First night of Hanukkah... 3 weeks ago

The finished starship.  X couldn't keep his eyes off of it.

Kiddos helping grown-ups cook dinner.  Shula's a great cook, and my dad is an Israeli salad-maker extraordinaire.  We ate very well the whole time they were here!  

Hugs.

Jumping on Bubby's bed while wearing their new SPIDERMAN PAJAMAS!   Ari is copying Xander's web-flinging pose.

Really good update

Jonathan's feeling much better after suffering from a 24-hour flu bug, and Ari got the all-clear from the dentist after today's X-rays. He does have hairline fractures of the palate, but there are no cracks in the adult tooth in the gum and no sign of infection. So all we do now is wait for it to heal. Hooray! It could have been so much worse.

Abba and Shula arrive!

The beginnings of the LEGO starship.

Car race, complete with loop and fire circle.

Trying it out.

Playing separately.

Teaching Xander how to put it together step-by-step.  He's gotten a few of these LEGO sets now, and can do them all himself.

One of my favorite pictures - bedtime stories for the win!

Dreidel giggles

Pre-Hanukkah dreidel practicing

 Ari joins Bubby's team

And now for the giggles:

A long time (two weeks) ago, in a galaxy far far away (at the kids' school)...

I was hugely pregnant and my mother did a Hanukkah presentation for X and A's classroom.  She told the story, had all the kids "light" the wooden and plush menorahs with their candles and flames, showed them a dreidel, and sang lots of songs.  

Here are the highlights.  I've only included pictures of our kids, but mom was amazing at holding the attention of more than 40 preschoolers sitting in a circle.  Go her!

 Asking... something.  I love that she wore my Hanukkah hat. :)

 Ari holding the plush menorah, which all the kids later lit.

 Showing the kids that menorahs come in all different sizes and shapes.  Kitty cats!  (This was my favorite menorah as a child, in case anyone's wondering.)

 And there are train ones, too.

Singing songs.

"A latke is a pancake, a golden pancake treat.  And inside it is snowy white, and very good to eat!"

Bubby's summary of the last two days, cribbed from Facebook

Well, about to go to bed after a wonderful morning (Brit Milah and Connor's baby naming) and then a very tough night with a sick little Ari, who had a terrible reaction to an antibiotic which he was prescribed after he fell yesterday and slammed his face into a wooden chair, shoving one of his front teeth way up and back into his gum. Oh, I neglected to mention the emergency trip to the dentist yesterday with a 2-1/2 year old? He actually was very good. The dentist said she'd never had a 2 year old sit so still during the procedure. Tonight though he was miserable. He referred to the experience as "poop coming out of his mouth." Yes, my sweet boy. Vomiting is not fun. But he was so brave. After cleaning him all up, we sat together with a bucket and he would tell me when he had to 'spit.' Happily now, he's sleeping soundly. Clothes, sheets, blankets, mattress covers.....they're in the laundry, thanks to Jonathan. It's been a big night and this bubby is running on fumes. I'll let you know how he's doing tomorrow. G'nite. 
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(the next morning)
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Ari is on the mend. Zofran really helped. He and Xander are my little Spidermen sitting next to me on the couch.    And guess what we're watching on TV? SPIDERMAN!

Pictures that seem old by now

Soooo many pictures... will update eventually.  This is Connor at three days old, but he's already changed so much, now he looks much more like Xander.

 Same pose as the other two boys; I'll have to dig up those shots for comparison.

Oldest and youngest brothers.

"MY baby!" says Ari proudly.

(And lest you think it's all about the baby at our house, yesterday morning started off with Ari falling flat on his face and shoving one of his front teeth back into his gums.  There's nothing like trying to get a 2 year old to take X-rays and get shots of novocaine preceding emergency dental surgery.  He's okay now, and hopefully they saved the tooth, but oy that was scary.  I really don't like blood.  Nor the vomit that comes with an antibiotic that's too strong for a kiddo.  He goes back to the dentist next week to see if everything held.)