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A good example of what happens when Mika doesn’t make it through the day and Tobin, energized by a 2+ hour nap, takes over the house…

Tobin and i used Mika’s school hours to visit little Nara at home. Luckily, she was wide awake and couldn’t take her eyes off of the ‘big boy’ sitting next to her. Tobin on the other hand didn’t know what to make out of the tiny girl and didn’t even try to touch her. He much rather went up close to Watson…

Mika made it all the way through her ‘big girl sleepover party’ and was in good spirits when we picked her up this morning. Apart from an obvious lack of sleep, she enjoyed brunch with fresh faced Harold and his parents. We all went for a stroll on the High Line and Mika picked her favorite knit-covered pole at the Standard Hotel.

PS: Thank you Cynthia and Phil for the great family shots!

Mika has been friends with Elsie from day one and helped celebrate all of her birthdays (except for the first – Elsie is 14 months older than Mika).

Today’s party has a special thrill though: it’s a sleepover party! Complete with disco freeze dance, late night entertainment, and -cake. All guests attend in their PJ’s and stay until pancakes are served tomorrow morning. If they dare. Good thing Mika is a sleepover veteran, unlike some of Elsie’s 6-year old friends. It gave her the courage to party like a big kid and so far, we haven’t gotten a pickup call…

It’s been five months since we last got together with Elsie and (baby-no-more) Violet. The kids have grown almost beyond recognition – especially the younger siblings. Today, they were in for a very special treat, courtesy of the rainy weather forecast: an indoor play date at Books of Wonder/Cupcake Cafe. Ooooh … the sugar highs! The books!! The dancing cup cakes!!! Too bad Tobin didn’t see/taste any of it: he fell asleep 5 minutes before we got there and woke up two hours later when we were ready to leave the store.

Good thing he had a fun morning with Bruno already…

Today was Mika’s first day of ‘real’ school – she started grade K at PS 29. I still remember us researching the best public elementary schools in Manhattan and Brooklyn in 2005. PS 29 was a deciding factor in moving to this (great) neighborhood and we’re finally about to find out if the school lives up to it’s good reputation.

So far, Mika liked her new school – teacher and first impression of kids included. She was a bit nervous in the morning, but very excited to see Mica, a familiar face from the summer gardening session 3 weeks ago. Yes, there’s a Mika (Meee-ka) and a Mica (My-ka) in the same class…

It’s been three months since we spent time with Henry from across the street, but the boys picked up right where they left off and had a great morning. We’re looking forward to more regular play dates again!

We stopped by Luna’s house (and garden) for an impromptu play date. Mika finally got to take an – endless – turn on Luna’s very own swing set. What a treat! The girls swung sitting down, standing up, sideways, lying down, dangling, twirling … you name it. They must’ve been on the swings for an hour at least. There was also a small climbing tree, a tricycle for Tobin, a play kitchen, and … lunch! Did i mention lots of German conversation?

Hard to believe that these two munchkins are going to start Kindergarten tomorrow!

On this last day of (US) Summer (season), Sung realized a project he had in mind for a while: making our ‘balcony’ more livable and our view a bit greener. We finally removed our bikes and he brought home a variety of perennials, a hot pepper plant, and some winterized planters for the months ahead. It’s amazing what a difference it already makes and we’re looking forward to guiding about 30 feet of new sweet autumn clematis and silver lace vine along our railing every year. Luna was more than pleased and claimed her new favorite spot in the house.

Santiago and Nico brought their parents out to Brooklyn for another relaxed day of fun. We kicked off with an epic brunch, then ventured to a local playground where Arturo had a true MacGyver moment: with nearly no resources at hand, he brought down a helium balloon which was bound to escape into the sky. After trying various sticky tools to get hold of the dangling string (i.e. diaper closures and fruit leather), he created tweezers by splitting a twig, caught the string in-between, wrapped it a few times around … and voila!

Today, Mika and Tobin partied it up with their friend Tyler from upstairs. The mix of kitty facepaint, decorate-your-own stomp rocket, and ‘space pirate’ piñata whacking was a full success. All kids left happy and sugared up to the brim…

Mika had some fun with my new iPhone App: I Am T-Pain. She really got into it by creating an original song, I Want to Go to the Playground. Turn up the volume and listen to her great lyrics and sense of timing below: