Legoland Video

Christmas Silliness

Christmas in SoCal

We had a great trip down to Southern California for Christmas with my side of the family. As usual, it was a whirlwind -- hours in the car, lots of family time, celebrations at Dodie's house, celebrations at Kelly's house, trip to Legoland, etc. There are a lot of stories to tell, but I will let the pictures speak for themselves...

A Christmas Hug for Dodie

Rare Family Portrait (with cranky Hen)

The Kids' Table

Mimi and Her Grandchildren (We missed you, Nicolle!)

A Little Cousin Love

LaLone/Gruber/Landberg/Goldsmith/Gerber Women

LaLone/Gruber/Goldsmith/Landberg/Gerber Men (with cranky Hen)

Gee. Do you think we're related?!

Mama and Boys

Silly Dada and Max

Legoland!!!!

Cuties Inside the Shark

Getting Wet on the Pirate Ride

The Log Ride

Handsome Max

Another Rare Family Portrait

Yum! Ice Cream!

Home Makeover -- Alameda Style

Slowly but surely we're whittling away at the many home projects that face us in this 1940 Split-level Traditional that we call home. Since we moved in two years ago we've removed the carpet, painted almost every room, removed two giant juniper trees and installed a new deck and fence. The latest (and most expensive!) in this long line of projects has been installing new windows throughout the house. I knew these windows would improve our energy efficiency (ie get rid of the bitter cold wind blowing through the old aluminum windows). I knew they would cut down on street noise. I also knew they would enhance the look of the house, but I had NO idea what a big impact it would be! We followed the original architect's 1939 plan for the house and put in windows with grids. The overall look is so much more finished and formal than what we had before. I am absolutely beside myself because I love them so much!

Of course now that I've seen what a difference the windows make, I'm all the more eager to remove the vinyl siding, paint the house, landscape the yard, replace the front steps, etc, but we're not made of money around here, so these changes will have to wait. Stay tuned!

Our house when we bought it

House after tree trimming

House minus awnings and with new windows

Detail of boys' window

Side view

Front window before

Front window after

Living room before

Living room after

Dining room before

Dining room after

Boys' room with new windows

Bathroom with new windows

My "Little Big Kid"

I'm starting to come to grips with the fact that my baby is going to be three years old in a few months. Of course to Henry himself, babyhood is already a distant memory. "I'm not a baby," he'll tell you, "I'm a little big kid."

That's about as apt an assessment as anyone could offer for a boy who will clutch his stuffed dog and cry for me to hold him one minute, and then the next minute calmly inquire of his father, "How was your day today, Daddy? Was there traffic?"

Henry is sweet, and thoughtful, and cuddly, and adventurous, and smart. He is constantly cracking us up with his exclamations and observations. A few good ones from the past week:

"Mama! I fell down and hurt my schnoz!"
(upon opening his Hanukkah present) "Race cars! I can't believe it!"

Henry had all the parents in his Play Place class rolling last week when in the midst of a story about cows he yelled out, "We saw jumping cows at the Oakland Zoo!" (Editorial note: Sadly we did not, in fact, see jumping cows at the Oakland Zoo. Now THAT would be something!).

Henry is a second child. He definitely doesn't get the one-on-one attention that his older brother got there for a couple years. You'd think that this might make him slower to pick up on certain things. If anything, however, the opposite appears to be true. Henry is living proof that one-on-one attention is completely overrated. This kid learned the alphabet on his own, and surprised us all by singing it in its entirety one day (see video clip). Sometimes, the depth and breadth of his knowledge is truly astonishing and I'm left scratching my head and wondering, "Where in the hell did he learn that?"

One great example of this was a couple weeks ago when Henry asked me to trace his hands to make a turkey. We did this and then he wanted me to draw the turkey's face. I thought I had done a passable job, but he sternly reminded me, "Mama, you forgot the wattle." Wattle?!! Where did that come from??!!

There's also been evidence that all of a sudden Henry is starting to consider some deeper issues. He finds certain cartoons and movies "scary" in a way that his brother never did. He also stopped me in my tracks the other day by asking out of the blue, "Why were the bad guys in the synagogue?" I just about had a heart attack wondering if my 2 1/2-year-old was asking about the Nazis, but then quickly realized that he must be referring to the Hanukkah story. We talked about the ancient Syrians and left the Nazis for another day.

Little "Hen" is full of surprises, and it is such a joy watching him grow from a baby to a boy.

Trial Run

My friend Courtney from back in Virginia is trying to help me learn how to increase photo size on the blog. HTML code is not my cup of tea to say the least, but let's see how this works...

Eight Days of Eating (and other revelry)

Mmmmm....cookies...

Why does my "Dreidel Cake" look like a shovel?

Party Animal!

Holy Batcave, Batman!

Presents Galore

A Hanukkah Feast

The Family (and my first brisket!)

We found Max's old Hanukkah bib

Max wearing the bib 4 years ago for his first Hanukkah

Thanks a Lot, Rainstorm.

I guess I should get out the rake.

First Night of Hanukkah

"Traditional" Dinner of Hanukkah Mac 'n Cheese

My Guys lighting the menorahs

Beautiful Candlelight

Playing with their gift -- Hot Wheels racetrack and race cars

Thanksgiving 2010

This year Thanksgiving week was a non-stop party. We're talking one birthday (Scott), two baby showers (Nicolle), two Thanksgivings, and hundreds of miles of driving up and down the state. We gorged ourselves at restaurants (thumbs up for Hernandez's Hideaway, thumbs down for Mimi's Cafe), and had a great time hanging out as a family. Nicolle and David were over from England, and it is hard to believe that the next time I see them, they'll have a baby girl!

Max and Henry did a great job with all of the events and location changes. They were their typical entertaining selves. Max's best comment of the week was when he saw a large cross outside of a church and exclaimed, "Wow! Look at that glowing sword!". Henry, whose vocabulary is exploding, fell off of a chair and announced, "I fell down and hurt my schnoz!" I guess this goes to show that they're both growing into good Jewish boys!

We're all a bit tired from the constant revelry, but true party animals never sleep. Hanukkah starts tomorrow. We're breaking out the dreidels and menorahs around here, so keep your eyes peeled for updates and photos coming soon.

Thanks for the cute outfits, Mona Mona!

Kicking back before Thanksgiving feast #1 in Valencia

Great Grandma Sophie

A Bun in the Oven

Family Baby Shower at Cousin Kelly's House

3 1/2 LaLone Ladies!