Merry Christmas and Farewell 2007

Well this about wraps up 2007! December was a busy month, as you can see in our December photos.

The Chanukah show at Milo's school was as cute as ever; this year Milo's class performed only in Hebrew. Milo seemed a little distracted by us during the show, but he made up for it by having his photo featured on the front page of "The State," the local newspaper, as he lit the menorah during a Chanukah celebration at school.

We also were able to watch Milo's dance class on parent observation day -- the last day of classes before the winter break. He seems to have fun, and a crush on one of the teaching assistants (she's 17).

Christmas was a lovely day. After opening presents and eating breakfast, we headed to Harbison State Forest for a short hike and a picnic lunch. At bedtime we asked the boys what was their favorite part of the day. Milo said "opening all the presents" (Gramma, Grandpa, Auntie Alli and Uncle Dave get a little carried away). Calder blurted, "Doll house!" When asked if he was happy, Calder giggled loudly. I guess it was a good day for all.

Of course, the rest of the month was busy with building forts out of the family room furniture, hugging one's brother, fighting with one's brother, whining, and trying to convince Daddy to keep the pick-up-truck on loan from the mechanic when his car was in for repairs.

Cookie Craziness

Just in time for Christmas, we held a cookie decorating party, inviting some of Milo's and Calder's friends to decorate sugar cookies. The boys had fun, but quickly lost interest in the project, preferring instead to scarf down some cookies and play with their friends. Interestingly, the girls at the party sat at the table much longer, decorating many more cookies than the boys, including their hosts, Milo and Calder. And, most amazingly, there was not much mess at all to clean up. Poor Beacon (our dog), however, ended up with a little pink frosting on her head.

Food vs. Love

We recently received a pretty good indication of the differences between our two boys, though, of course, some of this is attributable to age. Below are two recent conversations about the upcoming arrival of Milo's and Calder's baby sister.

Conversation #1:

Milo: Mommy, when the baby is not crying, will you lay her down in my bed so I can share my star blankie with her?
Me: Of course, Milo.
Milo: Then I'll give her kisses and snuggle her.
Me (tears welling up in eyes, reaching over to hug him): Milo, that is really sweet.

Conversation #2:

Calder: Mommy, I want the baby to come out.
Me: Soon honey, soon, but not yet.
Calder: I'll feed her animal crackers!
Me (secretly thinking, Oh no! Not another snack food junkie!): That's so nice of you to share your favorite food with her!

A Happy and A Merry Christmakah To You II!

It's that time of the year again, when the Weinberg family lights its menorah and chops down a tree to bring home and decorate. This year we got a beautiful new menorah, courtesy of Milo, who made it at preschool. Milo and Calder have been taking turns lighting the menorah each night of Chanukah.

Today we drove to Sumter, took a hayride, and picked out our Christmas tree in 70 degree weather! As you can see, the boys chose a very tall tree and both boys helped Daddy chop it down. Afterwards we took a trip to the ice cream parlor. Yum!

New Underwear

One of Calder's recent Chanukah presents from Grammy and Oom-Poppa is big boy underwear. As Calder's not yet fully potty-trained we keep reminding him that he cannot actually wear his big boy underwear until he uses the potty consistently. Calder, as you may notice, decided otherwise. Big boy underwear works well over clothes and on one's head too, you see.

Fun With Auntie Alli

Auntie Alli visited us this past week, bringing smiles, giggles, and many goodies to our home. Auntie Alli especially enjoyed goofing around with the boys at the Snowville exhibit at EdVenture.

Getting Into the Holiday Spirit

This past Friday we took the boys to see “The Nutcracker” for the first time. Milo is an old pro at attending dance performances and was enchanted throughout the show. His favorite part was the fight scene between the Nutcracker and the rats, including the cannon shot. Amazingly, Calder, who as most of you know, generally is a perpetual motion machine, sat quietly through all but the last ten minutes of the performance. We were thrilled, albeit shocked. Afterwards we went out for lunch with the guys, where we had another first. Both boys ate pizza happily, without complaining about our choice of food!

The following link is to November photos for the Weinberg Boys. Included are some fun Thanksgiving shots, as well as some photos from before and after (during lunch) our recent trip to the ballet.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We’ve finally just recovered from Thanksgiving. All of Milo’s and Calder’s grandparents visited for the holiday, traveling from New York and Pennsylvania, respectively. The boys had so much fun with their grandparents: playing with play-doh, making a “trash-can robot,” watching Star Wars Episode IV (Milo only), staying up late, visiting various playgrounds, making chalk outlines of one another, playing at Leapin’ Lizards and EdVenture, and generally goofing around. Oh yeah, and we had a great big feast with far too much food too. The boys’ favorite Thanksgiving food was the chocolate cake we enjoyed for dessert. No surprise there. The sweetest Thanksgiving treat, however, was Milo's response to his teacher's question about what he's thankful for. Milo said, "My brother Calder because I love playing with him."

Baby Ticker - The Baby Countdown Pregnancy Tick 4

The Weinberg Boys And . . . A Girl!

That's right folks! On or around February 5, 2008, Milo and Calder will become big brothers to a little sister Weinberg. So far, while she is in utero, we call her "Lil' Peach" and we've not yet finalized a name for the little girl Weinberg, who will be arriving in 13 or less weeks.

Milo is very excited about having a sister. He'd actually been asking about having a sister for quite a while before we even decided on a third child. Milo actually told me that if it was a boy, "Mommy, you'll just have to have another baby." Ha! Milo loves to talk to my tummy and has many ideas about what "Little Pink," as he likes to call her, might want, need, or be like. He also often tells her he loves her.

Calder is very sweet too, kissing my belly and pointing to the baby inside. He, of course, has no idea what life changes he's in for, as I will not be as quick to tote him around come February.

For those of you wondering, the name of the blog will probably change to "The Weinberg Boys and A Girl," but the internet address will stay the same. And yes, we are now officially certifiably insane and totally in love with our children.

Brotherly Love

Today we hiked with our friends Tristan, Ella, and Naja in Harbison State Forest. Milo and Calder took turns being carried during our approximately three mile hike. We stopped for lunch when we reached the Broad River, which borders part of the forest. After eating a bit of food, Milo and Calder had a blast scampering among the rocks along the river bank. At this time each had found a walking stick that each was using "to go fishing" in the water.

Now here's where we cursed ourselves for not bringing our video camera. Calder accidentally dropped his stick in the moving water. Milo, without hesitating even a moment, literally jumped into the water to retrieve Calder's stick. When he realized that the water was cold--it was only about 60 degrees outside at this time--and deeper than he initially thought, Milo yelled, "Help!" Daddy came to his rescue, pulling Milo out of the water and stripping off his soaked clothing. Daddy praised Milo for saving his brother's stick and Milo responded, "You should be proud too, Daddy, you saved me!" Luckily it was not a cold day and Milo certainly did not mind hiking in his underwear, long-sleeved shirt, and wet sneakers. He even seemed to get quite a kick out of his newly liberated skinny white legs, climbing to the top of a tall rock bordering the water and doing a little jig at the top. I'm sorry I cannot share this wonderful picture with you.

October Photos

October was a really busy month for the Weinberg boys, from a visit with Grammy and Oom-Poppa, to a visit with the Wawersik family, as well as playing at the state fair, Milo's school trip to the farm, and assorted other fun times. Lots of October photos can be found here.

Happy Halloween!

Our little skeletons had a lot of fun trick-or-treating this year (that is, once Calder agreed to put on his "scary" costume). After our lovely neighbor Carroll loaded the boys up with pumpkin-shaped cookies and other goodies we headed over to the Elmwood Park neighborhood to trick-or-treat with our friends Gracen, Maya, Juliana, and Evan. Photos of the fun, including pumpkin carving with Daddy, can be found here.

School Field Trip

Like last year, Milo's Fall school field trip was a visit to a farm. The boys had a blast checking out all the animals and cavorting with their friends. Calder particularly loved the horses and all of the red tractors. The tractor ride was a big hit, as was eating lunch by the pond and, afterwards, throwing rocks into the water. I encouraged the boys not to chase the ducks and geese like some of the other children, as I tried to ensure that Calder did not get stuck in the mud on the side of the pond.

Wawersik Family Visit

Early in October our good friends from Williamsburg, VA, visited. Milo and Calder shared some of Columbia's sights with Hannah and Sam, including our lovely Riverbanks Zoo and the South Carolina State Fair.

Apple Picking

Today we went apple picking at Windy Hill Orchard, about an hour and a half north of Columbia. The boys had a grand time picking apples, slurping down apple cider slushies, and gobbling down the freshly-made cinnamon and sugar donuts. I must say it was a little odd to be picking apples in 90 degree weather, dripping with sweat in the shadeless orchard, and cooling off with apple cider slushies, rather than jaunting around an orchard in crisp fall weather, wearing fleece and downing hot spiced cider at the end of the afternoon.

Butt

Milo had a "No. 2" accident at school on Friday (this is not at all a normal occurrence). No one noticed until, of course, we were at home getting ready for nap time. I asked Milo when this happened and he replied, in all seriousness, "Mommy, I don't know. I don't watch my butt all day. If I did I couldn't see all the toys and friends I want to play with." Well, then.

Partners In Crime

In celebration of Rosh Hashanah, Milo was off from school today and so the boys and I headed to EdVenture for the day. While at the children's museum, the boys spent nearly 25 minutes hiding in a cabinet inside the "S.S. Shrimpy" boat, each taking turns opening the doors to the cabinet and peeking out at me, giggling wildly.

Calder Is A Big Boy

This labor day weekend was a big one for Calder. He moved from his crib to a big boy mattress on the floor. This is the first step in his transition to sharing bunk beds with Milo. Calder and "Blue" love their new bed. And, surprisingly, Calder has managed to stay in bed during nap time and bed time along with a little encouragement from his big brother.

Milo Is Four!

Today Milo turned four. After school this afternoon we headed to Leapin' Lizards and had some fun bouncing around. Tonight we'll be having chocolate chip pancakes for dinner (at Milo's request) to celebrate. We are, of course, still eating leftover mint chocolate chip ice cream cake too. Yum!



Yesterday Milo's class celebrated August birthdays, including Milo's birthday. Calder and I joined in the fun--Calder really enjoyed the chips and sprinkle-laden cupcake. Milo was happy to have a candle to blow out in light of the candle fiasco at his birthday party.

Congareeeeeeeeeee

This summer Justin taught the boys the name of one of our local rivers that we like to visit and walk along. Now every time we cross a river, any river, regardless of what state we are in, the boys yell out in tandem: "Congaree!" Giving them the proper name of such river only causes them to yell louder: "Congaree!"

Let's Party!

This past Saturday we held Milo's and Calder's joint birthday party. The boys had a blast playing with their friends on Fort Weinberg, splashing in the kiddie pool, and rolling around the beach ball sprinkler. The pinata was a big hit too, as were the water balloons.



Milo and I made a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake for the occasion, just like last year. While the ice cream cake was delicious, it was so frozen solid when we removed it from the freezer that a machete would have been the best tool for hacking out pieces for everyone. Sadly, because of the cake's frozen nature, we could barely even push the candles into the cake, causing one to break in the process. To top it off, there was a slight breeze (making the 90-plus degree weather sort of bearable) preventing us from lighting the candles. Justin asked Milo and Calder to pretend to blow out the candles. As you can see from the pictures, Milo especially was none too pleased about this "pretending."



All in all though, the boys had a fabulous party and lots of fun with their friends.

