Daddy St. Patty's

Daddy and Leon
We had green beer at Kris and Gracie's for St. Patty's day and it was a good chance to get some photos of Daddy being Silly. He does a great Wiggles impression! Here are Sylvie and Joey saying "WAKE UP JEFF!"

4 months old

Leon is four months old. He's found that his hand tastes quite nice. His head is very round. He likes to smile, coo at himself in the little mirror on his jiminy and stare at Mommy.

Purim Princess

Sylvie dressed up for the "Purim Parade" at her school. She was a chinois ice princess. The wand was what made her so excited and she abracadabra-ed everyone.



Purim is a holiday when we remember this story:

There was a Persian king named Ahasuearas (a-ha-shoe-wear-ass) whose Queen Vashti wasn't slutty enough for him so he had her killed. He then held a beauty contest to find a new queen and Esther won because she was the fairest in the land. Esther's uncle Mordechai told her never to let the king find out that she was Jewish because everyone knows that Persians don't like the jews. But there was an evil counselors to the king named Haman (hey-men)who wanted to kill all the Jews and he held a lottery (PURIM) to pick a day to send out all the troops to slaughter the Jews. Esther found out and told the King and he had Haman and his followers killed instead. TWISTED!!! sorda of Pretty Woman meets Alladin meets Princess Bride meets Spartacus.

So, the kids dress up as the poor queen Vashti, or the pretty Esther or the evil Haman or the good Uncle Mordechai. We eat little triangle cookies as a symbol of Haman's hat (Hamentashen) and read the whole story from the lengthy Megilla (thus the phrase 'THE WHOLE MEGILLA')

My dad used to give a fabulous performance as Esther at the annual Purim play at my Synagogue growing up. I can still see him with a raggedy ann wig and a clown nose and makeup and a big light blue dress with some stripey socks. Emblazoned in my memory - high on the embarrassment list.

Here is the song we sing:

Oh once there was a wicked, wicked man and Haman was his name Sir
He would have murdered all the Jews though they were not to blame Sir
Oh today, we'll merry merry be
Oh today, we'll merry merry be
Oh today, we'll merry mery be and NOSH SOME HAMENTASHEN
in the face of adversity, we sing about eating!

I swear I'll poke your eye out

Sylvie wanted to hold Leon today, so here is that:

But he had gotten too big, so here she is explaining that :

Here is how he felt about that
Then she tried to make him feel better by doing what

I think she might be doing every time I turn my back:

Here is what Sadie thinks of that: OUCH!

Eddie's Birthday

Eddie's 70th birthday party turned out to be really fun. The food was great, people were involved and doing art, the toasts and roasts were perfect and the company was the best! Thanks to Margaret for allowing us to have a party and thanks to Christie, Randy, Melissa and Albie who worked to make it happen. It was amazing to see guests start out surprised and a little reluctant to get their hands into it only to get excited, creative and hard to pull away from their projects. This really was a great idea for a party. Best of all Eddie got to help blow and design a glass bowl. He really had a great time which was the goal of the evening.

Eddie and his cake

Uncle Chuck's 'budum CHING' roast

Robert and Louise and Eddie

Molly and Aunt Suzie

Eddie Blowing Glass

Ladies watching bead making

Eddie, Marylin and Bob

Melissa blowing glass in heels!

Aye Calypso

When the sun is shining the possiblities are endless. Sailing on one of those days, on my favorite home lake, with friends and kids and a holga - what could be better? Sailing makes me think of John Denver and Jimmy Buffet. Hum this tune while looking at these photos from last spring.

Aye Calypso

the places you've been to,

the things that you've shown us,

the stories you tell

Aye Calypso,

I sing to your spirit,

the men who have served you so long and so well

Hi dee ay-ee ooo

doo-dle ohoo do do

do do do doo-dle

ay yeedoo-dle ay ee

Peps

I just recently developed the last of the real film from my cameras. This is a girls night out photo of Peps friends. Pretty.

Leon is 3 Months

...seems like a long 3 months but I know that this is a huge hump because he is already starting to show signs of a pattern in his daily routine. I have a huge crush on him. He is the man I have been looking for all of my life! Jewish Mother issues aside, I feel very close to him and will try not to give him too many issues ;) We go on errands together and we look in the mirror and smile and we stare into each other's eyes and make funny noises. We sleep together and wake up smiling. He also cries alot and when Joey comes home I can't wait to hand him off for a while so I can do stuff.....like this!?!?

Happiness

and the lion lay down with the lamb...

Whatchu takin bout mommy!

Gummer

Old man in a chair - Love the Bumbo seat!

Love

bainbridge ferry

Sylvie, Molly and Leo's hat on the windy ferry to bainbridge last week.

