Bye Bye 2008!

We wrapped up our Hannukah with delicious Sufganyiot (doughnuts) that Mike made.

Yesterday, we took the kids to the science museum to have some fun, then out to dinner at Panera's, and topped off the evening for an hour at Borders bookstore, where they ran around and picked books that they wanted to read....it was a great family outing!

First at the museum, Mike and the kids climbed up to the tree house where they played with blowing air:



Then, Jonathan and Mike made a paper airplane...

And threw it back and forth to each other:



And as we bid goodbye to 2008, we are so excited for this new year! In 2009, Mike will FINALLY finish his training and start a REAL job, we will have another addition to the family, and we'll relocate to warm and sunny Florida...and who knows...I may start a new job myself! 2009...a very exciting year for us!

Snow, Snow, Snow

We missed a big ice storm with power outages during our trip to Florida, but we came back to snow storm after snow storm and our driveway now looks like a snow sea that Moses parted. Mike (with occasional help from Jonathan) has been shoveling all weekend long and the snow has finally stopped. Now, it is just plain cold, but we did see some sun. Jonathan went back to 'school' again today and was reunited immediately with his girlfriend and the two of them went to play together as soon as his boots were off!
Here are some pics of the kids outside with Mike and Jonathan shoveling, topped off with Sylvie on the potty.

This is a video of Jonathan shoveling with Mike, while Sylvie is looking on saying "up, down":



And this is what the kids do to keep themselves entertained during the winter...

Sylvie is 1 1/2 years old!

Not to overlook a major milestone, Sylvie turned one and a half last week!!! What a big girl!!! Her favorite word is clearly "no!" which is accompanied by a vigorous head shake. She likes to combine 'No' with other words. For example, when washing her hands, if the water is not hot (just warm), she'll say "Hot, No!" She's becoming more accomplished at self feeding and understands everything that you say and everything that is going on. She definitely has a strong personality with clear opinions and lets you know exactly how she feels about a situation. And a couple of days ago, she made her first poopy in the potty! She kept saying "push, push" as she was doing it...very cute. She does a pretty good job of keeping up with Yoni but usually gets frustrated that he beats her to the bathroom to wash hands. They play well together, but she does get mad when he takes toys from her hands, sits on her, etc. They do like to imitate each other, which is cute to see. Her new skill is smiling on command, which turns out to be a funny face.



Yoni also has some clever one liners as of late. I asked him to get Sylvie's socks and slippers for me (because she doesn't keep them on for more than 5 min at a time) and he replied "I can't mommy. I can't bend down because I have a baby in my belly!"
And this morning, when he spoke with Saba on the phone, Saba asked him if he watched Bob the Builder this morning and Yoni replied "No Saba, I didn't because it's not good for my brain!"
Yoni came back from FL with quite a cold and has been out of school this whole week...but we're hoping he'll go back on Monday. As for myself, I'm getting bigger and more uncomfortable by the day, but I'm not yet ready for the sleepless nights to return!

Hanukkah 2008

We celebrated Hanukkah a bit early this year in Florida. We went down for a week and had such a great time. It was a busy week - we went house hunting, took a tour of the kids' new school, I had a job interview, and most importantly, we managed to avoid an ice storm back home that caused a state wide power outage! As usual, we stayed with Grandma and Grandpa who are the world's best hosts, and met up with the cousins as often as we could. The weather was beautiful and we can't wait to move down already!
We have tons of pictures from our trip, which I finally went through and can be seen here.
Mike's sister, Jen, also took some great photos which can be seen here.
Now it's time to prepare for baby's arrival...and then the move!

Here's a short video of Grandpa and the kids enjoying the elf video.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Holiday Card 2008

holiday 2008, originally uploaded by Beckerman.

coming soon to a holiday near you...

Thanksgiving - Part Two

This Thanksgiving has flown by and we've enjoyed every minute. Idan and Amy joined my parents here and we all had fun playing nightly games like Taboo and Cranium. And yesterday, Mike and I went to NY for the weekend which was a great treat. Sylvie and Hudson got along really well and here's a video of them showing that he'll only take food from her!



Here's a video of the kids (esp Yoni) being silly:



And here are the rest of the pics.

Thanksgiving 2008 - Part One

My parents arrived on Saturday for the week and we are having such a good time with them. As always, they came bearing gifts and gave Mike and I a pasta maker attachment for our Kitchen-Aid mixer. Mike, of course, couldn't wait to make home made pasta - and it was really so delicious...I don't know how I'll ever go back to regular pasta again!



Click here to see the fun we've been having thus far.

Decorating

The kids and Mike and I were upstairs cleaning and at some point, Mike and I realized that it was wayyyy too quiet. So, Mike found the kids in Yoni's trashed closet....apparently they were "decorating".

