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Turtles, Dinos & Bears. . . oh my!

A week ago now we were finishing up the final preparations for Passover.  Is it over yet?!?!  Sunday evening can not come quick enough. Ahhhhh, I feel much better. Thanks for letting me vent. 

Anyway, back to Friday. JL stayed home to finish things here and I took the two boys to a birthday party. Laura’s son Isaac turned 4 and invited NHL to go to Build A Bear Workshop with them and then to lunch. Thanks to Laura for being flexible and moving it off of the little monkey’s real Birthday (Saturday) because of Passover. 

Prior to this NHL and I had never really seen how the Build a Bear thing works. This is the view of the store when you walk in. 

Too many options

Thanks to the overwhelming amount of choices for two four year olds, Laura decided to give them three stuffed friends to select from. There was a bear, a dog and a dinosaur (triceratops to be exact). Care to guess what the two boys selected?

Both Isaac and NHL selected the dinosaur and were on their way to making their new friend. Here are some photos of the events. After Isaac stuffed his dino it was NHL’s turn. Here are some photos of the dino getting some fluff. 

Stuffing time for Trike

Once this was done NHL had to pick out a heart for his new buddy. Once he selected it he had to give it a kiss, make a wish and put it inside to be sewn into his dino pal. 

Dino gets a heart

Next it was time to clean off the dino. A dino must be clean before getting dressed and heading out into the world you know. The actual thing is a pedal that controls air to help get fuzzies off your stuffed friend. 

Rub-a-dub-dub . . . dino gets a tub

When both dinos were clean we tried (note the tried) to get a photo of the two boys and their dinos together. Good luck with two overly excited four year olds! 

No - they can not stay still

It did not work at all. Thanks to this they continued to get a shirt for their friends. Naked dinos were not acceptable thanks to Isaac’s Nana (thanks Mrs. D!!!!).  Both dinos were dressed stylishly in a dinosaur t-shirt and super cool dinosaur slippers (they even had shades on them). 

This is Trike

Of course having a dino is really great, but he needed an official name. Next up we went to the computer to give them a name and register them. NHL immediately called his Trike . This was in honor of Trike from Harry and his Bucket Full of Dinosaurs (great books and show). In addition to this the boys were allowed to get their big dinosaurs a little dino friend. NHL named that one Shane in honor of The Upside Down Show

Time to name the dino

During this entire time JSL was being really good. He refused to nap, but watched carefully. There was so much going on he loved it! 

Taking it all in

Before heading to lunch we tried one last time to get a photo of the two boys. This is what happened. 

Note - take 2 did not work either

From here we walked our dino friends to Pizza Uno for lunch. 

Time to head to lunch

As soon as we sat down JSL grabbed the menu and knew what he wanted to order! 

I know what I want

Lunch was delicious and we had a great afternoon. Thanks again to Laura, Doug, Isaac and especially Mom D! 

 

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Seder part deux – 2008

Since we have two little boys JL is pretty flexible about start times for our seders. We definitely put that into play for the second night. We started the seder at about 4:30 so both of the boys could participate. In addition to this, we were very casual. Since it was so warm out the boys and I were wearing shorts. 

A casual kind of day

The table looked a little different for the second night. Once again Mom helped it to look beautiful.

The table for the second night

 The only one not at the table for the seder was Whiskers, my parents cockatoo. She was included in food and items to keep her happy though.

 Whiskers - not at the seder table

NHL had a lot of fun dipping his greens into salt water. After a while the salt water was just for NHL. Apparently he missed the memo that we do not double dip (or however many times he actually did it).

It's dippin' time

JSL had a lot of fun bonking heads and playing with papa. This game continued on for quite some time. They had a blast with this and then the "Uh, oh" game where JSL drops everything on the ground and says "Uh, oh" waiting for it to get picked back up.

Bumping heads with Papa

Soon the little guy was very tired. He would not settle for me.

Tired monkey

Luckily Nana’s rocking him did the trick. When we got to dinner I put the sleepy little guy onto a blanket and he missed the meal. When he woke up he had lots to catch up on.

Sleeping on Nana

Meanwhile NHL was busy eating a lemon . . . something he requested and actually enjoyed. I love the face he made in the middle photo.

A boy and his lemon

JL helped NHL to read the Four Questions. While doing this he also used the finger puppets. Remind me please. . . . who is the child? 

