In Our Own World

Weekend Check-in + Friday Photo Dump

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:27:00 +0000

This is my last weekend before I officially become a "working mom". Does that mean up until now, I was a "playing mom"? Ha! We've had a relaxing weekend so far, trying to keep the kids from getting sick (Kaitlyn has been feeling under the weather today) and trying to find ways to entertain ourselves during the rainy afternoons.

I feel like I have lots to do before Monday. I just hope I can start the week feeling ready and not stressed and unprepared. I'm looking forward to this new challenge. My stomach still turns when I think about being away from the kids for 3 days a week, but it could be worse. And I think it will be good for all of us. We'll see...

Once again, a day late...

Cookies for Santa- Year 2

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:13:00 +0000

Ok, last catch-up post before I blog about my family's visit to Israel. :)
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Like last year, a week before Christmas Kaitlyn and I made cookies for Santa.

Jonathan didn't help much, but he sure did enjoy eating them!

Once again, it was a little hectic with Kaitlyn not wanting to follow directions. We still had a fun time and I think Santa liked the cookies. I forgot to get a pic of the final products this year, but they were yummy! Want to be shocked? Take a look back at last year's cookie photos to see how much Kaitlyn has grown.
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This week's photo dump...

Photo Frenzy

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:21:00 +0000

I still have few catch-up posts to blog, but I wanted to get this one up...

Ron got me a tripod and remote shutter for Christmas (thank you, babe). We've only used it a handful of times, but I love having the ability to be in the pictures and take family pictures without relying on someone else being there to take them for us. Here are some of the fun ones we've gotten so far:

Kaitlyn and I had some photo-booth-style fun while Jonathan napped.

On my birthday, we used it to get a photo of the family as they sang "Happy Birthday" to me. My birthday "cake" was a carton of Ben & Jerry's Chucnkty Monkey. Yum!

I obviously need some practice hiding the remote when I take the pictures!

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Some of you may remember this time last year when I started a version of Project Life...taking one picture every day and creating a scrapbook. I loved it. I loved having photos of our family and our everyday lives. What I started to not love was the scrapbooking part of it. The layouts of the photos, choosing what colors to make the backgrounds, etc. Don't get wrong, I think they are gorgeous, but actually doing them took a lot of time. Then I fell behind on getting them done and playing catch up became too overwhelming so the project just died. I'm sure I still took a picture a day (or close to it), but I didn't do anything with most of them. As much of a big, fat failure the project was last year, I'm trying again. This time, even more simplified...no creative layouts, coordinating colors, just the pictures. Some will be taken from my nice camera, but I'm sure most will come from my iPhone because it's the camera I always have with me. (Hopefully, blogged at the end of each month.) Additionally, any other random photos I take (strictly from my phone) will get "dumped" here once a week.

Jonathan is 16 months old!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:31:00 +0000

I realize this is almost a month late, but I'm still playing catch up...

This was probably the last picture taken of Jonathan's perfect grill. He fell and chipped his front tooth a week later.

At 16 months old, Jonathan:

is wearing size 3 diapers, but will soon move up to size 4.
is wearing 12-18 month size clothes.
walks, runs, jump, dances...you name it, he's doing it!
has taken after his big sister and become such a little dare devil. He likes to climb on everything and has discovered that if you tip things over (like the laundry basket, a trash can, toy bins) they become step stools for aiding in climbing higher.
also takes after his momma. He's a klutz! He likes to do everything his sister does, but he's not nearly has stable.
says "mama", "dada", "this", "shoes", "ball", "woof", "more" and "ho, ho, ho".
is learning sign language. He can sign "more", "please", "thank you", "all done" and "eat". When you ask him to sign he gets bashful. It's really cute.
got his first haircut. And I'm a bad mom for not getting one single picture. In my defense, it required both Ron and I to hold/distract him while the guy nervously snipped his scissors as Jonathan shook his head.

Happy 16 months, J-bird!

Getting Ready for Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:45:00 +0000

--Another catch-up post.--

On November 26, we heard a knock on our front door. Kaitlyn opened the door to find this.

Yes, we started the Elf on the Shelf tradition in our home. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's an elf that Santa sends from the North Pole to keep an eye on your kids. Each night he uses his magic to fly to the North Pole and report your child's behavior to Santa. One of the first things you're supposed to do is name him. It took Kaitlyn 3 days to finally come up with a name. She didn't exactly get the concept, so she wanted to just call him "Elf". After reading the story that comes with the elf several times, one of the suggested names finally struck a chord with her. Meet "Fisbee".

