Halloween

Well, Halloween was an eye-opener for us this year. At our old house, we probably got 2-3 kids all night (sometimes, no one came by). This year, we were absolutely inundated. We ran out of candy in 20 minutes and Stephen had to run to the store for more. We then ran out of that with 30 minutes of trick-or-treating to go.

The kids were the Incredibles, and I was a Goth girl. Unfortunately, most of the pics we took are pretty blurry, so here are the good ones:

Celebrating the High Holidays

We've had a very busy, very hectic couple of weeks trying to balance the holidays, choir, racquetball, swimming lessons, work, and family. Now that the High Holidays are over we can take a deep breath and relax.

The kids took turns blowing the shofar at the break-fast after Yom Kippur. Here's a still of Max:

And a pic of Jordan just enjoying the evening.

I have a short video of Jordan blowing the shofar--email me if you want to see it.

I Almost Forgot the Best One!

Here's Jordan enjoying her cake:

Pics from Jordan's Party

Here are some pics from Sunday. Thanks to Jeff for taking pictures for us!

First, while everyone else ate pizza, Jordan did her thing in the family room. Hey, it's her party. She doesn't have to be social...


Max checks out a puzzle that Jordan got from Rachel. I'm sure as soon as she noticed him touching it she started screaming, "MINES!!!!" (again, still working on the sharing and not sure why she talks like Gollum):

Jordan hugs her new puppy dog with Miles looking on:

Cake time! Unfortunately, Jordan was a little unhappy:

We thought at first she was upset by our singing, but it turns out she dropped one of her 'guys' on the way to the table and couldn't find it. As soon as the fourth guy from her new toy was located, she happily blew out the candles:

We had a great time, and I think Jordan realized it was a party for her. It's a little hard to tell at this age but at least she liked getting presents and eating cake.

Jordan's Party, and Max read us a story

What a great day!

Jordan's second birthday party was a lot of fun--the only bad part was that Dad had to work, but we captured some nice video for him. I don't have pics yet, but should have some posted within the week. She loved all her gifts, and didn't much like when Max tried to play with them (we'll have to work on that whole "sharing" thing...).

At bedtime, Max told me he wanted to read "Green Eggs & Ham" to me. He sat on my lap and read me the whole story. He only had trouble with one word (try). I thought at first that he had it memorized, but every now & then he would stop at a word and sound it out. What a smart boy! We're so proud of him (now if only I could get him to stay in his bed--he keeps coming into my room to see what I'm doing).

Max is also doing very well in swimming lessons. He really has no fear of the water at all (which is scary, because he can't swim yet without a flotation device).

More pics coming soon!

Mira and Zoe's Birthday

We were very happy to be with Mira and Zoe on their third birthday. To celbrate, Mira ate a cheeseburger bigger than her head,

and Max ate a giant meatball.

Jordan was just happy to get a piece of cake. :)

And here's a couple of pictures of the cousins:

First day of school!

Technically, it was this past Tuesday. Unfortunately it was also the week from hell and we haven't had any time to breathe, much less update the blog. So, here's a pic of Max on the first day of school, with Jordan and Dad posing for good measure:

Max had a great week, and his teachers tell me he's one of the "leaders" in the classroom. In his aftercare, he's one of the big kids now (the 4-year-olds know the score and help keep the 3-year-olds in line). He's thrilled to be back at school.

In Jordan-related news, we decided to move her to a daycare closer to our new house. It was a tough decision, given how comfortable she is at Helen's. She absolutely loves Cindy's house, and it will be much easier having her stay close to home.

Home Improvements

We had two room of our house painted yesterday. Here are some before & after shots:

Here's the family room before (with the furniture pushed to the middle of the room):

And after:

Max looks excited, huh? We're hoping to get the new furniture in a couple of weeks. Can't have a green couch with green walls.

Here's the kitchen before we moved in:

And after:

It's a little brighter than I expected, but I like it. I can't wait to get some prints on the walls in both rooms!

School Picnic

The Parent-Teacher Organization to which we belong hosted a picnic at Max's new school last night. The kids had a lot of fun and then COLLAPSED when we got home.

They made bubbles:




Jordan tried to make friends, but was a little shy (here's her shy pose):



And Max got to catch up with some friends from his class:



It was a fun night!

Busy End of Summer

Sorry about the lack of posts--the last few weeks have been pretty busy for us. First, Jordan twisted up her knee and we had to go to the doctor (she had x-rays and everything, just in case). Max took some pictures while we were there:




I don't know why Jordan screws up her face like that when she says, "Cheese!", but it's awfully cute.

Jordan is also a jigsaw puzzle fiend (covered in a previous post), but here are some pics of her doing her thing:



Boy, I haven't seen her face that clean in weeks.

After bath

Our exciting news this week is that Jordan has been using the potty! She has to be completely naked, so we're only doing it during times when we're also getting changed. You can see how excited she is about it:



(Ok, to be fair, that's the face she makes when you tell her to say "cheese". Here she is doing her jigsaw puzzles, which she does for HOURS every day.)



And Max is always willing to pose for a picture.

A Blast from the Past

I found this picture today--it's one of my favorites.

Matching Socks

I sent Max upstairs to get a pair of socks before going to meet friends at the playground. He came downstairs with this combination:

I pointed out that the socks didn't match, and he said, "But Mom, they're both LSU!". I couldn't argue that one. Geaux Tigers!! He was quite proud of his find, and asked me to take another picture:

And here's one of Jordan, so she doesn't feel ignored:

Another flute player in the family!

Max the Photographer

Max decided to take some pictures tonight. Here are his first "published" photos.

"Mom, Interrupted"

(That's Jordan. She's walking through and playing a wooden flute, completely oblivious to the photo being taken.)

"Jordan with boxes"

"Self Portrait"

This may be the least flattering picture of Max I have ever seen. We'll have to work on his self-portrait techniques. Maybe no flash next time...

Father/son camping

Max and Stephen went on their first father/son camping trip this weekend. They had a lot of fun, and met up with Hugh and Jacque in Albion, Michigan. They spent most of Saturday swimming in the lake, and Max has been sleeping off the sun and fun all weekend.

Jordan and I had fun this weekend. Mostly, I unpacked, but I treated her to a scone at my favorite coffee shop. :)

Otherwise, all is well with us.

Breaking News!

Jordan can count to 10! (With a little bit of help).

Plus, since she can't say "Max", she says "Gop" instead (don't ask me how she came up with that one). It's very cute. She spent 5 minutes tonight saying, "'night 'night, Gop'" over and over...

Playing in the Backyard

A couple of weeks after we moved in, we decided to spend some time in our new backyard. We have a retaining wall, which has proved nearly irresistible for young Max (and we've had chats about wandering into other neighbor's yards while "walking the wall").

Here he is with Dad:

You can see how excited he is to be up there. He likes to just walk back and forth, every now & then jumping off and climbing back up.

The lovely landscaping felt has since been covered with mulch.







Jordan also came out to check out the backyard:



It was just after they had a bath, so she's still wet (not sweaty).









I finally got them to pose for a nice pic together:














Cute, huh?

Our Lillies are Blooming!

Aren't they beautiful? No plain orange daylillies for us, no siree.

Did we forget to tell you...

...that Jordan's joined the Israeli army?

Fourth of July = No Pants

At least, as far as Max is concerned.

First. Post. Ever.

Well, I decided to create this blog because I keep forgetting to keep track of cute stuff the kids do. I'm planning to use this as a virtual baby-book (even though they're not babies anymore), and hope that family members enjoy keeping up with the kids.

That's it for now. Let's hope I can remember to do more as we go!

Chris