This year Noah had quite the birthdays!  Turning 4, he was at the age where he was full of opinions.  From the moment we asked him (6 months ago) he wanted his party at Jumpers.  We tried to tempt him with so many other things, including a trip to Disney, but he was sure – Jumpers it was.  Being that Jumpers is most definitely a place for kids we decided to let him choose his guest list and we would do the family/adult party later.  We didn’t realize that his list of good friends was so short but it’s who he wanted so a small party with his nearest and dearest was what we had. 

Kate was our greeter.  She sat in the lobby and welcomed everyone to the party.

And this is Kate’s “I love you” -

Ayla the “supa-star”!  The world’s most natural model and Noah’s oldest pal.

Kate, Helena, and Ayla -

Once we were finally allowed in to play it was full speed ahead!

Aunt Rachel even got in on the fun!  If you ever go to Jumpers, don’t wear a skirt.  You will end up down a slide, eventually.

This is Charlie.  Noah’s BFF from school.  He is really into Charlie and they seem to be very similar in many ways.

I told you, we all end up on the slide!  I think Gena had more fun than Spencer in the bounce area!

I love this series of Noah and Charlie playing basketball…

After bounce, we bowled…

And then we danced…

Chicken Dance!

And then we ate cake!

Miss Molly (Noah’s teacher) even came!

We all had a great day!

Even if we had to work for a few smiles!

I debated posting old stuff that never made it to the blog, although blog worthy, and have decided that it will at least give you all something to look at.  That, and help you appreciate how nice our winter was now that it’s turning scalding hot warm.

These are photos from a play date with Ayla at the park on a gorgeous February morning. 

This was Kate’s very first set of pigtails; she looked just like Boo from Monsters Inc!

How can this welcome not bring a smile to your face?  Ayla was running in from the parking lot, they were both so excited!

Can I ride?!?!

Weeeeeeee……

Noah loves a good swing!  I love this series of photos!  I couldn’t decide which ones to post, so you get three.

Ok, four.  I can’t help myself.  This is Noah in the same swing at 9 months.  What a difference 3 years makes!!  It doesn’t even look like the same kid!

You know those posts when people go on and on about their vacations and seem to post every. single. picture?  Annoying, isn’t it?  Well, this is one of those posts.  Sorry.  You can scroll through and miss the commentary without hurting my feelings.  Promise.

Two weeks ago Robby and I took Ayla and Noah to Disney!  It may seem a bit unusual but Robby had time off during the week he had to take and I wasn’t up to anything so we decided to take the kids and knew they would have a blast sharing the experience with each other.  Boy, were we in for a few surprises!  But overall, we had a blast!

The night we arrived we had dinner with the characters in our hotel.  Ayla wasn’t totally sure about them, probably because of their size.  So long as dad was in the middle though she was pretty agreeable.

Noah wasn’t interested – SHOCKER – but when I asked him to do it for Walter so he could see how much fun we were having he agreed.  Please excuse his shorts.  Unfortunately he’s only growing taller and is in the same shorts from two birthdays back.  They’ll be Daisy Dukes next summer.

The desserts at the restaurant (in the Swan Hotel) were ridiculous!  We got a little bit of everything to try and one thing was better than the next.  I wish we had a before photo, I’m sure it would have been much more appetizing than the aftermath of half eaten treats.

The next morning we were planning to go to the Magic Kingdom.  Unfortunately an all day rain storm had the same agenda.  It rained ALL DAY.  Luckily it didn’t slow us down.  In fact, besides the ponchos, the park was fantastic.  There was no one there and there were no lines!  Score!

After this photo we went to breakfast.  On the way back from breakfast, Noah walked into a wall.  The wall won and he had a bloody nose for the rest of the day.  Excuse the leftovers in the rest of the photos.  Yes, he’s fine.  I think he must get his clumsiness from his father.

The kids were anxious to get on the monorail!

Once we got in the park we immediately bought the classic Mickey poncho.  Somehow Noah’s was HUGE.  I still don’t know if they gave him the kid size!

To dodge the rain we went to the Country Bear Jamboree.  This was a first for Noah and I think maybe me too.

Exciting stuff.

We had to hit up It’s A Small World, I think that’s a given!

It still amazes me how mesmorized the kids are by this ride!

