Shane was born so close to St Patrick's day that I was able to take his picture in that big St Patrick's day hat his first year and then we have posed him with the hat every year. Halloween is Maddie's first real holiday - maybe real isn't the right word, but there are no real props to go along with Labor Day, Rosh Hashanah, or Yom Kippur so this was my first chance. I bought a big pumpkin basket and took these pictures! How cute is she????
Maddie was 2 months on October 29th so we took her 2 month pictures in her Notre Dame jersey - here she is! I can't believe I am posting these a week before her 3 month picture is due...
And here is one of her first smiles! Taken the same day - She is just getting so fun and so happy!
Halloween was so long ago, but here are the pictures from Halloween - finally! We carved pumpkins the night before and Shane loved it! He wasn't really able to carver, but he asked for a smiley face on his pumpkin and I drew it on and we carved it together. Dan and I made our own pumpkins as well! Mine was a child friendly ghost- Dan's was the grim reaper.... shane had some help carving his pumpkin by his friends, Tigger, EE, EE, and Clifford! After we carved it, Shane colored it. Maddie just watched this year! Here are some carving pictures.
The next day was Halloween and this year Shane readily got into his costume and loved Trick or treating! Dan and I took turns taking him around the neighborhood. He kepts saying, "Next house please, candy please!") Maddie stayed at the house and helped pass out candy! We did get her dressed in her costume! :-)
Shane has a new buddy, Isabelle, who lives in our neighborhood. She was Minnie Mouse! Adorable! Shane is 5 months older than Isabelle and Isabelle has a baby sister who is 2 weeks younger than Madison! Perfect! Here are some pictures of them sharing candy!
While Shane could have spent ALL night trick or treating - mommy and daddy were getting cold (we were not wearing fur bear suits over our clothes) & Madison was pooped! We took a few pictures of our pumpkins and then headed in where Shane checked out his loot!
Shane loved it when the doorbell rang and he got to pass out candy - check out the Boo on his behind! I love that shirt!
Here is Maddie in her first Halloween pjs!
Shane has been super busy, as usual, and is now enrolled in an ABC class and a parent/tot sports class. The sports class is an evening class that he takes with Dan. Shane does not follow all of the instructions, but he loves sports class and having special daddy time! I love having Dan out of the house for the evening so I can vacuum - Shane is petrified of our vacuum cleaner. Petrified does not even begin to describe his fear of it so Sports class is my time to speed vacuum the house for the week! Every week they work on a new skill and every week in his ABC class is a new letter. Well, last week was the letter 'T' in class and we made a ton of turkey crafts. Well, this week he is playing Hockey in sports class. Tonight is sports class and Shane keeps telling me he is going to play "turkey with sticks". Adorable! Here are a few pictures!
Here are some other cute pictures of my beautiful little girl.
Madison had her Hebrew Naming and Baptism on November 6th and it was beautiful. Maddie's Hebrew name is Sura Mazel - Sura is the Hebrew translation for Sarah (my bubbie) and it means queen. Mazel means good luck or fortune and we chose an M to honor Madeleine and other lost relatives especially my uncle Marvin, grandma Minnie, grandpa Max, & grandpa Maurice. The rabbi said it could translate to the queen of luck - I sure hope so. We sure feel beyond lucky to have Madison in our lives! The baptism was also beautiful and we were sent oil and water from the river Jordan from Dan's aunt Tina and Uncle Jack to use on her! My aunt Joan did a reading during the service and it was beautiful! Madison is blessed with FOUR G-dparents - her Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Bob and Colleen & Jack! We love them all so much! We were also so touched that so many of our family members and friends made it to the church and our house to celebrate with us! Thank you all! It was such a beautiful day full of interfaith traditions! Jeanne gave Maddie a perfect necklace with charms for both of her faiths (a cross & a Jewish star), her birthstone, & her initial & Colleen made the best sugar cookies in the shape of a cross & Jewish star! The only problem with the ceremony was that Maddie pooped as the ceremony began and it was a really, really, really stinky poop! We were so embarrassed, but there was no time to sneak out and change her. I think I saw the rabbi and pries inch away as we got close! :-) Here are some pictures of Madison getting dressed in her gown - the same one Dan and his brother's wore - by her G-dmothers!
Then it was time for some pictures with her G-dparents, and grandparents.
Here are some ceremony pictures!
When Shane had his naming and baptism we gave him 3 G-dparents - John & Geri and Jorie. We did not make Jason a G-dfather because him and Jorie were not married or even engaged at the time. However, we did double check that it would be possible to add him later. It was supposed to be easy, but it was anything but! In fact, we did not know it was going to be possible for sure until the day before. However, the priest announced all of the G-dparents for the babies in Maddie's ceremony and then told everyone that Jason would be named a G-dfather for Shane - it was really nicely done. We thought the moment warranted a photo, but Shane was not in the best mood so this is what we got!
Here are some pictures from after the ceremony. There was not a lot of time for pictures since our ceremony started at 2 and there was another ceremony at 3.
After the ceremony everyone headed back to our house for a party! Shane was so excited to have a party that he willingly let us move his toys from downstairs into the garage to make room for another table in the living room! The boy loves a good party! He is truly a Greenfield! Unfortunately, we did not take many pictures during the party. We did get a nice shot of Maddie with Aunt Margaret and some pictures of her cake and of Danny and Megan being the best older cousins and playing with the younger kids upstairs, but that is it! Here is what we have!
Dan took another picture with Maddie in her Yankees pjs!
The 17th was Dan's birthday and we celebrated then by making him his favorite pineapple upside down cake and giving him his presents - Shane was so cute - he helped me bake and wrap and then he kept unwrapping everything! It is funny now, but in the moment not so funny as I rewrapped Dan's jeans for the 3rd time! Much to my surprise Shane actually liked the cake! He also loved helping Dan blow out the candles! This was Dan's first birthday as a father of 2!
Last weekend Dan's parents and my parents came over to celebrate Dan's birthday! We had another pineapple upside down cake and blew out some more candles!
So sleep - we are actually getting some! On Saturday night Maddie slept from 10-5:30, on Sunday night from 10-4:45, on Monday from 10-4:15 - my concern is that the times seem to be getting shorter rather than longer, but this is still an improvement so I will celebrate it for now - we will see what the rest of the week brings! I sure would be thankful if the trend continues!
OK, so what else is new? In true Dan fashion all of our Hanukkah and Christmas decorations have been up and on since November 13th and Shane could not be more excited about the holidays! We went to meet Santa and take pictures last week (I do not have the pictures yet - I pick them up next week), but Shane sat so nice with Santa this year! The best part was that he asked Santa for Hanukkah presents and chocolate coins as his presents. That is my interfaith boy! When we were done seeing Santa he asked to go see Hanukkah! I had to explain that Hanukkah is not a person... Anyways, when Shane was on Santa's lap he asked Santa where Papa Carolyn was. Santa gave me a look and I explained that Shane calls his grandmas papas and that Dan's mom looks a bit like Mrs. Claus. Santa told Shane that Papa Carolyn was watching the reindeer:-) It was so funny!
Well I will not be back on here until after Thanksgiving so please know we are all so thankful for having the best family and friends ever! We are really blessed! We are also so thankful for our health, especially Dan's, and our miracle children! Also, we want to welcome our newest cousin, Asher Dylan Newman - my cousin Susie's baby - and wish a happy birthday to Aunt Jeanne, Danny, Uncle John, and of course, Dan!
