Happy Birthday, Robin

After weeks of anticipation, Robin turned two today! What did she want for her birthday? Cupcakes, and for people to sing happy birthday to her. Done and done. Here was our great day.

Breakfast. Even though Daddy cooks amazing pancakes, sweet potato oatmeal, and waffles, Robin wants cereal. Kix, Honey Bunches of Oats, and Raisin Bran!

At Brookside Gardens seeing the "mini-trains." There was an amazing model train display and Robin and Miriam loved to watch them. Then we took a walk around the beautiful gardens.

Lunch at the Tastee Diner (a Silver Spring institution since 1935). Waffles dunked in chocolate milkshake for Miriam (see above) and mac n' cheese, applesauce, and a chocolate milkshake for Robin. We won't mention what the parents ate, but it is the "Season of Gluttony!"

We had a Skype date with Grandma Jean and Pop Pop (who sent a great singing card, which Robin danced to, a lot!) and then Uncle Rob, Aunt Vida, and Cousin Pearce came over for a birthday dinner, and CUPCAKES with chocolate icing. See the results, above!

Playing with her new trains before bath and bedtime. This girl LOVES trains! Now we are off to Worcester, Mass., to visit the Myers clan.

Happy Hannukah!

The Asch Family (especially the kids) have been eagerly anticipating Chanukkah...the candles, the gelt (yum!), the jelly doughnuts (yum! yum!), and the presents. What could be better?In preschool, Miriam made a great chanukkiah, which she kindly gifted to Robin who doesn't have one yet. After we lit the candles (but not, thank goodness, the girls' hair, as we've done in the past), the girls opened their first presents: beautiful Shabbat coats from Nana.

The girls in their coats. Dickens novel? Nineteenth century Eastern Europe? You be the judge.

Robin with the chanukkiah that Miriam made her.

Miriam is enthralled with the candles.

Jumping!

We've been holed up inside the house recently since it has been getting cold! This means we have to find some ways to get our exercise inside. Here, Robin demonstrates her jumping skills and her expanding vocabulary.

Photographers at work

Miri and Robin got a new digital camera (it's allegedly kid-proof -- we'll see), and they have been taking pictures of all sorts of things: the floor, the toilet roll dispenser, the faucet. Every now and again, we'll see a person in there. Check out their oeuvre:

Miri self-portrait

Robin, as seen by Miri

Panda portrait

4

One unexpected thing about parenting is finding out why cliches are cliches. It's because they are true! That one about kids "growing up too fast"? True. Miriam turned four years old today. Holy cow! How did that happen? Miri was so excited last night that she couldn't sleep, and she spent much of the day with a big grin on her face. We spent the morning with three of her pre-school friends at the Imagination Stage, a wonderful kids' theater where we watched "What Does Red Do on Thursday?" In the afternoon, we had our family party, complete with a chocolate lamb cake (Miri is obsessed with her lamb -- which her mom had adored growing up), pumpkin custard, and hummus (for Robin). The birthday girl was so wound up that we'll be surprised if she actually sleeps tonight...

Um, Robin...it's Miriam's birthday, not yours!

Don't blow the lamb's head off, Miri!

Goofing around in Nana's hat

Judge Costa

We're so proud of our old friend, Gregg Costa. In the old days back in Sunflower, "Mr. Costa" and Daddy lived and worked together, and folks in town used to get them confused. Now he's "Judge Costa" -- President Obama nominated him to be a federal judge in Galveston, and he came to DC for his confirmation hearings. Congratulations, Judge Costa!

Halloween craziness

Our neighborhood is teeming with little kids, and we rounded them up for pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating a day early. Miriam is well versed in the Halloween routine, and she knew that she wanted to be "something purple" this year. What's purple? "A train!" Well, okay, the Purple Line is going to come through our neighborhood in a few years, but we already did the Metro train (and the Metro bus) before, so how about something new? "Grapes!" Grapes? "Grapes! I want to be grapes for Halloween!" Okay...so we got her all fixed up and ready to roll.

Little did we know that she would end up looking like the "Fruit of the Loom" guy...

Lions and pumpkins and grapes, oh my!

Victory!

