a conversation with amelia

this took place on thursday 12/11 as we were compiling goodie bags for our annual chanukah party with friends:

i said something about only jewish people celebrate chanukah...

amelia: am i jewish?

me: yes, and when you are in kindergarten, you will go to hebrew school like chloe does.

amelia: is chloe REALLY jewish?

me: yes, honey she is.

amelia: and when i go to hebrew school, i will be REALLY jewish!

sort of like being a little hungry and REALLY hungry.... 8-)

the girls' schedule

i always swore i wouldn't be one of those moms who over-schedules their children. oh, well -- it's the thought that counts, right? there is just too much to do! and every activity has its benefits! so far, it is just chloe who is over-scheduled. hopefully i can save amelia from the chaos until 1st grade. fortunately, chloe doesn't seem to mind.

now that chloe is in first grade, she in school 5 full days. i drop her off at school at 9:00 (much easier for me since her school and amelia's school are right next door. otherwise, we'd have to be at the bus stop at 8:15). she gets off the bus at 3:50.

as some of you may know, i am planning on rejoining the work force next fall (2009) in the not-for-profit sector hopefully in a part-time role. (if you have any contacts for me, please let me know!) so, in order to prepare amelia for 5 full days next year, her schedule this year is 3 full days (m/w/f) and 2 half days (tu/th). she loves school! her teachers are amazing and really into art. amelia's schedule will also allow me the time i will need to update my resume (which is 16 years old), research, network, interview, etc. which i am planning to start after the new year.

every other wed, chloe has brownies right after school, which she loves! there are 9 other girls and 2 leaders and she talks about it a lot. on thursdays the girls have gymastics. on friday, they have swim. amelia is finally doing the doggie paddle! on saturdays they have soccer. this was not a crowd favorite at first, but i think it's growing on them. it is a very laid back league that just allows them to get the basics and get some fresh air. this saturday is the last day actually so we'll be free saturday mornings now! sundays is hebrew school for chloe only.

now chloe is expresssing an interest in piano lessons and when i told her she'd have to give something up she said "i'll give up school!"

one cute thing: at school, chloe recently had to talk about a hero of hers during "morning meeting" (formerly known as "circle time"). she wrote down "my casin molly is a hero beycas she is good at soker." then she drew a picture of molly kicking a soccer ball and chloe in the goal. adorable!

the funnies

amelia has had a few cute things lately:
* miley "siren" (instead of cyrus)
* miracle round (instead of merry-go-round)
* "don't even do a peek"
* re: a boo boo -- "it's getting goner and goner and goner!"
* eating a thin mint for the first time -- "it was minter and minter and minter!"

it is fun watching chloe reading new words and discovering what they REALLY are as opposed to how they sound. she recently saw "tug-of-war" and said "oh! i thought it was tuggawar"

one day amelia said she liked the shirt chloe was wearing. chloe didn't hesitate and said, "well you'll have it in a couple of years."

reid turns 5!

on 11/2, we celebrated reid's 5th birthday party, first at the bowling alley and then at home. a wonderful time was had by all! and i beat my father in bowling even after 2 gutterballs on the first frame!!! i was on FIRE! did i mention i had ZERO after the first frame and still won?? 8-)

HALLOWEEN!

halloween is my 2nd favorite holiday (after christmas, of course!)! that week the girls each had a parade at their school so i included a picture from that. then on 10/31, we started off the festivities with a pizza party at our house for all the neighborhood families with kids in 3rd grade or younger. this included 10 families with a total number of 36 attendees (21 kids and 15 adults). after the pizza was inhaled, we took some pictures (this is our back deck), gave out candy and headed out for trick or treating! the girls LOVED it! they got so much candy that they didn't balk when i asked them to hand over 20 pieces each for less fortunate children (our local toy store was collecting....).....

amelia's birthday party -- PART 2

this post has some pictures from the family/close friend party at home later the same day. it was a costume party with halloween bingo, pin the nose on the pumpkin and decorate your own pumpkin. i think the kids had a good time!

amelia's birthday party at My Gym

on 10/25, we celebrated amelia's 4th birthday with two parties. this post has some pics from her kids party at My Gym (like "little gym" or gymboree). there were 23 kids there mainly from her class.... much fun was had by all!

halloween at sesame place -- 10/08

on 10/19, we spent the day at sesame place with my good friend melissa and her two kids. it was so much fun! there was trick-or-treating throughout the park, halloween-themed shows (one that starred the count, of course!) and all the "dry" rides. (the water rides were closed of course.)

the top picture is the girls with prairie down in a hayride (without hay!), the middle is amelia, alexandra, chloe and jackson on some stationary haystacks. chloe, by the way, is a witch but she wouldn't wear her hat! the bottom picture is left to right melissa, alex, burt, jack, ernie, chloe, me, amelia.

chloe and her teacher -- 10/08

here is a cute shot of chloe and her teacher, ms. liotti, at the bridal shower that the kids (with the mommies' help!) threw for her. she is now mrs. van nostrand! chloe loves her and is learning so much! chloe's reading has jumped several levels since school began!

rosh hashanah -- 9/08

here is the only picture i took on rosh hashanah... the girls are enjoying the jewish holidays more and more, especially chloe who absolutely LOVES hebrew school! we joined the temple in town in august... chloe attends class from 9am to noon on sundays with 8 other children. it is a multi-age class which includes grades K through 2nd. a big coincidence was when i found out her teacher would be my former la leche league leader!