Doing the 4 Questions

Later on it was time to use the horseradish again. This is the evil stuff that brought tears to many eyes at our table. The stuff was strong and almost like homemade. 

Lethal stuff!

While some eyes were teary from the horseradish others did this . . . 

Bug eyed!

With all of the excitement even NHL wanted to try it out. Against my advice JL made him a sandwich on matzoh with mainly charoset and a dot of horseradish. We all knew when he hit the dot. Poor kiddo! 

Trying horseradish & charoset sandwich

Although it is hard to see this is Papa’s reaction along with Aunt T carefully putting a tiny amount onto her matzoh. 

More reactions to the horseradish

One part of the seder was done differently the second night. We down played the mystery of Elijah. Saturday night NHL woke up several times with nightmares from someone coming to get him and was quite hysterical. With much prodding he finally told us that it was Elijah and he was scared. We carefully explained that he only came to the seder and was nothing to be scared about. It must have worked since the nightmares did not happen after the second night.

Once again we had a wonderful seder. The best part we were packed up and heading home with more leftovers and the boys were in bed at a very reasonable hour. Thanks again to my parents, Aunt T and JL for making this Passover so special.

 

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Happy Passover – 2008 Seder 1

As I sit down here to type, both of the Passover Seders are over and done with. Although it was a lot of work for JL, Mom, Dad, and I to do both of them at my parent’s house, it was well worth it. Thank you again Mom and Dad for working with us to make it happen.

We started the morning off getting something out to eat before we started cooking. Then we realized that we needed a few quick things at the store for the Seder. We stopped at a store for a new peeler and some sneakers for NHL. We did not realize his current ones were getting snug on him. We bought a pair of more plain ones and the following that he loved. 

NHL's new sneakers

Then we went to the grocery store for a quick stop and back to our house. At home we packed up more Passover items and then went to my parents to work on the meal for the evening. We made a lot of food including charoset, brisket  (thanks to Mimi and Aunt T), sweet and sour chicken, oven roasted sweet potatoes (JSL’s favorite) and cauliflower. In addition to this we had matzoh ball soup, hard boiled eggs, dried fruit (thanks Aunt T), strawberries, and some brownies, cookies and jelly candy. Here take a look: 

Seder Foods - Yummy!

The seder plate and table looked really great thanks to my mother getting everything so pretty. This is what the table looked like before we sat down.

Table for Seder #1

And the seder plate is here:

Seder plate all ready to go

Just before the seder both of the boys fell asleep. They were exhausted so we let them sleep while we talked and finished preparing everything. We were in no real rush. Our seder was the four of us, my parents and Aunt T. See how quiet they were:

Naps before the seder

NHL and JSL finally woke up and were ready to head to the table. NHL was thrilled to see he had a special setting. At his spot were the 4 Question finger puppets all ready to go. 

NHL and the 4 Question Puppets

Then it was time to put the matzoh bib on JSL. What do you think his reaction was? Here it is: 

Matzoh bib time

Eventually he warmed up to it and was amused by the kippah we put on him. 

Put on your kippah it's time to celbrate

Thank goodness for the naps. It really helped the boys to be patient while we did the seder before the meal part. 

The boys at the Seder

We had a really nice first seder. I think JSL enjoyed his first Passover experience . . . especially the sweet potatoes and all of the attention from everyone. He ate some matzoh, but eventually realized it was not anything he loved and started to toss it. NHL was into participating this year and really wanted to help us read the haggadah. . . probably next year he will be able to do it.

Seder 2 also went smoothly thanks to lots of yummy leftovers and two new additions to the meal. More on this later.

 

P.S. A special thanks to JL for being flexible and working your butt off to kosher everything for the seders.

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Passover Memories – 2004

As we look forward to JSL’s first Passover tomorrow evening, I thought it would be nice to look at some photos from NHL’s first holiday. We were still living in our apartment at the time. We technically were almost home owners. We were set to close on our house at the end of the month and moved in July 4th. NHL was almost 8 months old at the time. To put it into perspective, JSL is 11 months old now.

Nana and Papa came to celebrate with us as well as Uncle I. JL and I were hosting our first seders that year. It was very spur of the moment and we managed to put it together in less than a week. Here are some pictures of our table all set for the first night. 

