Smartass

This morning I made Maddox's favorite breakfast - eggs, bacon, and bagels. I was busy cooking the eggs, shmearing the bagels, and was letting the bacon cool. Maddox was clamoring for his breakfast ceaselessly. Finally, I said, "Maddox! Look at me! I am one person and I can only do one thing at a time!" He replied, "But you have two hands....."

Apple picking, the series

A Weekend in Amherst

We started off on Saturday strolling around the UMass campus (clearly, not fasting). The kids loved the pond (where Al caught a bunch of little fish in the net right off the bat) but the big hit was the badminton racquets from Grammy and Bob's house. We also went up to the 23rd floor of the library to look out the window. The kids were not so interested in the view but loved playing hide and seek in the stacks. Luckily, no students were studying at 10 a.m. on a Saturday.




























After naptime we headed out to Atkins for a donut (for energy!) and some apple picking.

I don't have much to report

Maddox has been sleeping a little better. Chava is still a little tazmanian devil but in a cute way. Especially now that she has pigtails in more often. We are gearing up for our big weekend away (no kids and VEGAS, baby!) in two weeks. I think I'll stock plenty of booze and chocolate for the adults (because, let's be honest, that's who I'm worried about). We have been mentioning it to Maddox but not dwelling on it, but I don't think he's really put it together at all. Ahhh well, he'll be in for a rude awakening.

Posessed by the devil, or....?

Maddox has been a real pill the last few days. Tantruming over everything, trying to convince us that he's sick so he won't have to go to school/eat dinner/do anything but watch t.v., up a lot at night, you get the picture. Friends tell me it's just being 3, and it will all magically change when he turns 4. It did improve this a.m. after he ate three pieces of pastrami, a waffle with yogurt and syrup, and then a cup of yogurt. Growth spurt, anyone?

The pastrami boy at work.














Trying to convince his sister that she, too, wants to eat pastrami at 7 a.m.














She gives me the look like, "Mom, what up with Maddox?!"

Yesterday

Chava ate bird poop at the playground. And then laughed - LAUGHED! - when I tried to grab it out of her mouth. That's why we're punishing her by sending her to Bright Horizons today, just in case she asks you.

Some major events over the weekend...

that I sadly have no pictures of. But first, pictures at the new Children's Museum (HBS rented it out Saturday night and it was a huge hit with our kids):





































But the MUCH bigger deal was that we went to Ikea on Sunday and Maddox actually asked to go to the kids' place where you can drop them off (and LEAVE them) for 45 minutes. I did not have the camera, but if I did you would have seen this on my face:

Grammy Chronicles a Day with Chava

The great thing is, I totally KNOW this day. It takes about two hours to walk two blocks with Chava because she wants to go up on every neighbor's porch, and she wants to put every rock/button/cigarette butt she finds in her mouth (although if she finds old paper or a crushed bottle, she immediately identifies it as "trash" and looks for a trash can), she wants to touch every animal ("touch doggie!") and she needs lots of snacks. Then she finishes off the day with a little nudie time, a change of clothes (probably because she had yogurt for snack and smeared the entire cup of it on herself) and then the special, sparkly purple dress-up hat while making the "surprise face" (one of my personal favorites) at the end of the day. Now she makes that surprise face with her little hand covering her mouth. Then I eat her up.

More Crab Fest (thank goodness for the relatives)

My favorites are the nekkid Chavie swimming with Josh, the look on Maddox's face when Andrew nails him with a cup of water, and Maddox listening to Uncle Michael's Magic Shoe story - he's so happy! I also love the different generations of cousins and siblings and, of course, Uncle PuPu. Thanks to Annie, Josh and Mom for the great pictures.























































































































































Here is our hair guru at work.