I am really starting to look like my Father.

We went to visit our friends the Breens who live on the Northwest's version of Wisteria Lane on Bainbridge. It was the first time in a long time that I was able to hold Leo the entire day with nothing else to do but enjoy friends and let him rest in my arms. Jen made great food and, with Kimberly, the three of us sat around most of the day holding our baby boys. The kids had a great time tearing out every toy in the house and Grace changed her outfit every 5 minutes....of course they all ended up nude and in the bath at about 5 (very Breen) Spring Break in Daytona?Stunning Grace The Novices - Van and Leo

Ending in a great dinner at a beautiful table...and somehow the wiggles guitar was pawned off to us . Sylvie LOVES it - OY!

Elevenses

It's 11:16 pm and everyone in the house is sleeping except me. I know I totally should be getting in bed because I will have to wake up twice to feed my baby at at least two oh dark thirtys and then have to arise and shine with my Sylvie at 8:30ish all ready to help her have a great day. This is THE only second I have had to myself all day. I need to blog it out and, since Heidi is the only one who really checks my blog - This is for you Heid.

It was REALLY beautiful today in Seattle. I say it that way because when it is sunny you really feel like this is a great city sandwiched btw two majestic snowcapped mountain ranges and surrounded by two bold and beautiful bodies of water. It feels alot bigger than the soggy dark neighborhood that you see out your window when you look outside on most days. You feel more connected to the other neighborhoods when you can actually see them.

In fact, buds are popping and brave daffodils are actually blooming on the sunniest knolls. There is one patch right as I exit I-90 on Mercer Island when I pick up Sylvie from school. The grass could not be ANY greener since it is enhanced by the prolific amounts of moss on account of the sogginess of the last month. All the wonderfulness that peaks out on sunny days is a result of the yucky days (snow on mountains, fresh water in the lake and sound and green mossiness) you just have to put up with it.

Those soggy days have been making people give up on Seattle since I can remember. I have lost friends and family in search of greener pastures. But there aren't greener pastures out there, just browner ones with sunburns and airconditioning. ew There are pretty white one though, right Heidi?!

Today I had a cleaning crew clean my house which I had been letting get dirty for a month in anticipation of this day. It took them 4 hours for two people to clean the house (that means 8 hours for one person). I was so thrilled but I had to avoid coming home so I drove around extra and went to the drive through Starbucks in Sodo (iced tall peppermint mocha light on the mocha no whip tastes just like a peppermint patty - jen called that one). Then they still weren't done so I walked to the store with two kids in the SUV stroller and I gave Sylvie some cheetos which turned her cold hands and lips orange and embarrassed me because it was so obviously toxic and cheap. Then they still weren't done so I went to the library where Sylvie threw a book and then made an insta friend which, when her mother forced her to leave crying and screaming, prompted Sylvie to say "where did my friend go?" - we had been there 3 minutes. When I turned the corner and their car was gone I was so excited to unload the groceries that had been sitting in my car for 4 hours but instead I went around touching all the clean surfaces. HOWEVER, they didn't mop the kitched floor. I saw the girl spraying a large swiffer type thing with 409ish stuff but I thought there was no way that was all they were going to do with the floor. It was though. BUMMER. The whole point was to clean that bitch of a floor. I even asked if they were going to mop and they said yes. Mopping means water and cleaner and bucket right?

Baby crying, minute OVER.

2 months

Leon is becoming a darling little boy. It is amazing how much a baby changes in two months - from a tiny little outline of a person, to a chubby expressive baby. I am trying to savor everyday knowing that the hours spent with him sleeping on my chest are some of the best hours of my life.

This is the very first photo of Leon smiling!

Here we go, Yo!

What dat dere?

Kiddie Cheese

OK, This is cheesy but Kiddie Kandids is the only place that will take a photo like this with no appointment. I wasn't counting on getting a photo of Leon because he is so small and I figured there was no way they could get a good photo of him. We really just went there to get photos of the girls (check out the matching Burberry dresses!!) but then the photographer said that they have "physician approved poses" and within seconds she had configured a set up that acutally got him to look into the camera. Here he is at 5 weeks old.

Sylvie and Leon

Sylvie and Gracie

Sammy P. - Jolly Baby Giant

Samuel P. (Linda and Kevin's son) is at that stage of baby that is so great, chubby and rare! He is all smiles and drools and he tosses his huge body around without control. He is a big love lug and here is his body as abstract art....

Drooly

Left Knee
Jumbo Prawn Fingers
"Just Back"

Here is Samuel Pirch - 6 months and 26 pounds-

trying to eat my 2 month, 8 pound Leon.

You look like a Baby,

I'm gonna eat you

GET IN MY BELLY !

"