Happy Halloween!

We made a hummus graveyard as an hors d'oeuvre.

One More Farm Trip

We decided to get out to a farm one more time before Halloween calls an official end to Harvest time. We joined up with the Lawsons , Shadels, and Woods for a trip out to Greenfield farm. The bigger kids had a lot of fun chasing each other around on the giant hay bales:


While the littler folks played on the toddler set. Here is William throwing some hay down on an adoring Benji:



After that came - yes another hay ride! Here are Lucy, Mary, Abby and Jack fooling around together at the back of the wagon:



Abby and Mary were definitely fast friends, and they have both already been scheming for when they can get together again:



Matt Shadel was a great sport and let the kids lasso him up and drag him to the hay bale:




Once it started to get chilly, we headed back to the house for pizza and make your own cupcakes.



It was very difficult to split the children up after such a fun day - Abby kept trying to crawl into Mary's car. Guess we will need a play date soon.

Cats and Dogs

Post-face painting at Neena's birthday party last weekend. Abby, Reade and Jessica.

New York p.III: Baby Gavin

One of the benefits of our trip to New York was the chance to meet our new little nephew. There was a lot of pass-the-baby being played, which led to lots of photo opps for all of his adoring fans:

New York, p.II: Kaeli's party

On Sunday morning, Kaeli had her party at the Little Scoops Ice Cream Shop. The shop had a big playroom in the back, and Benji got a kick out of riding the plasma scooter all over. Here he is getting some help from Abby (awww...):


The crew led several games, including musical hoops and limbo, but Abby most enjoyed running after Uncle Josh, who had his hands full with little girls:




After the games came make-your-own-sundaes. Abby, of course, plopped herself down right next to the birthday girl:



Benji really enjoyed his ice cream, but he was a little short for the counter:



Later that evening we had a family birthday dinner, and the cousins played together for hours. It is really fun to see them getting along so well. The girls were great about including Benji, who toddled after them all evening:

New York, p I: Matterhorn Farm Festival

Continuing the updates....

The second weekend of October, we headed up to NY to spend the weekend with the extended families on both sides. Much of the weekend was organized around a celebration of our niece Kaeli's birthday. Saturday, we headed out to Matterhorn Nursery for a fall fun festival. The kids had fun watching Kaeli's favorite musical act, the bossy frog band:



I really like this picture of the girls fooling around with Kevin:


After the band we went on (yet another) hay ride:



Benji took a linking to Josh's half-brother Kyle, who is 8. Here he is trying to do exactly whatever Kyle is doing (Kyle was a very good sport about it):


The girls really liked the play structures and spent quite a bit of time up in the tower, where they pretended to be the three little pigs waiting for the wolf (Aunt Kathy) to come down the chimney into the boiling water:


This is a long post, so I will finish tomorrow with the actual birthday party...

Benji Loves Gammy

Benji has taken a real shine to his Gammy, and he practically lunges into her arms every time that he sees her. Here are few recent shots of snuggle time.

Consecration

This will be a full week of catch-up posts as we had a lot going on the last two weeks. First up: Abby's consecration ceremony at the temple. Each year, our temple consecrates (similar to first communion) the kindergarten class on Simchat Torah, which is a holiday that celebrates the beginning and end of the Torah reading cycle. After Simchat Torah, the year starts over with Genesis.

Abby was super-excited about this event, and she got all dressed up in her most elegant outfit to date:

After dinner, she could barely sit still in her seat until the Rabbi called all of the kids up to the bima to recite the Shema (sacred blessing) for the first time. Abby was very serious about this and said it perfectly. After the Shema, the rabbi blessed each child individually and presented her with a mini torah and certificate. And also a flag, for the next part of the service. This involved a parade to march the Torah out to the congregation hall amid much fanfare:



Next, the whole torah scroll is unrolled so that it can be seen from end to end. It is a community event, and as the adults held the scroll up, Rabbi Dan walked the kids around it and showed them the different books, the writing, etc. Abby was very interested in this:



We had to duck out before the dancing (and klezmer band) so we could get going to NY, but Abby was on a high when we did.

Carter's Mountain

Playing a little catch-up here. We drove up to Carter's Mountain the first weekend of October for for some fall apple festival fun. Benji really enjoyed his first taste of apple cider doughnut:



Abby liked the doughnuts, but she really, really liked the cider, which she slurped down in seconds.



After a snack, we took the obligatory hay ride (it was a beautiful day and the trip through the orchard was great):


And then took some time in the pumpkin patch (not an actual patch, just a large collection of pumpkins):.



Abby wanted to take home a big one:

And then Benji wanted in on the act:

But we decided to wait on a visit to an actual pumpkin patch later in the month.

All in all, a great fall day - more fall fun posts later this week!

Little Witch

Lots of Halloween excitement in the air. The decorations are out, the pumpkins have been picked, and the crafts have begun. Here is Abby trying on a witch hat for size. Watch out or she will curse you:

Curious George

Abby and George at the book fair.

Crazy Man

Benji with the Blackberry. Apparently technology can turn you into a craven lunatic.

Just Chillin'

Amid the fall leaves. Shortly after this picture was taken last week, the weather took a turn towards winter-like. Brrr.

Double Fisted Action

Benji has taken to carrying a henry around in each hand. If you try to get him down to one henry at a time, he moans piteously.

I'm on TV

Abby got a real kick out of this. In addition to the shark eating her, she also got to see images of herself flying, running with Dora, and playing on Sesame Street. Thanks PBS!

The Assembly

a quick blackberry shot of Secretary Duncan talking to the kids. Notice several hands are raised - the kids did not seem able to help themselves. :)

New York Bound

Kevin and Benji left for NY on Wednesday morning (in time for the playoff game on Wednesday night), and Abby and I are taking off today. Abby has been very excited about having "girls' time" alone with mommy the last two days. We've got a big day today with the blue ribbon ceremony and then Abby's consecration at temple. If we are allowed to take pictures at either, we will post them next week.

No posts this weekend or Monday - we'll be back on Tuesday!

Blue Ribbon Ceremony

Abby's school has been names a 2009 Blue Ribbon school (one of 300 in the country), and everyone in the administration is VERY excited. It is rare to have any communication from the school that does not use the words "blue" and "ribbon" at least a half dozen times. Tomorrow, the school has been selected for a special blue ribbon presentation. The United States Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, along with our Senator, Representative, and Superintendent will be at the school to make the blue ribbon presentation. The kids are all very excited that "President Obama's helper" is coming, and they have been busy getting ready. Here they are posing in the Greenbrier, Blue Ribbon School, t-shirts. Abby is sitting on the slide:

Chair Time

Benji LOVES his chair. Every time you walk in his room, he plops himself down in it with a book or toy. Abby was curious what his reaction would be if she moved *her* chair into the room. We all decided that would be a fun experiment. The result: lots of giggles.