Family toon time

A little winter snuggling

Hanukkah in Albany

I still can't believe how big our family has gotten. I didn't get a picture of everyone, I don't even know if that would be possible, but I did get a picture of all the kids. It's getting to be so much fun now that the kids are old enough to enjoy it.

Hanukkah Socks

Last night for Hanukkah I gave the boys these super cute socks with grips on the bottom shaped like alligators. They are just for running around the house and I thought they were going to love them. There was a little interest but not much. Tonight, when I told Nathan I was going upstairs to get the present for tonight, he says "Not more Hanukkah socks". Guessed that was a present fail.

Our Little Turkey

We got to go to the school and watch all of the kids sing a couple of songs for Thanksgiving. Of course, they were adorable!

A Pretty Day with Granddad

The Shabbat Box

I was asked to send a shoe box in to school with Nathan for a Shabbat box they were creating. They worked on this for a pretty long time and I was so excited to see the finished product. He was pretty proud of himself as well.

Hard to believe

It's hard to believe that this was Nathan wearing the same bear suit 2 years ago. It makes me want to cry a little.

Halloween

A little family trick-or-treating. This was the first year that Nathan actually got it and he was so excited to fill up that bucket. It helped that he had is big cousin to lead the way.

Weekend at the Fair

Me and Nathan took off to Albany for the weekend with Grandmom. The fair was in town which meant LATE nights and lots of rides (of course I don't have any pictures of that) But Nathan did get to take part in a practice trick-or-treating while we were there and he also got to see lots of family.

On our way home we stopped by Mark's Melon Patch. It was of the most beautiful places to see in the fall. Sunflowers as far as you can see and tons of pumpkins. Not to mention the best boiled peanuts in the world.

Are these guys cute?!?!?

And....poor Aaron took a spill in the mud

It's Festival Time #2

It's Festival Time #1

Peek-a-boo

I just wanted to share the shining personality of Aaron. He is such a happy little guy!

Unfortunately, we had this little guy with the stomach bug in the next room

Challah Making

Nathan is learning so much in his new day school and they do so many fun activities. On Shabbat they say all the prayers and have Challah as their snack, so Nathan is becoming very familiar with all of the symbols and food that come along with the day. Recently, we got a book in the mail and it was filled with pictures of children making challah along with a recipe so, of course, Nathan had to do it. So, we waited for Aaron to take a nap and we started working, well, I started working and Nathan started playing. Despite the mess, we had a great time doing this together. We made 2 large challahs and 12 mini challahs for him to take to school for all of his friends. I can't say that it was the best challah I've ever had, but I think it was a good first try.

After Dinner Fun

This the the fun that goes on while I'm doing cleaning up after dinner.

The spoon excitement

Aaron used his spoon for the first time tonight! I know it's a silly thing to document, but it's the little things that remind you that they are growing up so fast right before your eyes.

more pics of the boys

I keep trying to get some cute pics of the boys. Today I used my mom's camera because she has a better lens and a better camera and I've been having a hard time getting my pictures very sharp. I think I got some good ones.

Just some cute pictures

With good weather comes lots of outside time, with lots of outside time comes lot of pictures.

The many walks of Aaron

Aaron is really starting to try to walk now and I forgot how funny the learning process is. I love the arms and how it seems that they are doing all the work.

After the candles

Today at school the kids were learning about Shabbat. When asked what you do after you light the candles (the answer is say the blessing over the wine) the teacher held up a stuffed bottle of wine and Nathan shouted "you drink a beer"

Everybody loved it so much that Jenifer (the director of the school) came out to tell me about it in the carpool line, the teacher wrote about it on his daily note, and the other teacher emailed me about it. All were laughing by the way, not reporting us. With all these comments Nathan makes, people are going to start thinking bad things about us : )

My little Astronaut

This year for halloween, Nathan picked out an Astronaut costume. He has been badgering me every day about being able to wear so I gave in. Pretty cute, huh. Well, once I got him in the suit and the boots on, he says "OK...let's go to outer space now". I thought it was just a funny make believe thing so I let it go and then he asked again. So I laughed and told him that we couldn't go to outer space and he started crying. Oh my, he was serious. So I explained that we couldn't go to outer space because we didn't have a spaceship (I thought he would understand that, and he did) and his response was "there is a spaceship at the mall, let's go to the mall". It was so hard to explain that this wasn't going to work and eventually he just gave up on it.

By the way, there really is a spaceship at the mall. It's the little NASA one that you put a dollar in and go for a short little bumpy ride.

Playing the batar

Here is a little taste of my musician in the making. He's quite the entertainer.

The McDonald's Party

We decided to have Nathan's birthday party at McDonald's this year and it worked out wonderfully!!

