Macabee Video

Here is Sylvie's Class singing their special hanukah performance!

First Night of Hanukah

There was a black out during the first night of Hanukah because of the HUGE WINDSTORM OF 2006 - DRAMA!! Anyway, we all gathered at the Hassons who had their electricity and celebrated together. Later that night, around 8pm, our neighbors called to say that our power had been restored - PHEW. Check out the tree that fell down one block away...

San Diego

The day after leo's party we left for a weekend trip to San Diego for a party celebrating Joey's cousin Josh's wedding. The wedding was last summer and none of us could make it so they had a west coast party. We stayed at the fabulous Rancho Bernardo inn and got massages (the girls) and then partied at night. It was fun to get away with only grown-ups. Of course I don't have any photos of Josh and Katherine because they were schmoozing all night while we had fun. Joey even got called up to make a fool of himself and do a dance.

Melissa and Lindsay

Papou and Noni

Leo's First Birthday

Not familiar with winter birthdays - I wasn't sure how to have a party for Leo's first birthday but we managed a small one with very familiar faces for him. Cambria said it was the best one-year-old reaction to the cake she had seen. He was smiling ear to ear like "All this for me?!" and loved the attention! This year changed my life for good. Leo has made my busier and probably permanently increase my heart rate a bit. I now have another person to worry about - and all those crazy mom worries like will he drown in the ocean when he is 17 are still there - and another person to adore. He is so cute and especially cuddly. Today he walked across the house just to kiss me and lay his head on my shoulder - then he walked away to keep playing. Love a little boy!

Noni made a Jelly Bean cake that said LEO 1!

Leo's first car!

Leo Kap

Can't resist posting this darling photo of Leo Kap - the other leo in Sylvie's life

ECS a gogo

November started off with a bang. I helped plan a disco party at the JCC benefitting Sylvie's school. Joey and I had the outfits from Rachel and Pete's disco glam wedding so we were comfortable (joey especially in those stretchy pants) and ready to dance. IN fact, we were the only ones who danced for the first 3 hours. We were ready to go by the time the party started which was fine with my mom who was watching the kids.

Why can you see every tooth in my mouth when I smile - count em!

Here is Joey gettin' down

But my favorite photo from the night is this one of Rob Wolf which I think would make a great cover of HEEB magazine - the HAIR issue. Don't have a CHAI that big!

Enchanted Bitterness

The first trick or treating outing for our family was so many things but mostly ridiculous. Start with the weather - 22 degrees and dark at around 4:30.
Add the get up - The Cinderella costume was not so well thought out. All I was concerned about was the layering and Sylvie ended up with a turtleneck, a down vest and two white sweaters on the top and track pants and sneakers on the bottom. She could barely move her arms and was constantly tripping on the skirt/pant/shoe combo.
Then, add the wig which was technically a Sleeping Beauty wig and, had I tried it on before we actually were walking out the door, I would have shorn to a more manageable size. It had to be held to her poor little head with at least 10 bobby pins. The first time you experience bobby pins should not be to hold on a 12 pound wig to your three year old head.
Mix in the totally illogical idea of ringing doorbells, saying a new phrase and collecting candy in a bag to be eaten later. WHAT?!?
Sylvie, Max and Gracie - three three year olds on their first Halloween. As we were leaving the house, another group of trick or treaters showed up with a Dad dressed in a HUGE bull costume that literally had a battery powered airblower. His bull head was close to 8 feet tall. This freaked everyone else out. A few steps past our house, our neighbor was having a haunted garage. Gracie was so freaked out by the bull that she wanted to be carried, Sylvie was so psyched to be Cinderella outside that she ran and did twirls down the street while Max headed straight for the haunted garage. We were already split up.
Did I mention that we had two dressed up babies in adorable costumes TOTALLY covered by the snuglis that they had to wear in order to make the 3 block trek. All you could see of them was two sets of eyes, some random fur and a couple pacis.
Our neighborhood had sparsely Halloween friendly houses which made the trek even longer. At every house, one or the other kid tried to make their way past the candy into the warm, well lit house of a stranger. "I wanna go to go home" started after one block. At one house, we rang the doorbell and were greeted by a pre-recorded THUNDERCLAP which literally made ALL of us jump and, as the three sets of parents shook their heads in disbelief, the three children turned to run down the 20 steps. Don't try to run down 20 steps in a costume, especially not a ball length gown or a unicorn rider get up.
Back to the candy. It wasn't worth it. Every bowl of mixed treats that was presented to the three year olds was so mind-boggling it took 5 minutes of encouragement and rule presentation to get to the turn-around: "say trick or treat!" "only take one!" "say thankyou!" "put it in the bag!" "say thankyou!" "let's go!" "don't go in the house!" "do you want m&ms or skittles?" WHAT!?!
Put it this way, at each house, Sylvie grabbed at least two pieces of whatever she could, tightened her fist around them, hugged them into her chest and said "I am going to hide this from you and eat it right now" The whole time continuum was busted.
I made the mistake of planning dinner AFTER the trick or treating so I kept saying "You can have candy after you eat some macaroni and cheese and hamburger" Please.
Best part: There is an entire bag of candy on top of the fridge that Sylvie has totally forgotten about. I don't even think she thought about it for one second after leaving the last house. It never existed.

