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!
