Isaac wrote his name today!!!!

This was just so unbelievable that I had to post it immediately!

I got home today from Chicago and Miriam showed me this. Obviously I was very impressed since we have never asked/instructed/seen Isaac ever draw a letter; no less his whole name before. Then when she told me how it happened I was even more dumbfounded.

Isaac saw Miriam working on Holiday cards in the basement today and when Miriam went upstairs to do something else Isaac stayed in the basement. A few minutes later he came up and showed her this and said "look Mom I made you a card." The portion in the picture is only the bottom half of the card which folds closed. He showed her the card opened it and it was written inside facing the right way. He even underlined his name.

Kids Play Cafe (Sunday 11/25) Post Turkey Weekend

After a long weekend of eating we needed some exercise, so we stopped off at the Kids Play Cafe. Isaac liked the airplane and the obstacle course the best. Personally I liked the spiral slide. My back is still a little sore from climbing around in there with him.

Here are some pictures from the afternoon.

Turkey Weekend 2007 - Summary and Pictures from Grandma

Isaac woke up early on Sunday morning and immediately came in our room and asked for Grandma and Grandpa, we sent him downstairs to wake up Stacey instead. Then it was off to the airport to drop off Stacey and Josh, of course Isaac wanted to go out for another drive in his new car first so we took a short drive and then packed up the car for the ride to the airport. Isaac was sad to say goodbye to everyone and wanted to get on the plane with Stacey and Josh. So we decided to take him to the Kids Play Cafe (see next post...coming soon).

Thanks again Mom, Dad, Stacey and Josh for coming in and celebrating Thanksgiving and Pre-Hanukkah with us!!

Also, thanks for all of the great gifts (even the outfits for Olivia that I am allergic to!.....they were really cute.)

We all had a great time and can't wait for the next big holiday so we can all get together again!

Here are a few of the great pictures taken by Grandma. To see all of her pictures click on the "Other "Lubin" related photo sites" link in the lower right hand corner of this page.

Turkey Weekend 2007 - Day 5 - Isaac Drives!

After swim class Isaac took a nap, when he woke up

he found his new race car which Grandma and Grandpa bought him for Hanukkah. Josh and Ricky stayed up late the night before putting it together....thanks guys!!

Of course Isaac wanted to go right out and drive. It turned out he could not quite reach the pedal so we had to get him a pillow. After a few minutes he was really starting to get the hang of it. All of the sudden he came to a complete stop and just sat there. We asked him why he stopped and he said matter of factly, "There is a red light!"...unfortunately I missed that on video, but regardless the videos are pretty amusing.

Later Isaac wanted to dress up in his lion costume to show the family his roar.

Josh took that picture with his "iPhone". They tell me an iPhone is small enough to fit in your hand does not need wires(how does it even work?) and supposedly takes pictures and connects to something called the "internet" wher eyou can send pictures to otehr people via "email. argghhh kids today with their new fangled toys....its that MTV I tell you.

Anyway, here are some pictures and videos from the day.

Turkey Weekend 2007 - Day 5 - Swim Class

On Saturday we all took Isaac to the YMCA for swim class. Mom and Dad took him in the pool and the rest of his entourage; Grandma, Grandpa, Stacey, Josh and Olivia watched from the window. Isaac did really well he can now swim on his own using the "dumbbells" and kicking without holding on to either of us.

After swim class we stayed to play in the kid's club and have a quick snack, while the out-of-towners went to the mall to go shopping. Olivia tried her first banana.

We are not allowed to take pictures of the pool so unfortunately, there are no pictures of swim class but there are some of Isaac, Miriam and Olivia having their snack.

Turkey Weekend 2007 - Day 4 - Family Photo and Grandma's Birthday Dinner

On Friday we went to dinner to celebrate Grandma Hillary's Birthday which was 11/8. Since we were all dressed up and ready to go we thought it would be a good idea to get a family photo.

At dinner Isaac tried some sushi and really liked it then he had a lemon and we all had some chocolate cake to celebrate Grandma Hillary's Birthday.