And then, believe it or not, WE WENT ON DUMBO.  That’s shocking for a few reasons.  1) I haven’t been on Dumbo since I was Noah’s age.  2) I don’t go on rides that go in circles.  I almost had Noah talked out of it but I eventually gave in.  3) The line for Dumbo is usually crazy long.

In my efforts to get out of it we ended up behind Robby and Ayla but at least we kind of got to take a photo of them!

At Mickey and Minnie’s house the kids touched everything.  Here they are making popcorn.

And here we are waiting to see Mickey and Minnie.  Wet but thankfully, it wasn’t cold!

I can’t quite remember how I bribed Noah into this.  It wasn’t his favortie thing of the day – clearly – but he did it!  I was shocked and proud!  Ayla wanted nothing to do with them.

But she did want to see the Princesses… which Noah wanted nothing to do with.

Ayla was quite the talker with these beauties.  We really got a laugh when she told Cinderella that Noah was shy, told Belle that he was her Prince and they were married, and then told Sleeping Beauty he was her brother.  Maybe you had to be there but we were hysterical!

The Princess and the Frog are a new addition to the lineup and they were quite a pair!  They were dead ringers for the characters in the movie and they had such great personalities. 

Then we rode the bumper cars.  I haven’t been on this for a very long time too!  See the reasons up at the Dumbo portion of the trip…

And Noah met Buzz Lightyear.  He kept telling me how excited Daddy would be when he told him they met!

And Robby’s favorite ride… The Carousel of Progress.  I’m pretty sure this was my first time on this.

Afterwards we had dinner at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom.  Another first and we loved it!

Ayla wasn’t so sure about seeing these characters but if Noah can do it – anyone can!

Afterwards we went to see the fireworks…

The kids were way ready!  They had snacks, light up necklaces…. but there were no fireworks.  We were misinformed and therefore an hour early.  Again with the lying fibbing, we were able to escape to the car, unharmed by the crowd or the kids.  Fireworks will have to be another time.  Robby and I were beat! 

I’m not sure who enjoyed this trip more – the kids or the grown ups!  I would do it again, rain and all, in a heartbeat.  There’s nothing like experiencing Disney through the eyes of a child!

Happy St. Patty’s Day!  The fantastic holiday where we all pretend to be Irish and over indulge on corned beef!  Today is also a special day for our cousin, Kim Jensen, and friend Robby Friedman ~ Happy Birthday to you both!

I wanted to share these fun photos with you!  We bought a hat as a prop for a baby but never found the right time or kid to put it on.  Noah decided it was a toy and we had fun watching him try to squeeze it on his massive head.

Aunt Raven even got in on the action!

May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light, May good luck pursue you each morning and night! ~Irish Blessing

What’s up and where have we been?  I’m going to answer it for you all right now.  Yes, we’re still alive.  Yes, we remember your phone number (or have it somewhere).  No, we haven’t fallen off the face of the Earth.  No we’re not mad at you.  Things have been busy.  Crazy busy.  I have been neglecting everyone.  I am very, very sorry.

I have been working tirelessly at launching a new business.  With the two kids always within earshot it has become very hard to plan weddings for clients who expect my full attention (and deserve it).  So until piss and vinegar, I mean Noah and Kate, are both out of the house for a chunk of time every day I’m trying to use my talents for other things.  I just opened “Oh My Bride” (www.ohmybride.com).  It is an opportunity for me to still make money and play in the wedding business without having to be on call 24/7 or at the beck and call of a bridezilla with a cell phone.  Sure, I still have “office hours” and plan to interact when I need to but at least the majority of my dealings will now be online and through email to keep me from having to screen calls and dance around nap schedules.  I am still doing weddings, at least until this new venture gains momentum, and I’m looking forward to a packed dance card this winter with events.

As I mentioned before, my sister and her children were in town for 10 days and we took every opportunity to enjoy their company.  We also did my niece, Natalie’s, senior photos while they were here.  With so many interests though it turned into a bit of a marathon and we are still editing.  Here are a few to enjoy for now.

This is Natalie in her Junior Prom dress.  It was my sister’s (her mother’s) Senior Prom dress but has been reinvented.  Talk about vintage!  We also took some photos of her in her Senior Prom dress but you’ll have to ask her for those.  Wouldn’t want to give too much away before the big event!

Yes, that is a real train.  It was FLYING by.  I’ll spare you the photo with the look on her face that says “You want me to do what!?”.  We have so many beautiful ones to choose from, this is hard!

This isn’t even a sampling of all the shoots.  Like I said, we’ve been busy!

And in the spirit of photos we have (finally) started to embrace our love for the craft and share it with others.  We used to do photoshoots back when film was in and we were still a little (ok, a lot) unsure about the whole portrait thing.  Then it was only for us, then we included friends and family since we’ve learned not everyone can take a photo without chopping heads off.  Fast forward 10 years and hundreds of practice shoots later and we find ourselves getting inquiries left and right.  Family and friends always pushed us to do this and we have seen the light.  To mainstream things a bit and have one central location for our favorite photos we’ve created Yap Originals (www.yaporiginals.com).  Our friend Lauren actually branded us and always bragged about how many “Yap Originals” she had hanging in her home.  Thanks Lauren!

Here are some photos from our most recent newborn shot.  Isabelle is a doll and she has an amazing family.  What a love!  We have so many other recent shoots that I wish we could share.  Oh, what I could do with free time!

Isabelle’s dad is a firefighter… and she has her own boots!

We were also MIA because we were off getting older.  Walter and I (who are 2 days apart) took the kids to Disney for our birthdays.  It was soooooo hot but also a lot of fun.  We have a million photos to share and will, soon.

The one thing keeping us sane and us as with it as we are (which isn’t very “with” as it turns out) is Kate’s new BFF, Falan.  Falan is the newest addition to the scenery around here.  I hate to call her a nanny, because that sounds so snobby, but she’s so much more than a babysitter.  I don’t know what we’d do without her.  We originally hired her to help until I got Oh My Bride off and running but I’m not sure how we could ever part with her.  Hopefully things start running smoothly and prosperity finds its way to our door so we won’t have to worry about that.  In addition to being amazing with the kids she is ridiculously beautiful.  How lucky was I to talk her into modeling a few hair accessories for Oh My Bride?

So we’re here.  I appreciate all of you who have reached out to us.  We are grateful for your love and friendship.  Hopefully things will slow down here just a bit so we may have the opportunity to get back into the social scene.

Love you all!

This 4th of July holiday weekend we took off for a mini vacation.  We headed south to my very favorite hotel, the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood.  It was everything we hoped it would be and more!  The weather was perfect, the pools were fun, the beds were super comfy, the kids were even well behaved!  We were lucky enough to have a lot of friends with the same plans and because of that we enjoyed many laughs and large meals.

Here are a few photos from our relaxing weekend, there are many more to come -

First, let me show you why I love this place so much…

Yes, really.  And yes, really, these are photos from this weekend.  The pool and beach didn’t look like this for long but they were still very beautiful and very relaxing when other people showed up.  This is one of four pools at the hotel so you never noticed that the resort was bustling; there’s so much room to spread out!

And this is how excited we all felt when the plans were made and we were on our way.  A family vacation was so overdue!

The one photo we got of the kids together this weekend…

She may owe that pole dinner.

At the pool…

Our friends Bettina and Dan and their daughter Helena happened to be staying the weekend at the resort as well.  The kids loved swimming together!

Rachel, Robby, and Ayla were also at the resort as were thier friends Nicole and Chris and their children Nicholas and Carsen.  You haven’t lived until you’ve looked for a dinner reservation for 11 people 30 minutes before you’re hoping to eat!

Nicholas is such a cool kid!  A lover boy with a little Dennis the Menace mixed in for good measure.  We had a blast, he has such personality!  At one point I was holding Helena (above) and Nicholas (below) was playing with us.  Someone joked about how easily I could pass them off as my own kids.  I’ll just have to borrow all the redheaded children and wish their parents luck with the stubborness and sass that comes with the color! 

Chris and Carsen                                                                     Little Miss

For the fourth we were unknowingly misinformed and decided to take our chances watching fireworks from Rachel and Robby’s room.  Little did we know we would have been much better off on the beach, where we originally planned to go, but then we would have missed this amazing view of the city and the light show.

The city after a few cocktails…

The monkeys…

And a certain little someone learned a new trick while on vacation… she now STANDS!  Where does the time go!?  Buh-bye baby Kate, hello toddler land!

And just for fun we relived a few moments.  I told you this place was my favorite!

