Merry Chanukah!

As the days of Chanukah have passed, we have enjoyed spending our holiday with friends and family and the kids have LOVED their gifts! Here is Sela watching the candles being lit on the 5th night of Chanukah, modeling her new dress and headband.

The day after Christmas, we drove to Massachusettes to visit Auntie Mary. The kids had a great time splashing around in Auntie Mary's big bathtub.

The kids loved listening to Mr. Rob reading bed time stories.
Here is Sela modeling her new outfit:Exhausted after a hard morning playing with Juliet: Check out the hand in the pants!

Sela and Auntie Mary
Nathan asked me to take this picture...really

Sela is staying with Auntie Mary for the week and we miss her already!

On the 4th Night of Chanukah

The kids were very excited to open gifts tonight. Yes, this is a different day and Sela is still wearing her tiara - she won't take it off. She even slept in it last night.

We are so fortunate to have such wonderful friends who spoil my children! They truly do treasure each gift they received. Thank you!

On the 3rd Night of Chanukah...

On the third night of Chanukah, we opened gifts from Uncle Rick and Miss Miriam. They loved the playhouse and the games, and of course the tiara ensemble was a HUGE hit! Thank you!


The kids also received an umbrella - I snuck that present in as it was supposed to rain today. The kids were so excited and took their umbrellas to school, but no rain! So after school, we opened the umbrellas and walked around the parking lot. People may have thought we were crazy, but the kids were so happy!

On the 2nd night of Channukah...

We celebrated Channukah on the second night with Aunt Teri, Uncle Jamie and Bubie and Pop Pop. The kids loved their gifts - a doctor kit, a Mr. Potato Head and slippers!! Nathan wants to be a policeman, a doctor and a handyman when he grows up - and of course, Sela wants to be a Princess Balerina. In fact the other day, she told me to call her "Princess Sela"!

Chanukah 2008 and some great news!!

Our Chanukah festivities began Friday night, even though the holiday didn't start until Sunday night.

Here is the Menorah that Nathan made in school. On Friday night, we went to synogogue with Bubie and PopPop for the annual Chanukah celebration. Shortly after services started, my cell phone started ringing. I quickly looked at it and ran outside to take the call. Teri had been looking for Mom and Dad (who of course did not have their cell phones) to share some great news - Teri and Jamie are expecting their first child!! I interrupted Dad in the middle of cooking latkes to take the call, then went into the service, told mom to take the phone into the hall and say hello. By the time she made it back to her seat, she had told everyone in the rows behind us as she walked by them. We are all so excited for Teri and Jamie and look forward to having a new baby in the family.

Although the kids didn't quite understand the news that night, they did want to go see Aunt Teri. When we saw her the next day, Nathan kept staring at her stomach trying to see the baby, then looked in her mouth and down her throat and was dissappointed not to see anything. He decided they should name the baby Fuddy. I guess that would be a good name for either a boy or girl? :) Nathan said he can't wait to babysit. That should be fun!

Here are a few more pictures from the Chanukah celebration. It was a late night, the room was extremely hot, but the kids did great.Nathan couldn't get enough salad, ate his, mine and dads!
On Sunday night, we were honored to host once again the Kaster family Chanukah celebration. The kid each picked a name and got to pick out a gift for the person they chose. The kids had so much fun shopping for their gifts and were very excited to give them out.

Here they are lighting the candles in Nathan's new menorah.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Last night we celebrated Bret's graduation from Law School. Here is the graduate with his parents, Aunt Sherry and Uncle Saul:

When everyone was eating dessert, Nathan was eating broccoli!

School and Soccer Pictures

This week we received school pictures and pictures from Nathan's soccer team. They all turned out great!

Happy Thanksgiving

There is so much to be thankful this Thanksgiving and every day. But, today as we reflect and give thanks, I am most thankful for my beautiful and loving family, my kind and supportive friends, and my warm and cuddly dogs who give their love unconditionally. This year, I am also thankful that in this economy, I have a good job, that the price of gas has gone down and hopefully that the stock market will keep rising.

Last night, I had an incredibly proud mommy moment, which makes me even more thankful to have these amazing children in my life. We were choosing a movie to watch together and Nathan took one out and said to me "Mom, we don't watch this anymore, we should give it to a boy or girl who doesn't have a movie." With all the mistakes I have made in raising my children, I must be doing something right and am so proud that he would think on his own to give to others. Nathan has an amazing heart!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Photos from the weekend

Yesterday, I had an appointment to take the kids to the photo store in the mall to have pictures done. I was hoping to get a couple nice pics of the kids together so that I could frame one, and use one for holiday cards. Unfortunately, the photographer was terrible and I didn't like a single picture. So, another person at the store agreed to take more pictures of the kids, and although they turned out better, there still wasn't one in the entire group worth paying for! I was so dissappointed, as I know I know I have beautiful kids, but the pictures didn't even come close to showing their true beauty. They looked posed and awkward, and it was evident by looking at the pictures that they weren't happy.

As we started to drive home, we drove past the Wilde Lake Park in Columbia. The children were intrigued by the waterfall and wanted to go walk around. It was a cool, but very sunny day, and luckily, I had my camera with me. So, we walked though the park and I took pictures of my beautiful children and have one special picture (not here) that will be used on my holiday cards.

Here they are holding hands, and I didn't even ask them to!

Sela was getting tired and cold and not much in the mood for pictures, but Nathan was being adventurous and checking everything out...

Here, Nathan is comforting his sister

Finally, there was one point during our walk when I was focused on Sela, trying to get a picture of her beautiful smile, when I noticed Nathan missing. As I turned around, this is what I saw!