Miri's (belated) birthday party

We had a wonderful BBQ party with family and friends. Everyone enjoyed hotdogs and hamburgers and socializing on our brand-new deck which was completed in the nick-of-time right before the party. The highlight of the party for our birthday girl were the cake-lollipops, the recipe for which I found here. She didn't mind the presents, either!

Miri turns 3!

Our Miri turned three this past April. We all went to the Picture People for some belated photos. While Miri was busy looking beautiful for the camera, Chaim began a new obsession with airplanes...Everyone had a blast at the photo shoot
and the kids even took a few poses together...

Happy Mother's Day

We had a wonderful little family brunch for Mother's Day. All the ladies wore queen tiaras, crowns and feather boas while we dined on princess plates, cups and napkins. Everyone enjoyed the good food and the good company.

Then on to Truck Day! The kids got to climb in a firetruck, school bus, bobcat, horse trailer, tractor trailer, cherry-picker and an RV. Then it started pouring!

Chol HaMoed

Chaim can now say:

Mommy
Tatty (Dah-Dee)
Doggie (Dah-Dee)
More
No (Nah!)
Hot (HaHa)
Ball (Ba-ow)
Car (Ga-ow)
Mine (My!)
Eye
Bye-Bye
Baby
Bubbie
Ow!

and he knows the signs for eat, more, hot, bike and also nods his head up and down emphatically for "yes"

Miri told us over Shabbos, "I'm in a spunky mood"

We took some wonderful trips over Chol HaMoed - to Port Discovery, the Zoo, Hannah More Park and Storyville. At the Zoo we saw hippos ("Dah-Dee"), a zebra ("Dah-Dee"), giraffes ("Dah-Dee"), chimpanzees ("Dah-Dee"), a polar bear ("Dah-Dee") and elephants ("Dah-Dee").
Chaim had never seen so many different types of doggies before and he was very excited. Miri was most excited to eat her lunch!

Chag Kasher V'Sameach

We wish a
Happy and Healthy Pesach
to all of our
Friends and Family

Yud Nisan

Our dearest Zlata Miriam -


Happy 3rd Birthday, monkey-moo!!! It was three years ago today that you made us the proud parents of a beautiful baby girl, full of spunk and hope and promise. We had never known pure love before that moment - and since then, we have grown to love you more and more with each passing day. You make us so proud - you are generous and kind and thoughtful, you perform mitzvos and chessed with such zerizus (zest); you are a wonderful big sister to Chaim. When we hear you at night trying to soothe his crying with "Shh, baby, it's ok, Miri's here for you" our hearts swell with pride. You are learning how to do so many new things - it's hard to remember there was ever a time in your life when you didn't run around and sing songs and draw circles on your magnadoodle.

May Hashem grant you a long and wonderful life full of simcha (happiness) and hatzlacha (luck) in everything you do!!!

We love you, big girl -

Love,

Mommy and Tatty

Your BIRTHday

1 year old

2 years old

3 years old

Spring has arrived!

The flowers are in full bloom and it is a beautiful day outside.






Miri is so proud of the flowers she helped plant last fall. Every morning she runs outside to inspect which tulips or daffodils have "byoomed" (bloomed) and she loves to predict which color will come up next.

Purim Reflections

We had a truly wonderful Purim this year. The kids actually enjoyed wearing their costumes, and of course, with every shalach manos that came to our door, Miri thought the candy was specifically for her and meant to be consumed immediately.







I have strengthened my resolve to keep the children away from extraneous sugar now that I see how enhanced their natural hyper-ness becomes with chocolate and hamentashen running through their veins. Bedtime on Friday night was an hour long scream and sob-fest that finally ended at candlelighting time - B"H I was able to light ALONE, in peace, for the first time this year. (though I did kind of miss having the kids with me at this special and holy time just a little bit)




Miri and I made our own hamantashen for the first time this year, and with the exception of the botched first batch, which did not hold their triangle shape, they came out pretty good! Chaim even managed to bring the stool across the room and help himself to some on the cooling rack while we weren't looking!


The seudah (festive Purim meal) on Friday afternoon was beautiful and leibedik and the kids ate well (finally some real food) and had fun playing with all the other kids their age. Of course, Chaim always feels at home whenever he finds someone's broom, mop or vacuum. I think next year for Purim we will dress him up as a janitor.

Then...and now -

Purim 2006

Purim 2007

Purim 2008

HAPPY PURIM!!!

Everyone here at Fogel Central wishes you a Freilichin Purim!!!



Try not to get to shikkur tomorrow - remember - it IS erev Shabbos!!!!





(Miri's preschool class)

Our fabulous weekend

We went to Passaic for Shabbos. We forgot to bring the narcotics, so Miri screamed and complained the whole drive up there about how much she needed to get out of her car seat. Once we got there, however, it was really nice. We stayed with a wonderful family and were able to see our friends for lunch the following day (even though it was raining in buckets and we were sopping wet when we arrived!)


Ruthie's Shabbos kallah was absolutely amazing!!!!!!! It was so beautiful and inspiring and lovely and the food and the friends were great too.

Avi and I were able to go to our all-time favorite restaurant in Teaneck, Sushi Mitzuyan, on Motzei Shabbos, because the aforementioned wonderful family we stayed with let us leave our sleeping children with them so we could go out alone.

Ruthie's wedding was simply amazing. Everywhere I turned I ran into someone else I knew...from Silver Spring, Passaic, Monsey, Yerushalayim. It was so beautiful and the dancing was spectacular. The kids had a blast running all over the giant hall and dancing with pom-poms for the kallah. We stayed up until the very end and then changed the kids into jammies for the drive home. We had to stop at a grocery store somewhere in Jersey for sippy cups and milk, having left some items behind accidentally.





