Marc's Bar Mitzvah A.K.A. BEST PARTY EVER

*(This was scanned in, but the real 5x7 one is good. It was ready before we left!)

We have known this family for like 8 years now. I have been taking Marc to Hebrew school since he was supposed to go. It's pretty amazing that I've watched him grow like this. He didn't seem nervous at all as he read in Hebrew as he lead the service. Just Steven and I went in the morning for that, my mom babysat. We went early to be in some professional pictures. It was like standing in front of a church after a wedding for those bride's maid pictures only it was before. Bonnie, Marc's mom, is soooo organized. She always has been. She's amazing. First, she had the date saved for over a year. She kept most everything a secret. The invitations were really cool. Mine is packed somewhere safe right now so you'll have to believe me. Marc designed them. They unfolded into the Star of David. Their colors were a pretty royal dark blue and copper. Marc's seal was on EVERYTHING. And I mean that. She had postage stamps made, bottles of water, gift bags, programs, and even boxes of chocolates. She put customized hospitality bags with the seal together for all of the out of town guests that she delivered to all of their hotels (and there were a lot!)

Anyway, the service lasted for over two hours, but it didn't seem long to me. It was my 2nd Jewish service, so I liked all of the tradition and real Hebrew involved. Steven and I were a part of the program too. We opened and closed the Arc of the Covenant when the Torah was being put back in.

Afterwards, Bonnie had the Wine Cellar cater the kiddush luncheon. YUMMY! The flower arrangements were so pretty. Steven really liked the palm trees on the desert table made out of stacked pineapples. Everything was decorated so nicely, and that was just lunch! This is Marc and one of his brothers, Brent. Mozel Tov, Marc!

We left and I cleaned out the fridge while my boys were still at my mom's napping. Then we changed and went to the Vinoy (a really nice resort here). There was a cocktail hour on the 2nd floor w/ a balcony. Most of the kids went to the kid's room, but Dylan stayed w/ us.

But once he saw the kids' ballroom behind the curtains, he didn't want to leave! It was time for the like 15 course meal. Talk about fancy! I thought the flowers were beautiful in the morning. Bonnie had dotted every "i" and crossed every "t" here too. The blue and copper were integrated into everything. The entrance to the ballroom was a real boat house they had made. There was a photographer ready to take group pictures before entering. We all signed a huge fish made out of colored mirrors. I could go on and on about all of the decorations and details. Marc's seal was even on the bathroom disposable towels! This is Bonnie (and Isaac).
Dylan and Isaac had their own place cards (which were amAzing in themselves). I'm going to put them in their little memory boxes. Dylan heard that the boys would be there and was sooo happy to see Jake (and Marc and Brent).
Dylan wouldn't appreciate the adult exotic foods, so we got him some fun kid foods. It was hard to get him to sit down to eat any though. He was so excited about everything.

The theme was fishing. There were real fishing gear as the center pieces for the kids. Dylan had fun with Marc and Brandon. (I taught him swimming lessons a long time ago too.) Dylan was so happy that they finally let him hold it. He wouldn't put it down after that. He went fishing in the coy pond.
He had fun dancing. Besides the DJ, they had a handful of professional dancers to get the kids going. Dylan watched then did his own moves.

He was doing better moves than this, but you get the picture. There were tons of Marc's friends there. It's better than any prom they will ever go to I bet.

Brent and his friends were running and sliding across the floor on their knees. One of the real photographers probably got lots better shots than I got of them.
Isaac was Mr. Perfect. He slept and slept. He woke up for the last 15 min we were there. He never cried or made a noise and didn't even eat 'til we got home then went right to sleep again.I haven't mentioned the desert room yet. It was hidden behind another set of curtains. There were different tables set up all around the outside of the room with amazing deserts. One station had flaming coffee I think. Another had lots of chocolates with a lady with white gloves on telling you what flavors they were so you didn't have to guess. Steven got ice cream from the Cold Stone table. It's like Marble Slab. I got a mini cupcake then a girl handed me a bag with Marc's logo on it. Inside was a big boxed cupcake to go! The cupcakes were really good. I need to ask her where Bonnie got them from. They had a big poof of delicious icing with Marc's logo in colored white chocolate on top. They also had chocolate inside. They were different flavors-in Marc's colors. I'm not done yet. There were fruit kabobs with different drizzles/dipping chocolates/sauces. There was a glass display case with really crazy looking chocolates and candies and things. When someone would take one out, a lady would replace it with something else delicious and cool looking. The centerpiece of the room was a 13 tier candy cake! I was out changing a diaper when the kids were aloud in the room so I didn't see it before. The after looked like a pinata had exploded! Dylan's standing in front of the left overs. He thought he was in heaven, but really, I was. I wish I could have spent more time in there just taking it all in. Dylan got tired and let us know, so we had to go early. I didn't take that many pictures b/c there were professionals doing all of that. They were streaming video from the huge kid fun room into a bunch of flat screens around the adult room so Steven could keep an eye on me and Dylan. Dylan was waiting for the valet.

Oh, more family pictures:)
This photo booth was set up there for us to get fun free instant silly pictures. We didn't really fit Ü

There are a LOT of details I'm leaving out, but you get the idea. I can't believe Jake will be 13 in no time! I can learn a lot from Bonnie's organization skills.
(More photos in my Picasa album)

Band-aids

I bought a box of band-aids as an impulse buy at a dollar store a long time ago. I wanted to have some fun ones on hand when Dylan got a band-aid worthy scrape.

