And We've Moved Again!

It was a little over a year ago that I started this blog because we were moving to Maryland from NYC, and now we have moved again! To Washington state!
Let me back up a bit. To those of you who don't know, Matt's contract was not renewed at the congregation in Maryland and so we were faced with some decisions. It was a weird time being in Maryland from December to March, not really wanting to be in a place that wasn't home, but not knowing where to go. New York is a tad too expensive of a place to "go back to." :) We took a really long Christmas vacation to Minnesota, and started to sort things out when we returned in January. Matt and I took two trips, one to California, and one to Seattle, to check our job possibilities. Seattle turned our to be the most promising, abs after much thinking, praying,and sorting through feelings Matt decided to accept the offer of the Messianic congregation, Beit Messiah, to be their full time Rabbi. The game has changed slightly: we are a little wounded from our last assignment, but we are aware that healing will come in time, and my very wise aunt told me that this time we will choose to trust when trusting came much more naturally before.
And so we packed up our apartment, loaded it on a truck and sent it off to Washington! We left Maryland on March 31st on our journey to the west coast, stopping with close friends and family along the way. First we stayed 2 nights in Pittsburgh with Eric and Erin, where we had to take the girls to urgent care because of croup and and ear infection, then we stayed at Tom and Laurie's where Matt lead a Passover Seder at their church. (Oh, yeah, and the first part of this trip was done with out yeast-not recommended.) Then we drove to Chicago, and stayed with Jake and Heather for 2 nights, and had lots of fun playing with cousin Rachel, who is super adorable! After that we raveled on to Minneapolis to stay with my brother, Terry, and Stacy and Elijah. The girls loved playing with their cousin, and Matt lead another Seder for Terry and Stacy's small group. We then drove up to the farm (my parents' place) for one night. The girls got to play outside, and we only wished it was longer, but on the morning of April 8, Matt flew from Fargo to Seattle to meet the moving truck, and my mom and I embarked on a three day driving trip to the west coast. Those three days were very interesting! I could elaborate, and if you want me to, just ask, but to say the least, I'm glad it's over! The girls did great, but traveling with colds, with little or no naps, through 3 time zones can make one never want to see the inside of another Mazda 5 again!
And now we have been in our spacious 3 bedroom apartment in Renton (just southeast of Seattle) for 6 days. The unpacking is going well, thanks to my mom, and we are going to settle in soon! :) I will post pictures soon, when we get better internet! :)
On a final note: thanks so much to all our friends and family who hosted us along the way...sometimes we were there on work days and everyone was so accommodating, and we love you all!

We took the girls to my 18 week sonogram so that they could be there when we found out what sex this 3rd baby was going to be. (It is a boy!) To prepare them I said that the doctor would be putting jelly on my tummy and using a "thingy" to look at the baby. They had a great time, and Emma loved hearing the heartbeat. Later, that afternoon the girls were taking turns putting "peanut butter and jelly" on each others tummies. It was just so hilarious!

Frigid Christmas

It's been a long couple of months for us, and frankly I have not had the emotional energy to write on here, and we have been traveling a lot. So, that being said, we had a great Christmas vacation in Minnesota. There was lots of snow and lots of cold! We spent a week with Terry, Stacy, and Elijah in St. Paul, going to a giant indoor play place and Toddler Tuesday at the Mall of America, plus lots of shopping. The kids really enjoyed seeing the horses at the farm and playing in the snow.

Thanksgiving

This is very late, but I wanted to share some pictures from Thanksgiving. We took a road trip to Chicago to celebrate with Jake and Heather. The whole family was there for a couple of days and we had great food and great fellowship, and then we were alone with Jake and Heather for a couple of days and it was just like old times, when we all lived in Nyack together. We had a great time getting to know our new niece and cousin, Rachel. We also got to visit the Home Alone house and drove by Michael Jordan's former house. It was a really great holiday.

First Snow

We experienced our first snow of the season on the first weekend of December. It snowed all day on Saturday, and Matt was out of town for meetings, so after naps the girls and I bundled up and went out to play in the snow. Emma made a couple of mountains and Siri spent most of her time trying to get up and down the hill, until she discovered that she could eat snow. We made a small snowman and Emma, on her own, put little chunks of snow in the places of a mouth, nose and eyes. When toes were getting cold we headed in for hot chocolate (which proved to be a disaster with the white shirts they were wearing) and nutella crepes for dinner.
The next day we ventured out again, but were faced with the task of finding a place to play where there wasn't mud and water under the snow. When we found a good area Emma made lots of snow angels and tried to dig a fort in the 4 inches of snow...and Siri ate snow the whole time.

Emma's 4th Birthday!

December 11 was Emma's 4th birthday! She is so big and mature and she has started tucking her hair behind her ears like a big girl. It's crazy to have a 4 year old!
Emma wanted a snowflake party and a strawberry cake, so that's what we did. Her birthday fell on a Shabbat and the first day of Hanukkah, and we had 2 families over for dinner. We played bingo for prizes, Emma opened presents, and we had cake and ice cream. We love you, Emma!

Emma's Last Dance Class

The day that we left for Thanksgiving vacation we were able to attend Emma's last dance class. We were wondering if this would even happen, and it did. The reason for the pessimism was that a few weeks before Emma had fallen during class and refused to finish out the session. The week after she merely sat and watched for half the class, and the class before last she refused to even get out of the car. I'm almost certain that this was a combination of feeling embarrassed and alone, but she pulled through in the last one and did very well. The teacher was very kind and allowed Siri to participate when she wanted to. Emma was telling Siri all the instructions. It was very cute, and we are so proud of Emma!