18!!!

 

I know it's been awhile since the last time you heard from us, and for that I apologize. It's not like there's been much going on over the last six years. If I had more material over here, I could probably right a book but really life has been somewhat ordinary. Let's see, where were we when we last spoke?

Ah, Kansas, that's right. 

And, oh yeah, there was a pandemic going on. 

Christopher was finishing fifth grade, Jonathan was finishing pre-K. 

And we were planning to move across the country and return to the east coast. 

Fast forward...

I guess lots of things happened, and suddenly Christopher is 18. 

We moved from Mission Hills, Kansas to Rye, New York in the middle of the covid pandemic; that was fun! Jonathan started kindergarten at the Osborn School and now just graduated fifth grade. Christopher started sixth grade at Rye Middle School and is now entering his senior year at the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry. Jonathan will be joining Chris there in the fall. Brian is still working at American Century as a portfolio manager, but from a distance. And I have re-entered the hockey world as both a player with the Motherpuckers and now a coach with the Westchester Vipers. Grammy lives with us and provides us with mahjong lessons and pretty much anything we are looking for when we need it (batteries, paper clips, duct tape), and although we lost Holly to illness early on in our stay in New York, Athena is being spoiled enough (or not, depending on who you ask). 

I stopped writing on the blog for various reasons, one being the pandemic and the move back home. Also, most of the people I was writing the blog for are now local so we see each other frequently. 

But we needed an entry today because Brian and I now officially have an adult child. What???

Writing this blog when Chris was little provided both an outlet for me as a new mother as well as a record of our kid's life. In retrospect, I am so glad I did it because it serves as a sort of photo album of both Christopher's and Jonathan's lives and all the memories we made in Kansas City. I hope one day they will look back on it and appreciate our time out there. But here we are on Christopher's 18th birthday thinking about how quickly time flies. It seems we were just eating the chocolate chip waffles from Waffle House (thank you Jan and Eric!) and wondering how we were supposed to get our new baby to sleep! Now we are touring colleges and watching him drive off to school in the morning. 

We wish Chris the happiest of birthdays today! We are so proud of both of our boys and while we sit here watching Chris bob his head to very loud music on his new headphones, we think about where the future will take him. For the record right now, Chris is obsessed with physics and math and says he wants to do something in the field of theoretical physics. He fences, is studying Mandarin and loves Formula One. 

This will probably be a one off post, but who knows? In the meantime, we celebrate our first kid on this milestone birthday!!!

Can't Stop Us Now

We have a standing date with the Groden family each year to participate in their "Passover for (mostly) non Jewish families" and we were not going to let a global pandemic stop us this year! We just had to make a few minor adjustments. For starters, we didn't have to go anywhere and we carried out the Seder on Zoom. Secondly, I had to cook a lot more than I typically do, but who cares? It was fun and what else to do when stuck at home on a Saturday but cook? I had my assistants here to help. Chris made the Charoset...

Jonathan helped make the matzo balls for the soup...

In place of the lamb shank, I roasted some beets (for the first time ever)...

And of course I made the potato kugel which is the dish I usually bring to Danna's house...

Due to the nature of things at grocery stores, I was unable to find horseradish but aside from that, our Seder plate was complete! We also made it a vegan Seder plate and meal from start to finish!

It was a very fun evening, different because we couldn't actually hug our friends but it was as great a substitution as possible!

It was fun to dress up too! Mostly we've all been hanging out each day in comfy clothes and it felt great to dress up for a few hours. Jonathan even wore buttons... by choice!

Who me?

Me? Steal food while you're not looking? How could you even begin to think of me like that? When have I ever stolen anything? When have I waited until you weren't looking to snag food off the counter? When have I ever jumped up on the bench and swiped your child's peanut butter and jelly sandwich right out of their hands? When have I waited for the doorbell to ring before getting up from under the table while you ran to answer it and hopped up to the counter to eat the whole block of tofu you were planning on cooking for dinner? I am just an innocent pup, wrongful accused of misdeeds. I implore you! Observe how I sit so patiently, waiting for you to summon me into the playroom so you can eat in peace. I am such a good hound dog. I would never do anything to cause a loss of food in this household. Never...

Our Backyard

As many of you know, we are planning to move back to New York in the summer to be with our family and friends. Today in Kansas, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and I just sat out back soaking in everything. Here is a little video so I remember the peacefulness of our backyard. Of course, there is a kid with no shirt and two dogs barking but it was as good as it gets!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy7kH_x5YKs&feature=youtu.be

Crazy Doggies

After dinner it was so nice out so we all went out and watched some backyard entertainment...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSi2vGRUMMM&feature=youtu.be

Spring

In the fall, I tried planting tulip bulbs for the first time and they came into full bloom today! Very exciting. Also, Jonathan had to build a house for his pet "Athena" today. He made it out of fort magic and Holly was wondering if she could come in too!

We also measured our iris sprouts and they are up to 6 inches...

Also, this is what social distancing is starting to look like...

Stuff

Here are some things we've been up to recently...

We've been fortunate with the weather but even in the rain, we need to take a walk. It actually wasn't too bad out and when we were out, the sun came out. Today it is chilly though! There were mini icicles on our fountain this morning.

Jonathan had several fun activities this week. He had a couple of his specials including Spanish with Señora Meli! It was a lot of fun and I think he enjoyed class from his beanbag chair...

Mommy learned a thing or two also! We also did a Zoom with some friends from class and his teachers. The parents are taking turns hosting a "story time" and yesterday was our turn to read! Jonathan chose The Day the Crayons Quit. It was fun!

One of the things his teacher asked the kids to do was create a page for an alphabet book. They posted a video of the teachers reading an ABC book and each child was assigned a letter. Here is Jonathan's page. He made jelly, a jug and Jonathan holding a jar...

Chris has also been doing his dance classes via Zoom. Thank God for that! Here is the only picture I was allowed to get...

He usually emerges from the playroom sweaty, rosy cheeked and happy so we'll take that as a win! Jonathan wanted to show off his moves too. This was supposed to be a slow motion video but for some reason it didn't upload as one. Nevertheless, it is funny!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3hMu9im5pQ&feature=youtu.be

This morning we picked up breakfast at Eggtc in an attempt to support one of our favorite local restaurants and now the boys are watching Looney Toons (J) and customizing cars online (C). Yes, the older of our children is a "car guy." We hung out watching Jay Leno's Garage on CNBC last night and I'm pretty sure Chris knows almost as much as Jay about the cars he talks about!