Texas

Sylvie and I flew down to Plano, Texas from Friday to Monday and had such a great time with my BFF and Seester, Einat and her daughter, Ella. The highlight of the trip was also meeting Ella's new baby brother, Cole - who is just too perfect for words! The girls had so much fun playing together - here they are dancing:



And here they are at the mall together:



And click here for the rest of the pics from the visit. We can't wait to see them again!

History

Not much has happened since my last post, yet a lot has happened in terms of history. Last Tues (Nov 4th), I took the kids with me and voted for our new president. We were definitely a part of history in the making and are very excited about the future - both for us here and for our family in Israel. Here's to healthcare for all! Ok..enough about politics...
The weather is definitely turning colder and we are now in the "ugly side" of fall...where nothing is golden anymore and everything is dying and bare in preparation for winter. I'm happy that it hasn't really snowed yet and am hopeful that there will be less snow than last winter.
Here are the kids in our yard:


And here's a view of our street - hard to even see the street for all of the leaves.



Here's a little video:



Both Yoni and Sylvie are growing and developing so much every day. Yoni has new lines every day and is becoming quite the back-seat driver: "Mama, Slow down! Be careful! Why you driving fast?" or "Mama, you driving slow? why?", "Go this way! This way is to the museum, this way is to the Gan (daycare)." He loves to say "Can I tell you a question?" and when you say sure, he says something like "I had a good day today", or "I'm hungry". He also loves to whisper in our ear - "You know what daddy? I love you SO much!"...he's such a cutie. He also calls to Sylvie "Come here, sweetie! Come!" They are very cute together and love to play with each other.

Yesterday, Sylvie had a check up at 17 months...She weighed in at 21.5 lbs (9.85kg, 19%), and her length is 40%, and head is at 27%. She's accumulating quite the vocabulary: "All gone, up, down, water, milk, more", and is an expert at shaking her head while saying "Noooo!" when she doesn't want something - like when I say 'Time to go to sleep!". Here she is feeding herself a yo-baby...she much prefers her hands to her spoon.




Here's a video of us at dinner - and Sylvie showing off who's who. She says "Ya Ya" for Yoni.



We have a busy time coming up...Sylvie and I are visiting her BFF, Ella, in Dallas this weekend and the following weekend, my parents are coming up for Thanksgiving, and then we're all headed to FL for a visit! So exciting!!!

Halloween 2008

We had such a fun Halloween this year. I'm guessing the older the kids become, the more fun it will continue to get! We started the celebrations off with our yearly Halloween party at the hospital.



The next day, the kids and I went to the bouncy house halloween celebration.





It was like 40 degrees and windy that day and I bundled the kids and myself up with coats, hats, scarfs, etc, as I don't do the cold thing very well. Behind us walked another family and the 5 yr old son said, chuckling, "Look mom, they think it's winter already!". yup...not sure how we'll make it through this winter. I think I'll stay home till May.

Anyways...back to Halloween - the following day, we took the kids to the "mall" for some trick-or-treating. Sylvie didn't get the point of wearing her costume for the third day in a row, but Jonathan was very excited to finally get some candy.



When we came home from the mall, we opened up a package that Grandma and Grandpa sent Jonathan and Sylvie and for the rest of the evening, and for hours today, they were occupied placing stickers in their books, then in each other's books, then on their clothes, face, hair and all over the rest of the house. What great gifts! Thank you!

Pumpkin Weekend

We had quite an eventful weekend. On Saturday, Jonathan went to his last Saturday swim class with his favorite teacher, Angie. They focused on swimming safety and he learned about life vests and how to float. We are so happy with his classes, that we've signed him up for one more session, though on Tues and Thurs afternoons. We'll miss Angie, though.

After his swim class, we drove down to Keene, NH for their famous Pumpkin Festival. Keene used to hold the world record for most Jack O'Lanterns lit in one place. This year, they had over 22,000 pumpkins, which was really amazing to see. This is their official website. We narrowly avoided the rain and headed back home in time for dinner.

On Sunday, we carved our own pumpkins and the kids had little pumpkins to paint. Of course Mike used a pumpkin to make delicious pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread. Click on the slideshow to enlarge.

32 years and 24 weeks

This Friday we had our 24 week check and everything looks (more like "sounds") good with baby. Every time we ask Jonathan what he thinks the baby's name should be he says "Dodoh", but yesterday he said "Daisy"...so that's an improvement. After I have him feel my belly when the baby moves, he states that his baby in his belly is moving too, so I feel his belly too.
On Saturday, we took Jonathan to swim class and when we came home, Idan, Amy, and Hudson came over to spend my birthday with us. We all had lots of fun. Mike and I went out to dinner, which was great! On Sunday, Mike built a huge Halloween gingerbread house while we decorated Halloween cookies and props for his house.

Here are all the pics.

The weather is definitely turning colder now and we started bundling up for our walks around the block. We'll have to start collecting our leaves soon, but our front tree hasn't even changed colors yet.
Here's a video that Mike took of his completed masterpiece.

