Thank goodness it’s finally over!!!  I can’t stress how much Purim there has been here.  It is the never-ending holiday!!

I will start with the fast.  That was the first day that the kids were off from school.  We decided to take the day and go to Ikea and get a coat tree so we have somewhere now to put our coats, yay!  The kids had a great time there playing in the play area.  Eric mentioned to them that the first time we went there it was soon after we made aliyah and they couldn’t speak or understand Hebrew.  This time they could do both and it would be easier for them in the play area.  We shopped for an hour while they played and then we got some food to eat and Eric just watched us eat.  At least the food there isn’t great so he wasn’t missing much.

When we came home Eric went up to work (since they changed the clocks in America he now works from 3 until…) and the kids and I made another batch of hamentaschen and they assembled the mishloach manot.  They did a very nice job.  I also made the kids dinner and made Eric a noodle pudding to break his fast on.  Before we knew it, it was time to go to hear megillah.  Eric went and I got the kids ready in their costumes.  We got there at the end only to find out that the carnival was in half an hour and not right after the megillah.  Shoot.  So we all went home but Talia stayed to play a bit.  My hope was that I would nurse Keren and put her to sleep and then let Ben watch TV so that he would get nice and tired (since it was already 7) and he wouldn’t want to go back to shul.  That’s EXACTLY what happened!!  So Talia came home and asked me for money so she could get into the carnival and I asked Ben if he wanted to go and he said no.  So he fell asleep on the couch and I put Keren into bed and Eric babysat/worked.  I joined Talia at the carnival where everyone but her, thank G-d, was winning goldfish.  We played some games together where she won a TON of candy and then I went upstairs with the other mothers to hear megillah (30 mins flat) and she continued to play.  We got home after 9 and she went straight to bed.

That night Eric had his mishmar ezrachi thingy where he goes in a cop car with another volunteer and they patrol.  It was at something like 1 in the morning.  He said he enjoyed it.  He had a ton of calls for firecrackers.  Apparently they are really into the firecrackers on Purim here.  They are illegal here too but not like in NY where you really can’t shoot them off.  Here they don’t really control it as well.  He also said he saw students, kids, holding their drunk Rebbi up as he walked through the streets in a drunken stupor in Kiriyat Sefer.  So sad.

Anyway, Purim was MADDNESS here!!!  I went to the later megillah reading and it was an all women’s megillah reading.  For those of you reading this who are in shock, yes, you have every right to be!  It is SO NOT ME to go to one of these things but I thought I would try it out since it was recommended.  In the end, it was fine.  Not such a big deal.    I thought I would love it or hate it but I didn’t feel strongly about it one way or another.  It was nice that Talia was with me.

We made about 25 shalach manot and I thought for sure that it was going to be enough but so many people kept coming and coming to the door!  The streets were hopping here.  The neighbor across the street set up schnapps along the wall of his house and was singing and dancing and drinking with all the passers by.  There was honking in the streets and cars going by with loud music playing.  It really was an incredible sight.  My kitchen window faces the street and I was busying cooking for the seudah that we were going to have at my aunt and uncle’s house and we had a nice time watching all the stuff going on outside.  So after we finished our last package, Eric and I scrambled to take the stuff that we got from other people, plus the extra hamentaschen that I luckily made the day before and slapping together more mishloach manot.  It was crazy!!  Eric said that next year we will be more prepared and make more but I think that next year we should just buy more containers and I will do the same thing and recycle b/c we were left with almost no nosh afterwards, it was great.  Unfortunately, at my aunt and uncle’s house we got 4 more and we got a TON of stuff from them and now we have a lot again.  Oh well!!

So in the afternoon we went to my aunt and uncle for the seudah.  It was nice.  We had a TON of food between everything that we all helped to make.  I brought my triangle cookies that I made and that I put orange fondant on top of to look like hamentaschen and then Eric wrote every one’s name on them with an edible marker and we used them for place cards.  Everyone got a kick out of them.  They looked adorable.  I took pictures of them and of everything that we did this Purim but I can’t upload the pictures now because Eric is working so I will post them all in tomorrow’s blog.

Anyway, we got home late and the kids all fell asleep in the car and we carried them in.

