More Winter Break - 1st time Skiing and New Years



So today we went skiing for the first time with the kids.  Isaac,Olivia and Miriam all took a lesson.  They really all picked it up very quickly.  The kids started on the magic carpet, ten went to the rope tow and by the end of the lesson they were on the chair lift going down the "big hill".  After the lesson we stopped for lunch, then  we went back out and all skied together which was a blast! 

 

 

See a few more pictures from Skiing here.

 

I was sick for new Year's but Miriam and the kids went roller skating with some friends.  They were all supposed to dress up as their favorite movie characters.  Isaac was Bilbo Baggins from
"The Hobbit", Olivia was "Barbie the Island Princess" and Miriam was Holly Golightly form "Breakfast at Tiffany's".  Seem like they had fun!

 

See a few more pictures from Miriam and the kids dressing up here.

Winter Break Part 2 - MOA & Olivia gets her American Girl Doll

Today we went to the Mall of America (MOA), to buy Olivia her American Girl Doll (AGD).  She has been saving up for it for a while now.  She and Isaac counted her money this morning then we headed to the MOA.   She has just enough $103!

We stopped off at the Nickelodeon Store to get some tickets to ride a ride.  Isaac rode a roller-coaster by himself for the first time (The Orange Crush) and Olivia rode a big roller coaster with Dad(the Fairly Odd Coaster).  They both had a great time. 

Then it was off to the AGD store.  This was quite an "experience" for all!  The store is a bit indescribable if you have not been there.  You can chose a doll "like" you or one from a historical period in time.  Olivia wanted to choose one of the girls from a historical period.  She picked Rebbecca.  She comes with a book which is a story about her life.  We have been reading it at bed time and we did not know at the time Olivia picked her that she was a Jewish girl from New York with the last name "Rubin".   She was really excited to pay for her with her own money.

She some more pictures from our day at MOA here.

Winter Break - 1st half

It has been a very busy and fun winter break so far.  We went to St. Paul for some ice skating, see some more pictures here.

We worked on the kids Science projects:
Olivia is doing an experiment, creating Yogurt

Isaac is doing an experiment on Gravity

Stay tuned for the Science Fair in January!


And then their was Xmas....kicked off by our 2nd annual dress up for Xmas eve dinner.

Check out some more pictures from dinner and a video of the kids waking up xmas morning at 5AM!

Cosmo got a new bone....which has been appearing in pieces around the house.

Check back again in a few days for the second half of winter break....proposed scheduled events are; Mall of America(MOA), Skiing, and New Years Eve and New Year's Day brunch!

Hanukkah Nights 5-8

The 5th night of Hanukkah we opened gifts from Lita and there was definitely a robot theme.  Isaac got some Kinex robots and Olivia got a dancing remote control robot, that shoots Frisbees out of its mouth!!!

On the 6th night we opened Uncle Billy & Aunt Joanne's gifts.  Oli got a barbie scooter.  "It is better than the one I wanted because you can put barbie in front!!"  Isaac got some magnetic building toys which he had been wanting.

On the 7th night we went to temple.  We lit our menorah on the bima with the rest of the congregation, Olivia sang in the choir and then we had a nice latke dinner.

On the 8th and final night we through a party and invited over the Dunbar's, the Chu's, the Kennedy's and the Gracier's.  Miriam and Michelle made latkes in advance and Isaac and I made Bloody Mary's both were very well recieved!! 

 

Another Great Hanukkah!!!

 

Check out some more pictures from the second half of Hanukkah here.

Hanukkah - 2012 - Nights 1 thru 4

Well, we are half way thru and Hanukkah has been very exciting so far.  The first night we went to a party at Bob and Deb's house.  We had latkes and fried chicken, the kids opened presents, we played games and some of us sang Karaoke. 

The second night was a bit more low key, the kids opened presents from Aunt Stacey, Uncle Josh and the cousins.  Olivia got Surfing/Mermaid Barbie and Isaac got a Nerf machine gun. Mom and Dad also exchanged our presents - wall hangings seemed to be the theme.

