King Alex & Princess Elena

While we were buying balloons for cousin Ellie's birthday party at the party supply store, I bought some crowns. The kids will wear these at their school's upcoming Shabbat Nosh and Purim celebrations. After trying them on, they named each other King Alex and Princess Elena.

Which one should I wear?
May I have this dance?
King Alex kissing Princess Elena's after their dance

Cooking Dinner with Dad

Since Jeff does not see patients on Monday, he gets to cook dinner for the family. Elena pulled up the tall stool to help out with his latest creation. It was delicious!

Sofia's Baptism

We attended baby Sofia's baptism in Michigan on Sunday. It was a beautiful ceremony and we were so happy to be present for the happy occasion.

Jeff with Lori and baby Sofia Grandma Liz with some of the grandkids in attendance
Elena and Ellie hug goodbyeJust one more hug before we go!

Cutting with a Knife!

One of the greatest things about visiting Grandma Liz is that she lets the kids do things I would NEVER think of. Sunday afternoon while was preparing food to eat after the baptism, Grandma let Elena pull up a chair and help cut the vegetables with her own knife! Of course Elena sampled more than she cut, but it was fun to see her being such a big girl helping out. I will need to find a little knife like that to use at our house and put her to work at dinner time.

Our Build A Bear Experience

One of Grandma Liz and Papa's Christmas presents to Alex and Elena was a visit to the Build A Bear Factory. We finally had a "quiet" weekend at home, since we cancelled our trip to Michigan to attend to the contractors and service people in the house fixing up the flooded basement. So we decided this was the perfect time to to enjoy the Build A Bear experience.

Alex and I got on the Build a Bear website on Saturday to look at all the choices. He is really fascinated by computers lately, and had fun checking out the games and other categories. Despite the preparation, he changed his mind several times at the store on Sunday before settling in on "Z" the Zebra (Alex's name choice). He decided Z should have a dinosaur roar noise after pressing every one of the sound choices at least 5 times. However, the really hard decision was finding Z the perfect outfit. He modeled the police officer uniform, the Iron Man costume, the football player uniform, hockey player skates, and several others before settling on the "army man"gear.

Alex "Driving" the Stuffing Machine to Fill "Z" Up
Elena, on the other hand, zeroed in immediately on Hello Kitty, which just happened to match the dress she insisted on wearing that morning.

Elena and Her "Kitty"
Elena being the total girly girl that she is, picked out accessories for Kitty like a hairdryer and cell phone. These objects were the source of a fight about sharing in the car on the way home- not a great way to start things off. But the kids quickly got over this and had a lot of fun playing with their new friends when we got home.

Z & His Tent Helping Alex Play Leapfrog
Kitty and Elmo Helping Elena Match the Puzzle CardsThank you Grandma Liz and Papa!

A New Swimsuit!

Elena has gotten taller in the last month. Her clothes are all just a little too short, so we bought four new pairs of pants and swimsuit today at the Gap. She was very excited about the new swimsuit, and tried it on when we got home.

Swimsuit ModelElena was so happy, she went a little crazy running laps around the family room

She insisted on leaving on her new swimsuit for dinner time...
...and for a performance of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."
It will be fun to watch her swim at the gym in her new swimsuit tomorrow!

First Hockey Lesson

Alex had his first hockey lesson Tuesday afternoon. He and Jeff have been practicing at the ice rink for a few weeks, but this was his first time with the coach and other kids. Hockey 1 at the Carmel Ice Skadium is designed for kids ages 3-5 to learn skating fundamentals like forwards & backwards skating, crossovers, stride and stops. Classes are held every Tuesdays at 4:00 pm. We signed him up for this level 1 class, but he ended up in the Hockey 2 class, which focuses more on stick handling skills and drills with fun games for kids ages 5 and up.

It was hard to get a good photo of the lesson through the protective shield (and still keep an eye on Elena)! This fuzzy picture shows how the 2 levels divided up. Hockey 1 kids were on the ice up front practicing skating skills, while Alex with the other boys did drills back by the net. Although Alex was not the best kid in the class, he had an awesome attitude. He picked himself up and did his best to keep up with the other bigger kids.Hockey Boy Coming Off the IceWatching the High School Kids Practice
Alex was very proud of himself, and so were we. We look forward to watching his hockey skills continue to progress in the coming weeks!

Cousin J's Birthday

Jonathan turns 10 this week, so our family went over Sunday afternoon to celebrate.
Alex and the Birthday Boy
Jonathan reading the birthday card Alex decoratedElena and Elizabeth with full bellies after eating Uncle Bill's terrific ham dinnerWhat did Jonathan wish for?
Elena slept all the way home- the sign of a great party!

Snowmen

It was 40 degrees and sunny today, so Jeff and the kids built snowmen in the front yard before all the snow began to melt. They used a "Snowman Accessory Kit" to decorate that we bought on a snow day outing earlier this week.

Alex and his Friends Elena has shared more preschool germies with the family, and was not all that excited to play outside despite the gorgeous weather. Shortly after this photo was taken, she came inside to take an afternoon nap with me.

Elena is NOT in Alex's Bed

So technically, Elena is NOT in Alex's bed tonight.Elena sneaking into her brother's room to sleep has become a nightly occurrence. We have been talking and talking about the importance of not sleeping in Alex's bed for weeks now. I guess we will have to more specific...