First Day of School

Milo's first day of school was much like his first day of school last year. The day started off rather normally. When I went in to wake Milo up at 7:30 am he moaned, groaned that he was "too tired to go to school," and rolled away from me under the covers. Once we got him to school though, he was pretty happy to see his teachers and friends, and quickly abandoned Justin, Calder, and me at the doorway to his classroom. The children were assigned a project to draw a picture describing how they felt at school and Milo's picture was entitled "I'm happy to be back at school." There were lots of new toys and other learning tools in Milo's classroom, including the above tape recorders and headphones for listening to music and stories, causing Milo to rush around the classroom in a hurry to check everything out.

In the afternoon, the minute Calder and I walked through the school door to pick Milo up, Milo rushed over to me and encircled me with a big, long squeezy hug (apparently he'd been watching for me from the lunchroom doorway). He said he "wanted to make sure I was okay." I guess he might have missed us after all.

Calder Is Two!

Yesterday Calder turned two years old. We celebrated by having lunch with friends and playing at Leapin' Lizards. We'll be having more fun at the end of the month when Milo and Calder have their joint birthday party.

New York Trip

Yes, as if our back to back trips in July were not enough, we followed them with a journey up to New York. We seem to have a love-hate relationship with NYC. Every trip up there reminds us of how much we love the city--seeing friends, eating good food, visiting world-class museums and shops--as well as how we could never really live there. Pretty much, NYC infrastructure is slowly crumbling. On the first day of our visit an early morning rainstorm (with not that much total rainfall) halted the NYC subways, leaving public transportation a giant mess. The following day, we, and all the rest of NY, decided to drive into the city, making our commute extremely long and tiresome. Anyways, I digress. Thankfully the boys were good sports about all the crazy commutes. They were just disappointed they didn't get to ride the "choo-choo" trains a bit more. They did get to ride a NYC bus for the first time, which Milo thought was "really cool" (me not so much since the bus drivers make you fold up your strollers, which is quite a hassle with two children and all their gear).

The boys had a good time in NYC, mostly playing in playgrounds, eating junk food, and making big messes. We had fun while they were napping in their strollers or somewhat cooperating while we tried to have conversations with our friends and family.



After eating our way through NYC, we headed up to Elmira, NY, not too far from Binghamton, NY, where Justin and I first met (15 years ago this fall!!!). Gramma and Granpa Bienkowski recently moved to Elmira and we got to see their wonderful new home and celebrate the boys' upcoming birthdays. Even Auntie Alli drove in from Ohio to join in the fun. While in upstate NY we visited the Corning Glass Museum and the lovely, albeit frightfully fast, Eldridge Park carousel. Milo was particularly enchanted by the glass blowing demonstration at the museum.





On our way home from Elmira we stopped in Williamsburg, VA, for an overnight visit with our friends the Wawersiks. Milo, Hannah, and Calder had so much fun playing they were too wound up for their slumber party. By 11 p.m. they were all separated and sleeping soundly. Our trip ended the next day when we arrived home tired and drowning in dirty laundry. It's good to be home.

Oak Island, July 28 - August 4

That's right, following our relaxing trip to Asheville, NC, sans screaming children, we headed to the beach at Oak Island, NC, with the doggies, grandparents, and Uncle Ben for a week. The boys loved the beach and had so much fun playing in the water and sand. Daddy dug giant holes for them daily and on our last day at the beach Milo even dug his own hole and constructed a seat in and stairs exiting the hole ("just like Daddy does"). Milo caught his first two fish on a fishing trip with Uncle Ben, Daddy, and Oom-Poppa, and Calder loved trying to catch fish with Uncle Ben using a net in the surf. Calder also, thankfully, no longer eats sand (this is a big improvement on last summer's trip to Cannon Beach, Oregon).

Very soon more beach photos can be found here.

At the end of our trip Uncle Ben returned to Columbia with us for a few days before he headed off on his long journey back to Israel.

