Matt's birthday

Happy birthday Matt! Matt loves coffee so I decided to make him a cup of coffee. Not my best effort, but the cake itself was good, banana with mocha frosting.
We had the cousins over for dinner so the cup was not going to be big enough, enter the Homer Simpson donut. Sydney decided on the wording for the cake.



We love birthday's! Blowing out candles is always a high point!

Can you see it?

Can you see the bruise on my poor boy's lip? I tried to multi-task at
the library today, only to have Akiva fall off the chair and wind up
with a bloody lip. I thought the librarian was going to pass out!
He's a trooper.

Vacation; day three

Our last day of vacation. We decided to throw the kids in the pool before we drove home. We wanted to exhaust them for the drive home. the girls really did not want to go home, it's a good thing we have plans to come back in a few week to celebrate all the birthdays and anniversaries.
Lior mastered her "CANNONBALL" on this trip. I remember a child who just about refused to jump in the pool at the beginning of this summer. I wonder where she went?





Sydney also mastered "CANNONBALL!!"



Akiva is starting to be a real daredevil.


Sydney is just about fearless and willing to try anything Matt wants her to do.
She was really proud of herself the first time she balanced on his shoulders and jumped.

Jordan is not much of a daredevil. She is very cautious. Jordan is a great swimmer but does not feel very comfortable swimming the way Sydney and Lior do. I am sure that by next summer I will not be able to keep up with her.


Not the best picture of our little Jordan but she is cute anyway!

Vacation; day two

I should have said that this vacation was rather spur of the moment and was not an overly planned vacation. We decided to head over to the West Coast after Lisa contacted us about their trip to Sanibel. Much to my delight Matt wanted to meet them and I quickly found a place to stay before he could change his mind. We had originally planned on leaving Friday morning, early but on Thursday at about five Matt called and asked if we could leave that night at about nine when he got home from work. "sure" I said as I glanced around the house and realized that NOTHING was ready to go. I was not even sure what we were going to have for dinner! Thank goodness my parents were over and graciously took us out for a very quick meal and I was able to pack up four kids in an hour without forgetting anything important! We were packed and ready by the time Matt got home from work.
The kids were so excited! As we were pulling out of the driveway I heard Sydney say "I can't wait to see vacation!" We drove and drove and drove and the kids slept until Matt pulled into a convenience store for beer and then all hell broke loose. The kids had a great nap and were excited because we were staying in a hotel and we were on vacation. they were up until two and Matt and I were defeated. They were very lucky they slept until nine because we needed it!They slept late after our very busy day with Scott and Lisa and were ready for a day at the beach, but not the "far beach", Sydney was not up for another hour and a half car ride to Sanibel!
The beach in Naples was very peaceful and much cooler than the water in Sanibel and the water was very refreshing. We spent the day playing in the sand.Carrying buckets of water, and drinking coffee.
Matt spent a ton of time in the Gulf trying to find some wild life.
They found tons of fish and Matt was so excited when the kids actually saw the fish this year. They found a Conch shell with an actual Conch inside. My super brave Sydney was an excellent model and loved holding the "living shell".We decided to put it back into the Gulf so we did not kill it.
Our next discovery was a Sand Dollar.


We put it in a bucket which Lior filled with sand and water.

I felt the need to put it back into the water ASAP, before we killed it.
Akiva, what did he do? He ate all day long!

Vacation; day two- part two

On the second day of vacation we decided to go out for an early dinner and watch the sunset on the beach, For me it was a great photo opportunity and I think I got some really great shots, when the kids were cooperating.
I love this picture of Sydney because it really shows her adventurous spirit. She tried really hard to keep her skirt dry.The next few photos demonstrate how hard it is to get three kids to look at the camera. Chances are it is just not going to happen.


It is probably not going to happen because Akiva can not sit still!

I did get some really cute pictures of Sydney and Lior who were loving each other.

Too bad the color is off in these pictures, because I really like them.

This picture may be my favorite of the girls.

Then they started to goof off again and the camera battery started to die.
The pressure was really on and the camera was not really cooperating.

I think these pictures are the only pictures where the kids are actually looking at the camera.

I love these pictures of Jordan.


She is such a big kid now.

Too cute!

This one of Sydney, her eyes are so beautiful!

Lior looks so serious but I think she looks like a knock out!
Believe it or not it is hard to get a picture of the front of Akiva's head! I happen to like this picture because it shows how good the girls are with him.

I love this one for the same reason. Sydney loves Akiva and he loves her.


We brought a kite down to the beach and Akiva loved it.

Finally a picture of his face.

Vacation; day one

We traveled over to the west coast this weekend to visit with my cousin Scott, his wife Lisa and their beautiful daughter Julia. They had their nephews Brenden, who loved getting his picture taken and Levi who was great with the kids. As I was strapping Jordan into th car seat she said "That Levi is a nice boy!" and she was right he was a real charmer! He had his hands full trying to hold onto Akiva for a picture! That boy will not stay put for a second.
Akiva got to check out someone his own size but was not sure of what to do with her.
I tried to get a picture of "the girls", they are all so cute.
All the kids had a great time playing with each other.
We played on the beach where I decided that Scott has cloned himself, Julia is his "mini me!"
The kids had a blast looking for shells and digging in the sand.
Believe it or not the gulf was too warm and swimming was not as refreshing as it should have been. Last year when we were there the water was chilly and the waves were huge.
We ate terrific meals by the pool, thank goodness for the BBQ! and had a wonderful wonderful time invading our cousins vacation. Lisa is such a great mom and Julia is an absolutely beautiful baby! It is great to see my "little" cousin Scott so happy with such a beautiful family. I'm glad we had the chance to spend time with them and hope we can do it again next year!
Thanks Scott, Lisa and Julia!