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Wii love balls

Posted on July 1, 2008 9:13 pm by TheAngelForever

As the boys continue to grow I want to capture moments that show them at each stage of their lives. I was able to video a few things recently and want to share.

JSL is quite obsessed with balls. He loves to play catch, to roll them, to toss them, and to look for them. Anything that is round and looks like a ball is therefore a ball in his 13 month old mind. Case in point was Saturday as we were putting groceries away. JL and I bought a mini-watermelon at the store and it was on the ground. JSL found it in the bag and pulled it out onto the floor. He immediately squealed "ball" at the top of his lungs. He kept playing with his watermelon "ball" and was quite happy until he tried to pick it up. He just did not understand why it was so heavyy. I finally went to get the camera and captured some of his antics.

Another popular sport in our house involves the Nintendo Wii. NHL loves to spend time with JL to bond, especially when the Wii is allowed. He enjoys playing bowling, baseball, and golf. He LOVES playing Mario Kart Wii. It is funny listening to him talk about it. He knows all of the Mario characters from my childhood and can tell details about each of the courses and cars in depth. Tonight I thought it was time to get a video of the boys during their almost nightly routine. As you will see NHL sits on his daddy’s lap and they play together.

I love my boys!

Categories:
fun jl jsl my boys nhl video

Memories of our wedding – 7 years ago today

Posted on June 24, 2008 6:56 am by TheAngelForever

In 1999, I met JL online. I was a goof and did not realize that I was in a chat room. Something caught my eye in his profile so I messaged him. We talked online and on the phone many times before we met in person half way between our homes. I brought my friends with me, just in case because you never know!

From the fall of 1999 to 2000 we had a long distance relationship.

It was rough, but at the time we drove (gas was cheap – 99 cents or less a gallon) or we flew (fares that were $49-79 each way) and visited often. I remember too vividly the days when JL would leave. I would sit and cry for hours wondering when I would see him again.

On July 2, 2000 JL proposed to me and soon after his employer allowed him to move here to telecommute (being a webmaster has perks ya know). Once here we went to hockey games from time to time, because I had to convince JL that hockey is THE sport. If you know JL he is not a sports nut.

That year was hectic. JL was getting used to this area, the company he worked for folded, he found a new job, I was student teaching, and we were wedding/honeymoon planning. This included lots of road trips to pick up my wedding dress about an hour north of here.

Finally our wedding day arrived. June 24, 2001 was a gorgeous summer day. Almost all of our family and friends were there to celebrate our special day. Below are some memories of the amazing day that JL and I became husband and wife. . . . the day I married my best friend.

Photos from the Bedeken, which is where the Ketubah (Jewish marriage license) is signed and we technically are married. Be sure to hover over the photos for explanations.

03 Ketubah signing at Wedding

04 Our ketubah

05 Veil over me during Bedeken

After the Bedeken it was time for everyone to go in for the traditional (basically Orthodox) Jewish wedding ceremony. One of the things I love about the Jewish ceremony is that both parents walk the bride and groom down the aisle to the chuppah. What you may notice in the one of me is lots of smiles and laughter – even my father (SHOCK). He was laughing that I had to go to the bathroom and had a wedgie. Glad I shared that with you aren’t you?!?!

09 JL and parents walking down aisle

10 My parents walking me down aisle

11 Under the chuppah

Thanks to being a smart bride I made my own bridal sneakers and wore them for the entire wedding. I was not going to chance sores on my feet when we were going to Disney World for our honeymoon the next day. Here are some photos from the reception.

13 Horah time

14 My father actually SMILES!!!

This is when I was lifted into the air on a chair and nearly dropped during the Horah.

15 Help me . . . I'm going to die!

Our first dance was to the Bee Gee’s "Wedding Day" that was released right before our wedding. Thanks to my father for introducing us to this beautiful song. You can see a video of the song here.

16 - Our first dance

It is a tradition for the eldest male member of the family to say the blessing over the challah and slice it. My Poppy did this with the help of my Uncle J and Dad.

