Gorgeous Gabi Grows Again!

After a full weekend of family fun, Gabi has her birthday party with tons of friends! She invited everyone to zoom on over to her ZUMBINI party, full of music, dance, crafts, and lots of food! I don't think Gabi stopped smiling the whole time. I hope her friends loved it as much as she did.

Allison brought Gabi a balloon unicorn.

Nana helped Gabi make a paper plate sheep.

Ethan got some love too!

Ethan with bestie Jonah

Ethan getting some sweetness from friends Amira and Erin.

Zumbini starts, and everyone gets moving!




The scarves and parachute were exciting additions.





The egg shakers were fun too!

During the soft, cool-down music, Zayde and Gabi dance together sweetly.

Dancing with Zayde

Singing to the Birthday Girl!

Time for cupcakes!

Aunt Debbie sneaks in some Joey love!

Cousin Joey eyes that cupcake.

Ethan is ALMOST persuaded to share.

NAH, my cupcake!!!

Don't you worry- Daddy was so happy to be there too!

Happy Birthday, beautiful Gabi!

January 2016

January was a good slow month...until the excitement at the end of it, of course. On New Year's Eve, Gabi heard the sound of fireworks and asked why they were going off. I explained that people were excited that January was coming so they were lighting fireworks. She thought for a second and then it made perfect sense - "People excited for Gabi's birthday in January!" Unfortunately for Gabi, however, her birthday was ALLLLLLLL the way at the end of month, and she had to wait and wait for it to come. Here's what we did in the mean time:

I usually start the monthly posts with a his and hers update. I'll start, instead, this month with the 2 sillies together. When they're cute, they're certainly CUTE!

Big sister always knows how to take care of little brother...Sigh...

What do we do with these 2 munchkins??

dinnertime entertainment

Who needs music when you've got the rhythm IN you?

And sometimes we're there too!

(They're taking turns smiling, I guess.)

As for 16-month-old Ethan, his biggest accomplishments were FINALLY figuring out how to wave super friendly, and he has started adding final consonants onto some words, as in "baaaafff" (aka bath) and "uhhhhp" (up).

We got a Mr. Potato Head from our Boston cousins for Channukah, and we LOVE wearing its small hat. (Look closely.)

Apparently, he can fit between the dresser and the wall. Who knew?

He hated this ADORABLE Gator outfit. :(

music man

Ethan tries to be cool like big sister.

He does what he wants.

Ethanzilla

"Nana??"

And now for darling pictures of my Gabi girl. She is sweet, smiley, and silly. She is also two, testy, and toddlerific. We love her personality, her polite manners, and her enthusiasm. We'll keep working on the rest...

The struggle is real: balancing feeding your baby while nourishing your own needs.

This month, we put together the plane project given to us by Houston Cohans. We got to paint, glue, and sticker!

This big girl had her very first (slightly tardy) dentist appointment. She sat in the big girl chair, and did AMAZINGLY with the cleaning, flossing, x-rays, etc! I was as shocked as I was proud!

Every now and then, I have time to be a good mom. This month, I took out my easel from my classroom, made a ton of felt shapes, and VOILA! The possibilities are endless. The other side has a great dry-erase board that both kids love so far too!

bathing beauty

1992 called...

Fun with Nora at Mt. Playmore:

And OF COURSE, we celebrated Gabi's THIRD Birthday at the very end of the month. We had fun family visits, tons of parties, and lots of sweets! Those good times are featured in other blog posts, but for now, Happy Birthday, Gabriella Daphna!

birthday babe

loving her very first Barbie from the Boston crew

She picked this amazing helmet from Gigi to go with her brand new balance bike and tricycle.

Our friends had access to free tickets to the circus, so of course we gratefully accepted and experienced the fun:

Me with my beautiful babies, then and now:

My siblings and parents have all had recent unrelated but unfortunate and annoying kitten drama. We have not. Our beautiful kittens are still sweet and loving, and Nikki still whines away. I leave you with your Cohen Kitten Moments of Zen: