Keren was tired again this morning but I schlepped her anyway to ulpan where she was not the happiest of campers to say the least.
After ulpan I ran to the supermarket with a very unhappy Keren and did some shopping and then ran home to get Ben and Eitan from Robin’s house and bring them here to play. When I got home my cleaning man was here. We had a huge misunderstanding when he called me this morning. I thought he called to cancel and say that he would come tomorrow in the afternoon but he said today! So he was waiting for me here for Gd knows how long. I felt terrible.
So the kids played nicely together all afternoon. It was really great. And Keren took a nice long nap despite all the noise in the house with the kids and the cleaning man.
Talia and I did some homework when she came home and then before I knew it it was time to make dinner. Eitan stayed for dinner and we all ate together. It was taco night so everyone was happy.
We had to take the cleaning man to the bus at 7 so I had the kids showered and ready for bed and all washed up and then they hopped in the car and we took him and then came home and went straight into bed. Keren was even in bed by 7:45 b/c she couldn’t keep her eyes open.
I did a little studying for my test tomorrow b/c I am a huge dork and now I am going to go to sleep. No laundry to fold tonight… hooray.
Oh, somewhere in the midst of everything and just after I finished my shopping and cleaning my chicken my shabbat company cancelled!! Argh!
So I had a LOOONNNG day and I am happy that it is coming to an end. In the end it wasn’t so horrible. I mean, it was pretty bad but it was doable. That is, if the lice is actually gone, like I am presuming it to be. Hmmmm….
Anyway, the morning started out with the kids waking up and luckily Keren staying asleep. So I fed them and combed out their hair while they screamed and cried that it hurt and complained that I was blocking the TV, etc. Then I combed my own hair out and we all washed the conditioner out of our heads that we had slept in and we got dressed, I fed Keren her breakfast, made their lunches and had them both in school by around 10 am! Not too shabby.
When I got home I put Keren back to sleep (she was cranky!) and I started doing more laundry and bagging things that I hadn’t done the night before, etc.
Luckily one of my friends from ulpan text messaged me and asked me where I was. I told her I had lice and the kids had lice and she said she would come over after and she would comb me out. She came over and proclaimed me lice free. I am going to be combing my hair though, just as a precaution, for the next couple of weeks.
I got Ben after Keren finally woke up from her all morning nap and we went to the hairdresser where I scalped my poor son!! He loves his new haircut but I think it is a little short (to say the least). One great things about hair: it grows back!! He loves the cut, which is so funny, so we are all good. Take a look:
So we came home from the haircut and then Talia came home and the kids hung out for a bit and watched some tv while I cleaned their heads out again and dealt with a crabby Keren. I put her back in for another nap and then took Ben to karate. He is wearing his karate shirt in 2 of the pictures above. He is so cute.
Talia and I did some homework while Keren slept and Ben was in Karate. Then I made dinner (rewarmed pizza, who has time to cook when they are dealing with lice?) and then Ben came home and we all ate. At 6 we took Keren to the doctor so she could look in her ears and see how her ear infection is doing. I’ve been holding a screaming Keren down 3 times a day and putting drops in her ears to try to clear the infection. Luckily, she said that the infection is doing better and seems to be clearing and that I only have to put them in 2 more days.
When we got home I showered the kids and combed out their hair again (briefly this time) and then put them to sleep right on time tonight.
Keren and I are hanging out now. After all that sleeping today she doesn’t seem too tired and it’s almost 9! I have a ton of folding to do but I guess I can leave some of it for tomorrow after ulpan while Ben is at his chug. We’ll see.
Here is a cute video that I took of Keren tonight while I was feeding her:
I had a day off today because my ulpan class is now only Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays due to the fact that the higher level class requested another day of learning and they have the same amount of people in their class as we do so they totally deserve it. Anyway, in the morning we went to Petach Tikvah and returned my grandfather’s car to him. I am sad. I liked that car. I vacuumed it out and made it look like new again on the inside (minus the cigarette burns that he did) and we returned it good as new.
