RAZ-ma-taz

last weekends fun...

i just can't seem to keep up with documenting our lives. the days are cruising by at an alarming pace. since another weekend has arrived, i figured i better discuss our last one before it's too old because it was a good one! it started with cooper's first ever teeth cleaning at the dentist's office. i wasn't allowed to go back like i did with ryan for her first so i have no pictures to document the event but her big sis went back with her so she was totally fine with the whole thing. i did get a quick one while she sat and watched the tube in the waiting room (notice the molar that she's sitting on).

on friday, i decided it would be really fun to ride ryan's scooter to her school to pick her up and would jog behind her while she rode it home. i was right, it was pretty fun! all the kids were checking me out and thinking that i must be the coolest mom on the planet. at least that's what i told myself while everyone stared. ; ) and since ryan is still only a kindergartner, she definitely thought i was cool! i enjoyed myself so much that i asked for my very own scooter for my birthday and i'm totally looking forward to scooting all the time with the kids...

<sneak peak>

 
on saturday, we went on a hike and had a blast. the kids played in the stream as always and found plenty of creepy crawlies so they were happy. everyone (including the moms) were pretty enamored by the eggs that the kids found under a rock (disclaimer: no eggs were harmed during the taking of this picture).

<cooper insisted on this outfit for her hike... future trendsetter!>

after the hike, ry had a play date at one of her school friend's house. so we put cooper down to nap and my aunt came over to hold down the fort while ryan went to her friends house and melanie and i got out for an hour to play tennis. what a treat that was!! we don't get out on our own much at all so that was a very welcomed surprise. let the record show that i was beating her by several games and got cocky so you can imagine how it all ended...

 
on sunday i ran the furthest i've gone to date, 8.5 miles. it was awesome!! later that day, i ran lots of errands and then we had some friends over for dinner. the kids played out back by themselves for well over an hour and came in to retrieve flashlights once it got dark. it was a bizarre kind of independance realizing that they're getting old enough to play outside without adult supervision! all in all, another really fun, hectic as usual weekend was had by all. looking forward to this one... we've got NOTHING planned (but a classmates birthday party for ryan saturday afternoon!!

here's a painting that ryan did at school, i wanted to share it because i just love it!

big girl bed!

we took the plunge! i swore that hell would freeze over before i'd be ready to let cooper out of her crib. then she slept in a real bed at the hotel when my brother got married in october and she did AWESOME!! next she slept in a real bed at gigi's over the holidays and did pretty well. so we decided that maybe it was time. gigi and papa generously bought her an awesome trundle from pottery barn teen. she LOVES it!! when the delivery guys arrived on saturday she danced and chanted about how excited she was for her "big girl bed" and the mantra has continued ever since. i put her down that first night and she slept clear through until 7:45 the next morning. then sunday she went down for a nap at 1:30 and we didn't hear from her again until 4:30. to say i'm shocked is an under statement. this kid doesn't sit still for anything. i thought that we would have to carry her back to bed at least 100 times once she was given the freedom to roam. but so far, the transition has been as easy as it was for her big sis which is such a relief! next big transition, ditching the paci... oy!! 