Every night when Fisbee would return from the North Pole, he would get comfy in a different part of the house. Kaitlyn and Jonathan really enjoyed searching for him each morning. Some people really go all out and place their elf in creative setups. Some even took some pretty funny R-rated photots. Maybe next year we'll get more creative--I'm just happy we never forgot to move him this year!

The same day, we put up our Christmas tree and decorated the house for the holidays.

Here's a video of the cuteness that took place while we were decorating. Disclaimer: If you're not family, you'll probably find the video quite boring. :)

A couple of days later, we got the kids dressed up for our Christmas photos. I love how they turned out!

As expected, the kids didn't want to sit with Santa and Ron and I had to get in the picture.

It's funny how Kaitlyn chose the same pose as last year.

Yummy cookies quickly made things better.

Kaitlyn made an ornament.

The next day, we had a friend come over to take our family pictures for our Christmas card.

2012 Goals

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:38:00 +0000

Hello 2012! Just wanted to start the new year with a new post and write down a couple of goals.

Run. I still haven't run since the Nike Night Run on November 1. My next 10K will be on March 10 so I've got some work to do. I'd like to come up with a monthly mileage goal, but honestly haven't had time to calculate what would be realistic so for now, it's just RUN!
Read. It's been way too long since I've picked up a book for leisure reading. I'm pretty sure it was Breaking Dawn from the Twilight series. I have had "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" sitting on my nightstand, collecting dust for over a year now and have never even made an attempt to start it. I'd love to read that whole series and move on to The Hunger Games next.
Hydrate. I'm horrible about staying hydrated. I tend to only drink something when I'm sitting down for a meal and it's not always water and my skin is paying for it!
Blog. I need to blog more. I really slacked the 2nd half of 2011! I blog as a way to share our lives with family and friends who we live so far from and I also blog as a way to document our lives. This place is my virtual memory book and I haven't been good about documenting. I hope to change that. Even if it means posts with photos and no words or unedited photos (gasp!). I just need to keep posting!

Day Trip to Bethlehem

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:23:00 +0000

---I'm trying to catch up on some trips and updates I never blogged from last year.---

These pictures were from early December when we decided to try to beat the Christmas season crowds and head to the West Bank to visit the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, one of the oldest continuously operated churches in the world.

Ron and the kids entering the "door of humility"---built small so that all who entered would have to bow.

Kaitlyn wearing Grandpa Tamburello's hat.

When we arrived, the Armenians were holding their mass in the Grotto of the Nativity (the spot where Jesus was said to be born) so we couldn't go down then. While we waited, we went to the Church of St. Catherine. This is where midnight mass is held every Christmas Eve and broadcast throughout the world.

Across Manger Square is the Mosque of Omar, the only mosque in the city.

Souvenier shops line the streets on our way to The Milk Grotto.

We got to look around one of the shops, which makes souveniers out of olive wood.

The Milk Grotto is considered sacred because tradition has it that while Mary was nursing Jesus here, a drop of milk fell to the ground turning the grotto white.

We went back to the Church of the Nativity to go to the Grotto of the Nativity. There was now a long line, but our guidewas able to get us down there without standing in line. It was quite small and crowded. You can see the crowd trying to take a picture of the exact spot where Jesus is said to have been born.

This was the best picture I could get.

Afterwards, we went for shwarma and falafel and to walk around Manger Square a bit more.

It was nice to see Christmas decorations...not something we see often in Israel.

There was some neat graffiti on the walls which lined the road back to the Israel/West Bank border. I wish I could have gotten out of the car to take more pictures.

Race recap: Nike Nightrun Tel Aviv 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:40:00 +0000

One week ago I acheived my goal of completing a 10K race before my 35th birtdhay (with a couple of months to spare)! It was a great race--a huge party atmosphere with lots of music and dancing. There were an estimated 15,000 people there and several DJs blaring music along the route, which made for an exciting, but crowded run.

Ron decided to run with me and I'm so happy he did. It was nice having him there throughout and to cross the finish line with me. We kept a pretty slow and steady pace. By about the 6th km, I was feeling really good (minus some knee pain) and decided I'd pick up the pace for the last 2km. When we got to the 8th km, I started dodging in and out of the crowd and passed some people. That lasted all of about 1 minute, but it was fun. I figured maybe I'd wait until the last km to finish strong. Well, once I got to the final km, I was hurting. My knees were really bothering me and I had a sharp pain running up the right side of my torso. I figured if I was going to finish the race without walking, I better just keep chugging along at my slow pace. It was a great feeling to run across the finish line! All I wanted to do was walk around and cool off, but because of the crowds we basically came to a stand still. It was really annoying, but won't deter me from running the race again next year.