As the day progressed Keren appeared to be having an allergic reaction to something, presumably something she ate. I thought it was probably the peach yogurt that she had last night for dinner and again for breakfast this morning. I wasn’t too worried about it b/c the dots all over her body didn’t seem too bad and we had an appointment anyway for a regular checkup at Tipat Chalav. Well, it turned out to be a big ordeal. The nurses at Tipat Chalav didn’t like the way it looked at all and after seeing the doctor there, she sent me to another doctor (I really don’t know the difference between her and the other doctor. She couldn’t seem to do anything for me). So after Keren’s regular checkup, all in Hebrew, just in case you were wondering (I am wondering how much might have gotten lost in translation. Let’s just say there were plenty of times that I said, רגעת אני לא מבינה to the questions that she asked) I then went to the doctor at Tipat Chalav who sent me to the next doctor next door. It seemed kind of like a clinic and that might be what it is. I asked for the doctor and said it was an emergency just like they had told me to do next door. I was sent back to a common waiting room with many different doors off of it. The door that I needed was closed and when I peeked in I saw that there was someone in with the doctor. So I sat there and waited and waited. Eric called me to see where I was because we were supposed to go out to eat with my grandparents and they were all waiting for me and I told him and he said that I had to be pushy and just walk into the room when the door opens. Oy!! So, after a couple of people went in and some rude guy asked me what time my appt. was and I pointed to someone and told him I was after her and he again asked me what time my appt. was and I had to admit that I didn’t have an appt., I decided to be proactive and the next time the door opened I was ready!! I told the woman about to go in that I was sorry, that I knew that she had an appt. but that this was an emergency and I pulled up Keren’s shirt so she could see her horrible rash (by that time it was quite horrible) and I marched myself right into the room!! YAY!
After all that, of course the doctor agreed that I could just wing it and give Keren some Benadryl. We weren’t sure how much since it’s not an israeli medication but I told him I would just figure it out. In the meantime, since we don’t know if it is in fact the peach yogurt or perhaps the medication that she’s on for her ear infection since last Thurs, we are going to just discontinue the medication for the ear and hope that with the one dose of Benadryl the rash goes away.
After all that we went to dinner with my grandparents and it was very nice.
Oh, another thing, the nurse at Tipat Chalav was worried that Keren didn’t really gain so much weight. She told me to feed her more!! I think the kid eats enough but she said I should make her sandwiches with chummus and bread or with techina and bread or avocado! She is going to be so Israeli!!! She said not to worry about the weight too much, that it could just be because she is moving around so much now. I am thinking, though, that I am going to try to feed her 3 big meals a day and maybe she will start to sleep through the night more. She did want me to give her her cereal in a bottle before bedtime and I told her (not in these words exactly) no way!! We SO don’t do that in America! I am going to try to give her her chicken meal in the middle of the day, though, and the cereal at night, which might be more filling.
That was a lot of Keren time on the blog. Let me just mention that Talia and Ben are great. Ben’s teacher asked Eric if we are speaking Hebrew in the house. Eric said no and she said she was surprised b/c his Hebrew is so great! Go BEN! Also, he got his Karate shirt this week. I’ll try to take a picture of him in it next week when he has Karate to put on the blog.
Talia has been having arguments with some of her friends, it seems. She said some of them aren’t being nice to her. Just the usual girl stuff. Then, of course, one of them called this afternoon and Eric couldn’t get her to take the phone b/c she was so upset at this girl today. Why did she call? She called to see if Talia wanted her to come over so they could play!! Talia said yes!! They played nicely together the rest of the afternoon. Girls!!!
Wow, I haven’t posted in a while. I am going to try to catch up now on everything since Friday:
Friday I got the kids off to school and then I did some finishing up on my cooking for Shabbat and Keren and I ran to the supermarket to pick up some last minute things that we needed. Eric called me around 11:30 to say that he made up a lot of time in the air and that he had landed already! So I called Robin and asked her to pick Ben up from school and I ran to get Talia from school at 11:45 and we went straight to the airport. Of course I couldn’t find her anywhere and it turned out that she was let out of school a few minutes early and she went straight to Cabessa, the store that sells the candy! So after the entire school emptied out I ran over there and, sure enough, she was on line. So I grabbed her and we ran to the airport and picked Eric up.