First Trick or Treating!

Unicorn Rider and Princess Bittercup

Smile DAMMIT!

The wig!

Luca and Leon - cute little animals!

Beacon Hill's idea of scary - the childmolester frugal gourmet!

That Bull I was talking about

More Leaves

Fall

Here is Leo in the backyard enjoying the foliage.

A sideways glance to Daddy.

Ahhh, the Sailing Sylvie.

Palm Spring Break

I can't rightly post some of the debaucherous photos that I took on my 4 day relaxation but suffice it to say we had a great time. Like a time warp back 18 years with the closest of friends playing games non-stop for 4 days and nights. We may have grown up but we easily fell into our old roles and routines with each other. My goals for the vacation were to play bridge, cook for my friends, get a tan (I know that is so 80s) and be gone long enough to miss my kids and husband. All four were accomplished. It's not everyday that you see four 30-somethings playing chicken in the pool and then sitting down to a civilized game of bridge while sipping blended margheritas. The best part was that we only left the house three times - grocery shopping, gay bar and Chinese food. What more could you want out of a vacation?! I feel totally refocused and less complicated which was something I desperately needed to feel. I said that my life felt like a game of tetris nearing the end when all the blocks are falling too fast to find a place to put them. I finally got a 'new game'. I can't say enough about my friends but the fact that I have now officially known them for half of my life says alot. I felt very lucky that it took no time to re-aquaint ourselves with our funny little language that is unique and fun and funny.

THE HOUSE AND POOL

Jorge Carlos
Boyd and Phyllis

The group sans Phillip who left a day early

CHICKEN
Rachel and Justen
' JUST Justen'

Room 212 Jubilee

Even though both kids were caughing and snotty, we shlepped out to Fall City for a class trip to Jubilee Farms. It was the most perfect fall day as you can see in the pictures. There were some 'simple life' moments when moms in fancy boots and mark jacobs bags were caught in the mud. Those just added to the humour of the pigs and the chickens and reminded us all that that day was really about one thing and one thing only - photo ops!

New Year

I changed the template for the blog because its been almost two years now with the green. Enough already. Let the photos do the talkin'. nohwadamin. Oh and it is the new year with lots to think about...what happened last year and what do we want to do differently (better) next year. Lots of ideas about that. At this stage of life it is all about the value of time. Time with the kids is so precious and sometimes so endless. Time for myself is non-existent. Time with Joey is rare. Time with friends is so dear. We had a no-kids party that was a great way to celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of a new year. Love! Here are some good ones...

Symbols of the new year...pomegranate, squash, leek, dates, beets, and a fish head.

First Day of Three's School

Its not really school but Sylvie's first day was so easy for us all that she seems like a grown up. She walked right in and said "remember when I used to be in that other class" like it was 10 years ago. The first day when I picked her up, she only knew one teacher's name. The second day she knew both teacher's names and the third day I saw her petting the face of a girl in her class named Charlise and hugging the teachers on her way out. She is very compassionate and sweet. Then she came home and pushed Leo down with her feet. Uh Oh.

Oh, the other day I was reading some kids magazine which said that girl's images of themselves come mostly from their mothers. So, I asked Sylvie if she knew that she was beautiful and she said "yes.", "Do you know why you are so beautiful?", "yes", "why?", "Princess" .All matter of fact.

Two days ago at costco I bought a copy of Madagascar for sylvie to watch during our occaisional 3:00 Disney film festivals. She and Joey sat down and watched it but Sylvie kept getting up and playing with toys so Joey turned it off. I asked him how it was and he said "not so good, there are no songs and no romance". Oh Joey.

You can't really see them but she has some fabulous italian shoes on.

petit joey

Little Joey is now standing on his own and so proud. He lets go of the table and, as of yesterday, can even dance without holding on. He is super proud. He is also the cuddliest warmest little baby that I know. He is a mamas boy, no doubt. However, he also seems interested in the way that things work as I catch him figuring out wires and the innerworkings of various toys, etc. daddy's boy. Just look at the joey smile...

Tie Shirt

I found this tee online and thought it would be perfect for our friend Ari P. who likes ties and is very business minded. When his mommy complained (me too) about the $44 price tag I decided to try and make one. Ari is also very train minded and so we (Joey and I) developed two designs with choo choo motifs. We used a big sharpie so we'll see how they hold up. Waddya think? We take special orders - or make your own!

Train Tracks on the tie, train tools in the pocket and a monogram to boot! Train Boss!
This one has a glove in one pocket and a wrench in the other. This is for a train worker.

Sedliks Eating

One of the real highlights of the summer for me was having 11 Sedliks to our house for dinner on our 4th Anniversary. They were all there the day that we got married too so we made our favorites for dinner: flank steak, ceasar salad, noodle salad and feta cheese pie!I LOVE MY SEDLIKS SO MUCH and wish they all leaved closer than L.A. but alas. We are very lucky to be able to spend any time together and this visit we saw them for three great events. Anniversary Dinner, Camano Island and Korean BBQ in Bellevue! YAY! We ate extremely well on each occaision!
Sylvie on the mucky Beach















Leo's pickle











Cup Check!













Cousins













Anniversary Dinner