family visit and more birthday celebrations

wow, aunt dawn is fun

i always did this to dawn when she was little

mimi with with three of her five grandchildren

just some friendly wrestling between cousins

she liked this gift

she liked mimi and papa and rhett and her party and the cake and gifts, but not her hat

silly mimi she grew to be very fond of cupcakes in time for the group birthday party

we had a very full house this week as my sister, her two children, her college friend, and my father arrived. luckily the weather was nice, so the airport pick up was uneventful apart from greeting the guests. noa slept in a pack n play in our room at the foot of the bed, my sister, her friend broooke, and her three month old rhett slep in noa's room, and my parents and my sister's 23 month old slept in the guest room. it was one big pajama party filled with three different nap schedules and various eating stages/preferences (breast milk, baby jar food, chicken nuggets etc.). lola is quite energetic, so noa had lots of engaging play time. she enjoyed poking at rhett and surviving play time with lola who loves to hug. fleeing lola's hugs may have inspired her to cruise because she really stepped up her game this week. noa is now officially cruising. she is walking around the house leaning on anything that will support her. she is also standing up next to her walking toys and pushing them. in the past, we would put her in front of the wagon and she would push it and walk, but now she initiates. noa is unfortunate to live far from grandparents and cousins, but she made up for loss time in this week packed with family bonding. mimi spoiled her at the mall buying her a cute spring outfit from janie and jack. lola taught her all kinds of useful tricks like where the snacks are, so now she goes to that cabinet and pulls out snacks ALL THE TIME. we celebrated noa's birthday as a family on saturday, the 14th. we prepared a brunch, noa had some cake, opened gifts, and received lots of hugs and kisses. she was very lucky to have her aunt moran, mimi, papa, aunt dawn, and cousins lola and rhett attend, but other family and friends came as well. michael, varda, isaac, ruth, alana, harry, nat, magnus, tami, sabrina, and cassie all joined us to celebrate noa's big day. noa especially enjoyed opening her gifts. thanks again to all of you for making it a very special day for us. later that evening, leah came over to make cupcakes for the our playgroup birthday party the following day. it would be an understatement to say that our first frosting concoction failed. there was a bit of an explosion, a sugar rock was involved, and fortunately everyone survived the ordeal. tami saved the day with an easier frosting mix that turned out great. leah and i were up for the challenge, but time constraints forced us to think realistically. we had only one jumbo cupcake pan, so we strategized and assigned a unique color combination to each each child while a one batch was in the oven. the following morning, leah showed up bright and early with very pretty and as it turned out delicous chocolate cupcakes, and we frosted. elad offered his steady and meticulous hands to the project, and wrote each child's initials on their cupcake. the oh so well planned party was such a success. i could write and write. casey ordered delicious food, enlarged amazing pics of each child, and created a year book. leah set up a hand prints booth. janelle decorated perfectly. oh, casey also made a slide show, leah brought music, and someone set it all up on a telivsion. kerri organized the place, and the ride-on toys were so much fun. noa couldn't get enough. and then ana and her famous song leading skills entertained the little ones. and we will never forget how much noa enjoyed her cupcake. ana said her face reflected pure joy as she squished it in her fingers and stuffed it in her mouth.

noa's playdate party

noa and i arrived home safely last sunday. she was an angel on the plane ride home. i did, however, let her do pretty much whatever she wanted. i gave her cookies for the first and last time. i let her crawl all over the plane. she looked like a homeless kid by the time we arrived. naturally, i changed her clothes upon arrival for the sake of elad's health. we hurried home to watch the big game, and sadly our cardinals fell a little short. on tuesday, a snow storm greeted mimi's arrival to connecticut. she came to celebrate noa's first birthday and help with all the birthday preparations. after trips to stew leonards, costco, party depot, and a & p, everything was in place for a playdate party worthy of noa. i didnt want a perfect party, just the party little noa deserved. moran came to our place the day before to help with food preparation. the day before noa's party, i started acting a bit crazy, so i placed a 911 call to moran and she came through big. she made platters, salads, glutten free cupcakes, and a cake for noa. mimi made a few decadent deserts that were so successful, the girls asked her to make one again for the group party. we transformed the family room into a playroom, hung baloons, adorned the place with "big one" decorations and her "welcome to noa's party sign."abba was big help the day before and he even surprised noa during his lunch hour. in the end, all went well at the party. her friends, rylee, riley, sophia, layla, will, and pike and their moms attended the party. she loved it when everyone sang to her, and she was relieved when i gave her chocolate cake after disappointing her with an angel food cake with strawberry frosting. after she had her cake, we stripped the babies down to their diapers and set a hill of cupcakes in the middle. we thought it would be more fun for them. the girls (except for layla and noa a little bit) showed little interest, but the boys on the other hand dove in with both hands. so, her special day went really well, and it was great to have her mimi and aunt moran here to help and celebrate. the following day, our friends jo and simon came over to see noa and congratulate her. they came bearing too many gifts, but noa did not complain. on sunday, we went into the city for brunch and window shopping, and noa did so well. she slept in her stroller on the way in the train, and then took her afternoon nap in her stroller on the go in the city. two b-day celebrations down and two to go....