Smiles

Just a few more smiles from our past couple of weeks:

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"O Christmas Tree...", "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel...."

Last weekend, Marty and Tyler bought a Christmas tree for us. Marty had a great time decorating it, although all of the ornaments ended up on one branch. I had to do a little rearranging after the elf went to bed!

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This weekend, we started celebrating Chanukah. Marty had a class Chanukah party on Friday and a Preschool-wide Chanukah party on Sunday. We're a little latked-out, but Marty is loving all of the celebrating - especially getting a present every night!

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The Happy Couple

Marty's teacher emailed this picture to us this week: Marty and his friend, Sophie, playing "Mom and Dad" in the home center.

Thanksgiving Feast

Today was an eventful day at Preschool: All of the 3 year-olds gathered for a Thanksgiving Feast, and then Marty's class had cupcakes to celebrate Ellen's birthday. The feast was the culmination of a two-week-long unit on fall and Native Americans. Each child made their own Native-American costume, with beads and headdress, and they chose their Native-American names. Marty's was "Quiet Lion," which is really quite ironic. Also in his class were Princess Water, Princess Rainbow, Pop-in-the-Air-Pencil, Roaring Lion, Cat-in-the-Hat and Blue Rat. On the way home, Marty told me that my name is "Chocolate Giraffe" and that Tyler's is "Regular Tiger."


Eli had a ball, while his teacher pushed he and his friends through the halls in the baby buggy. On our way out, Marty stopped to pet Mr. Gobbles, the director's wild turkey.

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Thanksgiving Art Project

After Marty and Tyler's traditional Sunday a.m. bike ride to "Old MacDonald's," the Prices, Segals and Rineharts came over for a playdate. Joanna organized a Thanksgiving craft: Marty, Ava, Mila and Edward decorated their "turkey t-shirts."

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Shabbat Prayer Leaders

Today, Marty's class, also known as the "Hungry Caterpillars," were the prayer leaders during Preschool Shabbat. In this picture, they are hovered around the challah.

Shabbat Backpack

On Friday, it was Marty's turn to bring home his classroom's "Shabbat backpack," which has all the gear for celebrating Shabbat at home. We opted for Shabbat on the porch, which culminated with Marty showing off his counting skills in Hebrew and Russian....

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Eli's Naming

Some pictures from Eli's Naming Ceremony:

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Halloween was a busy day for the Joneses! All of the fam was in town for Eli's naming, so after a family photo shoot, Molly hit the American Girl store. Later, Rush gave everyone a tour of Trinity City Books. Finally, there was trick-or-treating in the neighborhood:

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Forklift Operator

Today, Marty went to work with Aunt Lara and tested out her forklift.

Blast Off!

Marty's class just finished their unit on "space." On the last day of the unit, his teacher wore her astronaut suit and the whole class went on a trip into space. Everyone wore their space helmets, oxygen tanks and moon boots. Here are some pictures of Marty modeling his gear (plus a picture of Marty and Eli from OU weekend). The last two pictures are Marty demonstrating that it's really hot on Mercury and really cold on Neptune.

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Sam's Bounce House

Some pictures from Sam's belated birthday celebration:

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Bevo in our Neighborhood!

Bevo and the Silver Spurs were parked in front of a house in Preston Hollow this afternoon. I tried to get Marty to get out of the car to take a picture with Bevo, but he was only interested in getting to Sam's house to jump in the bounce house (stay tuned for those pics).

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The Triplets Turn Three!

On Saturday, Ethan, Austin and Jacob celebrated their third birthdays at the Dallas Zoo. The kids had a blast!:

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Hook 'em!

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Spiderman

Marty couldn't wait for Halloween to wear his costume... his favorite part: the built-in muscles!

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"The Girls"

Our weekend highlights: On Saturday night, the Simpsons came over for supper. Marty had a blast with Brooke, Paige and Jane (also known as "the girls"), and playing in the baby swing was the hit of the evening. On Sunday morning, Marty tried out his new winter coat and hat. I tried to get some pictures of Eli with his feet in his mouth, which really is much cuter than it sounds, but I wasn't quick enough... Maybe next week...
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New Fort

Some pictures Marty as he discovered and played on the new fort:

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Marty & Eli

Some pictures of the boys from the last week:

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Sitting

With a little positioning, and some help from the Boppy, Eli sat up on his own for the first time this week. He didn't quite know what to do with himself!

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Hot Air Balloon Festival

On Sunday morning, we trekked to Plano for the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival. We missed the launch (couldn't quite get there by 7), but did see lots of the balloons in flight and during their landings. Of course, there were bounce houses, so this made the outing a hit for Ollie, Edward and Marty!

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All Dressed Up!

Marty got "all dressed up" for the Rosh Hashanah Children's service on Saturday:

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Cereal Time

This week, we decided to try giving cereal to Eli for the first time.... To say that he was unenthusiastic is an understatement. It probably doesn't help that Marty is waving a peanut butter bagel in front of him.

