G'mar Chatimah

Yom Kippur weekend started off with dinner at our house.

ELiza and Rich came in for the weekend so we hosted dinner at our house so we could all spend damily time together without rushing home to get Asher down for bed.

We made chicken stuff with asparagus and mozzarella, rice, salad and matzah ball soup (thanks to my mommy!). It was all delicious.

Rich and Eliza gotto help with the bed time routine and Asher was loving all of the attention.

Aunt Eliza and Poppy reading books with Asher.

Uncle Rich reading Asher a book for bed time

We have a family tradition "family hug" where Asher gives us a big bear hug, kisses all of us and usually Bella has to be included. He decided to share the love with Eliza and Rich too!

There is always extra love for daddy...because afterall he is daddy...

The next morning we had to get up super early to go to temple.

Asher went to babysitting at the Temple, but we dressed him to the nines since he was going to "Temple" and it was the high holidays. He loved getting dressed up and didnt even complain or whine with a tie on!

He was super slow (as always) eating his breakfast, but had plenty of time to cheese it up for the camera with his cream cheese mustache.

This is his new "cheese" face.

Got to love how kids think they can smile with their eyes :)

...and he loves hats...

dear mommy, i am grown up....even if you think I am your baby...

We stopped to see Softa at temple before we headed to babysitting.

She loved his outfit as did everyone who saw him. he was eating it up.

He did fantastic in babysitting. I went and got him before the service was over and brought him into the sanctuary to sit with us. You could hear everyone whispering about him when I walked in with him. He was quite the hit :)

When we got home we played a bit before we ran out to do errands while daddy stayed home and fasted. (mommy cant fast for health reasons)

After nap time We headed over to my parents house for Break of Fast #1.

Loving this photo of my sis and I. Miss her and love her always.

Uncle Jay came over too!

Ash LOVES his uncle rich. He pretty much ran around all weekend saying "uncle wich"

Aunt Estelle, Happy and Mom

Aunt Eliza and Asher man!

He was able to name everyone at the dinner table and really "got" who Eliza and Rich were this trip. Yay, so exciting for them since they only get to see him every few months.

oh this child is such a lover..

Asher cracked us up at the dinner table constantly raising his glass of "wine" exclaiming "cheers, L'chaim". Cute factor - extremely high.

Next up was our 2nd Break of Fast stop... Jonathan Howard's house.

He had an insane spread. We decided to eat a little bit at my moms and a little at Jonathans so we wouldnt over eat. Jonathan brought in tons of stuff from NYC. Delicious.

Jen's sister Bari was in town and she was snuggling up to Asher.

He also LOVED watching all of the big kids including Ben Benson's son Zach.

Too funny. Love that he has so many other Temple Kids as role models.

Despite a major holiday falling on a weekend we had a fantastic weekend with family and good friends.

G'mar Chatimah...may you be inscribed in the book of life.

Good Yontiv....

Pinspiration

i am not sure if I was inspired by pinterest or younghouselove.com

either way...I HAD to do this. we took down all of the photos on our family wall of fame in the "guest bedroom" which is going to be Ashers big boy bedroom. i was dying to do something with all of the frames. secretly I think Philip was too. we hated seeing them all go to waste.

i saw the idea for a wall cluster online n several different places.

i also didnt realize that in the past we had made hanging frames on the wall so much harder than it had to be. we laid this design out on the floor to see how things would fit.

then we traced the backs of the frames on to newspaper (we had several common sizes). stuck them up on the wall. nailed holes in the templates and Voila.

hung the frames perfectly.

GENIUS.

i took this photo right after we put the frames up. the photos have changed a bit (some were crooked here, some blank etc). now the wall consists of immediate family only.

Brother's, Sister's, brother's/sister's in law, niece's, parents and us. we love it and everyone who sees it for the first time seems to love to it.

i love craft project inspiration...

what was your last project inspired by something you saw online?

Sweetness in the New Year

The last day of school before Rosh Hashanah I decided to put together a cute present for Asher's teachers. It was very last minute. Got to love a 9 pm decision. I put a few ideas together that I found on pinterest using supplies I had at the house.

I hand made the cards from cardstock, cut them down and rounded the corners. I found the quote on another project. Hand wrote it in and let Asher sign them in the morning (with my help of course!)

"Teacher's can not live on apples alone, they need hugs and kisses too"

L'shana Tova, Have a sweet New year!

To create the adorable apple pattern on the front of the card I used a wine bottle cork, chipped out two notches, one on the top and one on the bottom and used it as a stamp. I dipped the cork in apple red paint (fitting much?) and drew in a stem with a black fine tip marker. Love them!

I had left over buckets from Asher's 1 year old birthday that were lime green and neon blue so I spray painted them silver (it was the only "neutral" spray paint color I had), stuffed the buckets full of different flavored hershey kisses and tied them off with twine.

The teachers were so surprised and appreciative.

