Welcome back to our world :)

So slacker would be putting it lightly. Apparently i'm not very good at keeping up with a blog..but at one time i did try :) We have had a lot of excitment and of course good old fun over here these last few months.

Summer seemed to fly by. Before we knew it fall is here!!! Our summer was great and filled with lots of good times. We started it off by taking a trip to Fripp Island for our first family of four vacation. It was so much fun. Shayna and Jonah had a blast. We hung out at the pool, went to the beach. Got to drive around in a golf cart and just enjoy being together. Aside from a minor set back on the first day out -- when Jonah - poor clumsy boy fell face first on to the pool deck -- cement and pretty much cut the skin that connects his lip to his mouth. Ewww i know. it is pretty normal but after a nurse looking him over and the very friend firemen we felt confident he would be okay :) And with a popsicle and some rest it seemed to get better throughout the day!! Phew...definitely enough drama for the day. Fripp Island had deer roaming all over the place and they would just walk up to you, it was really neat. We got some really great pictures. We took the kids to their first air show where the Blue Angels performed. The kids seemed to enjoy it aside from the intense heat. Shayna keeps asking us why the planes we see in the sky now don't make any noise :) During this trip we also found out we're going to have another nephew. As I write this entry we are sitting on edge waiting to hear the news of his arrival as my sister lisa is due any day!! So exciting.

Shayna's First day of Summer Camp

Shayna started camp in June. She absolutely loved it. She had amazing counslers and was just all around excited each and every day. It is so much fun to watch her grow and learn new things every day. Jonah has also turned into such a little person. He's begun talking more and more. At first his favorite words were no-no ; whether he meant yes or not :) every parents dream!! He is such a happy kid. Of course it wouldn't be a successful week in the Weiss household without some blood or scrap on our little monster :) But he takes it like a champ and is usually full of smiles. He finally started to get some more teeth -- which helps make him look like a big boy :( We spent a lot of time at the pool this summer. Shayna is a little fish. She was cautious at first but each week she would become more and more confident. She goes down the big slide (with a float) all by herself. She really is such a brave little girl.

We had many visitors this summer. Both sets of grandparents made their way to NC to visit. The kids loved seeing them and playing with them, getting spoiled and just having a good time. We took several trips to FL and spent a lot of time at the beach. The kids love the beach and the freedom of having no restrictions and being able to run around free. It was so much fun to see them play together and get to play with their cousins. We even got a picture of all the kids that include Jared wearing a bathing suit!!! Wahoo.

Weiss Cousins with bathing suits on!

We also managed to get in a trip to Atlanta to help celebrate Layla's First Birthday and see all of our friends!! The kids had a blast all playing together and the adults did too!

Bath time fun in Atlanta!

We did a lot of fruit picking this summer. We started with strawberries and tried out peaches. The kids loved it!! Jonah was covered from head to toe in strawberries -- he rolled around in them it seemed...thank goodness for Oxyclean!!! Every single stain came out! For the fourth of July one of mommies oldest and great friend Alli came to visit. It was so much fun and we really got to enjoy hanging out and seeing each other!! We also got to go Peach Picking!

During this summer Mommy and Daddy also decided they were going to commit to getting in shape and for a cause. Mommy signed up for the Avon walk for Breast Cancer, 40 miles in 2 days. Daddy signed up for his first marathon -- through Team and Training. We have both been so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives that have contributed to our causes and helped to make both events a reality. Mommy's walk is on Oct 24th/25th and Daddy's race is at Disney in Jan.

Shayna celebrated her 3rd birthday this summer!! Where does the time go. She had a lot of fun celebrating and enjoying her special day (weekend). We spent the day swimming at the pool and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Summer came to an end oh so quickly, yet leaving lasting memories for years to come. We look forward to the beautiful fall weather and all the wonderful fun things we get to do outdoors.

Sorry for the lack of updates and keeping up -- maybe i'll get better at this :)

Jonah's new favorite toy!! (Thanks Carla!)

No more sick time

Peek-a-boo we see you!

So March seemed to fly by without even so much of a notice. We were busy trying to get well -- Jonah's ears dont' seem to want to cooperate with his teething :( We liked to visit the doctor quite often, min of once a week. They seem to enjoy our visits, go figure -- us not so much!! We celebrated Purim (jewish halloween) and had lots of fun watching Shayna participate in her school parade dressed as a cute little piggy!



We also had our first extended trip (more than one night) away from both kids at the same time!! Although it was hard to leave we knew they would be just fine. Poor Jonah was left sick and with a very very sore tushie!! Mimi came to play and took great care of them. We went Memphis for Mindy & Jordan's wedding and had a great time, missed the kids of course. I guess it was definitely easier because our kids are pretty independent and didn't seem to even notice we were gone :( But it was really nice to get away as grown-ups :) See us enjoying the best fried peanut butter and banana sandwhiches at Graceland!!

Its seems that in the midst of our travels we all caught some nasty bug -- which turned out to be a parasite of some sort -- it sucked. See poor Jonah's sad state :( Luckily the kids managed to to make it through -- it was definitely a tough 2 weeks. I'm glad it was me that ended up in the urgent care for IV's rather than the two of them and lucky daddy was well the whole time and helped to get us all better!!


For passover we got to fly down to Orlando to celebrate, we did miss Nana & Papa :( (and of course Lili, Matt and baby nelson to be:) Shayna and Jonah had a blast with their cousins -- it was so cute. We also got to spend some time at the beach which was really nice, with all of the cold yucky weather we've had here in CLT. Shayna loved the beach/ocean and would have stayed all day/night to play in the water and sand.

The four cousins enjoying some time in the sun

So now our travels have come to a halt and we're enjoying spending some time at home!! Bella and her parents have come to play. We had lots of fun hanging out at the park and enjoying their company. We've gone to birthday parties that were lots of fun. Jonah started swimming and appears that he doesn't hate it -- good start!! We're also getting ready for the warm weather to stick around and enjoy lots of times outdoors!!

February Fun

So February was busy with birthdays and travels. We all flew to California to visit Aunt Li Li & Uncle Matt in LA. It was a long trip but both kids did great on the plane. No sleeping of course -- that means rest which Shayna and Jonah don't think they need :) But they were both very good and enjoyed the adventure. We were very excited to see Aunt Lili & Uncle Matt and to find out they were expecting their own little nelson!!! Shayna and Jonah are going to have another cousin and we can't wait to meet them in October.

LA was great we went to the park and visited the Zoo. We went to some great kid places and visited the Santa Monica Pier. We also enjoyed some grown-up dinners out. Shayna even had her first sleepover at Aunt Lili's house. She did great and probably would have spent the week if we let her.

Here are some pics of all our fun:
we celebrated shabbat together!

Jonah & Aunt Li li hanging out and being silly with Uncle matt

Jonah's 1st Birthday

Well it's obvious i'm not a real "blogger" or really any good. it's taken me almost 4 months from my last post to write!! Maybe one day I will improve but for now, i'm trying :)

Yesterday was our little guys 1st birthday. I don't know where the time has gone or even how it has passed so quickly. Not that I remember much back to the time when he was born or the three-four months following. when all he seemed to do was scream and cry :) But i do remember all the fun we've had in the last year and how busy we have been. We have so many wonderful memories and look forward to making many many more.

Jonah went in for his 1 year check up yesterday and he is 20 lbs (10%) and 30 inches long (75%). He is doing so well and right on "track" We did find out that he has an ear infection :( so its a good thing we went to the doc otherwise i would have never known. Aside from the falling into the fireplace, huge goose egg, and splitting his lip or something that gushed blood, on the kids table he's doing just fine :) I guess maybe the off balance thing should have been the clue.

We have had a lot of visitors this past month to help celebrate the big day. Mimi came to visit a little early to help out b/c Daddy had to go in for Hernia Surgery. Luckily it was nothing major and he is doing just fine, healing slowly :) She had a lot of fun with the kids and definitely wore us out!!! Nana & Papa came to visit as well. We all had a great time running around and playing. Nana was able to stay and help us celebrate with Jonah.

Shayna is doing great and as always being such a wonderful big sister. She really likes, for the most part, having Jonah around and being able to help him. She is such a kind and loving little girl. We are so lucky to have two wonderful and happy little kids. They definitely add lots of smiles every day.

While i'm at it..

While i'm at it I guess i should enter some Oct stories. We've been trying to enjoy this beautiful fall weather as much as possible. Mommy has become very informed about all the latest happenings within and around the city. We have visited pumpkin patches and apple orchards and will soon be attending the 3rd largest Hot Air Balloon Festival in the Country (next weekend).

this year at the pumpkin patch Shayna was determined to pick her own pumpkin. We tried very hard to give it a go and let her "make her own decision" it turned out we probably would have still been there if we decided not to step in and "help" her out. She ended up bringing home a very pretty pumpkin and helped jonah pick out his too.

On a side note, Shayna has been in school for over 1 month now. She was a bit apprehensive at first (not too much but enough :) She cried b/c it seemed everyone else was crying but she had no problem going back each day. She still doesn't really tell us all that happens or what she does during the day but we won't stop asking and looking for answers :) I can tell you that aside from Shayna telling us she "plays" at school we also get to hear all about the potty. She loves the "new" potty. Probably b/c it is a small potty very close to the floor just for little ones. She's doing great at going to the potty but I think now she understands how it works and picks and chooses when she wants to go on the actual potty and when she wants to just go in her pull-ups. We're working on this :)

Jonah has also been quite busy these past few weeks...not only are we trying to keep up with Shayna but Jonah has begun his movement and is not letting it go unnoticed. He is very verbal -- we call him the dinosaur-- b/c of his very loud and unique screech to get attention. All done with a smile of course. He is also on the move and all over the place. He doesn't like to sit and watch - nope --he likes to get out there and get into EVERYTHING. With Shayna i was worried about all these things i might have to keep her out of but she never really got into them i.e. chloe's dog food. Jonah on the other hand goes for Chloe's food at least 1 time a day. He is usually so full of smiles and likes his sleep (even though he doesn't sleep long -- except at night so i am not complaining!) He definitely goes with the flow and lets shayna help him with everything he does.

So i think now we're pretty caught up -- i apologize if i' have a lot of grammar errors (not my strong poing and it's a lot of work writing these things!) and if i forgot any other highlights. I'm sure once Evan reads this he'll have a lot of things to add that i missed -- maybe he'll write the next post!! hahaha

until next time :)

All aboard for the Weiss travels in Sept...

Sept has been quite the busy month for the Weiss family. It started off with a trip to Chicago for our cousin Ari's wedding. It was a big step for us, traveling with 2 kids by plane but we did it!! And it was a great time had by all. It was Jonah's first plane ride and although he didn't want to sit down very much, which can be somewhat difficult on a plane :) he did really well. It was the first time Shayna has flown where she actually was aware of everything going on around her. Needless to say there was no resting on the flight but a good time had by all, thanks to coloring books and stickers :) We mad e sure to take in as much as possible while in Chicago (except seeing my friend Brooklyn-- so sorry!!!) We went to the Navy Pier and Shayna got to ride on the ferris wheel -- not much fear from this kid) Jonah was a trooper and hung out with the big kids.

We also went to Atlanta for Layla's babynaming. We had a great time visiting with friends and just hanging out. We got to swim with Bella in the pool for the first time (well she dipped her feet)!!

Then after one weekend at home for a quick rest and recoup we were off again to Orlando, FL. It was Mimi's 60th birthday so we went down to surprise her. We had lots of fun going to a character breakfast with Mickey and Minnie. Shayna was in her element and Jonah seemed to have fun too. We went to Sea World with Noah and Jared and Aunt Tracy. Although it was VERY hot everyone had a good time and behaved very well. I think it was a lot to take in for everyone but a definitely good times. We also celebrated Rosh Hashana in Orlando. It was Jonah's first New Year celebration and he pretty much slept through it :) Good boy!

Orlando was a lot of fun and great to see everyone, we were sad that we didn't get a chance to see Nana and Papa while we were there but look forward to seeing everyone again for Thanksgiving.

So I am a total slacker b/c it is now closer to November and i'm just putting up my Sept post :) oops... enjoy the link to the pics they tell all the stories!

Big Family Adventure -- Crowders Mountain

I am proud to report that we are officially crazy :) It's always after the fact that you realize this is the case it seems. This past weekend the weather people seemed to convince Evan that it was going to be nice and cool. Of course this meant great time to do something outdoors. For whatever reason, i still can't figure out, Evan decided we should go hiking on Crowders Mountain. It is a state park about 45 minutes from our house. We have climbed this mountain previously aka: before kids. When he mentioned it I thought hmm okay that could be fun. I guess i didn't remember or realize how strenuous it was on us the first go round.

We planned out everything the night before. Tested out the backpack for Jonah (see pic), packed our lunches, snacks and drinks -- so we were ready to go Saturday morning.

We got to the park around 11:30. We decided to take the less strenuous route up so that it wouldnt be so hard for Shayna. We had planned for Shayna to walk the whole way. She's pretty active and likes to do things on her own so we didn't think it would be a problem. Which of ocourse it wasn't. The problem was the fact that we chose the 2.8 mile hike up. What Evan had planned to be 30 min - maybe 1 hour turned into 2 + hours of climbing and climbing and climbing. We stopped several people on the way up to ask them how much farther -- they all kinda chuckled and said its a bit more, but dont worry it's worth it when you get there. Did they not realize we had two little kids.



Shayna was such a tropper she walked/hiked most of the way up not necessarily by choice but she did it none the less. Jonah chilled and enjoyed sleeping all the way up and most of the way down. It was definitey worth it getting to the top and seeing how beautiful it was looking out below. I'm not sure Shayna fully understands what she did but she does keep saying climb montin mommy. Maybe it's because her legs are still hurting, she just can't explain that :)


Needless to say it was quite an adventure which was a lot of fun. We're definitely glad we didn't think it out too much b/c we had a great time but probably won't be going back anytime soon -- for Shayna's sake of course!