Halloween

Last year, we missed Halloween with Jonathan (oh, to be on a cruise again!), but we more than made up for it this year. First, we got a great package from our cousins Sarah, Aaron, and Daniel full of Halloween goodies to get us in the mood. Then, we started the festivities on the 3oth at Mike's work. He happened to be on call last night (we are now down to the single digits!) and joined us for the fun. Then today, Mike met us at the Bouncy House in the morning for some Halloween celebrations. Here's a video of little Tigger jumping around, and singing as usual (Old McDonald had a Farm).

We all came home and took a nap, and then went Trick-or-Treating at our local mall. When we got home, we took a picture of Jonathan's loot. All in all, he and Sylvie got to wear their costumes 3 times...not bad at all! Click here for all of the pictures. Here's the little guy getting some candy in the mall.

Coming soon to a holiday card near you.

"Put it There!"

Approx 5:30pm on any given night:

Mom: "Jonathan, would you like some chicken?"

J: "Put it there!" (and points right down to the exact spot on the plate that he wants his chicken to be placed)

Dad: "Yoni, would you like some rice?"

J: "Put it there!" (again, pointing to the exact location the rice should go).

Mom: "Yoni, would you like some asparagus?"

J: "Put it there! Right there!!!" (as I try to delicately roll the asparagus onto the plate so that they will reach their final destination with utmost accuracy)

J: "Noooo!!! No there! Put it THERE!" (showing me the error of my way)

[playing a game of "Shuffle the Asparagus"]
Mom: "Here you go...is this better?"

J: "Yup. Want sauce. right there!"

And so, ladies and gentlemen, here is the perfectly balanced plate with all the food items exactly where they should be:

Sylvie's Room

For our family and friends that haven't been able to come visit (yet!), I'm posting pics of Sylvie's room so that you can ooh-and-ahh about how cute it is (and for some of you, to see the return on your investment :) Thank you again...

My little girl's all grown up!

Today, at 4 1/2 months of age, Sylvie for the first time in her life had something else to eat besides breast milk. And we had the camera ready to go, of course! Sylvie did not seem so excited about the change in her regular diet, but Mike and Jonathan tasted her cereal and they agreed with her that it is pretty yucky.

and the fun continues...

B-I-N-G-O!!!

And the singing continues....I think everyone knows this song..."B-I-N-B-O" is Jonathan's version...The sticker on his back is of a pumpkin sent by his cousins in Florida.

Down By The Bay

One day, Jonathan came home from daycare singing a song that Mike and I had never heard of...He kept singing it and singing it, and finally we looked for it online (just to get an idea of what it's actually supposed to sound like) and we've been singing it ever since, making up our own rhymes. Here is Jonathan's version...getting stuck on "Have you ever seen a whale with a polka-dotted tail?" (of which you only hear "polka-dotted tail").

Frustration

Lately, it's been very easy to tell when Sylvie is frustrated, tired or otherwise unhappy. She continuously blows raspberries...and here's a video to prove it...

Leaves

We have been enjoying the warm weather and have been spending lots of time outside. Jonathan has discovered all of the leaves in the yard and has a lot of fun playing in them. Please click here for all of the pictures and enjoy the video of Yoni playing in the leaves.

Gorgeous Weekend

We had a beautiful weekend here with temps in the 70's and sunny. Idan and Amy came to visit and we all had a great time. Today was so beautiful that we spent the morning in the garden planting tulips for next spring. We can't wait to meet Idan and Amy's new addition...a little puppy named Hudson....congratulations!
Jonathan has been obsessed with the moon for a little while now. When Grandma and Grandpa were here, they even bought him a couple of moon-themed books. He asks to see the moon every night before he goes to sleep, but last week was cloudy. Finally, the sky cleared enough for us to see that there is no way to see the moon from our windows because we are surrounded by trees. So, yesterday Idan and Mike stuck lots of glow in the dark stars and planets to Yoni's ceiling. And last night, Mike took Yoni out in his PJ's to see the moon from our street. I think that the presence of the stars, though, has been distracting for him...he keeps pointing to them instead of going to sleep! Please click here for all of the pictures from this weekend.
Here's a video of Sylvie enjoying her bouncy swing.