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Doctor, Barber Shop, etc.

This morning, Marty was playing so nicely with Eli while I was getting ready. As soon as I realized this, I rushed to get the camera.... I did manage to get a couple of shots of the sweet, civilized play. However, it quickly progressed into a "doctor's visit" and a trip to the barber shop.

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Ollie's Birthday Party

We went to Ollie's birthday party at Build-A-Bear this afternoon. Tyler caught this pic of Marty after pizza and cake. Marty is now asleep with "Bamboo", the panda bear that he made at the party.

It's all about Eli!

This is my attempt to make up for the last couple of posts that left out Eli:

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Happy (early) Birthday, Rush!

Last night, we had an early celebration for Rush at Ojeda's (of course)....

The Mountains

We spent the much-too-short weekend in Cashiers, North Carolina with Rick, Carolyn, SuSu, Pop and Rush. Believe it or not, we did take Eli with us, but seemed not to get him in any pictures. We'll have to make up for that....

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Trinity City Books

Rush invited us to come see his newest venture, Trinity City Books. He took Marty for a ride on the cherry-picker and the forklift; Marty also had fun with the pallet-jack.

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First Trip to the Dentist

Marty had his first dentist visit yesterday. He did great - thinks the dentist is a ton of fun. How can it not be when you are showered with attention and leave with lots of "prizes"?

Marty's 3rd Birthday

Some (actually tons of) pictures from Marty & Ava's 3rd Birthday Party:
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Marty & Eli

Just a few more pictures from July:
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"Wet" Run

Last Sunday, we had a dry run (actually, it was wet) for Marty and Ava's birthday party!

Grandad's Birthday

Following "Camp San Antonio," Marty was shuttled down to Corpus, where we all celebrated Grandad's birthday. Grandad was a good sport and let Marty help blow out the candles on his birthday cherry pie.

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Camp San Antonio

Marty spent July 4th (and the following week) with SuSu, Pop, Molly and Ryan. They had their own 4th of July parade and did lots of swimming. They also went to the Zoo, the Witte Museum, and the Cowboy Museum in Boerne. Some pictures from "Camp San Antonio":

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A Few More Pictures

A few more pictures of the boys from the past two weeks:

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Swimsuit, Smiles, etc.

Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks, including Eli showing off his new smile, Marty making biscuits with Nonna, and Marty wearing his new, new swimsuit from Bob and Paula:

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That's mine!

This is what it looks like when a stocky 2 1/2-year old insists that his 6-week old brother's pants belong to him...

Memorial Weekend

Some pictures from our outing to the Memorial Day Family Picnic at the Arboretum:

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Marty's Preschool pictures

Marty's last day of school was on Wednesday. His teachers gave him a visor and butterfly net, which he is sporting above, as well as a CD with all of the pictures that they took of him during the school year. Also posted above is a picture from Grandfriends Day (#93 in the Shutterfly album).

Here are all the pictures from the CD. Just a warning that this is a lot of pictures!:

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Molly's 7th Birthday

The Joneses and O'Mullans came to Dallas last weekend to celebrate Mother's Day and Molly's 7th birthday. Here are a few pictures from the birthday celebration... Molly graciously allowed Marty and Ryan to blow out some candles on her ice cream cake!

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Eli's First Bath

Some pictures from Eli's first bath....which he was quite unhappy about. It was so traumatic that he conked out as soon as he was dry and dressed. Also posted are a some pictures of Marty "helping" with Eli.

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Eli Arrives!

A few pictures of Eli:

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Easter 2009

On Saturday morning, we went to an Easter Egg Hunt at the Arboretum. Marty's friends, Sam and Amar, were there with their families.... The Easter Egg Hunt was a big hit, but Marty was terrified of the Easter Bunnies (there were several of them).

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Trinity Audubon Center

On Thursday, our playgroup (Sam, Austin, Ethan, Marty, Marty's shovel, Amar, Ryan and Jacob) went to a "Birds of Play" class at the Trinity Audubon Center, which I learned is located in the Great Trinity Forest, which is the largest urban hardwood forest in the country. The class consisted of a guided hike around the Center's nature trails, a project where each of the kids planted his own wildflower to take home, storytime, and looking at some baby turtles and lizards....

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Thomas the Train

On Sunday, we took Marty to ride Thomas the Train. While I think he thought the train ride was neat, it was clear to Tyler and me that the Thomas bounce house was the highlight of the morning:

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The Three Muskateers

Last week, we went to the Preston Hollow Early Childhood PTA's Easter Egg Hunt (that's a mouthful). When I told Marty we were going to an egg hunt, he said, "I want to see the chickens." I said, "I don't know if we'll see any chickens, but chickens do make eggs." Then, he confidently replied, "No, Grandad makes eggs!" Anyway, here's a picture of Marty, Sam and Amar from the event, as they are slipping into a chocolate-induced coma.