Party Time

This past Sunday we had Lilah's First Birthday Party. I really had not wanted to host 50 of our nearest and dearest, but I knew Lilah deserved a big bash just like I had made for her big sister two years earlier. It was the fourth birthday party I have made, and it was by far the best. I was virtually stress free. Somehow, even though there were more people and more preparations, I managed not to freak out at all before, during, or after the party. I think I finally have these things down to a science. It was so nice just to enjoy the day with everyone.

A few days before the party I had two different photo shoots with Miss Lilah in the hopes of using one shot as a sign in board at the party. The first shoot consisted of pearls and a tutu (which I made myself!):




The second shoot was a cake smash and we used one of the photos as the sign in board:



Lilah had a great time at her party:









It still amazes me how much Lilah has grown and learned lately. In the past two weeks she has become an expert crawler, learned how to pull herself up consistently, and walk around while pushing the walker. She has learned some new words (most notably, "cheese," which I am obviously THRILLED about). She is down to one nursing a day, which saddens me tremendously, but I need to have her completely weaned before we go away for Memorial Day weekend. Where is that tiny little baby I used to snuggle against me all day long? Why do these kids keep growing up so fast? SIGH. At least as they do grow up we can have some pretty fun parties.

Pesach 2010

Things have been crazy lately. Today's saga alone has consisted of floor refinishing, projectile vomit, cleaning out the back seat of my car and car seat from said vomit, and an adamant refusal to nap or have quiet time from Sophie. Don't be too jealous.

However, I didn't want to pass over (ha ha ha!) a post about Pesach. We had a great time. We stayed at the Hotel Liberman again for a week and a half. Our stay included three meals a day that were cooked and cleaned up after by someone other than me. The hotel also provided free childcare from the time the kids woke up (I got up at my leisure) until they went to bed.

We decided to have a special seder for Sophie on the first afternoon (and the real one later that night) where we told the story of the haggadah, sang the songs she learned, talked about everything on the seder plate, hid the afikomen (4 times, as that was clearly her favorite part), and danced and sang some more. It worked out great. I've always struggled with the fact that the seder is supposed to be for the children, yet in order to let them be a part of it they have to stay up super late, be more patient than they are capable of, and eat dinner at an absurd hour. This was a great way to have the best of both worlds- mini seder for the kids, then after bedtime, real seder for us.

It wouldn't be Passover at the Hotel Liberman without a pre-yom tov family photo:




After which we attempted a Messing Family Photo:





Well, we tried.

Later that week we had a lot of fun. We met up with some blog buddies at the Children's Playseum in Bethesda:





We went downtown to the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which Shimmy and I have been doing since we were dating:







On the way home I stopped and took a pic of the Real World DC house, because I'm just a dork that way:



We also had fun playing at the park:



It was a lovely week and a half. Thank God for holidays, parents, and warm weather!