I forgot to write about Keren’s first time out on Friday night.  It was hysterical!  Eric was in shul and Keren kept biting the kids.  After the third time that I told Keren that if she bit one of the kids again that I would put her in a time out, she bit Ben again.  So I put her in a little chair and I made her face the sliding glass door and she started to cry.  She got back up and I put her back in her chair and she sat there crying.  When I turned around to go back to playing with the kids, I noticed that Ben was crying.  I asked Talia why he was crying and she told me that he felt bad for Keren.   After about 20 seconds Talia also burst into tears.  So I had the three of them hysterical crying.  I had to take Keren out of her time out b/c Ben and Talia couldn’t keep it together.  It was hysterical!!

This morning Keren and I met my friend for breakfast.  It was nice until Keren started melting down.  Oh well.   She was up pretty early this morning so I guess she had to nap a little earlier than usual.  She brought me 3 books to read, yay!  I was out of books and Eric is away for the week so this will give me something to do.

Robin called and asked me to take Eitan home with us and we wound up going to the park for a little while with Ben, Eitan and Gili (I asked her to come along to the great excitement of her mother).  We came home and I fed the kids lunch and they played nicely.  Talia came home and we did a little bit of homework  and then in jest I told her that I wished she was old enough to go to the makolet for me to which she replied that she is old enough to go and she wants to go for me!!   So I sent her to the makolet with a plastic sandwich bag full of coins and a list consisting of 2 potatoes and a bag of carrots.  She came back with the two things and said she would have been back sooner but she couldn’t find the area where they keep the vegetables until she decided to ask someone and then saw that they are kept by the door that she used to come into the store.  She was so cute.  She brought me the receipt and told me what the change was that she got and how much she spent, etc.  I think I might have to make up a few more makolet trips for her in the future b/c she had such a good time and felt so grown up. 

Eitan went home soon after that.  Talia had her “bayit cham” at her friend’s house so we hopped in the car and delivered a bunch of Bar Mitzvah presents and then I took her to her friend’s house in Lapid (neighboring town/yishuv).   Three 5th graders came over at 5 to play with the kids.  They come as part of some kind of school project or something like that.  It took a while for Ben and Keren to warm up to them.  At one point I even asked Ben if he wanted them to leave.  He said no and after about 20 minutes he was playing with them.   They got a kick out of Keren and enjoyed playing with her a lot.  Two of the girls were pretty outgoing and one was kind of quiet.  It was nice b/c I was able to finish making dinner and make lunch for the kids for tomorrow while they played and were happy!  I am looking forward to next Sunday when they come again.

Eric is upstairs packing as I write this.  He is leaving tonight so he can get in for Eric’s sister Ayelet’s engagement party.  Of course, since he’s booked his flight, they have changed the party to Sat. night, tonight, so he will be leaving us a day early for nothing really.  We are going to take advantage of him being there on a Sunday and I am going to send him with a big shopping list

Friday we went to get Ben a new passport.  His passport finally expired.  He has this horrible picture of him as a baby all smushed up on there that looks nothing at all like him.  We took him and Keren to Tel Aviv for a 9 o’clock appointment.  It was pretty simple and we were out of there in an hour and home in time to take Ben to school for the last 2 hours.  We told him it was his choice if he wanted to go or not but he chose to go b/c he wanted to go to the Shabbat party and get his candy.  You know Ben, if there is candy involved he has to have some.

About an hour before Shabbat I was heating up the soup and making the kids shnitzel for dinner and I looked outside and happened to see a big spark on the power line.  Then half the lights in the house went out.  It was basically the upstairs and some downstairs lights.  We put a lamp in the kitchen and plugged the freezer in the storage room into another outlet and prepared the kids that it was going to be VERY dark in their rooms but we would leave the shades open so they would have the lights from the street lights.  After I lit candles we saw a guy up on the ladder fixing whatever was broken and the lights all went on!  So Eric scrambled around the house undoing what we did and making sure that we were set for Shabbat and fixing Shabbos clocks.  It was pretty hectic. 

Of course, while all this is going on my neighbor’s brother and sister-in-law show up with their stuff at my front door.  She was supposed to call me if they were coming but I guess she didn’t want to put me out b/c they just showed up and I hadn’t made the beds or anything!  He came with all the bedding and everything so I think she didn’t tell me on purpose.  I think she wanted to send them with the bedding so I wouldn’t have to do it all.  I’m not sure.

