A little Thank you for sammie & mike

Samala and Mike,

Since you couldn't be with us on chanukah i've been trying to send videos of the kiddies opening their gifts. Well, silly little me didn't realize the video has sat in my outbox for over two weeks now. Go figure! Anyway, I wanted to share with you, so i'm posting them here for you.

Jordan's is especially funny, so please enjoy!!

the family

couldn't resist

sam took such a great picture of justin when she came down for my 40th. couldn't resist posting it.

The Chocolate Apple

Yum. Thanks Colleen!

The Fight Over the Most Ridiculous Couch. Ever.

God love my sister Nicky. She definitely knows what kids love. Thomas the Train couches. It has emerged from it's 3 year break in the basement. And both kids love it.

At Last?

Could it be?

Have we FINALLY gotten rid of Justin's bottle?

As embarassing as this is, we finally put an end to it last night. Maybe it took so long because we know this is our last baby we'll have (and chances are if I get pregnant again it might be questionable since William had that surgery and all) or maybe it's that we're fearful of Justin and the screaming that would come as a result. Either way, he was definitely ready and didn't blink an eye when we gave him a cup with a straw and milk last night. He was perfectly content.

Bye bye tetero (bottle in Spanish, and as he affectionately called it, tete).

School Year!

How is it that the summer has flown by and my oldest is now in first grade? How did that even happen? And how is it that Justin is RUNNING everywhere? And running to the point that I CAN'T EVEN CATCH HIM??? Yowsa--my boys are getting big!

Lately, I've been struggling with the fact that Jordan no longer wants hugs and kisses from me except at night. It's very hard to be a mom--sensitive mom--at that, and realize it's nothing personal. He's just growing up. It's true-I wouldn't want to be one of those moms with their kid hanging onto them in hysterics as they are heading off to first grade--but I wouldn't mind being one of the (few) moms that still gets a hug in the mornings before they run off. Se La Vie! Whats a mom to do?

Yesterday we took the boys to an awesome corn maze. The full corn maze is 10 acres long, but they had a small part that was for kids specifically called the Mini Maze. So we put Justin in a little wagon, hoping he would stay in it, haha, and started on our journey. They had a great time, going over bridges and fairly amazed at the giant corn stalks everywhere. There was also a little Noah's Ark constructed out of wood. Justin had a blast running from one end to the other and peeking through the holes to find us. He got the biggest kick out of it. Jordan also did the Miner's Max where you purchase a bag of dirt (with gemstones) and run it through the water to find the gems. Very cool for him. I would show photos but that reminds me that I don't have any since I desperately need to buy a new camera since ours broke at our trip to the Children's Museum back in August. Here is a photo from my iphone...




(Note--children in ark are not mine--from website :)

SpaceFarms!

We went last weekend to Space Farms with our friends The Katonis. It's a giant farm with all sorts of animals, kind of like a zoo but even better! We had a great time, especially feeding the deer and seeing the baby bear take a bath. The boys had a blast on the tire swing and we even got to see a baby horse that was 3 days old! Adorable, and nearly the same size as Justin.

Here's just a few pics as I haven't downloaded mine yet...this one is from Abby. What a big kid he is turning out to be...

Happy 18 months Justin!

Yesterday was Justin's half birthday. I can't believe my baby is so big! And it happened so fast!

Happy Birthday Justeeeee! We love you!

The Teenage Years

Today was crazy hair day at camp. Hopefully this will be the worst of what I see as a mom in 10 years. Shout out to Colleen our neighbor for having gold hair spray!! Woo Hoo!

Dinos

It has been toooo long since a post! We've had a lot of fun this past summer with the boys, but it's passing by too quickly like most things that are wonderful.

Jordan and I were lucky enough to go to Walking with Dinosaurs at Madison Square Garden this past weekend. Bubbee bought Jordan and I tickets last year and it was fantastic. Dinosaurs and scientists worked together to create 15 different dinosaurs, both puppets and robotic -- the tallest was Allosauraus at 36 feet tall. It was absolutely spectacular.

A few photos of our favorites, trex and allosauraus:


Thanks MOM!!

BLah blah blah

Justin has been babbling constantly. It's very sweet, since he firmly believes that he is making perfect sense to everyone. To be fair, he has come up with quite a few new words in his vocabulary in the past week or so:

muah muah (kiss kiss)
caaaaah (boston version of car)
caaaahe (fall in spanish)
no no no no (no)
dordaaaaan (jordan)
ummy (yummy)
tiggie tiggie (tickle tickle)

Now that William has returned from Colombia (with video camera in hand), I'll try to get a video of him babbling away!

Ahhhhh Summer is Here!

So William left for Colombia last Friday and I decided to be a brave mommy and venture to the beach with both boys solo. Overall, we had a fantastic time. Jordan, at this point, is a pro on the beach. Loves to build, dig, chase seagulls and run back and forth to the ocean to collect buckets of water and shells. I wasn't sure how Justin would react. I should have expected, with his fearless personality, that of course he would plop himself down in the icy cold water and not want to move his big tush. He loved the water, ate the sand and chased his brother everywhere. I truly did not sit down for 2 days straight. I guess that's the exercise I"ll be getting while William is away! What a great time we had.
Here are a couple of photos from outside the Margate home of the boys and at the beach. Damn they are cute!