Autumn

We've been having beautifully warm autumn weather and the leaves are so gorgeous...we're trying to get outside every chance we get before it gets too cold. On Sunday afternoon, we took the kids to the park and then "treated" them to the hibachi grill experience. As you can see from the pictures, Sylvie was scared for her life. The rest of us had a great time :) (Click on the slideshow for an enlarged view)

Reading

I made a photobook of Sylvie's birth a little while ago and ended up with two copies, so I gave one to the kids so that they can enjoy it as well. So, this morning, I overheard Yoni reading to Sylvie about "being born", so I grabbed the camera and here they are...

Carrie and Will

My BFF from HS came to visit us from Kansas for an extra long weekend with her son and we had a fabulous time. Will is 5 years old, and the difference in age was very funny to see. For example, Will would shout: "I'm the boss!!!", and then Yoni would reply, "No! I'm the bus!" So, I asked Yoni what kind of bus he was :)
We had a very eventful weekend...We visited Quechee Village and Gorge and got some great fudge. We also visited the Science Museum, Billings Farm for their Apple/Pumpkin Festival, and Riverview Farm where we went through a great corn maze and had a fun horse drawn carriage ride. We all had a great time together and can't wait for them to come visit again!
Click on the slideshow below for all of the pictures.

Jonathan

Yesterday:
Me: "Jonathan, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
J: "Tall, like daddy."

Today I was washing Jonathan's hands and he was just staring at me, so I said: "What are you looking at?"
J: "You, Momma."
Me: "Why are you looking at me?"
J: "Because I love you."

Rosh Hashana 2008

We had a really great Rosh Hashana this year. Click here for all of the pictures. I took the kids to the Tot's service at the synagogue here and Jonathan really enjoyed himself...especially the shofar, and then eating Challah and apples with honey.



Then, we all walked down to Occom Pond for the Tashlich Service. The foliage is so beautiful this time of year and we enjoyed singing songs and Yoni threw a piece of challah into the pond.

Swimming

So, I signed Jonathan up for swim class on Saturdays so that he could have good bonding time with Mike, but little did I know that I signed him up for a real swim class with a real instructor! So much for bonding time...we'll have to find a different activity for the two of them. Jonathan loves his classes...this week there was only one other boy (last week there were four with two instructors) so he got lots of attention. He loves his swim classes and is getting really comfortable in the water. Here's a video from his class:



And here's proof that he's having fun...blowing bubbles:



We took our yearly family portrait pictures at Kmart this past weekend and it went better than expected, though Sylvie didn't want to smile much. While we were waiting, we picked up a couple of new slippers for the kiddos:



I started "going green" and actually brought my own cloth bags to the grocery store with me...I feel oh so good :)

Funny Vids

Ok..so it's a well known fact that we are raising two little monkeys. They have a special affinity for our sweeper vac (that we cannot live without, by the way...I recommend it to everyone!) and I've been trying to capture their reaction to me using it for weeks now...here's the best video I've been able to capture thus far...they are two funny kids!



And I don't know about you, but I never get this kind of welcome when I come home. (The stickers on their back are of their names from a library playgroup that we went to).



And here's a recent trip to the bouncy house...Sylvie's starting to get into it more and more.



And here are a few more pics from the last few days.

In other news...we have adjusted to life with me at home fairly easily, I would say! Sylvie and I love our alone time on M/W/F and Jonathan spices things up for us on Tues/Thurs. We always do something in the mornings and they are both strong nappers...Sylvie used to only sleep for an hour or so, but both kids go down right after lunch, around noon and will sleep till almost 3. I sometimes even have to wake them up so that they don't sleep too much! Bed time has become more flexible now that it's taking longer to bathe both of them, brush their teeth, etc.
Mike usually finishes cleaning up after dinner and joins us when I finish with their baths and he'll take Jonathan and get him dressed, and I'll dress Sylvie in her PJs. We'll meet in our bedroom and play for a little bit before we send the kids off to bed...usually by 7:30. When I place Sylvie in her crib, she picks which of her 3 blankets she wishes to be covered with and hands it to me and says "this!" and then lies down on the other one or two and I cover her. I sing to her the "Good Night Sylvie song" and leave her lying down and close the door.
We don't hear a peep from either of them once they're in bed, but they wake up around 6 am, at which point Jonathan will come to our room and announce that "I'm done sleeping", and Sylvie will start to call for us from her room. Mike will bring them both into our bed (after taking Yoni to the potty) and turn the TV on for some Jo-Jo or other morning show while I continue to sleep until approx 7. By then, he's showered and ready to go to work, so I get up too....I so love to sleep! And another day's begun...

Fun Weekend

We had a fun weekend, with amazingingly beautiful autumn-like weather...sunny and cool. Happy fall everyone!!!

All the pics are here.

We went to an apple orchard to pick apples after which Yoni and Mike baked two delicious apple pies. Yoni kept picking the apples, taking a bite, and throwing them on the ground, saying "we'll leave this for the animals".

I got to go out all by myself on Sunday to a Pampered Chef party during which we made and ate the most delicious brownies! And I finally got back into scrapbooking yesterday.

