Pumpkin Patch

Last Sunday was THE perfect fall day. Like crisp and sunny and the leaves! Everything. It was so perfect that we had planned earlier in the week to take the kiddos to the pumpkin patch with a few other friends. Eitan had learned about pumpkins the week before in school (Mommy, why do pumpkins decompose?) so I thought it would be particularly fun. We did hayrides, a corn maze, and just ran around with fun shenanigans all over the place.                                                                     Oh, and if you're wondering where all the dads in these pictures are, well, they're on the couch watching football. Their loss.

Redskins...

It's that time of year people! Redskins games take precedence over everything else, and although they've won only two games so far, the boys in the house, they're transfixed.

The good news is, they look cute in burgundy and gold.

Really sad about the score! Don't worry baby, they win this time!

Eitan is three!

Last weekend our little guy turned three! We had multiple celebrations, obviously, starting with his school birthday party on Friday afternoon where he also got the honor of being the Shabbos Abba (hence the blazer, because all dads wear blazers, right?)

He had such a nice time with his little friends and was very happy with the brownies that we brought and getting to show off his baby brother.

On Sunday we had a party for the family where somehow more toys arrived in our house then people. He loved it though. Ami's dad took more pictures, of my beautiful cake creation and other things,  but for now, here's what we snapped.

Real-life Vanderwalde friend (racing cars)

 Virtual Vanderwalde friends via skype

These babies are up next (and the moms look a lot happier then the babies!) 

Our Neighborhood Cemetery Duck Pond

A half mile down our street, across from a big main street there's a cemetery. Weird thing about this cemetery is that it's completely not spooky, and the side that faces our street just looks like a big park. People go to get family photos taken there (which is kind of weird, still) and there's a big pond where there are always people feeding the ducks.

We took a walk one late afternoon on a lovely fall indian summer day.

Eitan loved and then also was terrified of the ducks, especially as they waddled their way over and got a little too close for comfort.

Either way, it was a nice little walk and outing, and we got almost a decent family photo out of it.

Liftoff

Small steps for the baby, small steps for human kind. Big deal to mom and dad.

Presenting, on his 11 month birthday, Mister Levav Chanan Rozmaryn taking some steps.

Bedtime Chaos

Seriously. Like either of these boys would be going to sleep anytime soon after these shenanigans

When Parents Stalk

One day this week I walked in from work and Ami looked at me and make the shush sign (you know, pointer finger over mouth?). I thought that was weird, because our kids aren't going to be woken up from naps by the noise of me walking in the door, but as it turns out, they weren't sleeping at all.

He told me that after Eitan woke up from his nap Levavi crawled in there, and for 20  minutes they had been playing by themselves, quietly and giggling. Ummm. Wrong boys perhaps? The predator and the screecher playing together, quietly? 

Too scared to open the door, we snuck outside and peeked into Eitan's room. And there they were, quietly playing, Eitan directing Levs to crawls over the tops of the storage bins. 

So I went back into the house, cracked open the door and started snapping our two pants-less boys playing together. And I saw the light at the end of the toddler/baby torture tunnel. 

After a couple of minutes they spotted me and it was all over, but it's almost worth it because it didn't end in tears. I'm so proud of these boys! 

And for all you folks that love telling us we need more toys, well, take that, storage bins as toys even though there's a room full of the dumb toys down the hall.

The Den 2.0

The den/playroom is probably the room that gets used the most around here. Maybe in second place to the kitchen? It's close. 

It was one of the first room we "moved into" because it's where we keep the kids toys, the tv and has great big windows that open to the front yard. Now after being in there a little, we've done some tweaks to make it a little more cozy.

When we moved in I hung a picture that Ami didn't love, then turned it on it's side, and he still didn't love it, so we just moved it to a different room (the office, upstairs) and got something new. I painted the simple table white, added in some more seating - the ottoman and a white (Real Bentwood Thonet!) chair that the owners left, and of course the kiddie size comfy chair from Uncle Elan and Tia Liz for the babies. 

We unpacked and added more toys and decorations to the built in shelves, and I'm still looking for the right thing above the TV (the shelf can come down). Ideas?

Also up on the wall came Ami's banjo and a whiteboard to keep track of all of our ever growing house to-do list. 

We love this room! Down the line, I would like to have a big cozy sectional couch, to paint the built in dresser white, and to take down the wallpaper....one day.