After celebrating Ryan's birthday in July, mine, Ned's, and Aaron's in August, and Mom's in early September, Nathan was wondering if he was ever going to have a birthday. He kept asking "is it my birthday time yet". I was so happy when I finally got to say yes. He was one of those kids that got a birthday week; I went to his school with cupcakes on Wednesday (it was so fun to see what they do there), we took him to the aquarium on Thursday and then the party on Saturday. I left early to get things ready and Ryan brought the boys with him. For some reason he didn't believe that there would be a playground there, so the look on his face when there really was was priceless. He checked out his Toy Story cake and told us all that is was AWESOME. He had some of his best buds there but unfortunately some couldn't make it. He got so many great gifts, but his favorite was his Toy Story guitar that he had been saying he wanted since he played with Katie's Barbie guitar months ago. We are all having so much fun listening to him make up songs or just sing what he wants to say while strumming on the strings. Maybe he's going to be my little musician. He definitely wouldn't have gotten any musical talent from me or Ryan so maybe that's something he picked up from my dad. Anyway, the party was great, and he wants to do it again.

Big 3 year old at the aquarium!

Nathan turned 3 today. Funny how it seems like he was born so long ago and just yesterday at the same time. I couldn't help but think about the excitement of that day, and I how I brought a sweet little 7lb 3oz baby into the world and now that baby is a walking, talking kid (and sometimes terror). : )

Anyway, for his birthday, we all headed to the aquarium. Mom, Ned, and Carter rode with me and the boys and we had a birthday lunch with Daddy and then met up with Aunt Edie to see some fish. I think everyone had a great time!!

The Funny Things..

I decided to use this blog as a way to document the funny things that come out of Nathan's mouth. Soon I'll be documenting Aaron too.

With Yom Kippur coming up, that is what the little ones have been learning about in school this week. When I picked Nathan up from school today, I dug through his backpack to get the little sheet of paper that gets sent home telling me what he did that day. I saw that today they had talked about what they are sorry for. So I asked Nathan what he said he was sorry for and he said "pulling cats tails" : ) I don't know why I thought that was so funny. I guess because of all the things that kid gets in trouble for, that's what stood out in his mind.

The BIG boy bed!!

After sleeping in a full size bed at Aunt Debbie and Uncle Bob's house, Nathan was in desperate need of one of his own. He starting asking all the time "where is my bigger bed?". Well, as I said before, what Nathan wants Nathan gets. Luckily for him, Mom and Dad had my old bed in their garage and were thrilled to get it out of there.

First night putting him to bed this big bed and we realized how small he really still is.

Labor Day weekend

We spent Labor Day weekend visiting all of our Albany family. The boys had a great time and so did we. Much to our surprise, both boys slept wonderfully the whole time we were there. Nathan LOVED having the pool right in the backyard, he keeps asking to go back to Aunt Debbie's house.

Nathan's First Day of School

So, this was a hard couple of days for me. One of my babies turned 1 yesterday and the other one started school today. I had been so excited about him starting school, for many reasons, and I didn't feel like it was going to upset me at all. Obviously I was wrong. After we cleaned up from Aaron's birthday party, I got Nathan's backpack all ready and his lunch all packed up. I looked and it all I could do was laugh. I'm sending my baby off to school with a backpack, a folder, and a packed lunch....really?!?!? Well anyway, you all know what dorks we are, so Ryan took today off work so that he be a part of the first day experience. We woke up this morning, ate breakfast and loaded in the car. It was about half way there that I realized I was having a hard time with this.

I spent the whole ride there explaining carpool to Nathan. I didn't want him to freak when somebody came and took him out of the car. So I told him that one of his teachers would come get him out of the car and take him to the school and that he just needed to say Bye Mommy, Bye Daddy and and then go have a great day. So Ms. Karen came to get him out of the car (I'm pretty sure she might be his favorite) and he screamed "Ms. Karen, look at my backpack...Buzz Lightyear...Bye Mommy, Bye Daddy" and off he went. So it was a success, Nathan didn't cry. But, Ryan spent half the car ride back laughing at his crying wife who just can't believe that her babies are growing up.

He had a great day and so much fun. I am so excited for him!!

It's Birthday Time!!!!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, AARON!!! We had such a fun day. Starting with a lazy morning around the house and then a trip to the park. Then lunch and nap time for Aaron so that he could be well rested for some cake eating. Those of you that know Aaron, know that he LOVES to eat which is why his gift from Uncle Ned, Aunt Mel, and Carter was food and food related items. And if there is anything he loves more than food, it's Uncle Ned. Anyway, he was a little skeptical about the cake at first but once he got a taste, it was all over. He was shoving it in his mouth and throwing it all over the floor. The big news is that after that was all over, he decided to take about 4 steps right in front of everyone. Go Aaron!

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Disney Concert

Tonight we took the boys to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater to hear the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra playing songs from some of the Disney films. The big screens had clips from the movies playing at the same time as the music. The kids thought this was so much fun and they danced their little booties off. These are some of the many things that we love about living in Roswell now.....access to everything and lots of family time!!!

Ready to go!

All of the kids from the left...Aaron, Nathan, Carter, and Sam

My Cool Dude

There is a story behind this but the pictures are much funnier