I haven't run since the race. Mainly because I haven't been in the mood, but I've also decided I really need a new pair of running shoes. I have stupidly been running in the same pair I bought when I first started training a little over a year ago. They are worn out and not giving me the support I need anymore, which is more than likely why my knees were hurting so much during the race. My knees ache at the thought of running so I'm going to wait for a new pair before I hit the pavement again.

My Race Stats

Time: 1:16:18

Category (Women) Rank: 3000 out of 3533

Overall rank: 11,709 out of 12,541

I'm guessing that the categories were just men and women. I can't find (or translate) any other details. I'm also guessing there were more than 12,541 people there, but maybe that number was just those that ran with the timing chip. Who knows.

My stats are nothing to brag about, but I never walked and that's all that mattered to me. Maybe one day I'll start working on running at a faster pace.

I'm bummed that I didn't get a Finish Line picture or one of me after the race with my medal, but the end was so frustrating that I just wanted to geto the car and get home. All photos here were taken from the Nike Running Israel Facebook Page.

Running Update/Race Day

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:41:00 +0000

It has been 1 year and 11 days since my first post about my journey into the world of becoming a "runner" and publicly declaring my goal to run a 10K race by my 35th birthday. Since then, I've completed the Couch to 5K training program and competed in two races: the 10% race of the 2011 TLV Marathon and the 5K race of the FICPA 1040K. A few weeks after the FIPCA race, I broke my foot. After 5 weeks of wearing a walking boot and contemplating surgery and another few weeks of taking it easy, I finally started running again. I signed up for the Nike Night Run Tel Aviv, a 10K race through the streets of Tel Aviv that starts at 8p.m. To prepare for the race, I used the "Ease into 10K" program, which is a continuaton of the Couch to 5K, but a couple of weeks into the program, I began to get a little bored and each run seemed to drag out and felt more like a chore than something I was enjoying. One day I decided to ditch the program and just see how far I could run without walking. It was an amazing day! I ended up running 5K that day and found that I could enjoy running again. I never went back to using the program.

Tonight is the Nike Night Run and I'm happy to say I'm ready...I hope! :) I haven't trained as much as I should have in the last few weeks, but I think I should be ok. Just as with the previous races, my goal is to cross the finish line, not walk and not finish last. My last good run was exactly 2 weeks ago when I ran 5.56 miles. I've only run twice since then and neither run was anything spectacular. The weather has cooled off significantly so it should be a nice night. I'm crossing my fingers that with the cool temps and the energy from the crowd, I'll be pumped enough to do it despite my slack in training.

I'm super excited that I could protentially achieve my goal tonight. Honestly, I know I could have done more. Now that I know what I'm capable of, I know I could (theoretically) be running longer distances. The broken foot definitely didn't help, but I know I didn't train nearly as hard or as often as I could have. I still feel like I've come a long way, though. And I'm proud of my accomplishments. Stay tuned for a recap of the race.

I love the shirt! Obviously the "Catch Me If You Can" slogan doesn't exactly pertain to me.

Trick or Treat!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:56:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago we took our first trip to the Carmel Markel in Tel Aviv. We were happy to find pumpkins at one of the produce vendors. Kaitlyn and Daddy were ready to turn the pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern before we went trick-or-treating Saturday night. Kaitlyn was super excited about her first pumpkin carving!

She didn't expect that to be inside.

Ron drew the first eye and Kaitlyn wanted to do the rest. She drew the second eye and turned to ask "Is this perfect, Daddy?" :)

Reaching in to help with the dirty work.

After the pumpkin carving, we got ready for our friends to come over for pizza before the Trick-or-Treat event.

I made these cute little pudding cups for the big kids.

After everyone was full from pizza, we got the kids in their costumes and headed outside to start collecting candy.

We would have taken more pictures, but it was hectic getting 7 kids dressed and out the door.

The streets were crazy, but the kids had a great time! Kaitlyn was a lot more tolerant of the crowds than I thought she'd be. She stuck close with her Buzz Lightyear friend.

Jonathan had a BLAST! He didn't do any trick-or-treating, but was happy to just freely walk around checking out all of the costumes. Because he's still not completely steady on his feet, he looked like a true brainless scare crow stumbling around.

We had a great night! After one more snack, and Kaitlyn taking a moment to check out her loot, the kids were off to bed.

Happy Halloween!

And just a little bonus, this is a project I did with the kids...handprint spiders!