Friday night was just the 4 of us. We had a bit of hysterics here by the time we got to the table b/c the kids both wanted to sit next to Eric. Don’t ask! I finally got up out of my seat and sat at the other end of the table so everyone would be happy. I think Eric was ready to hop onto the next flight out of here and back to America to get away from teh crazy screaming and crying family (I was only screaming, not crying). Anyway, we got the kids into bed nice and early and we went to sleep pretty early too.
Oh, forgot to mention the huge shiner that Ben had on his left eye when he came home from school. he apparently fell into a wooden house, or something like that, and his eye was swelling more and more as the day went by. In the end he wound up with a red/purple eye lid.
Friday night Ben had a dry diaper!! What happened was on Thursday night I realized that we had run out of diapers for him! So I told him that we had no more and that I would wake him to pee in the middle of the night. Well, it was a little too late to be springing that idea on him and he kind of flipped out that he was not going go have a diaper on and he was getting all stressed about the possibility of waking up in a wet bed in the morning. Luckily I was able to pull out a Swimmie diaper from Keren’s room that was only 1 size too small on him and he slept in that. So Friday night he was prepared that he was going to give it a go. I had bought him Pull Ups on Friday with a special design that disappears when wet. He wore them on Friday night and I took him to the bathroom in the middle of the night when I nursed Keren and lo and behold, he woke up dry on Shabbat!! Yay Ben!! He had a repeat performance again on Sunday but unfortunately this morning he was wet and when I went to wake him in the middle of the night last night, he was already wet and was unable to go when I took him.
Onto Shabbat: For Shabbat we had Robin and her kids since Freddie is in the States and we had my friend Jere. I love having Jere b/c besides the good company, she always bakes something delicious for me! The kids, although they ranged in age from 4 to 16, all played really nicely together and when the older ones left, the younger ones stayed and they didn’t go home until after Shabbat!! Savta had bought Talia a game called Taki, which is very much like Uno, and it was a big hit with the kids. They played with that most of the afternoon and then they played in the back for a while and then at 4, after constantly asking if it was 4 pm yet, I told them that they could take the little racing car that Lois bought them for Chanukah and ride it down the hills of Chashmonaim. They had a BLAST!! Talia and Sammy went on together and it was the sweetest thing to watch. They really had a great time zooming down the middle of the street. They did get yelled at by one “old lady” who told them they were giving her a headache, but other than that they had fun (hey, it was after 4 and rest time was over!!!)
Sat. night we stayed in and we watched a movie on slingbox HBO on demand. It was an old movie called Home for the Holidays with Jodie Foster and Robert Downey Jr. It was cute. Looked like one of those low budget films.
Sunday the kids went to school and I spent the morning looking for a snowsuit for Keren that I KNOW I have somewhere. Of course it is still pretty warm here and not snowsuit weather, but it is killing me that I know I have it somewhere and I can’t find it and it is going to get cold soon (I assume) and I will need it. So, in doing so, I wound up unpacking another box! I thought there was china in the box but there was some clothing and some tissues and toilet paper (a HUGE commodity here!!) and some other things like a new raincoat for Talia that was handed down to her by our cousins, etc. So it was a great find!! Then I also organized Talia’s room and put away the clothing that is too small on her that was sitting on the desk in her room. I also did some laundry. I really accomplished a lot in the way of home organization!
Later in the morning we stopped by the car place to make sure the car was ready to be picked up before stopping at the change store to exchange money so we could pay for the car. Then we stopped at a local place to get some brunch before going back to the car place. After brunch we went to the car place and I dropped Eric off so I could take Keren home and feed her and then get Ben from school. On my way to school Eric called from the car and said that the check engine light just went on as he was pulling out of the place and that he was going back to give them back the car and that I had to go back and pick him up after getting the kids!! AHHHHH. What a pain!!!!
Talia had her English Chug and we biked there. Sunday evening we hung out in the house playing with toys and talking to family on Sight Speed. It was nice. After the kids were in bed we decided to watch another movie since we enjoyed the one Sat. night so much. It was kind of boring and I wound up falling asleep pretty early!