Although not all of Asher's teacher's are Jewish they all work for a Jewish preschool.

I thought this was a great gift that was Rosh Hashanah themed but not exclusive to those who didnt celebrate. Who doesn't love hershey kisses!?!?

First movie....

the first movie my mom and dad ever took my sister and i too was lion king.

so you can imagine the excitement that took place when lion king in 3d came out in the theatre.

nana and poppy really wanted to take ash. we had previously debated...was he too young for a movie, could he sit through etc. but with the history of lion king and the opportunity to continue the tradition we couldnt turn them down.

right after nap time we packed up and headed over to the stone crest theatre.

we brought his baby, yellow blankie, a pillow, put him in comfy clothes and packed him with popcorn.

so when we got there that was the first thing left to do. popcorn.

philip said he was gong to get popcorn.

i thought he meant the kids size.

instead he came back with the largest bucket they had. omg. i didnt even want to know how much it cost.

"well brett told me that as long as you have unlimited popcorn they wont get distracted"

i wish that was true.

the previews were long. too long for a not even two and a half year old. the sound was too loud. i actually had to get up and ask them to turn it down. i know i sounded like a party pooper but if you were there you wouldve too. asher kept the glasses on for about the first 20-30 minutes

every once and a while he would burst out with "lion king" or "wow" he has seen the movie tons of times. once the glases came off he stayed engaged for about another hour.

the last twenty minutes were a struggle. his belly was full. he was antsy. he wanted to walk around while watching. a dum dum lollipop nan pulled out of her purse did the trick.

thankfully we had a row of about 10 seats for him to move around and about.

he talked about the movie for days afterwards. told his teacher miss kelly that he went to see it.

he is still chanting "hakuna na-ta-da" out of no, randomly and often.

but i think we will be waiting another 6 months at least before we took him again.

a. because its ridiculously expensive...especially for 3d and b. he was a little too young. my opinion.

if nemo came out on 3d i would "probably" take him.

he is enthralled by that movie.

he really doesnt have much interest in tv shows.

he is all about some movies.

definitely didnt get that from his mom.

thanks nana and poppy for an awesome first movie experience

Pinterest

yes I love it. use it often. craft based off ideas. make myself crazy over it. over extend our bank account buying supplies or ingredients to fulfill my pinterest board dreams.

but that isnt what this is about...

today i was surfing pinterest... what else is new.

i always love looking for kids bedroom ideas and decor.

i almost busted out laughing when i stumbled upon my very own child's nursery pinned by 114 people. i know where they originally pinned it from. rate my space on hgtv. i posted it there 3 days before asher was born back in 2009. it was the website i used for lots of nursery inspiration. never did i imagine it would make it to someone's board on pinterest.

to say i was flattered was an understatement. i love that room. he is still in it. well at least for the next two weeks till we move him into his big boy room. i love his new room too. but nothing will ever top his nursery. i put my heart and soul into that room and loved every day i spent in it over the past 2 1/2 years. it was my room as much as it was asher's. countless hours of nursing my sweet baby boy rocking in the glider. hundreds of nights reading books. every night singing the sh'ma to sleep.

114 pins. honored. i only hope those moms gain the same inspiration i did for that room for their very own rooms.

DC weekend

i finally made the time to take a trip, just me, to visit my sister, brother in-law, best friend and her baby (who i had yet to meet).

i flew out saturday morning.

arrived at the airport early and got read some of my book. always a treat when you have quiet time to yourself.

eliza and rich picked me up and took me off to lunch. yum.

it started sprinkling outside.

but not enough to cancel rich's flag football game.

i think eliza secretly wanted it to cancel ha.

we watched. i got a stomach ache, we left. we came back. we watched.

his team lost. but he put up a good fight and performed a killer belly slide in attempt to save the ball. go bro go!

after football eliza and i ventured out to go shopping. saweeet. not that i needed to spend money. but sister sister time. shopping. cute stores. we hit up this small affordable boutique my sister frequents called Violet and I snagged a dress for the high holidays and some brown leggings that have a stirrup for boots. killer. love them.

we shared amazing falafel and then hopped in a cab to do some more shopping at H&M and Zara. we saw this random guy on the street attempting to take off his pants dancing to music. it was humorous and we laughed a lot. shopping trip #2 success. we got some great deals.

headed home and sissy made stew. it was yum. we ended up eating at 9 pm. oy late.

after dinner i was exhausted. i fell asleep at 10:30 pm. heaven. too bad we slept terribly. oh well. next morning we met up with andrea and baby charlotte for brunch in bethesda. it was delicious. we enjoyed a pitcher of mimosa's and snuggling with baby cha cha. oh baby fever. i got to feed her the bottle. oh how i miss those days.

andrea and i headed back to her house and we hugged my sissy and rich goodbye till yom kippur. andrea and i laid around, watched tv while cha cha slept. heaven i tell ya.

once she got up we ran up the street to homegoods and marshalls. i snagged some halloween decor that i got them to give me at a clearance price and a pair of jeans that i only paid .87 for. i had a credit. but still they were only 16.99 anyways. gap jeans. stealo dealo. happy nay. went home and got creative with cramming all this loot in my suitcase. played with cha cha a lot.

andrea made this delicious dinner. we snuggled and went to bed early. this seriously was the trip of relaxation.

monday morning andrea took me to the airportand off i want back to reality.

i sure missed my boys and couldnt wait to see them that afternoon.

but...

oh how i love my sissy and best friend.

i can always count on them to chill with me.

they never feel like we have to do something

love you all so much. miss you all day every day.