This morning, Sylvie and I went to a storytime playgroup at the library and she found a toy that she loved dragging around.

"Sylvie make me laugh!"

Yoni went to preschool a little late today and had fun with Sylvie in the morning:



Sylvie and I went to a new library playgroup (3 libraries in three days this week!) today which was jam packed with kids, but she had a great time anyways. She showed everyone her bracelet and when we sang about what the kids were each wearing, everyone sang about Sylvie's bracelet, and she held her hand up high so everyone could see it.

Another cute story from yesterday...when Yoni woke up from his nap, he said "I'm upset, Mommy." So, I asked him why, and he said "because I want daddy." Seems like he's having a tough time with his daddy working, even though it's nothing new...maybe some more quality time between them is what he needs...they're starting swimming classes together this Saturday...should be fun!

"Dis-Paheered!"

We're having ice-cream for dessert tonight and as Yoni takes a bite and swallows, he opens his mouth to show us that it's empty and he says, "The ice cream dispaheered!!! I'm making a baby in my belly like mommy....see, I ate the cookie-dough!" We taught him that you say 'disappeared', but he doesn't quite get it.


Sylvie's shoe obsession continues...she constantly tries to put on any shoe she can get a hold of...here she is trying to put on Yoni's crocs.



Today, we went to story time at the library- neither Jonathan nor Sylvie really paid any attention to the book readings, but they both enjoyed making rocket ships afterwards.

Good Night!

The scene- 7:20pm: I'm tucking Yoni in bed tonight-

me: I want you to go to sleep so that you will have lots of energy to play with me tomorrow. I'm going to play with you ALL day.

Yoni: I don't want to play with you!

me: You don't want to play with me tomorrow? Who do you want to play with?

Yoni: I want to play with daddy.

me: Maybe you can play with daddy tomorrow when he returns home from work.

Yoni: Can I go to work with daddy tomorrow?

me: No...but you can play with him when he gets back.

Mellow Weekend

We had a great weekend - full of really good food! Mike made restaurant quality food for us this weekend, including stuffed artichoke, chicken kiev, and mashi crum (stuffed cabbage)...yummy yummy! Besides eating all weekend and watching football, we had a lot of good quality time with the kids. This month, Mike is in a challenging rotation during which he is constantly busy and often stays late, so it was really nice to spend some family time together. I also spent the weekend creating an album (on-line) of Sylvie's birth (a year later!), which I can't wait to get in the mail.

Play-doh fun:

This morning, Sylvie and I are hanging out, cleaning, and will go to the library play group like I used to do with Jonathan. Jonathan, by the way, is such a little boy now...has new expressions every day. To him, everything that occurred at some point in the past is "yesterday". If he just washed his hands, he'll say "I already washed my hands, yesterday!". It took us a while to figure this out :) Besides shoes, brushing teeth, and her bracelet (see above pic...thanks Jen!), Sylvie's developed quite a love of books and brings me books to read with her all the time. It's so nostalgic to read to her the same books I used to read with Jonathan.

It's a girl!!!

I'm so excited to announce that Yoni will be a big brother to two little sisters and that Sylvie is going to have a sister with whom to share all of life's dramas! Yesterday's ultrasound was really long and detailed (I don't remember it being so with the other two) and fabulous...everything looked great. Mike and I started feeling her move around last week and she's pretty active.
Here are some of the more memorable pics from yesterday's visit.

When I told Yoni that he's going to have another little sister, his reply was something like "Oh good, another sister to play in the bounce house with me!" It was sweet.

In other news...fall is on the way. I would normally be excited - if I wasn't still traumatized by last winter. The trees are already starting to turn and it's getting chilly outside. We turned the heat on this week at night, much to Yoni's dismay. It makes a clicking sound as it enters the baseboards which has been waking him up at night and scaring him "I don't want the heat! The heat is on! Move my bed!" Lots of drama throughout the night. Hopefully, we'll sleep through this night. The good news about the change in the seasons is that it's our last winter up here in the arctic tundra, so we'll try to savor it. Hopefully it won't snow as much. Our OB recommended stashing away towels and a shoelace in the car just in case, as she's due in Feb and we barely made it on time with Sylvie...I hope it won't be necessary!

We've also signed Yoni up for swim class in preparation for the move down south. He'll be taking a class on Saturdays with daddy to give them some alone time, which will be nice for them both.

We had a fun day today...in the morning, we played with play-doh - Yoni made a pizza:

and in the afternoon, we went to the playground and the Farmer's Market in Lebanon -

Yoni's become quite a good climber as of late and this video shows him climbing at the playground today and Sylvie's quite good at saying "Up, Up!".

Weekend in Maine

We had a great weekend with Idan, Amy, and Hudson in Ogunquit this past weekend. We went shopping on Saturday and bought the kids Halloween costumes already, but more importantly - we bought Yoni a booster seat. Trying to fit three car seats in the back seat has revealed that it's time for Yoni to sit in a booster as there's no space for three big car seats. On Sunday, Amy and Idan had a barbeque for which we inflated the bounce house and Yoni had a great time playing with new friends.
Here's a video of the bounce house inflation "process".



