Chanukah Sameach

Oy Chanukah! Oy Chanukah! That was how our week started Motty was singing it all the time. That song has now been replaced with his favorite rendition of "Bais Ne'eman" that he accompanies himself with on his brand new keyboard to the tune of "Santa clause is coming to town." He sings so cute and gets all into it, we are kind of embarrassed of our neighbors at this point since it's practically the only thing you hear coming from our house!
Chanukah morning after a whole week of partying and having as much junk and nosh as there was available Miri got out of her crib and first thing went to find her bag of chocolate coins she was deprived of the night before due to the amount of nosh already consumed. She found it and went running to Chaim to open it for her prefacing her request with "it's still Chanukah so can you please open it?" She was disappointed to learn that even on Chanukah chocolate is not accepted for breakfast!
Miri got a gold dollar from her Zeidy for Chanukah gelt. She immediately tried peeling it to eat the "chocolate" it was pretty cute watching her work so hard and poor her nothing was happening!

Mazel Tov!!

Firstly, Mazel Tov to the newest chassan and kallah in our family! Simchie we are thrilled to have you on board. Introducing...Mr. and Mrs. Simchie and Surie Baum!!! That is the refrain we keep hearing at the repetitious mock weddings that happen every day at least a dozen times at our house. Than we get to hear the breaking glass and all the drama that can is part of such an amazing event, and Motty and Miri's favorite song "Hod" Yishama' some days we have a chassan (Motty) or we can have a singer or musician it all depends on his mood. Miri has been designing her own wedding gown since she put on hers for the wedding but she keeps reminding me "I am the kallah, 'cuz I have a gown, and it's gonna be white!" It will be a little busy, full of flowers and very puffy. And her wedding should have flowers. (maybe she wasn't sure if Surie had any!) We'll now that we have the wedding procedure down pat it's time to get to actually know their new uncle that they talk about all day!! We will try to add some pictures.

summer time

Hi y'all! We missed you a little, we are too busy enjoying our summer vacation to sit down and tell you all about it. We are trying to stay cool yet, still get a lot of sunshine. Thanks to our very shady backyard that is a possibility even in Brooklyn!! Motty and Miri love splashing in the pool. Miri is happy there although she never sat down yet and she only gets wet up to her ankles, while Motty loves teasing her with his splashing...you know how it goes.
Motty is B"H very happy in day camp and enjoys the fact that his cousin Shloimie is in his bunk. They do lots of cool things, which is great!
We try to keep busy and do fun things on sundays. Motty has prepared a list of things he would LOVE to do such as ride a double or by now he upped that to a triple decker bus (if that even exists!) he also wants to visit a farm... Miri on the other hand is happy going bye-bye to the grocery I think she has a way easier game plan.

Picture Time

Take a look at the most recent photos

of the cutest kids on the planet! They

are just darling!

who's the boss around here anyway??

First I need to have a round of applause for posting twice in one day!!! Now we may begin!

Miri seems to have her own dictionary. She was crying yesterday in the backyard when she fell down. I went to pick her up and I asked what happened? she told me she got a scream, and showed me her scraped knee. I guess they both do start with an "S".
Miri loved to play with her "cut" can anyone guess what she is referring to? a knife of course! That's the game I felt she was playing with me, when she asked for a toy cut for her play-dough. She is my big mitzvah girl who always empties my purse (without permission) looking for spare change to put into the "kushka" or pushka.
This story though was the highlight of the week: There was a candy out of her reach. I saw her try to get it, and told her that it was not for now please leave it alone. She went away. I felt great thinking, "wow she is listening on the first try, even if a candy is involved! cool!" Well she came back lugging the step stool (there goes my proud moment) and I said "no, Miri" She ignored me and started climbing up. I asked her "what did mommy say?" she looked at me squarely trying to convince even herself it sounded good "Mommy CAN'T SAY!!"

must we set them straight? it's funnier this way!

Motty is for the books, seriously, I don't know where he comes from! There is something that he wanted that they sell in Eretz Yisroel. We told him maybe we can try to get it for him... he asked "why can't we go today and pick it up?" so we explained that you need to plan ahead and buy a ticket etc. His face lit up and he went running to his room looking for something, "look totty now we can go! I have tickets from my morah!" he was holding up some red ticket that you get at carnivals!

the other day, we were discussing which animals are kosher and which are not. Motty asked about a bunny rabbit. I told him I didn't think it was kosher. Today he came into the kitchen and was saying "oh a bunny! it is!" now I was a drop confused where this came from but never question a three year old. Then he went over to the counter and grabbed a package of hot dog buns and told me "look it's kosher. Buns are made from bunnies!"