Happy Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 13:08:00 +0000

The kids are all ready for Halloween. Festive pajamas and of course, costumes are all ready to go. Tomorrow night is our trick-or-treating event and we can't wait!

Kaitlyn wanted to try on Jonathan's costume. "If I only had a brain."

A long overdue random update post will be coming soon. I promise!

Kaitlyn's First Camping Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 12:15:00 +0000

This is Ron, my wife allowed me to take the reigns for this blog to document Kaitlyn’s first camping trip. The idea came from a coworker who casually mentioned his thoughts on going camping during the local Rosh Hashana holiday (last Thursday and Friday). After briefly checking into the proposed campsite and gathering initial information, we felt comfortable enough ‘winging’ the rest of it. We both received approval from the spouses to take the kids (wasn’t sure if Michelle would go for it initially, she felt better after checking out the campsite online) and planned to head out Thursday afternoon. Our destination – the Be’erot campground at a national park named Makhtesh Ramon in the Negev, a large desert region in southern Israel.

After packing our bags and checking them twice, Kaitlyn was excited to head outside and wait for our ride.

After a 2.5 hour drive, most of it through desert-style landscape spotted with camels, we arrived at the Makhtesh Ramon visitor's center (makhtesh is hebrew for crater). This is one of the best locations to view the beauty and grandeur of the large Ramon crater. We couldn't pass up the opportunity for a memorable daddy/daughter picture.

Here's part of the northwestern rim of the crater and the road that drops you in.

Not sure where, but our campground is somewhere down there...

A random ibex on the rocks as we were checking out the views.

We arrived at the campground around 5pm and checked out the area to find the best spot to setup camp. Once the tent was up, Kaitlyn and her new friends, Hayden & Zev (right to lef), wasted no time making it their new playground.

There were a few options for tent locations, but we preferred the more secluded/private cove rather than the larger communal areas. There were plenty of other kids running around so we knew it wouldn’t be a problem to let the kids run wild.

After the tent was setup and our bags were unpacked, we walked around with the kids for a bit before getting ready for dinner. The self-starting charcoal ensured a successful fire.

Enjoying the last bit of sun before it set behind the hills.

It was nothing fancy, some hotdogs with a few other side items for dinner. We'd hoped to roast marshmallows afterwards, but the coals were done and we didn't bring any wood for a fire pit (note to self for next trip).

Kaitlyn had to do everything the big boys were doing, to include sitting on the wall for dinner.

After the kids enjoyed some awesome star gazing, to include seeing a satellite making its way across the nighttime sky (cool for us tech guys), the kids watched Tarzan before bed. Kaitlyn seemed to be more interested in what her new friends were doing rather than the movie, which she watches regularly at home.

We woke up around 6:15am to a beautiful morning after a comfortable night's sleep. The weather was perfect, a nice crisp and cool morning somewhere in the low 70s or high 60s. Michelle and I are normally up early with the kids on a daily basis, the difference is on this morning I was rewarded with an enjoyable sunrise to start the day.

After enjoying a cereal breakfast, we decided to go for a very short hike before breaking camp and heading out to beat the desert heat and rising temperatures.

Here's the entire Be'erot campground, which includes large bedouin-style tents, thatched roof coverings for multiple tents, and a few small coves. For just under $10 per night, per person (for kids over 3), the camground had really nice facilities to include showers, bathrooms, and sinks.

Kaitlyn pointing out our tent once she found it.

A small breakfast was provided in one of the large bedouin tents, but we were a little too early to enjoy it.

Heading home after an enjoyable trip. Kaitlyn seemed to have a great time and said she's ready to go camping again in the near future. The facilities were nice enough where I'd have no issues bringing the whole family out for our next camping trip. Hopefully we'll make it back out before rainy season arrives.

A Trip to the Dead Sea

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 11:12:00 +0000

Last Wednesday, we packed our bags for a surprise weekend getaway planned by Ron for our wedding anniversary. We hit the road early Thursday morning en route to...

...the Dead Sea!

We hadn't been to this part of the country yet, so I was excited to see something new and to "float in the waters of the salty Dead Sea", as described in Kaitlyn's Let's Visit Israel book. The desert surroundings were a lot different from the usual crowded streets we see in Tel Aviv. It was a nice a change of pace.

The Dead Sea's surface and shores are 1,388 ft below sea level, the lowest elevation on the earth's surface. There were roadside markers that let us know how far below sea level we were.

We saw a couple of camels on the side of the road, which sparked Kaitlyn telling us "I want to ride a camel" (also learned from her Israel book) for the next day and a half. We promised her that we would look for more camels near the hotel and she could ride one of them.

