A Big, Growly, Feathery Birthday at the Zoo

As we mentioned before, Ezra spent his 2nd birthday at the zoo with his family and he is still talking about how much fun he had.
He got to clown around a little....tee hee
Here he is admiring the peacock from afar...then all of a sudden......
Wow! What a beautiful gift. You should also hear E's interpretation of a peacock. It's not for the faint ear.
Shortly after that a tiger growled a loud tiger growl. E said it was "scary". Here he is with Kobi. E adores his cousin Kobi and Kobi was so sweet to him.
But, E got to spend some quality time with his Po, and E has been in heaven. It has been great seeing their relationship grow. We Moms are so happy with our little family. Dare I say it again? Oh, I can't help it....this is one lucky little boy.











We have one more party this weekend in celebration of Ezra's 2nd year. Then it's time to celebrate Mommy and Momma's birthdays....I think I foresee May being a very fun month for years to come.

Happy Birthday Ezra!

More photos will be posted soon, but we have this wonderful little video of E and his friends eating his strawberry short-birthday cake.



Ezra had the most amazing weekend. All of his favorite peeps came over on Saturday night and sent Ezra into his year #2 in style. And, on Sunday we ventured to the zoo where the peacock proudly fluffed his plumage and a tiger growled the loudest growl, wishing our boy a happy birthday.

It was really a perfect weekend. More later!

Drum Class

Every third Saturday of the month E gets to meet up with his pal Remy and play a couple rhythms at James Henry's drum class. Here he is playing Remy's new djembe. Remy is up jamming with his Papa and Momma claps along. Thanks Isa for taking this cute video!

Big Birthday #2 Right Around The Corner

....and one could not mistake that there is a special day coming soon because there have been special wishes arriving at our door on a daily basis.

A birthday wish and a special $20 bill from Australia! Thanks Gma Pat!

E woke from his nap today to a large, colorful tunnel in his play room, aka, our living room. Thanks Grandma Elizabeth!

I know we say this a lot, but this boy is one lucky little guy. And, we moms think we are kind of lucky too.














While he awaits his big day, he celebrates Jordy's 3rd birthday! Honestly, if all he got for his birthday were one of these party-blow-out thingies, he would be the happiest 2 year old on the face of this planet.

Ezra and Mommy

Mommy finally stepped in front of the camera to have a moment captured with E.

This wonderful picture was taken by the lovely and talented Eve Allen while we were visiting Bishop this past week.










Side note: E survived an 11 hour car ride through the snow, the rain, the mountains and the cold desert.....sheesh.....he has seen it all. We did have to play lots of Find The Tractor games(there are lots of tractors out there people) and sing "If You're Happy And You Know It" about 70 times.

He also asks frequently, "What's that called?" This boy has a good, healthy curiosity and a serious obsession with tractors.

Cute Boy On The Right

Who's that cute boy on the right?



Ezra enjoys a moment with his pal Remy.

The Music Continues

Band practice is a weekly gig....clothing optional!













Top 5 Song Requests:
5. Willy Was a Whale
4. Itsy Bitsy Spider
3. Chinchilla
2. I've Been Working on the Railroad
1. "Momma's Songs" Compilation of, you guessed it, Momma's songs

How Grateful We Are For Our Cool Neighbors

We aren't exactly the quiet types.





And, here's a completely unrelated photo that is just too cute to not post.

artClass!

When we took E to his first day of art class we knew it was going to be a good thing. Paula, the teacher, bowled a big ball of purple play dough into his green tray and it was love. The hour continued in purple, the color of the day, and ended with a paint magic trick we continue to do to this day.

You put yellow paint in one hand and blue paint in the other, and then you smoosh the colors together in your hands and, voila, you get GREEN!

Paula took these pictures the first day of class for a future project. She was to develop only one but couldn't make up her mind which one she wanted for the project because they were all so darn cute. They speak for themselves.






Well, although art class is over, it still inspires. E continues to have art/play dates with his buddies Liko and Argus. These three are three peas in a pod.


This is their future album cover for when they form a rock band. Too cool for school.