Passover 2004

As you will see our finest china was out for the special event. Since we had a new little one we were too lazy to haul our Passover dishes out. We opted to use paper for quick and easy. It was not too environmentally friendly, but what can you do? It was only for a short holiday. 

Another view of the Seder table 2004

NHL loved to model his kippah and matzoh bib. Here is his reaction to us telling him he would have no chumetz (bread and the like). 

What do you mean no bread?

My cute little matzoh ball loved all of the attention and was ready to ask the four question – well in baby talk at least.

 All ready for the seder

Biting his tongue about eating matzoh. Oy vey what it does to your tummy! 

Check out my bib

To all of those celebrating Passover, I hope that you have a wonderful holiday with your families.

 

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A beautiful spring day – ACHOO!

Yesterday morning NHL had his allergy testing done. They had to do five trays worth. I believe each tested for 6-10 different items (environmental, seasonal, animals, and food). My mother went with us to help with JSL so I could wrangle NHL. The nurse told us that she wanted to do the testing on NHL’s back. This allowed NHL to still have his hands free to color and do things to pass the 16 minute wait. He was NOT happy about this. Luckily the nurse allowed him to have an unfilled tray to test on his arm and all of us. He finally stopped fussing and allowed the nurse to do the test.

As mentioned yesterday (Houston he has allergies), several items were positively identified as allergen to NHL. Within minutes there were three that were very red and big. They were for trees, grass and I believe mold. Nothing else was too alarming that I remember. She did note that with testing on children there are often false negatives. So, the fact that these were SO drastic a reaction tells us that he is highly allergic to them. The nurse gave me a pack of information and told me to schedule a follow up appointment with the doctor. She also told me to go back to using allergy medicine until he tells us differently.  We go back on the 29th for the hearing test and the doctor appointment was on the 2nd, but is now the 7th. Silly Mommy forgot to sign up for swim lessons Monday. Thanks to this NHL was locked out of the Monday classes so we signed up for Friday.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

So what does one do after allergy testing on a beautiful spring day when the trees that you are allergic to are blooming? 

Ahhhhh. . . . .

In our house they first eat a popsicle that turns their tongue shades of purple and then we go outside to expose ourself to the allergens while kicking a soccer ball around. 

Planning his attack on Daddy

I know, bad Mommy! However he is a 4 year old and does need fresh air and exercise. So we said the heck with it he needs to do something fun and we went outside.

First NHL was trying to get a soccer ball past JL and JSL. 

Ready to block the soccer ball

JSL was good at blocking shots. Thank goodness NHL listened and did not really kick the ball at his baby brother. Looking back this was probably not a great choice of activities for the little guy. 

My boys play together

Then it was time for NHL to be the goalie and JL and JSL to attack. 

NHL's turn to be "goalie"

The little one was quite annoyed that he was not allowed to go down to play. He did not quite understand that he does not know how to walk on his own just yet. For now he had to be content with playing in Daddy’s arms. 

Little guy wanted down to play

Of course he did manage to get into some trouble up high. He may look innocent, but nobody else is near the action to blame. 

Guess who got Daddy's glasses?!?!

After a while JSL actually started to say "ball" and "kick". When he wanted the ball he said it and then as he was kicking he said that. It was too funny. 

He actually said "ball" and "kick"

Of course then NHL thought it would be hilarious to take the ball and run away from his little brother. 

Action shot

Although it was very bright outside, it was actually past NHL’s bedtime while we were outside. Good thing it was not a school night. This was a view above our house. 

So light out, but really night

It was really nice to see JSL so happy. The poor kiddo just cut tooth #8. In addition to this we now see all four canine teeth coming in and the dentist told us at least three of the molars are moving. Check it out you can see the new tooth just cutting through. 

Did I mention he says "mine" too

Of course he was not too happy when someone took the ball away. I was floored when he actually said "MINE" to JL. What are we in for if he already says that at 11 months old? 

Big ball - little monkey

Here is what I mean.  He was baby yelling at JL for taking the ball.

Hey - I want that!

We all had a really nice evening outside. The boys played soccer, then NHL had fun with new bubbles and the little girl in the house next door. A wonderful evening, even if we ended up sneezing.

Daddy and his little boy

I love this photo of JL with JSL in his arms. I thought I would use it to wrap things up. 

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