Playing in the snow

All four of us went out today to play in the snow.

Here the pictures and videos.

Isaac's 2nd Birthday Party - 012107 (Presents: 6 of 6)

When the boys finished their cake and ice cream and had each imbibed more sugar than I have in 136 days (I am not counting - really)…we decided it would be a good idea to open some presents.

Jacob was so excited that he walked over to the gifts and brought Isaac his present to open. Everyone said “ohhh…that was so sweet”, until Rob pointed out there may have been an ulterior motive (Jacob knew that there was a Thomas the Train in the box), but the jury is still out on that and Jacob is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Isaac got a lot of great presents. Katie, Pat and Arthur gave him a musical set which all of the kids enjoyed. As stated above, Jacob, Anita and Rob gave him a Thomas the Train. Edith, Natania and Chris bought him some books in English and in Spanish. I think they bought him more books than most people read (or are supposed to read) in college. He also got a nice winter jacket (I missed who that was from when two of the boys had a minor ownership dispute over one of the musical instruments….I was practicing my diversion techniques and ended up diverting myself as well).

Thanks to everyone for the great gifts!!

Here are some of the pictures and videos.

Isaac's 2nd Birthday Party - 012107 (Dinner and Cake: 5 of 6)

After serving the boys first, everyone sat down and enjoyed enchiladas, rice and salad for dinner. When the kids finished dinner they wanted to play “Happy New Year’s” in the family room. I am not sure which they enjoyed more having the balls dumped out on their heads or watching the father’s pick up all of the balls so they could do it all over again.

When Isaac heard that we were going to have cake he grabbed a knife(we still do not know where he found the knife) and brought it over to Miriam for her to cut it right away…we all found that pretty funny.

Finally, it came time to blow out the candles…Isaac had been excited about this and practicing all week. He patiently waited for us to finish singing Happy Birthday and successfully blew out both candles on his first try. We caught it on videotape but not on the memory stick so you will have to wait until either you come to visit or until I figure out how to copy the tapes to DVD to see this….whichever is first.

Obviously, the kids enjoyed their cake and Ice cream….I think the adults did too. I know I did!

Here are some of the pictures and videos.

Isaac's 2nd Birthday Party - 012107 (Playing: 4 of 6)

Before dinner, Arthur, Jacob and Isaac all played together. They seemed especially attracted to the musical instruments. We tried to get them to perform together but it couldn't be orchestrated. Then Rob did his impression of Schroeder from "the Peanuts" and the party really got started…

Click here for some more pictures.

Isaac's 2nd Birthday Party - 012107 (Pre-Party: 3 of 6)

Here are a few pictures of the cake, balloons, dinner table and Miriam getting Isaac ready for the party.

Isaac's 2nd Birthday Party - 012107 (Phone Call from Grandpa Aaron: 2 of 6)

Grandpa Aaron called from Israel to wish Isaac a Happy Birthday.

Here is a quick video of the call.

Isaac's 2nd Birthday Party - 012107 (Train Table:1 of 6)

Isaac’s 2nd Birthday began full of activity. Mom and Isaac headed over to Abuelita Edith’s house to prepare the enchiladas for the party. Dad stayed behind to dismantle the “C” “R” “I” “B” (we have removed this 4 letter word from our vocabulary so as not to remind Isaac that it is gone - so far it is working…) and then I assembled the new train table.

The train table was a birthday gift form Grandma Hillary, Grandpa Ricky, Aunt Stacey and Uncle Josh. You can see a few shots and a video of when I first finished it. Upon completion it looked precisely as pictured on the box, of course. Even the trees were in their accurate places!

While Mom and Isaac napped Dad eagerly waited for them to wake up so he could show Isaac his new train set. As soon as Isaac awoke I turned the train on and he wanted to investigate. He was still a little groggy when he first walked in. Once he saw it he ran towards the table and said “Train” and then was speechless!...which nowadays is not like him. It took him a few seconds to take it all in and then he started to follow the train around the table. After he started playing with it we could not get him away….even when everyone started to arrive for the party!

Thanks again, Grandma Hillary, Grandpa Ricky, Aunt Stacey and Uncle Josh!!!

Here are the pictures and videos.

The Lubin Boys get haircuts

Thursday night I came home with a haircut. This reminded us that Isaac and Cosmo both needed haircuts as well. So, we decided that today (Saturday) right before Gymnastics would be a great time to get haircuts.

The first time Isaac got his haircut it was kind of spur of the moment (sans camera), so we did not get any pictures. This time we came prepared! If you remember, last time Isaac really enjoyed it. Since then he has not stopped talking about his haircut and the buzzers which "tickle”. We thought that since this was his second time it would be just as much fun....that was not exactly the case. Isaac started off a little unsure about the situation but once he had a lollipop everything seemed OK.

Lesson learned for Mom and Dad - get lollipop first!

After the haircut we dropped Cosmo off for his shampoo and style and headed to Gymnastics. Subsequently, we picked Cosmo up and headed home for nap time. It is unfortunate that you can not fully appreciate the difference Cosmo's shampoo and haircut makes purely through pictures. Today's blog technology does not convey the drastic change in aroma associated with the before and after...


Here are some of the pictures and videos.

Isaac and Dad play in the basement

Here is a quick videos of Isaac and Dad playing in the basement while Mom was at work last Saturday.

Ultrasound 2.2 - 011206

Just a quick note to people on the email distribution, a few of you have mentioned that you cannot view the pictures from the email. The email is automated based on the blog posting and it appears that the links in the posting do not always show up as links in the email. Unfortunately, I am unable to do anything about this. If I am correct at the bottom of each email you should see a link to the main page of our blog, www.TheLubins.blogspot.com To view any pictures or videos you will need to click on this link. Ok enough technical stuff....


Miriam, Isaac and I went to the hospital today to get our second ultrasound of baby2.0. We opted not to find out if it is a boy or a girl. There are three pictures, on one you can see a pretty good picture of one of his/her feet.

Weekend Trip to Chicago

I had to be in Chicago for work Wednesday night through Friday, so Miriam and Isaac flew out to so we could spend a nice weekend there. Friday night after work we took a nice walk and enjoyed a nice relaxing Sushi dinner while Isaac slept.

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed to the Shedd Aquarium. The aquarium was incredible. We saw a lot of the fish native to the Carribean Reef which were similar to the fish we saw when snorkelling in Hawaii. We also saw; starfish, seahorses, crabs, an octupus, sea anemones, sea otters, penguins and Isaac's favorite, dolphins! We even got to see a dolphin show. After the aquarium we headed back to the hotel for a nap and a "yo-yo party" (see video).

In the evening we went to a pretty good Mexican restaurant where they gave Isaac some free ice-cream. I am not sure if this is selective memory or not but, I don't recall anyone giving us free ice-cream before I was diagnosed with diabetes....now it seems to happen quite a bit. Life is funny like that I guess.

Sunday Isaac permitted us to do some shopping on Michigan avenue, then we headed home.

Here are some pictures and videos.

Happy New Year!!

Hopefully everyone had a safe and Happy New Year's eve. We went out to dinner with, Tony, Christine, Matt, Beth, Katey,Allison and Gus to celebrate Gus' birthday. We then headed to the Craig's for ice cream cake.

Prior to going out Isaac did some celebrating of his own. Here is one video that is pretty amusing.

Enjoy the Rose Bowl. Go Blue!