Snow Day- December 2010

Last Thursday, we had our first real snow of the season. It only accumulated about 2 inches, but it was beautiful while it was falling. We were watching our friend Jayden for the day, and the boys spent most of the day playing with our growing collection of dress-up costumes. We also had some yummy snow-day snacks, like popcorn and hot cider...mmmm, while we pretended to be inside a snow globe. Kelsey got off school 2 hours early, which was nice, and we took turns taking the boys out in the snow in the evening. It was freezing, so we couldn't stay out long, and you may notice that Gideon insisted in staying in his "jungle explorer" outfit, instead of putting on a real winter hat. :) We are hoping for a White Christmas this year!

And yet another BIRTHday! Welcome Sully!

And here's the newest star in the family! Sullivan Daniel Rosenfelder was born 12/11/10 (very cool) and weighed 7 lbs and was 21 inches long. We can't wait to meet him! Isn't he adorable?

His birthday is exactly 3 weeks after Joel's, and Jack's is exactly 2 weeks before Joel's. With Thanksgiving and Gideon's birthday in the middle there, and Christmas soon to come, we certainly have alot to celebrate these days!

Another birthday!

Gideon is 5! He had a great birthday on Wednesday, with cupcakes in his CBS class, and then a Skype call with Grammy and Grandpa, and a few presents in the evening. Friday was the party, with some good friends over, spaghetti, presents and a cookie cake. (Gideon isn't a fan of real cake, so we made a pile of frosted sugar cookies.) After the party at our house, we all loaded up and went to see Terrible Teddy at the Planetarium. It was very definitely targeted to pre-schoolers, and the kids loved it- especially our little space and light lover Gideon! He also got some really great dress-up outfits from Nana (see doctor outfit below), and spent all afternoon today taking temperatures and checking ears and reflexes.

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays!

As happens every Nov-Dec, we have had some very busy weeks, beginning with Joel's 2nd birthday on Nov 20th. We celebrated on the 24th, so Mike and his family could join us for the party, and it was a great time! Joel is scowling on his new IKEA rocker, but he really loves it. He didn't want his picture taken. :) You can see below that Uncle Kevin's gift was highly received, as well as the box and the packing material that came with it!

I plan to put up a post of Joel's birthday party soon, but for now I'll post a video of a really great moment from Thanksgiving weekend. We realized that for these two weeks between Joel and Gideon's birthdays, the cousins are all one year different in age. Now we are all pulling for Dave and Melanie's baby to arrive before Dec 8th so we can continue the trend!

Joel, our favorite little comedian.

Joel is developing quite the sense of humor, and his favorite thing is making jokes. He will say them over and over (and over) again, in the car, at the dinner table, anywhere, and Gideon usually encourages him by laughing hysterically EVERY TIME.

Thought I'd share a couple of the latest:

"1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11...apple!"

He's also taking to calling everyone Uncle, especially Kelsey. "Hi, Uncle Daddy!" This started innocently enough, because he has so many uncles he began to assume everyone was an uncle, and it made sense to him...Uncle Mike, Uncle Paul, Uncle Kevin, Uncle Daddy..... right? Now he realizes we think this is funny, so he's taken it a little further. I'll even get an "Uncle Mommy" now an again, maybe even an "Uncle Annie". Then he usually follows it up with "ha! That's funny!" Gideon, however, does not appreciate being called Uncle Gideon. Maybe someday....

Trip to the Farm- Fall

In October, we returned to Homestead Farm, this time with Grammy and Grandpa. We had a beautiful day for our visit, and came home with lots of apples and pumpkins. The picture above shows you what became of one of our pumpkins. :) I've been busy turning the rest into puree for yummy pumpkin treats all winter.

The boys really had fun picking apples. Then we got to enjoy apple crisp later that evening at home!

Joel was really mostly interested in the tractors, which were taking some school field trips around the farm on hay rides. Sadly, the hay rides were not open to the general public.

Trip to the Farm- Summer

We've found a new favorite spot- Homestead Farm in Poolesville. We first went in August with the Zubas, on a peach and blackberry picking adventure for JT's 4th birthday.

We came home with TONS of peaches. Mmmm...lots of peach cobbler!

We found a great spot for lunch, near this "playground" made out of hay bales.

Thornless blackberries- a wonder of creation!

The boys also enjoyed the animals- cows, pigs, chickens, and goats

We had a lovely little picnic with the Zubas and Robinsons, and of course cupcakes in honor of the birthday boy!

Laurel was dressed for the event in her festive, frilly, fruity outfit.

"Gymnastics"

This winter, we've started going to Preschool Open Gym at Fairlands Athletic Complex. It's a real gymnastics training facility near our house, so usually it's only open to real gymnasts, but on Mondays they open it up to kids up to age 6 for an hour. It's basically a huge, cushion covered indoor playground, and the boys love it! A great indoor activity in the winter. We've been going with Zubas and some other friends from church.

Sorry some of the pictures are a little blurry. I guess the lighting messed up my camera shots somehow. I'm not very good at photography. :)