The Goodman Times

Benji’s first swing!

Posted on May 14, 2013 by jgoodman

Enjoying the Heat – Car wash with Breanna

Joey LOVES visiting the park. Not for the swings or the slides, but rather to watch the basketball and baseball games. Today, he did a little coaching too…

He did a great job chanting “two points” at the appropriate times. I finally had to force him away from the courts, as he kept announcing “you missed” and “you missed again” every time one of the guys missed a basket. Fortunately, they thought he was a riot. He’s the youngest heckler ever!

Against his will, we headed back to the playground…

Benji’s first swing!

Most of my time was spent trying to get him to stay in the playground area. Fortunately, Aunt Lori was able to keep an eye on Benji!

Sophie and Benji enjoying each others company

Getting clean after a LONG day!

Posted in Benji, Developments, Joey, Sophie, The Panozzos | Leave a comment

Last Shabbat

Posted on May 14, 2013 by jgoodman

We celebrated Sophie’s 1/2 year birthday last Friday. Aunt Lori made an awesome double decker chocolate cake and even let Sophie have a taste!

The boys chillin poolside

Time for a dip!

Aunt Lori and Benji

Posted in Benji, Noah, The Panozzos, The Silvermans | Leave a comment

Time for solids!

Posted on May 14, 2013 by jgoodman

We started Benji on Oatmeal cereal last week. It did not go over well. He basically spit it all out and pretended like he didn’t know how to swallow. We switched it up yesterday and introduced carrots…

The bib tastes good too!

Posted in Benji, Developments, Joey | 1 Comment

Mother’s Day 2013

Posted on May 12, 2013 by jgoodman

No better way to wake up!

The boys gave me my present first thing- coffee in bed and a gift certificate for a massage and brunch with my other mommy sisters (while the boys stay home to babysit). We’re already checking the calendar for a date-no better gift!

We headed out early for some family time at Old Orchard. Little did I know, the stores didn’t open until 11. Greg says it was the best shopping trip he’s ever been on. Barnes and Noble was the only store open so Joey scored a new train.

We headed to Nanny and Poppy’s for brunch. They put out quite the spread, per usual! Joey filled up on french toast and strawberries!

Nanny brought us so many new things from Hong Kong for us to enjoy. Joey had a great time playing with their trains and even took a solid nap in their basement!

Giza (98 years strong) came to celebrate with us too!

Trying out the zoom on our new camera…thanks Poppy!

Me with my boys!

Sitting up all by himself (a week shy of 5 months)!

Our next stop was to Northmoor for dinner with Bubbie, Zeyde and the rest of the crew!

Family Photo!

We had a really special gift for Poo Poo and GoGo this year. The jewish star is made up of hundreds of family photos.

Here’s a close up!

The project took forever to get together, but worth every minute! I spent so much time figuring out how to make it that I’ve become a pro…Bubbie has already submitted her custom order to me!

Another great Mother’s Day in the books! Thanks to everyone who helped to make it special!

Posted in Benji, Bubbie GoGo, Family, Great Grandma Pearl, Holidays, Joey, The Silvermans, The Waxs | 1 Comment

Evening with Abby

Posted on May 9, 2013 by jgoodman

Aunt Abby came to spend a few hours last night. We walked to visit Noah and Michele. On our way home, Joey requested a visit to Target. Once we got in the store, he directed us to the Thomas aisle. Shockingly, Abby caved and bought him a new train. He’s been walking around all day saying “Choo choo Stanley from Abby”. Thanks Aunt Abby!

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Benji Boo

Posted on May 9, 2013 by jgoodman

Noah came by for a visit today so Michy could get some errands done. He had his first adventure in the bouncer and loved it!

Benji exhausted from his play date

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Benji’s Big Week!

Posted on May 8, 2013 by jgoodman

Benji has had a huge week, development-wise. He began sleeping through the night, holding his own bottle and sitting up for several minutes at a time (although he’s still not stable enough to be left alone). We also started solids!

Joey went to the lake with Bubbie, Noah, Sophie, Lori and Michele yesterday. They all piled in one car for their adventure. I can’t say I was sorry to have missed it.

Greg and I were able to have some quality time with Benji. We realized we forgot a diaper bag while we were out, but still decided to take the chance and go to dinner.

Benji was perfect!

Joey got dropped off to us on our walk home and hitched a ride under Benji!

Joey was wiped by the time he got home. It was a quick dinner and off to bed for him! He’s still recovering today (going on a 4.5 hour nap)…

Posted in Benji, Developments, Joey, Lakehouse, The Silvermans | Leave a comment

Happy Birthday, Greg!

Posted on May 4, 2013 by jgoodman

Benji Boo!

We had Greg’s birthday shabbat dinner last night!

Aunt Michy picked up matching PJs for the kids. They looked ADORABLE!!

This morning, Greg slept in and the kids and I made breakfast. Joey loved help making the waffles!

We headed out for “date night” too! We tried a new sushi restaurant for dinner and then headed to Sienna Tavern for a drink and dessert.

After that, we went to celebrate Stevie’s engagement! Mazel Tov – What a great night!

Posted in Benji, Birthday, Joey | 1 Comment

Joey knows his ABCs!

Posted on May 3, 2013 by jgoodman

Posted in Developments, Joey | 1 Comment

What a Pro….

Posted on April 30, 2013 by jgoodman

Benji had another photo shoot on Monday. Bubbie took him while I was at work. She said he was super-smiley, despite it being his normal nap time!

Monday night, Aunt Abby came over for an exercise walk. Greg has his company’s conference this week so I’m a single parent until Friday. We got the kids all ready before we left and just plopped them in bed upon our return.

I was hoping the fresh air would keep Benji sleeping through the night, but no such luck!

After work today we went walking with Michele and Noah. The Little Peanut had his 2 month (can you believe it?!) shots today so he was pretty fussy by the end of the walk 🙁

Posted in Abby, Benji, Joey | Leave a comment

Puzzle Master

Posted on April 29, 2013 by jgoodman

Joey is now able to put an entire puzzle together on his own. I ordered a few new puzzles this week, as he’s pretty much mastered the Thomas ones he has…

Posted in Developments, Joey | 1 Comment

Greg’s Birthday Dinner

Posted on April 29, 2013 by jgoodman

Nanny and Poppy took all of us to Ron Jon last night for Greg’s birthday. We had a GREAT time! Greg LOVES Ron Jon and was looking forward to it ALL week long!

Benji was first at the table ready to eat!

Joey couldn’t wait to until the cake was cut to give it a taste!

Joey had a MAJOR sugar rush when we got home from dinner. He played football, ran in circles and played trains for an hour before bed!

Thanks, Nanny and Poppy, for a GREAT birthday celebration!

Posted in Abby, Benji, Cari, Debrah, Family, Holidays, Joey, The Burnetts, The Panozzos, The Silvermans, The Waxs | 1 Comment

Beautiful weather, busy weekend!

Posted on April 29, 2013 by jgoodman

We had Shabbat at Bubbie and Zeyde’s house of Friday night. Here are the boys with the kiddos!

Joey REALLY enjoyed his dessert!

We did our best to take advantage of the spring-like weather this weekend! We got up early Saturday morning for breakfast at Meli and a trip to the park, all before 10AM!

Serious face

We headed to Costco next. Joey tried every sample offered (and subsequently didn’t need any lunch)! We were all exhausted by 1PM and headed home for a family nap!

On Sunday morning, we headed out early again to meet the Shalom Sesame characters at Ravinia. There was a special event for kids before the Walk for Israel. We were unsure how Joey would respond to the mascots, as he’s usually afraid, but he surprised us all!

Greg with his hands full!

Joey’s favorite part of the morning was running in the open grass waving the Israeli flag!

We ran into Lexi K. on our way out!

Next, we headed to Forest Bootery so Joey could get new gym shoes. I can’t believe he’s already wearing a 7.5! The TV in the store is brilliant. We were able to try 7 or 8 pairs on him without him realizing we were even fussing with him. We took advantage of the “buy one get one 1/2 off” sale and bought him another pair of TOMS. Joey was REALLY excited about his TOMS (because he thinks they are THOMAS shoes)