So today was like any other day.  I got the kids off to school and then I went to ulpan.  I told Ben’s teacher that his birthday is coming up in a week and she said that because there are so many kids that have already had birthdays and not celebrated them yet, they are going to be celebrating a bunch together. How stinky is that?!  So I am not sure when it’s going to be, hopefully somewhere near his actual birthday, but he’ll be having a party in school with some other kids.  She got a kick out of the fact that she asked him when his birthday is and he told her November 10th.

Anyway, after ulpan I came home to find out that the water was on.  They said they were turning it off from 9-2 but at 1:30 it was already on.  So I was able to clean up the breakfast dishes and then go get Ben from school.  When I picked him up he really really wanted to have a play date.  His first choice, Amitai, was busy.  We saw his friend/relative through marriage Eitan there and he said he wanted him to come over.  Robin, his mother, was thrilled b/c she had some errands to run and was afraid he was going to fall asleep in the car.  So he came over.  On the way home I bumped into Talia’s art teacher.  She is Israeli and we schmoozed (in Hebrew!) all the way home.   One off the things she said was that she sees a difference in Talia’s understanding of Hebrew and she doesn’t need to translate anything for her when she is at her house!  I am so happy to hear that.  I told her that she pretends that she doesn’t know any Hebrew when we ask her.

Anyway, I fed the kids lunch and they played for an hour.  Talia came home from school with a friend as well and I called her parents to let them know where she was.  The boys played together and the girls played together and it was all going very nicely.  Then I put Keren in for a nap and I wanted them to play quietly so they all wound up downstairs and Talia asked me to make play dough.  So I did and the 4 of them played together until 5!!  At 5 the little girl’s dad came to get her and I gave the 3kids the dinner I made soon after that.  Robin was still out.  Finally, around 5:30-ish Robin came as I was feeding the kids dinner.  I asked her daughter to babysit for us on Sat. night and she said yes, so that worked out well.  We talked for a little while, while the kids finished up their dinner. 

At the same time as all this was going on Rinat, the girl who comes over to help Talia with her Hebrew, walked in and had something to eat and then her mom stopped by to drop something off.  There was a lot going on.  Meanwhile, Keren was still asleep.

So they all left and Talia did her homework with Rinat and Ben and I attempted to get the play dough off the grout on the floor (unsuccessfully) and then we read a few books. 

Soon it was time for baths and bed!  Keren finally woke up at 6:30, after a 3 and a half hour nap.  So we are partying now.  She is watching Laurie Berkner, actually, while eatingher feet.  I think I’ll keep her up for another hour and then give her a bath and put her to sleep.  I’ve noticed lately, and someone this weekend also pointed it out to me although I can’t remember who, that she’s been grabbing things with her left hand and when I give her something she grabs it with her left hand.  Even now as I am writing this she’s eating her left foot that she’s grabbing with her left hand! 

Ben told me today that he knows how to say “it’s not the same picture” in Hebrew.  He told me it’s “ze lo oto davar.”  I explained to him that it means “that’s not the same thing” and not t”hat’s not the same picture” but that he got the gist and that was excellent. 

SO the kids appear to be getting the hang of the language here.  Slowly but surely they are going to speaking it.  Also, every word that they learn in Hebrew they learn with an accent and speak with an accent.  So all the Hebrew from before we came (which isn’t much) is said with an American accent and all the Hebrew they are speaking now is all with an Israeli accent.   It’s cute. 

Oh, forgot to mention we might have a slight ant problem.  There was a whole group of them congregating around something that must have at one time been a crumb of food outside the bathroom on the main floor.  I got most of them and have since been stepping on the stragglers.  Yuck!  Eric said this is the season.  Not sure how he knows that, though.

So today was my day off.  I got the kids to school and then did some errands with Keren.  Came home and cleaned up the house a little.  Made a few phone calls that I needed to make.  One of them was to Sassy, my soon to be driving instructor.  He finally swung by to take my green form and he looked at it and said that I am missing something on it and I need to go to one of the offices to get it done.  Stinks!!  So that’s what I’ll be doing next Sunday on my day off.

A friend from ulpan, the one who has adopted Keren as her grand daughter came by and we schmoozed for a bit.  So that was nice.

