesburg and spent the night at Jessi and Uri's.  Jessi's handiwork: a delicious chocolate / peanut butter double layer cake: yum!  This party was also a multiple birthday celebration, as Uri's (a.k.a. "Abba") birthday is September 19th.  

And two days after her birthday, we celebrated again in London, with Aviva's cousins Seamus and Rory, Uncle Jeff, and Aunt Brianne.

Happy Birthday, Aviva!

FFF #13: Daddy's Green Outfit

Fortunately, Grandma Ellen saved a few choice outfits from Peter's baby wardrobe.  This little number is excellent.  By the time we squeezed Franklin into it, it was definitely too small (check out how those butterflies are stretched across his chest), but I couldn't resist.  

"I look as though I'm putting my finger up to my mouth in a thoughtful gesture..."

"...but really I just wanted to chomp on it, like everything else."

Happy Friday!

Afternoon at Malendela's

One warm spring afternoon, we went to Malendela's to hang out with some friends.  Aviva played croquet with our friend Sisi. 

We all posed for photos on the concrete elephant.

FFF #12: Autumn in Springtime

It was a tiny bit chilly this week, so Franklin is wearing what looks like a very autumnal outfit, even though spring has come to Swaziland.  He's wearing a 3-6 M Janie and Jack hooded sweater and 12M (!) angora pants by Quincy.  I especially like how the pants were a little legging-ish.  

The sweater and pants are from his cousins Seamus and Rory, and his Hanna Anderssen socks were a gift from Stephen and Monica Cohen.  Thanks to all for the clothes!

Observant readers may recall someone else wearing the exact same sweater, at approximately the same age:

Aviva was actually 5.5 months when she wore the sweater during one of our visits to Westport.  We can play our own version of the celebrity spotting game, "Who wore it better?"

Happy Friday, everyone!

Grandma Ellen's Visit

We went with Grandma Ellen and our friend Rebecca to the Mbuluzi Game Reserve, a lovely place two hours away from Mbabane.  

Aviva and Grandma Ellen had a great time playing with rocks (and other things.)


As usual, we had great giraffe sightings at Mbuluzi.  I didn't crop the photo below so that you can see how close we were to the animals.

FFF #11: Stripes from Grandma

Franklin (and Aviva's) Grandma Ellen is here!  More snaps from here trip later, but here's the big guy in a baby Gap outfit from Grandma Ellen.

Happy Friday!

Grandma Ellen's Visit and Rosh Hashanah

In September 2013, we were very lucky to have another visit from Aviva and Franklin's Grandma Ellen!

Grandma Ellen went on a very exciting trip to Victoria Falls, including a very daring whitewater rafting expedition before she came to see us.

Franklin cooperated, at least part of the time.

For Rosh Hashanah, we had dinner at Natalie and Uriel's house.  I baked a round challah.

Uriel read the blessings (after he finished making goofy faces.)

We told Aviva she could tear into the challah only after we said the blessings.  

Thanks to Natalie and Uriel for hosting another great dinner, and Shanah Tovah!