Today after I got the kids off to school and went to school myself (Keren stayed with Eric today, ahh!!) I came home and hung out and had lunch with Eric and then when the kids came home from school we all went to a playground in Modiin that Eric discovered with Keren this morning while the rest of us were in school. As we were getting into the car to leave the car place called Eric on his cell phone to say that the car was all fixed up and ready to be picked up. So we swung by there first to pick the car up and then made our way to the park. Yay. We have a car. We officially own a car in Israel. I feel like our klita is complete, finally!! So the kids hopped into the new car with Eric and I stayed in Saba’s car with Keren and we went to a really nice park. The kids had a great time there.
We came home at 4 and Ben went to Karate and we came home and did homework with Talia. It was kind of a combined effort b/c we had to keep our cool as she read b/c she can be so frustrating sometimes when she reads that I wind up either wanting to throw her out the window or throw myself out the window.
Ben came home around 5 and we all ate dinner together. The kids requested tuna patties and fettuchini alfredo.
Here are the Chanukah pictures we’ve taken so far:
So Shabbat was nice. It was a full house! Lucky for us, our house here in Israel is much bigger than the house in America and we have room for everyone as long as we put Talia and Ben in the same bedroom.
Anyway, Friday night was very nice. We ate at our NEW dining room table and it sat all of us very comfortably, and the table was closed!! Also, I was able to use my tablecloths that I haven’t been able to use in a long time b/c we were using the two folding tables together as a square and I only had 1 tablecloth that fit. So it was nice to see another tablecloth for a change!
Shabbat they went to shul and wound up at a hashkama minyan, I think. I am not sure what happened but when they got there they said that the minyan was taking out the Torah already so they were told to go downstairs where the minyan was starting. Then when they finished davening they saw another minyan (probably the main minyan) davening upstairs. I think they just got to shul too early. SO they were home by 10:25 am!!! Meanwhile, I had sent the kids there and they totally missed each other. So I made my dad go back and find them. Then the kids came home without my parents… Eventually they all found each other!
We all relaxed and played with the kids for a while and then we ate around 12:30. We played some more until 4, at which time we went to a friend of mine from camp who we were invited to for cake and tea. We stayed there until Shabbat was over.
My grandparents left tonight and my parents did too!! I thought that my aunt and uncle and cousins were all going to come here but then in the end my dad wanted to go there, I think, and “hit the town.” He’s been at my house now since Thursday night and I didn’t want him to go stir crazy so I thought it was a good idea. So I tucked the kids in and I cleaned up from Shabbat and threw in two loads of laundry, I gave the floors a quick wash and now Keren and I are hanging out and it’s nice and quiet!! So I think that even though I felt kind of abandoned that in the end it was a good idea and I am enjoying my time.
Last night Keren was up at 1, 3:30 and 6!! I know that she is teething but it’s nuts!! I think I might give her a banana to eat before she goes to sleep tonight. I don’t know what else to do with her.
Haven’t been so great about writing. I feel like I am slipping. So many late nights lately and no time to write now that the kids are on break from school!!
Yesterday we hung out during the day. We did a bunch of projects at home and just hung out. Eric took the car that we are interested in buying to the garage to have it looked at just to make sure it’s okay to buy. Ben took a short nap in the morning which was good b/c he was such a zombie because Keren woke up at 5:45 in the morning and I thought she might go back to sleep if I let her cry it out instead of feeding her. Not only did I have to eventually go down and feed her, but she woke Talia and Ben up and they were up for the day!
In the evening we went to my aunt and uncle in Hod Hasharon for a big family chanukah party. It turns out that I made both my cousins sick! I assume it was me since I prepped all the food on Sunday and they came over and ate it! So Avi was sick on Monday night but he was able to make it to the party on Tues night. Avivit, however, came down with it Tues evening and not only couldn’t she come but she called her husband back to the house with their child b/c she couldn’t be there alone while she was sick. Not sure what he could have done for her other than moral support but I guess we all handle vomiting differently!! I felt so bad!! The party was very nice. There were a ton of people there. We didn’t get home until 11:00. When we got home I had to clean up the mess from dinner. I made the kids latkes so that they had something to eat before we left to the party, which only started at 7 (which really meant 8). We left the house, and kitchen especially, in such a mess and the cleaning man was coming at 7 the next morning. I basically didn’t get to sleep until close to 1.
