Clara and Emma's Very Special Purim

Clara and Emma went to their first naming on Sunday for Ma'ayan Alma Feldman, daughter of Ariella and Scott. Since the naming was on Purim, Clara and Emma got dressed up as fairies- wearing their new fairy wings. As Clara noted, she looked "just like Abby."

Clara and Emma loved wearing their new fairy wings and eating strawberries and crackers. They also enjoyed making masks and crowns and shaking pink rattle groggers.

Things To Do To Keep Toddlers Occupied On Snow Days

The gals woke up to a snowy, beautiful and peaceful morning. It was a lazy kind of day, so they just stayed in pajamas all day!

After breakfast, Clara and Emma started the day off with a sleepover party. Then, they made pumpkin bread.

This was followed this with the Gornstein Olympics- which ended by creating and wearing their own medals (and yes, Mommy made up a medal ceremony). Watercolor painting, dress up and finally a tea party lunch (with their tea set for apple juice) before some Lollipop Orchestra dvds.

Half way through the day, Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa Frome were thrilled to have Clara and Emma take a nap!

This afternoon featured pretzel making (breadstick dough made into shapes, add some egg wash and kosher salt). Clara wanted to go outside, got bundled up, and went with Mommy. Clara grabbed her shovel and did her share. She also managed to throw a few snowballs at Mommy. But, trees were falling, so Mommy made Clara go inside. Emma wanted to watch tv with Grandma, so didn't join in. At one point, Emma turned to Grandma, put her hand on Grandma's shoulder and said, "Grandma, I'm so glad you came to my house to visit."

Mommy roasted a whole chicken for dinner, but Clara and Emma were more interested in the corn that Daddy heated up.

Grandma Frome hasn't figured out how Clara wants to be tucked in and therefore, Clara cries for several minutes and then goes to sleep. Clara still wakes up in the morning and says "you didn't tuck me in," followed by "purple tutu?"

The Gornsteins are grateful for heat and electricity as many friends in the area are without. It also should be noted that Ardsley did another FANTASTIC job of plowing the streets!!!

Snowed In With Grandma and Grandpa Frome, Take 2

For the second time this season, Grandma and Grandpa Frome have joined the Gornstein gang for a snowstorm.

Grandma and Grandpa Frome arrived late last night. Clara and Emma were greeted by Grandpa Frome when they woke up and were excited to wake Grandma up too. After showing off their ballet skills and having a sleepover party, the ladies headed to school. Here is a note from their teachers:

"Dear Parents,

The twos have been very busy this week preparing for Purim. We made noisy groggers to shake and beautiful crowns to wear. And since we have already been doing triangle art (please notice our "triangle travel" in the hallway), we talked about how Haman's hat was also the shape of a triangle. We're looking forward to eating the special triangle cookies during Purim called hamantachen. We have been singing Purim songs and making our own Purim parades. We even visited Queen Esther's Palace (conveniently located adjacent to our classroom!) where we admired the decorative chandelier, crowns, and jewels, and sang with our groggers.

We'll send photos in separate emails - enjoy them!

Your Twos' Team,

Laurie and Helene "

The weather was interesting today. It started with heavy rain that turned to snow and quickly accumulated, but then went back to rain. The roads were slushy on the way to school, but mostly fine. Grandpa and Mommy did a last run to the grocery store and came out to find snow again and this time, piling up. The roads weren't great getting back to the house and the car slid a few times, so Mommy decided to get the kids out early. It took almost a half hour to do a 7 minute drive. Clara and Emma weren't thrilled to leave early, but they only missed the indoor play.

Clara and Emma had their 2 1/2 year appointment scheduled for tomorrow, and Mommy was going to do Clara's pre-op appointment (she is having her 2nd set of tubes on Tuesday). But, Mommy moved it to this morning for Clara and will take Emma next week. Mommy enjoyed having some one on one time with Clara and she was great! She weighs 26 lbs and is 26 inches- she gained 2 lbs and grew 2 inches!! And, is in the 25%!! Aside from the fluid in her ears, she is healthy!

Once home, Clara had a small choking incident and Grandma Frome got to do the heimlich - but other than Clara saying "I coughed," she was fine. Not sure we'll do too many string cheese for the near future.

After their nap, the girls made cupcakes for the first time. They also showed Grandma and Grandpa their new play dough tools. Daddy came home early and took a cab home (Grandpa drove him to the station this morning), but the car couldn't get up the hill- many were stuck, but did manage to ride up with a neighbor.

It was time to shovel, and the girls broke in their new yellow shovels. They also got to see the neighbors outside and hear the stories of the hill - cars stuck everywhere!

Clara and Emma watched a new potty dvd, which features "Hannah" from one of their books. They loved it and watched it twice and then watched an episode of Max and Ruby from a new dvd Mommy got from a friend.

The kids loved dinner- meatballs and spaghetti and mastered the slurping of the noodles quickly.

The snow is beautiful.

A Very Packed Wednesday

Today was one of those days where Mommy packed lots in! The morning started off with speech for Clara and then it was off to their school. While Wednesday isn't one of their usual days, Clara and Emma joined Mommy as she finished up the art project for the nursery school auction that she volunteered to do. Clara and Emma blended in nicely with the class and when it was time to go, did just fine.

It was back in the car and off to Larchmont to do some pick ups of donated items for the nursery school auction and the TRPG event Book Bash. Clara and Emma enjoyed getting out and visiting the children's bookstore, The Voracious Reader. It is a lovely store that is made for little ones.

In the afternoon, the ladies went to Kidville for a TRPG event. There was a jumpy castle, which Emma loved! Mommy decided to get to the grocery store in case there really was snow on Thursday. Of course, Emma only wanted to hold Clara's hand while walking to the store. After getting a sprinkle heart cookie to try and keep Clara and Emma happy, Mommy ran through the store to get some items. And, yes, there was the favorite visit to the lobster tank too!

To top the day off, Mommy headed to her event at SoulCycle, which was fantastic!

Little Musicians

Mommy got to join Clara and Emma in their class today to work on a project she volunteered to do for the Nursery School auction on Sunday.It was fun to watch Clara and Emma sit right down and do art projects. Clara was so thrilled that she could cover her hands in glue and paste feathers on a bird. Mommy also got to see Clara and Emma stand at the easel together drawing a face and talking to each other about where the eyes, ears, nose etc. go. Clara and Emma also played with dot paint while Mommy was there. All the other kids moved on from their project and Clara stayed, lined all of the dot paint bottles up in a row and used a paintbrush to play a "xylophone." Emma went over to the science table, picked up a magnifying glass and looked at a rock, while Clara found goggles and wore them on her head. It was really neat.

This afternoon, Clara and Emma enjoyed playing with their friend Allie and seeing her new house. Clara and Emma both had a blast playing with the dress up clothes- especially the shoes and mastering the art of walking in "heels." They also loved playing with Allie's violin and trumpet and gave quite a performance!

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A New Fashion Statement

Clara started her day off insisting to wear her purple tutu over her pajamas to breakfast. When Mommy tried to change her clothes, she was not very happy, until the tutu went back on. Clara didn't like the socks Mommy picked and went and got the rainbow socks out of the hamper and put them on. She then pulled up her leggings and pulled her socks all the way up - and this is how she spent her day. A new fashion statement.

Getting Clara and Emma out of the house has continued to be tough. They don't want to put the jackets on and if you can get it on them, they take it off and sprint in another direction. They don't want to wear shoes and then take them off. Today, Emma didn't want to wear the shoes with the purple stickers inside (which say 'Emma' because they are a different size than Clara's shoes).

Clara and Emma went to lunch at the Dobbs Diner with friends but weren't interested in behaving.

After their nap, they woke up very excited for ballet. They loved dancing with the wands and checking themselves out in the mirror!

Hamentachen Baking!

Even though Clara and Emma spent the day at home, it was a very busy Sunday!

The morning started off with speech for Clara, where she got to hold the cards and "be the teacher."

Then, Mommy realized from a posting from her friend Bethany on Facebook that making hamentachen would be a good activity. Mommy got out her recipe (a combination of her friend Rachel and her friend Jen M.'s recipes) and went to work with Clara and Emma.

The gals helped make the dough and then got to fill them with jelly, m & m's and kisses. Emma of course filled them with kisses and then gave them a kiss.

Clara and Emma got to play with new play doh toys with Auntie Alyssa and loved it!

Mommy took Auntie back to Long Island (Mommy's first time driving there) and then came home to join Clara, Emma and Daddy on a winter walk.

This afternoon, Clara and Emma enjoyed fingerpainting! Thanks to Brianna and her blog for the great idea! It was fun, until Clara refused to take a bath - and was standing covered in paint from head to toe. Mommy had to hand wash her out of the bath!

The gals ended their day decked out in their princess dresses pretending to wave their wands and turn Mommy into a tiger.