Jenna is 2!

Who turned two this weekend? JENNA!

We went to Tom and Erin's this weekend to celebrate Jenna's 2nd birthday. She looked so pretty in her birthday dress and had lots of colorful party hats and cool sunglasses. Caleb got his own pair too...

We played outside, ate burgers and hotdogs from the grill, and sang Happy birthday to Jenna. She enjoyed her homemade Minnie Mouse cake from grandma.

What a difference one year makes in eating. Last year cake smash, this year a little lady eating her cake and ice cream.

After cake, Jenna opened presents. And Caleb have helped open presents too...

Daddy and his boys

Jenna gave everyone big hugs for coming to her birthday party. She and Caleb have become good buddies this past year, and we will miss spending time with them once we head overseas...but we will see them again in a few weeks!

Happy 2nd birthday pretty girl!

Friends and Philly

This weekend we went back to Philly so Nathan could meet Henry and we could hang out with Mike and Marissa one more time before we head overseas. In the few weeks it had been since I last saw Henry, he grew a lot...mostly in that cute little belly of his. He is almost 3 months old and is looking like a little man. Nathan used his Purcell baby whisper skills on Henry, and he sat calmly in Nathan's arms.

Don't you just love that handsome little face!

M&M with Henry and Ben. Marissa teased that Ben looks more like her baby than Henry...haha!

Future partners in crime...they are even dressed alike:).

And both little slobber monsters.

Best friends and future best friends:)

All the excitement put Henry to sleep.

But not for too long....

It was a beautiful day outside, so we walked downtown and went to a park. 

The men and babies stayed outside talking, while the ladies and Caleb played on the playground.

We ended the afternoon eating sandwiches and hummus at an outdoor cafe, and having lots of good laughs. We have lived close to Mike and Marissa for the past 8 years, and we are going to miss them a lot, especially seeing Henry grow into a little boy, but are very grateful for the invention of the Internet, Skype, and Facebook to keep us connected. When we return in a few years, our boys will be wrestling with each other and we will only remember the days when they laid there so quietly together on a rug;).

We love you Marissa, Mike, and Henry! 

100 years

One Hundred...

The sum of the first 10 prime numbers

The boiling temperature of water in degrees Celcius

The age of Abraham when Isaac was born

The number of Shofar blasts during the Rosh Hashana service, the Jewish New Year

The number of Senators in the United States

The number of tiles in a Scrabble set

An A+ in grading systems

The number of yards on a football field

The number of years in a century

My mom and my combined age today!

Happy birthday mom! Wishing you a wonderful day today, and many more to come. We love you!

For all the pictures I take, I could not find a recent picture of just my mom and I. This is a picture of us when we were 'young' at age 92 :).

Meeting Rex Michael

On Saturday we went to visit Tom, Erin, and Jenna, and to meet their new baby boy, Rex Michael.

Rex is a handsome little guy with red hair, blue eyes, and he looks just like his daddy! I realized at the end of the visit, I did not get any pictures of Rex by himself, but here is a cute one of Rex (1 month) and Ben (6 months).

And the best picture we could get with big sister Jenna and big brother Caleb.

After lunch and bubbles, we headed to a new park near their house. It had a big playground, blacktop, and bigger kids section too. Caleb and Jenna are like two peas in a pod when they are together, it is cute to watch them run around and interact more as they get older. 

There were no swings at this park, but several fun slides.

Ben even went down the slide with daddy a few times!

Caleb, is that Jenna's hat?

Good friends with their newest baby boys.

 We were glad to meet Rex and spend the afternoon with Tom, Erin, and Jenna. Thanks for the fun day!

Sharing with friends

I was home a couple of days this week because our childcare provider has been sick, and I am so glad that I have had the opportunity to spend extra time with the boys. Caleb is starting to develop a good imagination, and yesterday he did something really cute that I wanted to share. He likes to pretend that Elmo is a baby. Elmo gets his diaper changed, he goes nite nite in the swing, he even gets fed.

A couple of nights ago before bed, I made some popcorn and gave Caleb his own bowl. He brought the popcorn to the couch, where Elmo was sitting, and he wanted Elmo to eat popcorn too.

How much popcorn did Elmo eat?  A whole mouthful! Nathan and I were cracking up!

We also we went to MyGym both days while I was home. Caleb usually goes once a week, but he had make-up classes from when we were out of town. It was a lot of fun to go to class with him. There was circle time, songs, trampolines, monkey bars, slides, big balls to roll, swings, balance beams, and Caleb's favorite...the ball pit!

Ben is flexing his big muscles and ready for summertime!

Soaking up some sunshine with daddy. 

Today I went to the grocery store on the way home from work, but I guess I did not put the food away fast enough...It was a big yogurt mess all over Caleb, the living room rug, chairs, and the exercauser. None of us were very happy about what happened, but we cleaned up and moved on.

Then we moved on to feeding Ben. New foods of the day...mum mums and oatmeal!

Caleb is always full of energy, especially before bathtime. Here is a preview of most evenings:)



 

Happy Thursday!



A hui hou kakou

For the remainder of my parents visit, we laid low around the house. We will be moving in about 6 weeks and have a lot of organizing/sorting to do, so on Sunday, my parents watched the boys while Nathan and I worked in the garage. They had a fun time at the park and McDonalds, and I was glad for the day they got to spend together. This is the in-progress shot. Nathan is a super organizer, and I think the garage looks so good after we were done that I kind of want to hang out in there every time I go inside!

In the boxes, we found the bumbo seat. Someone is happy about his new chair:)

Caleb likes to walk around and smell pick the flowers.

My mom and I (early) celebrated our 100th birthday while they were here. Not many people can say they lived to be 100, so I count us as lucky when they day arrives:). We orginally were planning to spend our birthdays together, but my parents are moving to Hawaii on April 30th!! And it would have been cutting it very close. We had a nice afternoon, and went to get manicure and pedicures, then vietnamese food for dinner. It was nice to spend time with just the two of us, something we do not do often.

On Sunday evening, we all went to dinner to celebrate everything. My mom's retirement, their move to Hawaii, our move to the Middle East, and our 100th birthday. We went to PF Changs and sat outside since it was such a nice evening.  

Caleb chowed down on chicken lo mein and sat so nicely while we ate our meal...thank you Mickey Mouse Clubhouse:).

I still think Ben favors Nathan, what do you think? At least this son will resemble me:).

Grandpa and Grandma with the boys

Grandma woke up with Caleb everyday, and she had fun with her morning buddy. I know she misses waking up with him in the morning, but I don't think she misses waking up early or setting alarm clocks, after all these years!



They couldn't get enough of this happy little boy!

Goodbyes have never been easy for me, and I usually don't have the right words to say. I love my parents so much, they are very special to me and our family. We are excited about the adventures ahead for them, retirement, and living their dream of moving to Hawaii. They will visit us sometime next year, and it will be another new adventure. As they say in Hawaiian, a hui hou kakou - until next time!

We love you, dad and mom R!