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Hat appreciation & Package O’Fun

Posted on April 26, 2008 11:09 pm by TheAngelForever

A few weeks back my parents went to my Cousin M’s wedding in California (still bummed I was unable to go). My father was in his glory because he is a HUGE LA Dodger fan. After they arrived home the boys and I went to visit. Dad quickly showed JSL his new LA Dodger hat and placed it on his head. Here are some photos from JSL trying to fill Papa’s large hat.

BTW – No Dad, I am not saying you have a big head. Mayor Big Head is the one with an extra large cranium!

Be sure to hover over the photos for the captions.

Making Papa proud

As you can see, JSL enjoyed playing with the hat more than actually wearing it. Hopefully he will appreciate the wearing more as the warm weather will require on in the days to come.

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On Monday when we went to take the boys outside to play a package was on our doorstep. I immediately noticed it was not an ordinary box (in a good way). This box was covered in lots of fun stickers and things to make me even more excited about the contents from Kim & Jason of Lemonade Stand and Escape Adulthood. When I went inside I was blown away with how it was packaged. Here is a collage of the photos of the box and the goodies waiting for me inside.

BTW – in case you were wondering what it was that was inside the box it was the book Living Out Loud – Activities to fuel a creative life by Keri Smith. It really looks like a fun read – I can not wait to get a good look at it. Thanks again to Kim and Jason for all of the surprises inside and out of the box!

Categories:
family fun interesting jsl photos Web business

Seder part deux – 2008

Posted on April 22, 2008 10:39 am by TheAngelForever

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.

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

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).

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.

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

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.

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?

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.

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

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!

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

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.

Categories:
family fun holidays laughs photos weekend

Happy Passover – 2008 Seder 1

Posted on April 21, 2008 8:17 am by TheAngelForever

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.

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:

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.

And the seder plate is here:

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:

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.

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

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

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

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.

Categories:
family food glorious food holidays jsl nhl photos weekend yummy

Passover Ponderings

Posted on April 14, 2008 9:52 am by TheAngelForever

Growing up I really loved Passover. It was a fun holiday. We were able to see many of our relatives, tell the story of the holiday and eat amazing food during the Seder. I have fond memories of many Passover seders at my Mimi and Poppy’s house. Whether it was at the house that they shared with Aunt T and Uncle H, or their apartment after selling the house – it was always wonderful times. After that we spent many Passovers at Aunt S and Uncle M’s house where the memories continued. The only negative in my childhood memory bank was taking lunch to school. Matzah and cream cheese got old after a while.

Flash forward to being an adult. Things have changed a lot. I still like the seders and passing on the traditions to our boys, but now I see the expense of the holiday (Passover food is flipping expensive) and know the preparations needed to kosher everything for the holiday. That does not even account for actually making the food for the seders.

This is a sneak peek of one of the cabinets that is housing our Passover food while we clean the kitchen for the upcoming week. There is a lot behind the front and we have even more in another cabinet. One of the items you can barely see is the pink of a 5 pound box of matzah (behind the water) – a necessary beast. We were also lucky to score some Tam Tam crackers for the little guy to have. We were not sure we would find them thanks to the shortage this year. We never get pancake mix, but thought JSL may enjoy it since he likes pancakes. The cost of the tuna makes me ILL. Kosher for Passover tuna costs $1.88 a can!! Sick isn’t it?

And here is even more stuff:

The other cabinet has gefilte fish and a few other odds and ends. We also have some Passover stuffed cabbage (already made) in the freezer, along with boneless chicken breasts and turkey to make burgers. Oh, there is also a lot of cream cheese, yogurt and cheese in the refrigerator. We can not forget that since it is crucial. We probably will not need much more aside from lots of produce since we bulk up on meals with veggies (lots of salad) and snacks are fruit filled.

Oy vey . . . Passover is coming way too quickly for me. Off I go to flood my brain with happy childhood memories of the holiday.

Categories:
family holidays looking back

Visiting with Mimi – a fun afternoon

Posted on April 4, 2008 9:50 am by TheAngelForever

My boys love seeing people. This is especially true when it comes to visiting my grandmother – we call her Mimi. NHL’s nursery school just happens to be right next door to the apartment building where my grandmother lives. Almost every day when we leave he asks to go and see her. Wednesday I surprised him with the new that we were going there to play for a little while. After some "fun" in the car that almost canceled the visit, we continued on our way.

I have to say it is wonderful to watch everyone interact. I do not know who enjoys it more, my grandmother or the boys. Here are some photos from their visit.

JSL has gotten very attached to Mimi. He loves when she sings songs to him. While there on Wednesday he wanted some water and was making too much of a mess with his sippy cup. Mimi helped him to sip some water from a big boy cup. He loved it!

Of course I had to get a photo of Mimi kisses!

Before eating some chicken soup with matzah balls NHL went for a ride in his favorite chair.

JSL wanted to be with Mimi to see things. He was very curious about this container and wanted to see what was inside.

We stayed for several hours until it was time to meet JL home for dinner. NHL had such a great time that he went to sleep quickly. A little while later JSL woke up and we found NHL in his bed in a way that was not so good.