Shabbat was LOOONG.   The kids fought today while Keren napped.  It wasn’t a very pleasant afternoon.  At 4 Eric took Ben and Keren to the park (despite the freezing weather) and Talia went to a friend’s house to play.

I had some funny things to write about the kids but I can’t think of anything at the moment.

Check out Keren’s kissy face:

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Today was a windy and rainy day so Keren and I stayed in this morning (after doing the shopping) doing laundry and coloring while Eric went to Uplan.  Eric had to stand up in class today and give a speech about the place where he grew up.  Actually, he was supposed to have done it a month ago but somehow got away without doing it for this long. 

This afternoon I took the kids to visit my grandfather in the hospital he is in now for rehab.  He cried when I walked in with the kids and hugged Keren.  Luckily the kids didn’t get freaked out b/c he usually teases them like that but this time he was serious.  He was very happy to see them.  He looked good.  He was in his wheelchair the whole time we were there and he is now able to get in and out of his chair without a nurse, so that is a big improvement since the last time I saw him.

We got home late and Eric helped me get the kids into the house b/c it was pouring when we got home.  We tucked the kids in and I cleaned the chicken and folded the laundry and now I am watching a little American Idol before heading to bed.

Hell of a day Eric and I had today!  We had to take this stupid, ridiculous test today to get into the yishuv that we want to live in.  You would think that it’s a meeting with people on the vaad and they ask you questions about yourself or something like that.  Well, it’s not!!  Today was a day full of copying pictures, drawing a tree and making up a story about that tree, telling a story about 3 pictures that they showed up, drawing pictures inside circles, making paper airplanes and participating in other stupid stupid stupid activities.  Thrown in there were some questions about ourselves and an interview with a woman who, I’m sure, doesn’t live on the yishuv and is employed by the testing center.   Oh, and it was in Hebrew!  We were told that we could answer in English and not have to pay an extra 150 shekels to have them translate it but in the end they charged us (but not our friends who took it last week) and by the end we said that as long as they were charging us that they could give us the rest of the test in English.  So the hard stuff was in Hebrew and the easy stuff was in English.  Oh well.

Meanwhile, what to do with our kids when we have to be there from 8 am to 2 pm??  Well, thank you thank you thank you Robin Zemel for rescuing us!  We zipped out of the house at 7:40 this morning (we were told we could get to the testing center in yerushalayim at 8:30 instead of and dropped Ben and Keren off at Robin’s house and then took Talia to school.  She took care of Keren all day and made sure that Ben went to and from school and English.  Talia went to a friend’s house and her mother took her to English and then I picked them up from gymnastics at the end of the day.  Robin went so far as to tell us to go out for lunch after the horrific morning that we had.  She said she had everything under control.  We went!!  I wonder if we can take her with us to Even Shmuel, assuming that I drew the right pictures this morning, that is!

After a day like today I don’t feel very much like blogging.  I will just say that tonight when I picked Talia up from gymnastics she was helping the other girls clean up like she was supposed to be doing.  They all pick the mats up over their heads and carry them over to where the teacher piles them up.  I noticed tonight that Talia is so short that she kind of jumps as she walks to lift the mats up b/c the other girls are so much taller than she is and they lift them up higher then she can actually reach.  It’s so funny!

Talia was supposed to have had a sleep over at her friend Rachel’s house on Friday night.  She went there for dinner and all was well.  At 11:30 at night I heard what sounded like a skateboard on cobblestone but then I heard “Eric and Tammy!”  Talia’s friend’s mom was outside with Talia and Rachel yelling our name and knocking on our door.  Apparently Rachel told Talia about a movie she had just watched where the pictures came to life and it scared the crap out of  Talia so much that she wanted to come home!  I felt so bad but so did Yochevet (Rachel’s mom).  I think Talia was embarrassed too. 

Shabbat morning we went to 2 Bar Mitzvahs.  We had a kiddush first at a friend’s house (the party is tonight) and then we had a luncheon at the shul.  Ben was supposed to go to Robin’house for lunch and Talia was supposed to go to Rachel’s house.  In the end, they both went to Robin’s house because Talia wouldn’t even go back to Rachel’s house!!