Before we left to come back home, the boys were lucky enough to see their Bubbee and Zayda for a quick italian meal.

T-Ball!

It's t-ball time folks! We're nearly at our last game for the season, but by now Jordan not only looks adorable, but knows how to play too. God bless.

Last night at the game, I had to chase Justin off the field 3 times. He had a total fit, as he thinks he can play with the big kids. He did, however, get to shake hands with the other team at the end of the day.

More California Pics!

Like I said, I'll be posting more pics and stories to tell from our trip to San Diego. It's a really great city for kids-lots of parks, beaches, museums, and outdoor activies. And, of course, LEGOLAND.





One of our best days was our trip to La Jolla (see above). After walking and seeing the seals, the boys decided to make the stroller into a car and had a blast with it right in front of a wedding ceremony. Jordan even took his shirt off for it. I just couldn't stop laughing! What a great imagination my 6 year old has! And of course Justin's in it for the ride as you can see!

California!

WHAT A GREAT VACATION!

The next few blogs will be about our super duper trip to San Diego. The kids, William and I had such a good time. We were lucky enough to stay with our Aunt (and Great Aunt) Janet and her doggie Cilantro.

As you can see here, the boys had a ball playing with Cilantro and imitating him. I've figured out that the boys really don't need any toys. They mostly fought over the doggie bed and who would sit in it. O yeah, and play with Cilantro's toys :)

More pictures to come soon!

Tough Times

I know I usually write pretty exciting stuff about the kids and how GREAT Jordan is doing in school and how adorable Justin is, but lately it just has not been that way! First off, Jordan has obviously been affected by my return to the workforce. We're coming up on a month, and my hours have been extremely difficult for everyone (I am still at work at 11pm tonight in fact) and no one has been in a good mood. Jordan has been whiney lately, and not being very nice to anyone at home. It's been tough. I know it's a phase we're going through, but sometimes it's just hard to be a parent. That's all.

I'm going to post a video of the boys to cheer William and myself up. Because, after all, we know they are super duper kids and we love them dearly.

He's on the Move!

That's right folks-a day before his first birthday he had started walking. Now we've got the video to prove it. He looks like a little monster.

Enjoy!

Tech Savvy Kid?

This morning William was keeping the boys busy because I was blow drying my hair. An effort in itself with 2 children in the morning...

Anyway, William found an old cassette walkman for Jordan to play with and my dear almost 6 year old shows up in the bathroom all excited about it. "Mommy! Guess what daddy gave me? I got an MP3 player! Can you believe it?" I couldn't help but giggle as he's walking around with this dinosaur of a listening device.

Gotta love em. And you know I didn't have the heart to tell him he did not have an MP3 player!

My budding artist

In an effort to organize my basement, I pulled out the artist easel and some acrylics for Jordan to paint with on Sunday while I got some stuff done. He had such a good time-and mommy and daddy both got nice works of art for valentine's day. Mine is right here in my office. Note: the heart on the bottom right was partially done by me to show Jordan HOW to do a heart :)

Happy Birthday Big Boy!

What a bittersweet birthday! My little round ball of love turned one this past week and I don't know whether to cry of happiness or sadness! He's moving around so quickly lately I'm afraid he's going to leave the front door sooner than I would like him to...how the time does fly!

The day before his first birthday (Tuesday) he took his first few steps! It was very exciting for everyone!

Here are a few pictures and videos of him eating his cupcake. It's clear he truly is part of our family and has a sweet tooth! Enjoy!

New Year (2 weeks late)!

I still can't figure out where the time between Halloween and January 16 went to. Oops now it's January 17th already! See how time flies?

In a nutshell, we've enjoyed the last few months of holidays with friends and family. Justin got to enjoy his first Chanukah, and of course, ended up loving the wrapping paper more than any gift he got. Jordan got a trillion times more gifts than him and our big family gift this year was the Wii system. We even got Aunt Sam and Uncle Mike to visit us for a weekend where Mike managed to teach Jordan some moves. Despite the snowstorm we got in late December we were still able to celebrate Chanukah with Bubbee and Zayda and Nicky and our cousins down in Haddonfield with some yummy brisket that mom made.

Justin has been on the move since about 8 months, around Halloween. He has figured out that crawling on hardwood floors is quite painful, and has figured out a new method to getting around. He uses his right foot as a push to catapult himself forward rather than crawling on it. Take a looksie here. It's really quite funny and he's super fast. Interestingly enough, when he's on carpet he crawls the traditional way.

We've had to put up gates, lock doors and quickly baby proof to avoid any accidents to the little guy. He has also finally healed from his stomach dehydration incident of October. He's back to eating nearly all foods and just over 2o lbs. He has started taking some small steps, and likes to use this small hippo walker to get around. The boys are getting along pretty great, although there has been some jealousy between Jordan and Justin (surprise there :)

Just a few more pics:

Doesn't Aunt Sam have a "Please don't leave me with your kids" look??

We are looking forward to celebrating Justin's first birthday in a few weeks! We cannot believe it is here already!