On the third night, Bob/Deb and the kids came over to our house for fallafel.  We opened presents, played dreidel and hung out.  We exchanged books and the kids also opened presents from Aunt Nadine. Olivia loved her new outfit and put it right on.  Isaac's gift was right on target - a dart board.

 

On the fourth night we made Chicken Schnitzel (so far every night has been fried food!!....it is a Hanukkah miracle). The kids opened presents from Mom and Dad. Isaac got a groovy lava lamp and Olivia got the doll she has been waiting for (Olivia).

See some more pictures from the 1st half of Hanukkah.

Sledding at Starring Lake Park

Well today it snowed more than it did all of last year (unofficially).  I think we got about 12" at the house.  So of course, we took the kids sledding.  Starring Lake Park has a nice long hill (nice on the way down, not so nice on the way up!).  

Check out some more sledding pictures here.

So we decided to bring the train set down into the play room so it would be more accessible to the kids.  It seems to run better on hard surfaces vs. carpet.  We actually decided to set it up on the old train table.  The kids have been using it, now that it works better.  There is a video of Olivia driving it....watch her face at the end.

See a few pictures and a video of Conductor Olivia. 

A few pictures of Isaac when he got this train set.

Isaac's First Train Table

Scout Xtravaganza

Isaac and I went to "base camp" for the scout xtravaganza.  There were a lot of activities the boys could try out or learn about such as Archery, Magic, Scuba, Chess, Pinewood Derby cars, Science experiments, video games, camping, bounce houses, slides, etc... Isaac's favorite was definitely the magic show.  He even wanted to show the magician the card trick that Grandpa Ricky taught him.    Here are a few more pictures...

Isaac's November Den Meeting

Isaac had another Den meeting this week.  The boys learned about the American Flag and the Minnesota State Flag.  They also learned how to tie; a few different kinds of knots, shoelaces and ties.  It was a pretty fun meeting!  Check here for a few more pictures.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2012

Turkey Day!  Grandma Hillary, Grandpa Ricky, Aunt Stacey, Uncle Josh, Gabriel, Vivian and Benjamin all came to stay for the weekend, it was a full house coupled with a packed schedule:

• Tues: pick up R&H, steak dinner
• Wed: works museum. Chicken Nachos dinner
• Thurs: pick up pies, pick up Wallachs, turkey dinner
• Fri: Edinborough
• Sat: drop off Wallachs, watch the Michigan/Ohio St Game, office visit, sushi dinner, Holidazzle parade. 
• Sun: The Circus
• Mon: bus stop, R&H airport

  

Gobble Gobble

See some more pictures here.

Lita's Visit

Lots of fun had with Lita this visit.  Halloween, Mall of America and other adventures. See some more pictures here.

Halloween 2012

Well the past several weeks have been all about fall activities; primarily Halloween!
The kids are really excited this year about their costumes and of course getting some candy!  You can see some posts from past Halloweens here.

See some more pictures from the following Halloween events by clicking on the links below:

• Making costumes -  Isaac created is own costume this year with mostly stuff around the house.  He is a Zombie Hunter (inspired by Walking dead - don't worry we don't let him watch the show).  Check out his cut up pants with blood showing through.  the one thing he did buy was his sunglasses which he could have easily borrowed from Grandpa Ricky!

• Pumpkin Picking -  This year we went to the Minnetonka Orchards again.  The kids got to ride the train, climb around, take a hay-ride, pick pumpkins and of course have donuts and apple cider.

• Pumpkin Carving  - The 2012 pumpkin is partially green which inspired a desire to carve Frankenstein.  Lita, Miriam and the kids all helped as usual and we had fun, carving, cleaning and baking the seeds.

• Trick-or-Treating - Cosmo even dressed up this year.....he is a Vet!

Happy Halloween!!!