What We've Been Doing Lately: The Spring Edition

What have we been doing lately? A little of that, a little of this. But you know what we haven't been doing? Enjoying the weather. This has been one coooold spring.


Going to the eye doctor. From an injury gotten while blowing up a balloon. Heard (barely audible) while the pediatric eye doctor was examining Kay, "I hate balloons. I really, really hate them." Me too, doc. Me too.

Making stupid images on SnapChat. Oh to have the time management skills of a tween.

Baking Princess Leia cookies. Obviously. Because it was May 4th.

Spring cleaning. Did I enjoy finding this random pack of cards with my beloved home state of Virginia on them? Yes, yes I did. Did I keep them, since there were only 43 of them? No, no I did not.

Downsizing. This is Sharpie the pig's house. In the recent clean-up mentioned above Sharpie the pig got to stay. His home, however, was recycled.

All of this activity took place under the ever vigilant eye of the resident policeman.

I've never felt more safe. Except for when balloons are around.

Happy Spring!

The photo you get...

... when you ask the kids to pose so you will have a keepsake of the super gigantic snowstorm, which was probably - but not definitely because we're still waiting for the official totals from the NWS - the biggest snowfall ever in your town in the history of ever, and while you are taking the photo one of the three kids gets bored and walks off so they aren't even in the photo, and the other two are actually posing with their arms around each other and smiling right when your husband decides to use his brand-new snowblower for the very first time which you probably don't need me to tell you this last part, but he does not even one little bit know how to use.

CLICK.

Photos from the Archives

I came across these oldies but goodies.

When my daughters still were willing to wear matching outfits - not to mention dresses and tights.

And when dinner on the table instead of at the table was all the rage.

Oh yeah, and we still lived in Manhattan.

Dad - still #1, some things never change.

Another favorite pic, when the girls were still doing dress-up, and little bro was just a tiny little thing.

Laundry on the sofa - yeah, that part of daily life hasn't changed much at all.



And last but not least, video from a time when I was a mom to three-under-five. Good times, I tell you. Not quiet times, but good times.

It wouldn't be Passover without gefilite fish

Passover two years ago, kids and gefilte fish:



Some people say the major difference between the generations before and young people today is that they don't eat gefilite fish, but my kids are keeping the traditions of their ancestors alive and well.


Chag Sameach!

More Photos of People Eating Matzoh

Apparently I like to take lots of photos of people, and stuffed animal ducks, eating matzoh.


I like that Mario got some matzoh, too.


Happy Passover!

Matzoh: A Passover Love-Hate Story

Last year when Passover began, Kay made a super-fun photo montage of how much she loves matzoh. Loves it.

Then, by the middle of the eight day holiday -- during which no bread or leavened foods of any kind can be eaten -- Kay's matzoh eating photo collage looked like this:



Not surprisingly, this is the photo compilation from the last day of Passover:



I think I sorta agree! After all, Passover is an Endurance Event.

Happy Passover! Chag Sameach!

Favorite Things Friday: Taking Selfies with My Son

New feature! Favorite Things Friday!

First up: taking (admittedly bad) selfies with my son.

Anti-selfie may be the hot trend of 2014, but if taking selfies is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Here's to a fantastic 2014!

Last Day of School... A Retrospective of Waiting

Why yes, I am eating blue licorice and waiting for my sisters. 

As of yesterday, my kids are finally done with school. Today we had our first day of summer vacation, and well, I'm gonna be honest: it was loooong.

And while I won't miss hurrying out the door, making lunches, reminding about permission slips or nagging about homework, I surprised myself by finding one unexpected thing I truly will miss: hanging out in the car with my three-year-old son Ziggy while we were waiting for his sisters.

This year, Magpie and Kay decided they were too old for us to pick-up from outside school, so they'd meet and walk together past the crossing guard to where we'd be parked and waiting a few streets away.

While in the car, Ziggy and I would play all kinds of silly games, and he'd amuse himself with opening and closing (and then opening and closing again, and again) the sunroof, and turning the car lights on and off (and then on and off again, and again) and sometimes he'd head back to the back row which we called "the apartment."

Those afternoon pick-up runs were fun, and now they're over.

 

At least until the fall.

Instagram Monday Afternoon

I'm still in the throes of my newly found addiction to Instagram.

The kids, and frozen yogurt, documented this lazy afternoon. Upper right, that's brain freeze.

