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.