(You Say it's Your) Birthday

My little princess is THREE YEARS OLD TODAY!!!  Time sure is flying by!  I felt really bad because we are on the road for her birthday this year, so she's not really getting a birthday party.  But then I realized, she's actually having SEVERAL birthday celebrations! 
Today is her actual birthday, and we are at our friends Brian & Debbie's house.  Rach LOVES it here, especially because she gets to play with their dog, Roscoe! 

The fireplace added such a lovely feel to the evening.  I miss that too... we used to have a beautiful fireplace at my parents house in NJ

 And Rach was happy to be wearing her Reindeer PJ's!

 Here is the first of many of Rachel's 3rd Birthday cakes!  It was a very yummy little cake!  Especially after having yummy Lasagna for dinner!! 

 Our wonderful friends, Brian & Debbie. They never fail to open their home to us whenever we come to NJ.  They are SO sweet! 

 Popeye eating cake?  LOL... she loved it, and especially enjoyed reading her Dora book while she munched away on sweet cake!

Don't these two look like they are trying to talk their way out of trouble?  Haha.... That's her buddy Roscoe, looking all sorts of cute!  They sure got along great!
We had a fantastic (but short) visit with Brian, Debbie & Roscoe. 
It was a really nice way to spend Rachel's 3rd birthday.  That was her first 3rd birthday... on to the 2nd third birthday next!

Cold Turkey

Thanksgiving Day 2010

 What a long, fun-filled day it was!  We started bright and early in the morning, heading to Margie & Charlie's house for their annual Thanksgiving day breakfast! 

 They had a full house with all the kids & grandkids, plus assorted friends & family!

 Then it was our turn to play host to our regular crowd for our annual Thanksgiving Dinner!  I made my always-popular Pumpkin Soup & a few other side dishes on Wednesday so I could leave the kitchen free for Tommy.  He does the bird, stuffing, potatoes, mashed Rutabaga, & creamed onions!
Of course my mom also made her famous Salad! 

 Rachel kept herself occupied throughout the day... Here she is practicing spelling her name with her magnetic letters!

Next it was time for our newest tradition... Margie took some awesome family shots for us.  Look for them soon!  I will try to get them done & in the mail before the holidays are over!

 Dinner went off without a hitch!  Everyone enjoyed the meal AND the entertainment!  Rachel is ALWAYS a source of giggles for the crowds!  She is SO funny!

 We love having our friends & family with us for Thanksgiving every year.  I am so glad we started this tradition since we moved into the house 8 years ago!

 Besides celebrating Thanksgiving, Rach also got her first birthday presents a little early!  Since we will be up north for her 3rd birthday this year (which also happens to be the 2nd night of Hanukkah!), her Nana & Papa decided to give her a couple of her presents now!  She was SO happy to get her very own suitcase with Dora & Boots on it!  And she got some cool new PJ's too!

And here is the best little thing we are all so Thankful for... She is our very favorite little present!!!

Birthday Boy

Today we spent the afternoon at little Christopher's 1st birthday party!  Rach had an absolute blast, playing with the kids, swimming in the little pool, and of course, eating CAKE!

 The birthday boy!  Looking just as cute as could be!  We just LOVE those blue eyes!  He's gonna be a real wolf, right?

My little princess having fun swimming with all the boys! LOL  

She was very fixated on the opening of presents. So proud of her because she didn't try to swipe any of the gifts! LOL...

Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon

What a special time we had!  It was Juliette's Bat Mitzvah, and it was absolutely wonderful!  Rachel & I were both SO honored to be asked to participate in the Havdalah service after the ceremony.  I held the Havdalah candle, and Rachel carried the spice box to all the guests in the first row, and then held it HIGH above her head when Cantor Ann told her to!  She did an AMAZING job!  Unfortunately, we have no pictures from the ceremony itself, but naturally we took plenty of shots during the party after! 

 Steven & Alain couldn't make it in from France, but through the miracle of modern technology, (aka SKYPE) they were able to attend via computer!

 Rachel with the Bat Mizvah girl!  My beautiful Juliette (apparently her new BFF)

 Our Happy Family shot!

Papa was a Rolling Stone

 Tonight was my dad's birthday, so we went out for an impromptu dinner at what is now his favorite Chinese Buffet (since our REAL favorite Chinese buffet closed for good over the summer... ).  78 years young and still partying!  Rach had a great time but was very upset that when the waitresses & manager came to sing Happy Birthday, her mouth was full and she couldn't sing along! LOL...

