Forgot to mention that on Friday when I was walking Ben to school in the morning I must have said something in Hebrew and he told me that I had no accident. I asked him what he meant and he explained that my ר didn’t sound right. I told him that I believe he is looking for the word accent. He insisted it was accident so I laughed and let it go.
Today, Sunday, I slept in while Eric took the kids to school. I did the linens today and some other cleaning/straightening around the house while Keren slept and Eric did some stuff on the computer or something like that. Oh, he also took the rosemary that he was drying and put it into a little jar for me. Anyway, I remembered that I was supposed to call the contractor b/c he told me to call him today and said he would send someone over to install the new kitchen faucet that we bought. So he sent someone over and he installed it and we were very excited to FINALLY have a working kitchen faucet in the meat sink.
When Keren finally woke up from her nap we went to the supermarket to pick up some things we needed and then came back and Eric picked Ben up while I waited at home for Talia to come home and I fed Keren. Unfortunately, while I was feeding her I decided to put the stuff back that was under the sink that we had to take out for the guy to install the faucet and I noticed that water was leaking out of the pipe!!! So I thought it was something that would never get fixed but Eric came home and saw it and we called the contractor again and then the guy came over again and this time he fixed it and we now, officially have a working sink. Yipeeeee!!!!
Eric made schwarma for lunch in big pita laffas. Oh, it was so yummy! Here are the pictures I took of us enjoying the schwarma:
Anyway, the rest of the day was spent at home hanging out and doing homework with Talia and dancing to music in the kitchen and stuff like that.
Tonight I went to a hat sale at a friend’s house. I got a bunch of new mitpachot for my head and then one casual hat for every day. Yay. I had fun too.
Eric came home on Friday. My cousin’s husband picked him up and brought him home for us since he had a necklace for my cousin that Eric had picked up in America for him and he wanted to give it to her ASAP. So that was a huge help and I was able to let Keren nap instead of schlepping her with us to the airport.
Friday, when I woke up at the crack of dawn with Keren, I saw that Eric’s flight was going to be delayed which meant he wouldn’t have time to make the BBQed chicken and I was going to have to learn how to! I made an awesome rub and I BBQed the chicken and it was great. Eric said that I am going to take away the only thing that he does! I think I am going to BBQ every Shabbat. It’s so easy and so good and the kids will eat the chicken that way and not complain!!
Our guest came about 2 hours before Shabbat and the kids played together while we finished up around the house. They also have 3 kids. The little one is a little girl who is 1 and she and Keren were so cute crawling around the house together!! They had a great time playing with eachother!!
Friday night we went to Channah’s house and it was hard, as was expected. Ben was complaining he was tired before we even got there but then played nicely once we were there. I walked Keren around in her stroller and she fell alseep and stayed asleep for a little while but then she woke up and she was kvetchy during the rest of the meal.
We got home and put the kids to sleep and they woke up this morning around 7:30-ish. Not too bad. The rest of the day was a little difficult b/c Ben napped for half and was fine but Talia was a disaster the whole day. It was a quiet day, at least, and we stayed in the whole day after shul and played and hung out. Our guests ate out at the Shabbaton that they were here for and came back around 4 ready to just chill. So we all ate seudat shlishit and the kids played and we had our kids in bed at 7 on the dot.
Below I am going to post all those videos that I took of Talia at her last swim class:
Tonight we change the clocks. I made sure to have everyone in bed a little earlier than usual for that reason and because we are going out to eat tomorrow night!! I know this is going to be a huge mistake but we and our guests are eating by Channah for dinner tomorrow night. When I said yes I had no idea we were changing the clocks and Shabbat was going to be starting so much later. I tried to get out of it tonight and I told Channah that I would bring food over to her house for them to eat and then just take off some food for us but she said if we didn’t come she would just cook her own food and I felt terrible so I said we would go. The kids are going to be such disasters!
So today after we got the kids to school Keren and I ran to get some money so I could pay my cleaning man today when he came and then came home and ate breakfast and I did a little cooking and she napped. In the later morning we went for a walk and then hung out outside the rest of the morning/early afternoon until it was time to let the cleaning man in and eat some lunch. It was another beautiful day.
We picked Ben up from school and ate lunch (leftovers for Ben from the restaurant last night) and then went back outside to enjoy the weather. We played there until my friend or “Israel Bubby” came and then we went inside and I got the kids settled and I went to go watch Talia’s swim show. Today was her last day of swim and they put on a little recital for us moms. It was very cute. She is a great swimmer now.
Here is some of the video that I took of her swim recital. I have more but I will upload the rest tomorrow morning when the line is a little faster and then put it up on my next post. The reason there are a bunch of short videos rather than one long video is because YouTube won’t let me put on longer videos. So I started and stopped a bunch of times.
When we came home it was time for Rinat to come and to have a bite to eat, play, take Rinat home, Take the cleaning man to the bus station, take showers and get into bed!
I cleaned up and now I am going to try to go to sleep a little earlier as well!
This is going to have to be a short one b/c I cut my finger today (what else is new?) and it is hard for me to type.
Today was a nice day. The weather dried up and it got warmer. One day we need jackets and the next day we don’t. I dropped the kids off at school and Keren and I went straight to the supermarket. It’s the only time of day that I like to shop at the supermarket that’s close to the house. We were home by 8:30 am!!
We are having guests sleep here this Shabbat for the shabbaton that they are having here for Camp Moshavah. People here were asked to host people and eat with them on Friday night. Channah called and asked us to have a friend of Eric’s and his family. Today she called and invited us to eat with her Friday night. So we are going to eat there and I am cooking half the food. Since I already did my shopping by the time she called me I am actually doing a little more than half, actually. I am glad to help though since we’ve been to Channah’s house countless times. I know that I am going to regret going there b/c the kids and Eric are going to be exhausted but I didn’t really feel like saying no was that much of an option.
Anyway, I made my challot and one kugel this morning while Keren slept and then we went to get Ben from school and Savta and Saba were waiting for us when we got home. here is a link to a cute video that I took of Savta playing with Keren:
So today is two weeks until my parents and my brother and sister-in-law come for Pesach and we’ve started our countdown!
Last night wasn’t easy for any of us b/c of the thunder and lightening. The kids were running all over he house looking for me since I’ve been sleeping all over the place in hopes of outrunning the mosquito that’s been following me around. So they started downstairs and then made their way upstairs and eventually found me in my room. Ben was hysterical and I let him sleep in my room on the floor. He woke up and went back to his room at some point but then came back again in the morning when it started to thuner again. So we were all up pretty early this morning and I was even able to get everyone dressed, fed, lunches made and have time to take a shower myself! That’s how you know I was up really early!!
It was back to school for Ben today and the doctor did call to confirm that it was strep in the end, which is what we thought so he is continuing with the medicine. My throat has started to really hurt me but I want to give it a couple of days before I go to the doctor and give it a chance to go away. Eric was sick last week and went to the doctor and he said it was viral so I am hoping it’s the same for me.
Anyway, it was a rainy, miserable day here today. Cold and rainy pretty much all day long. After Keren and I dropped the kids off at school we came home and she seemed to be pretty tired and not interested in eating breakfast so I threw her in bed and she slept for a couple of hours. She woke up around 10 and I fed her and the thought of staying in the rest of the day just doing nothing was really depressing so I called Robin and we went to the mall. We both did really well. I got gifts for my family who insist on giving gifts for Pesach and every other big holiday here. I am not sure what it’s all about but it seems the whole country is in on it. I also got 2 skirts on sale for Talia and shoes for me. Yipee. I also got Ben a harmonica since he’s been asking for one for some time and there was one at one of the stores just sitting on the counter. I am going to wait for a special occasion and then give it to him. It was a fun morning and a good way to pass a rainy morning.
Keren and I picked Talia up from school so she wouldn’t have to walk in the rain. I also gave a ride to a friend of hers who asked when she saw me there. We did some homework quickly and then I put Keren in for another nap (2 today, yipee!!) and she ran off to English (it finally stopped raining so she walked) and then didn’t come home until 5:30 from art.
Meanwhile, Ben came home at 4 from his baking chug in a pretty good mood and we played for a while.
We kind of had a 2 shift dinner here. I fed Keren and Ben and then when Talia came home I fed her. I guess it was a 3 shift dinner since I ate by myself after the kids went to sleep but that’s normal for both weeks when Eric is away and weeks when he is home since he works in the evenings.
A bunch of shows downloaded today so I have a lot to watch and catch up on and I am looking forward to an early evening tonight. It was great being in my own bed last night and not in the guest room and I am hoping that either the mosquito has died from starvation by now or maybe from the cold or maybe he’s just given up and I can have another good night sleep without him bothering me!
I think tomorrow I’ll try to take some new pictures and put them up. I noticed I haven’t been taking many pictures lately.
Last but not least, Keren’s 5th tooth is out. Top left next to the other two!
A beautiful, gorgeous day here in Israel and 2 hours before I am supposed to go play tennis tonight, something I have been looking forward to doing since last Monday night when I played, it starts raining like crazy!! Uch, so annoying. I called the babysitter and told him not to bother coming. I am supposed to be having an early night but, as usual, the night is flying by.
Today was a looong day. Ben was home from school because of the strep and by 12 he asked when Talia was coming home. I told him that he wouldn’t have even been home if he had been at school. I guess we got a pretty early start.
We went to take Talia to school and then came home and I fed Keren and Ben their breakfast and then they got dressed and we went for a walk to Robin’s house to borrow some cds from her for Ben to watch today. Then we went to the Macabi office (that’s the name of our health insurance) and dropped off Ben’s strep culture at the lab. Yes, Israel is that backwards. Robin told me that she has bought the instant strep tests and done them herself on her kids!! Too funny. Then she brings the results to the doctor so that she can get the antibiotics without waiting 3 days. Luckily, Ben’s doctor gave him the antibiotics anyway. After that we waited for the supermarket to open and Keren and Ben played in the playground that they have right in front of the supermarket. It doesn’t open until 10. It’s crazy. But the prices there are good and that’s where Eric likes me to shop. So we ran over to the supermarket where I accidentally shoplifted some gamadim (a brand of kids’ yogurts) So I ran back in and gave them back to the guard working there and then ran back to the car. What a pain.
Keren woke up at 5:50 this morning and didn’t go back to sleep. So she fell asleep in the car on the way back from the supermarket and she was OUT! I put her into bed and then put a video on for Ben and went to lie down for a bit myself.
After Keren and I woke up we all ate lunch and then I baked with Ben and we walked to pick Talia up and stopped in the park to play a little bit. Keren loves the swings. She is so cute.
Anyway, the rest of the afternoon we hung out in the backyard just enjoying the weather and then we took Ben to karate and did homework with Talia while making dinner, etc.
I’ve been running all over the house trying to get away from this mosquito. Tonight I decided not even to try to go to sleep in my room but just to go straight to my new bed in the guest room and sure enough the mosquito was there. I tried to kill it but missed again. Slippery little sucker, to quote Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Anyway, I am all lubed up with mosquito repellent and back in my room and I am going to try to stick it out here tonight and not jump into bed with one of the kids. My face will probably break out with pimples from this stuff but since I already have a bite on my face that looks like a pimple I figured I have nothing to lose. Interestingly enough I did speak to my neighbor who lives in the attached house to us and she said she has no problems and even leaves her doors open most of the day for her dog. What the hell?? I am getting an exterminator in here. We must have a nest or something somewhere. Time to bomb the house. I have spent too much time blogging about this problem!!
Oh, forgot to mention that the other day Ben asked my why people in Israel all keep their music on so loud in their cars? What could I tell him??
I haven’t written in close to a week. I’ve just been lazy, I guess. A lot has been going on. First of all, that missing earring of Keren’s… I found it just laying on the floor in the middle of her room. It must have been in something that I shook out and then wound up on her floor. So they are back in her ears again.
Ben wasn’t feeling so well over Shabbat (neither was I, for that matter) and he slept right through the company that we had over for lunch. Today I took him to school a couple of hours late but when he came home he was sad and said his throat hurt him. I took him over to the doctor and sure enough he thinks he has strep. I am sorry I sent him to school today, that’s for sure! So we started him on the antibiotics b/c he took the culture but then I get the pleasure of bringing it home with me for the night and then bringing it to the lab tomorrow to have them look at it and then I only find out on Wednesday morning what the story is. The doctor said that it “looks streppy” so we started him on the antibiotics.
Meanwhile, Talia has been going to birthday party after birthday party and I’ve never made one for her. We kind of just ignored it and I thought I talked her into having one in America for her friends there, thinking that I would keep it really small. She was crying tonight and said that her friends ask her when her party is going to be and she says she isn’t having one and they say that it is so sad. So tonight I told her that we would make her one during Pesach vacation (get ready, Eric, if you are reading this!) We agreed to keep it simple. Just a movie and popcorn. I am DREADING IT!!
So that takes me to Pesach vacation now. Here it starts on the 31st!! We have a full week of vacation here before Pesach even starts. So what they do is the older kids run camps for the younger kids to keep them out of their parents’ hair while they clean and get ready for Pesach. It is cute. Since we are not home I kind of feel silly sending my kids to camp. Eric will be home that week and so we are going to try to take the kids on tiyulim. I hope it works. I am anticipating a lot of fighting and arguing…
Eric is in America this week shopping for the kids and for me for Pesach. I told his sisters that they should buy me some nice things. We’ll see how that goes!!
The mosquitoes are back!! Friday night we were woken up and Eric moved out of the room but I had nowhere to go b/c we had guests in the guest room and I didn’t want to sleep with the lights on in the living room or sleep with one of the kids in their room. So I put my head under the pillow and went to sleep. I have bites on my face now! We have the blue light in the room that has caught a lot of them but there is one that just isn’t falling for that trick. I can’t find him and kill him. So last night I slept in the guest room and I am wondering if I should even attempt to sleep in my room tonight and risk waking up and having to move with my pillow, blanket, alarm clock and baby monitor in the middle of the night. SOOOO annoying!! I really thought the bug light was the answer to the mosquito problem! Oh well.
So I am off to sleep and hopefully everyone will sleep well b/c tomorrow I have a full day with Ben and Keren since he can’t go to school. I think we’ll bake!
So not much happened today. The kids have been fighting a lot recently and it hasn’t been easy. I also just found out that they have the beginning of April off, a week before Pesach with no school!! I am NOT looking forward to it at all, espically with all the fighting and arguing going on here. I am thinking that if it is nice we are going to be hitting the beach every day. I hope it’s nice!!
Tonight I played tennis and after the hour was up I felt like I was finally getting warmed up! It is pretty cold out tonight, actually. But I didn’t want to stop playing. When we got off the court I saw 3 English speakers get on. I asked them if they needed a fourth and they said okay. So I played with them for another hour. My team won the first set 6-3 and we were up the second set 3-1!!! It was a lot of fun. It is always intimidating playing with guys but I felt like for the most part I held my own. I didn’t finish until 10:30! Oh, here they come and tell you when you have 1 minute left and then in exactly 1 minute they turn ALL the lights off on the courts and you are left on a pitch black court!! I thought we would have some kind of grace period but I guess not!!
Anyway, I came home and heard Keren crying. I think she is teething and not so comfortable. I took a shower and she stopped and I am really hoping that we make it through tonight with no more crying. If I have to get her before 6 tomorrow morning I am going to be really upset. The only good thing is that I am not taking ulpan anymore and I can always lie down in the morning when she is sleeping!
We had a relaxing Shabbat here. We had no company and it was kind of a nasty afternoon so we stayed in. Talia went over to Robin’s house in the afternoon to ask Sammy if he wanted to play. They are so cute. We were joking that it would be considered their first date. Ben hung out with us. I woke up with a really stiff neck thinking it would go away but it’s taking its time. I think it’s more of a pinched nerve in my back, which I do get from time to time, rather than a stiff neck. All I know is that it is Monday and I will be playing tennis or not tonight whether I am in pain or not!!
After Shabbat Talia had a birthday party at 7pm! I guess it wouldn’t be so crazy if there was no school on Sunday but since she goes to school and has to be up early on Sunday morning I was kind of annoyed about this party. In the end she went and was home and in bed by 9 and she got up with no trouble the next morning. So what did they do at the party? They watched episodes of The Brady Bunch!! So now Talia has a new favorite television show and Eric is downloading season 1 for her!! She was impressed that we knew what it was and that we could sing the theme song to the show.
On Friday (just going back now for a second) I took Talia and Ben and Keren to the park and they each took a friend with them (well, not Keren, she just came alone) and Talia’s friend only spoke Hebrew. I must have said something and Talia said to me that I was mispronouncing the word לא and that there is no W in that word!! I have to say, it is quite hysterical when she corrects me like this.
So yesterday Eric got the kids to school and I slept in for a change. It was rainy and cold here (middle of March!?!) and we stayed in the whole morning. Actually, Eric had a meeting with the lawyers and with our landlord and we officially have a signed lease now!! He even said we can go buy a faucet and have it put in and he’ll pay for it. So we will have two working kitchen sinks!! Of course that means that first we have to buy the thing and Eric want to buy it online. Then we have to get the contractor to come and install it and we can’t even get him here to fix a leak in our ceiling. So I am cautiously optimistic that we will have a kitchen sink the works sometime between this Pesach and next Pesach and I can’t really hope for more.
In the afternoon when it cleared up we all went to the supermarket together. My neck was feeling a bit better and I needed to get out. Family outing to Mega!! We had a 50 shekel coupon that everyone was mailed last week that expired on Sunday so we had to get there. When we came home Talia did some homework and then I had asked Eric to see if he could get the movie The Prince of Egypt for Ben and Talia because it is almost Pesach and it is Disney’s take on the story of Pesach. So I watched the movie with the kids while Keren slept and Eric made his home made pesto sauce… yummmmm….. and then in the middle of the movie Talia went across the street to her friend’s house for another birthday party.
Eric took a course in the evening on starting your own business in Israel. I think it was given through NBN and he thought it wouldn’t hurt to take it. There are a few more sessions all on Sunday evenings. So he left and I fed Ben and Keren and then had to go get Talia from the party because she never came home!! It was 6:45 and it didn’t look like she was coming home any time soon even though the party was oficially over at 6!! So I dragged her out of there and told her next time she should call me and tell me what’s going on. That was a pain.
Anyway, today, Monday, it is nice and sunny outside. I am happy because that means I’ll be able to play tennis tonight. I was up this morning with Keren from 5-7. I don’t know why she didn’t want to go back to sleep but I was afraid she was going to wake everyone up at 5 and since when I went down to get her I saw Ben was sleeping with his big light on, I really thought if he heard her he would just pop up and see his room all illuminated and that would be it for the day. So I grabbed her and brought her into bed with me and we dozed for a bit. Then at 7 when she woke up again I brought her down to Eric, who was busy with the kids and I went back to sleep until 10:30!!!! So my neck is feeling a bit better now but I think that I am coming down with the cold that Eric has and I just want to make it through the day so I can play tennis tonight and then I can get sick.
I am going to start my day now and I’ll blog about today when I get home tonight if I am not too tired!
Today the kids went back to school and of course no one could get out of bed!! The 3 days of vacation that they had they hopped right out of bed sometime in the 6 o’clock hour but of course today at 7:15 they were still snoring away. Well, I had little pity on them, as they had NO pity on me during vacation, and I woke them UP! Talia claimed illness and Ben was sluggish but I got those kids right out the door and was in the supermarket by 8 with Keren while Eric slept! Although we’ve all been on vacation Eric has still been working late hours at night!!
So we had a pretty relaxing day at home. I finished my shopping by 8:30 and Keren slept a ton today while I cleaned the chicken and made the soup and the kugel for Shabbat. We hung out in the morning and then went to pick Ben up from school.
Here are the pictures that I mentioned in my last post that I would put up of our Purim:
I forgot to mention that when we got home from our Purim seudah I got a call from my cousin who said that when my grandparents arrived home in Petach Tikvah they saw that their house was broken into and their safe was ripped out of the wall and gone and their place was destroyed!! My poor grandmother was extremely upset and didn’t know where to even begin. They called my aunt and uncle who immediately rushed over and the police came and they all took inventory to see what was gone and then they started to clean up the mess. My grandmother has been very busy dealing with getting her door fixed and getting new passports and talking to the insurance company, etc. I feel so bad for her. I am glad that when I spoke to her today she was doing much better. I am going to try to convince her to put in an alarm. She said she is afraid to go to sleep at night now.
Anyway, the rest of the afternoon today we did a few more errands and went to the park and then Talia came home while Keren was napping and Rinat came over to play and speak some Hebrew and I tossed the ball around with Ben and took him for a bike ride, etc. His riding is getting really great and he can even start on his own now. His stopping is really improving as well. He went up a very difficult hill today with little help from me and then down the hill nice and slowly without losing control. I am so proud!
Had a hard time getting Keren to sleep tonight after sleeping all day. We hung out and watched some Hells Kitchen together this evening which she was transfixed by and then I finally got her to sleep.
