Joshua Ari turns 2

Joshua turned 2 and we went down and stayed with him for the weekend. Much of the play time was spent watching the kids play with trains, or riding cars around the house. Zoe and Josh often took turns (not always willingly) or "chased" each other. Zachary was a bit big and less interested in the ride and he was excited to set up Josh's trains for him and also enjoyed watching Thomas the Train on TV.

All the family at Josh's party (except Ethan) posed on the steps for a "family" portrait. The kids tried to cooperate and it is nice to have now. Also Mama got a chance to snuggle with her adorable nephew Ethan who seemed soothed by her with all the chaos of the birthday bash.

Daddy and Zoe stole a moment together - and yes she is holding a football. Don't get too excited, she does not have a good throwing arm, yet! Also a Schulman family portrait, Mama loves to have these and luckily the kids cooperated. Zoe is looking quite coy in this one.

Maller family portrait - love seeing them all together, Josh wasn't so excited about it, but hey it was his party and he could cry if he wanted too. Doesn't his conductor outfit look cute, since he had a Thomas the Train party. Mama and Aunt Rebecca looking good with the birthday boy ...




Zachary and Zoe asked once again to hold their newest cousin - but he is getting so big that he is harder to hold now ... but we love seeing them together and look forward to lots more pictures like this.

Joshua's Grandma Miriam baked him a Thomas train cake complete with an actual Thomas, for his actual birthday The family enjoyed lunch and cake together. GG and Zoe shared cake and the kids joined Joshua in singing and blowing out his candles.

Sukkah Fun 2009

Before Sukkot (and Shabbat) began the kids humored Mama and posed for some pictures in our Sukkah. Sadly Daddy had to work so we ate without him. The kids love eating out in the sukkah and so far the weather has been good for it. In this first picture the kids are standing under a paper lantern that Zachary made at school.

Posing with kiddush cups - getting ready to make the brachot. The challah was sweet and the grape juice too.

On monday Daddy was finally able to join us in the Sukkah. So we had mexican night and we took some new pictures. There had been some rain on and off over the weekend but everything had dried out.


Dessert - yummy fudgicles. The kids decided to pretend they were lipstick, and this was quite entertaining. I think they haven't been watching Mama so closely or they would know that lipstick doesn't go on ones cheeks.

Zachary took this picture of Mama and Daddy - we are so proud to have our sukkah -- this is the 4th year! Also we are proud of Zachary, perhaps he can start snapping some of the candid photos. Chag Sameach!

Zoe turns 3

Zoe Claire turned 3 and first she celebrated with her classmates at school. She got to wear a special crown and they showed pictures of her for each year of her life. Daddy came to the party and took some pictures of her enjoying special birthday treats with her friends. It was the first fun birthday celebration of the day.

That evening we celebrated again at home. Zoe got to open presents, including her new baby from Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Brian. Nothing like starting her out early on American Girl dolls with the Bitty Baby which she named Baby Mimi. She loves it, and it has been sleeping with her every night ever since. Zachary also got a belated birthday present from some friends which he enjoyed so everyone was happy.


Cake was fun too - we all helped blow out the candles and then we all ate. Zoe stole a snuggle with her Daddy after cake although it also looks like the choke hold ... hmmmm?

So then we had a party at our house with many of Zoe and Zachary's friends. Our theme was Blues Clues and we actually played Blues Clues. The bigger kids really got into the game including Zachary, in fact he asks me everyday if we can play blues clues some more. He was so into it and Zoe loved holding her stuffed Blue (see below). Note - the cake was princess, as per Zoe's request. Can you make out the 3 princesses?


Aunt Brooke and Nava joined us which was a real treat. Nava is quite a big girl these days, almost ready to walk.

This picture on the left is during the Blues Clues game - after finding one of the clues -- birthday hats. Of course we had to take a family picture too.

The kids had so much fun and were so good at the party, plus it tired them out and they both napped in the afternoon. We felt it was a huge success and we were thrilled.

Mini Golf and Apple Picking

Zachary has spirit day on fridays and has to wear his Ezra academy shirt. We ordered ours (a little late) and so he had to borrow this one from a friend. But he was excited none the less and we thought he looked very handsome and grown up.


Daddy took Zachary and Zoe to play miniature golf one afternoon which they loved. Zachary may not be ready for an early tee time yet, but he had lots of fun playing, watching all the crazy ways the balls go and afterward he enjoyed playing pin ball and other arcade games. Zoe was mostly excited about the candy prizes she earned.



Rosh Hashana is around the corner and so we went to pick apples, pears, peaches and nectarines. We met friends at the orchard - see Zachary with his old friend Sapir. The kids loved sampling the fruit and finding the biggest apples. We already made a peach crisp and next is apple cake for Rosh Hashana. We will have to make some apple sauce too since we got over 12 lbs of apples.


How great are these shots of the kids - what great smiles they showed off. When we look at these shots we are reminded of how lucky we are to have such adorable and loving children. With all the hub bub of adjusting to new schools and preparing for the upcoming holidays it is good to have a moment to reflect on how fortunate we are.

Fun times in the apple orchard - picking, eating and snaping pics.

Kids and classic family shot - was fun to look at pictures of us picking at the same orchard 2 years ago - reminds us how much both Zachary and Zoe have grown.