My Sister's Family

Aren't they beautiful? I miss them so much. They just moved to Colorado so this will be the first Christmas that my family won't be together.

This picture makes me laugh. Don't Frank and Koda (the dog) look so much alike?

"Mommy"

Ahhhhhhh

Eliana and I were wasting...ENJOYING some time trying out all the massage chair pads at Bed Bath and Beyond. She was enjoying them almost as much as I was.

On the mend

We knew Dudley was starting to feel better when he started allowing Murray to clean his eyes and ears again. For a while, poor Murray couldn't even look at Dudley without getting growled at.

Duuuuuuude

Dude! Where's my pillow?

Poor Baby

Eliana was sooooooo sick last weekend. After 3 days and nights of not much sleep, I took her the doctor where she was diagnosed with bronchitis.

We should have just stayed home and rested, but Sasha had Sunday school. After we dropped her off, Eliana and I went to Target where she tripped and fell on the clothing racks. As if she wasn't whiny enough...poor baby!

Really

They REALLY parked like this!

I tried.

I tried to be a good Jewish Mommy and make latkes FROM SCRATCH (just for the record). This is what happened. Fortunately, there was a lot and I was able to scoop off the top layer and continue making the damn latkes!

That's my dog!!

Lovin' him some books!

By the way, his leg is doing so much better! He's using it most of the time, only limping when it gets tired.

School Parties

I'm so lucky that I can attend the girls' holiday parties. On Wednesday, I visited Sasha's classroom and helped her class travel from classroom to classroom for Holidays Around the World. It really made me miss teaching...well, until I had to discipline a child. No pictures there due to privacy issues.

On Friday, Eliana's classroom had a Holiday luncheon. Latkes (which most kids only took a bite of so the Mommies had a good lunch)!!!!

The Grand Finale

On the last night of Hanukkah, my true love brought to my spoiled little girls----a visit from Bubbie and Zayde!

In addition to the rest of the gifts from Mommy and Daddy, the girls had a whole other box of gifts from the Hanukkah Bubbie and Zayde!














Like all kids, the girls threw all the presents to the side and PLAYED IN THE BOX!

Hanukkah Hoopla

Orrrrr...GIFTAPALOOZA. Crazy amount of gifts this year. Spoiled children.
Eliana opened her gifts like my grandmother used to do, very very slowly and very very carefully! It drove Sasha CRAZY. Fortunately, Eliana didn't mind her help.















Excitement over the DVD "Up".














Dudley speaking his mind, wondering where his gift is.














Mommy's doggy Menorah and the cute one that Eliana made at school (painted paint stick with nuts (as in nuts and bolts) for candle holders.

1st Sleepover

The girls have been BEGGING to have a sleepover. I don't trust Eliana to sleep in Sasha's bed without falling out in the middle of the night so we set up a camp on Eliana's floor. It took them about 2 hours to actually fall asleep. I had to go up and run interference. Sasha was exhausted and all Eliana wanted to do was play. I tried to help Eliana fall asleep by patting her back. Sasha fell asleep within 5 minutes but Eliana was still fighting it. She was almost asleep when the dogs came up and decided to join us. That was very exciting for Ellie so we had to love them and help them find a spot to sleep. Finally, after about 30 minutes of back-patting, Eliana told me to go downstairs. WELL THEN! I told her if I heard her talking or playing, that I was going to come up and put her in her bed. I didn't hear anything after about 2 minutes and assumed she was playing somewhere in her room. When I went upstairs, this is what I found:
It lasted until about 2AM when I heard Eliana crying. Sasha went to her bed and Eliana came downstairs in our bed. They stopped asking for sleepovers. HAHAHA.

Hip Mommy

Or just dumb? LOL Seriously though, if you don't have a Coaster Car, you should get one...for your kids, that is. ;)

Hip Nanny

Nanny's new Christmas present! How cool is she?

Thanksgiving

For years and years, I've been begging my family to come to Florida for Thanksgiving. This year, Didi and Pap came down to enjoy the beautiful November weather in Sunny Florida. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, still cooked by Didi(thank goodness)with the windows wide open!

Happy Holidays!

We have decided to be Green and Giving again this year. Rather than sending Holiday cards, we have donated the money we would have spent to Project Cuddle (adoption) and Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in HONOR of and with LOVE for our family and friends.

