Day 365: NYE

It's the last day of 2015, and with it being a foggy/overcast one, we headed to the local children's museum, not knowing they had a special day of festivities. 

Taking a shot at the big chess game. 

Helping Daddy and big sis play giant Connect 4. 

Helping Michal report the weather. 

Playing with blocks...

...and looking very pleased at herself for knocking them down. 

Making some resolutions. 

Hoping you and yours have a wonderful 2016. Thanks for joining us on this wacky 365 day project!

Day 364: Nap No More

Our vacation seems to have been focused a great deal around sleep for the girls. Mainly if and how it would happen. We are obviously out of normal habitats and routines, but we still try to make everything work so that no one is a crying mess (read: mainly the parents). Sivan took a quick nap this morning - roughly 45 minutes, give or take a few, which is NOT her normal, acceptable amount, especially considering how crazy the kids' sleep at night has been (read: not enough of it). So when she started to get fussy on our long walk home from lunch, we decided to try to get her to go down for a second nap. Not an absurd idea - she frequently takes a second nap if the first is early or on the short side. 

This is how that went. 

Ahahahahahahahaha. You want me to sleep? But I have this adorable baby friend to chat with. 

She was way too keyed up to nap. Oh well. Luckily bedtime was much easier than it had been - both kids were in bed and asleep before nine. 

Day 363: Tin Cup

It's supposed to rain a bit these next few days, so we took advantage of the decent weather and visited Jurassic Golf, per Michal's request for dinosaur golf. It was Sivan's first time, and if unfortunately forgotten how difficult it is to take mini golf seriously with a toddler. Who throws her golf ball from the top of the Jurassic Golf mountain. And wants to hit every ball. And believes the green AstroTurf is the road less taken and she must choose that path. And cries because, well, it's golf, and we also cry with gold. It was fun, though, and she got very good at making sure my ball always made it into the cup, even if I hadn't had a chance to get a hit in on that particular hole. 

Got her red club and purple ball. This ball only made it through three holes before landing far below us in a mud puddle. 

Helping by throwing her ball down the lane 

She multitasked very well, climbing AND holding on to ball and club. 

Dinosaur. Velociraptor to be specific. 

There's always crying in golf. Always. 

And throwing of clubs. She did that more than once. 

Day 362: Charleston Fun

Whenever we come down to South Carolina, we always spend at least pet of a day in Charleston. It is a short drive from Myrtle Beach and has become one of our absolute favorite places. We are lucky enough that friends moved down here four years ago, so in addition to hitting some of our favorite spots, we are sometimes lucky enough to get to spend some time with them. 

Today we meet our friends for lunch at the Early Bird Diner, a good hole in the wall place visited by Guy Fieri for his Food Network show. It was good food, definitely a place we would ever have found on our own. 

Afterwards we headed to the Charleston Tea Plantation, the only team farm in all of the United States. We saw a bit of the factory tour and took a trolley ride around the plantation, learned about the history of this farm and how tea is grown and cultivated, and of course we got to taste a bunch of the different varieties. 

Tea fields

Part of a double rainbow after a few rain showers. 

Sivan hanging out on the trolley. She wasn't as angry as this picture makes her look. She was in deep conversation with Peggy, our seat mate for part of the ride.

Our friends took this picture of us. 

On the way back into Downtown Charleston, Michal and I took a quick walk over to Angel Oak, a massive tree not far from the plantation. Absolutely beautiful, the tree limbs continued on for more than 150 feet. 

We ended our day in Charleston by having dinner at Hyman's, an absolute favorite for food there. If you are eve inchatleston, you must stop here.  Always a great time with low country food. 

Eli, one of the owners, stopped by our table and chatted to us. After talking about the restaurant and the Jewish community in Charleston, he have each of the girls a $2 "bill," with which they could get a tree at the shop downstairs. Sivan is clearly investigating it very closely. 

Another wonderful day in Charleston. We didn't get to do everything we'd like to, but that's okay. We will likely be back in a few months. 

Day 361: Bathing Beauties

Beach day! It was a little overcast at times, but considering the unseasonable warmth, nothing was going to keep us from hitting the sand. These two were ready to go. 

Day 360: Beach at Night

We continued on our way following a lovely evening in Williamsburg. If you were in the room next to ours, I apologize for the baby who got up screaming 3 or 4 times throughout the night. If I knew what was causing her to make that horrific noise, I surely would have made it stop. Given that there seemed to be a herd of children running up and down the hallway, hooting and hollering as they knocked on a bunch of doors up until midnight or so, I think everyone was pretty understanding. 

We finally made it to South Carolina and Myrtle Beach around 5:30, just in time for it to be night time. It didn't stop us from taking off our shoes and heading to the beach to dip our toes in the water. 

Looking forward to spending some time down there in the daylight. 

Day 359: Williamsburg

Vacation started today with a trip to Williamsburg. With Michal's current interest in George Washington and American symbols, we had a convenient excuse to stop by. It's one of my favorite times of the year to be here with all the decorations, including a really fun pop culture themed one.  Sivan really loved it, as EVERYONE seemed to be out with their dogs, and she said hi to each and every one of them. 

Sivan lived finding all the wreaths with apples in them. "Aaah-...pulls!"

Curly girl 

Star Wars themed wreath, with four wreaths in the style of Leia, Chewy, Yoda, and two light sabers. 