I got ready for the brit and then at 1:30 I ran to get Ben and caught up with Talia on the way home from school.  Since they both get out at the same time on Sunday, either I have to pick Ben up with the car or Talia has to wait for me b/c she beats me home from school.  If I take the car, I can pick her up while she’s walking home.  So I found her in the middle of walking home and she jumped in the car and I got the kids ready to go to Avi and Miriam’s child’s brit.

The brit was in Petach Tikvah in a a hall called Opera.  They spell it in Hebrew, of course, and I had no clue what it said.  The hardest words to read here are the ones that they write phonetically from hebrew.  Anyway, I used the GPS to get there and it was great.  Got me right there in about half an hour.  It was really nice.  They had it in a big room with a bar and with kind of a cocktail hour.   After the cocktail hour they brought out the baby and everyone stood up and they did the brit.  They named him Yoav as his first name b/c they liked it and Shmuel as his middle name after Avi’s grandfather.  There was a lot of crying.  My uncle who announced the name couldn’t get it out b/c he was so hysterical.  My aunt, whose father he is named after, was beyond hysterical.  My cousin was hysterical b/c her mother was hysterical and so on.  The only one who didn’t cry from the family (other than myself) was the mother of the baby!!  That was funny.  Usually the mother does most of the crying.  Anyway, after that they served a first course (yummy liver or fish) and then the main!!  It was like a wedding!  They had about 200 people there.  This was unlike any bris in America that I had ever gone to.

We stayed until close to 6 (it was called for 2) and got home around 7-ish.  We hit a lot of rush hour traffic.  the kids were great there and great in the car.  I don’t think it was SO much fun for them but they had a nice time seeing the family and I got to see a lot of my family that I don’t normally see.  My cousin Deenie was there with most of her kids and my other cousin Dani was there by himself.  It was nice.  Unfortunately, after 3 pictures the batteries in my camera died!!  When I went to replace them, the ones that I had were also dead.  So I don’t have any pictures, just 2 or 3.  They hire a photographer when they do these huge things so there will be pictures, but none that I can order or keep. 

The kids took a million balloons home.  I smushed them all into our tiny red car and they all made it (too bad). 

Oh, good news on the vacuum front.  It works!!  I don’t know how, it just works.  I said i was hoping that it would all of a sudden work after a little rest and it does.  I’ll see if it breaks again.  if it does i’ll have to take it in.

So we had no time to do homework tonight so I am going to have to try to write a note to Talia’s teacher telling her we were at a brit and had no time for homework.  I am fairly confident that I’ll be able to write an intelligent note that conveys that message.

Anyway, Keren was so cute, she fell asleep in my arms just now while she was playing with my hair.  She never does things like that.  I was sitting on the couch watching something on my computer and she was playing with my hair and dozing off.  I plopped her in bed and now I am going to make the kids their sandwiches for tomorrow and get into bed myself.  Back to ulpan tomorrow!!

So Friday we packed up when the kids came home and went to Petach Tikvah to stay by my grandparents.  It’s funny b/c I didn’t find out until Friday night that it was Halloween that day.  You don’t see anything or hear anything about it here!  Talia was playing on her webkinz and she saw the ads pop up and she asked if it was coming up soon. 

As I was locking the door on Friday, Talia took Keren and decided she would push her in her stroller down the 3 steps we have in front of the house.  I thought she was just taking her TO the steps, like she usually does to help me.  Next thing I know I hear screaming.  You guessed it, she went flying and the stroller went flying and Keren wound up up-side-down in her stroller on the concrete floor!!!  Ben was crying b/c he saw what happened and Talia was crying b/c she knew what she had done, plus she was hurt and Keren was scared to death and crying and she had a red mark under her eye.  Even though she was strapped in, her face still hit the ground, I am guessing from the mark I saw.  Anyway, by now it is already better and there is really nothing there to see.  But it was REALLY REALLY SCARY!!

