The Schulz's go to a Hanukkah Party

Ah, the holiday season is in full swing! Being from the north, the only real different religions we were really exposed to were varying degrees of Christianity. Since we've moved here to NY, out of the tight-knit three amigos, I'm the tolkien Christian! It is so interesting to learn about Judaism. Last night was the second night of Hanukkah. We were lucky enough to be invited to our first Hanukkah party at the Wilkofsky residence.

The party was a delicious feast! Julie's mom, who is lovingly refered to as, Grandma Emily, was in town to help. The menu for Hanukkah is highly revolved around oil and frying. Yum!! :) Grandma Emily had been frying food since Friday!! Chicken cutlets and potato latkes were the highlights. Here, you see me supervising Judith as she giving Emily a break in the latke department.

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Here, we are in full swing co-mothering. Judith is already getting the 3 amigos food distributed before I even have Ollie down. Julie is ready to get some pictures of Jordyn's first Hanukkah party.















I was personally touched when Judith asked Oliver and I to light Phin's menorah. I was very attentive when I was getting my menorah lighting lesson from Judith. Isn't the puppy menorah the cutest!? It was a beautiful thing to be a part of and witness for the first time. The Hebrew blessings that they were singing were enchanting. I could have listened to them all night.






















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After the lighting of the menorahs, we got to relax and enjoy great company. Oliver, Jordyn, and Phineas flocked to Grandma Emily. They have grandma radar! We like to joke that when Julie had Jordyn, Emily didn't realize that she got triplets! When it comes to the three amigos, if you like one, you must like them all! :)

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In all, it was a great first Hanukkah experience. I always apologize for my lack of knowledge on Judaism. They have been more than nice to teach me! Thanks ladies!!

WI Birthday and Turkey Day!

Happy Black Friday everyone!

I've been slow at updating this. Last week, we ventured home to Wisconsin for Bill to deer hunt and for our family and friends to help celebrate Oliver's birthday. Ollie's party was a monster bash, fitted with another amazing cake! (My son is spoiled in the pastry department!) It was a classic case of trying to jam too much stuff into too few days. It was nice to see all the family, including my side. We also jammed in Oliver's 1 year pictures. Here is a link: http://www.picturepeople.com/sso/publishconfirm.sso?data=oYi6GlkxOr3ytxAU2iHuG7eFvx8EjKN%2bN4h5mYiDiQZdoxgn4rkWNJK%2f6SSlccizdata=oYi6GlkxOr3ytxAU2iHuG7eFvx8EjKN%2bN4h5mYiDiQZdoxgn4rkWNJK%2f6SSlcciz

The trip went so fast!! But, Christmas is now right around the corner.

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Yesterday, we had a "transplant" thanksgiving. We definitely have been blessed to have found amazing friends here. It has made our relocation a lot easier to know we have good friends to celebrate holidays with. Our spread was amazing. We had delicious foods. It was fun to have everyone's family favorites all on one table. Ollie's friends Phin and Jordyn helped him enjoy his thanksgiving too. Phin displayed his thankfulness to Oliver. Baby kisses are so cute!!

Wow... we have a one year old!

Wow, I don't have too much else to say other than that. We have all gotten through year healthy and safe! Oliver got to celebrate on his acutal birthday, the 12th and today. Here are some pictures from his actual birthday. We were able to Skype with the Voelz family and we were able to have them watch Ollie eat his cupcake!

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Today was Oliver's robot party. Most of you know how I am... I chuckled in the kitchen when I heard my friend Judith say, "Julie told me Kim has been planning this party since Julie's know her." (I met Julie in May.) Ah yes, my ability to go overboard peered its head for Oliver's party. My sister asked me if there was going to be ponies... Missy, it is a ROBOT party! Only if I could have found robot ponies, silly!! It was a great time today. I could have fed about 40 poeple with the amount of food I had. The kiddos all had fun. I was glad I made the kids bibs and onesies. Ollie wasn't the only one that needed a change of clothes and a bath after the cake! As a side note, we had to actually hose down the high chair!

Someone is turning one soon!

Here is a little preview of Oliver's robot birthday. These turned out way too cute! Thank you to our friend Christina that taught me the ways of the cupcake pop!