17 My Poppy cuts the challah

18 My grandparents and all of their grandchildren

19 Finally at our table for a few moments

Soon the time came to cut our wedding cake. There was a little mishap with JL’s kippah as you will see.

The next morning we flew early in the morning to Disney World and had an amazing honeymoon.

JL thank you for seven wonderful years of memories together. Who knew seven years ago that we would have two little boys now. You are such an amazing person, husband and father.. You are truly my best friend and I look forward to many more wonderful years of memories together as we grow old and watch our boys have families of their own.

Categories:
family friends jl looking back me moments photos

6 1/2 pounds of strawberry picking fun

Posted on June 17, 2008 12:14 pm by TheAngelForever

Last year JL wanted to go strawberry picking, but it just did not work out with an infant less than a month old. This year he was quite persistent and gathered information about local pick your own patches. We finally narrowed it down to a place not too far away. On Father’s Day after having breakfast with my dad (mom was at work) we went to pick strawberries. NHL was beyond excited and could not wait to get there. Here are some photos from our time picking about 6 1/2 pounds of the yummy red goodness!

*** Be sure to hover over the photos to see additional captions. Warning that this is photo heavy. Since my family does read this I wanted to share lots of the photos with them as well.

First JL took NHL out into the field while I stayed trying to rock JSL in the stroller (this never did work).

Comparing their finds

Hmmm. . . any over here?

After a little while NHL and JL came back to get more containers for strawberries. Plus they wanted to show me all that they had collected.

YUMMY!

Macro shot of strawberries

At this point the little guy made it crystal clear that he was not about to stay in his stroller. JL took him and all of the boys went back out to get more strawberries. Apparently at one point JSL got a hold of a strawberry from the container when Daddy was not looking and squished it. He was then given a sample to taste and LOVED it!

Picking strawberries

Eventually all of the boys wandered back to show me more strawberries and to let me head out into the field. Believe it or not I believe this was the first time I had ever gone strawberry picking. Poor JSL was really tired from lack of a nap – thus the reason his binky was in (that and teething).

I want some

P1080406

After a while we had four good sized containers of strawberries. Both of the boys were tired from the heat and humidity so we went to pay and head home.

So if you made it through all of these photos you can see we had a great time. So much so that one of us never made it very far before falling asleep.

One tired baby after picking strawberries

Depending on the weather we may go again this coming weekend. So I ask those of you reading this – any suggestions on things to make with strawberries?

Categories:
fun holidays jl jsl nhl photos weekend yummy

Wordless Wednesday – Swapped heads

Posted on June 4, 2008 8:03 am by TheAngelForever

Swapped Daddy and JSL

Can you tell JL had fun with this? Inspired by Manbabies website.

Categories:
family fun jl laughs Wordless Wednesday

As the Seat Turns

Posted on May 29, 2008 8:47 pm by TheAngelForever

Monday morning we went to breakfast at my parents house. It is rare that everyone has a holiday off, so we took advantage of it.

While there we decided it would be a great opportunity to head out to my car to turn JSL’s car seat around. Sure he loved being able to look at NHL while turned around, but another milestone has come. The little guy was officially a year old and had long since topped 20 pounds.

JL and I fought with the latch system for a little while to get the seat out. Then we flipped it around, set it upright and struggled to get it latched back in.

Not long after that it was time to head to the car to witness JSL’s reaction to being turned around.

Once he was all buckled in he was a little confused. He was not used to looking to the right for big brother. Still it was the first thing he did – watched to make sure NHL got into his cow seat.

This face tells the story:

Luckily once NHL was on board JSL was content. He soon realized that he could swing his feet around and not have to hit into the seat in front of him.

Soon it was time to test drive both car seats facing forward. Both of the boys seemed content and ready to go.

JSL was very tired at this point since he was lacking a morning nap. Before we even got to the main road to our destination he was sleeping. Clearly he was quite comfy in his newly turned car seat.

JSL was so tired that he managed to sleep through most of our shopping trip. On the way home he let us know he was quite happy with the new view from the car.