This winter’s favorite activity

We have cousins Stella and Allison to thank for turning our attention to My Froggy Stuff and their super fun youtube channel. The Froggy Stuff gals know how to occupy my kids’ cold winter days with DIY crafting for miniture rooms and spaces. I guess it all started when Zoe starting to request a ginormous Barbie Townhouse for the holidays … and all that pink plastic in our house kinda scared me. So I gave the kids an old Ikea credenza that we were not-quite-using anymore and .. voila! My kids wallpapered, created additional bunk beds and lofts and pasted in fake wood flooring and .. well they just keep going. Ezra is mastering his ‘contractor’ skills while Zoe enjoys creating a mini version of her ‘future gluten free cafe and art gallery’. I highly recommend upcycling an old bookcase over buying more pink plastic housing for dolls:

our version:

and some others that I’ve seen online! How clever are these?

and we are kinda obsessed with making donuts out of cheerios (gluten free, of course):

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Happy New Year!

This New Year’s Day Ezra and his friends (and his dad, behind the camera in this case) decided to do the Polar Plunge at Coney Island.  Despite the fact that it was a balmy 58 degrees in NYC area, the dip was still cold so I’m still so very impressed that they went through with it!  Hope your year is starting off with a splash:

 

before jumping in …

and after! brrrr

the gang gets ready

Zoe and I are happy to take in the sights instead

E and his friends since 6 months old… in it together!

and my iphone pix:

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Hanukkah!

Wow was I impressed when the kids got home from Sunday school with these awesome menorahs that they made by hand! Dovetailing and all! And of course we had to add a little Italian ‘mozzarella and tomatoes’ with delicious pressed olive oil to the mix, along with E&Z’s dad’s BEST and most crispy latkes.  This amazing recipe is from grandma – and they are a favorite even to our neighbors (who sniff them out while we are cooking). See below – our neighbor Eesha  – whose mom says she ‘didn’t even get her coat off before eating them’.        ; )

Director of Community Affairs at our synagogue ‘Souks’ lends Ezra a hand..

little Eesha means business with her latke eating skillz!

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A fashion-y birthday !

Zoe and I were on the same page with loving this birthday party idea!  Our neighbors had a sewing party, where all the gals brought their 18 inch dolls and made a dress for them!  Zoe got a little sewing machine for the holidays last year, so she was obviously thrilled to make some more clothes.  There was a runway (where the dolls rested) and a space for cake and pizza.  If they had this when I WAS a kid, I would’ve tried to live here:

http://thefashionclass.com/

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And the Back to School shots..

Photos shot by E and Z’s dad – as they are every year.  These 2 are growing so fast!  They are heading into the 7th and 3rd grade, and of course Z is sporting her new cowgirl boots (courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa during their trip to Yellowstone this summer!) Enjoy the start to September everyone ..

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Zoe as ‘Desiree Flambeau’ !

Zoe also attended a theater camp this summer, the same group that Ezra enjoyed last year. We were so pleased to hear that she got to act as an ‘old lady’ – as she’s been good at this for years (at age 2 she use to pretend she was a librarian with glasses and a cane!) Not only did Zoe get to color her hair silver gray for every show, but she also had 41 lines to memorize and an ‘imaginary dog named muffin’. Best of all, she added an English accent to her character’s traits (and kept it up for the whole show!) Kudos Zoe!

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Ezra’s camp was Peachy

Ezra and Zoe both took part in theater camp this summer (Zoe’s post soon to come..!)

Ezra had to audition for this Wingspan program.  He went into a casting call in the spring; drumming and singing ‘You Know I’m No Good’ by Amy Winehouse and wowing the crowd.  When he was accepted, we were so proud but also excited to see what new Manhattan “acting kids” Ezra would get to know.

They were a fun and kind crew, and – as it turns out – so thoroughly jazzed about theater that they do this kind of thing all year ’round.  For Ezra and I it was fun to catch the E train to Times Square every morning to get him to the theater district (although my feet wore out quickly with the arduous commute, it’s pretty rare that a kid goes to camp in Times Square every day!) For Ezra, it was exposure to more creative middle school-aged kids, who don’t mock each other for wanting to sing and dance.

‘Dancing’ – it turns out – is the hardest thing Ezra had to do.  He can sing, he can drum, he can act… but all that dancing nearly broke him.  In a sense he was happy to rise to the challenge but it was challenging for him to stick with it in the beginning of the summer.

The end result was this delicious little rendition of ‘James and the Giant Peach’ – a favorite Roald Dahl book brought to life on the stage with some fun singing and dancing.  I love the very ‘Wes Anderson’ costumes and props, and in the end Ezra got a glimpse of theater life on the great White Way. I’m proud of him for seeing it through – and next year he claims he wants “race car or drumming camp”.

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