Happy Valentine's Day

Ezra has heart.




















Happy heart Momma. Meet Mommy on 29th and.......

Since We've Been Home....

Ezra is experimenting with his own personal style. Since he has learned his colors, dressing Ezra has become very, very interesting.

E is becoming fast friends with Burton during breakfast time. They both seem to enjoy toast.

He is becoming politically active in his community.

And, he is ALWAYS exhibiting rather creative ideas about what he likes to play with..eh hmmmmmmmm........



And, when he can't just choose one....he must choose them all...right?
















Lots of fun here in SF. Ezra is taking an art class and loves the color green. And, he gives lots of kisses and sings songs. 21 months is a pretty great age!

xoxoxoxoox

The Grand Holiday Finale

There are certain things that are of the utmost importance to share with your family. These things become family tradition as they say, or simply put, a happy ritual that makes you feel all giddy inside. For example, all these crazy holiday traditions that we have adopted. Well, it would be apropo that we finish our holiday trip introducing our son to our yearly indulgence to Joe and Pat's Pizza in Staten Island.

There is no pizza that compares to this tasty, thin crust treat, according to Momma who grew up eating this heavenly pie. Ezra has heard about this pie since the day he was born. In fact, if you ask Ezra who makes the pizza, he will tell you, "Joe and Pat." E already knows that a saucy, bready pie just isn't a pizza at all. The only pizza that suffices here in SF is at Delfina. And, there we shirk all tradition and order the ricotta and broccoli rabe pie so E gets his greens.

Anyway, making our way back to NYC from Asheville, Grandpa Oscar picked us up from the airport. It was nice to see him again, and since we only had this day left of our vacation, we wanted to make the best of it.
After relaxing a little at his apartment, we set out for the park. It was very cold that day, so we had to do some extra bundling up.

The sun sets, while E takes a swing. Grandpa watched while Momma had images of pizzas dancing in her head.

Finally we have THE pizza. Look how serious they are. This IS very serious stuff.














As Ezra says goodbye to everyone at the restaurant, we meet Joe. You know, Joe and Pat Joe....Of course, he asks, "Who makes the pizza?" to which E replies,"Joe and Pat!" Momma is so proud.

And, what a great ending to our trip. The following morning we catch a cab back to the airport. The cab driver has two kids, so we teach him the taxi song (Taxi, Taxi, riding in the back seat.....)And, he draws a picture of a dog for Ezra. Ezra named it Joe....


Just kidding...he named it Archie.



So happy to be home, but we miss everyone a lot.

Holiday in Asheville-Part2

Well, After Grandma E outlasted all of us on New Years Eve, we brought in the New Year quietly and cozy. E woke up early and we watched the sunrise. On New Years Day we got to see an old friend from SF who now lives not far from Asheville. Jeff and Regina immediately bonded with E and Jeff and E played a little catch.
And, of course, Ezra maintained his oral hygeine while in Asheville....
And, we visited Asheville's Family Health and Science Museum where Ezra got to crawl through the Tunnel of Blood...now not many boys and girls can say they have crawled through a tunnel of blood.
And, sadly we said goodbye to Asheville and Grandma and made our way back to NYC to say our final goodbyes.

Holiday in Asheville-Part1

We made it to Asheville on a little commuter plane the day before New Years Eve. E was on our laps the whole hour and a half and, again, was a trooper. It was rather surreal to come from a very crowded city, standing in hour long lines at the airport, and then arriving at this beautiful little airport where it was so quiet and still. I think we were still a little frenzied when grandma met us at the end of the escalator.

Then she drove us to her beautiful big house with a beautiful big yard in a beautiful little area in Asheville. Did I mention it was big and beautiful? When she pulled in her driveway, I think we all finally took a deep breath.

E fell asleep in the car and woke up on Grandma's bed. He was a little disoriented, but that all ended when lots of presents ended up on his lap. Grandma E was very generous.

E and Grandma spent a lot of time together. She read to him.

They played Leggos together.

They took a walk together.

They even played drums together.










