Dear Emmit

1/26/07
Dear Emmit Sascha,
So many moments with you this week that I want to preserve and capture like right now while you are sitting quietly on your bed reading books to yourself during your naptime. Then today at lunch you and I sat and talked over our bowls of soup and toast about all the special moments of our week. Today you have been helping me get ready for Shabbat and it is a sweet thing to do together even if it isn't every week or even month that we do it. Today I peeked into your beloved backpack to see what treasures you kept there and found: two writing "journals", a pen, cell phone, and your Holga camera. Everything was packed very neatly and so organized into containers and a perfect reflection of things that are so treasured in our family. You thanked me this week for puttng your laundry away completely on your own. At school you have been learning about friends and you told your teacher that Asher is your best friend. You are so articulate, strong willed, sensitive, creative and you baffle me daily with your ability to remember things from long ago. Since your surgery you have finally discovered a love of eating that you never had before. You delight in my cooking and watching you devour and appreciate food I have made makes me so giddy with delight. I love you , Mama

okay this is the last of the NW trip photos I am going to post

Here you have the final installment from the Dec./Jan. trip. Josh, Jennifer and Leo came for a visit and despite the weather we had a great visit with them and the cousins loved playing and drooling on each other. Jeff and Gretchen also visited and we bribed them with grass grown organic Island steaks and got them to stay an extra night. There was a very competitive Surfopoly game that Dennis and Gretchen played to the dismal end. Oh and Asher and his thighs. There can never be enough shots of such lovely chunks of chunks! While on Orcas we also had Asher's naming ceremony and found an amazing waterfall at the base of Mt. Pickett. One of the highlights of our time in the NW was the very special time we got to spend with Grandmama Annie. We felt Shui's presence so much and it was perfect that Ann was there for Asher's naming ceremony. So many of the beads came from Shui. I will post pictures of the growing strands of beads and thank you so much to all of you who sent wishes and beads. We can always add more so they are never to late to be added. We spent a wonderful final week of our trip in Seattle and the final shot is at Auntie Claire and Uncle Jake's house where we had an amazing reunion with my best Seattle girlfriends from high school. Emmit and Asher got to meet Felix who was home visiting from Denmark!

Life with Nana Rivkah on Orcas

the following are yet more photos of our time with my mom. Lots of walks on the beach and in the woods. Emmit got to go to "Nana School" and learned to chop firewood with a hatchet! She cooked lots of pancakes for us and delighted in the adoration that Asher and Emmit flooded her with. We celebrated Chanukah, Solstice and ate so much amazing food with wonderful visitors.

some familiar faces

To say we played a lot of Scrabble on Orcas is putting it lightly. We conned every visitor into hours of playing. I now have Dennis hooked on the game and he regularly beats me but no one beats my mom!

Dennis, Emmit and Asher love spending time together which often involves a lot of rolling around on the floor and being very silly.

Sometimes it hits me that I live in a house of boys. Okay, I admit loving it!

My best friend Josie came all the way to Orcas from Tucson for a vist. We hadn't seen each other for almost 2 years although we talk practically daily. (Dennis will have to rotate the photo for me since I can't seem to figure it out) Josie was there during Emmit's birth and got to spend a lot of time with him when we lived in Prescott so it was so nice for her and Asher to have some special bonding time. We all are heading to Tucson in a few weeks to celebrate her and Dallen's marriage and new house.

Asher has this amazing way of looking at Dennis that is so full of love and adoration.

okay Ms. Shrader and the rest of you who have been feeling deprived!

All of these following photos are from right before we left for the NW and during our time out there. I will get some post trip photos up soon I promise! These two continue to amaze me as I watch their sibling love for each other and the special bond they share. I could go on and on....

Asher is now rolling over, starting to sit up a bit but still will often just topple over. He loves to be on his feet and I fear he will be an early walker. He currently uses rolling as his means of getting himself all around our apartment!

Pema, one of my best friends from high school, visited us while we were on Orcas and gave Asher his Moose. I swear we didn't pose him for this photo but he really just cuddles up to it on his own.

We finally solved the problem of Emmit hating to have his hair washed. More then he dislikes the hairwashing is his powerful love of the hair dryer! Now he begs to have his hair washed.

We go just a bit overboard at times when it comes to anything remotely stripey!

sorry we are a bit slow to get lots of our photos up from the last month or so but here are a few more little peeks into some wonderful times spent with those we love. Of course the whole time we were away it was warmer in Buffalo then in the NW and now it is barely above 0 degrees here in Buffalo and so cold it isn't even worth going outside. Absolutely misserable weather as far as I am concerned. The boys are all amazing. We are happy to be back in our cozy warm apartment. Right now both kids are asleep so I must go have some quiet reading time but I will write more soon and add lots more photos I promise.

Orcas