Leaves

Justin has been loving our class at Isis. He espeicially loves to ride on the parachute with some of his classmates.

This week they got to play in a big tub of play leaves. Fun!

Another nutritious mommy and seth breakfast

Justin cuteness

Mommy and Seth Breakfast

Seth and I had so much fun with Mommy and Seth time this summer. The first day I started teaching Seth told me he was sad we weren't having Mommy and Seth time. Broke my heart! We have partially fixed this with Mommy and Seth breakfast. On Wednesdays, Jerald takes Justin to Nana's house on the way to work (thanks Jerald!!!). Seth and I then have a little time to ourselves before I take Seth to school and I go and teach. Last week we went out for breakfast. What a treat!

Swings

Justin likes and sometimes loves the swings. I find this really interesting because Seth always disliked the swings - even as a baby. Because they are both boys - it is sometimes easy to assume that they are the same in certain things. As soon as I think that - they do something to remind me it just isn't true.

10 Months Old!!!

The obvious big news of the month is that Justin started crawling! He is now everywhere - he is crawling to follow us around the house and can sit back up when he is done. Justin loves that he can get things or people that he wants. Justin also started signing - he can do milk, more and all done. He also started nodding his head "no" and "yes." He doesn't quite know what they mean - but it is so cute to watch. Justin had a big month with food - he started eating more solids like, meat, pizza and pasta. As you can see from the pictures, it was a group effort getting this shot, I took the picture while Jerald held the sign and Seth made Justin laugh.

Rosh Hashanah

It was off to Newton on Friday night for a wonderful Rosh Hashanah. Seth and Nana started getting things ready last Wednesday when they drew pictures in chalk on the driveway to welcome everyone to the house. You can see the table all set up for the holiday below, and there was also a car driving to temple and a couple of shofars. Seth was happy it didn't rain between Wednesday and Friday and was excited to see the pictures were still there.

We had a delicious meal Friday night, and even Justin was having a blast with the food (he got apples, but unfortunately no honey for him yet). After services on Saturday we played around the house and Seth had a great time going on a bear hunt with Nana, Daddy, and Uncle Josh. They brought along a flashlight, stick and rope (which were the prescribed items you need for a bear hunt according to a book Seth was reading) and Seth had fun tying people up with the rope - at one point he was leading Uncle Josh around like his prisoner. Somehow Uncle Josh and Seth also ended up in matching yellow and black outfit. Seth and Justin also had a great time reading and playing with Aunt Sara and Uncle Jono (who unfortunately is not in any of these pictures). Then it was another great meal on Saturday night and all the adults played some cards after the boys went to bed.

Both boys also did well at temple - Seth made Justin his own tzedakah box (to collect charity), a "sorry bracelet" for Mommy to apologize for anything he did wrong this year, and a crown for himself to celebrate the new year. The boys even allowed us to go into services and do some our own praying...

We missed Aunt Naomi, Uncle Jason and Becca, but had a great time with the rest of the Korn crew. Thanks as always to Nana for hosting, for wonderful meals, and for making the holiday so special.

L'Shana Tova

Afternoon Playgroup - the beginning

Our playgroup has had many incarnations over the last three years. Some of us met during our first Isis class and then it evolved to a once weekly playgroup at rotating houses. We have moved the day and the time with changing schedules - now that many of the kids are in school 5 days a week we are trying afternoon playgroup with dinner! We were the first hosts and it was crazy but a lot of fun. We had 6 adults, 12 kids, lots of toys and pizza! We don't have enough chairs for everyone so the kids sat on the floor of the dinning room and the adults sat at the table. We actually got to have some adult conversation and wine!

Joshua and Seth reading a book...

Justin had a great time to. There were many younger brothers for Justin to play with and most importantly he ate his first pizza! Just the crust but he loved it. He didn't make a sound for a good 20 minutes.

Movers & Grovers

Today started Justin's second class at Isis - Movers and Grovers. It was really fun to watch Justin and his tentative crawling around the classroom. Once again, Justin enjoyed the parachute the most - followed closely with the songs, bubbles and book. I am really happy to be able to get this chance to take Justin to a class where I can put all my focus on him!

Crawling

That is right - Justin started crawling today - moving forward!!! He did a couple of moves forward and then bumped his head into Seth's bed. It is a learning process. Watch out world - here comes Justin!!!

