The End of Chanuka 2009

Zoe is wearing the outfit Grandma Gaile knit for her - doesn't it look beautiful. Meanwhile Zoe, our budding photographer took a portrait of the rest of us ... Zachary you need to straighten your kippah!

The first night of Chanuka the kids got a tent to go with their tunnel, and as you can see they were still enjoying playing in them by the end of Chanuka. The cats enjoy playing in them too!


Family shot with all our lit Chanukiot (Menorahs). The kids each lit a menorah with little to no assistance as you will see below. Zoe's newest menorah is in front (red) and this is the first year that Zachary did not make a new one. He had plenty from previous years. We also used the candles we purchased from the school fundraiser and they looked great!



Grammy and Grandpa came from New Jersey to celebrate the last night of Chanuka with us. They enjoyed seeing Zachary light the menorah on his own and they also lit a menorah. We ate yummy latkas that Grammy made and enjoyed lots of fun presents from them, THANK YOU!

The second to last night of Chanuka Zachary and Zoe got the final presents from Mama and Daddy. There were so many presents that they were covered with a blanket in the playroom. Zoe got a lot of baby doll related items; a changing table, bathtub, bouncy seat and also some new princess books. Zachary got lots of new train items; tracks - curved and straight, a Thomas lighthouse and bridge, and 2 battery powered engines. Everyone was very excited and enjoyed all the presents.

We also had a light up menorah for our front window. You are supposed to light the menorahs and set them in your window for everyone to see, but since we don't have a safe spot by our front windows we set them up near the back windows. Instead we used this light up menorah that fit nicely on the window ledge in the kitchen. Here are the kids posing by that menorah -- and check out those gorgeous eyes, what cuties!

Ezra Academy Chanuka Production

Zachary performed with his school mates for their Chanuka Production. Here is everyone on stage at the end (which was very late and way past bedtime).


This is part of the video we shot of Zachary's Kindergarten class (known as the Gan) singing their Chanuka medly. They made these blocks with hebrew letters which they stacked and then unstacked at the end of their show. Zachary is 3rd from the right at the beginning of the singing. Enjoy!

Cousins Josh and Ethan come to CT

What fun we have had with Josh and Ethan here in CT with us for the week! We even had a snow day. Check out these pictures of all of our fun activities together. We were all sad to see them go and Zachary and Zoe even said they wished that they could move in with us. We will hang out again during the February break we hope.

The first day that Josh and Ethan were here, we took them to the Peabody Museum. There was a special exhibit about the flu and germs and the kids were supposed to pick the giant nose, but Josh though we meant he should pick his nose. Upstairs, we of course introduced them to our favorite Polar Bear, it was a fun afternoon.

These pictures are from when Josh, Ethan, Aunt Rebecca and Mama first arrived. Zachary wanted to help carry Ethan in and Zoe was so excited to hold him. Zoe really enjoyed loving up Ethan during the visit, and he showed off all his smiles and some giggles too. Meanwhile Joshua was so excited to be at our house and also meet the cats.

Wednesday turned out to be a snow day for the kids, but Daddy still had to go to work. So the kids helped him shovel our driveway before they took Joshy into our backyard. The kids even used the swing set! It seems that Zoe tried to suck her thumb over her mitten too -if there's a will there's a way.

Meanwhile Ethan and Mama stayed inside and watched the kids through the window. It was fun to get a lot of smiles and snuggles and stay warm. Ethan is such a happy easy going baby, he was a joy to be with all week.


Uncle Glenn got this FABULOUS picture of Ethan taking a sink bath. He looks so cute and we think it is funny how he is almost too big for the sink. Next time he will be in the mix with the other kids, but perhaps one tub isn't big enough for 4 cousins to share at bath time!

Joshua and Zoe snuggled on the couch with their thumbs for some TV time. Zoe is a pro and sucks either thumb, but she was sucking the same thumb as Josh does so we had to sneak a snapshot to show them when they are grown up, let's hope by then they have kicked the habit.

The first night of Chanuka our friends Marla, Dave and Jillian joined us. So we actually passed out presents first and then lit our Menorahs together before bringing in Shabbat and having dinner (which included latkes). Zachary lit a menorah all by himself and Zoe lit her new menorah (the red one) with some help. Joshua looked on as Aunt Rebecca and Ethan lit together. Dinner was yummy and we all enjoyed the start of Chanuka. Uncle Brian arrived later that night.


Playing with new and old toys and Jillian Mellon. Fun Fun!

