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:
So today we had the Chanukah Yarid from 5-7 pm. It is basically a combination of a bazaar and a carnival all in one. I was asked to bake something for it and I made apricot fruit squares. I know they sold but I don’t know how much they made on them. Anyway, we got there at around 6 because Talia had her art chug until 5:30 and then she had to finish up her first Hebrew book report. It wasn’t really a book report. She had to write a story from scratch and illustrate it and everything. We had to type it on the computer, which was a big challenge b/c we don’t know how to type in Hebrew and then Talia had to put in the vowels. She still hasn’t done the vowel part. It was just too much. I am planning on her doing it over breakfast tomorrow! It’s a short story about a fish. Oh, I didn’t mention that she’s only learned the vowels in Hebrew that make a short A sound. So we were limited to few words. That was fun!
Talia and Ben each got presents for Chanukah that they picked out there and they made cookies and did some shrinky dinks and Talia got her hair braided. We spent a small fortune but we had a nice time. Ben wanted to leave almost right away b/c he was tired but when he saw Talia having fun he decided to stay and stick it out.
Eric is working on shrinking the video from Ben’s Mesibat Chanukah last night so that I can put it on the internet. So stay tuned for that.
Today, while I was in class, Eric narrowed the car search down a bit more and it looks like by tomorrow he’ll have made a final decision on which of the Mazda 5s to get. Yay. Next step is to have it sent here and then have it inspected.
We called the place where we ordered our dining room table from and it seems it’s going to be finished being built this week. We are going to go look at it on Sunday and pick out a stain for it and then it should be ready soon after! I hope to have it before Eric goes back to America next Thurs. That and the car. I’m not holding my breath.
No other news to report. Kids are great. Keren follows me from room to room in the house. If she’s in Eric’s arms she leans towards me so I should hold her. He’s insulted, especially since he spends time with her in the mornings when I am in school, more so than he did with the other kids. Oh well! I am sure it’s just a stage. Ben behaved nicely in school today, for a change. So I am relieved. Talia made latkes today in school and was excited to have peeled and grated her carrots successfully with no damage to the knuckles!
So I haven’t written since Thursday and there really isn’t much that went on so I am just going to recap quickly.
Friday we were supposed to go to Tel Aviv but my cousin said there was no way we’d have enough time to go and get back for the kids. So instead we went to Petach Tikvah and met my cousins for breakfast. By the time we got there we realized we would only have about 45 minutes to eat! We ate quickly but when we got in the car we didn’t think we would make it back in time for Talia. So I called a friend and asked her to intercept Talia at school and take her to her house to play with her daughter. It turns out that she missed Talia in a group of kids and Talia came home and knocked on the door for a while. Then, when she didn’t get an answer, she turned around and went back to Cabessa, the store she buys junk at on Friday’s and decided to go do some shopping. After that, while she was on the way home, my friend finally caught up to her after looking all over the yishuv for her, and took her home! Too funny!
Shabbat we had a girl come to us that we knew from White Plains who is in seminary here this year. It was a nice, calm Shabbat. One funny ben story: While Ben was eating his vegetable soup he asked “what are these chunks that I am eating?” I told him that they were potatoes and I asked if he liked them and he said “yes!” It was cute.
Anyway, Sat. night I went to the mall with a friend and her daughter. We basically went for me. They showed me where to shop, which stores, and helped me buy some Shabbat clothes. They were like personal shoppers. They were very cute. SO I got 2 outfits (for a small fortune) and we were home in just 2 hours, door to door, just in time for me to feed Keren.
Sunday we went to a shuk in Yafo called Shuk Hapishpishim. We didn’t buy anything but it was a beautiful day and it was nice to walk around there for a bit. When we were finished shopping we sat on the boardwalk and I fed Keren. Then it was time to hustle home to get the kids.
After school we went to a nearby small mall to get Ben and Eric their haircuts. I wish I could find a barbershop here like I had in America. After 2 haircuts at 2 different places, I am still not happy with the haircut they gave Ben. Next time I am trying a kid on the yishuv who gives buz cuts. Maybe I’ll do that before Pesach. Eric, however, got a nice haircut.
