Pajama Shabbat

Last Friday was Pajama Shabbat at the kids' school :) They loved wearing PJs and bringing a stuffed animal to show at school.  Plus, Finley changed into his slippers once we arrived at school! The funniest part was that his friend, Ben, arrived in the same exact penguin pajamas that Finley had been planning to wear for weeks.  Ben's mom and I were laughing while Finley was looking down at his own PJs trying to figure out how Ben ended up in them and he wasn't due to last minute change of heart.

The countdown until next year's PJ Shabbat has already begun!

Dagny, Dagny, Dagny

Dagny is nearly 20 months and really coming into her own.  She is constantly chit-chatting and her vocabulary is astounding, but what's more impressive is how well she makes herself understood to anyone who will listen.  We get a real kick listening to her and Finley talk because they are really able to have a back and forth now and both seem more than willing to put in the effort to figure out what the other is saying.  The funniest part is that Finley always using his "Dagny voice" when talking to his little sister, it's a little higher pitched than his regular voice and super endearing with a mix of grown up words and toddler lingo.  I haven't been able to capture it on video, but here's one of Dagny inviting her big bro to dance with her (with somewhat disappointing results) that is rather comical! 

She's determined :)

She LOVES stuffed animals -- particularly penguins, dogs, and most recently--"ki-cats" aka kitty cats.  At a toy store last week, she really went to town.

I was so proud of her that when it was time to go, she willingly put all the cats back on the same shelf she removed them from when it was time to go and simply waved, "bye, bye, ki-cats.  see you next time."

She's watched her brother play with trucks for a while now and has found a similar love of scooping and moving our "rubble" around using cups, trucks, garbage cans, or whatever else can hold all these little stones.

 At the discovery museum, she proved much heartier than her big brother, though.  At the water table, she completed soaked her shirt and I didn't have a spare.  She walked over pointing to it saying, "all wet, mommy" and I picked her up and said that it was alright, it would dry.  She said, "dry now?" and I  assured her that it would dry but not until later.  She asked to get down and went right back to the water!

 She is certainly living up to her namesake, Dagny Taggart, thus far and we are pleased (and somewhat concerned for the teenage years) at her independence, headstrong nature, and superior toddler intellect!

Orange Leaf

It may be one of the coldest, snowiest winters for us, but that doesn't mean getting frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf after school is out of the question, right??

Finley chose vanilla and put rainbow sprinkles on it, while Dagny and I "shared" some wedding cake flavored frozen yogurt with blueberries and strawberries. I say "shared" because I think I had two spoonfuls while Dagny scooped out the rest herself.  I love Orange Leaf because you pay by weight and aren't forced to order a "kiddie" size which is usually WAY too much for any kid. We put just enough in each bowl and end up paying only around $5 -- can't beat that!

Here is what I saw when I came back to after getting up to get napkins, Dagny wasn't close enough to the table so she leaned over as far as she could and dove in!

I scooted her in and she was off to the races, hunting for the hidden berries in the "i ceam".

 I guess no one else thought 20 degree weather was good for frozen yogurt, so the three of us had the place to ourselves!

There was lots of giggling with small snippets of silence when both kids had spoons in their mouths.

 I LOVE this photo of Finley, below, it really captures his personality and energy at this point in time :)

 The eating and licking continued...

 What a great afternoon adventure! Here's my first attempt at using a photo collage app (Thanks for the helpful hints, Aunt Caitlin!).

What did you say, Groundhog?

Well, the groundhog predicted six more weeks of winter, but later that week we were able to get outside on the driveway to play basketball and do some serious sidewalk chalking. We could almost taste spring's arrival.

 But just a couple of days later, we were home from school for yet another snow day...

Mother Nature, just make up your mind!

Happy Birthday, Granddad!

One afternoon after school a few weeks back, the kids picked up their guitars after school and sang some duets.  

ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle are surely on their greatest hits album, but I did ask them to branch out and sing Happy Birthday to my dad.

Grandpa and Dagny

In January, we went to visit GG and Grandpa down in NY for their anniversary.  I only took four pictures and all of them were of an adorable encounter between Grandpa and Dagny. Don't mind her bangs in her face, she could probably see at least a little of the book they were looking at!

Just love this last one!

Shabbat Helpers

Friday was a big day for the Acton Forseters as it was Dagny and Finley's morning to be the Shabbat Helpers at school.  How big was the day? Well, let's put it this way: Dan and I both took the morning off from work AND Grandpa Murray drove up from New York for the event!!  Finley had been eagerly waiting to wear his new button down shirt and instructed Dan and Grandpa to wear theirs, too.  When Dan dropped the kids off that morning, he pointed at Dan's sweatshirt asking "You aren't going to wear that to Shabbat, are you Daddy?"  Ha!

About 9:30, we began by hanging out in the kids' classrooms, I went to Dagny's and Murray and Dan checked out Finley's room.  Dagny was SUPER excited and probably a bit confused to have me in school in the morning, but we had fun reading books with her BFF Sadie and enjoying a small snack before Shabbat.

The whole school comes together for Shabbat and we got the chairs of honor and Finley could not have been prouder or more excited for it all.  

 

Dagny didn't want to wear a crown, but did enjoy herself more than the photo below reflects!

"There's a dinosaur knockin' at my door" for Shabbat and Finley got to walk the dinosaur around to all his friends.

 Daddy first.

 Grandpa hugged the dinosaur, too, just out of the frame.

 Later, Dagny was asked to walk the stuffed Torah around to all the kids but became quite territorial about it and told everyone "no, mine" as they attempted to touch or kiss it as she walked by.  Such a 1 year old!  Then, back at her seat she waved off the paparazzi.

 The kids did great and were so excited to be the Shabbat Helpers.  We lit the candles and the kids got to snuff them out and then we passed out challah, apple slices, and the blueberries Grandpa kindly brought up from New York. It was a truly special morning and we were thrilled that Grandpa joined us for it!