Last night we stayed in and watched 2 new movies that Eric brought back for us.  Well, they were old movies but to us they were new. 

This morning Eric got the kids off to school and Eric, Keren and I went to meet with a potential architect.

This afternoon the kids made me cards for my birthday and then they baked a napoleon cake with Eric.   Meanwhile, I entertained Keren outside and then brought her inside for some play dough time (her new favorite thing to do next to coloring)

This evening we went to a beautiful Bar Mitzvah locally at a place called Neot Kedumim.  It was basically in a cave that was lit up with candles and lights.  It was very, very nice.  We were seated at a great table with our friends and we had a great time. 

Now that we are finally home and wedding and Bar Mitzvah free (until the next invitation lands at our door) I can relax and not have to worry about babysitting for a while, phew!

Yesterday was a nice day and I took Keren to the park in Modiin in the morning while Eric did one of his volunteer policeman things.  He set up a machsom and gave out tickets in Ganei Modiin.  Apparently people don’t stop at the stop sign there.   Then he went to our neighbors in Nahalin and basically checked papers.  He said it was exciting.  For some reason he couldn’t get rid of the huge gun that he carries when he does this stuff and he brought it home with him!!  Needless to say, I was not happy to see it.  He got rid of it later on in the evening when I wasn’t home.  I didn’t let him show it to Ben, I was nervous.

Anyway, in the afternoon Talia went to her chug and then to a friend’s house to practice for a play that they put on today in honor of Tu B’Shvat.  Ben had his swim chug and then I was too tired to do much with him so he watched some TV and then we played with Playdough, something that Keren really enjoys doing!

Last night I went to visit Saba in the hospital and wound up staying there by myself until he finally fell asleep at 10:40!  He wanted me to stay with him b/c he was nervous to be alone.  I told him to just call the nurse if he needs anything but he seemed very anxious. I was able to get him another sleeping pill simply by asking a nurse for it.  She just opened the pill, plopped it in my hand and let me walk away with it.  She didn’t check his chart, she didn’t ask for ID, she didn’t make sure that I didn’t pop it in my own mouth!!   When I have the kids and the nurse gives me medication, I have to sign for it after she checks my bracelet and asking my name and then she stands there watching that I take it.  Anyway, Saba finally calmed down a while later after the sleeping pill (his third, I believe) and I was finally able to leave. 

So today I was exhausted, again!  I think that makes 3 nights this week that I’ve gone to sleep after 12.   In the morning Keren and I spent time with Ben in his gan coloring.  Keren and Ben love that time that we spend there so I try to do it every Friday.  I probably could do it every day but I don’t want to annoy the teachers.   We then made our usual bakery run and I payed them also for what I owed them last week.  Glad I remembered.   It was beautiful today and we spent much of the afternoon outside in the back with the kids watching the usual festivities while the kids pulled out weeds and got dirty in the mud.

I have more but it’s 5 minutes before Shabbat and Keren is enjoying herself pulling all the DVDs off the shelf, as usual!!  I have to clean up and light candles.

Shabbat Shalom!

Just really quickly to bring the blog up to date, yesterday was a pretty typical Tuesday with English chugim, etc.  At night we went to shevah brachot for Avigail in Ramat Beit Shemesh.  It was another really, really late night!

Today I was so zonked that after spending the morning with Keren cleaning up the house, doing laundry and a quick stint at the park, I gave Keren something to eat, threw her into bed for a nap and then took a nap myself!

This afternoon we went to visit Saba in the hospital.  I managed to get all of the kids in to see him.  I don’t think the staff at the hospital would notice if I brought an elephant into the room to visit him, to tell the truth!!  He looked old and sad.  It was hard to see him.  Keren tickled his toes for a while and they both laughed.  Talia and Ben didn’t really know what to do.  Ben, after seeing the bag containing Saba’s urine in it said to me, Mom, your bag was much bigger than Saba’s bag when you were in the hospital!  So that was funny. 

Savta took the kids home and I sat there for a little while longer with Eric and with my cousin Avi.  We all left at 4 and my aunt came to sit with him. 

We got home late and I got the kids into showers and into bed.

