The Pictures :)

Here are the pictures from the other day. Sorry it took a few days, it's been crazy busy here.

Like I said, they were so excited to go they hardly stayed still for pictures, but these were the best I could get.

Oh What a Loooong Day

Yesterday was a great day. But one of those days you can only do every so often without totally exhausting yourself LOL. First we went to the indoor play place. The girls haven't been there in months. I hardly got any pictures because they were so busy running back and forth and so excited they just wouldn't hold still. Then we got invited out to dinner at a friend's house. Finally at 8:00 we went to go see my friend's brand new baby. The girls were totally in awe. He is such a sweet little thing.

I did manage to get a few pictures, but they will have to wait for another post. I need to run now and figure out lunch for the girls, who will be storming through the door any second :)

Now on to Better News

We have a reader :D

A very beginning one, but she was reading today!!!!!

For a while we have had letter cards, the girls love them. They know about 1/2 the letters consistently. I decided to focus on just a few at a time and help them get those down. I also bought BOB books for them, not really expecting they were ready yet, but today Nechama did it. I said words slowly, Nechama was able to put them together and say them fast. We reviewed the 4 letters in the first BOB book and lo and behold, Nechama starts reading. I was so proud :D. Rena was kind of getting it too, but Nechama was actually looking at the words and reading. I can't believe it. I didn't think they were ready and it just clicked.

Rachel's LOSE WEIGHT FAST Diet Plan

1. Find someone with stomach flu.
2. Expose yourself to stomach flu.
3. Spend day in bed.
4. Lose weight (up to 5 lbs overnight!!!!)

The small print:
Not guaranteed to keep weight off, see doctor before trying this plan, may not be too healthy, and of course.... results not typical.

The Best Present...

a sock. The child is obsessed with socks. I should just buy him socks.

Here is a video of him opening his present. Notice he doesn't let go of the sock.

A Very Merry UnBirthday to You (Part Two)

The celebrations continued today....

His cake, isn't it adorable (thanks Marion!!! it was delicious too!!)

He didn't quite know what to do with it. He picked it up and messed around with it, but didn't understand he was supposed to eat it LOL. Like this the kid sticks everything in his mouth.

The big sisters waiting to help him eat his cake.

And now.... Presents!!!

Hum... a box.



Oooh, a toy :)



More fun! Paper!

Yes, I should have just given him paper.

He got a bath toy I'm sure the girls will let him use at some point LOL.

A Very Merry UnBirthday

No, it's not their birthday (yet) but since my parents were here we decided to do a little party. I got a beautiful cake (thanks Marion!!!) and we did a little party.

The baby was supposed to have his celebration also, but he was too tired so we will do it this afternoon. The girls were supposed to get presents (they don't know that LOL) and again, we decided to wait until today because it was getting late (and if Gramps missed the inauguration, well that just wouldn't be good...) So we'll have Avraham Tzvi's cake,

and presents all around later on this afternoon.

Connect Four!

The girls have learned to play :) Well, a modified version at least (I haven't dealt with diagonal lines of 4 yet). I love how they are growing up!

One Last Zoo Post

Just a video of the girls playing in the petting zoo. Rivka was a little afraid of the animals, but the twins had a blast (well, except when Rena met the sheep...)

Found the Picture

March of '05. She had just turned 2.



Yesterday, Almost 5!! My babies are all grown up.

More Fun at the Zoo

I'm going to try to update while the baby is happy on the floor. No guarantees, he can be happy for hours but as soon as I try to do something productive he becomes unhappy. It's baby radar I think.

Yesterday we went to the zoo. We had a great time. The weather was not so bad for January. It was one of those days where it was either hot or cold. In the sun it was nice and warm, but if the clouds came out it got cold really quick. We took the train around so I didn't get so many pictures of all the different animals. We only walked through a few exhibits. It's a pretty big zoo and we have a membership so we go pretty often.

At the entrance

The Africa Exhibit.

