Marvelous May!

My favorite month of the year is coming to an end. And it flew by.

I am looking forward to June, since we do get to celebrate all of our birthdays (plus Felix's the first week of July) in addition to our 4 year wedding anniversary. And we get to spend a month in FL with family, enjoying the pool & the beach- and a first this summer..... ballet camp with cousins!But on the other hand, we will be apart from Felix for 3 weeks in June.

So I also look forward to July where we get to enjoy a few more family getaways back home before water polo season officially starts again. And on the agenda this month? Storyland, lazy days on the lake, and a daytrip or two to Newport. I'm excited.

Still chugging away at the potty training thing. We seem to be regressing a bit- not sure why, but clearly, she gets the concept as I walked in on her playing "mommy" to her baby. (even though I usually put the seat down for her!).


We had a blast this month. My favorite part? Bedtime routine. We brought the kids upstairs, changed into PJ's, washed up, and then we all cozied up on the couch in Levi's room to read books and sing songs. It is a routine even Levi anticipated, and it was one of my favorite parts of the day. We love having Daddy home for bedtime.

Our day at the New England Aquarium. I'd love to say it was awesome and we had a great time, but to be honest- it was pretty boring. I was ready to go after 20 minutes, but since we drove almost an hour to get there and park, I was determined to get at least 2 hours out of it. The kids seemed to have fun, so that was good :). I just don't think I'm a museum kind of girl.

wow. MORE fish. look at 'em go!


Now THIS was more like it! The carnival!!! We took the kids to the carnival last night- it was a very small carnival, with about 5 or 6 rides for Emma's age- and she loved them all. Especially when her daddy would squeeze in the rides with her :)

The spinning dragon ride. I thought it would never end.

A bouncy house at the carnival! We cheated and let the "too little for any rides" Levi jump on the outside. Look how high Emma is in there!!

Did he just grow up right before my eyes? Where did my baby go??!!!!! (his other shoe is in the stroller).

On the merry go around bench. Another ride we cheated on for little L.

Waiting in line for the next ride- a train roller coaster. Emma was not about to let the people cut in front of her in line......look at her face!

She LOVED this ride. In her very own truck with a steering wheel. I think she really thought she was steering- throwing that wheel around just like I do- and her eyes, glistening with pure joy. She kept waving out the window when she passed us. And she kept leaning in to giggle with the little boy who was sitting next to her in her car. She looked like such a big girl in there to me- having fun, playing with her new friend.

The boys. Keeping cool.

And would you look at this! Little miss Emma finally agreed to ride the horse on the carousel, secured tightly in her father's grip. And she loved every mintue of it.

I DID IT!!!!!!

BEFORE / AFTER

Across from our bed in our bedroom, we have been staring at this hole in the wall that housed our TV along with other odds & ends. I wanted to re-do the closet to look like a built in bookshelf. Originally we were going to ask our carpenter for help, but I was feeling gutsy and just decided to go for it and do it on my own. It certainly couldn't turn out any worse than it already was!

This was the aftermath of the original linen closet that I (two years ago) took a hammer to and turned into an open "entertainment center", which left us with the huge hole in the wall and ceiling, an unfinished divider in the middle, a destroyed top wall board, and mismatched shelves that didn't quite fit.

So, day 1- I patched in some new drywall in the back and on the ceiling, taped & mudded, and spackled tons of holes and random gashes everywhere. After a 2nd coat of mud, I sanded everything. That was the worst and messiest part. I hate sanding. Emma loved all the "snow" that was falling all over us :)

taping & mudding....

I replaced the top frame board with new wood, ripped off the outside trim and replaced it with some decorative trim......

and one of my favorite parts- I included a hole for wires just to the right of the top shelf! I actually made up this little piece by using a desk grommet & some pipes, and it actually works!!

finally, I added some nice trim to the outside of the middle divider and topped it with a decorative square.

and....wahlah! Our new entertainment center!

we are getting carpet for the bedroom, so the paint-stained floors are not a problem!

I am so proud of this project! We totally did it on our own, from start to finish- and I couldn't be more proud! Felix cut all the lumber and helped me wtih the demo. This took a lot of problem solving, planning, measuring, leveling, drilling, sanding, caulking, and painting.....and I only hammered one thumb in the process! Not bad!!

More Birthday Fun

We enjoyed another birthday celebration this weekend for one of Emma's friends- Declan. This party was at Monkey Joe's which has a ton of bouncy houses, fun bouncy house slides and some arcade games.

Felix went down the bouncy house slides with Emma. She was too scared to go by herself- and even Mommy wasn't good enough, only Daddy would do!

After plenty of playtime, the guests gathered in Declan's special party room for pizza & cake, followed by a surprise visit from Monkey Joe himself. Although...Felix is convinced Monkey Joe is a girl based on the amount of time "she" spent cooing over Levi :)

And much to our surprise, Emma was super excited to strike a pose with the purple monkey. Emma even ran over to MJ once she had left the party room and gave her a high five!