Miss Deliciouso blocks

Lipa Schmeltzer is releasing a new CD sometime next week. Chaim mentioned something and about it and Motty got all excited and asked "our Lipa?"

I went to see why the kids room was so quiet yesterday. I went in and saw Motty playing with the edge of his blanket and with a pacifier in his mouth. I asked "what are you doing?" He answered I am just recharging for a minute.

Miss Deliciouso, as Miri likes to be called these days, thinks she is a lot bigger than she actually is. She was taking a walk the other day and saw a couple walking towards her. Most of us would be gracious and step aside and make room for them to pass us by, but not her! She took her little tiny feet and spread them apart to make a tunnel and she looked up at them and said "I block!" and boy was she proud of herself when they started laughing, she thought she was funny too.
Miri had a dirty diaper and was in the middle of getting changed when she looked down to see what wa taking so long...she noticed a cool thing "look I have chocolate in my diaper!"
Miri has a new best friend. Her name is Shana. she is our backyard neighbor (our backyards are back to back) Miri talks about her all day and keeps running to the window to check if she got up from her nap first and came out to play yet.it's pretty funny. I heard her talking about Shana today, to her teddy bear in her crib. She is so happy to have more children her age to play with.

We are all awaiting Shavuos eagerly, but no one is as excited as our Motty. This is why; Motty is waiting to go to Har Sinai and receive the torah, to see the beautiful flowers on her, to see lightening and hear the thunder and most of all to hear the Aseres Hadibros and see the Luchos (which he thinks is yellow for some reason, maybe his morah used yellow oak tag???) Chaim asked Motty if he is going to come tho shteibel on yom tov, and Motty wanted to know if he will see Har Sinai there, "is it also coming to shteibel"?

Miri is a big girl now (at least she thinks so) we are trying to introduce the concept of toilet training. we made a trip to the store to choose a potty and chocolate chips for when she goes. She thought that part was fun. even the first couple times was fun, when she got to choose which color chocolate chips (major decision!) then the third day she had enough and said "Mommy take the potty home!" I told it is home already. she thought for a second and said " so put it in the fridge"

Pony what???

Motty was reminding me of a trip we took to some real fun place. He was vividly describing what we did there, explaining each ride who came with us and how we got there...but I was not sure where this place was. (it was one of two places) I asked where it was and he was thinking for a minute before he responded " to Pony Island, remember with Laya'la...and she got stuck..." I was in stitches and could barely talk straight but I think he was referring to Coney Island!

Miri got a bucket of pegs that come with holes and you can string them as beads. She made herself a large necklace, big enough for her to step into. She did just that. She tells everyone while she pulls it up to her waist, that she is putting on her tights.

SPRING is here!!!!!!

It's spring! And we love it. To celebrate the season and the fact that Motty no longer sleeps with pampers, Motty got a brand new shiny bike with training wheels, not just a bike but a huge one (16") He was so excited with it that he could hardly wait to get home from the store to ride it. When we got home though, it was raining. I told him that he can ride it in the morning before the bus comes. The next morning when Chaim came home from shacharis he found the door unlocked with a chair next to the door, he said "who did this?" Motty came running to him "me I wanted to go out to the hallway to look at my bike, but I couldn't reach so I took a chair."



Miri is busy strolling the city with her doll stroller. She looks like quite the serious mommy, stopping to shush her "baby" or feed her a bottle. This doll stroller is amazing it gets her to walk real long distances and also to stay close by without getting distracted. She even got to try on a real shaitel this week and she LOVED it. she was in a trance for five minutes after it was off her head. We took pictures of her and she was a bit shy so she was sticking her tongue out to the side, and when we showed her pictures of herself she said " look Miri does this in the picture" and she stuck out her tongue in the same way.

A different kind of Shabbos

This Shabbos was the very first time that Motty went to sleep at his Zeidy & Bobby's house all by himself! Boy was he proud that he can go alone without Miri who gets a fair share of the attention, or his annoying parents who control the amount of nosh and prizes he receives. We had a different kind of shabbos with only Miri home. She was basking in the double dose of attention she was getting. We had lots of fun with her. she was in this adorable mood all day, she was giggling and playing with us and we both had such a good time with her. I think we didn't know how much we missed our sunshine until we went to pick him up. We walked in the door and he came running toward us schlepping his suitcase and grinning from ear to ear. We landed on the floor in a huge mushy hug, and didn't get up for at least five minutes! He sure had fun and is looking forward to going again but we are not sure it can happen again any time soon, WE MISSED HIM TOO MUCH!!!