Sheva Brachos on Tuesday was very special as well, where we got a few quality minutes with the chassan and kallah. Can you tell I am so very happy for them???????

The golden calf

A few weeks ago on Shabbos, we were learning the parsha (Torah portion of the week) with Miri. We read from the book My first Parsha Reader, designed for children 3-8. We learned about the golden calf, but since Miri didn't really know the word calf, I explained that the Jews were worried when Moshe didn't return, so they started davening (praying) to a cow instead. Miri seemed to understand, and the next day, when I "quizzed" her on the parsha, she remembered everything from the story beautifully.

Fast forward to this morning, several weeks later....

Miri: Thank you for the oatmeal, it's delicious.
Mommy: You're welcome
Miri: Baby is eating nicely. I yuv (love) baby, he's bootiful (beautiful)...and I also yuv Mommy and Tatty and Miri. Mommy, are you gonna have bekfast (breakfast) too?
Mommy: I will, as soon as I'm done making my brachos to Hashem (morning blessings).
Miri: Ok, Mommy, but don't daven to a cow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUBBIE!!!

We wish you a very special 60th - and 60 more to come!!!!

For your entertainment

Miri: No Chaim, give that to me, that's a choking hazard!

When Chaim is put in his crib for bed, he now waves good-bye and says "bah bah"


Miri: Ok, now I am going to sing a silly song, and you can yaf (laugh)!

Twinkle Twinkle little cereal
how I wonder what you cannoli
Now, LAUGH!!!!

Fogel-English Dictionary

Chaim's Vocabulary to date:

Mahmeee: Mommy, Tatty, give me that

Nani: Miri

Buh: ball

Neh: No!

Nana: Banana

Miri's adorably mispronounced words:

Pee-yooter: computer

Kaputch: ketchup

A few more for good measure

Miri: Baby has a cute belly. When I was Chaim's age, I also had a cute belly!


Miri: Mommy, why are you getting dressed in pajamas?
Mommy: They're not pajamas, it's my exercise clothes.
Miri: Oh, why do you exercise?
Mommy: Because it's healthy to exercise.
Miri: When I was a Mommy, I used to exercise.
Mommy: You were never a Mommy. You started out as a baby, and now you are a little girl.
Miri: Oh, well then, when I was a grown-up I used to exercise.

Overheard in our house this week

Thursday night...
Miri: It's dark outside, so when Tatty comes home from work, he can make Havdalah.

Mommy: It's time to get into pajamas!
Miri: Usually, I like to get the fuzz out of my toes when I take my socks off before I put on my jammies.

Miri: Antiochus was a wicked king because he forced the Jews to give up their weeyigion (religion).

waking up with a cold on Shabbos morning...
Miri: I'm not feeling very well.
Mommy: What's wrong, baby? What hurts?
Miri: My snot is not feeling very well.

(Not so) Lazy Sunday

We finally took down the old dusty curtains in the living room, hooray! The kids were there to help with their pint sized power drill (Black & Decker - just like Tatty's), safety goggles and tape measurer. Avi only fell off the ladder once - and in his defense, he only fell trying to avoid injuring Chaim who was climbing up behind him. The living room looks much bigger without those bulky curtains..plus, we have more wall space for hanging family portraits.


Mommy went out by herself to her good friends Ruthie's wedding shower. The food was great and it was a blast seeing Ruthie in her homemade gift wrap bonnet!






Later that afternoon we went to Avraham Chaim's 3rd birthday party. Mommy decorated a yarmulke for him as a birthday gift. Miri consumed copious amounts of candy and everyone had a great time. We headed home for a quick dinner and an early bedtime for the overstimulated children.

It's snowing outside!

Lots and lots of snow outside!





But it's very cold, so let's stay inside and play dress-up.


Miri: "Mommy, actually, these princess gloves are really gardening gloves."






A first look at our brand new mosaic back splash (much thanks to Aunt Beth and Uncle Max)

The music of a new generation

Our two-year-old has her own MP3 player now. We had purchased her a cheap tape player for our road trip to Chicago, but that had broken within the week, and by then she was already addicted to her headphone-wearing lifestyle. We decided to replace it with a Fisher-Price FP3 player, since she had a Toys-R-Us gift card anyway, and we don't own more than four cassette tapes. I have never really written a review, but I feel the need to comment on this device.


I'll start with the CONS:
-Expensive
-Needs an SD card for any real memory
-Always starts back at the first song when you start it up
-Only takes proprietary FP3 format
-Only creates FP3 files directly from CDs, not existing MP3s
-Software is sluggish
-Can't reorder the songs once they are on the player
-Flimsy headphone foam (a replacement is already on its way)

PROS:
-It's really the only player on the market able to withstand Miri dragging it though the house all day
-The only headphones designed to fit Miri's little noggin

So, even through the cons surely outway the pros, until someone else designs a similarly rugged player for the small set, we shall endure with this one!


Chaim is getting big enough to sit at the picnic table in the kitchen with Miri. It's so cute to watch them eat together and share their food. He loves being big just like his sister!

More sick days...

After 4 days of fever, it was determined that Chaim has his first (and hopefully his last) ear infection. He did not like having his ears checked! He is in a pretty bad mood all of the time, screaming and throwing himself to the ground shouting "Na!" (no).

My offer still stands - anyone want to take him home for a night is more than welcome...

In other news, I am finally starting to upload older family pictures, going back to our wedding. You can find them on the right-hand link under 2004.