Today the festivities continued!!  It was Shushan Purim today and we had hoped to go to Yerushalayim but were advised that there would be a ton of traffic and it would be hard to get in.  Then the kids didn’t want to go b/c “their ears would pop” and then there was the fact that Keren slept until close to 1 after Eric put her back in at 9 for her nap and I couldn’t drag myself out of bed either until close to 11 after getting up with the kids at 6:30.  So we nixed that idea and just went to the Purim carnival here.  The weather was really gorgeous and it was nice and sunny and we all had a great time (minus Ben’s meltdown at the end).

We came home, ate lunch and the kids and I folded laundry while Keren slept and Eric worked.  I had 3 loads waiting for me for days and I taught the kids how to fold underwear which they really enjoyed doing!!  They also enjoyed walking around in Eric’s pants with his waist coming up to their heads.  Then we made popcorn that was promised to Ben (that was a big part of the meltdown).  We had a ton of baked goods between what I baked and what other people gave us.  Up the block from us they were collecting leftover mishloach manot to give to the needy.  So I took a walk with Talia and Ben and we donated a bunch of baked goods to them so they could package them up nicely and give them away.  The women there were so sweet.  She invited me in and introduced me to her sister and showed me pictures of the family and the sister thanked me and kissed me and kissed Talia and she couldn’t stop kissing Ben.  She kept kissing and kissing him and he was laughing.  It was so cute.   

When we came home we woke Keren up from another crazy long nap and we went to the mall for projects and dinner.  The mall here is great during holidays b/c they have a lot of fun things for the kids to do.  So Eric said he would come with us and he would work in a cafe while we did our thing and then we would all eat together.  So we did a couple of projects that the kids enjoyed and then we went to eat.  We met Eric and I saw that Robin was there with her kids so we all sat and ate together. 

So now the kids are asleep and it is nice and early and I am going to relax!!  YAY!!  I am so happy Purim vacation is over.  I need a vacation after this!

Really cute pictures to come tomorrow night.  Stay tuned…

Shabbat was really nice.  On Friday Ben had pretty bad allergies, it seemed.  He was sneezing and his eyes were tearing and it was the first time that he was really having a reaction like this.  By the evening his left eye was all blown up and all red.  I gave him some Benadryl just before Eric came home from shul and he didn’t even make it to the main course, he was out like a light.  I also had him put a wet washcloth on it to get the swelling down.  Anyway, we went to sleep by 9 and of course I was up at 1 in the morning for a little while.   While I was up I was thinking of his eye and it suddenly dawned on me that they were dismantling the flower arrangement from last week just before Shabbat because Talia saw these sparkly things in the flowers that she didn’t want thrown out.  Ben had his hands full of flowers and pollen and then he must have rubbed his already itchy eyes and then put that stuff right on his eye and that’s why it blew up.  So in the morning I had him wash his hands with soap and water right away just in case some of that pollen was still on his hands.  His eye is all better now.

It was about a million degrees here and we all got dressed in our summer Shabbat clothes.  We went to a friend’s house for lunch and stayed until around 3:30.  Keren was miserable b/c she only took a 30 minute nap in the morning and she wanted to go to sleep but cannot fall asleep if she isn’t in her crib.  So we ran home and put her to sleep and Eric took his nap and Talia went next door to a friend’s house while I took Ben to the park.  Talia and her friend came along to the park a little while later and then Eric and Keren joined us when they woke up.  We all spent the rest of the day at the park and walked home when Shabbat was over.  It reminded me of when we lived in Riverdale and went to the Shabbat park every Shabbat.

Saturday night there was a dance-a-thon thing here and I wanted to go but I was too lazy.  In hindsight I am sorry that I didn’t go but I really just wanted to stay home and watch a movie and make popcorn.  We watched Slumdog Millionaire and it was great!!  I knew nothing about the movie before it started so it was fun to watch it.

Yesterday, Sunday, the kids went to school and Keren slept in BIG TIME!  She didn’t wake up until 9:45.  I was so nervous that she was sick or that something was wrong that I kept checking on her as she slept.  Anyway, when she finally graced her with her presence, I fed her and we threw her in the car and went to visit my cousin Avivit and the new baby.  We brought her her gift, a Hooter Hider, and she use it and loved it!!  This is her second child but the first time that she is nursing and she is very new at it and very nervous about it and this made her feel much more comfortable.  Unfortunately, we have COMPLETELY different taste (to say the least!) and she HATES the pattern I bought for her!!  It was rated the best seller and yet she still hates it.  Oh well!  We knew that was going to happen.  In fact, she told me before I bought it that I should buy what I like the least.  But I like them all.  Oh well.

