Pictures and Captions...Plain and Simple

Dimples and Drool

Double Dimples

Hmmm...what is this "walker" thing?

Whoa, I think the ground just moved.

Uncle Wan and Foofa's blocks

At the Zoo with the Whitney Kiddos (July 5)

Ever since we took a day trip out to Aurora, Hamilton knows who his Whitney cousins are (he's getting to the age where it's sticking). In order to identify them, though, he says all of their names in a row (even when just talking about one of them), "Joshua-Saraina-Kadin-Paloma-Autumn." (whew)

We were thrilled when the Aurora Whitney's (aka Whitney Kiddos) drove into the city for a little zoo and pizza excursion. We so enjoy seeing them and always have such a nice time.

Veronica loves her Auntie Kia

Checking out animals

and more animals

and big boy Hamilton joining his big cousins to check out even more animals.

Autumn enjoying the ride

Then we went for some pizza, and these three love pizza.

Sweet cousins

Little Miss Veronica

At almost 6 months, our little girl is certainly showing a lot of personality. She is adventuresome and inquisitive and doesn't mind a little rough housing (that's what you'll get with a big brother, I suppose).

She is happiest in the upright position and will do this...

...if you try to convince her that reclining is also a good option.

She's got some strong legs and seems to think that we're holding her back.

Notice that I am holding her arm for balance while she holds her weight in the first picture. I had to grip a little more tightly in the second picture as she tried to get away from me.



Of course, she does have her calmer moments.

We love our sweet Veronica so very, very much!

What's new with the boys?

Can you spot the changes? (answers at the end of the post)

That's right, Hamilton's got on underwear now (ok, ok, if you read carefully about our roadtrip, you already knew that...that's what I get for doing these all after the fact). You will notice that he still likes to wear as little as possible.

And, with Freeman...yup, no glasses. After wearing glasses since third grade, he's giving contacts a go. What brought on the change? Well, our little one's kept hinting (not-so-subtly) that they wanted the glasses off of his face...and they're strong!

Congrats to AbdelRahman and Mehreen! (June 24-26)

My youngest brother is married to a lovely young woman, Mehreen. We attended the marriage celebrations this summer in Memphis. There, we had the pleasure of meeting the Khan family, who are the picture of Southern (and Bengali) Hospitality.

(Note: None of these pictures are my own--even though I had a camera, I was enjoying the festivities too much and knew there were much more capable people doing the photo-documentation. Thanks, Sharif and Mehreen.)




The first event was the Gaye Holud. We had the pleasure of meeting Mehreen's family from all around the world. We also participated in putting tumeric paste on Mehreen's face and feeding her. Both of these acts signified our well wishes for the upcoming marriage (and we learned that the tumeric gives a beautiful glow to the bride's skin on her wedding day).

The next evening, Mehreen's mother hosted the Mehndi at their house. This was a more informal gathering where the bride (and anyone else who wanted) had their mehndi applied in preparation for the big day. It was an evening of lots of laughing, dancing, eating, and intricate designs!

And, of course, the Waleema (wedding celebration) where we got to meet so many, many people who love the couple very much and take in all of the fabulous colors (and delicious food).

The beautiful couple (and this was AFTER all of the celebrations)

I know this wedding isn't at all about Team Whitney's kids, but...this is our blog, yes?
(Isn't the outfit that Veronica's wearing adorable? Mehreen's grandparents brought it from Bangladesh. Hamilton's got one, too, but he dressed like daddy instead for this occasion.)

The whole family (minus Team Whitney)

My mom and I


What was going on on the guys' side

What was really going on on the guys' side
(All kidding aside, you can see Hamilton was loving some time with Oompah and AbdelRahman. Freeman got to talk with Mehreen's lovely grandfather, who's wife coincidentally carried Veronica for part of the evening, allowing me to eat with both hands.)

Memphis Botanic Gardens

We enjoyed a (very hot, very humid) day with Oompah, Taita, Amira, and Mariam at the Memphis Botanic Gardens.

There was a very cute kids area,

complete with a giant worm.

We thought it best not to try out this area.

Some Oompah time.

He's always been really good at this trick.

Hamilton loving the attention from his Aunts

Isn't this such a serene picture...just reflecting on the beauty...

...or marveling at the ruthless (kinda creepy) Coi fish.

And here's Hamilton deciding that he'd like to be a goose rancher using nothing but a squirt bottle and bird calls.

Road Trip to Memphis (June 22-28)

My younger brother, AbdelRahman, had his wedding celebration in Memphis on June 26, so we took a little road trip down. The thought of traveling with two little ones for almost 600 miles nerve-wracking enough...but what made the idea a little crazier was that we had just started Hamilton's potty training on June 4. Yes, really. We obviously need some lessons in planning.

In any case, there were certainly some things that we were very thankful for on the traveling part of our adventure:

• The rental company didn't have our Impala in , so we got upgraded to a mini-van (with electrical outlets!).
• We were able to stop in Chatham both ways to help break the trip up (thanks, Grammy and Granddad).
• NO ACCIDENTS! Really, we've got to give it to Hamilton. He alerted us a couple of times and we had to find rest stops, but mostly, he just waited until we were stopping anyhow. We were prepped for anything, with plastic and towels galore, but they sat unused.
  

At one stop on the way back, Hamilton used the restroom with Freeman while I waited in the minivan with Veronica. While in, they stopped for some ice cream for the road. After Hamilton helped me to finish mine, he stated matter-of-factly, "Pee pee in the toilet." He had just gone, so I guessed that he had more on his mind. I explained to him that we would stop, but there would be no more ice cream. He then even more definitively declared, "No pee pee in the toilet."

Here are some pictures from the stop-overs in Chatham.

Veronica's Eating (August 15)

Some of you may remember that Hamilton was none too subtle in letting us know that he wanted food. Veronica held off a bit longer, but has now entered the world of avacados, bananas, applesauce, and green peas. She seems to enjoy the whole eating process (we didn't take pictures of her first meal!), but wasn't too impressed with her first exposure to green peas.

For the record, she was a bit more enthusiastic a while later, when she was hungrier.

Photo Shoot in the Park (June 30)

The kids and I went for a walk to the Museum Campus on beautiful summer day. After a stop into the Shedd, we hung out on the lawn for a while. Hamilton ran around in circles (one of his favorite pastimes) while Veronica enjoyed the light dancing through the trees. They both love being outside!

Going down the Penguin Slide.

Touching the (fake) sea urchins.

Climbing any and everything in sight.

She loved talking to him (but I had to give him something to keep him still)...

...otherwise this is all I'd get.

Loving the breeze

Happy to be exploring

Where we've been....

So we came up with this blog over two years ago to update our friends and family about what's going on with us (and by us, I mean the children). We are so touched by all of those people who want to keep up with us and have enjoyed sharing with you all.

What we didn't anticipate was that, when sweet Veronica was born, we'd barely be able to get pictures onto our computer let alone compose a post. So here it is, what you see on so many blogs, the "sorry we haven't written" and "we'll try better" post.

It's been a super fun and busy summer as we've potty trained, rolled over, reorganized our place, seen LOTS of family and even taken a roadtrip. Now, just to get those posts together.