for both rosh hashanah and yom kippur, we attended family services for about an hour at the temple. it is really geared for the kids and they truly enjoyed them as did we!

our nieces, molly (on left) and emily (on right) are turning into beautiful young ladies before our eyes! molly will be 15 next month (december) and is a freshman in HS. emily will be 13 in february and is in 7th grade.

best buds forever -- 9/08

here's a cute picture of larry and jeff at the very last game at shea stadium. (the mets will have a new stadium next season.) jeff got tickets for larry's birthday and surprised him with a few special guests -- a few of his childhood friends whom he hadn't seen in awhile.

bathtime -- 9/08

at the risk of facing my daughters' wrath many years from now, i am posting this adorable shot. i love that the suds hide everything! it is the suds dripping down from amelia's elbow that are covering up chloe! 8-)

crazy weather on amelia's birthday!

it is 34 degrees and snowing today. crazy! so amelia is 4 today! hard to believe..... she is at nursery school as i type this eating the halloween cupcakes that i brought in. chloe was cute this morning... she asked amelia to wait upstairs while she went downstairs "to make a surprise party" for amelia. she made a birthday crown and a sign and gave her a little key (to a diary) that she said was the key of friendship.

i have a bunch of pics to post but i think i'll wait until after halloween on friday.... stay tuned......

something cute/heartbreaking

i was filing a boatload of paperwork today (some from 2006!) and i found this cute letter that chloe wrote last fall. as most of you know, our dog casey is getting up there in years (he was rescued from the pound so our best guess is 13 yo) so we have been preparing the girls that the end is approaching....

dear casey,

i love you. i will miss you when you are dead. i will be very sad.

love, chloe

Chloe is finally dry at night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

how could i have forgotten to mention this major milestone in the barth household?????????????? chloe's pull-up was becoming more dry than wet after school got out in june. by the time we went to VA (mid-july) it was pretty much dry every night but i didn't want to take a chance there! so as soon as we got home, chloe began wearing panties to bed and she has not had one accident!!!! YIPPEE! 8-)

the funnies

two cute things from amelia:

* instead of saying "i can make her feel better", amelia says: "i can feel her better"

* last month, when we were 10 min from home on the way to DE, we realized that we forgot our pillows so we turned around to go home. a few minutes later, amelia saw a bird flying in
the sky. she said "maybe the bird is going home to get his pillow too!"

here is a priceless youtube video... you may have to watch it a few times to fully appreciate it (at least i did!).... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM

that's it for now! to be continued.....

at the bus stop / amelia's school playground

ok -- i just discovered that there is a 5 pic max per post. good to know!

first day of school!!!

back-to-school here is going well so far... chloe is in a first grade class with 2 of her good friends so she is very happy. amelia switched schools from the day care center where she was since 18m to a true pre-school in town for just 3 and 4 year olds.... she loves it! we are calling it the "big girl school" and chloe went there as well so amelia is familiar with the building and playground.

two funny things so far: poor chloe got made fun of for her sippy cup at lunch (does teasing really start this young????!!!! how else do you transport milk so it doesn't spill????? i guess i need to invest in a few more stainless steel thermoses....) and poor amelia marched right up onto chloe's bus on the first day of school thinking it was for her! she cried when i took her off!

visit with tammy

in late august, the girls and i went to visit tammy (one of my oldest and dearest friends) and her boys at their public pool in pound ridge NY (west chester county). it was a little chilly so we didn't last there long! myles will be 4 on 9/21 and is only 5 weeks older than amelia. bennett is 18 months.

lewes, DE

in august we were invited to spend a weekend at the beach house of betty and jay (jeff's cousins) in lewes DE. they have 2 girls -- andrea will be 12 in december and heather is 7. larry, denise, molly and emily came down as well so it was a house full of girls!!! we had a fabulous time swimming, biking, watching the olympics and visiting the boardwalk in rehoboth.

surprise for uncle larry

for larry's 50th birthday, denise organized a surprise chocolate tasting for the family. he was VERY surprised but the new camera malfunctioned at the moment he arrived so we don't have a great pic of his chin hitting the floor! we all had a wonderful time!

our nieces, molly and emily, are approaching babysitting age which is very exciting for us!! molly will be 15 in december and is a freshman in HS. emily is 12 1/2 and in 7th grade. they both play soccer and the piano.

hiking in the sourlands

the sourland "mountains" are visible from our house and the hiking trail entrance is only a 5 minute drive away. i give the girls "collection bags" and they go to town!!!

a few more family reunion pics

the top one is everyone (obviously), the middle one is the barth girls with mcskimin girls and the bottom one is the requisite bathing suit shot!

great grammy at the family reunion

ok -- as you can see i am still getting the hang of this! here are some pics of great-grammy...

family reunion!

in july we spent a week in a large beach house in virginia beach with jackie's mom's side of the family. there were about 25 ppl in one 8 bedroom house! a fabulous time was had by all!!!

on the left is amelia with one of our newest cousins -- identical twin baby girls born in 12/07 to excited parents matt & stacey mcskimin. i think this one is ellie!!!

on the right is chloe feeding piper (i think!) with aunt marilyn and aunt melanie.