The Celebrations Continue

It's been an exhausting, but fun, birthday weekend in the Reichmann household.

Saturday afternoon, Aunt Lori, Uncle Sam and Cousin Ozzie came over to wish Alex and Arielle a Happy Birthday. Alex and Ari ran all over the house playing with Ozzie and loved their gifts: a pretty bracelet for Ari and a sprinkler for Alex (who will obviously share it with Ari once the weather gets warmer). But the gifts they seemed to love the most were the number 2 cookies Aunt Lori made for them.

Later in the afternoon we had a playdate with friends Riley, Marin and Cayla. After the playdate we all headed over to Nana and Poppy's house for a birthday dinner. Alex and Ari enjoyed spending time with Nana and Poppy and were delighted with their birthday gifts: a doll named Arielle(!) for Ari and a workbench for Alex.

Today we had lots of visitors: first, 2/3 of the Arking clan came over to wish Alex and Ari happy birthday and bring them their gifts. Alex and Ari were disappointed that Zack and "Big Alex" didn't come over, but were happy to see their friends Vivi and Ella and their mommy and daddy. Ari, who's new interest is playing dress-up, was so excited to get an entire princess dress-up set, complete with jewelry. Alex's eyes lit up when he saw his gift: a huge Play-Doh set!!
After the visit from the Arkings, Cousins Denise, Jason and Ayden came over for one last visit before they had to head back to Arizona this afternoon. Alex and Ari miss their Cousin Ayden already- when they woke up from their naps, they were still asking for him!

Finally, this afternoon was Alex and Ari's birthday party at My Gym. With 25 2- and 3-year olds running, jumping and climbing around (not to mention hyped up on sugar), Mommy was very glad she decided to have Alex and Ari's party outside of our own house this year. And Alex, Ari and all of their friends had a blast-- they had two great instructors, Mr. Aaron and Mr. Nate, who kept all of the kids entertained for over an hour. Alex and Ari were so happy to have so many of their friends in the same place: their cousins, their classmates, their neighborhood friends and their twin friends. Kira, who was due for a nap, was wide awake and just fascinated with everything going on around her.

Ari and Alex get the party started

Ari with Matan and Jeremy Alex and MommyKira joins in the funBubble time with Cousin Naomi, Macey and Riley Time for MORE CAKE!Ari and Adam have a chat over pizzaAlex gets a ride from Mr. NateAlex gets a birthday hug from Cousin NaomiAri playing with the puppets under the parachute

Needless to say, we're all pooped tonight and ready for a relaxing week spent catching our breath and, for Mommy and Daddy, getting used to saying we have 2-year olds!

Alex and Arielle, Version 2.0

It is almost impossible to believe that two years have passed since Alex and Arielle came into this world a on a sunny and clear March morning. It's even harder to comprehend how they've gone from this:

to this:
There is certainly no greater joy than watching your children grow and develop into their own personalities.

The past six months have been a whirlwind of development and suddenly we no longer have toddlers in our household, but full-fledged children.
Ari can be described as charming, coy, happy, manipulative, loving and stubborn. She is now talking in multi-word sentences like "Mommy, sit down," "Go away, rain," and "Ari do it." She has entered the "me"stage, as in "me do" everything from putting on her own shoes, to holding her own milk cup as Mommy pours the milk, to eating her cereal and yogurt by herself to getting up in her carseat on her own (something she has just mastered in the past couple of weeks). Her new favorite activity is standing outside and watching for airplanes in the sky. She loves everything Elmo, pushing her dolls in the double stroller, coloring and stickers. Lately she also likes dressing up in her bunny costume, so Mommy got her some dress-up clothes for her birthday. Ari also loves blowing bubbles and has gotten very good at it.

Ari has also become very adept at climbing, thanks in part to practice at our weekly gym classes. She and her brother keep up with the rest of the big kids on the playground now. She is also quite the smarty- she can identify several letters of the alphabet, her favorite being "O" and "A." Ari loves seeing her friends and seems to have a core of favorites, including neighbors Andrew, Riley and Ryan, as well as her classmates Adam and Abby. Ari is getting very good at sharing and will often (but not always) sacrifice a toy for someone (like Alex) who is crying. But if she is intent on keeping the toy, watch out-- she will scream "mine" at a pitch that could break windows, although she will offer an alternate toy to attempt to pacify the offending interloper.