Friday night after we ate I tucked the kids into bed and then my grandmother and I went to the shalom zachor for my cousin Avi’s baby at his in-laws house.  My great aunt suzie stayed to babysit for Talia and Ben. I took Keren.  There were many many people there.  It was nice.  No so much fun since I really didn’t know anyone but I was allowed access downstairs to see Miriam and the baby and wish her a mazel tov since I hadn’t seen her since she had the baby or even spoken to her, for that matter.

We got home and I had to schlepp the stroller all the way up the 4 flights of stairs.  That was a blast.  Got to sleep around 11 and was woken by Talia around midnight.  She said someone was trying to get into the apt. and she was scared.  She said she heard someone at the door.  i don’t know what that was about.  So she spent part of the night on the floor in my room. That too was a blast.  Keren woke up a bunch of times and the kids woke up for the last time at 5:50 am.  Once again, what a blast!!  I heard them b/c I was nursing and I went to the living room and told them they better get their little tushies back into bed and get to sleep.  My grandmother said when she came out of her room around 7 they were still in their beds but they were awake.  They said they didn’t go back to sleep.

So we went to shul around 10 and stayed until it was over (only half an hour).  Then we walked with Savta to the park nearby and met Avi there who said they wree all asleep at his apt.  So we waited a bit and Savta went home and then finally we went upstairs and made kiddush and had some lunch.  Everyone loved the food that I made so i guess I finally am getting used to cooking here.    Oh, friends who live here were in Petach Tikvah also for Shabbat by her family so it was nice b/c the kids played together for a drop during shul and it was nice to have a friend there.

We got home from Avi and Avivi’ts house an hour before Shabbat was over.  It was too bad b/c Aunt Suzie said that if we would have come home earlier that she would have watched the kids and i could have napped!!!!  oh well.  We probably would have stayed even longer but Ben wasn’t on his best behavior and the kids were fighting a lot and i thought it was probably our time to go so they could have some peace and quiet.  It is a small apt. and we were a lot of people.

Tonight we packed up and we gave the kids something to eat quickly and then we rushed back over to Miriam’s parents’ house to since Hamalach HaGoel and say Shema with the baby.  They kids, who were the ones who were supposed to sing, of course did not want to sing.  We all sang instead.  The kids got goodie bags and they were thrilled.

We came straight home from there. Keren, who hadn’t slept ALL DAY b/c we were out and she doesn’t like to sleep on the go, fell asleep in the car and so did Ben.  Talia pretended to be asleep.  I got them all out of the car and into bed, unpacked, showered, ate and watched another episode of Weeds (almost finished with the whole season) and now I am going to go to sleep. 

Tomorrow we have the Brit back in Petach Tikvah at 2pm (only in Israel!)

All in all, it was a very nice weekend.  The kids haven’t mentioned Eric once (sorry Eric) but we are looking forward to him coming home in 5 more days (but whose counting?)

I couldn’t blog last night b/c at around 7:30 my internet went down and didn’t come back up again until some time this morning.  I was extremely frustrating, especially since I couldn’t talk to Eric at all, b/c the telephone is hooked up through the internet, and let him know what was happening.  Also, I was going to try to watch TV through slingbox and I couldn’t do that either (not that I’ve ever been able to get it to work when I do have internet).  So, I am blogging now.

Yesterday (Thursday) I got the kids to school and I went to a Brit (that’s Bris to Americans) in one of the shuls here.  I took Keren with me.  She was very well behaved and fell alseep for most of it.  It was very nice.  Because it was Rosh Chodesh they thought that davening was going to take a little longer than it did and so we were kind of waiting around before the actual bris started and also before the food was ready.  As a result, I missed more ulpan than I would have liked to but it was definitely worth going to my first Brit here and eating a nice bagel with friends and in peace and quiet, since we all sent our kids to school before we went!  In America we used to take the kids with us and then take them to school a few minutes late.  Since school starts so early here and Britot are so late here, it works out better  this way. 

So I got to ulpan pretty late to see that there were only 3 people there yesterday!!  It was actually the best class we’ve had so far b/c I think she was hesitant to do too much teaching so we wound up talking A LOT and that’s what I really need to do, talk!  She corrects my mistakes as I am speaking which in the beginning was quite unnerving but now I am getting used to it and it is incredibly helpful.  So it was a great class.

