SEE YOU LATER!

pic by the favolosa B. Cardarelli

The Charlottian is moving to Germany. But Peanut is not saying goodbye! It's more of a 'see you in a little while!" as her parents have already started planning their next American adventure...

Listen to the tunes of Lia's farewell song!

It's time ....

... for those sad last hugs.

Without the Cardarellis it wouldn't have been the same. When we met those crazy Italians, our American adventure turned into our American home. Grazie!

We just can't ....

... say goodbye!

And that's why we are posting yet another Kindermusik blog, about our very last jam session with Miss "Sany", as Lia now calls her music teacher. Our day started with a six mile long road trip with Brandy behind the wheel and continued with 50 minutes of musical delight with Brandy behind the towel (in front of the sleigh). The Peanuts are quite used to being chauffered...

Here they are on cloud nine, the fluffiest of all clouds reserved for lovers. Oh no, the white puff is actually snow. My mistake.

Lia and Lorenzo starring in "The Nutcracker":

The last finale. Take a bow.

Three nuts lounging on the floor after a successful performance.

pic by B. Cardarelli

As Lia's last class also happened to be the last class of this semester, Miss Sandy had organized a cookie exchange. The note she had handed out the week before literally announced a "cookie" exchange (in the singular). In the German tradition of 'wichteln' where you wrap one crappy present to be exchanged for another (even crappier one), I actually went to the store to buy a cookie. It all made perfect sense to me as American cookies are extremely oversized. Thank God I told Brandy about it before showing up at Kindermusik with my nicely wrapped cookie (of course you are supposed to bring a whole batch. Dah.). She looked at me in total disbelief before bursting into tears of laughter. It's all about tears these days...

Watch the Peanuts having a jumping jack flash! (video)

We proudly present ....

B. Cardarelli photography

... Walter's house.

Birthday Special!

Princess Peanut turned TWO!

This is a gigantic birthday post about the gigantic birthday party of our gorgeous little girl with lots of great pictures all taken by a great photographer. Yes, Brandy. Let me guide you through this.

Birthday table neatly set for ten tiny tots

little guests brought big gifts that were traded for ...

... big thank you gift bags (I'm so proud of these)

ginormous birthday cake in the shape of a 2



a breathtaking birthday smooch that leaves me speechless



the cutest princess ever being celebrated by her people



Princess Peanut reigning with such dignity (everyone was in awe)



the princess blessing the cake before feeding the hungry



in Peanut Land no one is starving



future queen and king of Nutty Land



little party feet!


And what would a birthday special be without three cute, funny, and hilarious videos? My absolute favorite? "Isn't she lovely?" Enjoy!

The love ride

Isn't she lovely?

Eating birthday cake and fruit!

Birthday Peaches

B. Cardarelli photography

Lia on her birthday!

Brandy treated us to a photoshoot, her very special and unique birthday present. We'll never forget this funny and freaking cold day in a peach orchard without peaches! Apart from Peaches Lia!

And peachy cheeks.

 

And peachy lips.

PARTY TIME!

And you're invited!!!

Happy Birthday, lovely little Peanut!

And please check out Lorenzo's birthday wishes! So sweet! And also little Tara's birthday wishes! Oh my, the love.

Sneak Peek

A sneak peek of little Walter at 30 weeks.

Jumping through hoops

We are seizing every single minute and are jumping through hoops to make the most of our remaining days in sweet ole' Charlotte. This week we went to Kindermusik twice. Miss Sandy invited us to come to all of her classes until we leave. I think she is also having a hard time seeing us go. Here she is singing a couple of extra tunes to her German Peanut.

Miss Sandy was so kind to take Lia on a sleigh ride while I was clicking away with my camera. Good times. If Lia will ever pursuit a musical career she will definitely dedicate her first composition to the best music teacher ever.

Two musical overachievers waiting to be towed. Miss Sandy said that in her entire career she has never seen two babies/kids being so attached and so crazy about each other. She even mentioned that Lia and Lorenzo skipped the phase of 'parallel play', the professional expression for babies ignoring their drooling playmates.

Lia whispering sweet nothings into the other nut's ear. A chaperone is a must these days. The content was rated PG 13 by Brandy. Parental guidance advised.

And a musical special for all Kindermusik fans: a video of the Peanuts going nuts over jingle bells.