Stuck!

We have come to the conclusion that Miri is a compassionate princess. A prime example of her deserving title the following episode; Motty asked "how come Totty isn't home from work yet if it's already time for bed?" I told him that totty was stuck in traffic and he should wait up for him in bed. Miri looked up with a concerned look on her face and asked "My Totty is stuck?"

Pesach

Well Pesach is now a mere memory and at long last I am here ready to update but I can't even remember a third of the funny stories that have happened so this is just a bite size portion of our peasach. At the first seder Motty was fascinated with the goings on, he kept asking many questions. He said the Mah Nishtana soooo cutely! Miri also said it or at least just kept repeating "tatte leiben...mah nishtana..." that was it for her until they got to the songs. The two she knows best "Dai Yainu" & "V'hee sh'eaMduM" (notice the stresses!) For afikomen Motty requested a shtreimel, a beketche & a gartel from every person so he should be getting three or four sets... if they could be found that is, in his size (it's not purim time ya know!) One morning of chol Hamoed Motty was up when Chaim was on the way to shul and asked for an apple. so he peeled and slice an apple for him. he ate a piece or two and went to play for a while. He woke me up a little later, alarmed that he had an apple that turned into a potato. I went to see what he was talking about and saw that the apple turned brown the same way a potato does!

All about Miri

Miri was in her crib the other day and wanted to play a game. It's her favorite way of stalling before bedtime, it's called "Hide the Pacifier" she hides it either under her pillow or blanket most of the times and she giggles when you find it. This time however she came up with a great new hiding place. she threw it up toward the ceiling. I asked "where is Miri's pacifier?" she answered "in the sky!" you should have seen her puzzled expression when she didn't see it up there! Miri is the self appointed bedtime monitor. During shema she paces back and forth in her crib and folds her arms across her chest. Every minute or two she looks to see if Motty is saying it nicely and if he is behaving... if not you are likely to hear something like this; "...v'shem avosai...Motty lay down! v'yidgu, Motty...Aretz. gutte nacht" Chaim was feeding Miri chicken cutlets on shabbos. He was trying the old airplane trick to get her to eat. After a couple of bites she was done eating but still wanted to play the game, so she let him make all the sound effects and "fly" the chicken to her mouth, but when it got there she blew a raspberry at it.

music lover

Yeedle Werdyger's CD was playing in our house and Motty asked "who is that" so I answered "Yeedle". By the next song he asked again and again was told who was singing. Than came his ever famous question "Why?" So I told his "that he sings all the songs because it's his CD" he begs to differ on this point "UH UH really it's ours!" Motty loves "iguitars" we even used to have one until he love it up to it's untimely death (he got rid of a couple strings) We got some guitar cookies for mishloach manos and he was so thrilled he even was holding it up to his chin and making believe he was playing it with his fingers. (he is totally confused between the violin and guitar, if you can tell)

Funny kids

The most fascinating part of the purim story in our family was vashti. Motty was almost in tears when we teased him that he had a tail. Any time someone said "uh oh it looks like Motty has a tail" he would say "NO WAAAY!" while he stuck his hand behind him to check. Miri would laugh and say Vashti has "dimples and a tail!"
Motty made a paper mache' mask a school. It was painted all different mixed together (which turns brown) it looked a bit frightening. The children worked on it all week and he was sooo proud of his masterpiece. I hung it on the refrigerator. Miri came in to the kitchen and backed away from it and started screaming "scareeeey! scareeeey!" in this impersonation of someone with a real deep voice. she is a real clown.
On shabbos miri was sitting on the steps and I wanted to go up stairs. She turned to sit sideways, stretched out over the length of the step. her short legs barley reaching half way across, she looked up with a glint in her eyes and said "I blocking you!"

PURIM is here!!

We'll paint you a picture, of our colorful and thrilling purim. It was a fun filled day of running around. We started off the day with a tantrum. The disappointment was huge "now we want real paint so we can paint the walls and ceiling" so then we had to choose a new costume NOW!! First Motty decided he wanted to be a police man, but then he settled on a car wash guy (in his original painter costume) and he lined up his match box cars and proceeded to spray them with a spritz bottle and clean them with his paint brush. It was then that we finally got to paint a paint palette on Motty & Miri's left cheek. She was sitting and loving the idea of "make up like mommy" while Motty only wanted a mustache. Some time after that we did eventually get the car loaded and off we went to enjoy a fun filled purim day.