The giraffe was so close. I never realized what HUGE animals they are before. I mean I knew in theory, but in practice, wow. The animals were all pretty brave because the zoo was pretty empty. We got a lot of close up views.

We always finish off the day at the park and the petting zoo. They have a wonderful huge wooden park. The kids could spend hours there.

Petting the goats.



About to go on the slide. I have a picture of Rena in the same pose from about 3 years ago.

More taking care of goats.

All and all a great day. We went out to dinner after the zoo (pics to follow.... depending on how late we get back tonight). At least I got the zoo ones up :)

The Baby Who Never Sleeps

We have all heard of the City That Never Sleeps:

Meet the Baby Who Never Sleeps:

He was up the whole day at the zoo. I don't think it's normal for an 11 month old baby to wake up at 6:30am and stay up until 5:30pm because he doesn't have a nice crib to sleep in. Aren't kids supposed to sleep in the stroller? Aren't you *not* supposed to let them doze off in the stroller so you don't ruin their naps? Anyway, he was a real joy by the end of the day. He finally passed out about 5 minutes before we got home, of course.

A Day at the Zoo

We went to the zoo today.
I am beyond tired. Exhausted. Done.
Pictures tomorrow if I have recovered.
I am getting old.

What Was I Thinking?!?!?!?!

I know what I was thinking. I was thinking this picture would look nice in my playroom / office.

I forgot it doesn't come all nice and pretty like that. It comes more like this:

Just FYI. 2000 is a LOT of pieces. I should have stuck with this one I bought for the girls.

It's actually harder than it looks. It took a few times before I got the cow right. Stay tuned to see if I ever get the bridge back together again.

I've Been Wii'd

I have finally come out of the stone age. I went to borrow something from my neighbor and her dd was playing on the Wii. After a few minutes she asked if I wanted to try, I said sure. It was lots of fun! I need to have one now :D Time to start hinting for my birthday present I think :D

A Day at the Park

We went to the park today with Grammy & Gramps. It's the park right across the street from our house. Still playing around with the new camera.

Rena on her bike.

Rivka being her goofy self.

My little scientists.

Nechama & Rena best twins forever.

I can't believe how grown up they are. They don't even look like little kids anymore.

We hit another milestone today, I let Rena sleep on the top bunk. They have had a bunk bed since they were 2.5, but the top has been off limits. I decided to give it a try tonight. After we went over the rules about 100x, I let her sleep up the top.

Aaah, peace. Four sleeping kids. Sorry no pic of #4, if I go in there to take a pic of him sleeping I will have an awake, unhappy baby and an un updated blog.

Sleeping like a baby way up high :)



Yes, she still sucks her thumb My only thumb sucker.



She was out pretty fast tonight. She is a tired kiddo lately.

My First Vent

Well it had to come some time.

I made a nice big order from Old Navy about 2 weeks ago. I was wondering why it did not show up yet, so I checked on the site. Turns out the order never went through :(

I ordered a whole bunch of stuff for my baby for next winter, and had great deals, but all the stuff is gone now. I called them, but there is nothing they can do. I never buy my kids new clothes, and the one time I try it does not work out. AARRGGG. Oh well. Maybe next time.

New Camera

My old camera was getting a little fiddly in its' old age, so when I found a good deal on Amazon I jumped at it. I bought a Cannon SD1100 IS. My last was also a Cannon powershot, and it has done a great job, so I just went with what I know to replace it.

Before I had my parents bring it 7000 miles I wanted to make sure it worked, so my dad charged up the battery and took a test picture.

Meet Shelby the cat. She's my parents' cat, isn't she a sweetie.

Yes, all the stuff she is sleeping on is now here (well, not the bed). We take full advantage of my father's miraculous packing ability to get all kinds of goodies from the states. The company's not bad either ;-D

Some more pictures from the new camera. The girls weren't home so I'll have to get them later. These are from yesterday.

The best present of all, a box

Yum! Real Food :)

OK, enough pictures already!

Darn models, just when you are getting a good shot they are ready to call it a day. I'll have to try again when the other models get home from gan :)