Happy 2nd Birthday, Zachary!

Dear Zachary,

Today you turned two years old. Two seems so old, and while I still try to hold on to your babyness, I see it fading away more and more each day. You are turning into a beautiful, happy, friendly little boy who can walk, talk and do a million things all by yourself - "I DO IT!!".
You love to help with anything you can do. You will search around the house to find the tiniest crumb on the floor, just to show it to me and say, "Yucky Mama? I throw way?" and then proudly march it off to the trash can. Helping Daddy in the yard is one of your favorite things to do - presumably because you get the added benefit of getting filthy while you're out there together. But the huge smile on your face is totally worth the extra laundry.


You absolutely adore your sister Lexi, and she adores you right back. You mimic every single thing she says and does which I suspect will begin to annoy her when she gets just a tad older, but for now she thinks its pretty cool. She knows that she's your role model, and she tries very hard to teach you everything she knows, and you, my son, soak it right up. I've now learned that if there is something I really need you to do, I only have to get Lexi to ask you to do it - works every time.
Even the cats have started to trust that when you say, "I touch nice" you actually mean it, and they've been brave enough to stick around long enough to test the theory. While you're still all boy, and love to bonk heads, poke eyes, etc...you do seem to understand that with the cats, and with babies you have to be very gentle all the time. You are truly a kind soul.

Zachy, due to your first birthday party being canceled due to a yucky stomach bug, you ultimately ended up getting three or four birthday parties, and you loved every single one of them. "Happy Birthday" is one of your favorite songs, so having a crowd sing it to you over and over was a great present all alone.

And you had no problem downing three or four cupcakes over the course of a few weeks...


Zachary Thomas Lippman, you are our little angel boy. We all love you so much, and can never get enough of your huge smile, fantastic "till you fall down" giggle, and super strong hugs. You make me smile and laugh a million times a day, and that makes me feel like the luckiest Mama alive.
Happy birthday my little handsipants - I love you, love you, love you!!

Love,
Mama

Stop Me If You've Heard This One...

Lexi and Zachary love to tell knock knock jokes. Lexi really only knows two - 1)"banana", "banana who?", over and over and over until we tell her she has to stop and she finally says "orange" "orange who?" "orange you glad I didn't say banana?" (Zach tries to tell this one too but just says "applenana" when you ask who's there.)
2)"boo" "boo who?" "are you crying?" We hear these jokes over and over and over and over again in this house. Typically they both try to tell me a knock knock joke at the same time, which gets very confusing. But this morning they were telling them to each other which was refreshing and very amusing...

Lexi - "knock knock"
Zach - "who's there?"
Lexi - "boo!"
Zach - "AH!"
Lexi - "You're supposed to say 'boo who?'"
Zach - "boo who?"
Lexi - "Are you crying?"
Zach - "no?"

Zach - "knock knock"
Lexi - "who's there?"
Zach - "applenana"
Lexi - "applenana who?"
Zach - "Are you crying?"
Lexi - "No Zach, you say it like this..."
Lexi - "knock knock"
Zach - "who's there?"
Lexi - "boo"
Zach - "Are you crying?"
Lexi - "Hey! It's my turn!!"

I suppose at some point they'll both get them right. But for now it's amusing listening to them try.

Halloween Festivities

It seems to me that when I was a kid, Halloween fell on one day - October 31st. We would put on our costumes for two hours, walk around begging for candy, come home, eat dinner, go to bed, and then it was over. One day. But now it seems that Halloween needs to be celebrated by everyone for weeks! Don't get me wrong, it's fun...but it's become more of a production than Christmas around here! First we had a Halloween themed neighborhood party a few weeks ago (which was a blast), then last week Zach had Halloween gymnastics (kids dress in costume) on Monday, Lexi had pumpkin decorating on Monday and Tuesday, Thursday Zach had a Halloween daycare party (costume again) and Lexi had p.j. day on Thursday and Friday in celebration of Halloween. Saturday was Halloween party dance class (costume!!) and finally Sunday arrived and we dressed one final time in our costumes for trick or treating (which was extended one hour this year). The kids had a blast, and we did too, but I am SO glad it's over. This week will be blissfully boring - all school and activities are to be attended in regular clothing with no required craft supplies. Ahren called me a Halloween scrooge for suggesting that it was a bit overboard this year. I think if he had been the one to coordinate the crazy schedule, he may have been feeling the same way.

Either way, the important thing is that the kids had fun. Here are some pictures of some of the fun we had over the past few weeks. The first picture was taken two weeks ago when Devan, Jen and Baby Eva came for Uncle Doug's services. Lexi was very happy to meet her newest cousin! The next few are from the leaf pile fun Ahren and the kids had, then pumpkin carving and trick or treating. Enjoy!

Uncle Doug

On Sunday, October 17th Ahren's Uncle Doug passed away after a long, and extremely courageous battle with cancer. There are no words to describe how much he was loved, or how much he will be missed. From the moment I walked in the front door of the Lippman home ten years ago I felt welcomed by Uncle Doug. And later, when Ahren and I were looking for our first house, Uncle Doug spent countless hours driving back and forth from Worcester to North Andover to help us. He always had a smile on his face, even when times were the hardest and he certainly made an impact on all of our lives.

We'll miss you, Uncle Doug. Thank you for being you.