And here are the rest of the pics.

Long time no blog

Where to begin? So much has happened since my last posting and that's why I just haven't gotten around to updating...

My job is all done - all wrapped up. I've returned my Thinkpad and am now thankfully using a borrowed laptop. Jonathan is still in preschool three days/week - on M, W, F and I'm really enjoying my alone time with Sylvie on those days. The three of us hit the bounce house scene yesterday for the first time in about a year! Even Sylvie went in a jumped for a little bit. It was suprisingly packed for such a beautiful day outside.

The weather has been so warm and sunny that I've been taking the kids to the lake, and mostly the outdoor area of the science museum almost every day. Here are a couple of vids from the museum:





I was planning on taking Sylvie's pacifier away this week, but over Labor Day weekend, she fell asleep while her pacy was on the floor, so I just grabbed it and threw it out. She was a little cranky for the next few days without it, but she understood that "pacy is all gone" and "no more pacy" and she doesn't even look for it anymore! It was actually relatively easy compared to how it went with Jonathan.

Another big event in Sylvie's life happened this week...she got her first haircut! Her hair was getting into her eyes constantly, especially because she pulls out all of her barrettes. She did not like it at all...she had to sit on my lap and I held her chin while they took a couple of snips off of her bangs as she cried and screamed the whole time. Classic Sylvie.

Over Labor Day weekend, Mike and Matt came up from NY and spent lots of time with the kids. I worked all weekend, so it was nice to have some distraction for them and they had a blast with all of the attention. Here they are playing with the bounce house that they bought the kids:



Here's a cute video of Mike and Matt with the kids:



Here all of the pics from these last few weeks.

Weekend in Kansas City

Here's a pic of me and the girls during our fabulous weekend in Kansas City. You'll see Rene, Hillary, Janel, and I.

Flashback

My dad just posted his picture collection from June, which has some great pics from their time here. Click here for their blog or you can click here to see the pics directly.

3 weeks!

Ok...so I've been told that it's been about three weeks since I last updated the blog. Shame, shame, I know...I have many excuses though...we have been VERY busy (I know...who isn't?), and I've been working so much that I think I've developed a real aversion to my laptop now...I haven't been wanting to touch it when I am home now. Not to mention that I am so tired every evening (my alone quiet time), that I've been going to bed at 8:30pm...doesn't leave much time for blogging, I guess. Ok...enough excuses- on to what we've been up to the last few weeks.

Click here for all the pics.

Mike went down to NY for a weekend, and then I went to KC for another weekend. While I was gone, Mike's friend, Paul, came over with his kid, Karsten, to play with Jonathan (his mommy was out of town too). Here's a cute video from their visit (another use for the ball pit):



This past Sunday, we all went to the Lake and had a great afternoon together. Sylvie's been talking a lot more, and Jonathan loves to imitate her. This video shows Sylvie saying "A-Bah!", which we think means 'a bite', and Mike trying to get Jonathan to say it too before he takes a bite.



Jonathan has been in preschool for almost a month now and he's growing up fast and has new sayings every day. Like today, he drank water after his lunch and said "Now, I'm washing it down, Momma!". New expressions every day :)

At 15 mo of age, Sylvie's two favorite things are her toothbrush and shoes...she tries on all the shoes she can get her hands on, and manages to put her crocs on all by herself!

Sundae in the Park

We're having a great week...maybe in part due to the fact that I've been going to bed with the kids - at like 8:30 every night...so I have a little more energy. On Sunday, we went to the Lebanon Green, where they had the yearly "Sundae in the Park" with unlimited free ice cream. It was fun - Jonathan played in the bounce house, swung a couple of bats, got a balloon and they both enjoyed the playground.
For the past couple of days, I've been taking the kids to a nearby lake in Quechee, VT called Lake Pinneo. I've heard of it from both patients and friends but I haven't been brave enough to try it out yet. It is totally fabulous. We get there in the afternoon after their naps and have stayed for about an hour or so. There's a great sloping beach and the water is pretty warm. The really great thing is that we've been able to play with the beach toys that are already there so I haven't had to buy the kids beach toys yet. They also have a playground, a swing set, and picnic tables for snacking. We hope to continue to go to take advantage of the beautiful weather we've been having.

Here are all of the pics from this week.

This morning, Yoni sang a version of "Row Your Boat" that I haven't heard before...

Time for another ticker...

So...we've been brewing baby number #3 for 12 weeks now and just had a great nuchal ultrasound and we are SOOOO excited! That is, when I don't think about having 3 kids under 4 :) The official due date now is Feb 6th 2009, which means the baby will probably come a week earlier than that...but we're still hoping for a February baby. This pregnancy thus far has been totally different from the other two in that I knew right away because I was SO tired. Actually 'tired' is an understatement...I have never been so exhausted in my life...but I think that I'm starting to slowly feel more energetic, especially as my job nears its final month.