Grandma was such a good sport about having E's new toys everywhere. He really enjoyed himself having lots of space to run around in. Grandma made us feel like we never wanted to leave. We all played a lot in the day and always had a nice meal together in the evening. Then when E was sleeping after a busy day, Grandma and the Moms pulled out the Boggle and played for a few hours before we all crashed. It was such a nice visit.

But wait, there is a Part 2 of this trip.

Stay tuned.

Holiday in NYC-Part 3

NY wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Petrillo's. We were fortunate enough to see them a couple of times before we flew off to North Carolina. They made a lovely meal with some excellent apple crisp at their cozy abode and we met Thay for the first time, as did Thay, Aswad, De La and Maya meet Ezra for the first time.




Ezra took this cute pic of Thay and Aswad.



We saw them in the park the following cold day in the East Village. Thay and E were pretty darn cute together. We kicked around a ball or two with De La and hung out with the lovely Tiny and Maya who have grown into such amazing women. In the summer we all usually treat ourselves to a De Roberti's Ice, but our treat this winter was just to be together.


Look at this cute family all bundled and cozy. Momma and E both had fevers that day

Now, we are off to Asheville, North Carolina to see Grandma Elizabeth. Ezra hails us a taxi!

Holiday in NYC-Part 2

It was an oddly festive morning as we entered SFO in a cab blaring Handel's Messiah, passing many colored lights and decorations. It felt like Christmas. E was so happy to be in his first cab. And, we moms were looking forward to a stiff cup of airport coffee to help us awake after a sleepless night. We were too excited to sleep.

It was getting close to 7am and E was in heaven watching all the planes land and take off. If he remembers this trip, he will remember the cab rides, the airplanes and the NYC fire trucks screaming down the road. He wasn't used to fire trucks actually in action. He was used to his neighborhood firefighters returning videos at the neighborhood video store and picking up a cup of joe at the neigborhood cafe. It was pretty startling for him to see his first fire truck turn a corner, honking its horn with sirens blaring and lights flashing. Now when he hears a siren he mimmicks it by saying, Nee Nah Nee Nah.

After a fairly uneventful flight, we arrived in NYC around 4pm on Christmas Eve. We completely missed the sun that day and bundled ourselves for what turned out to be some pretty mild New York weather. We hopped into cab #2 and found our way into Manhattan singing the Taxi song we learned from E's friend Lily.

E's Uncle E and Aunt H and cousins V &G were so kind to open up their space for us. There is no such thing as a large apartment in NYC, so letting a family of three stay with them for almost a week was pretty great, and we hope to repay the hospitality one day.

When we arrived, we settled in and decided to go out for a Christmas Eve walk. We ended up at this great light show in Union Sqare called Bright Lights by the artist Tord Boontje. Signature Boontje shapes were projected onto the ground, and when you stepped into a lit square, the images moved away from you. I have never seen E laugh so hard. He was making other people laugh because he was giggling so hard. He would run from lit square to lit square, and the images would scatter. Music played and created such a great ambience. It was a nice introduction to NYC for Ezra.

Christmas morning was beautiful, and E was overwhelmed by all the excitement. He adored his cousins and watched their every move. He also met his Grandpa Oscar for the first time. The entire day was very cozy and super fun for him. So many toys to play with. Yet, he only wanted to play catch with a balloon and pretend various stick-like objects were flutes. Easily entertained, our boy is.




Of course, like every other parent in NYC, we decided to take E to the Museum of Natural History the day after Christmas. Although it is was a grand mob scene, it was so much fun to watch E inspect the bones of dinosaurs and point to the birds in some diorama of some prehistoric creature. I think he thought the scenes were real. The crowds were worth it because we got to hang out a little with E's Aunt Cassie and his Uncle Noah.


NYC wouldn't be complete without a little New York style pizza. If this boy is particular about anything in his life, it will probably be his taste for pizza, instilled in him by his Momma. Thin crispy crust, fresh sauce, lightly seasoned with quality cheese. Oh, light on the cheese. Heck, he already practically orders his own bagel at the cafe. I am sure it will be pizza next.

More NYC later....