Miri's post-finally

Happy Birthday Miri! She is two years old and so proud of it. We had a party for her with a couple of kids on our block. She was so happy to be the center of attention, getting cupcakes and blowing out the candle (with her brothers' help) I was talking to my sister on the phone about her daughter that is only a three months younger than Miri, I was saying "... but she is not so little she is pretty big already she should understand it by now..." Miri heard me and looked up and said "Miri is two!" Yesterday We were outside waiting for Motty's bus after school. There were some kids outside that we haven't seen much all winter and I commented on how much they have grown...Miri said "mommy I'm little", Well I thought that when you are already saying that, than you are not so little anymore!

Mazel Tov!!!!!!

Mazel tov to Surie and Simchie (the new Chosson & Kallah) the Steinbergs are definatley the most thrilled for you two!!! Motty can't wait to dance at the wedding and the princess Miri is already dreaming of her twirly gown!! We can't wait to have our favorite Surie in a white gown!!! We are getting ahead of ourselves now, first things first. We can't wait for sunday night for the vort!

Motty comments

I was putting Motty to bed one night this week, and he said with a smirk "I am selling pacifiers." than it was me who said "I am selling kisses", and gave him a couple. He looked up all seriously and said "but mommy, I don't have any money." I said "for such a cutie it's for free!" I then see him look under his blanket and shuffling his hands he produced pretend money and while he "paid" me he said "okay so let me pay you, one, two, free..."

Today Motty, Miri and I went to My sisters house to drop something off. We were about to leave and I saw that he was lagging behind, wandering into her kitchen, so I went to get him. I saw him opening her cabinets and looking for something. I asked what was missing. "nothing, I am looking for a snack" My sister offered him a choice "would you like corn pops or licorice?" he chose the licorice.
It's this huge bag of individually wrapped assorted types of twizlers. He dipped his hand into the bag and pulled out two, saying that one of them is also for Miri. He than asked "could I also have one for tomorrow please?" sure she told him so another two came out of the bag. But he really wanted to also try the green pull 'n' peel so he asked her for more again "can I have the green one for next year?"

a kids take on things!

Miri at her best is hysterical to say the least. One morning I was playing with her and I asked "who is adorable?" she squealed "ME!" "and who is so cute?" again she shouted "me!" and who do I love?" "ME!" and then I turned around & continued doing what I was doing before. She was not yet done though and wanted me to know so she screamed "where's cuttie pie?" and she pokes her tummy while answering herself "ME!" and she went on, " where is cuttie pies nosie?" "here, beep" That is it she wants to be called cuttie pie not just Miri she is for the books! I was talking to my sister Chanie who's daughter is a drop younger than Miri and she must have said something about her being a baby so I said "Bracha is so big already" and Miri pipes up "Miri is 2!" I told Motty that Sruly B. is so lucky he is starting to learn a new part of the heiliger Torah...Mishnaiyos and is having a siyum. Motty has no clue what this means but it sure sounded impressive about his huge cousin that he loves and so he exclaimed "WOW!" than he asked is that what the Tottys learn? so I told him that gemara comes later when he will be a little bigger and he can learn more... "wow so one time he is gonna learn noora like a totty when am I gonna learn noora?" I was splitting my sides with laughter at that point and said you will one day I"H when you are much bigger...

It's Friday!!!

It's a good thing it's Friday cuz that is Motty's favorite day of the week (they start so young!) it's Shabbos party day!!! As soon as I wake him in the morning he asks "is it Friday today?" We keep hearing about the shabbos party all week from wednesday when the Shabbos Tatty and Mommy are chosen through shabbos until our own party is over. Yesterday the kids were coloring a little before bedtime and I hear Motty telling Miri look at me I want to put on your make up...guess what they were using the crayons as eye/lip liner and blush! The new hot snack in our house is pistachios. Motty knows how to shell them and he does them pretty fast, he has to keep up with Miri's eating them. The only thing is if you are the next person to eat them be careful because as many times as I told him you will still find some shells in the container of closed nuts. the other day he looks at me all serious and says "you know Mommy, 'stachios' is just like statue of liberty" he wanted to know what was so funny about that. I love him! Miri is the princess of relaxation. She goes onto the recliner to 'lax' and lies back with her hands behind her head lokking all comfy it's hystrical. She is such a little girl it's funny. she was putting her doll into the doll carriage and I hear her say "sit down nicely, good girl" then she came to the kitchen to get a paper towel or a 'towel' as she calls it for the baby's bath "wanna make the baby cazy after her baff" she is such a cuddly little stinker!!!