Here's our new little peanut.

And a pic of the heart rate:

Glory, Glory, Hallelujiah!

Today, at 13 and a half months of age, Sylvie finally started walking! She's been dragging all of us around the house with her so that she can hold our hand while she walks for weeks now. And today, in our bedroom, she just started walking. Actually...she just took off! When Jonathan started walking, it was earlier and he was very cautious and gradually became comfortable. Sylvie just took off like she's been doing it for years :) I guess she waited until she got it down before her first step...a perfectionist in the making? As is typical of Sylvie, and classically captured in this video, she walked back and forth a couple of times, and then decided to go her own way. Ignore the naked boy jumping around in the background...we don't know who he belongs to. (He just woke up from his nap and had not gotten dressed yet).

Grandma's and Grandpa's Visit

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us from Florida and stayed with us for almost two weeks. They were here for Jonathan's third birthday and we had so much fun with them. Ever since they left, Jonathan's been saying "I wanna go to Florida!". (Oddly, usually followed by "Where'd Aunt Jen go? She in Florida too?")
We did so much with them while they were here and we took tons of videos and pictures (thank you Lily! (Grandma)). You'll see all of our adventures by clicking here - there are loads of pics!

They took Jonathan to the science museum, where they built boats, saw some frogs, and had a great time. Here's a video of Jonathan watching the ball come down the stream with Grandma.



And here is a neat rock chime that they enjoyed.



Still at the museum, they had a great time building a sailboat and following it down the stream.



Grandma and Grandpa also spent a day alone with Jonathan in Quechee, visited the pet store, and took him to the library for story time (about boats too), after which they built another boat!
We all had a great day at the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory and then visited the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Factory.
Finally, we ended their eventful trip with an afternoon at the Circus! We all had a great time...it was such a neat treat!

As you can imagine, we all got a little silly during their visit and here are a couple of videos to prove it...The first one is of me and Lily giving the kids "horsey rides" (after Lily had already done it several times with Jonathan).



Then we all started cracking up and couldn't stop while Mike did it with Jonathan...



My parents came into town at the end of Grandma and Grandpa's stay with us and we all had fun together. This is a video of Yoni playing balloon volleyball with Grandma and Savta and he keeps yelling for it not to fall. He's yelling "Keep it up!".



We are so fortunate to have such loving parents for our children (and ourselves!).

Idan and Amy's Wedding - Take II

Click here for a fabulous slideshow.

And click here for some more pics.

Down By the Station

Click here to hear what it's supposed to sound like.

Ball Pit

Jonathan's Third Birthday!!!

We had such a blast at Jonathan's 3rd birthday in our backyard. All of his friends came and played with him and he had so much fun. Click below for all of the pictures. Today's production would not have been possible without Grandma and Grandpa whose experience came in SO handy and made the whole day go smoothly. Especially the clean-up :)

Fourth of July, 2008

We had a fabulous weekend this year. On Friday, July 4th, we started out the day by going to our yearly parade at which Jonathan is getting quite adept at collecting all the candy that is thrown his way. Unfortunately, I was being extra vigilant and had smeared Sylvie's face with sunscreen and she was quite miserable the whole time -her eyes were tearing non-stop....so, we went home afterwards to wash up and take naps. In the afternoon, we went to a friend's house (right on the CT River) and had a great time barbequeing and Jonathan even swam in the river.
On Saturday, we took Jonathan to Storyland where two miracles occurred. The first started out in the morning. As our usual when we go somewhere for the day, we put Yoni in a pull-up, just in case...He immediately protested and said "I want my underwear!" So, we put him in his underwear but told him that he can't have any accidents, and indeed - he had no accidents all day (though we did pack lots of extra clothes). He even came running off the playground to tell Mike that he needed to go to the bathroom. So..we are done with pull-ups. He's proven that when he wants to stay dry, he can!
Another miracle occurred at Storyland. When we first got there, we saw the tea-cup ride and Jonathan refused to go on it. Then, we walked to the big ball pit and again he was scared. So, we figured that the rest of the day would likely just be spent in the playgrounds and water park, and that Yoni won't be riding any of the rides until we try again next year. The next ride we came to was the biggest roller coaster at the park (Polar Coaster) and Yoni was fascinated by all the screaming, so he went to look at it with Mike while I played with Sylvie. Ten minutes later, I hear Mike yelling to me to come with the camera and I couldn't believe my eyes that they were both sitting in the roller coaster ready to go. I couldn't grab Sylvie in time to take any pictures, but after that ride, Yoni went on just about every single ride in the park. The height minimum to ride with an adult is 36 inches and at 38 inches, the whole park seems like it was built just for Yoni! And everywhere we went, there was a little play area for the babies so that Sylvie could enjoy herself while Yoni was on the rides. We also saw a circus show and Yoni had his first cotton candy, which he didn't like at all because it made his fingers too sticky! They even have little potties, free strollers, nursing rooms, changing rooms, and nap rooms for the kids. This park is just so child friendly that it made the two hour ride (through the beautiful White Mountains) to get there well worth it! We can't wait to go back! Of note, while riding through one of the small NH towns in the mountains, a bear ran across the road! We couldn't believe our eyes.