Busy, Busy July

July was a very busy month for the Weinberg Boys (and their parents too). Following our fabulous trip to Williamsburg, Milo had his first trip to the movies! He and our fun neighbor Carroll, whom Milo just adores, went to see "Ratatouille." Milo loved the movie, as well as all the yummy junk food one can eat at the movies!



Toward the end of the month of July, Justin and I left the boys with their grandparents, Grammy and Oom-Poppa, while we visited Asheville for a few days to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. The boys had a blast with Grammy and Oom-Poppa, visiting all of their favorite places to play in Columbia and, of course, being spoiled rotten. Upon our return from Asheville we all headed to the beach.

Happy Fourth of July!

This year we were very fortunate to spend the Fourth of July with our dear friends in Williamsburg, VA. Upon our arrival we got to meet nine-week old Sam, the newest member of the Wawersik family. He, like his big sister Hannah, is totally precious. Calder was a little wary of Sam initially, but Milo was very interested in Sam, trying to feed him pretzels and water, and telling Lauri that she could just "leave the baby" with Milo, he'd take care of him.

Hannah and Milo picked up right where they left off, having the best time playing for hours on end in their magical imaginative world and wrestling with each other mercilessly. This visit Calder joined Milo's and Hannah's slumber party. Pretty much, Calder refused to stop crying until he got to sleep in the same room as the big kids.

While in Williamsburg we visited some of our old haunts, including picnicking in Colonial Williamsburg and the Kidsburg playground.

On the Fourth of July, Justin and Matt went kayaking in the morning while Hannah and Milo rode their decorated bikes in the local neighborhood parade of children. We also got to spend time with all our old friends, as the Wawersiks held a wonderful Fourth of July BBQ. All of the children are now huge! It's hard to believe how much they've all grown since we last saw them in October 2006.

It was hard to say goodbye when it was time to leave. On our long drive back to SC Milo decided we should "go get Beacon and Cleo and then go back to Hannah's house to live there forever."

Yay! Auntie Alli!

After passing her grad school board exams, Auntie Alli recently moved from Durham, NC, up to Columbus, Ohio, where her husband, Uncle Dave, lives. But before she left the south, Auntie Alli made one last trek to SC, making two little boys very happy. Despite the initial disappointment that neither Uncle Dave, Grandma, nor Cousin Lola (Auntie Alli's very spoiled Boston terrier) was accompanying Auntie Alli, Milo and Calder managed to have a blast with just Auntie Alli. They took her to Leapin' Lizards and the water park, and climbed all over her relentlessly. They were very sad to see her go.

Swim Session II

During swim session II both Milo and Calder took swim class (and so did I since Calder's class required a parent in the pool). Calder, like Milo, was slow to warm up to the water, but he now loves it and is happy to jump in and splash around. With the help of a small flotation device and his mom's neverending encouragement, Milo is doggie paddling around the pool. Milo absolutely loves jumping into the pool and even will go under water!

Reading Medals

Once again, we joined the summer reading club at our local library. This year, both Milo and Calder took the reading challenge and have read many books, earning reading medals and other fun prizes. Unfortunately, my camera battery died just after Milo received his medal from his beloved Miss Heather the librarian (again to the tune of Star Wars music!), and so poor Calder, the neglected second son (yeah, right) missed this photo op. Anyways, I'm just glad they both like books!

Milo's Inheritance

Milo at Waterpark: "Dad, when you die can I have your bathing suit?"

Calder At The Museum

Usually Calder reacts poorly to time spent in non-child focused museums. Tantrums, crying, whining, and general disregard for the rules of decorum are among the many joys experienced when one brings Calder to a museum. This past Friday, however, Calder chose not to make other museum-goers cringe, cover their ears, and head the other way. Instead, Calder was particularly moved by the "Family Fun Night" musical performance at the Columbia Museum of Art. So moved that he decided to take his shirt off mid-performance. My attempts to get the shirt back on only prompted him to strip once again before chomping on a cigarette-like pretzel.



He's a character, that Calder Weinberg.