Squishing the Squash

Again we found ourselves at the zoo today. Today, the special event was called Squishing the Squash. The zoo provided the animals with pumpkins and squash to see what they would do with them. We made it pretty late but met up with our favorite pals Phin, Judith, Jordy, and Julie. We even got to meet Phin's Papa! We didn't really see any of the animals interact with their pumpkins, but the kids got to squish their own squash. A 450lb gourd was donated to the zoo for a great place for photo opportunities! I love that the kids make this gourd/pumpkin/whatever look that much bigger! We hope you are having an enjoyable weekend!

This is Halloween!

Friday, Oliver and I met up with Judith and Phineas for the My Gym Halloween party. My Gym is a relief for me. Oliver has been there enough now that he understands that it is safe. I get at least a half hour of cling-free time. That makes me one happy mommy! His favorite place there is this little house they have there. He is very territorial of "his" house! We also watched The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown movie. It is sure to be a Schulz Halloween tradition!

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Well, it is 8:30 and we have been out of candy for about a half an hour now. We dressed little Yoda up one last time. Before candy time, we carved our first pumpkins as a family. I forgot how fun carving pumpkins is! Bill mocked me for the amount of time I put into mine, but you can't rush pumpkin perfection! :) (Plus, there were a ton of pictures taken of our pumpkins, which I thought was kick a**!) Can you guess whose is whose? Mine on the left, Ollie's that I carved in the middle and Bill's on the right.

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The Schulz's did a little reverse trick or treating. Bill loaded up Oliver's one-eyed monster basket with his homebrew. We then went and handed out Spruce Stout to our neighbors. Once we went through our stout, we had a ton of tick or treaters! I'm so excited for next years fun!..

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Keep it together I will not

So, today was our Halloween playdate. I guess I haven't learned my lesson yet. When I really want things to be *perfect* on any given day, it goes completely opposite. Today was one of those days. Last week, Ollie was really good at My Gym and the Y. I really thought we turned a less-clingy corner. Well, I've found this to be a two steps forward, one step back type situation.

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Anyways... If you didn't understand my title, Oliver is going to be Yoda for Halloween this year. My first choice was pirate, but once Star Wars came into the debate, I could tell he really wanted his son to be something Star Wars related. Okay, done and done!

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He looks pretty cute, right? Let me introduce you to some of friends. This is Scott, the Globetrotter. Can it get any cuter? The answer is NO! I don't care how cute your kid is, this is the CUTEST THING EVER! That is Scott's real hair! I love it!! I always want to pet him. His mom, Shakira, is probably weirded out by that. The giraffe that is kissing the monkey is his friend Lauren. The monkey that is receiving the affection is Phineas. These are the three amigos. Scott and Oliver are both rough boys. Mac, in the stripes is in the middle. Then, the cute girly monkey is Jordyn. Those are all his buddies that are his age.

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Here are the kicker pictures. The pictures I will show his girlfriend when he is 17 and trying to be a stud. This kid couldn't keep himself together. Poor Yoda... Luckily, I brought the pumpkin home. I'm hoping for a second try this weekend.

What, What, What!!

So, I will first apologize for the tone of my voice in this video. It is crazy to hear how excited I got over this milestone. Give me a week, I won't be this excited about this new found freedom. Also, this video again is quite terrible quality. Picture this: Ollie taking some steps and me seeing it out of the corner of my eye. Me, rushing to the diaper bag and literally ripping all the contents out, not finding the flip. Then, I rush to the piano and see it under the flap of the SLR bag. I tip-toe to the kitchen to capture more of the OFFICIAL first steps! AH!!!

ENJOY!

Ha!

So, certain shirts for kids, I'm not a fan of. I don't need anything for Ollie that says, "Troublemaker" or "I'm in charge," etc. I don't need to curse my child's behavior!! But, I do appreciate funny shirts. "Mommy's alarm clock," "I can't read," "I'm not a girl," etc. So, when I saw this, I needed to purchase it. Because, once Oliver gets to the age where he is actually a fan of people his own age, the novelty of this shirt will wear off. I find it hilarious to put this on, since he doesn't have the warmest reception to kids his own age these days.

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Dads out there: Especially lock up your daughters when my son puts on this charming face. Lady killer!!