On our way to the hotel we stopped at Qumran National Park, best known as the settlement nearest to the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found between 1947 to 1956.

It was a beautiful day, but VERY hot!

We took a lunch break at the park. They didn't have any highchairs in their cafeteria so Jonathan had to sit in a regular chair--he looked like such a big boy!

After the kids ate, they chased each other around the relatively empty room. As I watched them laugh and play with each other, I got choked up. At that moment, I felt so blessed. Blessed to have two beautiful and healthy kids and a husband who loves his family more than anything. Was it a strange place to have such an emotional moment? Probably. But it was special and I don't want to forget that feeling.

After lunch we made our way to the Ein Gedi Hotel where we'd stay for the next two nights.

We spent the afternoon at the Ein Gedi Spa pool and took our first dip in the Dead Sea. Unfortunately, we left the camera at the hotel. After dinner, we put the kids to bed and snuck outside to toast to our 4 years of marriage.

Chilled wine sipped from paper cups (leftover from Jonathan's birthday party), our song (Tim McGraw's "My Best Friend") playing on the iPod with the kids tucked in bed inside...it doesn't get better than that.

Saturday morning we woke up and went to Masada, a national park which is a site of ancient palaces and fortifications and is best known for the violence that occurred there in the first century CE.

When you arrive at the park, you can choose how you want to get to the top plateau--a 45 minute hike on the snake-path (seen on the left side of the picture above) or a 5 minute cable car ride. Despite the extreme heat, Ron decided to hike. Of course Kaitlyn wanted to go with Daddy so the two of them made their way up the path. Jonathan and I browsed the gift shop for a bit then made our way to the cable car. In the photo below, you can see Ron and Kaitlyn on the first part of the path that angles towards the right.

Jonathan was happy to accompany Mommy on the shorter, less strenuous route.

A view of the hikers of the family from the cable car.

We enjoyed the view from up top while we waited for Ron and Kaitlyn.

Although they only had a short distance to go before reaching the top, Ron took advantage of one of the few shady spots along the path to rest.

They made it! As expected, Kaitlyn didn't want to walk much (can you blame her?) so Ron carried her most of the way. He was exhasuted! It was extremely hot (our car's external thermostat read 101F later that afternoon).

Jonathan was parched from just watching them.

If you'd like to learn more about the history of Masada, take a look at the Wikipedia site here. There was also a TV mini-series of the same name made about the final battle of the First Roman-Jewish War, which took place there.

Kaitlyn was tired of sitting in the stroller so she switched transportation modes with Jonathan. Silly girl.

For some reason, Kaitlyn was fascinated by her stinky feet. She gets that from her father...

Since Kaitlyn was still asking to ride a camel and we had yet to find any near our hotel, we decided to drive back to the original ones we saw.

Much like Kaitlyn was with Santa and the Easter Bunny (all talk), she didn't want to go near "Pistachio". She wouldn't even pet him.

Ron and Jonathan went for a ride instead, hoping that would encourage Kaitlyn.

No such luck!

Later that afternoon, we went back to the Spa to take another quick dip in the Dead Sea and spend time at the pool. The Spa had a tractor/trolley that took you down to the shoreline.

Just in case you were thinking about it, "BATHING IS PROHIBITED AT THIS SECTION OF THE BEACH." Really??

The kids watched from the shore while Ron and I passed our camera to a nice German tourist and quickly got in the water. Because Kaitlyn didn't like it the first day (the very salty water hurt the cut on her leg), she didn't stay in very long this time. We didn't even try with Jonathan for fear that he'd rub his eyes with salty hands.

For those of you that aren't familiar with it, one of the really neat things about the Dead Sea is the high salinity (saltiness). It is 8.6 times saltier than the ocean, making it much more dense and easier to float.

When you submerge yourself in the water and lean back, your legs just pop up to the water's surface. It was pretty cool!

We also rubbed ourselves in some Dead Sea mud, which is believed to have special healing qualities.

We had a great trip! Kudos to Ron for being thoughtful enough to plan such a nice surprise for us.

Not related, but still interesting: Driving along the wall separating the West Bank from Israel. It was kind of surreal.

Four Years ♥

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 12:00:00 +0000

Today, Ron and I are celebrating four years of marriage. We're heading out of town for 2 nights to celebrate (with the kids), but I have no idea where we're going. Ron planned it all and I'm excited for the surprise! I'm sure there will be lots of pictures when we return.