After class I went to get the car and it was dead!  I must have left the door open or something (even though I really don’t think I did) and the battery was dead.  As I was getting out of the car I saw a fellow ulpan goer and he was parked right near me and had jumper cables and he gave me a boost!!  I was afraid to go straight home (since it’s a 20 second drive) and turn off the car.  So I went to the makolet and left the car running outside and did a quick shop.  I forgot some stuff that I needed for Shabbat.  When I got home I figured it had run for enough time and I turned it off and luckily it started back up again later.

I tried to get a play date for Ben but was unsuccessful.  So we hung out and did some baking and some cooking.  We tried a new recipe that’s in the kids cookbook by Suzie Fishbein but it was horrible.  I don’t know if it was my conversion errors or what but it basically looks like a really unappetizing Pesach cake.  Fortunately, it is really sweet and the kids love it.  It’s not so bad, actually, but it looks so gross.  Then we hung out until Talia came home from swim. 

I gave the kids a snack and Talia did her homework and then we were off to her English chug.  Oh, but before that my vacuum clener broke!  My BRAND NEW EXPENSIVE vacuum cleaner just suddenly didn’t want to go on again after I turned it off.  I am quite annoyed and in major shock that it happened.  I have to call the warranty people.  I might just leave it for Eric to do when he gets home.  I am really still thinking that it is suddenly going to start working again and that it just needed a little rest.  We’ll see.  If it’s not working on Sunday then I’ll give them a call and see what they say to do.  Since I no longer have ulpan on Sundays I’ll have the time to take care of it.

Anyway, I gave Ben dinner while Talia was at English and then we ran back to get her (it’s only 45 minutes and feels like 5 minutes.  Even Ben said, already? when it was time to get her) and I gave her some more dinner when she came home.  Then I got the kids into the bath and into bed.  Meanwhile, Keren had had a nice nap but Early in the day while Ben and I were cooking and so she was pretty unhappy during bath time.  So it wasn’t such a fun evening.  I did get her into bed nice and early, however, and so I was able to get into bed by 9 as well.  Unfortunately, Ben woke me up a couple of times last night with a bad dream about a witch, or something along those lines and once I had to walk him down and the other time I basically ignored him until he went back down himself.

I don’t know that I’ll have time to blog later so I’ll write about today right now and then finish the rest after Shabbat when we get home.

We are going to my grandmother’s house for Shabbat.  Since my cousin’s wife had a baby boy, we are going for the shalom zachor.  Today brought Ben to school (Talia walks herself on Fridays) and came home and folded some laundry.  Then I made the chicken that I told my cousin I would bring her for Shabbat and also put Keren in for a nap somewhere in the middle of that.  A woman who takes ulpan came by and gave me some of her home-made chummus, yum, after I tasted it yesterday in class and proclaimed it to be amazing.  She was afraid that she had too much and it would go bad and so she gave me some. 

Now I am going to straighten up and pack up a bit so I don’t have to pack when the kids get home.  i can’t pack while someone is firing questions at me and that seems to be the theme for most of my packing experiences.  Oh, mommy is packing, let’s distract her in any way we can so she forgets to pack something.  The hardest part is that the weather is so crazy lately.  One day is cool and raining and the next is hot and sunny.  I know I was complaining earlier that the weather was boring b/c every day was the same but now every day is so different and I don’t have Good Day New York to wake up to to tell me what the weather is going to be!

Anyway, off to do that packing I was just writing about. 

Shabbat Shalom!

So the cleaning man came today a little after 7 am.  My floors have never been so clean!  Showed him around the house and then we left for school.  I had planned to come back during my break and check on his progress but unfrotunately Keren made a huge doody and it went all over her and all over me and in the end I wound up running home in the middle of class and changing her. 

Came home after ulpan and made my shopping list and went to get Ben.  We did a quick shop at the supermarket and then came home in time for Talia to come home.  Unfortunately just when she was walking home the skies opened up and it started to pour.  My neighbor was driving by and took pity on her and threw her into her car and took her home for me. So she only came home kind of soaking wet and not completely drenched.