Alex is all sweetness, love and laughter if not a bit short-tempered. Like his sister, he is also talking in multi-word sentences now and he also LOVES to sing songs. When he wakes up in the morning or from his naps, he often lays in bed and sings at the top of his lungs. He seems to have picked up Mommy's singing ability (i.e, none) but that doesn't stop him from proudly crooning his favorite tunes. He can sing the alphabet and many of the songs he hears in the car or in school. His ability to remember the words is impressive.

Alex is a love bug. He gives hugs freely and will come up from behind Mommy to give her a big hug because he knows it makes "Mommy happy." If his sister is crying, he will bring her water or milk or offer her a toy. He gives hugs to friends who are upset. He is also usually good at sharing, although he has many of his "mine" moments too.

Alex LOVES big vehicles: trucks, tractors, fire engines, busses, trains etc. He also loves climbing and jumping (which he's mastered in the past couple of months). He has a great sense of direction and remembers locations long after we've been there. He is also going through a "me" stage, insisting on doing EVERYTHING himself. Mommy has had to explain to him that some things (like cooking, taking things out of a hot oven, etc.) are "Mommy jobs" but for most tasks, she lets him participate. Alex and Ari both have step-stools in the kitchen which allow them to take part in preparing meals, not to mention reach things on the counter that we may not have wanted them to have in the first place!

Alex also likes to build with blocks, although he is quick to anger if his tower falls (or is knocked down by a certain sister, and we're not talking about Kira). He generally gets frustrated when he doesn't get his way and has been known to throw a few really good tantrums. Luckily they don't last long and so far (knock on wood) haven't happened out in public. Most of the time, Alex is a happy boy with a trademark laugh that can make anyone smile.

Alex and Ari's second birthday is being celebrated with a weekend full of festivities. We kicked things off last night at Miri and Opa's house. We celebrated not only Alex and Ari's birthday, but Uncle Jason's birthday (this past Thursday) and Cousin Denise's birthday (earlier in the month) as well. It was a particularly special evening as all of the cousins were together in one place:

Alex and Ari were spoiled by their grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins-- these lucky two-year olds got an outdoor water and sand activity table from their Aunt Debbie, Uncle Jason and Cousins Naomi and Jonathan, Arizona T-shirts from their Arizona Cousins Denise, Jason and Ayden and tricycles from Miri and Opa. Add in some chocolate birthday cake and rambunctious cousins and Ari and Alex were in hyper overdrive the entire evening. It's amazing they settled down enough to go to sleep when they got home!

Kira watches the excitement, eager for her own birthday one day!

Uncle Jason celebrates his birthday with Cousin Naomi

Alex and Ari open their gift with some help from Cousins Jonathan and Naomi

The best part- cake!!

Alex rides his gift from Opa and Miri

Ari's already a pro at riding her new tricycle

This morning the celebrations continued as Alex and Ari got to open all of the gifts that have been piling up this week. They also got their gift from Mommy and Daddy-- a new kitchen of their own (that Mommy and Daddy stayed up assembling until midnight last night!!) They also got puzzles from friend Andrew, building bricks from friend Mitchell, clothes from their Aunt Candy, Uncle Jerry and cousins Jared and Jordan, books and stickers (Ari's favorite!!) from their friends Kaylee and Alyssa, dress up clothes for Ari from Mommy and Daddy, a train and blocks for Alex from Mommy and Daddy and lots of other gifts. Alex and Ari seem to like this concept of birthdays. These kids are in toy overdose today!

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Tonight the festivities continue with a playdate at friend Riley's house followed by a birthday dinner at Nana and Poppy's house. Tomorrow is the big party...stay tuned for more pictures!

Kira-sized Playmates

Kira finally had her chance this week to visit with some babies her age instead of always hanging out with her big brother and sister's friends.

Cousin Ayden and his parents came into town on Tuesday, so on Wednesday Mommy took Alex, Ari and Kira to meet up with them at the mall with the indoor train. After a snack for everyone (a bottle for Kira, cereal for Ayden and smoothies for Alex and Ari), the whole crew enjoyed a trip around the mall on the choo-choo train. Alex and Ari were very excited to meet Ayden (they were talking about him the entire ride to the mall) and Kira was glad to have someone her size to hang out with.

