The Segals visit The Kurtze's

Jerry's sister Franni, her husband Danny and their two 5 1/2 month old twins Charlie and Eliana came to visit us for 10 days. Jerry had met the babies before as he went to Charlie's bris but it was mine and the girls first time meeting their cousins and my niece and nephew. I think it is so neat that I am an aunt!! It was a super busy week. We did a professional photo shoot, took everyone to Muir Woods to see the redwoods trees, the Monterey Bay Aquirium and Santa Cruz. It was great to hang out and get to know Charlie and Eliana. They are so cute!!! Really good babies too. Sabrina loved playing with the babies and helping give them a bottle. Ira and Lorraine also came to spend them with all their grandchildren. A lot of people but it was a lot of fun.

Happy New Year!!

         We spent our last evening of 2010 with the Solnits; Dina, Matt & Rachel. The girls got to  wear party hats and they had a lot of fun with them.  Dina made a super yummy dinner and we celebrated New Year's at about 7:30 (hey, the kids have to go to bed) . After we came home I tried to stay up...I think I lasted until 9:30pm. Jerry bless his heart stayed up all by his lonesome until midnight. :(. I told him to come to bed so I wouldn't feel bad he was staying up by himself, haha. But he insisted. Happy New Year!!!

Maddie & Pooh Bear

I am a Q T

So I am trying to take a picture of Maddie with Pooh Bear every week, to document how big she is getting throughout her first year. Here she is at about 3 weeks. What a sweetie!

Bella's 3rd birthday party

One of Sabrina's bestest friends is her friend Bella. Bella turned 3 and her mom, who is super creative put on a fabulous cooking themed birthday party. The kids got to decorate their own pizzas and cake, help Peng (Bella's dad) make a smoothie and as a takeaway gift Carrie actually made aprons for all the kids! I wish I could do stuff like that. It was all I could do to sign my name to the credit card receipt for Sabrina's birthday party at Pump it Up. :P

Sabrina had a great time and just loves playing with her friends. It makes me so happy that she is a happy little girl! Where was Maddie you might ask? Slept the whole time in her carseat of course! This won't last forever but I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Hannukah Time

Sabrina shows off the hat she made for her Hannukah performance

Sabrina has been in preschool at Congregation Sinai since September. It has been a great experience for her. Currently she goes twice a week, in the morning. I wanted her to start in September so she wouldn't associate it with Maddie being born and now I also get some quality alone time with the baby. Sabrina has loved preschool from the start! I thought she might have a little separation anxiety, seeing as I've been with her all day from day 1. So on the first day of school I said to Sabrina "okay baby, I'm going to go now and I will pick you up when school is over." "Ok, bye". What?!?! No love for Mommy. :) But I'm proud of her independence. I have nothing but fond memories of my own preschool and I'm happy it has so far been the same for Sabrina.

For Hannukah the school put on a Hannukah party. It was so much fun! We ate latkes, lit the Hannukah candles and each class put on a little performance. Sabrina's class is called Kalaneet, which I think is a little flower that grows in Israel. Their performance was so super adorable. All the kids held hands and walked in a circle while the music teacher played "Oh Hannukah Oh Hannukah" and they spun like a dreidel and pretended to be a candle burning low. If you asked Sabrina what she did in her performance she would tell you "A candle and a dreidel". Sabrina just loves Hannukah. Even now she asks to sing various Hannukah songs. Not to mention all the presents, that's not so bad either :)

Thanksgiving at our house

I cannot describe how delicious this turkey is. 

I love Thanksgiving, it is one of my most favorite holidays.  Normally we alternate going to either NY or LA for Thanksgiving. However, with Maddie just being born, there was no way we could travel anywhere. So my parents and Jerry's parents came to us for Thanksgiving! My mom made her fabulous turkey and we hosted Thanksgiving for the first time at our house. I even broke out our wedding china. Uber fancy. Our friends Lara & Mark and their daughter Lia joined us as well. Sabrina loved having her friend over and it was a great evening. Maddie was very accommodating; she slept through dinner.

Our Thanksgiving family photo

Our new baby!!

Sabrina has big news for everyone - she is a big sister! We would like to announce the newest member of our family - Madalyn Taylor Kurtze. She was born on Monday November 15th at 12:16pm, weighing in at 7lbs 10oz and 18 1/2 inches long. We are so lucky to have her and love her already!!