The restaurant also took a  video, so I've included that too... It was kinda funny!  We also discovered Rachel's new favorite is Green Tea Ice Cream!  not sure if its the flavor or the color that she really likes best!

(everyday Is) Halloween

Rach had a great time going trick or treating with her daddy!  I stayed home to open the door for all the little trick-or-treaters from OUR neighborhood... Because we have the witch living a few doors away, and decorates her place to the hilt, we usually get a big crowd... this year was no exception... I bought 700 pieces of candy and gave out all but around 100 pieces!  so we had quite the group!  I was very disappointed that I didn't see even one Twilight related costume!

My way too cute bunny... and yes, I realize now that the ears were WAY too big for her tiny little head, but they looked a lot smaller on the cardboard LOL... 
As for the "outfit", well, I just told her she was a bunny hiding in the flower garden!  lol...

 

My G-d daughters & their kids!

Tommy carved this freehand... not a bad job, right?

 Rach spent a good part of the day today hanging out with her best friend.  She followed her everywhere, hugged her over and over, gave her HUGE kisses, and just couldn't get close enough to her, snuggling whenever she could...

Belfast to Boston

What an insane day...  Woke up at 4:30a.m., out the door by 5:30 a.m., drove to the airport and caught a flight to Boston to go to meet with the surgeon that is going to be operating on my spine.  Got thru the appointment, got back on a plane and came home... INSANE?  absolutely!  The hardest part was not seeing my baby all day!  I left before she woke and got home after she was asleep!!!
BUT....

It really was a good thing I did this now.  It was a crazy day, rushed, painful, slightly scary (still amazed I found my way taking Boston mass transit to & from the airport!) but really informative, and I'm closer to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with this whole back thing.

I arrived at the hospital a little early for my appointment, so I went to Whole Foods to grab some lunch.  Walking back, I stopped a guy dressed in Dr garb to ask for directions, since I was a bit turned around.  He asks me what Dr I was going to see and I told him Dr Coumans... his reaction was VERY reassuring...  he said "Wow, you went straight for the best, huh?"  VERY glad to hear that!
Anyway, brought all my old MRI disks with me, thank goodness... met with Dr Coumans, and discussed the problems with my Thoracic spine as well as the other problems.  Basically, he said that I am not a candidate for the surgery on the Thoracic spine right now.  It's too risky and he doesn't think that the bulk of my symptoms stem from that ruptured disk.  He is convinced there are still issues with my cervical spine that are causing a lot of the pain & problems.  So he ordered a new MRI of my cervical spine.  Once he sees those results, we will schedule the surgery he DOES think I need right now... definitely the Lumbar spine needs help.  He even thinks that once the surgery is over and I recover, I may even be able to feel my leg again!!! WOOHOO!!!  No guarantees, since the nerves have been compressed for so long it may be permanent, but he said it really was possible!

And then, I come home to find that my dear, sweet friend Margie not only took GREAT care of my little munchkin while I was gone, but she also cleaned all the knick-knacks in my entertainment unit, washed my windows (! ! ! ! ! ! ! !)  AND straightened the family room!  Holy COW!  What an AWESOME friend! 

 Had a really nice afternoon meeting mom's cousin Arlene & her hubby Mark at Olive Garden for lunch.  Rach had a great time playing with her crayons on the coasters... more fun than the coloring book!  She also had lots of fun posing for all the pictures that Mark & Arlene were taking!  I can't wait to see them!

Her favorite though, was the RAVIOLI!  She finally decided she likes ravi's like her mom!!!  YAY! Of course she didn't eat very many of them because she was so busy chowing down on the unlimited breadsticks!  my carb junkie!

Lollipop

It was a banner day!  Rachel FINALLY went poop on the potty!!!  We are trying a new technique (which is not really working well yet) but if she tells us she has to go and then actually GOES, we are giving her a little treat.  Well, for pooping, she gets a lollipop (the first time it was a tootsie pop... all subsequent rewards will be those little tiny DumDum pops!)
I know that she will surely be out of diapers before she goes to high school, but in the meantime, we had agreed not to force anything on her... She HAS been showing an interest, and actually tells us when she has to go at night before bed or before bath time... the problem we have is she does NOT tell us when she needs to poop, no matter what time of day, and hardly ever tells us about having to pee during the day.    So when she actually did everything she was supposed to this time, I was ready to have a party!

She came close to having to share her lollipop with her best friend!

Despite the obvious grin on Penny's face, she never did actually get a taste of the lollipop!