5 Minutes for Mom is having a Summer fun photo contest.
Our family went to the lake one weekend and both of the boys had a blast. The most memorable parts were my youngest skippering the boat and smiling for the first time that day (teething stinks) and my big guy’s first sand castles.
Looking back on my childhood I knew that I was very lucky to have all four of my grandparents living in the same city. We often went to my Mimi and Poppy’s house for shabbas dinner. There I have memories of my grandmother’s vegetable soup, chicken, and of course her frozen apple cake. My grandfather would always put on his funny wigs and show us movies with the projector.
Nana and Papa lived extremely close. During the summers we spent a lot of time at their fabulous in ground pool. There we would have many barbecues and challenge each other to jump in off the diving board. I remember sitting on the couch curled up by Papa and their poodle Pepper. Nana would often knit with me and have me work on her gorgeous long finger nails.
Both of our boys have their four grandparents. My parents live locally and JL’s parents are 3-4 hours from us. In addition to this, NHL and JSL have two great-grandmothers. JL’s grandmother is a distance from us, but we try to visit her during the times the weather is cooperative. My grandmother, who we call Mimi is local. NHL also was able to know his Poppy for almost four years of his life. He loved to visit Poppy and eat ice cream and munchkins with him.
I never knew any of my great-grandparents. Two of mine actually passed away shortly before I was born. I am named for both of them since they were very close to my parents. I have often heard stories about them and wished I had known the wonderful people that I was named for.
NHL and JSL absolutely love to visit and spend time with Mimi. Every day after nursery school NHL would beg me to take him to see her. Mimi’s apartment was right next to the nursery school. In his four year old mind he just assumed that we could stop by and see her all the time.
This past Wedesday I took the boys to visit Mimi. We were there for about five hours and the boys loved each minute.
When we got there Mimi gave each of the boys a new book. JSL’s played music and he loved it. He immediately sat on the couch to dance and listen to it with Mimi.
Of course he noticed the dancing/singing dolls that were up on the shelf.
Thanks to his demands being loud and clear Latke Larry came to sing to him.
Meanwhile NHL was amusing himself on the floor. He was fascinated with the new piano book that Mimi gave him. He had fun figuring out how to play some of the songs.
Soon after this it was time for lunch. There is just something about food at Mimi’s – both boys will try and usually devour anything. NHL had some of Aunt S’s chicken soup and much to our surprise JSL thoroughly enjoyed turkey, salami and watermelon. It was amazing sitting there and watching them eat, especially since JSL hardly tossed anything onto the ground.
After playing for a while it was time to head home to meet JL. The boys climbed onto Mimi’s lap for hugs and kisses.
We are so blessed to have Mimi near us. Thank you for being so wonderful and being such an important part of our lives.
Test for my Technorati profile:
Today is JL’s birthday and I wanted to take a look down memory lane at my amazing hubby. This is the man that swept me off my feet, taught me how to keep a kosher kitchen, made me a mother, stayed up late with me when I graded papers, built me several websites, cooks us dinner almost every night and above all is the most wonderful daddy to our boys.
This is what a little geek looks like when he is approximately five months old.
Fast forward approximately 24 years later to the time we met in 1999. JL showed my family just how caring a person he is. After we met in person for the first time, I went back home with my friends. The trip was almost two hours and he knew this. I had no cell phone, so he called my house. He asked my parents if I was home. I was not. My friends and I decided to shop a little longer before heading back. JL continued to call my house until he finally heard that I had arrived safely several hours later. He instantly won the hearts of my parents who were impressed. Little did he know that I was in trouble for that one. Yes, at 22 years old my parents scolded me for being inconsiderate to JL. *sigh*
Our long distance relationship days were horrible. Finally after we were engaged JL was able to get the company he worked for to let him telecommute from home. Soon after that division of the company that he had worked for since he graduated from college closed. Here he was in a strange city looking for a new job while planning out wedding. Luckily many places were looking for a webmaster and JL got a job. My entire family embraced JL from the start. Here we are on Mother’s Day 2001 just a little over a month before our wedding.
Here is my happy groom dancing away on our wedding day. He never stopped smiling the entire day.
JL also knew that my birds were very important to me. He quickly was able to make even the feathered members of our family like him.
Here he is with my feathered angel Moose.
Both of our lives changed in December 2002 when we found out that we were expecting our first baby. Exactly two weeks after JL’s birthday our first son NHL was born. Together we entered into the world of parenting together. We both learned how to survive on little or no sleep together.
The following April we jumped into home-ownership learning together that owning a house is not all it is cracked up to be. JL worked his rear off painting and getting things ready for us to move in while the contractors did the rest. So many memories of us inhaling BIN and trying to figure out who to call since the landlord was no longer an option.
JL is a kid at heart and loves being a daddy. He lives through experiences that we have had over the last five years with NHL. Whether this is going to the zoo and feeding giraffes (July 2005), protecting NHL from costumes (July 2005), or being brave and going on a ride that the little guy asked for (August 2006).
In May 2007 the two of us became parents again. Our second son, JSL, joined our family and once again my husband was able to rise to the occassion. JL does an amazing job splitting his time between the boys, making special memories with each of them. He helped to decide that it was best for me to be a SAHM and put my teaching career on hold for now to be with our boys. JL has never once made me regret this decision.
JL, happy birthday. May you always know that you are truly the geek of my dreams. I love you now and forever and cherish all of the memories that we have made together. Here is to many more years of making memories together.
Two weekends this month we have been away. First we went for the 4th of July to my brother’s and then last weekend to visit JL’s parents. Yesterday my brother and niece came into town to spend the weekend here. This is a special treat since they will be here again for my father’s BIG birthday and NHL’s 5th in a few short weeks.
Yesterday the kids had a blast playing with all of the toys at my parent’s house. No photos of that to share right now since we have to head out to meet everyone for breakfast soon. The good new is I that I have some from our trip over the 4th that I never posted. The interactions of Cousin S and JSL this time are priceless! You would never know watching them together that four months separate them in age. NHL has also been doing well helping the two and not getting too jealous.
JSL loved playing with S’s Little People school bus push and ride toy.
There’s always time for a hug from a big cousin.
All of the kids were fascinated by the big exercise ball.
At one point Cousin S took JSL’s sippy cup and wanted to test it out.
Bath time for the two little ones after cherry picking. What you do not see here is JSL screaming once he got into the tub. He was not too thrilled about getting cleaned. Being overtired was a huge factor.
Photos from this weekend to come. Now we’re off to make and capture more memories!
Aloha and TGIF everyone!
Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
My question this week is inspired by memories of years past.
What is something that people would be surprised to know about you?
People would probably be surprised to know that I was a HUGE hockey fan. In college I started to follow our local team thanks to my Uncle M. For several years I had season tickets for the team. If I do say so myself, I had an amazing seat. My ticket was three rows behind the home bench and center ice. Let me tell you I learned some interesting sayings from the hockey players! It was also through hockey that I went on fabulous road trips. We used to go all over to see games and even went to training camp for the NHL team several times. Would you believe that I even bid and won a game worn jersey of my favorite player? I sure did and it will make a fun Halloween costume in the future. Those were fun days.
It is thanks to my love for hockey that people often do not believe me that my oldest son’s initials were not purposely given. It was only after we named him that we realized that people would later tease me. Oh well, jokes on them we can get fun licensed merchandise for the big guy with his initials on it!
Here is my NHL back in 2004 wearing some of his hockey clothing.