achievement awards

ryan absolutely loves school. and she's doing really well which we're thrilled about. we were so conflicted before the school year started over where to send her. we applied to a really fancy private school that boasted 3 teachers to 24 kids and their very own outdoor classroom in addition to the beautiful traditional one inside. but we moved to our home nearly 6 years ago to be in the public school district that we're in. to pay private school tuition while we live in an area that we otherwise would not have been interested in seemed like a real shame. but it was extremely important to us that kindergarten be a really good experience for her. we feel like it sets the tone for the rest of her schooling and we really wanted her to have a love for learning. so we visited with the public school a handful of times meeting the AP, Principal, etc. we also observed the classroom of the teacher that we heard really good things about. we decided to go the public route figuring if we didn't like it we could always course correct but that we really needed to give it a shot. after all, the school is one of the best in the state and we live within walking distance so what better way to start the day than a brisk walk in the morning to prepare the brain for a full day of learning. fast forward, ryan liked it from the very beginning but getting her disciplined and focused to do her homework, etc didn't come without some challenges. but she got into a groove fairly quickly and really started to soar. within a couple of months she was reading, her writing/spelling skills were incredible and she genuinely seems to love school. in fact, she's disappointed when she has a week day off, woah!! so friday we went to a school wide awards ceremony to mark the first half of the year. each kid got something, either "academic achievement in all subject areas" or "improved achievement in all subject areas".  ryan got the first one. but then only 2 kids were chosen for the "<school name> achiever" award which was very special and ryan was one of them! we were pretty blown away. she's certainly a smart kid but there are lots of smart kids in her class. her hunger for knowledge and interest in/passion for learning is something that we thought was so critical to nurture so we could not be more thrilled with the decision we made to send her right where she is. 

just dance!

cooper has become quite the dancing queen as of late. like literally, she dances from room to room rather than walk, she dances while we stand in line at the grocery store, she dances at school, and on the playground, and... well you get the picture. so we decided it was time to sign the kid up for a dance class. she started a hip hop dance class this past Monday and LOVED it!! she was the youngest kid in class and by far the best. and she rocked the hoola hoop! she's very excited about her next class this monday and her birthday party next month which we will also have at this dance studio. we can't wait to see how her dance skills evolve now that she's taking a class!

more pictures

and here's a video of our little firecracker...

 

new day... new year!

we had a ridiculously awesome new years eve and new years day this year. we spent several hours on saturday shopping for much needed items to freshen up our house and then headed over to a neighboring town for a new years party. the city blocks were shut down and there were lots of bounce houses, a train, a clown with balloons, a face painter, street vendors with funnel cakes, hot pretzels, cotton candy, toys, fire pits for making s'mores, and an exciting countdown to 6pm with a cool firework show to wrap up the night. i got suckered into buying them flashing sparkly light swords from one of the street vendors so they had a blast with those in the dark as we waited for the fireworks. we packed dinner and had a picnic so they at least had some healthy food to absorb the junk. ryan loved the fireworks this year for the first time, cooper wasn't a fan. 

train ride!

s'mores!

fireworks!

then we woke up on new years day and met some of our good friends for a hike. what a way to kick off the new year! the weather was gorgeous and everyone was in a great mood so everything was just perfect. the kids waded through the streams and found lots of newts and other misc stream creatures and just generally enjoyed being with each other...

after several hours of bonding with the great outdoors, we headed home to bathe the kids and get cooper down for a nap. after she woke up we headed to the botanical gardens for a night with the lights. the show was spectacular and it was the perfect way to wrap up the weekend. it was quite cold so we had hot chocolate while we strolled around taking in all of the beauty. we saw a really cool model train display and an amazing light show with festive music. there were lighted flowers and butterflies in the edible garden, firefly lights in the tropical area, there were huge snowflakes suspended in the trees over the canopy, and lots, lots more.

we had an awesome holiday break. the kids go back to school tomorrow so it's back to the regularly scheduled programming...

couple more pictures here...

christmas in tampa!

i think our kids are the luckiest kids on the planet. for many reasons really but notably this time of year is pretty special. since we're jewish, we celebrate hanukkah and this year we were in miami for several days of it so not only did they get gifts from us, they also received plenty from their grandparents and many friends and family members down there. it actually felt very gluttonous. and then if that wasn't enough, we got to tampa on christmas eve and had an awesome celebration with mimie, tom-tom and uncle ced, aunt jo and peyton where there was plenty more. mimie made a really cool craft for each of the girls that included a poem she wrote for them using their names. each was decorated based on their favorite things (ryan's was nature themed and cooper's was princess themed). they are really beautiful and special and will be hung in their bedrooms. the hardest thing about the holidays for me is all of the build up and anticipation and then poof it ends so quickly. next big events for us after new years are 2 of my girls birthdays, cooper on Feb 13th and mel on the 14th. party planning will start in earnest after the new year!  

we mel decided a game of dreidel would be fun so taught uncle ced, aunt jo and peyton the rules, passed out some gelt and the gambling began!

after christmas, we spent several more days in tampa. some of the highlights were going to see the mangroves and manatees in apollo beach which was super cool...