Today, Monday, Ben came home early because they had a Chanukah party at his school. The Chanukah party was at 6:10 pm and his school ended at 11 am!! I don’t know why they needed hours to set up his classroom but they did. Anyway, I called my grandparents and invited them and they came with me to the party and Eric stayed home with Talia and Keren. Siblings weren’t invited to the party. Anyway, the party was at 6:10, if I haven’t already mentioned that, which is way way way too late for 3 and 4 year olds. We got there and they had the parents sit BEHIND their child!! So I basically have a very tired child’s profile on camera most of the time. Fortunately, I brought 2 cameras and I gave one to a friend to take pictures of her son and Ben too. So I have some still pictures with Ben that are halfway decent. At least his whole face is in t them and not just his profile. I will post the pictures and some video tomorrow after I’ve downloaded them. All in all, it was cute. They sang and danced and I realized that I have to learn the Chanukah songs that they sing in this country b/c they are VERY different than the songs that we sang in America. None of the American parents knew the songs! It was terrible.
So now we are all caught up! Here are the rest of the pictures that I took of Talia’s party. Please take notice that they are in a slide show format and they change on their own. One of Eric’s new fancy features!
Hope you all like my new blog design. You have Eric to thank for it if you like it!
Nothing really new to blog about. I thought I would just keep this one short and put the videos in that I took of the kids last night singing their Chanukah songs.
For a brief recap of the day, Talia had swim and Ben was at his friend’s house all afternoon. I did most of my cooking, as Eric and I are hoping to go into Tel Aviv tomorrow morning to do some shopping.
Today was a day of firsts for us. First of all, it was Talia’s birthday. She turned 7. Happy Birthday to Talia!! She was so excited that every time she did something she would announce that it was the first time she was doing it as a 7 year old. Mom, this is the first time that I am in the car when I am 7! And so on and so forth. It was cute.
I did well on my test in ulpan today. So well, in fact, that the teacher commented on how far along I’ve come! Yay me!
Tonight I had parent-teacher’s conferences and I went alone without Eric and I understood everything that the teacher said to me and I was able to communicate what I wanted to say to her. I was so happy. Another first! I remember the first meeting with all the parents and the teacher and how horrible it was b/c I didn’t understand much. Well, it was a different story tonight. Unfortunately she said that although Talia understands everything, she won’t speak in Hebrew. So she is going to help me set up some play dates with other children who do speak Hebrew so that she has no choice. I have to make a real effort to do this so that she starts speaking.
My grandparents came over today for Talia’s birthday. They gave her the Michal Negrin earrings that I bought for my grandmother to give to Talia. Unfortunately we are in a cycle where I have to go buy the presents and come up with the idea and then my grandmother pays me back and gives whatever it is to Talia. Tonight she got Poly Pockets from Eric’s mom (as requested by me) and she was SO thrilled with them that she didn’t really care about the earrings that she had pointed out to me in the mall the last time we were there. So my grandmother made some comment about how these kinds of toys are better than jewelry! I felt bad that she was upset and that I kind of failed her in a way by buying a gift that she didn’t do cartwheels over. What could I do? She was dying for those earrings! I told her that she couldn’t get the Polys in Israel anyway! WHATEVER.
Eric bought 6 sufganiot and he made them into a circle on a plate and we stuck a chanukah candle in the middle one and sang happy birthday. She was happy. So that was nice. Here are the pics:
So last night we used our bug zapper and we didn’t have any trouble with the mosquitoes. Unfortunately, Talia got bitten up but tonight I found a nice juicy large mosquito and Eric got it on his second try. So I hope tonight she won’t get bitten up!! We even put the zapper in her room for a couple of hours last night. I don’t know. They are relentless.
Today Eric had Keren while I went to ulpan. It was a nice, relaxing morning for me. While I was in ulpan, Eric and Keren went to the mall and hung out. How cute?!
This afternoon I ran out while Ben was at cooking and Talia was still at school to get Talia her birthday present. Tomorrow is her birthday and I had no idea what to get her b/c I gave everyone else all of my gift ideas. So she said she wants this window art. It’s basically paint that you paint on a sheet and then it peels off and you can stick it on your windows. So I called my friend to find out where to get it and I got it! It turns out we have a GREAT arts and crafts store here right nearby. I had a blast there this afternoon and really had to control myself and not buy everything in sight. Really, do I really need to make a set of door chimes for my back door?
While Talia was at art my friend came over with her sons and the boys played a little. It was a short play date just while the girls were at their chugim. Then she left to get her daughter and Talia came home. I gave the kids dinner and they played on the computer and then went to sleep.
I did some quick cleaning up and then did some studying in anticipation of my test tomorrow in ulpan. I don’t want my teacher to think that I haven’t been learning anything these last 3 months.
One last thing, today Talia went on a trip to some bee farm and put on the whole get up and everything and had a great time. She came home with a special thing and she said that she got it b/c she understood what the teacher was saying and was able to explain it to a fellow English speaker!! Yay Talia! She had a blast. She wound up coming home from school a half hour early. I guess their trip was over so they sent them home. I am glad I was here!! No one told me anything about coming home early. Tomorrow night is supposed to be parent teacher conferences and I still haven’t received a notice about it or about what time to be there. I guess I”ll have to call someone. This is way different than the previous years at WDS where I knew about a month in advance the date and time of my conference! Welcome to Israel!
So today was pretty much uneventful. I went to ulpan and Eric drove from store to store looking for a bug zapper. Last night after killing one mosquito and turning off the lights Eric heard another one and we looked for it for a while but gave up after 10 minutes and packed up our stuff and slept downstairs in the guest room. When he couldn’t find a bug zapper I posted it on our yishuv list and in less than 2 minutes I had a response from someone who said that he would find his for us and let us borrow it for the time being. So we have a bug zapper now, yay!! Hopefully we’ll sleep well tonight.
Below are some videos we took yesterday while making pretzels:
Ben went to Eitan’s house today after school until 4 and Talia had one of her friends over. It was very calm here in the afternoon!
At 4 I picked up Ben and took Talia’s friend home and we hung out for a while and then ate and played/fought and went to sleep. Keren is currently playing with one of Ben’s helicopters while watching Laurie Berkner upside down (crazy kid).
So Friday my cousins came over for Shabbat. They picked Eric up from the airport on their way over Friday afternoon and brought him home. That was convenient. Shabbat was very nice. Friday night we had a friend of mine from Ulpan. She’s the one that I mentioned in previous blogs. She took Keren on as her surrogate grandchild since her grandson is in New York. All my food came out really well and everyone enjoyed. Shelly didn’t want to sleep with the kids in Talia’s room as planned. Eric wound up schlepping down the mattress from Talia’s room and she slept with my cousin and her husband in their room down stairs. The kids wound up sleeping together anyway, though, since they were already tucked in and didn’t want to move.
Shabbat morning the guys went to shul while I prepared for the company that was coming for lunch and then Talia and Ben took Shelly to shul with them.
The guys came home and then the company came shortly after. Unfortunately, the little boy who came wasn’t so interested in playing with Ben. At first they went upstairs to play but then Ben yelled at him about something and he was insulted and didn’t want to play anymore. Talia and their little girl played nicely but then they got into an argument that resulted in tears and throwing of things but then they made up and Talia even went over there today after school for a play date.
After lunch the guys went to sleep (including Ben who was falling apart after a late night Fri. night) and Talia and Shelly played while Avivit and I went for a short tour of the yishuv.
Sat. night after Shabbat was over Aunt Yisraella called to see if they could come over and bring Saba and Savta over. I said of course, what else could I say!!?? They showed up just when the kids were going to sleep, of course! Luckily, they were already in bed and I was able to keep them quiet enough downstairs that they went to sleep and didn’t realize that anyone was there. Ben did come down and saw everyone and said a quick hi and then went back up. Had Talia known that they were here I think we would have been in for a long evening. Anyway, everyone kept Eric very busy making coffee and they all ate the dessert I had made for Shabbat, which was great since I had A TON left over because both guests that came brought dessert and didn’t tell me they were bringing it. Oh, good dessert story. I served a hot apple crumble for dessert on Shabbat and I served it with Rich’s whipped cream in a can and after a whole conversation about my aunt once serving a whip cream topping and everyone commenting how it was too good to be pareve, someone looked at the can and it was dairy. Well, as we were cleaning off the table someone looked at the can that I had served and it said it was dairy!! Oy!!! Later on in the evening when Eric woke up from his nap he looked at the can again and it said that if you are lactose intolerant you can eat it, etc., and we realized it was probably just dairy equipment and not actually dairy but still not a good thing to serve at a meat meal. Whoops.
So there was a hat sale on the yishuv and my cousin and I went and we left everyone at my house. We came back to a nice quiet (but messy) house about an hour later. I bought 2 hats and 2 scarfs for great prices. Yay. Wish I had clothing to wear!! We schmoozed for a little while and then they left and we went to sleep.
Today Eric let me sleep in and he took the kids to school. Then I cleaned the toy room. I threw out a lot of garbage toys that I’ve been meaning to throw out for a while and I took all the games off the shelves and organized them. I did this while Keren napped and we couldn’t go out. Then she woke up around 11 and we went out to the mall to get brunch and to walk around for a bit since it’s our day off but the kids have school. We came home and got Ben from school and we hung out for a while and played with him. Talia went straight to her friend’s house and I didn’t have to get her until 3:15, at which time she had English and I had to take her over there. Eric and Ben began the long process of making pretzels around 3ish. Eric picked a very complicated and very long recipe. I would have picked an easier one but he had his mind sent on something very specific. Anyway, Talia came home from English and we did her homework and the guys made pretzels and then everyone ate dinner and played and went to sleep.
Tomorrow is the first time I will have ulpan since Tuesday. It’s been a nice break but I am definitely ready to get back into the routine and make the most of the class!
It’s been a long day and so I am going to keep this short.
Last night wasn’t as bad as I had feared. First Talia got up to tell me she is scared. I told her all the doors were locked and to go back to sleep. Then Keren got up around 12 and I fed her?!?! Then Keren got up at 5:00 and I fed her again!?!?!? Then Ben got up as I was finishing with Keren and said he was thirsty. He also said that he didn’t like the thunder and lightening. I told him that it wasn’t thundering or lightening. The noise he was hearing was a crazy wind that was howling through the windows last night and much of today. As for the lightening, his light was on the fritz (as usual) and was left on and it was blinking on and off and he thought it was lightning. Poor kid!! Then he complained he was dizzy. He was probably dehydrating from the vomiting. Anyway, I got him a drink and we all went back to sleep. I realized at some point that Talia had gotten into Eric’s bed when I heard a very even breathing and realized it wasn’t coming from the baby monitor. We slept through the alarm and I opened my eyes at 7:30 and Talia was wide awake next to me. Why she didn’t wake me is beyond me. So I hustled her out the door and she went to school.
I kept Ben home with me today and he spent much of the morning on the couch while I cooked for Shabbat. In the early afternoon we ventured to the mall to just get out. At the mall he got some tea (his 3rd cup of the day) and I had a sandwich and a coffee. Then he looked a bit flushed and we came home and I gave him some tylenol and he fell asleep on the couch. I actually got Keren to sleep at the same time as him and I relaxed for a bit!
He really perked up when Talia came home and even had some pizza for dinner!! He wanted more to eat but I wouldn’t give him anything but rice cakes after that pizza! Talia and I did some homework and then they took showers and baths and went to sleep. I spent a little more time cooking and then I put Keren to sleep and cooked some more.
Now I am in bed and looking forward to Eric’s arrival tomorrow afternoon!
Today since I didn’t have ulpan, Keren and I got an early start to the supermarket and to the local spice store that I’ve been meaning to check out for a while now. Then we came home and I gave her breakfast and put her in for a nap and did a bit of cooking for Shabbat. It’s only Wednesday so I couldn’t really do much. I just did the things that can be made way in advance.
This afternoon when Ben came home he really wasn’t himself. He didn’t even want to make challah with me, one of his favorite activities. Then he said he was cold and I knew we were in for trouble. He laid down on the couch and said he was tired and kind of just stayed there for a bit. My grandparents came shortly thereafter and I left Keren and Ben at home with them and ran out to pick up some paper goods at another store that I’ve been meaning to check out and when I came home he was playing with Talia and two friends of hers that she showed up with after school. Then he suddenly went back to the couch and then he said he wasn’t feeling well. As I was nursing he sat up and announced he had to throw up and he ran to the bathroom with my grandmother and got there just in time. Then I changed him into pajamas and he went to sleep on the couch. Oy!!
I fed my grandparents and one of Talia’s friends who was still here and myself and then everyone left and Talia and I did some homework and I put her to sleep and then Keren to sleep too. Then I carried Ben up to his room and I am currently in bed at only 8:40 because I am anticipating a night of vomiting and who knows what. I am PRAYING that we make it through the night with just the usual nursing and nothing more. I hope Ben waked up tomorrow feeling better and just needs a day of rest. I WISH Eric was here to help me with this!! He missed Talia’s diarrhea a few weeks ago and now he’s missing Ben’s vomiting. This is what the wives say here, the husbands miss all the horrible things. Not that this is THAT horrible. I just HATE vomit!!
Anyway, Keren is being really cute lately. She is crawling all over the place and tonight when Talia was taking her shower and I was sitting in her room waiting for her to come out of her bathroom I put Keren down at one end of the room and she crawled to her bathroom door to see where Talia was. She went so far as to push the door open. Both of us got a big kick out of it. She is getting to be so much fun! If she would only sleep more at night…
So I am going to go call Eric to say goodnight and then settle down to watch some tv and fall off to sleep.
