In November, right before Thanksgiving, Daddy came down with H1N1 ("swine flu"), leaving Mommy and the kids to fend for themselves for a few days while he was wiped off his feet. It was a little scary as Daddy never really gets sick; he even had a quick visit to the hospital after he had a "convulsive syncope" (basically a convulsion before he fainted) from dehydration. Luckily the rest of the family survived unscathed, and Mommy got the kids out for some fun adventures including a visit to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum and a show by the kids band Rocknocerous and entertainer the Great Zucchini at the Historic Sixth and I Synagogue in DC. The kids especially enjoyed taking the Metro into DC for the show.
Alex and Ari pilot a Cessna at the Udvar-Hazy Center
In front of the Space Shuttle at Udvar-Hazy
Alex's favorite part of the museum- a giant Transformer!
Meeting the Great Zucchini after his show...this guy is a nut but the kids love him!
There were also a lot of birthday parties in November and December, including twin friends Luke and Charles' party at Romp 'n Roll, where Ari and Alex found their new best friend- mascot Rompy (Ari hugged him no less than a dozen times while we were there!) We also celebrated the birthdays of friend Henri, classmate Laylie, and neighborhood pal Riley.
The kids were delighted to have canine pal Billy back for a week while his family was on vacation. Billy told us he'd take our house and attention from three adoring fans over Turks and Caicos any day.
All of the kids stayed busy with their activities, including My Gym for Kira, gymnastics (with school friend Rian) for Ari and Alex, and ballet for Ari. Ari's ballet class had a special recital at the end of the last session. She can't wait to start again after winter break!Ari and Darby at the barre
We had lots of playdates with friends, including Henri and Nina, Andrew, Mitchell and "neighborhood Ryan," (as opposed to "School Rian"). Ari and Alex are now getting to the age of "drop-off" playdates and we've been doing that a lot, especially with their neighborhood friends. It's fun for Mommy to watch them play so independently with their friends, and for them to head off to neighbors' houses for a little time away from Mommy!
And of course, Hanukkah was a big highlight of the past month. We celebrated in all sorts of ways, including a school sing-along, a visit from the much-anticipated Hanukkah firetruck, trips to Hanukkah Wonderland, lighting candles at Miri and Opas and Nana and Poppy's, having friends Netta and Eynav over to light the candles, and many community events. Alex's favorite, of course, was the Hanukkah fire truck that comes through our neighborhood every year.
The other big event this month was the huge blizzard we got last weekend- over 20 inches of snow fell in less than 24 hours! The kids had never seen so much snow in their lives but enjoyed shoveling, sledding and playing in the snow (once the snow and wind stopped, of course). School was cancelled the entire week before Christmas, making Winter Break an unexpected two weeks instead of just one!
And even though we do not celebrate Christmas, we have our own traditions around the holiday. This year we joined in our neighborhood friends' tradition of bowling on Christmas Eve morning. Last year the kids (Kira especially) were too young to join in the fun but this year they all jumped right in and had a blast bowling with the help of ramps and bumpers.
Today (Christmas day) we joined members of our synagogue in baking cookies, making platters and delivering them to First Responders (police, fire fighters, etc.) in our area. To Alex's delight, we got to deliver a platter to a local fire station. We had to wait for quite a while before the fire fighters returned from a call that came in right before we got to the station, but it was well worth the wait as the kids got to see all of the vehicles come back to the station, back into the garage (with their lights flashing), and meet the fire fighters. Mommy and Daddy also hoped they learned the value of giving back to the community, especially since they were giving the fire fighters cookies they very well would have liked to eat themselves!
And even though we do not celebrate Christmas, we have our own traditions around the holiday. This year we joined in our neighborhood friends' tradition of bowling on Christmas Eve morning. Last year the kids (Kira especially) were too young to join in the fun but this year they all jumped right in and had a blast bowling with the help of ramps and bumpers. 
Today (Christmas day) we joined members of our synagogue in baking cookies, making platters and delivering them to First Responders (police, fire fighters, etc.) in our area. To Alex's delight, we got to deliver a platter to a local fire station. We had to wait for quite a while before the fire fighters returned from a call that came in right before we got to the station, but it was well worth the wait as the kids got to see all of the vehicles come back to the station, back into the garage (with their lights flashing), and meet the fire fighters. Mommy and Daddy also hoped they learned the value of giving back to the community, especially since they were giving the fire fighters cookies they very well would have liked to eat themselves!Later this afternoon we continued our Christmas tradition of a family playdate with friends the Perskys and Sophirs, compete with Chinese (and Japanese) food, of course.
As 2009 comes to a close, we are so thankful for the health, happiness, family, friends, and good fortune we have had this year. We can only hope 2010 brings as much joy as we have had in the past year!
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