Today while Alex and Ari had fun in school, Mommy and Kira went to visit Ayden's mommy Denise. Unfortunately, Ayden was napping the entire time we were there, but we'll get to see him tomorrow night. After our playdate with Denise, we stopped by to visit friend Ella and her mommy. Remember how small Ella was the last time we visited her? Well now she is much bigger-- not quite as big as Kira yet but she's getting there!

While we were visiting, Kira tried very hard to impress Ella by rolling over, but she didn't quite make it....yet:

After our two playdates we went to pick up Ari and Alex from school, and Mommy gave them early birthday gifts she picked up while out with Kira:

We're all excited to celebrate Alex and Ari's (and their Uncle Jason's) birthdays over the next few days!

Purim at School

Some cute pictures from Purim celebrations at Alex and Ari's school, including making hamentashen, a Purim parade and making crowns:

Hami-tassy

Friday was our first Friday without Spanish class (it ended last week) so we found ourselves with some time to run errands and just enjoy an unstructured morning. We took an outing to pick up some supplies for Alex and Ari's 2nd birthday party in the morning, and in the afternoon we got ready to host Shabbat dinner with Miri, Nana and Poppy Jack. Since it was Purim, and since Alex's new favorite cookie is the hamentashen (or, in his words, "hami-tassy!") Mommy decided to try to make some for dessert. Ari and Alex watched with rapt attention as Mommy made the dough; Ari then lost interest in the process, but Alex wanted to help every step of the way, rolling the dough, putting the filling in the middle of the cookies, folding them into triangles, and watching them cook in the oven. Kira watched from her high chair as her big sister and brother helped Mommy:

If we can say so ourselves, our hami-tassy came out delicious, and Poppy Jack even declared them better than the store-bought kind! Nana, Poppy and Miri stuck around for bath time before Alex, Ari and Kira all went to bed.

Saturday we all celebrated friend Max's third birthday party at a big gym similar to Alex and Ari's gym, but with different equipment. Alex and Ari had a blast climbing, running and jumping, and even Kira got in on the action.

After we got home from the party, Aunt Lori, Uncle Sam ("Ham" to the kids) and Ozzie came over for a visit before dinnertime.

Next up: Alex and Ari's second birthday! T minus six days and counting!!!

Purim Fun

Tonight marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Purim, which is a very fun holiday, especially for children. Alex and Ari celebrated Purim in class today, making hamentashen cookies, masks, crowns, gragers (noise makers) and mishloach manot, or baskets of goodies, for Mommy and Daddy. Here they are sporting their crowns as they eat their snack (notice that they both can eat their yogurt now, as well as their cereal, by themselves!):

Tonight Mommy decided to take Alex and Ari to our synagogue for a Tot Megillah service while Daddy stayed home with Kira. We got an extra unexpected use out of Alex and Ari's Halloween costumes, as they dressed up to take part in the celebration. Alex and Ari were excited to see lots of their friends (including classmate Matan), all of the different costumes (their favorite was an Elmo costume and a cow costume) and to hear the loud noise of the gragers. Their favorite part, however, was the hamentashen cookies (of course!)

Ari's ready for a hamentashen!

Alex has already started on his hamentashen

Curly bunny

Alex the lion with Sadie (Queen Esther) and Gabriel (an iPhone)

Alex and Matan the police man

Earlier in the week, Miri and Opa stopped by for a visit before Opa went to Germany to visit the kids' great grandma Oma. Opa read some stories and the kids had a fun time with their grandparents.
Kira had a chance to spend some quality time with Miri today while Alex and Ari were in school and while Mommy took advantage of some free time. We also had a playdate with twin friends Rina and Celia this week, who are expecting their own new little sister in just a few days. Alex and Ari also learned to bowl this week by playing with a new toy that was technically a gift for Kira. They claim they're just trying it out for her until she is old enough to use it. Meanwhile, a helpless Kira could just watch from her seat in the exersaucer:This busy week went by very quickly- we're hoping for a relaxing weekend!