Ron, thank you for making the last 4 years the best years of my life. I'm a lucky gal to call you mine and Kaitlyn and Jonathan have no idea how lucky they are to have you as their father. And thank you for being thoughtful and planning this trip. I know it's going to be wonderful!

Happy Anniversary, Bubba! I love you. xo

Jonathan's First Year

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Almost a month later, but I've finally finished Jonathan's First Year video! In some ways we can't believe how quickly the year went by, but in other ways it feels like we just brought him home a few days ago. In just one year, he's brought an immeasurable amount of happiness into our lives. We love you, buddy!

You can check out Kaitlyn's first two videos here and here.

Weekend Adventures: Caesarea & Israel Railways

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:15:00 +0000

Two weekend's ago we got out of the house and braved the heat to go see some sites. Sorry for the delay in pictures...

**Saturday**
We drove about 30 minutes north to Caesarea, an antient port city built by Herod the Great over 2,000 year ago. I won't bore you with the details here, but you can check out wikipedia if you want to learn about the history.

Ron having his "Gladiator" moment.

There were some cool holograms of historical figures that told of their influence in the area.

They kind of freaked Kaitlyn out at first.

Jonathan zonked out on our way back to the car and slept the whole way home.

It was nice to get out and see some of the amazing history that surrounds us in Israel.

**Sunday**
Whenever we go to the mall or to the pool, we pass some of the Israel Railways train tracks. More often than not, we have to stop at the crossing and Kaitlyn loves watching the trains go by. She even gets excited when she can hear the trains while we're swimming in the pool at the Rec Center. Ron decided we needed to surprise her and take her on the train.

We didn't tell her where we were going and when we pulled up to the train station, she kept asking where we were. She was quite surprised when a train pulled up to the building a few moments later.

We only rode the train south a few stops. When we got off at the 3rd or 4th stop, we just headed to find the northbound train back home, never leaving the train station. Once we were back in our car on the way home, Kaitlyn cried because she wanted the train to take us to our house. The kids really enjoyed it and Kaitlyn still talks about it.

A fun day out wouldn't be complete without ice cream!

Kaitlyn is REALLY swimming again!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 19:16:00 +0000

After seeing the video of how well Kaitlyn has been doing in the pool, Ron was eager to see the action in person. We decided to head to the pool bright and early this morning to get some practice in before Ron had to be to work. Kaitlyn seemed excited to show off her skills telling Daddy she was going to show him how she swims to the steps. When we got to the Rec Center, she didn't want to swim. Figures! After some time in the kiddie pool, then time playing on the steps in the big pool, I told Ron to just grab her (you have to be sneaky or she runs out of the pool when she sees you coming for her) and tell her we're going to swim. She didn't put up too much of a fight, but as you'll see in the video if you don't stay next to her, she bolts out of the pool as soon as her feet touch the steps. After the second time she bolted, Ron said he didn't want to push her too much. I insisted she needed the push--she was doing so well, making such great progress and for the first time all week, she wasn't crying. He brought her back in and the next time she got out, we had to practically carry her out because she didn't want to leave. She was actually asking to swim to the steps! It was amazing. This was all in a span of about 30 minutes and as you'll see (at about 1:35 in the video) she's also started using her arms/hands.

I took her back this afternoon and she continued right where she left off this morning. Without any hesitation she told me to "go away", meaning away from the steps so she could swim to me. She must have gone back and forth between me and the steps 50 times. She was so quick to swim, get to me or the steps, then jump back in and do it again. I had to force her to take breaks. We practiced swimming to the wall and she even jumped in and swam to me. I'm so happy to have our little swimmer back! Hopefully, we can get enough practice before the weather cools off so we don't have start all over again next summer!

Kaitlyn is swimming again!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:44:00 +0000

On Monday afternoon while Jonathan napped, Kaitlyn and I were playing downstairs. Out of nowhere, she looked at me and said, "Maaaybe, we can go to the pool." She hadn't been to the pool in a few weeks and since she asked for it so out-of-the-blue I thought it would be a nice change. We got Jonathan up from his nap, packed a bag and headed out the door. I told Kaitlyn we would just be going to the kiddie pool because Mommy wasn't going in the water and she was fine with that. We were the only ones there and Kaitlyn immediately hopped in and started splashing around. She shocked me with how well she was kicking and how easily she was putting her face underwater. Here's a video from Day 1: (Side note: At the beginning, she's talking about 2 Kikis that she sees in my sunglasses and then she goes on to talk in some random language you probably don't understand. Nobody does. Kaitlyn has recently started babbling in her own language. It's pretty funny.)