Oh, at the party Eric asked my uncle what the garage said about the car because they gave him a report and he had no clue what the report said or what the guys at the garage said since it was all in Hebrew. It turns out there is a lot wrong with the car! A lot more than Eric first understood. Today when he went back to the place, though, they said that they would take care of it all and fix it up for us. I really hope to have the car by the weekend!
Today we had plans to go to Yerushalayim to the zoo with friends from camp that live in RBS (Ramat Beit Shemesh). Unfortunately, it was a really rainy and gross day. So we made plans for them to come here and go to a paint your own pottery store. When we got there we found out that we needed a reservation!! So it was back to the art store (again!) to find stuff of our own to paint. Luckily we didn’t have to spend money on the paints since I had just bought some the day before!! So the kids all painted happily and made a mess on my newly cleaned floors. Then we had lunch and they left shortly after. Eric went to take care of some of the shopping and by some stroke of luck I was able to get all 3 kids in for a nap at the same time. I sat down on the couch to check my mail and realized that I could also take the opportunity to sleep!! I DID!! I got into bed with Talia and napped!! yay!!
This evening we went to our friend Channah’s house for another party. This one was called for 5:45, much kid friendlier time, and the kids had a blast. Actually, Talia left to go to a pj party and then came back after to join us again. It was very nice.
Oh, our dining room table came today!! It is very pretty. I am excited about it. Now we just have to order chairs when we can scrape together some more money.
Other news, if you haven’t already heard, Eric passed his road test! Yay! He barely passed it. We can’t figure out why he almost didn’t since he said he drove great and it was only for 5 minutes. But the important thing is that he passed! Phew. Check another thing off the list.
Funny Ben story: He saw a dog walking when we was coming home from school on Monday with Eric and he said it was a boy dog. Eric asked him how he knew and he said: “Because I see his big fat balls hanging down!” he said it very very matter of factly, which is what made it SO cute and not SO gross/rude.
I have cute pics of the kids that I will have to get around to posting, hopefully tomorrow.
My parents come in tomorrow night. We are all really excited! Eric leaves tomorrow night. We are all really sad!
The weather here is miserable. Cold and rainy. We need the rain so I guess it’s good.
So today, for the first time, Talia had a play date with an Israeli kid after school today!! It happened by accident but boy were we glad that it happened!
Ben and Eric built our new shed today after Ben came home from school.
While they were building it Talia came home and she was watching them put the finishing touches on it. Next door to our house is a little park and she noticed a girl from her class playing. Her name is Or. So she went to play with her and after much prodding Talia finally invited her over. Her mom was at the doctor across the street. When she finished with the doctor she came over too and we were talking for a long time (in Hebrew!) and she said her daughter could stay until 5:30. It turned out to be more like 6 and she wound up eating with us but it was really great! I heard Talia speaking a little Hebrew to her and she seemed to understand most of what Or was saying. Both girls had a GREAT time and we are going to do it again. In fact, her mom called me tonight and told me that she called the teacher b/c Or didn’t have time to do her homework b/c she stayed at our house so late and she told her that she was playing with Talia (in Hebrew) and the teacher was ecstatic! I guess you can do that in Israel – call the teacher and tell her there was no time to do work b/c there was too much play.
Ben had a party this evening for his friend Matan/Matthew. They call him both names. He had a great time, although his mother seemed a bit overwhelmed and exhausted when I picked him up.
Here are the pictures from Ben’s Chanukah party in school – some of them, at least:
Can’t remember the last time I wrote anything. I think it must have been Tuesday! So let me do a brief catch up just writing the important things that come to mind.
On Thursday Eric and I took our road tests. Unfortunately, only one of us passed!! Eric went first. The driving instructor who gave us our 40 minute lessons told Eric that he was all right and that I should be a “קצת cowboy”. He told Eric that he should go first. So the menacing looking driving exam guy came to the car and Eric sat in the front and I sat in the back. I thought Eric did great and then I went and I thought I did pretty well also. In the end, the driving instructor was talking to the driving exam guy for a very very long time and they were gesturing and we were getting nervous. In the end, it turns out that Eric was too tentative at the yield signs and he failed him for that!! Crazy country!! Frankly, where they have the yield signs they should really have stop signs anyway and there wouldn’t be so many accidents here.
