Happy New Year!

Family picture in Coronado

Four Months Old

 

Aaron is four months old now. In addition to hanging out with is pillow pets, he enjoys laughing at his sisters, playing in the jungle and practicing his standing and sitting (the Asch training program is alive and well). He is a tall and lean smiling machine! Also, he is (cross your fingers) sleeping through the night for the last week or so. Happy, happy Mommy.

Robin...in her sister's footsteps

She might not say it, but Robin loves her big sister and eagerly wants to do everything Miriam does. She saw Miri fly off the bulldozer at the park, so up she went. Now, she loves flying:


Robin's also getting pretty good on the ice:

We'll all dance the "porah"

Robin gets into the Chanukkah spirit....

Hanging out

The Asch Family jumps into December...

 Aaron takes in the world sideways...

 Puzzle time: Miri completed this 100 piece jigsaw puzzle from the National Zoo with a little help. Robin did her animal puzzle all by herself (at least from G to Z). Great activity for a cold and rainy day.

 Making origami crowns. Thank you for the great gift, Aunt Laura!

Siblings

Robin-isms

Oh, the middle child. Not the pioneering oldest; not the adorable baby. Forgotten in all the hubbub of the newborn...

Not Robin. She won't let you overlook her.

Robin is her own beast. She wakes up with a mischievous sparkle in her eye, and she spends her day tearing around, laughing, dancing, singing. Her exuberance will crack you up and drive you crazy, but you will never be bored.

She talks nonstop, and there's no telling what she'll say next:
- We were ice skating and she came to stop, looked at the ice, then up at Daddy: "Daddy, why did the ice stop moving?"
- Playing on the mulch-covered playground at nearby Nolte Park, she whipped out her wit: "This isn't 'Nolte' Park, it's 'Mulchy Park'!"
- Mommy was trying to get Robin to finish her kugel, so she tried to use the Aaron trick: "Robin, Aaron wants to see you eat your kugel!" Robin didn't miss a beat. Taking a huge bite of her much-preferred sweet potatoes, she quipped: "No, Mommy, he wants to see me eat my sweet potatoes!"

Not to be outdone...we also have a three month old

WE LOVE AARON!

Getting a kick out of getting his picture taken.

What is going on with my two crazy sisters?

Happy #5 Miriam!

We have a five year old in our house (and we're not just talking about how Daddy acts sometimes)! That's right -- Miriam is five years old! She was so excited for her day, and she made the most of it. The day started with chocolate-chip-pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. Then, Daddy, Robin and Aaron visited her nursery school class with chocolate chip cookies and an intense reading of Otis and the Tornado. After lunch, Miriam Skyped with Grandma Jean and PopPop and opened her present from them -- an electricity experiments kit that she played with until dinner. She picked a delicious menu of tomato soup, toasted cheese sandwiches,mashed potatoes, and cantaloupe. Nana came for dinner too, bringing grapes, robusto cheese, presents, and delicious birthday brownies. Oy, so much chocolate! Miriam is such a thoughtful, caring, tough, adventurous and fun kid. We are so happy to have her in our family. 

Baking chocolate chip cookies for Miriam's class

Miriam the photographer--she took this picture of Aaron. He was not amused.

Birthday dinner with sunflowers from Nana.

Birthday Brownies

Opening presents...this took literally 2 minutes for 4 presents. We were lucky to get any pictures at all.

Settling In

It's been almost three months since Aaron joined us, and we're getting used to having him around. He seems to like us, even though we rarely give him time to nap when he wants to. Sometimes he looks a little bit confused by his sisters' zany antics, but we think he likes the craziness....

Hanging with Daddy

The Jungle

Three in the bath

Daddy and the kiddos posing turned into....

Tackle fight! It's never too young to start rumblin'...

Chilly Camping!

Daddy and the girls got their last camping trip of the year in last night. It was chilly! Lows were in the mid-30's. But thanks to hot chocolate, hiking and a roaring fire, they stayed warm. What better way to spend their extra hour than sleeping in a tent?

Oatmeal for Breakfast!

Without the Derecho, we wouldn't have such a great stack of firewood to burn.
Thanks for splitting it all, Daddy!

Eyeball!

      Halloween is here and gone. What better to do than write a blog post while sitting on the couch eating candy. Miriam went with a traditional bunny this year, perhaps a nod to the fact she was in the shafanim (bunny) class last year at preschool. Aaron went as a bumblebee--thank you mommy listserv with free costumes. Robin went as an eyeball. We don't know why she came up with this answer when we asked what she wanted to be for Halloween, but it was an AWESOME costume, put together by Daddy. 

Hey, you lookin' at me?

Daddy and  Aaron

Hurricake....

 Hurricane Sandy is making its way towards us. Our important papers are downstairs as is all our bedding. We're sleeping on the ground floor tonight...a tree crashed through a neighbor's house during the last storm and we aren't taking any chances. So, time for "hurricake," reading and building forts. We hope the storm passes quickly and everyone is safe.

Yum, Hurricake.

The pumpkin ice cream is pretty good too!

Reading Extravaganza!

Miri built this fort to sleep in.

Two Months Old!

Double A is two months old! We can't believe how quickly it has gone. So, what is the big guy up to? He loves to look at the ducks over his swing, being entertained by his sisters and being outside. He hates his vitamin D drops, being woken up too early and spending time in the car. His eating is great, his sleeping is good (he is usually only up once a night) and we are so happy to have him in our family.

Smiling for the camera. AA weighed in at 12 lbs plus, and had grown to 23 3/4 inches.

Not such a fan of sharing his bed with Thunder.

The kids

Fall Fun

Highs in the 70's, lows in the 40's, leaves changing colors, the Asch family loves fall! Check out what we've been up to this month!

Read the book, made the flan, YUM!

Loving the playground!

Good hang out time with Nana who stepped in while Mommy was away for the weekend

Check out those socks!

Swinging

Fun in the hay at the farm with Noa and Miriam's Nursery School class.

Pumpkin Patch fun.

Hey, what's that over there?

Reading

We have a reader!

Go Nats!

The Nats are back in the playoffs after a 79-year hiatus. We are going bananas! It's been a magical season, and the girls love going to games to see Bryce Harper (Miriam's favorite) and Steven Strasburg (Robin's favorite). It's a fun team — let's hope they go far!

Sukkot apple picking

The weather has cooperated beautifully for the harvest festival of Sukkot. To celebrate, we took the kiddos to Homestead Farm out along River Road. Expecting a quiet morning out in the country, we instead happened upon about a hundred kids and their moms (and a handful of dads) from Washington Hebrew Congregation. Mommy knew the WHC rabbis, of course, so we hopped on the hayride, picked apples, and pet the animals with them. It was a perfect Sukkot!

One Month Old

Thanks for the stickers Auntie Megan and Uncle Ben!

 It's hard to believe that "Double A" is already one month old. He weighed in at a healthy 10 lbs, 10 ozs at his one month appointment. We were thrilled all his grandparents could join us for his naming at Temple Sinai on Friday evening. (Thanks for flying in from the California Grandma Jean and PopPop!) Miriam says "playing with Aaron" is the most fun thing about having Aaron as a brother. Robin likes having an audience. She insists that Aaron watch her jump from couch to couch. Mommy likes having an excuse to watch tv late at night while nursing--she is currently making her way through The Good Wife. Daddy is just glad our family is complete.

Before the naming

Cuddle Time

Family at the Zoo. The baby panda was born later that night!