Would love to follow you on Instagram, leave your username in the comments!

Basketball Player In the House

When my husband and I got our first apartment together, which had typical New York City railroad style layout, one of my first memories is of us playing hockey. He unpacked his hockey stick and puck, and then surprisingly his other hockey stick, for a totally awesome indoor hockey game - the doorways on either side of the living room/dining room/kitchen served as the perfect goal posts.

I remember him saying, "when we have kids, I'm totally not going to be the kinda dad who doesn't let them play ball in the house."

And he has kept good on that promise, as evidenced by the photos my daughter Kay took of big sister Magpie playing basketball in our not-so-big kitchen just this past weekend.

 

Unfortunately for me, I did not have a similar wish to be the kinda mom who let's the kids play ball in the house.

Oh well.

Also, Big Duckie has shown himself to be a much better player than you might expect at first glance.

Do you let the kids play ball in the house?

31 Days of Halloween: Day 10 - Spookified Niece

Yes, it's a second day of Pic Monkey Halloween photo fun for Day 10 of 31 Days of Halloween!

I present my sweet niece turned into spooooooky witch!

Happy Halloween!

Original photo via her dad's blog here.

Halloween Day 9: Make Your Photos Spooktacular with PicMonkey

The very crafty Maria at TheNewYorkMom.com had a great post recently that showed how to "Boo" up your pics! with Pic Monkey.

I went to check it out for myself at PicMonkey,com, and it's spooktacular - they've got a whole pile of Halloween themes to choose from - Vampires, Zombies, Witches and more.

I decided to ghoul-up this lovely photo of my son and daughter:

And now the little cherubs look like this:

 

And if kitschy spiders aren't your thing, here's another ghoulish look instead:

 

 

 

I'm having so much fun with it, I may need to spookify a few more photos.

 

I'm doing 31 Days of Halloween all month long, check all the Halloween posts out here.

 

I was not compensated for this post, just diggin' the PicMonkey.

Kay and Big Duckie

When we were on vacation at the beach we had one particularly long rainy day, so we spent part of the afternoon taking photos of Kay and Big Duckie (don't ask how that guy got to come along on our family vacation).

She's emulating a once (very) popular website, which I think goes back as far as the 1990s. I don't think we called it a blog back then, but that's what it was.

I just checked and the site is still alive, although the last two updates were once in 2008 and once in 2006. Let's hope he (or she) has gone on to bigger and better things.

Does anyone else remember this site, or am I the only one who was a fan?

Linking-up to Finding the Funny at Kelley's Breakroom and My Life and Kids. Check it out, you'll laugh (not cry).



The Last Day of School

Another school year is in the books, which I guess means we're all ready for the summer.

Here are my kids going off to school the morning of the last day:

Can't decide if when compared with this time last year, the kids are much changed or pretty much the same.

Apparently, Ziggy has evolved from wearing his plaid old-man pajamas to wearing no pants at all on the morning school run.

If that's not an example of one step forward, two steps back I don't know what it.

Happy Summer y'all!

Somebody's Ready For Summer!

Happy Summer! Are your toes summer ready?

Nature Walk

My kids have grown bored with the walk home from school, but I have grown even more weary of the suburban game of chase it takes to get a parking space at their school, so unless it's over 90 degrees or raining really, really hard, we're walking home these last few weeks of school.

I discovered pretty quickly a camera in a kid's hands and the title "nature walk" makes a regular trip home from school something special.

What are our ideas for helping kids enjoy a walk?

Wordless Wednesday: How to eat a piece of cake, by Ziggy, age 2

How to eat a piece of cake:

Step 1: Insert fork into cake.

Step 2: Eat cake.

Now tell the truth, don't you kinda wish you could eat cake that way too. Or is that just me?

Linking-up to Finding the Funny with My Life and Kids and Kelley's Breakroom, lots of fun (and funny) every Wednesday.

Blue Blankie

For anyone who ever had a blankie, or a child with a blankie, could there be any sight sadder than this one?

Thankfully, we found lost-but-not-forgotten Blue Blankie right before nap time.

Also, is it just me or is this the first thing you thought of when you saw the blankie-in-the-snow photo?

Squinkies: A Photo Collection by Kay

My daughter Kay is really into Squinkies these days. She spent the better part of the afternoon photographing her beloved creatures.

I'm not sure what I think.

Has the Squinkie obsession hit at your house?