Snow Day!

Today was our first official snow day.  We were lucky to not get a ton like outside of Boston.  But we got enough to warrant digging out the cars and all kids favorite... sledding.  We spent most of the day inside catching up on chores.  While I folded laundry, Izzy entertained the babes in Victoria's crib.

 Since seeing Barbie make snow angels in one of her movies, Izzy has been asking when she could make one.  Well today was her day.  I didn't even show her how.  She just knew from watching it on TV.  After she was done, I had to put 2 eyes and a smile on the angel.

My little helper... she got right in to help dig out the cars.  She lasted most of the time walking around and getting the snow off of the tires or head lights.  We ran into our neighbors as well who invited her to go sledding.  So off she went and then back for some home made hot coco.  Not too bad for being snowed in :-)

Christmas Time

 For Christmas, we invited my good friend Danielle and her family over for dinner.  Jonah & Izzy have been good friends since they were babies and enjoy many playdates.  These two were excited to get the turkery drumsticks.

 All of us enjoying a good meal with good friends.

 Adam is a really good cook and turkey carver.  So he got the rights to the turkey this year.  Clay wasn't left out either.  He took his usual spot begging for scraps which Adam happily obliged.

 Santa was busy getting everything in place for the kids.  Izzy went to bed in 15 minutes as I told her Santa would not stop by if she didn't.  I think Santa should come every night.  In the morning, she asked if he can come.  It was so fun to see her eyes widen at all the gifts.  He even remembered to get her 'sparkly things'.

 Some of my favorite toys are wooden and thus Micah & Victoria got their 1st wooden pull toys.

 Izzy has been asking for a stick horse for quite some time.  I think Grandma said it best when she hasn't seen one in quite some time.  I agree.  The local toy store had them and so one got hidden away several months ago.

Christmas wouldn't be complete without a baby enjoying the krinkle ribbon the most.  Izzy made sure all the ribbon that was taken off the gifts went to her.

Childhood Fun

To kill some time, Izzy and I painted.  Abe joined later and these two became silly.

 

One of Izzy's favorite things to play with is Play Doh.  With some help we made an octopus.  She kept it on the tray for awhile to show Alicia (one of our babysitters).  She was so proud.

It's always interesting to see what Izzy comes up with.  Sometimes I will be in the kitchen washing bottles or making food and I hear her going back 'n forth from her bedroom to living room.  She'll get her stool sometimes as well.  I know she's up to something and just wait to hear from her so she can show me.  This was one thing she did... it took he a bit to make those headbands stay on Victoria & Micah.

Getting Bigger

Izzy decided to make a 'home made' puzzle one day before school while I was getting the babes ready.  She insisted that I keep it for her to work on when she got home.

 No, this is not from Clay... Micah has a bad habit of scratching his face no matter how short I cut is finger nails.  Doesn't he look like he's been through a fight.

 Since Victoria likes to be in the center of the action, I thought getting out Izzy's old stander would be a good idea.  And it was... she loves watching the piano lights.  And Izzy especially loves to play with her in it by pushing the piano or giving her toys attached to the rings.

Hats

Every month Izzy's preschool sends out that month's curriculum.  Occasionally they ask for our help on the topic for that day.  Today's theme was hats.  All the kids were asked to bring in a hat.  They kindly sent us a picture of the hats on.  Izzy is the one in the sparkly beret.  Unfortunately her face is covered by a classmate.  I'm sure I'll hear all about today when I go pick her up.

Neurology X-mas Party

Last night was my department's holiday party.  This was the first year I brought a child... Izzy.  She did pretty good enjoying mainly all the food since she didn't have any rules about what or how much she ate.  To my surprise, she ate pretty good devoring cold cuts, olives, fruit and only 1 Christmas cookie.

Take a Picture

 One of Izzy's favorite things has always been to ask me to take a picture so she can see.  The theme though changes as she gets older.  Recently it is asking for pictures of her and her brother and/or sister.  Here is a sampling of those pictures.  I just love how much she loves Micah & Victoria!

Santa!

Every year the local toy store has Santa come visit.  So we all dressed in our Christmas clothes and head down to see him.  Izzy was quite impressed when she saw that her name was in Santa's book under 'nice'.  She asked for sparkly things... I just hope Santa can fufill her request.  She's been asking for sparkly things for many, many weeks now.

It's Beginning to Look at lot like Christmas!

 Unfortunately, I've had a bit of a problem with our blog and hence the hiatus from any posts.  Growing up the tradition was to put the Christmas decorations up after Thanksgiving.  So we took down our Thanksgiving decor which included a newly bought set of spoons which say 'Give Thanks'... fun!  And we put up the kids Christmas stockings.  Izzy picked out which stocking was Victoria's and which one was Micah's.  Oh what fun it is getting ready for the holidays!

Vote!

The babes and I braved the chilly weather to vote today.  They proudly displayed their participation on our walk!

Trick-or-Treat

 This was our first try at carving a pumpkin.  Izzy kept wanting to 'put a smile' on the pumpkin she picked out.  This was mostly her design with mommy's help.

 It doesn't take a genius to figure out that many 3 year old girls want to be a princess for Halloween.  At Izzy's school party many of the girls in her class were some sort of princess.  I just laughed at her friend Amelia's pose... she was like this in almost every picture.

 Izzy's good friend Bonnie pose for a picture.

 This was the parade of costumes so the parents could oh & ah.  This also resulted in many of the younger kids crying when they couldn't go with their parents on the way to the park which is were the party was held.  Again, many girls were princesses but not all of them... can you find which one is different?

 Wayne comes every Friday to play songs for the kids.  He also comes to their Halloween party every year.  The kids just love him which is so fun to watch.  One song was about jumping.  The kids all stood still for the first 4-5 notes and right when he started to sing they all started to jump.  Despite their age, they know exactly what each song is as soon as it starts.

 After her school party, we headed to my friend Kiran's house to trick-or-treat in her neighborhood.  Izzy wanted mommy to wear my spider headband which was a hit with others.

 This was a pretty impressive spider that we found during our outing.

 Leelah & Izzy captured in the act of trick-or-treating.  They were both so polite always saying 'trick-or-treat' and 'thank you'.

 The group of adults who went out.  Manish (Leelah's dad) was mainly responsible for walking the girls up to each house.  Kiran is due any day but able to join us.  Leslie & Dave brought out their little one as well for his first Halloween experience.  He did quite well without any crying.

The night was not complete without a picture of our little devil and kitty cat!

Howl at the Zoo

 This past weekend was Howl at the Zoo.  We spent both Saturday & Sunday there.  Saturday we joined Alana & Bonnie, Izzy's friends from preschool while on Sunday we hung out with Leelah.  Saturday was in the high 60s meaning it was packed.  We were not so lucky on Saturday which meant shortening our trip.  The zoo had so many act ivies including face painting, a hay rack ride, trick-or-treating, funnel cakes, games and treating the animals to their own carved pumpkins.

 Sometimes unstructured fun is the best!

 How do you solve the problem of 3 girls all wanting to ride together but only 2 horses side by side on a carousel?

 This one makes me smile to know that they are all such good friends.

Izzy & Leelah trying to have some fun despite it being cold and a bit rainy.

Victoria & Micah

 It's hard to believe that Victoria & Micah are over 2 months old.  I have to look back at some pictures to realize how much they've grown.  Their personalities are now just coming out.  Victoria is sensitive so I may be asking Diane about Amelia as a baby since they have similarities.  Micah continues to be his own man which I haven't quite figured out.  She loves her chair without swinging while Micah could spend his whole life in his swinging / vibrating chair.

 Bath time continues to be a highlight.  They both no longer cry and seem to know that right after this, I get to eat.  Micah has blessed us with some urine streams that have caught all of us including Izzy if we are not careful.

This is one of my favorites... Victoria's smiles are just so stinking cute!

It's Fall Time

 One of my favorite things about Boston is the New England fall.  The leaves are so striking.  It just takes your breath away when you can stand overlooking never ending fall colors on the trees.  Capturing this via camera is difficult unless you have a panoramic view.  And since I've got 2 new born babies at home, getting out is a bit hard.  However, we live just footstep from JP Pond which was created by Olmsted, the same gentlemen who created Central Park in NYC.  I take the babes for a walk everyday around the pond.  I wanted to share the views I experience on these walks.

 Even the fowl are ever changing.  On this day there were 2 cranes and swans (see below).