Anyway, Thursday night we went to Petach Tikvah where my great aunt Suzie was making a ceremony for my great Uncle Hirsch who died 25 years ago. We got a babysitter for Talia and Ben but took Keren with us. It was sooo boring!! What was nice was the we went out afterwards to a coffee shop/restaurant with Avi and Avivit. It was a very late night and I was very kvetchy because I really wanted to go home and go to sleep but I also wanted to go out with them and have fun. In the end I was glad I went, especially when Eric let me sleep late and took the kids to school on Friday!!
They did have a very big Thanksgiving dinner on the yishuv that is invitation only and no kids are allowed. We didn’t really officially get invited to it, although we think we sort of got an invitation. We couldn’t go anyway b/c we had this thing for my great uncle. We did make sure to put on the Thanksgiving Day parade for the kids on the computer. Talia loved it! unfortunately she couldn’t watch the whole thing b/c it was bed time but she loved the parts that she did get to watch. My parents told me that it’s not truly living in Israel if you get to watch American TV real time. I said it is, it’s just living in Israel in the year 2008!!
Keren has been sleeping through some nights, finally!! Tomorrow I take her to Tipat Chalav and I’ll find out what she weighs (in kilos, of course) and find out what they want me feeding her and how often. Right now I give her a meal a day of oatmeal mixed up with either a fruit or a veggie or sometimes both. I am interested to hear what they say I should be doing (not that I will necessarily listen to them).
On Wednesday (I know I am skipping around but it’s just as it comes to me) I wasn’t feeling so great. I have a head cold. So I was resting in the afternoon and my grandmother called and said she was coming over. I was surprised because she and my grandfather had just come the night before to help while I took my driving exam. They came a few minutes after I woke up and they had brought my Uncle Ellie. I had totally forgotten that he was coming in and they brought him over so he could see the house and where we live and everything. So that was nice. They stayed a very short while because my grandmother had an eye doctor appt. but it was nice to see someone from America and the kids were excited because he brought them presents.
On Friday we took the kids to the mall after school and bought them Jelly donuts at a really expensive store. It was a real treat. The donuts were great! The night before Eric had brought some home because it was ראש חודש but they were lousy. This time we really enjoyed them. We did a little bit of shopping at the mall and then we came home and got ready for שבת. One of the things we got in the mall were stickers with Hebrew letters for my keyboard. So I will probably be using more Hebrew in my blogs from now on. I would like to learn how to type using a Hebrew keyboard. Looking for a Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing in Hebrew
Anyway, שבת was nice. We went out both meals. We got home late Friday night and the kids were exhausted. Ben actuallydidn’t wind up having such a great time there b/c he said his foot was hurting and he was just exhausted from waking up at 5:30 in the morning on Friday. Talia had fun b/c she is very close to their little girl. We had a nice time. They were very nice. שבת day we went to the Zeitchiks (probably not spelled right). Her sister is a friend of my family’s. We know them since the days of the Nevele where we used to go every year for פסח. So it was a nice meal. Ben had a nice time there b/c his friend Matthew and their family was there. It was nice for us b/c they had Yeshivah girls over who fought over Keren so we didn’t have much holding to do!
Tonight is daglanut and it’s supposed to be a very big deal here. The kids get their shevet name tonight and it’s supposed to be really something very special to see. I had wanted to take Talia, I thought it would be nice for her but it’s late and we had a late night last night. So in the end i don’t think any of us are going. Oh well!
A friend told me that when reading my blog she likes to see how life is different here in Israel for us versus when we lived in America. I basically said that we are all settled in and it’s no longer that different than when we lived in America. However, I did think of her when Eric and I were driving past the yishuv the other day and we passed a donkey on the side of the highway! Just something we didn’t encounter when we lived in America!!
Anyway, Keren is on her second round of Baby Einstein and before her brain turns to mush I am going to feed her and put her to sleep and pray that she sleeps almost through the night like the last couple of nights!