On our way home from her house Talia called us and asked us where we were.  We were like, Um, where are YOU??  She said that school got out early (of course!) and that she was at a friend’s house and we should pick her up when we got home.  She was supposed to bring home a note with all the info for this week but her friend ripped it up for some reason. So we didn’t know but she had handled it well and wasn’t upset or anything.  So we came home and got her and then went to get Ben, whose face was painted with red paint for Purim, and then we all went out for pizza and to get Eric a haircut.   At some point I got something in my eye and this morning my eye was still bothering me!  I looked at my eye in the mirror and I could see the thing that was in it!!  It was so gross.  I was able to get it out and now my eye feels much better but it’s all red.  Maybe I can dress up as a zombie tonight….

We came home and Talia went to English and we hung out for a bit and then Ben and I went to pick her up with his scooter and then we came home and picked up their bikes and I took them to the BBall courts to ride their bikes while Keren slept.

We stayed there until dinner time and met Eric walking towards us with Keren.  We fed the kids and then I went to a surprise party at Robin’s house, for Robin, and Eric stayed home and put the kids to bed.   I stayed until 8 and then switched places with Eric and came home and put Keren to sleep and cleaned up the kitchen and then Eric came home a little while later.

I have to say, Purim is dragging on and on and on here and I am really looking forward to it being OVER!!  In America it kind of comes all of a sudden and then it’s gone.  Here, I feel like we’ve been celebrating it since Rosh Chodesh Adar!  I am going to make another batch of hamentashen today with the kids while Eric rests (he’s the one fasting today, while I take advantage of the fact that I am still nursing) and then we are going to assemble our Shalach Manot.  I also hoped to get to Ikea at some point but I don’t know when that’s going to happen.

So today the kids got dressed up in their costumes without a hitch.  Luckily we did that dry run last night and it all went very smoothly this morning and they were all excited.   When I went to Talia’s costume parade she came running over to me to tell me that her microphone broke!  She was very upset but I told her that it would be no problem to fix it at all and she shouldn’t be upset.  I kind of think that that’s what pulls the entire outfit together because otherwise she just looks like she’s wearing a big purple hat and some necklaces and a black outfit but she thinks just looks just like a rock star and that’s what’s important.  I would never tell her otherwise.

Here are the pictures that I took this morning and some of the ones we took making the hamentaschen:

I also took video of the parade but it’s kind of hard to see her. They were busy picking up candy that the parents were throwing (myself included).

Of course while I was throwing taffies, other parents were throwing lollipops?!?!  Talk about poking some one’s eye out. 

I followed the parade down the block for a bit and then Keren and I came home and I put her in for her morning nap and folded some laundry and relaxed  I figured that I only had one thing to make for tonight since we are invited out for lunch tomorrow and so I would relax while no one was home and it was nice and quiet and then just make the chicken later and Ben could help me if he wants.

Since both kids got out of school at the same time today, I told Talia to meet me at the corner of her school so she could jump right in the car after I picked up Ben and we could pick Eric up at the airport.  So we picked Eric up right on time just as he was coming out. 

The rest of the day kind of flew by.  We came home and Eric changed and the kids changed out of their costumes and we went for a walk and Ben stayed at Robin’s house, which was one of the houses that we stopped at to pick up my cookies that we made together the other day.  Talia stayed at the playground of her school when we went to pick up the mail and came home after a little while. 

When we got home I nursed Keren and then I put her to sleep and started to cook the chicken I was making for Shabbat. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I discovered that the chicken soup that I made and that I had for dinner last night was made in my dairy pot!!!  ARGH!!!  So I washed it all out and put it on top of the fridge for kashering and made a new soup.  I was especially upset b/c I had bought a turkey leg for that soup and put it in for Keren so she could have the turkey from the soup.  They push it here like crazy, saying it’s high in iron.

Anyway, it is now almost Shabbat and I have to clean up the kitchen and get things in order. 

Shabbat Shalom!

Not much happening here.  Big day tomorrow.  Big costume parade.  I did a dry run with the kids this evening to make sure we have everything we need for tomorrow.  I even put makeup on Talia to make sure it was going to be the right way that she wanted it for tomorrow.  I just can’t get up any earlier in the morning to deal with getting our costumes right!!  Ben is a chayal and Talia is a rock star.  I will take pictures tomorrow and put them up online hopefully this weekend.  I am going to make Eric get the ones I took of hamentashcen making off the other camera and put them on my blog too. 

After “school” tomorrow we are going straight to the airport to pick Eric up.  He is going to be so happy when he lands in this beautiful weather.  Every day has been nicer than the last this week.  I heard from my grandmother that Shabbat is going to be 80.  Does that mean it’s time to turn on the air conditioning???

Anyway, that’s all the news from here.

This morning Talia went to school and Ben, Keren and I went to the dermatologist and then we went to drop him off at school.  Ben had a show in the Moadon Noar and because it was raining they asked some parents to drive. They didn’t ask me and Ben was mad at me when I came to get him after school b/c he assumed that I just didn’t come. I explained to him that I had no idea about it and I wasn’t asked.  Then he told me that he went in his ganenet’s car and that he didn’t sit in a car seat and that he was double buckeled in with another kid.  The use of the double buckle is common here and I had to learn its meaning!  Anyway, we’ll see if I mention anything to the ganenet tomorrow.  I am tempted to say that at least he should have been single buckled and that it’s not setting the right example for the kids. I don’t want to come off as an anal American, though!

This afternoon we made hamentaschen together when both kids were home from school.  Talia was home early b/c the kids got to be the teachers today and they also got let out early.  This month of Adar is killing the parents!  So we had fun doing that (pictures to follow one of these days) and then Talia went to her chugim and Ben and I hung out.

Ben told me the story of Purim, or some of it, and he told it to me all in Hebrew.  He wouldn’t do it for the camera, though, but it was adorable.  Talia told me that she hasn’t learned the story of Purim and I am not surprised b/c she’s hardly had any school this month!

This evening when I was cooking dinner I somehow splashed boiling water on myself.  I have a burn on my stomach now that it getting better already thanks to the EMT that lives next door but it’s quite painful when I have to pick Keren up or bend down or anything like that.  I am hoping by tomorrow it’s a lot better. 

Tonight I went to an Israeli dance class!!!  Let me just say, I thought it was hard to do these Israeli folk dances in America when I went but learning it in Hebrew!!!!!  We had a blast, though. I went with my friend Robin and she sat more than danced b/c it was really hard but I felt like I gave it my all and by the end I figured out some of the words he was saying.  What makes it even harder is that there were a ton of people there and the music is loud and he’s using one of those Madonna microphones which is not so clear so it is really hard to understand him.  But to be doing Israeli folk dancing in Israel with a room full of Israelis was really really really cool!!  I am definitely going to be going every week.  It will also give me a chance to speak in Hebrew since they were all REALLY Israeli!

I came home and Robin’s daughter was babysitting and she had locked me out of the house since Eric has the other key and I was banging and banging on the door and she wasn’t answering.  So I called Robin to come out of the car and we were banging and she wasn’t coming!  So we both started to get really nervous that maybe something was wrong or someone was in the house or who knows what!  After about 5 minutes we started calling the phone and still, she didn’t come to the door.  Finally I went to the back of the house to the window that I assumed she was closest to and manually lifted up the trisim and sure enough I saw her sleeping there on the couch and after knocking loudly for a couple of seconds she finally woke up!  She didn’t even jump up or anything, she kind of calmly looked around and I called her and told her to answer the door.  She was SO out of it!!  Needless to say, she will NOT be sitting for me again!!  There is no way if Keren or one of the kids was up and calling for someone that she would have heard them if she didn’t hear me. 

There was probably more that happened today but it’s late and I can’t type anymore.

Today I took the  kids to school and then Keren and I went to ulpan, just like the good old days.  There was a big class full of people, of course that’s how it always starts out, and they were pretty good.  I would say they all spoke better than me, with the exception of the 3 students that were there from my old class, but I felt like I could probably learn a ton from this class.  Unfortunately, Keren wasn’t as excited as I was to go to class and she was a bit difficult and I left after an hour and a half. I was planning on leaving then anyway so I could give her a nap but she just wasn’t so great before I left and I can’t go back to class with her again.  So, I am dropping out!!  I was angry at her when I got home and then I realized that it’s not her fault, she is just 9 months old and can’t be expected to be quiet in a classroom! 

Anyway, we got home and Keren took her nap and I finished sewing on some buttons onto Ben’s Purim costume and some other things around the house.  When she woke up we went to the hardware store (Ace Hardware) to pick up a new nightlight for Ben and to the papergoods store to get some containers for our Mishloach Manot and to the supermarket to get some stuff to put into the Mishloach Manot.

We came home and we ate lunch and Talia came home.  Ben was at a friend’s house and when she came home she told me that there was a carnival at her school and she wanted to go.  So the rest of my afternoon was spent running all over the yishuv.  I took Talia to her school and stayed there in the cold and drizzle while she jumped around on jumpy things and had a great time.  Then I left her there and picked up Ben and went to pick up Eitan and bring them to Karate.  Then I went home and Keren and I warmed up a little bit and relaxed for about half an hour.  Then I went to get Talia and bumped into Channah who told me that Talia was super excited to be there by herself (with half the yishuv mothers watching out for her, of course) and i found her and told her she had to meet me next door at the Moadon Noar in 5 minutes.  So I went next door and watched Ben while he finished karate and then Talia met us there and we took Eitan home and went home ourselves.

We had a normal evening with nothing out of the ordinary happening (thank G-d).

We learned in ulpan once that in different languages they have different sounds that the animals make.  One of the examples is arf arf or how how or roof roof  for the sound that dogs make.  Well, Ben came home from school the other week and and said that a rooster says coo-coo-ree-coo!!  I was totally taken aback!  I just let it go, what else could I do?  It really surprised me, though.

Shabbat morning I woke up and went downstairs and Talia told me that Keren lost one of her earrings!!  We looked all over for it but couldn’t find it.  I went to look in her crib and the back of the earring was there but not the earring itself.  So the earring is gone and we payed a lot of money for it when we pierced her ears and I am sad.  My parents bought her little pearl earrings when they came for Chanukah so I popped one of them in and she wore one gold ball and one pearl until today when I changed the other one to a pearl and now she looks cute in little pearl earrings.  I am lucky that I was able to find the back to the earring that she lost b/c the ones that my dad gave her are no good, they are way too big but these fit nicely.

Anyway, moving on, I got the kids off to shul and put Keren in for her morning nap and prepared for the company.  We opened our table and put two leaves in (so exciting!) so we could fit 13 comfortably at the table.  Luckily we had extra chairs that we are storing for my grandparents in our house (they were supposed to be in the shed but, as I wrote last Sat. night, our shed is dead).  We had a nice Shabbat.  The kids all played nicely for the most part and the food was great.  I have almost no leftovers!  Everything got eaten. I am not used to having older boys over and I had two 13 yr old boys and they consumed a lot of food.  It was one Shabbat where Eric didn’t tell me that I made too much food!  So because it was a rainy day the company stayed until after Shabbat!! 

We noticed that the rain has caused a few leaks in the house.   One is under the window in our room and another is the ceiling in the living room.  We have to get the contractor to come and look at them.  Luckily the rainy season is just about over and we won’t have to worry about it for much longer.  We’ve been (thank G-d) getting a ton of rain latey but I don’t think it usually rains into March that often…  As I write this it’s pouring…

Keren woke up on Shabbat with another tooth!  That brings that total count to 4.  She now has 2 on top and 2 on the bottom.  She is also standing a lot now.  She practices and tries over and over and over.  She doesn’t tire.   Eric says that by the time he gets back this Friday he’s sure she’ll be standing on her own without falling.  We’ll see.

When Shabbat was over we cleaned up for a very long time.  Eric was extremely helpful.  I have to admit that I have been using a lot of plastic plates lately because of the lack of a dishwasher and the fact that people here have so many kids and I don’t have enough plates for everyone anyway.  So he did most of the washing up and left the glasses and the cholent pot for me but pretty much did everything else.  My cousin called me and told me that she was flipping out because of the new baby and she wanted me to come over and help and perhaps calm her down a bit and give her a pep talk.  So I got the kids to bed and went over there.  The drive over on the dark roads in the rain wasn’t fun but I got there pretty quickly and helped her a little and came home and went to sleep. 

Oh, Ben’s night light broke Friday night so last night he slept with Talia who has the light on in the bathroom in her room.  This is the second light that’s broken.  They just don’t make them well here.  He is sleeping with her again tonight until I buy the light that Eric wants me to buy for him.  What a pain!  The good news is that they like sleeping together and we’ve been having heavy rains and thunder and I think that he sleeps better when he’s in her room.  On Friday night he slept on the floor in our room and informed Eric every time there was a clap of thunder that he heard thunder!  He is very scared of thunder.  He told Eric today that he was crying in gan b/c he heard the thunder.  Poor kid.

Today we had a lazy morning.  I woke up and Eric had already taken the kids to school and fed Keren and put her back in for a nap and got back into bed himself.  It was rainy and yucky.  We just hung out in the morning until the kids came home from school.  After school I had an appointment at the doctor with Keren to make sure her ear was better.  She was pulling on it  a lot and we thought it was probably infected again.  I took the kids with me and Eric stayed home.  They love coming to the doctor, I’m not sure why.  So her ear is better, Thank G-d.  He said that she is probably pulling on it b/c of the teething.  I never heard that one  before but that’s what he said.  And she is teething so maybe he knows what he’s talking about.  He said to rub some whiskey on her gums.  I told her Eric was going to bring some back with his this time when he comes home. 

Talia had English at 3:15 and I ran out to get some buttons for Ben’s chayal costume that needed replacing.  I came home and sewed on some buttons while Keren slept, Eric was playing around with something on the computer and Ben was watching Sleeping Beauty (the original version) on TV. 

We all went to pick Talia up and run a few errands together and then we went out for schwarma.  Turns out the kids like schwarma!!  Poor Keren just ate french fries and some pita and I fed her when we got home.  It was complicated b/c one of us had to hold Keren while the other ate and helped feed the kids b/c we left her stroller at home by accident.  It wound up to be quite a pain and we both scarfed down our food and then felt really sick after that.  It wasn’t  a well planned out dinner.

So Eric is on his way to the airport and I am going to ulpan tomorrow morning and we’ll see how long I last there with Keren.  I kind of hope it stops raining or maybe it can just rain in the parts of the country where they collect the rain so we have water to drink and shower, etc. 

Good Night!

So today we totally flaked and forgot all about the learning parsha thing that Talia had in her school this morning.  She has one about once a month and I hate going to it.  I went the first time with Eric and the second time I sent Eric.  This time we just forgot about it b/c I hadn’t written it on my calendar and she said she was the only one with no parents there.  I asked her why she didn’t call us and she said her teacher said that it wasn’t a big deal and she wouldn’t let her!!  Stupid teacher!!!  The only reason I haven’t completely killed myself over this is that she came home happy and only remembered about it close to an hour after she came home.  So it couldn’t have been too horrible for her.  Poor kid!

Other than that it was a usual Friday.  Keren took a bunch of naps today while I got my cooking done.  I just have the chicken and the sushi rice to finish but other than that I am finished.  Not bad.  I like the chicken to finish as soon as Shabbat starts so I am not going to put it into the oven for another hour.

The kids are watching their weekly dose of TV now and Eric is BBQing the meat and Keren really wants my attention so I will end this here.

Not much is happening and I really don’t feel like blogging tonight!

Today was a good day all around.  Nice weather (of course, my mother-in-law left and we’ve had nice weather ever since) so we had a picnic lunch with Ben and Keren this afternoon while Talia was in school and Foster was cleaning the house.  I made good use of the 7-seater van today and used all 5 seats in the back for 5 girls on their way home from swim. 

Kids are good.  Not much happening.   Keren stood today for around 15 seconds in a row.  Eric timed her.

Did a lot of cooking.  Having 2 couples for Shabbat lunch.  It’s good they are coming b/c it is supposed to rain again on Shabbat (hopefully nothing will be damaged this time) and it is a long day when it rains and we are stuck in the house.

All for now.

Here are the pictures of Talia’s siddur party that we took on Sunday:

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Let me back up to yesterday first.  Nothing too eventful.  Ben had a friend after school.  I was pretty busy with them.  At one point Ben was explaining something that he did in school and he said the word  ז ית and when I asked him how to say it in English he couldn’t think of the word olive!!  Talia had to help him.  He is losing his English already?!!  Time to get him started on those English lessons!

I think I mentioned that we went out last night to this show.  There wasn’t much to tell.  It was a show in which the actors were both deaf and blind.  It was interesting to see how they interacted using sign language and holding hands to feel the signs that they were using.  It was, however, kind of depressing sitting there and watching it.  Afterwards the audience was invited up on the stage to talk to them but I had no desire to go up there and we just booked.  I was also tired.

This morning, after sleeping through the night without crying (we are on an every-other-night schedule) Keren woke up around 6.  I went down to feed her and then got back into bed.  At 7 the alarm clock rang and I was surprised that Ben hadn’t come up before then b/c he was up at 6 when I went down to nurse and I told him to go back to sleep.  Anyway, I turned off the alarm and closed my eyes for a few minutes.  Next thing I knew it was 7:20 and Keren was up and making noise and we were late!!  I went down and Talia and Ben were still asleep.   So I got Keren dressed and made some noise downstairs and the two of them came down and we rushed through breakfast, which wasn’t so easy b/c of course Ben chose today to want choc. chip pancakes and I didn’t have the heart to tell him we didn’t have enough time, and ran out to school.  I actually took Talia first and came back for Ben since he wasn’t ready.

At 9:30 I went off to my book club meeting.  It is the first of many to come.  I joined this book club a while ago but this was the first meeting I could go to since I wasn’t in ulpan this week.  I have been reading the books that they are reading but just didn’t get to the meetings.  I met 2 new people so that was great and the house that the meeting is in is beautiful.  It was really a lot of fun!  Oh, and she served Dunkin’ Donuts coffee so that was GREAT!

After that I stopped at the baby store here called Shilav to pick up a gift for my cousin’s baby and to the candy store to get some chocolate for my cousin and then I went to visit her in Petach Tikvah at the hospital.  I got to hold the baby for a long time and hear the war story (it wasn’t so much of a war story as a peace story since the baby popped out after a measly 2 pushes, whatever!!!) and spend some time there.

I got back home at 2:30 and I saw some of Ben’s friends in the park next to my house.  So he went out to play with them and I talked to the mother who was with them (they have a playgroup that rotates) for a while.  Then I took Ben to his friend’s house for a playdate.  Next I picked Talia up from school and took her to the fruit store and the little mini market next to the fruit store to stock the house before Shabbat since we are having 2 couples for lunch.

Talia and Ben each had a very nice day today.  Ben came home dressed as a doctor and Talia, who had to bring in a wig and a musical instrument, came home with a big smile painted onto her face (literally with red face paint) and both said that the boys came to their schools dancing and singing.  Eric said that he saw them in the streets singing and dancing (for Adar).  Talia also said that she went from class to class singing an dancing as well. 

Here are two pics of Talia and Keren.  Notice the red paint on Keren’s nose as well:

Talia and I did some homework after the fruit store and then we too Keren for a walk and picked up Ben at his friend’s house.  The babysitter was very impressed that he is only in the country for 6 months.  The boys were playing in Hebrew and she didn’t even realize he was American, apparently.  The we walked to Robin’s house to pick up a chayal costume for Ben and then we went to Channah’s house to get a costume for Talia.  She took a couple costumes and will either be a bumble bee or a rock star, depending on her mood that day.  She might even wind up in both costumes.  I also got some bunny ears for Keren…

We didn’t get home until 6 and Keren was miserable b/c she was so hungry.  So I fed the kids quickly and after a pretty stressful hour and half I had them all in bed and asleep.

Eric just came home from his rent-a-cop class where he took his final exam in which the teacher apparently helped give them the answers and it was a group effort.  He also said, get this, this is the best part, are you ready?  that is is going to be stationed in front of the school during dismissal helping to move the cars along.  So now I call him a traffic cop.  He is my rent-a-cop traffic cop!!  And I ask this question:  Could I have married a bigger dork??  I LOVE YOU, ERIC!!