Visiting the prisoner

Day 358: Chinese Food and a Movie

It's Christmas Eve, and we found ourselves at the synagogue for the fourth annual Chinese food and a movie. The movie was Toy Story, which Michal enjoyed and Sivan tolerated for half an hour.  This is what happened after I took her out of the room to run around. 

Following in the tradition of playing in the coat room. 

Hoodlum trying to break into the preschool wing

Giving Mickey the limelight. 

Coming back to Ima after chatting it up with Jonathon the security guard. 

Tidily eating dinner. 

I apologized to the couple who came to sit down as we were fleeing, I mean, leaving. Luckily they have kids so they know the carnage a 19 month old can create out of rice and Lo mein noodles. 

Day 357: Ima Pile

I promise I'm only half complaining, but we have a problem. If one of the girls finds a seat on me - lap, back, head, etc., - the other girl decides she absolutely must do the same thing. It's amazing how two tushes can fit into my lap sometimes. 

Tonight I decided to take a break from our family pick up of the living room floor, laying prone on the floor. This happened. 

Ima pile. Everyone taking turns laying and wrestling on top of me. I feel the love. Literally. 

Day 356: Candy Camouflage

I've mentioned before that Tuesdays are crazy for us, as I have a long work day and extracurricular activities cause both of us to drive all over creation. I frequently have a tough time getting a photo of Sivan on Tuesdays, especially since I often forget to take one before dropping her off at day care. I refused to let today fall into that pattern. 

It almost looks like she is taking a selfie, but she's actively trying to grab the phone so she can eat it or something. Note the attack eyebrows and camouflage makeup courtesy of the M&Ms big sister discovered and thoughtfully shared with Sivan. 

Day 355: Toddler Selfie

Toddler selfie

Taken while she tried to smooch the baby in the camera. 

Day 354: Table Manners

She really did attempt to use the fork. We managed to get a few forkfuls in her mouth, but boy it is just so much easier to shove it in with your hand. 

Day 353: Holiday Block Party

One of our neighbors organized a holiday block party for the kids today, so we went and had a ton of fun. A bunch of the kids are in the same kindergarten class, and two of the kids were in Michal's preschool class at the JCC. Nice neighborhood stuff.  Just a few photos of Sivan's time at the party.

Facing down Cisco over the mini cupcakes. 

Checking out a festive green one 

Yep. Gonna pretend to eat it. 

Someone decided that if Michal was going to lay on Daddy (see: figure clad in hot pink to Sivan's right), then she wants to as well.

Quick sit 

I just can't take her seriously. Every time we put this hat on her, she seriously yelped/squealed.  And then she grinned and pulled it off.

Day 352: Toddler Problems

I must be crazy, but today I went to a huge shopping mall that is crazy busy most of the time, let alone the Friday before Christmas. And the kicker is that I ended up not even buying anything or exchanging something, which was the original reason for the trip. It was a quick errand to run before meeting a dear friend for lunch. I got lucky and was in and out of their relatively quickly. I was only held up by one thing.

Rather, one person. 

Little Miss Independent decided she is way too big for the stroller and must walk. Which wasn't too crazy except she has spatial awareness and didn't seem at all concerned about people around her.   She also kept singing this little song where she'd say "uh...uh....ohhh!"  On the last, drawn out syllable, she's tilt her head back in some sort of solute to the heavens. Luckily gravity was not strong enough to topple her over, as she is still slightly top heavy. 

We made it to lunch only three minutes late. Winning. 

Day 351: Daredevil

We've started to use the top of Sivan's highchair as just a booster seat, and the last few nights I haven't even used the tray. Which seems to now be an issue, since I never bothered with the straps when using the tray since she couldn't wiggle out easily. 

Guess I'm going to be strapping this one in now. Yeesh. 

Day 350: Walking in Someone Else's Shoes

Boy does this kid love shoes. She is really good about putting toys and things away, but she really loves putting her shoes away. "Shoe" was likely one of her first words. And now, she's stealing her sister's shoes. Or at least trying to put them on.

She looks so big here. It doesn't help she's the size of a two year old, but the 3/4 length sleeves on this top really age her. She's getting so big so fast. 

Day 349: Really One of Those Days

I have to laugh at myself. Yesterday I was bummed I didn't get many pictures of the kid. Today I forgot to take any pictures of her before I dropped her at day care, so I had to wait until I got home to take this picture.

At least she's comfy and cute in there. 

Day 348: One of those Days

Not much of a story here. I only took one picture of Sivan today. I meant to take others once we got home, but it was nearly  6:45 and I needed to get dinner started. The girls entertained themselves, Josh came home, Sivan went crazy screaming "Da!!!!!!", we ate, then bath and bed. And I forgot to take another picture. So here she is, looking at stars at Michal's school.

I'm just glad I didn't have to fake a photo or take one of the video monitor. 

Must be a Monday. 

Day 347: Consecration and a Party and the Maccabeats, Oh My!

Today was an insanely busy. We were running practically nonstop from 7:30, when I left for work, until 7:30 this evening when we got home from the Maccabeats concert. In between was kindergarten consecration, lunch, a brief birthday party stop, and then the concert with an attempt to make a new world record for most spinning dreidels at the same time. Phew, I'm exhausted just recalling it. Here are a few shots from the day. 

Michal insisted on posing in front of this beautifully decorated tree, not far from the birthday party we went to this afternoon. 

It was a princess party, and Sivan insisted on dressing up just like the big girls. 

Waiting for the concert to start...

Gotta be just like big sis. 

Sivan doing her own attempt at dreidel world records.