I decided to take her back the next morning to take advantage of her newfound comfort with the water. She blew me away this time! She had improved overnight and was loving the water! We met my friend Rachel and her son Stanley and the kids had so much fun. As you'll see in this next video, there are times where she's actually swimming and not using her hands on the floor of the pool to move along. She also started practicing her soon-to-be-famous belly flop.

I was eager to get her in the big pool to get her to swim to the stairs. Once we were there she wouldn't let me come near her for fear that I would make her swim. After we played on the stairs, I finally got a hold of her and told her we were going to practice swimming. She didn't want to, but I explained it was just like she was doing in the kiddie pool. The first time she did it, she got to the steps and cried, but didn't get out of the pool like she usually does. I took her again and she swam to the steps one more time, again crying that she was "all done" when she sat on the steps. I told her she was doing so well and we would do it three more times. Just like last summer, once she did it a few times she stopped crying and started to enjoy it. She was more comfortable with it and was even shyly grinning with pride. On the last swim, she said "Look, Jonathan, I'm going to swim!" He was sitting in his stroller poolside admiring his big sister.

Jonathan's Birthday recap

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 18:19:00 +0000

Warning: LOTS of pictures ahead.

On Jonathan's birthday, he started the day off in a good mood but woke up from his nap with a fever. Ron took the afternoon off from work and we planned for a fun day out. Instead, we spent the rest of the afternoon inside and Jonathan was understandably cranky.

We ordered pizza and served Jonathan his first full slice. He wasn't quite sure what to do with it.

Ron lent a hand...

and he quickly caught on.

Geeta was there to help us celebrate.

Kaitlyn was on hand to help her little brother.

The cake seemed to help put him in a good mood.

The cake I made wasn't so great, luckily a friend picked up some yummy treats from a local cupcake shop in Tel Aviv.

Luckily, by the time the weekend rolled around, Jonathan was feeling much better with no signs of a fever and ready to party! We had a couple families over with a total of 9 kids ranging in age from 8 months to 3 years old.

Before guests arrived, we got the siblings together for a picture.

Both Kaitlyn and Daddy sported the same shirts they wore the day Jonthan was born. :)

Kaitlyn was such a good big sister helping her brother get around in the bounce house.

Singing happy birthday. Per usual, Kaitlyn gets shy even though they aren't singing to her.

Then Jonathan tore into the cupcake!

"How am I doing, Daddy?"

Kaitlyn and some of her buddies cooling off after time in the bounce house.

We really had a nice day and the kids had a blast. We still can't believe our boy is one!

Jonathan is 1 Year Old!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 18:28:00 +0000

At one year old, Jonathan:

wears size 3 diapers and size 12 mo - 18 mo clothes.
"talks" so much. He just babbles on and on about what he sees around him.
loves to dance. When he hears music, he starts to move.
points at everything.
loves Daddy! In the last few weeks Daddy has really become his favorite person and he says "dada" all day long. On the weekdays, Kaitlyn tells him, "Daddy's at work, buddy."
walks like a pro! He's picking up speed and only occassionaly has a stumble when he can't keep up with his own momentum.
mimics us. He laughs out loud when we do and when Kaitlyn gargles, he does the same. Silly kids.
is eating all sorts of "big" food. He transitioned from formula to milk like a champ and has had no reactions to all of the new foods he's eating.
does the cutest thing: when we're sitting on the floor playing, he'll walk over to us, turn around and back up to sit on our lap. I love it.
will be going fo rhis 12 month check up next week. I'll post updates on height/weight, etc.
continues to be an amazing sleeper.
is in a new convertible "big-boy" car seat, but he will remain rear-facing (see why here).

Happy birthday, Jonathan!

The Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 11:52:00 +0000

You'll often hear me complain about the trials and tribulations of parenthood. Kaitlyn is definitely going through the terrible years. Let's face it, it's not just the twos. Someone recently said to me, "Whoever wrote the book on terrible twos, wrote it before their kid turned 3." I've even jokingly described her behavior as resembling bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. (Not to make light of those very serious illnesses, but it's the best way I can describe it.) One minute she's crying for a certain food/toy/tv show and I give it to her. She then throws a fit that she doesn't want said food/toy/tv show. It's really awesome.