(Noah at 4 months)

(Kate at 9 months, who doesn’t know how not to smile)

(Noah at 7 months)

(Kate at 9 months who apparently heard she was going to be late for lunch)

Still think they look exactly alike?!

Unfortunately when we got home reality smacked us in the face!  Monday was right around the corner, grocery shopping needed to get done and the laundry fairy never showed up this weekend.  Oh, and there was a leak in our roof that was flooding our laundry room because of all the rain.  Fun times!  At least we’re tan!

This weekend we went to the new Monkey Joe’s.  It was pretty nice but a little deja vu of any other indoor play place.  Bounce houses, slides, parents who don’t supervise their kids, you know – the norm.  I was a little taken aback that they wanted $5 for Kate (or any kid under 1 for that matter) who can’t really enjoy the facilities as nothing is age appropriate but whatever.  So we went and Noah had a blast (of course) and he played hard!

Here Kate is waiting to leave.  This is what Walter and the kids do while they wait for me to get it all together.

At Monkey Joe’s Kate got an ID bracelet so they knew who she belonged to.  She was fascinated!  Please excuse the bad hair day!

I know the face says “special” but she was beyond excited!

And Noah loved climbing and sliding!

Do you remember the last time you felt joy like this!?

Afterwards we went to visit our friends, Katie, Bill and Liam, in Coral Springs.  It’s been about ten months since we’ve been able to meet up and I think Liam was Kate’s size back then.  Now he’s a walking, talking fool who is still just as heartbreakingly adorable.  When we were headed in Noah asked if Liam had turned into a boy (awwww…) and indeed he did.  It was a lot of fun catching up and both of our kids were passed out before we left the neighborhood.  I guess a good time was had by all!

This is Liam the last time we saw him -

And now -

Airplane!

Stubborn…                                                                                and sweet…

Ok, so for those of you who love physical comedy (me), this is priceless.  Katie was sending Liam down the slide and Bill was catching him.  He hasn’t gotten the whole slide thing down pat yet.  Well Bill was playing with Kate and Katie launched Liam.  Walter is too polite to photograph how it turned out but from the second photo I’m pretty sure you can figure it out.  He was still going full speed ahead at that point…

But as boys do, he brushed off, and moved on.

And Daddy was on slide duty for the balance of park time.  Thank you for everything Bill and Katie, and for giving me a laugh at your son’s expense.  I know, I’m horrible.

Then on Sunday we went to the waterpark with Rachel, Robby and Ayla and had a blast!  We didn’t get any photos unfortunately, besides, I’m not sure you would consider me swimsuit model material anyway.  But the kids loved it and Kate was crazy in love with splashing.  She couldn’t even sit still on the lazy river, she wanted in!  And to top it off Rachel and I went down one of the big slides.  We were the required 42″s tall but I was still a little apprehensive.  It was a big slide with several flights of stairs to get to and some high walls to coast back and forth on.  Once we were up we felt a little better about reliving our teens since we weren’t the only non-kids at the top… until the lifeguard turned to me and said “You can go now, M’am”.  I guess this thirty year old is fooling NO ONE! 

Happy Monday all!

Why are there only 24 hours in each day?  We seem to have so much to do and so little time.  I’ve never had so much laundry, housework, dishes and now business to take care of – oh, and these kids are cutting into the schedule as well with playdates, birthday parties and summer fun.  Because we’ve been so busy I have a ton to blog but as I’m sure you’ve noticed that has fallen to the bottom of the priority list.  While I play catch up, know that we are all well, that we just celebrated the best Mother’s Day and the kids are growing like weeds!

Here are some photos from our first attempt at dying Easter eggs.  My God, I don’t know how our parents did it for so many years!  It’s such a happy memory for me but either the kids aren’t old enough, coordinated enough, or interested enough.  It sure was a learning experience for us all.

Lesson one – a plastic table on a tile floor in the middle of nothingness is still not enough space to keep food coloring from finding it’s way to every stain hungry fabric in the house.

Lesson two – the colored dye is supposed to go in the corresponding colored cup.  My bad.

Lesson three – that little wire hook thing that holds the eggs, well, it’s not nearly strong or sturdy enough for three year old hands.

Lesson four – my son has no interest in coloring Easter eggs but his (Jewish) friend Ayla thinks it’s a pretty cool tradition even if she doesn’t understand that gentle and eggs belong in the same sentence.

