New Year's Eve 2012!

Another fun New Year's party at the Children's Museum this year.
See some more pictures here.
Click here for 2010/11 New Year's Eve Party.
There was a lot more snow in 2011!

The rest of Hanukkah and Xmas

The last night of "Accelerated Hanukkah" was also Xmas eve. Miriam and Lita made Enchiladas, flan and fake wine and set a fancy table for Xmas eve dinner. When it was ready Miriam said "OK...everyone get upstairs and get dressed up". Well everyone interpreted that a little differently. With each person getting ready we were all more and more surprised. Miriam was dressed up in her wedding dress! Olivia as Cinderella, Isaac as a french school lad and me...I am not quite sure....we decided to take a group photo!We all had a lot of laughs and a very nice dinner!

Here are some more pictures and a video of Xmas.

Hanukkah with the Zwiefelhofers

We had Deb, Bob, Sam and Alayna over to celebrate Hanukkah. They brought latkes and make your own Hanukkah cookies for the kids.
After dinner the kids had sword fights. The Maccabees would be proud....no one even got hurt...it was a Hanukkah miracle!
See some more pictures and a video here.

This year we accelerated Hanukkah and started a few days early so we could finish before Miriam and Lita head off to Seattle.
So our first night was Sunday instead of Tuesday. Of course we lit the menorah(s)...3 this year, had some latkes (frozen from "Thanksgiving-Hanukkah") and opened presentsHere are some more pictures and a video.

Olivia's Last Dance class of 2011

So for Olivia's last dance class, families were allowed to watch the entire class. Here are some pictures and a video.

Sledding - Olivia checks out Kindergarten and makes a boat

I am still catching up a bit...but here are some pictures from Olivia checking out Kindergarten at the Open House. She even got to ride the bus with Mom!
At some point over the last few weeks she also made a Styrofoam boat!

Then we took the kids sledding over at Starring Lake. This is by far the biggest sledding hill I have ever been on! We all had a great time and it was not too cold! Here are some pictures and a video of us sledding.

Some random pictures from November

November went by fast.....here a few pictures.

Waiting for dance class

Funny faces....i am pretty sure they do not know who Groucho Marx is.

Here are a few more and a video of them singing the Muppets Song!

Menanna...nanananaah!

Thanksgiving 2011

Another great Thanksgiving!This year Stacey, Josh, Gabriel and Vivian made it out to Minneapolis with Grandma and Grandpa. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner, celebrated an early Hanukkah since the cousins were all together and even went to the Minnesota Zoo!Grandma and Grandma even got to go to school and have lunch!Check out some more pictures here.

Announcing Disney

Today we told the kids we were taking them to Disney World! We did not capture the "reveal" on video, but we did read them a book and they were pretty excited. So are we!

Check out a short video here.

Halloween 2011

We carved the pumpkin this year as a frog....Olivia dressed up as a "bad" princess. She carried a sword and had meant to wear her plastic fangs(but she forgot them). Isaac was a ninja!

Oh, and Cosmo dressed up for the first time...he was "Chef Cosmo"! Since we were all out trick-or-treating, Isaac made a sign to put under our bowl of Candy. It says "One Candy per person."There are also some pictures of last weekend, while Miriam was in NYC with her friends. The kids and I went to Chuck E. Cheese and Buffalo Wild Wings....fun!

See some more pictures here.

Fall Activities 2011

Well fall is flying by. We have been raking (and playing in) a lot of leaves. We also took a trip out to Minnetonka Orchards. We did the typical fall activities; picked a pumpkin, had donuts and cider, walked through a corn maze, played on the climbing structures, rode a train, had some faces painted, and played with some farm animals (Cosmo really liked the chickens and llamas!).

See a few more pictures here.

Isaac's Consecration

Isaac started religious school this year and he and his classmates were consecrated. Consecration marks the beginning of a child's formal Jewish education held on Simchat Torah. They each received their own Torahs!! He was extremely excited.

The pictures did not turn out great, but here are a few.

The kids build a Sukkah and Olivia buys a car

So on Sunday, the kids came home from religious school and wanted to build a Sukkah! Of course, we did not have all the materials so we did the best with what we have. Grant came over and helped as well and we had a great time. We used branches to connect the materials and the kids decorated the walls with chalk. After we were done we had lunch in it!
Also, Olivia has been saving her allowance for a few weeks now to buy a remote control pony car. She was really excited about it so she and Miriam went out to get it as soon as she had enough money saved. You can see a few more pictures and a movie of Olivia playing with her new car here.

David's Birthday

Here is a picture and a short movie from my Birthday. The kids made some great cards and we had pecan pie, my favorite!

First Day of School - 2011

Isaac started 1st Grade on Tuesday and Olivia started Pre-K on Wednesday. It was a big week!

So far they both love school, their teachers and their new class mates!

Check out more pictures of:

Isaac's 1st day of 1st Grade

and

Olivia's 1st day of Pre-K

Nature, Okey Dokeys and Watermelon

A lot going on here!! Lego, nature, watermelons and concerts.....
Lots of nature pictures and movies, mostly taken by the kids, around the house, the parks and the lakes.

The infamous Okey-Dokey Brothers!

We picked our Minnesota grown watermelon!....see the video.

See some more pictures and two videos here.

Summer Vacation - Lake Superior - "Up North"

This summer we took the family "Up North". We rented a place on Lake Superior. It was really an incredible spot with some amazing views. We took the kids to Gooseberry Falls, we went to Kayak Festival, toured an old Tug Boat and a freighter and tooks ome nature walks.We also rented a canoe for a day and had our own adventure....with the wind!

All in all a great trip!

See some more picture from the trip here.