First CJP Class Birthday Party - Ella!

ella is the oldest in the class and happens to be the daughter of two of our friends Naomi and Jeff. she had her 3rd birthday party at Sports Connection. several of Asher's class mates would be in attendance, but the feature of the party was a room full of bounce houses.

asher and bounces houses have not mixed in the past.

i feared the worst and hoped for the best

he started off the party running between in the bounce houses.

watching his friends jump around.

we would stick him inside and he would freeze.

no surprise there.

then something clicked. he realized he could stand without falling

he became more and more secure with the situation...

he watched his friends jump around and climb in and out.

malayah is one of his classmates who is three weeks younger than him.

she loves asher and every time she sees him she calls out his name.

he then climbed into the bounce house and even bounced around!

see mom... i can go in myself too.. with no friends...

the rage became this big blow up slide that had an obstacle course leading up to it.

the first time around i went in with him and a few friends. i ended up having three kids clinging to me up the "stairs" hence the beautiful facial expression. i feared falling backwards on the little ones the entire time.

the first time asher went down in my lap.

asher (35 lbs) + mommy (too many lbs to record) = a reallllly fast ride.

love the action

next in ... daddy

daddy was definitely over the weight limit, but we didnt get busted...

asher braved it and went alone...

sooo brave...

sweet sally page and her daddy went down too!

and asher went again...

...not sure who had more fun...

the kids or the dad's...

and he went again....

and climbed the stairs again...

and again...

after playing in the bounce houses for an hour they headed to go eat cupcakes.

asher and kate cheesin it up for the camera

getting ready for the delicious cupcakes and "happy birthday"

happy 3rd ella!

so glad asher warmed up to the bounce houses too.

the excitement of this party resulted in a 4 hour nap which allowed us to do a ton of yardwork!

Shoppin

there is one thing this child loves...and that is "shoppin"

he will drag you out of the house to go to Target, Harris Teeter, Walmart etc.

i recall just the other day "come on, nana...going Target"

hand gestures and all. typically there is some benefit for him.

he refuses to sit in the seat of the shopping cart. he is "too big" for that.

instead he sits on his bottom in the cart. content as could be.

unless he needs to be walking like a super big boy.

thankfully the grocery store can accommodate this type of big boy activity

clearly he has no problem handling his own cart.

next up, getting him to pay. ha.

More Ch-Ch-Change!

after lots of patience Philip finally accepted an offer for a job he dreamed about.

almost three years ago his company was bought out but another west coast based company.

everything changed.

he took a pay cut. lost his bonuses.

his role changed.

his opportunity for growth was squashed.

he was pigeon holed.

he was desperate to get out. he has been so patient.

i played the role of personal recruiter.

sending him jobs nightly.

while he juggled school (MBA), work, life as a dad and several temple committe's.

he went on countless interviews.

made it to the final two for several opportunities. but nothing was just right.

over a year ago he sought the help of harvey smith who runs carolina business coach.

he worked with my dad.

he helped him prep for his interviews prior to several job interviews.

connections are key.

this started with a connection.

resulted in several interviews.

we think at least 5.

on a random august day he received a call.

they didnt have an opening, but wanted him. so they were going to create one.

my husband. the patient hard working man. they wanted him.

we patiently waited for the offer.

the call came enroute to our labor day wedding.

"WE WANT YOU"

he received a great offer...working for one of our local healthcare systems in Charlotte.

he will be a workforce management relations consultant...fancy huh?

pretty much that means he will deal with employee relations issues.

to say he is excited is an understatement.

his first day was his 32nd birthday. sept 26th. what an awesome birthday present!

they spelled his name wrong...but he was so excited he didnt even care!

we are all so proud of him, his patience has paid off.

new beginnings and changes are abound!

No Nap Asher

we got a report from school last week that said

"Asher did not nap"

WHAT!?!?!?!

my child? didnt nap?

lets just say that it was an iiiiintersting evening.

philip brought the grumpy pants by the office since he was off work that day and Asher went to work. he answered my phone and typed up some documents.

i guess he was too busy workingto take a nap :)

needless to say we found out he still had an ear infection from almost a month ago.

parenting FAIL.