Here are Yoni and Mike in the shoe ride:


Here's Yoni at the water park area...he says "I'm getting all wet!" at the end.


Here's Sylvie playing in the sandbox while Mike and Jonathan are on the whale ride.


All of the rest of the pictures can by seen by clicking here!

Today

This morning as Mike is getting ready for work:
J: "Where you going today daddy?"
Mike: "I'm going to work."
J: "You going to work today daddy?"
Mike: "Yep."
J: "OK. See you on Monday!"

Guess he must have heard that line somewhere...

Click for wedding pics

Here's the link to some of Idan and Amy's gorgeous wedding pictures.

How'ya doin'?

Sometime after Mike returns home from work...

Jonathan: "Did you go to work today?"
Mike: "yep."
J: "How was work today?"
Mike: "ok."
J: "How ya doin' today, daddy?"
Mike: "I'm just fine. How are you today Jonathan?"
J: "I'm fine. Just like you daddy."
----------------------------------------------------

Sylvie - "Haiiiiiiiii!" (usually accompanied by repeatedly opening and closing her fists)
That's all she says that's recognizable among her constant chatter. Any time the phone rings, in the mornings when I come into her room, after naps, when passing strangers- she gives a nice, long, drawn out "Haiiiiii".
Crawling now is by necessity only, as she has learned that with enough whining, she can grab our hands and walk wherever she wants to go...and she definitely knows where she wants to go. She has quite a strong personality and lets you know right away if she's not happy about where you are "walking" with her or god forbid, if you free yourself from her grip. She cannot walk on her own soon enough!
She does love to give kisses and understands a lot of what we say. I'll have to take a video of her giving kisses...so cute. She also claps hands and goes for the stairs any chance she gets when there's a lapse in the gate.

More pics

Here are more pics from the beginning of June from Yaron's perspective (my uncle) with his beautiful new camera (his wife's really :). Click on the slideshow to see the pictures full size.

June 2008- Sylvie turns one, Idan gets married, and loads of fun!

So this month has been among our busiest yet...but filled with lots of fun and excitement. My parents came in the beginning of the month, followed by my mom's sister and her family from Israel. Then, my uncle (also from Israel) followed by my grandparent (from Israel), and finally Shanee and Brandin arrived from Denver. All told, we had 15 people staying with us...crazy and fun...especially for Sylvie and Jonathan, who got lots of attention.

We celebrated Sylvie's first birthday and here a couple of videos from her big day. The first is an explanation by Yoni about what's going on, and the second is the singing. Almost everyone was taking pictures and videos the entire time, so there will be lots more pictures coming once all of the sharing is through.





After the birthday, we all left town and headed to Ogunquit, Maine. We stayed in a cottage by the beach and while it was too chilly to enjoy the beach, we enjoyed our walks as it is simply gorgeous there. Idan and Amy were married on the 15th in a beautiful ceremony and celebration. Sylvie was the flower girl and Yoni was the ring bearer, and they both did quite a good job. Yoni stood by Mike (a groomsman also) the entire time quietly and I couldn't take any pictures, as I was a bridesmaid. So, as I get them, I'll post them.

Here are the pictures that encompass this month so far...lots and lots. Click here for the newest pictures, and here are the pics from the beginning of the month (including an awesome long weekend getaway to NYC for our 5th wedding anniversary).

Yoni's 3rd birthday is coming up in less than a month, so time to plan a big party!

Dentist

Yoni went to the dentist yesterday for the first time for his very first cleaning. He was amazing. Yoni's favorite part was going up and then down in the chair. He sat so nicely the whole time while the hygienist counted his teeth (17.5 teeth at almost 3yrs), polished them, washed and suctioned them, flossed, and finally painted the fluoride on. Then, the dentist came to inspect his mouth and he opened nice and wide for him as well. What a big boy! As a reward, he got 2 surprise toys and got to pick out a cool toothbrush w/little balls in the handle, after which he appropriately said "I want to eat them!".
First, the introduction...

And then, for the action:

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY SYLVIE!!!!

I can hardly believe that my little baby is already one! I am oh so proud of her. At one year, she is cruising like a pro (though no single steps yet), loves to imitate (clap hands, blow kisses, and any sounds that you make), and loves to instigate games. She'll grab any blanket and throw it over her head to play peek-a-boo, and she loves to play chase...she'll start crawling and will look back to make sure someone's following her. She is such a cutie and our love for her is endless. I'm looking forward to seeing her continued relationship with Yoni grow and blossom.