We went to the doctor for Talia’s checkup right after she came home.  Keren decided to make another huge doody, this time toally getting all over me as well.  I put her into her onesie and wrapped her in a blanket and just rolled up  my sleeves a little bit so the doody wouldn’t show.  What we, as mothers, have to do sometimes!!  Anyway, her checkup went fine but he does want me to take her for a bone scan b/c she is so petite.  I told him I was the same growing up but he’s right when he said that it’s better to be safe.  So that’s something we’ll have to do in the near future.

We came home and I made some dinner and Tali and I did some homework together.

At 6:30 Ben said he didn’t want to eat anymore b/c he was tired and he wanted to go to sleep!  I told him he’s tired b/c he woke up at 6 today and demanded breakfast!!  So I got him upstairs and we skipped the bath completely and I got him into bed and he was asleep before 7!  It was nice b/c I got to then focus entirely on Talia since Keren was still taking her nap and Ben was asleep. 

Oh, one nice thing about ulpan today is Keren actually slept there!  She slept for 2 hours!!!  She has never done that.  It was so great.  I was able to really concentrate and not worry that she was bothering everyone.  The first part of class she was babbling away and everyone was laughing.  I kept shushing her and my teacher said no, don’t, it’s good noises that she’s making but I said that I just didn’t want to distract the class. 

Anyway, I was going to try to get into bed early but it seems it’s now almost 10.  I have a bris to go to at 8 tomorrow morning.  I will take the kids to school and then go myself and have a relaxing breakfast and then go to school myself!  At least that’s the plan for now…

Well, our company left this morning a few minutes before we left for the day and I have to say it was really sad!!  The kids were totally depressed.  We all loved having our friends here with us. Anyway, things are back to normal now.  Eric is gone and I am alone with the kids again! 

Last night no one slept, again!!  Keren was up at 11 and 1 and 2.  Finally, at 2 I put her in my bed, or Eric’s bed and she slept all the way until 6 and I got 4 uninterruped hours of much needed sleep.  Talia came in at some point to complain about the thunder and lightening. This was after a long speech that I gave them about wandering into my room at night.  She was really scared so it was okay.  Ben was up at 6, I don’t know why, and then everyone else got up shortly thereafter.

We took the car to school today b/c of the rain.  I have to find the kids raincoats!  I think I have an idea of where they are but I forgot to look for them tonight and I won’t have time in the morning. Maybe it won’t rain again tomorrow.  Instead of going straight to ulpan and killing a half hour there before it started I came home and got a head start on stripping the beds and washing the towels and linens.  It was amazing how much I got done in that half hour and I’m glad I did it then. 

The rest of the day, after ulpan, I pretty much felt like a taxi driver.  On Tuesdays Ben has his cooking class/chug.  Instead of taking him from gan, he gets a ride.  However, I go to another gan and take another kid there!!  Because there is only one kid going from this other gan and I on’y have room for 2 kids in the back of my car, plus Keren, Ben is part of a huge carpool from his gan and my contribution, since I can’t accomodate those kids, is to go to another gan and take another kid.  It’s funny but in a way it makes sense.  He doesn’t know that I drive someone else there and not him and I plan to keep it that way.  So I dropped off the kid and then came home and put Keren in for a nap.  Then Talia came home and I woke Keren up and took her to her Engligh class and came home.  Then I went to pick Ben up 30 minutes later from his chug and take him home.  After 5 minutes I thought I should look to see when I needed to get Talia and sure enough I had to get her right then and not 15 minutes later like I thought.  So we right back into the car and I went to get her.  Of course I met her walking down the street from her chug with another girl whose mother told her it was okay to walk to their next art chug by herself.  So I let Talia go with her because she doesn’t know the way herself and I went back home.  So that was a waste of a trip.

When we got home Ben and I went through this new box of hand-me-down clothing to see what he has and what he needs since it seems the seasons are finally starting to change and we will have to put the summer clothes away for a couple of months.  Turns out he doesn’t have as much as I thought he did and I’m going to need Eric to buy him some clothing when he’s in America now.

Then we made a dessert for my cousin, whose house we are going to for Shabbat and in the middle of making it Talia walked in and we all ate and did homework, the kids took their baths and got right into bed, phew!!

I did some straightenign up and made the sandwhiches for tomrrow’s aruchat eser and lunch.  Ben didn’t need me to make him anything according to the note I got home.  They are doing something special for Rosh Chodesh tomorrow.  I did want to make sure that I understood the notice, though, and I called my cousin’s house and my aunt picked up and I just double checked that I was right.   I was!  Yay ulpan!!

Tomorrow morning at 7 in the morning my cleaning MAN is coming!!  i am so excited.  So the place is pretty tidied up and all ready for him to scrub clean!!  Yipee.

Now that I have my room back (Keren is back in her room tonight now that our company has left) I can relax and don’t have to worry about waking her up with my coughing and sneezing.  I hope that she’ll sleep better now that she’s in her crib and not in the pack n’ play.  One can only hope!

So I didn’t get a chance to blog last night, totally forgot and even if I did remember I wasn’t feeling so well and didn’t get into bed until 11:30.  So I’ll start with yesterday.

Yesterday, Sunday, Eric and I got up and got the kids off to school and then we went to the supermarket.  I had a really lousy night sleep Saturday night and I was exhausted but I figured that I would take a nap in the afternoon.  So we got to the supermarket around 8:30 and would’t you know it, the supermarkets in Yishpero Center in Modiin only open at 9!!!  So we weere going to go back home so I could sleep b/c I have a really bad cold and feel lousy but we decided to make the most of the morning and get a cup of coffee and a croissant and wait for the supermarket to open.  So we did.  It was nice.

After our shopping we came home and I got into bed and put Keren in for a nap and we both napped while Eric did some work or whatever he did on the computer.  While we were napping the door guy came and put the facing of the front door back on so now we have a pretty door again and not a door with ugly glue splotches all over the place.  Yay. 

We ran out once more after we woke up from our naps to run some more errands and then got Ben from school and met Talia who was walking home on her way back from school.

We were basically killing time the rest of the day until our friends the Gitigs arrived.  Talia went to the park with a friend (Eric dropped them off and picked them up) and Ben hung out with me and played some games and Eric packed.  Then the Gitigs came and the rest of the  night was a blur.  We BBQd dinner and the kids were so excited about having company that they were bouncing off the walls.  We eventually wrestled them into bed and and cleaned up from dinner and then Eric got a call that the person he was getting a ride from to the airport was leaving at 8 instead of 9.  He had 10 mintues to get ready!  So he stuck his head in the sink and washed his hair in lieu of a shower and threw the rest of his things in a bag and ran out the door with a very quick goodbye!!  Luckily my friends were staying over so I wasn’t so sad.

We stayed up very late talking and then I had to take a shower and by the time I got into bed it was late and I read for a bit and then of course the mosquitoes started buzzing around my head when I went to turn off the light!!  I tried to find them but of course I couldn’t so I found some spray and sprayed myself.  I had a hard time sleeping b/c my nose was all runny and i was coughing and on top of that Keren woke up at 1 and 3 and Ben and Talia each woke up once as well!!  When it rains it pours!  Keren is sleeping with me b/c we have guests and I put the boys in her room and their little girl with Talia.  So I took Keren and put her in our pack n’ play and she woke up at 3 and saw that there were things to play with on the walls of her pack n’ play that she decided to play!!  she was kicking he legs and squeezing the butterflys which made a crinkly kind of noise and this is all going on at 3 am!!  OY!!

Anyway, got the kids out to school today with a little protest of Talia’s part that it’s not fair that the Gitigs don’t have to go to school and she does and then I went off to ulpan with Keren.  Keren wasn’t the easiest in Ulpan.  It’s getting harder to bring her to class with me now that she is getting older and more active.  I don’t know how much longer i am going to last!

After I picked Ben up we ate lunch together and then he played with his new Webkin that the Gitig’s bought for him.  Oh, forgot to mention that they brought us each presents but they got Ben a new Webkin and they got Talia rings and she freaked out that she didn’t get a Webkin and he did and now he has 2 and she only has 1.  Not one of my proudest parenting moments.  Anyway, then Talia came home and shortly thereafter Keren woke up from her nap. 

We were kind of sitting around not really knowing what to do when Liron called and said they were at Latrun and the kids were having a great time and if we wanted to come we would have to really hurry but we should go.  So we had 25 minutes to get there b/c they don’t allow anyone in after 4:30!  So we got there at about 4:28 after some mighty impressive driving, if I do say so myself, and they let us in!  The kids had such a great time climbing on the tanks.  At first Ben was scared that they might move or that they might actually shoot but he got used to the idea, after much explaining, that the tanks were old and didn’t work anymore and he was able to let loose and have a nice time.

We left as it was getting dark and we couldn’t see anything anymore and came home and fed the kids dinner.  Ben was BEYOND exhausted for some reason and he was throwing tantrums left and right.  Finally, after dinner, he announced that he wanted to go to sleep and he didn’t want to take a bath and I literally brushed his teeth, washed his nasty dirty feet and threw him into bed while the others were finishing up their dinner!  The best tantrum,  or the funniest one, was when they were discussing his Webkin and he told everyone his password and then he realized what he had done, that he divulged secret info, and he started to cry “now they all know my password!”  so Adin wanted to make him feel better and he chimed in “but we don’t know your user name!”  It was too cute.

After we got the kids to be we ate dinner ourselves, it was so nice to sit in peace and quiet and eat, and then we schmoozed for a while and now everyone is asleep and I am on the couch and trying to catch up on the days that seem to be flying by!   I can’t believe that it’s November in a few days!!

Oh, unfortunately I didn’t get to take any pictures of the kids at Latrun b/c if i had stopped to look for the camera so we could take it I wouldn’t have made it there on time to get in.  So we’ll have to go again.  The kids said they had such a great time that they want to go every time there is no school.  Ben said, “can we come back here every day that we don’t have school that isn’t rosh hashana or yom tov or sukkot or yom kippur?”

It’s 12:30 am here on Sat. night and I can’t fall back asleep after feeding Keren so I thought I would blog.

Friday was no different than any other Friday we’ve had here.  Eric took the kids to school b/c I overslept and then went to the bakery for our warm ruggelach, or “rufflelach” as Ben calls them.  Then we cleaned!  Big news on the cleaning front, as of Wednesday I will have a cleaning man coming in to clean the house.  I am so excited not to have to spend my morning off on Friday cleaning anymore!! 

Talia came home after going to get her Friday treat at the candy store nearby and helped me clean the bathrooms and earned her allowance for the week.  I’ve been trying to stress that she’s getting an allowance so she can go to the candy store and buy herself a treat but she has to help me around the house in order to earn it.  I don’t want to make it sound like she’s getting money to clean, though! 

Eric and Ben came zipping home on their bikes shortly after that.

We all went to a park in Modiin for an hour just to spend some family time together.  We wanted to find a really nice park there b/c there are some amazing parks there but unfortunately we couldn’t find the one my friend was talking about and we wound up at a sub-par park and then spent the rest of the time driving around, convinced we could find the other park.  It was good to get out anyway.

We came home from the park and showered and got ready for Shabbat.  The kids played outside with the neighbors while Eric was in shul and Keren napped.  Then we went out to some nice people for dinner.  The people we went to had a lot of kids but none of them really overlapped with ours.  Talia wound up at the park by shul until 9pm, playing with some other kids and Ben really hit it off with their daughter Tali who was at least 14 yrs. old, or something around there.  He was sitting on the couch and schmoozing with her.  It was so cute.  Today he told me that she had no voice b/c she lost it when she went on a trip with her friends and was talking a lot.  He told me that he wants her to babysit for him one day.  I think he has a little crush!

When we got home it was already after 9 and we were supposed to go to a shalom zachor, Erica and Josh had a baby boy (finally), but I was coming down with a cold and Eric was too tired.  We both went straight to sleep.

This morning I woke up and didn’t feel well at all.  Eric went to shul and I sent the kids later.  Ben had been up a lot last night b/c we had major thunder storms last nighth and he was woken up by them and scared.  So he went back to sleep after eating breakfast until close to 10!  Eric went to a different shul than we usually go to b/c we were invited to a Bar Mitzvah (another one!) there and then a kiddush afterwards at the peoples’ home.  I wound up skipping everything entirely and going back to sleep when Keren napped.  Eric said that there were a million people at their house all crammed around 2 tables of food and it was crazy.

We ate lunch around 1 and then relaxed for a little while.  It was pouring today so we couldn’t send the kids out in the afternoon after we ate.  They played while we read a little.  Before I knew it it was 3 and we were having guests for seudat shlishit.  We quickly made some salads and got the table set and the Fleishmans came over soon after.  We talked for a while and then ate and it was very nice.  It cleared up and the kids went to the park and came home just before Shabbat was over.

Tonight I wanted to go to sleep early and I did.  Eric got a call from the Spiegelmans that they needed him for shevah brachot at their house.  They needed a new face.  So he ran over there while I went to sleep and he came home just as I was waking up to feed Keren at 11.   I think I’ll try to go back to sleep now that I’ve summed up the weekend and woken Eric up with my typing!  oops…

So today was a big day in the life of our little Keren.  After ulpan to day and before I picked Ben up from school Eric and I took Keren to the local jewelry store in Modiin and got her ears pierced!!  It went great.  She was asleep when we got there so the man (yes, a man pierced my daughter’s ears!) was able to mark the spot where the earring were going to go with no difficulty whatsoever.  She woke up while we were chosing which earrings to pick and then she stayed in her carseat while he pierced first her right ear and then the left!  She let out a cry after the first one and I calmed her down in a second without even picking her up.  After the second one she let out more of a scream like she was angry at us.  After that one I picked her up and shushed her a little and she calmed down and was happy soon enough.  There was a woman there, in Israeli woman, and she wasn’t happy that we were doing it.  She was so funny.  She told us her heart was hurting her.  I think she was angry at us!  Anyway, it was great and now I am cleaning it and she hasn’t complained once since we got home.  She took a nice nap this afternoon and has been acting like everything is normal and nothing happened.

Today was my turn to drive carpool for Talia’s swim class.  After getting all the girls from school and getting to the swim class we realized that there was no swim class!  I was super annoyed at the swim teacher.  So then I drove the girls home and Talia went to one of their houses to play.  The whole thing took me half an hour and I was really annoyed.  Plus, I will have to drive next week to make up for this week.  I am going to have to switch with someone b/c Eric isn’t going to be here and I can’t fit everyone in out car.  Oh well.

While Talia was at her friend’s house and Eric was working Ben and I did some baking and some cooking for Shabbat.  A little while through I got a call inviting us for Friday night.  So I am not going to freeze some of the things that I made.  No big deal.  Happy for the invite.

Later Talia came home and the girl who comes to help her with her Hebrew came over shortly after.  I fed them all (i don’t pay her but I feed her!) and they all played.  After she left I got them into baths/showers and bed.

Spent much of the evening trying to upload a bunch of pictures and I was successful in doing so.  You can see the pictures we took of Keren today getting her ears pierced in one album and pictures from the hotel, the safari, our day at Sataf and our trip to Neot Kedumim with the Gitig’s in the other.  Enjoy!

So today Talia went to see High School Musical 3 with some friends!  She was driven there by a friend whose daughter was going too and Eric picked her up.  She had a great time and she said the movie was great.  I couldn’t talk to her too much about it because Ben didn’t know that she went to the movie.  I’ll have to find out more about it tomorrow.

So this morning while Talia was at the movie Eric went to help a friend out with a computer, or something like that and took Ben with him and I hung out at home and straightened out and caught up on some e-mail.  When they came back Eric went out to do some shopping and Ben and I hung out a little.  Keren basically slept ALL morning. 

When Eric came back with Talia and Keren finally woke up I took the kids to this monkey world place, or something like that with a friend of ours from camp who lives in Modiin.  It is 15 minutes away and a really incredible place.  We were able to walk around with monkeys right next to us!!  The kids were glad to be there with their friends and there was a lot for them to do there including zip lines and arts and crafts!  We were there from 2-5 and I think I am going to become a member of the place so that we can go all the time. 

We came home and I fed the kids and got them into bed nice and early because tomorrow we all have school.

But the best part of the day is the fact that Eric just now got his computer back up at work and he’s no longer in a bad mood and isn’t talking about hopping on a plane to America!  I am going to spend time with my happy husband now!