On Sunday we headed to the shul for a Chanuka party. Everyone had fun eating yummy food, doing crafts and watching a boys choir (yes Jews have choirs too). Zachary used Mama's dreidel from when she was a little girl and won a dreidel spinning contest, woohoo! See him above getting his prize. We decided that we had the fastest dreidel in the whole shul because our dreidel was banned from the adult spinning contest since it was so fast and spun so much longer than all the others. Have to remember that for next years contest.
Zachary and Zoe played the doughnut game that Mama ran at the party. You had to try and bite into a doughnut on a string with your hands behind your back. Here is Zoe biting into her doughnut - she seems to have no trouble with this.


After the party the kids were unwinding, opening a few more gifts and just hanging out. Trying to soak up their last few minutes together and a last chance for us to take some pics of cute Ethan who was being passed around one last time. He is so YUMMY!

Finally the kids all took one last bath together and got into their PJs. Uncle Brian and Uncle Glenn played jumping games with Zachary, Zoe, and Joshua. They were giggling up a storm, all in hopes of tiring everyone out before getting on the road/getting to bed so they would get some good sleep. Zachary and Zoe had so much fun with Uncle Brian, especially when they got to tackle him. We were all sad to see the Maller family go, but we are so glad they came and miss them tons already!

Zoe singing ... about pie?

Our Zoe is quite the performer ... enjoy!

Thanksgiving Schulman style 2009

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving the traditional way, but we had a wonderful day as a family. We were so glad that neither Mama or Daddy had to work (which isn't usually the case) so we made big plans. Mama and the kids had gone to the store on wednesday and got doughnuts to eat in the morning while we watched the parade and hung out. Also Daddy and the kids made cheesecake (2 actually) which we were all so excited to eat. Then, Zachary also had a playdate with one of his classmates and they had lunch together. In the afternoon the kids and Daddy rolled out homemade pasta dough into raviolis which they stuffed with a cheese mixture that Mama made. Meanwhile, Mama cooked up some veggies side dishes and set the table. See the pictures of the kids and Daddy making the pasta ...



Everyone enjoyed helping make the pasta and it was yummy to eat but nothing was as yummy as the cheesecake for dessert. Zoe had seconds, and normally she doesn't finish. The kids posed with the hats (Indian style head dresses) they made at school and their turkeys but we are saving that picture for now ... stay tuned. We had a wonderful day together! No need to worry about us not having a traditional thanksgiving with turkey and stuffing, we enjoyed our day, ate very well, and made new Schulman Thanksgiving traditions.

HaShem Sheli - My name is ... Zalman

So here Zachary is actually doing the hand gestures that go with one of the songs his class sang - which as you can see was pretty cute. The kids sang, said a poem and acted out some of the their songs and they all stood nicely on the stage. We think that Zachary may have been a little nervous up there cause he sang very quietly, but he stood so nicely with his classmates and smiled lots.
Mama and Daddy went up to tell everyone how Zachary was named Zalman -- after his Mama's Papa Sol Ross whose hebrew name was Zalman. He made a beautiful book and said his name for everyone to hear.
Zachary singing the tefilot with his classmates.

Halloween 2009

Halloween fell on shabbat this year ... so we didn't go trick or treating but the kids did lots of other fall/halloween related activities and enjoyed, check out the pics to prove it.
This is our new favorite picture of the kids - I mean could they look any cuter? The weather friday afternoon was pretty warm so they hung out in the front yard and posed on the front steps. Notice our lovely pumpkins which Mama and the kids painted.

Here is Zoe painting her pumpkin. She was very busy putting A LOT of paint on - the colors blended into a pinkish/brownish/purple. She was very intensely painting and then proceeded to paint her mini white pumpkin too.


Zachary immediately painted a face on his pumpkin - and a pretty good one at that. He asked Mama to paint his name on the other side and he also painted rainbow stripes on it. Later he asked to cut into his pumpkin too ... but we didn't - too messy without Daddy who was working.

How awesome did they come out ... Mama did the stripes, which Zachary loved. Hope it doesn't rain too much or the steps will not be white.

On Halloween night the kids got into costumes to answer the door - Zachary chose his Veterinarian costume (Zoe is holding the puppy) and Zoe was a fairy. The kids don't remember going trick or treating 2 years ago so they weren't sad to not be going out this year - especially since we let them have some candy and stay up late in hopes of averting the early wake time with daylight savings time ending.


We got a Halloween package from Aunt Marcia and Mamma (Rita) - it included these funny glasses. The kids looked so funny in them we had to share. The funny mustache tickled Zachary's face and the other glasses almost gave Daddy a headache!


Hope everyone enjoyed their activities - Halloween and Shabbat.