Grandma and Grandpa's Visit

We had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa and we already miss them dearly. We were so spoiled by them and Jonathan and Sylvie soaked up all of the extra attention. Speaking of attention, when Jonathan needs extra attention, I tell him "Say 'I need attention!'" instead of making noise and whining. So, today I was playing with Sylvie and Jonathan came into the room and said "I need attention!". It was very cute...I put Sylvie down and gave him a big hug. What a big boy. We had lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa and here are the rest of the pictures from their visit. We can't wait to see them again over Thanksgiving.

Sylvie is 4 months old!!!

With all of the excitement around here, I almost forgot a noteworthy milestone...Sylvie turned 4 months old on the 10th...2 days ago! We took her to the pediatrician who of course, rewarded her with more immunizations. This time, however, Sylvie took them like a champ and had no fever or any other symptoms. Here are her current stats: weight - 6kg/13.2 lbs (42%), length - 61cm/24in (42%). I am oh so proud.

On a sad note...

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Bittermans during this difficult and sad time. We really enjoyed spending time with Grandpa Bernie during our weekends in Maine and will miss him.

Conductor?

Jonathan has found a new talent....he now grabs his tools and conducts with them as his piano plays the songs. We have finally consolidated all of the pictures from grandma and grandpa's camera and our camera and you can click here to see them all. There are lots of pictures, and we still have the beginning of next week with them! We are all having a blast together and don't even want to think about them leaving.
Here's a video of the conductor in action playing with daddy in a video taken by Grandma.

Grandma and Sylvie

Grandma and Grandpa have arrived on Saturday and we are having a great time with them. Here is a cute video of Sylvie and Grandma having a conversation. There will be many pictures to follow...

HEEELA!!!!

So, apparently Jonathan figured out that my name is Hila, though Mike is still Dadda. So now, every once in awhile, particularly when I'm busy and not paying enough attention to him, he'll yell at me "HEEEELA!!!" to get my attention. Here's a little video of him in action.

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I'm on a video roll with him because he's so entertaining. Here he is singing the ABC's to Sylvie. He stops to say "More!" and then continues...

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Even though it's October, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous and summery...highs in the upper 70's (around 28C for those in Israel). So the kids and I had a little picnic outside this afternoon. Here are a couple of videos of them outside in our yard. I like to call this one "crash landing"...

In this one, Jonathan starts to sing a song in hebrew and then gets distracted when he finds Sylvie's drool puddle...

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And during dinner, Mike looked out of the window of our dining room and saw a beautiful deer. Of course it ran away as soon as he and Jonathan went outside to greet it, but then we also saw a bunch of turkeys! I'm not sure it will ever get boring for us to see all of this wildlife right outside our house. Please click here for all of the pictures.

If you are related to us...

Please visit our new link to the right called "Family Tree". Yaron (world's greatest uncle) has reminded me of our family's website. Please update your immediate family, as you see fit. You can either email him for a password or email me and I'll give you mine :) For such a small family...we are pretty big!

I love my kids

I know every mom thinks knows that her kids are the best...but my kids are just so sweet....so good natured. Sylvie's face lights up and has a huge smile when she sees any of us...or anyone for that matter. She is just so sweet...and she loves to talk! Currently, she's working on rolling over and laughing. Yoni is such a good boy. Of course he has his moments, but in general, he is just so good. We'll put him in bed and an hour later, one of us will cough, and he'll get out of bed and run to the gate and yell "Bess you mommy, Bess you daddy!!". Just so cute. Now, when you try to sing a song with him, he says "Stop! No sing mommy, no sing daddy. Yoni sing". When you ask him if he wants a cookie, he'll say "two". This weekend we did some shopping and got Sylvie's room all set up. It is so adorable...I'll take some pics of it later this week.
Click here for our latest pictures.
I couldn't sign off without another cute video of Sylvie talking.