As usual, I think the best part of the day was the cake....and ice cream :)

The picture is actually from Dhruv's birthday party last week- Little Leev making friends!

Random fun pictures, just because we are loving life!

This weekend we celebrated Emma's friend Dhruv's birthday at Kidz Wurld. We love going there with friends to play, and it is even better when there is a birthday to celebrate.
-emma & her friend natalie giggling over some pizza-

After the party, we came home for a nap and then rushed out of the house for some twilight swimming (indoors at the JCC). Emma liked the locker room even more than the pool. Peekaboo!

Our little ham. Everything is a joke to her, and she knows she is funny.

This morning she told me to dance around, and keep my breath in my throat. That one threw me for a loop....but I'm thinking she has perhaps been experiencing what it feels like to be out of breath? She sure has been bouncing off the walls lately, so it is to be expected!

My plan to pick up a box of "not so yummy" cookies from Target so I wouldn't eat the whole thing in a week (or day), totally backfired. These babies are even better than the real thing! Buyer beware!

Felix reading a Shabbat book to Emma while I was making dinner. This was so sweet- and my favorite part was listening to poor Felix trying to figure out all the Yiddish words!

a picture from when we were in FL, BBQ-ing it up, all with our own handmade plates.

And one more "first" for little E. Riding a bike! She was excited to try, but not so excited to finish. She was on the bike for about 20 minutes.... and we only made it around the corner from the house before she ditched the bike and ran home to see her cousins.

On average, she would get about two pedal strokes in before getting distracted by a spot of water on the sidewalk, or a lizard in the grass, or another little girl (actually pedaling!) her bike across the street. But- on the bright side, it makes it pretty difficult to fall off the bike when going so slow! Yeay for Emma!!

We drove by a yard-sale the other day and I picked up a plastic tricycle for her. She picked out a sit & spin "for Levi".....so she said. When we got home, she was very excited about the bike- for about a minute. Then she told me she had to show Levi how to use his toy. So far, Levi hasn't had a turn on "his toy" :)

Ice Skating

After watching Disney on Ice at home in MA, Emma came to me the next morning as she was trying to spin around on one leg and asked why she couldn't move like the princesses did.
I tried to explain ice skating to her, and then decided it would be a fantastic idea to bring her ice skating when we were in FL.

So luckily- Aunt Jackie is a pretty decent skater and was willing to bring Emma on the ice. I happily stayed on the sides with Levi, cheering on the dynamic duo.

Emma lasted about 20 minutes before asking to go home. She was exhausted. And my abs were killing me from laughing hysetrically the ENTIRE time I was watching her. I was embarrassed that I couldn't stop laughing while watching my poor little 2 year old try to skate on the ice.

She had fun, and did surprisingly well! I'm hoping she enjoys it and wants to do it more, because I'm guessing it would be a great winter activity for her when she is older. I'm secretly hoping she doesn't take up skiing since it is dangerous, requires travel, and can get quite pricey with all the equipment!!! Let's all not forget the time I broke my collar bone skiing down my very first hill....

This video is her 3rd time around- the first 2 videos I took were too hard to see because I couldn't stop laughing enough to keep the camera still!

Fun in the Sun

We had a blast playing outside in FL. It was definitely some much needed fun in the sun!

I came out one night after putting Levi to bed, to find my dad standing in the backyard with Emma- who was soaked running through the sprinklers. Look at that face- this is why it is awesome having kids! When was the last time you just decided to run through the sprinklers after dinner with your clothes on? Or even ALLOWED your kids to do it?

It is awesome having kids because they remind me what life is really about.
- Steph, sorry if this is too cheesy for ya!
-Dad, I'm sure you will be reminding me I said this every time Levi is screaming his head off through the baby monitor 5 minutes after I put him down for his nap :)
And even so- knowing it is cheesy, and the kids drive me crazy quite a bit...I still mean every word of it!


Pool time!!! Look at my little chicken! The first day we were down, she wouldn't get off the steps of the pool, and wouldn't let me touch her. By the last day, she wouldn't let me touch her....because she wanted to swim "by herself" in her little tube. She was having a blast, always the last one out of the pool- and she is pretty good at kicking her feet to swim now. I think swim lessons are in the very near future!

In a hurry to pack, I realized I did not have a bathing suit for Levi- so I grabbed Emma's old cloth swim diaper figuring we would use it in a pinch until I had a chance to get him a suit when we were in FL. Well......we ended up needing the suit right away. Poor guy! As his Bubbe put it...he makes one ugly girl!!

I don't think Levi is thrilled to be wearing his sister's bathing suit either.....

and to make matters worse, the sun hat we bought him while we were down there is apparently a "girls" hat- poor kid can't catch a break!