Here are some more pictures.

Turkey Weekend 2007 - Day 3 - Turkey Day

Look at that turkey.......no jokes, please!

Miriam and all of her helpers did a fantastic job once again this year preparing the Thanksgiving Dinner!

Check out the pictures and a video of the after dinner activities (which consisted of watching football and a concert). Followed by the after dessert video which was not nearly as relaxed, most likely due to the excessive amounts of sugar consumed by the kids and myself.

Turkey Weekend 2007 - Day 2 - Costco, Pottery Barn Kids and Isaac's Magic Sleeping Bag

On Wednesday we woke up early of course. Grandma began the first true "photo shoot" of the weekend.

Then we went to the mall. We had to stop at Pottery Barn Kids for Isaac and Grandma to play around with the toys. Grandma made a new friend!!!

What would Thanksgiving be without our annual trip to Costco to load up for the weekend? While we were "hunting and gathering", Isaac had some time to check out some of the toys. He found another horse to ride.

Everyone was very excited to give Isaac his first "Pre-Hanukkah" gift. (Pre-Hannukah is a tradition we started when we moved to Michigan - celebrating Hanukkah over Thanksgiving when most of us are together). Grandma and Grandpa gave him a backpack with a sleeping bag, flashlight and water bottle. They told him the sleeping bag was a magic sleeping bag which would help him get to sleep....this has yet to be proven.


Here are some more pictures from Wednesday.

Turkey Weekend 2007 - Day 1 - The "GPs" Arrive

Grandma Hillary and Grandpa Rick arrived on Tuesday afternoon after a grueling 9 hour ride from Albany. After a few brief hello's Miriam and David left them with the kids to babysit while we went to Isaac's first parent teacher conference. We heard a lot of great things about Isaac and were given some samples of his wonderful artwork.

After we got home Isaac was very excited to give Grandma and Grandpa their Hanukkah gift. We framed one of Isaac's masterpieces ("Watercolors in Fall #1"). For those of you astute readers you may remember the video from Halloween where Isaac was painting while waiting for Trick-or-treaters. In the video towards the end I had filmed a few of his early watercolor paintings.

Unfortunately, we did not get a picture of the gift in all of the excitement. Maybe Grandma Hillary can provide a picture of the painting we can post later....

Here are some pictures of Grandma opening the gift.

Doug the "Munk"ey Comes to visit

Doug came to visit this weekend for the Ohio State Game (which we will not discus).

Isaac calls Doug, Doug the "Munk"ey, because he has a stuffed animal which happens to be a Monkey and he calls Doug. So when Doug Munk came to visit it was an obvious transition to Doug the Monkey. Isaac had a great time playing around on Friday with him.

Anyway we did not have time to take too many pictures over the weekend but Isaac took a few while Doug was over and they were playing.

Plus Doug insisted on "making" the blog.

Stuey gets his "Stripes"

Stuey got his Service Dog jacket. When do I get a jacket like that?

Toys-R-Us

On Sunday I took the kids to Toys-R-Us while Miriam was at Book-Club.

Isaac had a great time playing with the animatronic horse(which moved when you pet it!) and spent a lot of time in the Balck & Decker aisle!. ...Olivia seemed mildly interested and eventually fell asleep. Ironically, it was not until Isaac was playing with the extremely loud drill! Don't get any ideas people...loud toys(Drills, drums ,etc...) are not needed for Hanukkah... gifts certificates for a dinner or massage for Mom & Dad, maybe....

Here are a few pictures.

Isaac's new dew

Isaac got a new haircut this weekend....it's a little more edgy.

Here are some pictures of him enjoying his post-barber-shop-lollipop in the Birmingham park.

Olivia in the "Office"

Olivia and I were hanging out in the basement today and she really wanted to stand up and explore. So, I thought it might be time to break out the "office".

The name came from when Isaac used to use it. He would be so busy in there spinning around and multi-tasking Miriam and I began to refer to it as the "office". Here is a picture of Isaac in the office(06/05/05).
Here are some pictures and a video.