With Jonathan getting older, they are playing together more. Often times it's Jonathan chasing after Kaitlyn, trying to see what his big sister is doing and wanting to be part of it. Kaitlyn's response is usually, "No, Jonathan. Go away! It's my toy!" We've been trying to teach her to calmly tell Mommy or Daddy, "I don't like what Jonathan is doing, please move him." Sometimes she does, but mostly she screams at him. The other day as she and I played downstairs, we heard Jonathan on the baby monitor "talking" in his room after waking up from a nap. Without skipping a beat, Kaitlyn said, "No, Jonathan, I'm playing with this toy!" He wasn't even in the room...or on the same floor of the house. Sigh.
Thursday afternoon was so different. The three of us laughed, danced and played together and it was awesome. Kaitlyn had such a great time with Jonathan and he was so excited to play with her. Here are some funny videos I got:

One of my favorite moments that I unfortunately didn't get on video was when the three of us did a quick round of "Ring Around the Rosie" then Kaitlyn walked away to go play with a toy. Jonathan walked over to her and tried to grab her hands so they could dance again. It was the sweetest!

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When Ron works his later shift, he usually gets home as the kids are getting ready for bed. The kids can hear him when he walks in the door downstairs and they get super excited that Daddy's home. Here's a video of the excitement. Who wouldn't love to walk in the door to a greeting like this?

I Never Want to Forget: More Kaitlyn-isms

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:19:00 +0000

**I have been working on this post for at least a month now---trying to think of a few more things she's been saying, waiting to get a good photo to add, but time keeps passing. So, here it is...**

Kaitlyn has been saying some funny things lately. Some of my favorites:

hummus bird = humming bird

After our trip to Jerusalem we asked her which church we went to. She said, "Church of the Holy Spirit" = Church of the Holy Sepulchre

My purpose in taking the above picture was to capture the tiny little freckles that have recently shown up on the bridge of her nose. I love them.

Her version of "Baa Baa Black Sheep":

Aba black sheep, have you any wolves.

Yes sir, yes sir, 3 years old.

She still calls McDonald's (as in, the golden arches) "Old McDonald's".

And my absolute favorite: Sometimes at night she asks us to rock her. I usually sing "You Are My Sunshine" and lately, she's been singing along with me. It's the most precious thing. Ever. I had to sneak to turn the camera on one night so I could record it. You can't see anything because it was dark. Listen closely, at the end she tells me she's ready to go lay in bed. So sweet.

Aaaand, he's off...

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:49:00 +0000

After a full month of Jonathan taking baby steps and not letting us get any of it on film, he's finally taken off! Two days ago he decided walking was where it was at. He kept taking more and more steps and now he's walking around just about as much as he's crawling. And as I type this, he's rearranging furniture by pushing the coffee table across the room. Tomorrow he'll be running.

Here's a video of various clips from the last couple of weeks. Check out the last bit where he so easily pops up and walks as he's crawling out of the front door.

Jonathan is 11 months old!

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 18:56:00 +0000

At 11 months old, Jonathan:

is on the move! He's crawling, scooting, climbing and walking (5-6 steps at a time). The walking is still hit-or-miss, but he's taking more and more steps each day. He refuses to let me get any video, though! Taking pictures has gotten difficult, as well.
is wearing size 12 month clothes.
is still wearing size 3 diapers.
imitates our noises.
tries to say "hi".
is just about down to one nap a day. Some of that is because it's easier to keep him and Kaitlyn on the same nap schedule. He also still sleeps great at night...12-13 hours. Amazing!
loves to play with Kaitlyn. His favorite is climbing onto the couch and bouncing wtih her.
gets so excited when Daddy comes home from work.

This is often what happens after he takes a couple of steps:

Happy 11 months, Jonathan! xo

4th of July and other tidbits

noreply@blogger.com (Michelle T.) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:51:00 +0000

We had a fairly quiet weekend at home for the 4th of July. Being that we were in the middle of potty training bootcamp, we didn't get out much. On the fourth, we took the photos below then headed to the pool. Kaitlyn continues to do well in the water, venturing onto the deeper steps and getting more comfortable putting her face in the water.

We love that one above. Ron came up with the perfect caption: "235 years? Can you count that high? What's a year?"

Our cute little firecrakers.

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Potty training has been going really well. We are completely done with diapers, but not 100% trained yet. For the most part, Kaitlyn starts to pee in her underwear, but quickly tells us and finishes on the potty. The majority of the time, we just need to change her underwear and there is no major mess. Howver, today was a different story. She had quite a few accidents and seemed to have no interested in getting to the potty. I'm told this regression is normal. I hope it passes soon. The scooter she was promised as her reward arrived today, but we're not showing it to her until we are completely done. Cross your fingers that we're almost there.

*******

I recently bought a bottle of Mr. Bubbles for the kids' bath. I'm not sure who likes the bubbles more, Kaitlyn or our gnome.