Dylan had so much fun doing "choo choo" in the pool that he wore the pads off of some of his fingers. One was red enough for a band-aid. I put some neosporin on along with the fun bandage. I kissed it, then he did. Dylan decided he had another "ouch." So I went and got my first-aid supplies and fixed that finger. He liked it so this continued. Then I came up with the idea that his right thumb needed one too. That's the one he sucks. He kept going for it at nap time but switched to his left one to my dismay. He would stop sucking it to grab one of his random toys and would automatically bring his right thumb to his lips. He would look at it, then go for the left one. He fell asleep with his left one, but it didn't stay in.

wa-DUH! (a.k.a. water)

Dylan has only been using his sign for water. He also has a distinct whine that goes along with it so I know even before I look in my kid mirror in the van that he's signing "water." He recently started saying it. I think it's so funny b/c it's "wa-DUH."

This is another day where I let him strip down when Daddy came home from work. Steven's been working on the pool every day after work this week. He was cleaning out the pool filters and let Dylan water the grass. It needs it, as you can see.

*As a disclaimer: The first couple of seconds of this video is all you need, just hit pause then go about your day. I really need to know when to stop filming.

Like Camping

I've mentioned that some days we walk in the front door and right out the back door when we get home. This was one of those days. It was beautiful outside so we didn't even want to go in for a Dylan's swimsuit:) He stripped down and promised he would not go poo poo in the pool.

He does "choo choo train" along the wall. This is where he scoots along the wall to safety, or just for fun.

Isaac and I sat on the side and put our feet in. Look at his chubbiness!I decided to let him saturate his diaper and get in a little more since we had already been splashed.
Then Dylan gave him a bath - still outside:) It's like we're camping! I filled the tub w/ warm water in the sink, it's not really like giving a doggy a bath in the hose.

Hi, Horsey

We ventured out for a little jog and found a horsey! Dylan likes to say "HO-sssss" or "HO-sey." I like the way he makes his mouth into a long "O" then into a wide smiling "S" when he says it.


Isaac looks like he's never seen a horse before.

It might have been his 1st time I guess.

Poor Helpless Kid

I'm doing a mediocre job copying Lacey. It's fun:) This will be a full bleed page in my blog book eventually.

Space Odyssey Mission

Dylan, Isaac, and I took the 3 Szasz boys to their dentist's office. It's a fun pediatric dentist's office. Dylan looked funny, but probably just to me, his mom in this video.

Where did it go?

This is a common question for Dylan to ask. I really don't know what he was saying in this picture, but maybe that's it. I just think it's a cool SOOC (Strait out of the camera, no edits)picture of us visiting our house to get the mail. His eyes are clear and everything else is blurry or out of focus.

Baby Boy Bed

Isaac has been sleeping in Dylan's old crib. He's been sleeping in there at night too! The day he turned 3 months old, I put him to bed in there. Then I scooped him out and put him in my bed b/c I didn't know where I packed the monitor. He slept his full night in there the next day when I found the box with the monitor in it.

Like the suspenders, Kat?! Thanks!

I decided that when he could roll over, he should go in the crib. I waited over 4 months w/ Dylan. It's way harder for me. I like snuggling with him and I like the convenience of sleep-feeding.

Big Boy (girly) Bed

Dylan has been taking naps on my bed and on Corrie's bed for a long time. I've known he was ready for a big boy bed but didn't want to do it in a house we would need to pack up. This is nice b/c Maria already has one for us. We'll buy whatever will go with our new house. I don't want to think about it 'til I have a bedroom to put it in.

We set up the crib to the high setting here and called it Isaac's "baby bed" from the start. Dylan still slept in it until we got our bed set up b/c Steven slept in the big boy bed.

So April 30th was Dylan's first official night in his big boy bed. We put a body pillow on the ground since we don't have a bed railing. Steven said he pushed him closer to the wall in the morning. Good thing I didn't see that I guess. This is what I saw.

I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining, but I was telling Steven that I kinda wished we had more masculine bedding for Dylan's first "big boy bed." This is Maria's guest bed for when Gabrielle spends the night. Steven said that was on the bottom of his list of things to care about.

Roly Poly

Isaac can roll over now. I think he would have been able to do it sooner, but I don't really leave him on his back much. Even for naps, it's usually been in the swing or another baby thing like that or in my arms. At night he sleeps with me holding him too.

Dylan didn't roll over 'til he was almost 5 months old. This chunker wasn't even 3 months old.

I know I'm helping Isaac in this video, but that's only b/c the videos were way too long and I'm too lazy to look into video editing software. I probably have something on my computer now that will do it, but once I start, I may get into it. Ignorance is bliss. But I had tried filming his rolling over for a while and he was getting frustrated and tired. This is kinda hard to watch b/c he gets sad.

Now I can't leave him on something soft. You can see how fast he could suffocate. He burries his little face in and pushes down so hard to try to get over that arm. He rolls over all by himself now. He's so determined.

Our Sweet Set Up

We hadn't had our bed set up yet at this point, but we had the hammoc and the crib up. Steven and I had to sleep in separate rooms b/c the beds weren't meant for 3. (Isaac was still sleeping next to me.) Steven has since cleaned the pool a lot more. He had to buy new filters, a vacuum, and everything. He said it was more of a priority than cleaning our a dresser for my clothes. He was right. I can (and am) still living w/ clothes in boxes.