Lesson five – my son will always like the stickers best in any project we ever do.

Lesson six – given the opportunity, my son will put stickers on ANYTHING, including other stickers and furniture.  He gets that from Walter (don’t ask)!

Lesson seven – I’ve either lost my skill and talent for coloring Easter eggs or my standards were much lower as a child.  I remember how beautiful they were when we were little and these look, well, like three year olds did them; sadly that’s really not the case.

Ta da!

Lesson eight – no matter how ugly an Easter egg, they make delicious deviled eggs.  Is it me or is there something really wrong about making Easter eggs into deviled eggs?

Today is Ayla’s 3rd birthday!  Ayla is a super sweet, super animated little girl that won our hearts over years ago.  We “knew” her before she even got here, we met Rachel and Robby in birthing class when we were still pregnant.  But we met her when she was only a few days old.  Super impatient, she arrived several weeks early and our class went up to see her on a field trip!  She was so tiny, so sweet… so quiet.  Today she is vivacious, hysterical, chatty, and very opinionated.  She’s had a crush on Noah for as long as I can remember but he’s always played very hard to get.  Today we will celebrate Ayla’s birthday with her and as always we wish her nothing but the best.  However, next year we also wish her a birthday that doesn’t land during Passover so we  don’t have to eat birthday cake made out of matzo! 

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

Love, us.

And for prosperity’s sake…

Her first Yap shoot

Her first birthday

Her second birthday

And here is the story of the heart break…

The players

The hug… denied

Can you hear her heart breaking?  You should have heard what was coming out of those lungs!

But we all love her!  Noah does too, he just thinks girls have cooties!

So I’m trying super hard to come up with a different post each day this week.  I may not keep up my steam but my mom loves reading the blog at her shitty job and if putting up a few photos is all it takes to brighten her day than I’m happy to oblige.  I would like to point out that my mom told me I wasn’t a good writer in high school, that my sister Lindy was so much better, but who are you begging for words from now – huh!?  Just kidding!

Here are a few photos from a few different things floating around in my-point-and-shoot from March -

A get together at Lauren’s house, or as we lovingly refer to it, the Savino Family Daycare.

Kate and Adrianna chillin’ out on the playmat.  Something tells me they are going to be sharing clothes for a very long time.  Hairbows too maybe.

Think Alex and Noah are starting to hang out a little too much?  I kid, we love having Lauren as a part of the stay-at-home-mom-posse!  I just hope Noah starts mocking Alex’s awesome potty training habits!

Vanessa’s gorgeous daughter and Spencer just did their own thing.  They’re the babies of the bunch!

And then we decided that it would be a good day for Kate to try something truly solid.  I had a box of Arrowroot cookies with me and she seriously dug it!

Taste it, smell it…

But then she dropped it.  This photo is Lauren trying to cram it back into her hand, not take it away.  Maybe she’s just mad that a) it’s not one of those Krispy Kreme donuts, b) mom let her leave the house with her hair looking like that or c) that I swear the dress she has on is 18-24 months!

Here’s the daycare gang!

And here is Lauren with her cousin and sister and their children.  They were all pregnant together, can you say HORMONES?

Then a few days later we went to Noah’s newest favorite toy store, Genius Jones.  It just opened up in Mizner Park in Boca and they have the coolest toys.  If anyone’s interested, he would love an Automoblox for his birthday.  We went there to get a birthday present for Helena.  I’m ashamed to tell you that we didn’t get a single photo from the party!  None of that is all that interesting.  The reason I bring it up is because I actually caught Noah smiling at the camera!  I’m sure it was a total accident!  Kate on the other hand never stops!

Kate also had her first bagel in March.  Our favorite waitress at Westside Bagel II, Lynn, was anxious to give her one and who are we to deny Kate free food?

They aren’t very attractive photos but it’s what I have.  She LOVED it!

The “after” bagel is to the left of the knife.  May it rest in peace.

And later that week we went to the mall with Beth and Aaron.  It’s been a long time since we’ve seen them because of one illness or another.  Ear infections, colds, fevers… it’s been awhile!  I hope this summer brings us healthier playdates!

Anyone that knows either boy knows that a stop at the fountain is an absolute must!  Thank God Beth had pennies to spare!

Remember what I said about accidentally smiling at the camera?  That’s my boy!