<this picture was taken of our reflections in the water, that's how clear it was!> 

we we also spent some time at sunken gardens which is always nice...

i continued to work over the holidays so hunkered down in the afternoons with my phone and computer while cooper napped. one of those afternoons, mel, mimie and ry decided to go bowling... i understand that ryan was the big winner with 101 points scored and from what i hear, there was a whole lot of laughing and fun.

 

while there are no pictures to prove i was running, i spent a good bit of time practicing. when i left atlanta, i was struggling with endurance, my brain and lungs were not cooperating with my plans. the fartheset i had ever run without stopping was the 3.1 miles i did at the jingle jog. while in miami, i ran with one of my longest friends (since kindergarten), melissa. we went around 3 miles before i needed a short walking break. i don't remember where we wound up finishing but somewhere between 5-6 miles in about 1hr 5mins. it was really hot so that was the new variable i had to contend with. needless to say, by my last run in tampa the day before we left, i was able to go 6.25 miles in 60 mins flat. it was amazing. i never stopped to walk once. it was exactly what i've been striving for so i was thrilled. that night i registered for the georgia half marathon on march 18th to celebrate. i obviously have lots more work to do in the coming months but it finally seems possible!!

more pictures of the tampa fun here...

 

holiday card 2011

mangroves & manatees

more on the manatees soon, had an awesome morning and here's one of my new favorite pictures as a result!

hanukkah last night...

Hanukkah in Miami

wow, what a whirlwind!  we left atlanta last friday after ryan's holiday party at school and arrived in tampa around 10:30 that night. we've never done a road trip with the kids that late before and other than being completely exhausted myself while driving, it worked out well. they wound up napping from 9-10 which wasn't much of the 7 hr drive but since they were wired when we arrived it was better than nothing. mimie and tom-tom had the house all decorated for christmas, including their orchestra of singing/dancing stuffed animals, so the girls were in all of their glory.  they went to bed around 11:30 that night which was the latest they had ever gone to sleep before and were up bright and early to hang with their grandparents. we spent the morning with mimie and tom-tom before continuing our journey south after lunch to miami where we settled in for a week of fun with my side of our family.

<cupcakes mel made for ryan's school holiday party>

we arrived around 6pm and they immediately ran to cooper's room to dress up. they jumped in their papa's lap as a pirate girl and mermaid...

the next day my parents had a huge pre-hanukkah dinner/party. we had a blast but sadly took 0 pictures. the girls must have received 10 gifts that night and got totally wired on all kinds of goodies. needless to say the holidays had begun in a very big way and it was another very late night. are you beginning to see a theme? the next couple days were more of the same. we did a whole lot of shopping and i did a whole lot of running (something about flat terrain and 80 degree weather made it much easier than what i have to deal with in atlanta). i'm training for a 15K that i registered for in tampa in early march so i have lots of work to do in the next couple of months. we also went to the zoo to see the animals and lights at night, mel and aunti m took ry and syd and met uncle dave & aunt danielle to ice skate and we spent a day with sean and the kids even swam in late Dec!

we spent the first several nights of hanukkah with gigi, papa, uncle dave and aunt danielle. the girls got lots of great stuff and had plenty of fun. we went to 3 more hanukkah parties, one at grammies, one at a park where a couple of my childhood friends organized a gelt hunt like last year that the kids loved and the last one at a country club that my folks belong to. here are some of the highlights...

<the gelt hunt gang minus cooper>

<game of dreidel for yogurt covered raisins after they had eaten their quota of gelt for the day>

cooper decided that she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed so gigi bought some rails and that was that. cooper did awesome in the bed so we're going to be shopping for a big girl bed for her room in atlanta when we get back.

more pictures here...