All American Peanut

B. Cardarelli photography

Our Peanut. She's actually turning two. Hard to believe. But when you ask her: "Hey Lia, how old are you?" she convincingly answers: "Two!" and shows her hand with all five fingers. So there's no question. Our baby nut has become a big girl! In less than two weeks we are leaving the country, and it will be especially hard to deracinate our American girl from her home. Darn it, she has just started to talk in English and surprises us every day with new words and tiny sentences. She knows that a football is thrown and not kicked, naturally. She greets her friends with a high five followed by a fist and bids them farewell with a friendly "Bye! See you!" She can count from 'one' to 'fee', she's impressed by anything with four wheels: "Look! Biiig truck!", and her favorite animal is the "f(r)og". She's friendly to everyone, though only special people get a "hug". New words usually pop up when we are driving in "Papi('s) car" and she is talking to herself or her fellow stuffed travelers. Just two days ago she was chanting Kindermusik songs from the backseat: "Listen! Listen!" And she knows all the important opposites in English, like "up" and "down", "loooud!!!" and "pth, quiet!", "looooong" and "sho(r)t", and not to forget "f(r)ont" and "back". She knows to touch her "nose" and has learned to scold her mom by saying "Don't touch!" with the most serious of expressions. Anything exciting appeals to our beautiful and nutty daughter, who loves to "jum(p)" and is neither shy nor afraid of new challenges. Her hunger for life in general and for "more cookies" in particular is insatiable. So we will all try and face the new adventure Lia-style! Someone who is turning two has no problem moving from one country to another, especially not when you have dual citizenship! What are opposites other than two parts of a whole? What's yin without yang? No doubt there are lots of things Peanut will miss dearly, first and foremost Lorenzo, the love of her life, but Yin will make sure to stay in touch and in sync with her other half. One shell, two nuts. Always.

Winter Wonderland

Who would have thought there would ever be a winter in the Carolinas? After 10 months of gorgeous weather the cold 'season' has finally arrived. No snow yet, but freakin' cold temperatures that call for a hat. As turkey leftovers and Christmas lights go hand in hand here, everywhere you go these days Christmas lights are guiding the way. We could have introduced Lia to the craziness of the Holidays light bulb by light bulb, sort of the gentle way. Instead, we brought her to a twinkling winter wonderland.

Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden has set up 600,000 lights in their trees, bushes, and exotic plants! You don't need to be a toddler to be truly impressed. Though no one can react more enthusiastically: "Wow! Wow! Wow!" is what Lia said before daring to step into the magical garden.

After recovering from temporary blindness we participated at a workshop for holiday crafts. Lia, an A-student in her art class, had no problem fixing two potpourri Christmas tree balls for her grandmothers.

A well spent winter day, I'd say.

Turkey Day

"Gobble, gobble!" That's the sound a turkey makes, and also our daughter while gobbling down the most delicious Thanksgiving dinner that Brandy had lovingly prepared all morning. Brandy, mother of two and host of eleven and a half hungry mouths pulled off a perfect Thanksgiving feast. And Lia loved every bit(e) of it.


And also her Daddy's bites...

Lorenzo and Lia drawing birds while digesting those they just ate:



What would Thanksgiving be without homemade pumpkin pie?

Aaaah.... the satisfaction after a perfect meal. Gobble.

Thank you, Brandy and Fabio, for making us feel at home. Burp.

For the Cardarelli's view of a great Turkey Day and pictures of the international group of gobblers as well as of a digestive football game click here: Gobble, burp, hut, hut, hut!!

Sweet memories portrait style

See the sand running through Lia's fingers? That's the way life runs, especially now with our departure getting closer. It's time to turn the page! Thanks to Tamara Lackey, we have some sweet, sweet memories to take with us and embellish those new blank pages.

Tamara has posted a couple of these gorgeous images on her photography blog! So please click on and check out
Little Lia in the Outer Banks

Creating memories

This Sunday I was documenting our weekly routine of hiking through the wilderness. Meaning: we were enjoying the walking trails of our neighborhood park, but that doesn't have the same venturesome ring as:


"Remember when we used to hike through the wilderness on Sunday afternoons?" Now that sounds just right.

A documentary snapshot of my two explorers:

And some gorgeous pictures by star photographer Brandy Cardarelli that add the perfect glitz and glow to our adventurous November memory:

And another sweet autumn addition. Lia's latest art project: