Feeling the spirit

Noah and his buddy Jesse got down after Tot Shabbat last weekend.



There was a Bar Mitzvah so they had some music during Kiddush. Also olives, which were apparently very interesting.

Shabbat Shalom!

Day at the farm

The other weekend I went to a baby shower, and Chad took the kids to the farm.  They were having a visiting day at Chestnut Farms, where we get our meat CSA.

Noah and Eva got to pet a goat

And meet a baby cow

They said hello to the big pigs

but Eva's favorite part was meeting the piglets

Noah liked being able to climb on the bus where the chickens live

Hello Chickens!!

Noah informed me that these aren't the chickens we eat, these chickens are just for eggs.  Then he proceeded to tell me about meeting the chickens we do eat.  Apparently we don't have a budding vegetarian, just yet.

Beach Day

Chad and I took a day off of work last week to take the kids to the beach.  It was awesome.

aaaaaaaaah!  Wind!

Daddy and Noah are out there!

We made some sand castles, and destroyed them, and made some more.

Perfect day!

The wheels on the bus

There seems to be some confusion about what verse we are on, but whatever.

Father's day at the zoo

We took the kids to the zoo for father's day, and had a beautiful day for it.  We saw some butterflies, 

and a bunch of other animals I apparently did not photograph.  We also had a fun ride on the carousel

and we let the kids ride on the Jeep ride as well.  

Please notice the yellow hat in a TOTALLY DIFFERENT JEEP than Noah.

This was Eva's first time on a ride, and I assumed she would sit next to her big brother.  She insisted otherwise and squirmed and fussed until I put her in her own car.

 I got this, mom.

I think our favorite part of the day was visiting the animatronic dinosaur exhibit.  Noah is pretty into dinosaurs anyway, so he was psyched. 

Eva was more ambivalent.

And then we turned the corner, and found ourselves in front of an orange Edmontosaurus.  And then it spit all over me.

This was a big surprise.

Also highly entertaining for everyone around us.

Also it freaked Eva right the hell out.

We continued through the exhibit, and whenever we got to the front of a dinosaur she started squirming in my arms, saying "no!"  "no spit mommy!!"  

Sometimes she also waved her finger at the dinosaurs so they would know she meant business.

So overall, we had a great time, and I think the only lasting trauma is Eva may be afraid of spitting dinosaurs.  Hopefully this will not negatively impact her life going forward.

 don't look behind you... 

Small trees

We pulled out some giant giant weeds the other evening, which made for big entertainment.

Milestone

Today miss Eva had another milestone.

Scene: playdate with our friends who have kids the same age as Noah and Eva. The kids are all in Noah's room, my friend and I are in the dining room. Eva comes running up to me.

Eva: Noah!!!!
Me: huh?
Eva: Rostam!!!! (the 3yo friend)
Me: huh??
Eva: Jump Bed!!!

I exchanged a look with my friend as we went to Noah's room, and what do you know, those little so-and-sos were jumping on the bed.

Eva shook her finger at them and everything when I kicked them out of the room.

Look out Noah, your months of tattling on your sister with no repercussions may be over...

(also, can I just take a moment to point out I am totally counting this a four-word sentence for my 16 month old? Craziness.)

Eva and the Animals

Turns out I have a lot of videos of Eva in the backlog

Eva and her doll

In which I present a typical 1.5 minutes in the life of a toddler.

Playing with Max

This morning Noah picked up a library book and figured out how to make it into a game with Max.



She is definitely warming up to the kids.  Maybe they'll even be friends. :)

Eva's Ant

I'm so proud of my budding entomologist.



Not captured on film: Eva going over to the peony plant, shoving her arm into the leaves, pointing at her arm, and demanding "ARM!  ARM!!" to the ants.  Unfortunately for her, they didn't listen.

Hello, Eva

So while I have been busy not blogging, Eva has been busy growing like crazy.

Look, mommy!  I'm in a bug!

She started school at the end of May, and has been doing great.  She is in a great mood when I pick her up at the end of the day, and walks around our house singing songs from school.  She doesn't cry much at drop-off anymore, and Noah has been great in helping her get acclimated.

Cheese!

Her language has just exploded this month.  In addition to an ever-expanding vocabulary, she is using more and more multi-word sentences. "Seagull no fly."  "Mommy sit down!" "Wanna drink of water."  

CHEESE!!!

She refers to herself as "me" and will point and address other people as "you."  The other morning she woke up and announced "Milk waffle me."  And then she got exactly what she wanted.

Look!  Eyes!!

She loves books and has very specific opinions about what book we should be reading right this instant.  Her favorite this week is the cat in the hat.  Last week it was a rhyming book about a bus.

Eva out.

She runs and jumps and tumbles and tries to jump and dances when she hears music.  She is charming and funny and delightful and also screams until she turns blue when she doesn't get her way.   Basically, the perfect toddler.