My Big Little Man

Poor Little Man (i.e. Dudley) tore a ligament in his back leg a few weeks ago. There were two ways to fix it:
1. Keep him INACTIVE for SIX months and HOPE that the scar tissue would form.
2. Surgery

Needless to say, we opted for surgery. He went in for surgery in the morning and then I went in the next morning to pick him up. Let me tell you...if looks could kill! He didn't really seem that happy to see me. I felt soooooooo guilty. :(


He had some pretty bad bruising when his cast was removed a few days later. The only way he could sleep well was if I held him.

I cancelled an overnight trip to see my BFF so I could take care of him and he was feeling better the next day. He spent most of the day laying outside enjoying the weather.

Just 2 weeks later and he's doing signifcantly better. In fact, he's laying in front of me right now barking at me to play with him!

Livin' the Life

She set this scene herself.

No words...

Another Festival

Our neighborhood had a really, really, really small fall festival last weekend. The highlight was obviously the pony rides. It was Eliana's first time on a horse! She was not afraid at all and she had a blast!

Ummmm....Wow!

I just can't believe Sasha was ever this little.

TeeHeeHee

Fun

We went to the JCC Family Festival on Sunday and one way to "spend" our tickets was a little photo shoot! Eliana and I went in the morning while Sasha was in Sunday school and then, we all three went back later that afternoon. DO NOT tell Sasha that Eliana had a popsicle in the morning.

My New Toy

After a few months of obsessive research (by me) and lots and lots of test driving, we bought a Honda Pilot last night. I did all the grunt work and then sent Matt in to do the wheelin' and dealin'. I love when Matt goes to buy big purchases. He always does a great job. I got a lot more bells and whistles than I needed but I will enjoy every single one of them!

I actually am going to meet our salesguy on Friday morning so he can teach me how to use some of the features. I do have priorities though, and I got up early this morning so I could figure out the DVD player so Eliana could watch a movie on the way to school. And I listened to music! LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!

Pumpkin Seeds

My absolute favorite thing about Pumpkins, is roasted pumpkin seeds. I kind of actually like carving the pumpkin, too. It's much harder than my Daddy made it look but it's still just as fun!

Pumpkin "Patch"

Like most 2-year-olds, Eliana has been fascinated with trains lately. I found a train in a nearby town that takes a trip to a Pumpkin Patch. The Pumpkin Patch was really just a patch of grass along the side of the train tracks (I even found a "produce" sticker on the side of one of the pumpkins--HaHa.). It was terribly, terribly hot but the girls had a blast so it was all worth it!!




Even with all the farm animals for petting, my girls wanted to pet the dogs. They even asked for dog balloon animals. Wonder where they got their love for dogs.

My Heart

It's right there on those steps.
(Don't worry, there's plenty more room left in there...AHEM---MATT!)

Trip To Colorado

My favorite sister and her family moved to Colorado this summer. While it's sad that she's not in PA anymore, it's so awesome that we get to go visit such a beautiful state. The girls and I landed in Denver during a HUGE snowstorm. Sasha was in awe of all the snow and even started "playing" with the dirty snow that had fallen off cars in the parking lot. Because of the weather, it took us over 3 hours to get to Kerri's house and much to the girl's dismay, her town only got about 2 inches of snow. They still found plenty to make snowballs.

The weather was cold when we first got there but it warmed up to typical fall weather, a much welcome change from the heat and humidity that will not leave Florida!

And let me tell you how cute the girls were in their Colorado Cowgirl costumes!
The boys, well...well, they are boys and I think they are cute, no matter what!

More Pictures Here!

Skycoaster in Colorado

Jakob talked Kerri and I into doing it and I'm so glad he did. It was awesome. We were 1300 feet in the air and flew out over a gorge! It was beautiful. I couldn't feel my legs but I did not throw up! Enjoy!

I can't believe it.

I started going through Sasha's old clothes. Eliana is now wearing the same size that Sasha was wearing when we brought her home. In fact, I should have gone through the stash earlier because a lot of the clothes are already too small for Eliana! It's awesome pulling out some of my favorites and knowing they will be worn again. It's also pretty sad because Sasha is growing up way too fast.


Here's my big girl modeling one of her old shirts.

Daddy's Birthday

We had to celebrate Daddy's birthday a few days early because he was out of town for the big day. He got a pair of Grumpy flannel pjs and a key chain with a picture of his 3 pretty girls on it!

Waking up is hard to do!

Sometimes it's hard to get out of bed when it's raining. It's always hard to get out of bed when it's cold outside. Waking up next to this sweet puppy makes it the hardest to get out of bed!