Winter Wonderland

Winter may have officially started on December 21st, but it brought us some snow (about 1-2 inches) in Suwanee on December 25! Luckily, our visit with Tia Mary, Tio Steve, and cousins Jason and Justin was on December 24, so they were already safe and warm in the cabin when the snow started coming down.

Our visit with los tios and Ike's cousins was short but very sweet. He is so fortunate to have so many wonderful people who love him so much. Mary and Steve brought him some belated Chanukah gifts, which included a book called A Letter to My Daughters by President Obama, a set of Curious George books, and a train set. Jason and Justin helped set up the train and Ike enjoyed lots of attention from our Miami family members. Mary also brought Ike a sweater from Abuela Olga and a sweatshirt from Tia Aida and Tio Jacob. Thanks to J, we feasted on pumpkin pancakes. Ike was a BIG fan!

On Saturday, Daddy went out and started working on a snowman with all the snow that had accumulated in our backyard. I bundled up Ike (thanks for the winter gear, Cousin Leah!) and sent him out to join Daddy a few minutes later. I caught a few photos, but it was too cold for me to stay out too long. Ike seemed to enjoy walking around in the snow for a bit, but he was ready to come back in after a few minutes.

Chanukah 2010

Chanukah was so much fun with Ike! He understood a lot more of what was happening this year. Before we lit the candles on the first night, he and Daddy put on their kipot. For the remaining seven nights, Ike was the one to remind us about putting them on! After we sang the blessings each night, he would say "More song!"

J bought him a set of six wooden cars that I wrapped individually so he could have one to wrap each night. He was so excited to see the package the first night, and that continued for the remaining nights as well. We also got him a book called I'm a Big Brother. We also gave him a kid-sized arm chair. He actually got that before Chanukah because I just couldn't wait!

Pa was here from Thursday to Monday, so we were able to have a nice family gathering on Saturday. We went to Gwee's house for latkes, dreidel spinning, and LOTS of presents. Uncle Mike's dog Layla was there to join in the fun. Ike LOVED his presents, watching the dreidels spin, and getting licked (and tickled) by his "cousin" Layla. We even got to capture a nice family photo during all the activity!