Chilly camping

We had big plans for our Fall camping trip, but most of them fell through -- cousin Pearce couldn't make it, neighbor Sienna backed out, and then the girls got sick. But we went anyway! We inaugurated our new-to-us minivan by heading to Greenbelt National Park (can't believe it's so close) for a crisp night of stars & s'mores. It was chilly (40 degrees ) but fun. Robin and Miriam hogged the sleeping pads and slept better than their parents. Some highlights:

Miri teaches Robin the ways of fire-blowing

S'mores! S'mores! S'mores!

Oatmeal by the fireside with Lamb...what could be better?

Sukkot tradition

We started a new family tradition for Sukkot: going to the pumpkin patch! Actually, it's more like combining a fall tradition we love (pumpkins!) with one that, well, needs some improving (Sukkot). Somehow, we manage to pick a rainy day each time we go to this particular patch, but that just means that we get the whole place to ourselves.

Miri at the patch two years ago

Miri in 2011

Robin in 2011 -- we couldn't get her to strike the pose!

KIAP! (Yeah, we don't know why she's kicking either...)

Rabbi Mommy

Q: Who are the rabbis at Temple Sinai?

Miriam: Rabbi Roos, Rabbi Oleon, and Rabbi Mommy!

The past couple weeks have been hectic times for Rabbi Mommy -- a grand slam sermon on Rosh Hashanah, all day service on Yom Kippur, bar/bat mitzvah kids, a retreat with teenagers, Sukkot, ...this time of year is exhausting for clergy! But she loves being a rabbi and she's great at it. We love you, Rabbi Mommy!

Books, Books, Books

It's no secret that the Asch girls love to read -- that's pretty much the go-to activity when all else fails. Yesterday, we were lucky enough to have a real-live children's author (and wonderful family friend), Mark Pett, come to Miri's pre-school class as the first stop on his nationwide book tour. Yup, before he hit Politics & Prose and the best bookstores around the country, he came to Temple Sinai Nursery School to read his hilarious and heart-warming new book, The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes. Miri was so proud to have "Millie's daddy" come to class!

The Great Outdoors

One of the things we love about where we live is that we are right next to the woods and creek. It means we get a lot of time outdoors. Here is a typical afternoon. The girls are wearing dresses that Nana got on her cruise. They are from Jamaica!

Robin loves being outside.Miriam builds a fire for camping. She loves to do this! Robin walks over the fire and Miri cries, "No Robin, you'll burn yourself."

Miriam looks into Sligo Creek. The bridges are good for climbing on, throwing things off, and running over.The girls run to the park.

Robin climbing up the ladder.

No escape

Miriam had one place in the house where she could escape her crazy sister -- the top bunk of her bunkbed. Had. While Daddy was putting the sheet on the bed tonight, Robin scaled the side and slid over the top. (We deliberately had not built a ladder to make it more difficult for her, but that only worked for a couple months.) "Robin's on the top!" Miri screamed, out of surprise and, perhaps, anguish. Alas...there is no escape.

Robin recreated the scene for posterity (while Miri pioneered a new way up):

First day of pre-school

Miri is officially off to pre-school at Temple Sinai, where Mommy works. She excitedly picked out her favorite clothes (she's still in her Goth phase, as you can see) and got herself ready to see her teachers, Laura and Valerie -- they came by the house last week to introduce themselves. She's going to love being in school, but Mommy and Daddy are a little sad to see their baby go...

Summer's end

Summer's over...sigh. It's been great -- lots of swimming and sweating, plenty of popsicles and smoothies, and several trips to visit friends and family. A couple weeks ago, we spent a weekend in New York with Mommy's cousins Jonathan & Jennifer, Daddy's aunt, uncle, and cousins, and old college friends Michael Saul and the Suwankosais. The Suwankosais showed us a fun little water park in Brooklyn as well as a fantastic NY pizzeria. Their boys, Tyler and Ethan, are brilliant little buggers -- Tyler knows the first 12 presidents, and he's not even 4! The girls had a great time chasing them around for the day.

Swimming with Aunt Michelle at her neighbor's gorgeous pool

The world is their playground...

Summer Snacks

What, Popsicles? That's right, with the weather heating up (again), here in DC, we are enjoying some summer snacks. These pics are from Grandma Jean and Pop Pop's house, but we've been snacking (without the camera) here too.