Basting Brushes

Mike was putting the dishes away from the dishwasher one day when he said "What did you use the basting brushes for?" So, I said: "Take a look at this video..."

Crazy Long Time

I know that it's been a crazy long time since I've last posted, but I had to create an entry (yes..from work) as Mike PASSED HIS RADIOLOGY BOARDS!!!!! Whew! Now, moving on with life...
So much is going on that I'll have to post later, but we have a house full of family in preparation for Idan and Amy's wedding, Mike and I are going to spend a nice long weekend in NYC today (in celebration of our 5th anniv), and then we're coming back to celebrate Sylvie's first birthday. I can't even believe it. Then the wedding, then maybe we'll breathe again...maybe ;)

Growing

Ok...Yoni and Mike are out grocery shopping and I just put Sylvie down for a nap. I'll ignore the piles of clean laundry that needs folding, the journals that need reading, and the playroom that needs cleaning, and instead, I'll update the blog!
We are having so much fun now that it's warmer outside. We love going to garage sales and are finding great buys. The graduating docs are finishing their residencies and are moving on, so we are always running into someone we know when we visit their houses on our garage sale paths.
The kids are enjoying the weather, and we're spending almost all of our days outside now. Sylvie has taken to her little car, which she can only push backwards with her legs (click here for the pics) and has started walking with Yoni's old walker. It's fun to see her do all the stuff that Yoni used to do. She's catching on to sign language a bit more and waves when we say "Hi" or "Bye", signs us when she's "all done", and lets us know when she's ready to sleep.
Yoni has become such a love. Before he goes down to sleep, he says "I need my hug! I need my kiss!" and after we hug and kiss him, he lies right down and waits to be covered...so cute. And this morning, I told him that I love him and he said "We're a happy family, Momma." And I assured him that we are.

Here is a video of Sylvie discovering Yoni's old basketball set. Sorry the video is way too long...she just kept going and going. While Sylvie is 11 mo old in this video, here is Jonathan's video when he was 13 mo old.


Here is a video of Sylvie signing for "sleep".


Here are two cute videos of Sylvie using the walker for the first time this morning. I couldn't decide which video to use, so I loaded them both up. Here's Yoni using his walker also at 11 months. I would like to sentimentally note that that was my very first video upload...boy have my videos become longer!

What makes me happy

If someone were to ask me what really makes me happy in life, fills up my heart completely, and offers me total peace...hands down it would be watching my kids play with each other. They were both playing Hide-and-Seek, I guess with me, so this was their reaction when I found them (had to stop and grab the camera first). It's not hard to find them with all the giggling that goes on.

And last night, Mike and I were quietly reading on the couch, and we suddenly noticed that we were quietly reading on the couch, so we looked at each other to realize that the kids have been occupying themselves by playing together right behind us. I grabbed the camera to take a video, but as soon as they realized they are being recorded, the playing stopped. By the way, as you can see in this video, one of Sylvie's favorite pastimes is tearing up our medical journals, of which she has a couple of pieces with her behind the couch. The way I see it, it's less reading for me :)

On the go!

Now that the weather is nice, we have been out and about almost non-stop. While it's very tiring, it's also loads of fun! Today, we started out the day by going to garage sales- my first time, though I think I'm addicted already. At our very first house, we managed to find a picnic table and slide for the kids, 2 little lawn chairs with umbrellas for them, and a blow up swimming pool with a slide...and the grand total came to like $20! Gotta love it. Then we headed to a town-wide garage sale nearby which was fun to walk through.
We also bought a kite and joined another family (I think we got there too late, so everyone had already left) in kite flying, which was so much fun...though more for Mike and I than for Jonathan. He loved it in the beginning, but I think got stressed out when the kite went too high and started pulling on him.
At Dartmouth, they had a Native American Festival which we went to in the evening and enjoyed watching the costumes and dancing, and browsing their beautiful art, clothing, and jewelry. And, of course, we ended the day as we do most days now by enjoying some ice cream at Ben & Jerry's. All in all a great time...though I think I'll be going to bed soon as tomorrow brings another full day...this time of Mother's Day shopping!!!
Here are all of today's pics.
And here are a couple of videos from today's festival.

Tragedy

Tragedy has struck us here, at the Beckerman Estate. I so lovingly and patiently planted a whole bunch (approx 25) of tulip bulbs of all sorts of magnificent colors last fall and have been anxiously awaiting their bloom. A few weeks ago, their little heads popped out from among the leaves, which we cleaned off of them promptly. Every day, I would go and check on their progress, whisper them sweet words of encouragement, giving them inspiration to bloom. And what did I discover a few days ago during one of my routine evening visitations? Alas...they were no longer! All of the beautiful stems were cut, some with the heads strewn about, some with the whole bulb gone.

We will never know the culprit of such a brutal and senseless crime, but we do have one piece of good news to share which does bring some solace and comfort back into our lives. A survivor has at last emerged from a different area of the yard...a lovely and delicate tulip that has blossomed so beautifully that we visit every day.