Seth & Mommy Apple Picking

Seth's school had an apple picking event today, and since this is one of my favorite things to do I made sure that Seth and I went. Jerald stayed home with Justin - so Justin could nap in the crib and our two pairs could spend some quality time with one another. Seth and I had a lot of fun spending the day together and with his friend Gabriel. We rode the train to the orchard. Picked and ate many different kinds of apples.

Climbed a haystack...

Played in a bouncy house...

and had a lot of fun!!!

Seth's First Day of School

Summer has come and went and today was Seth's first day of school. This year he is in Kofim, the monkey class (could that be any more perfect!). He is going five days a week from 9am-Noon with one day staying for "lunch bunch." He is in a class with 18 students and three teachers. So big changes - but he is ready!

For the first day, one parent stays with each child for an hour to get everyone comfortable with the room, kids and teachers. Honestly, Seth didn't really need me there. He was ready to play. He loves these magnet animals. He made me take tons of pictures of all his different combinations.

Just like his first day of school last year - Seth had to make a big animal parade. Some things never change...

Seth was so ready for circle time and so excited for Marcia to be one of his teachers. Now we just need to iron out our new routine. Yay for school!!!

NH Vacation - Day #3

Sorry to say - but no storyland today... We did have one last morning to enjoy our hotel and our surroundings in New Hampshire. After breakfast (Seth went in his pj's!), Nana, Daddy and Seth checked out the indoor pool while Justin napped and I packed up our stuff. Nana and Daddy got one last game of shuffle board in (for those of you keeping track - Jerald won the first, Nana the second). We said goodbye to our hotel and headed to the outlet mall nearby. We all got some purchases - and Justin practiced his scooting in Brooks Brothers. One last ice cream stop and we were on our way home... in a ton of traffic!!!

We couldn't make it home before we needed to stop for dinner - but we were able to eat in a car! Back at home - we needed to quickly unpack and get ready for the beginning of school for me and Seth! We had a really wonderful vacation. A lot of laughs and good memories - and a fantastic way to end the summer. Thank you Nana for joining us - we had soooo much fun!

Bamboo Chutes

I think these pictures pretty much say it all! This was Seth's absolute favorite ride at the park and he even managed to get me and Nana to ride it with him at different time (plus Daddy every time). Anyway, Nana decided that we had to get these pictures and bought them for us (the one with me in it was horrible) - thanks, Nana. Just pure joy on Seth's face...

Storyland - Day #2

Day number two started with breakfast in our hotel and a quick ride to the park (about the only quick ride we had). While Justin napped in the car, Daddy, Seth and Nana got to enjoy the park before the major crowds arrived. They took another trip on the antique cars and rode the Bamboo Chutes twice (pictures in the next post-they are so great they deserve complete attention). As soon as Justin woke up I was ready to go on a ride. Jerald, Seth and I went on the spinning turtles. I assumed they would go easy given that this is a ride for kids as young as 3 - Big mistake! I was sick to my stomach for the next couple of hours!!! Seth laughed - as I screamed.

In addition the rides, there was this really cool room filled with foam balls. You could shoot the balls from cannons, watch them get sucked into these giant vats and thrown up in the air, or just sit and play in them. A lot of fun for both boys.

The park started getting more crowded in the middle of the day, so we took a break from rides and went to see a few shows and grab some lunch. There was a zoo with quick-change artists (which Jerald and I find fascinating), a clown on a trampoline, cats doing tricks (Justin's favorite) and other acts. After lunch it was another show, this time a half-live/half-mechanical animals show about a garden. The adults thought it was a bit strange, but both boys seemed to enjoy it. No pictures from the circus, but here are the boys doing their own lion-taming show.

By this time, Justin was exhausted so Jerald put him in the carrier and he fell asleep within 5 second. Nana, Seth and I used to time to go on a raft ride and get soaking wet (or at least I did).

Then it was another show (Humpty Dumpty) and a few more rides (including a train ride through the park and the Bamboo shoots 2 more times!) before heading home. As you can see, Nana fared better on her spinny ride than I did - of course, at least on this one you could control the speed!

It's hard to even remember all of the rides we went on and shows we saw, but I think we made it on just about every ride in the park we were interested in! Both boys were also amazing throughout the day - no real melt-downs, Seth was generally patient waiting in line, and we were there for 8 and a half hours!!! Plain and simple, I think Seth thought this was just about the best place on earth!