Passover Party

We continued our annual tradition of taking a 10 day journey/exodus to the land of Georgia to experience our own reality of slavery...? freedom...? We celebrated Passover with lots of family, food, and fun. Here's how it happened:

The prep started early with months of "Mah Nishtanah" practice. Knowing (fairly confidently) that she wouldn't perform at the seders themselves, I attempted to record evidence of her skills.

Attempt 1

Better Attempt

(Day 1) With our electronic babysitters and new headphones, we're off! Wish us luck.

(Day 2) The family starts trickling in. We spend some time bonding with Aunt Susan and cousin Daniel before more cousin chaos invades.


Welcome to Moe's! MMMMM, we don't get this goodness in Texas. (And Welcome, Boston!)

She thinks she's pretty funny...

Ethan plays trains with cousin Sammy.

These 3 cousins were tired of sitting patiently with adults, so they went outside to shake their sillies out.

At night, it is time for Bedikat Chametz, the odd tradition of spreading bread around your house just to "find" it to make sure your house is rid of all leavened foods for the week of Passover. The cousins do a great job of taking turns with the responsibilities of searching, retrieving, and bag holding.


(Day 3) We now burn the chametz that we searched for the night before. Don't you worry, though; Gabi is wearing protective headgear.


Houston arrives in the afternoon, and we squeeze in some outside fun before official Passover begins.

enjoying time together

Quick cousins bath to get ready for the evening ahead:

Seven Heaven! These clean, cute cousins are SOOO ready for seder.

Seder time! Chag sameach; let the Passover Party begin!


Scenes from around the house- I will never get tired of the lovely time that the cousins spend together! It creates such wonderful memories and relationships for everyone and makes me so happy:

Mira reads sweetly with Gabi before bedtime.

It's hard work being a big cousin.

Jacob and Ethan do the mall (each in his own way).

calming 5 kids with 1 electronic device (aka adult win)

(Day 4) The WHOLE mishpacha is ready for second night of seder fun.

Team Cohen is in it to win it.

Aunt Sandi creates matching hairdos for the girls.

Gabi removes some juice from her cup in honor of the 10 plagues.

time for afikoman presents!

Jacob's turn to read a bedtime story with Gabi

(Day 5) Cousin tummy time happens, and we are all reminded of the immense love Ethan has for baby Joey, SO much love.

Then this great scene happens when all 7 kiddos are busy and calm and happy with each other in a very small space.

Before we have to start saying goodbye to most of the family, we head down the street to a playscape which quickly turns into hiking, exploring, and creek wading.

Mira and Jacob were such sweet, responsible, helpful, and playful big cousins!

getting down and dirty with Noah and Sammy

Before Boston leaves, we manage to get into some mischief with Sammy.

peek-a-boo!

caught

(Day 6) How many generations does it take to feed a baby?

We head to the neighborhood lake to feed some turtles.



(Days 7-9, who knows...) Most family travels back to their starting places, but Team Cohen stays for the rest of the week. We get extra time with Nana and Zayde, of course, but the highlight for Ethan is time with his bff cousin that lives just a mile from his home in Austin. Ethan's love for baby Joey continues to grow; so so much love!


Joey's FIRST cousins' bath! (Watch out, bud; it is, quite literally, a slippery slope...)


Lots of Nana love! Why let her get any work or reading done?


Awesome selfie time:

That time Gabi went out to get the newspapers and recycling box in her underwear...

(Day 10) Just 13 months older, but Ethan's ready to take more responsibility.

We find Catch Air (indoor playground) in Atlanta, and it's just as much fun as our Catch Air in Austin, except ironically, Joeys's at this one with us!


(Day 11) We squeeze in a few extra snuggles before we have to voyage on back to Texas. And someone put the babies in a box. So much love...

We get some goodbye love and hugs from Zayde before departing.

Our trip back to Austin included a 3 hour delay, feverish toddler, several bodily fluids coming out of little bodies (mostly onto me), and a complete loss of our luggage and car seats upon arrival. BUT we made it, and we're very grateful for a great trip, great family time, and a great holiday!