So today we took our driving lessons so that we can take our driving tests on Thursday. Let me just predict in advance, there is NO WAY I am going to pass this test on Thursday. Eric said I better pass it because it is 300 shekels every time you have to retake it. That is only for the test. My lesson today was 120 shekels. I think it is costing us somewhere in the vicinity of 800 Shekels total. The guys was telling me what to do in Hebrew and he was explaining things in Hebrew and I was trying to listen, translate and drive at the same time! Luckily I didn’t get into any accidents and I am pretty sure I understood what he was saying. Of course, the girl that went before me was in the back yapping away on her phone the whole time until we dropped her off and that didn’t help things! There are all these rules about the traffic circles and about yielding and stopping at a stop sign and all these things that you do automatically but not perfectly after driving for such a long time. He told me to drive a little bit like a cowboy. I am screwed. Eric is going to take me out tomorrow to practice!! I didn’t love the car that I am taking the test in either, so that’s hard.
We also went to look for a car today, again. We took the Mazda 5 for a drive and I think that’s the car we are going to go with. It’s a really really small minivan. It seats about 7 people but there is no trunk. The test today was if I could get the stroller in the trunk and be able to close the trunk. Well, I can!! I can have 5 kids in the car and still have a stroller in the back. The packages would have to be in the front seat but that assumes I have 5 kids in the car and a stroller and packages. For the most park I think I’ll have the 3 kids and packages and a stroller or just the kids and no packages… So that’s what we think we are going to go with. Now for the hard part, deciding where to buy from and getting Eric to make a decision!!
My grandparents came over today to watch the kids while I took my driving lesson and my grandmother brought some of her yummy vegetable soup for me. The kids had a nice time with them. It was nice that my grandfather came. Ben is always so excited to see him and he played or interacted with them a ton and it was nice to see.
Not much else to tell. I made sure to upload the pictures that I took of the kids last night when we were in Petach Tikvah this morning so now I can put them into this blog. Check out how cute they are:
This is the funky circle thing that went round and round when you pushed it. They had a great time on it. Keren had a great time crawling on the dirty floor. As her bubby bubby in America says, “vitamin D, dirt!”
I am going to make this a fast one because I have no patience tonight.
Kids had their chugim today. I was running all over the place dropping them off and picking them up. Poor Keren was in and out of the car so many times today she didn’t know what was going on.
Today I stopped off at the makolet to pick a few things up to tide us over until I have time to do a real shop tomorrow when my grandmother comes to watch the kids. I decided to buy some apples and pears and make baby food for Keren. All the food here has a ton of sugar in it, so I’m told, and it seems the best thing to do is make it. I asked my friend in ulpan what to do and she said to just bake the fruit for a while in the oven and then mash it up. So I did! I made her apple sauce and pear sauce and I put them into ice cube trays and froze them and now when i want to feed her I just pop one out and add some hot water and we are good to go! Next I am going to try to make some squash and carrots too. This might just become a hobby. Maybe I should bottle it and sell it. Could be like that movie with Diane Keaton…
Anyway, also on the kitchen front, forgot to mention that the challot that I made last week with the kids came out AMAZING!! It looks good and it tastes good and it makes so many challot that I don’t have to make the every week.
This evening friends from camp came over for dinner, as they sometimes do on Tuesday nights because her daughter takes swim here on Tuesday nights. So I made macaroni and cheese and tuna croquettes for dinner. It was noisy but nice. I try to keep the evenings full since Eric isn’t here and it makes the time go by faster.
When they left I had to do a ton of cleaning or straightening up since the cleaning man is coming tomorrow and I won’t have much time to clean in the morning.
Funny Ben story: I was feeding Ben his macaroni and he said it needed more taste. He then asked me for some parmesan cheese! What 4 year old does that? It was cute. So I grated some fresh parm. cheese onto his pasta for him. My friend was cracking up.
Tonight as I was combing Talia’s hair out I saw a huge bug. I am praying that it wasn’t lice! I don’t think they come that big. I am going to go buy some conditioner tomorrow since we used it all up and comb her hair out and pray. She asked me what happens when you have lice and I told her nothing, that you get bugs in your hair and she said, “Okay, that’s not so bad!” True Israeli already! I am not so calm about it like she is. Maybe I should be.
Eric said he spoke to Bezeq today and they said any day now. I checked today and still nothing but I will check tomorrow again and I won’t be surprised if we have our line.
Keren just woke up from her nap in her swing and I have to feed her and put her to sleep. Off to do that now.