So last night we went to our first ever wedding in Israel!  It was crazy!!  It was in Yerushalayim and there were over 700 people there.  The chuppah was really nice, except for the 2 longs speeches, and when they sang Im Eshkachech Yerushalayim and we were in Yerushalayim… well, you know!  Anyway, it was Channah Spiegelman’s daughter Avigail who got married and so it was  camp reunion on one hand and full of Chashmonaim people on the other hand. I knew a million people there. 

Today was an exhausting day because we were so tired from going to sleep so late last night.  Eric did the morning with the kids so I was able to sleep until 8:30 when he had to go to ulpan.  Talia was home when Eric woke me. He said she said she had a stomach ache but that the last time she said that she wound up really being sick so he didn’t want to send her to school.  Keren and I had a play date at a friends house.  We are FINALLY getting a group together to play in the morning once a week so I don’t blow my brains out now that it’s rainy and cold outside and Keren and I have nothing to do.  I told Talia that I would give her breakfast and bring her to school or she could stay in her room the rest of the day in her bed.   She put up quite a fight but just when I was about to leave she said she would let me take her to school.   She made a miraculous recovery and had a great day.

Not much else happened today.  Just rain and sun all day long with some hail in the mix.  Crazy weather in this country.  Oh, and we finally decided to put on the heat this afternoon.  So the heat is officially on!

Friday morning I went to school with Ben and stayed there for about a half and hour while he and Keren colored.  I’ve been doing it every Friday.  It is something that Ben enjoys and Keren gets a real kick out of it too.  In fact, when I wanted to leave and couldn’t get her out of there I said, Bye Keren.  She said, Bye Mommy!  So that didn’t quite work out the way I had hoped.  I wound up carrying her out of there crying.  She sits and colors so nicely when she is there!

We took out usual Friday walk to the bakery and makolet and ran into the same people we usually see.  I only had 100 shekels and the woman at the bakery told me to just pay next week when I come!  I’ll never get used to that.  After that we headed to get flowers and bring them over to Channah and family since Avigail is getting married today and it was her Shabbat Kallah.  I thought it would be nice to do and I was going over there anyway to lend them our air mattresses.

Eric came hom in the afternoon.  I picked him up.  He brought home new sneakers for Ben that don’t fit him.  They are too small.  His foot must have grown 2 sizes since this summer.  So we have a very disappointed Ben.  Eric said he threw a complete fit this morning when they realized they would have to be exchanged.  I feel terrible.  I will have to measure his foot this time with a chart that I have here before I send Eric back to Stride Rite.

Friday night after dinner I walked Talia to her friend’s house for a sleep over.  It was Talia’s first time sleeping at a friend’s house.  The only other time she slept out was at camp and we didn’t really count that.  She also went to a sleep over party recently come to think of it.  Anyway,  I walked her there but not inside, she said she would be embarrassed if I walked her inside.  She said on the way that she had butterflies in her stomach b/c she was so excited and nervous.  I told her she didn’t have to go but she wanted to.  She wound up having a great time.

It was Eric’s turn to bring the booze and the cake for the kiddush on Shabbat.  Ben and I baked a ton this week and Eric brought it.   Eric said it all went over very well and everyone enjoyed the home baked goods.  While Ben was playing in shul he ran into a door with his head.  He had a HUGE bump on his head and we were worried about him for a while.  We ran home to put ice on it and give him Tylenol.  I haven’t seen him yet today but he was fine the rest of the day once it stopped hurting him.

After shul we brought our food over to friends of ours.  We had a really nice lunch with them.  It is the first time we’ve done something like that since we are here.  We wound up staying there until close to 4.  When we left we came home to put our food away and Talia met her friends and hung out with them and we went to Channah’s house to say hi and visit her brothers who are in for the wedding.   We hung out there until Eric went to shul and then somehow Ben, Keren and I wound up in Robin’s house for the last few minutes of Shabbat.  We walked home and met Eric coming up the hill to find us since he was locked out of the house. 

This morning I slept in until Keren escaped from Eric’s line of sight while we went to use the bathroom and came to wake me up.  We ran into Kiriat Sefer so I could get new heels put on my shoes.  I want to wear them to the wedding tonight.  Keren played in the park there for a while while we waited for my shoes to be ready.

Now Keren is napping and Eric is at the gym.  When the kids come home from school we’ll probably take them to a park since it’s another nice day, although a little windy.

Tonight we have the wedding and my grandmother is supposed to come babysit until Jere can get here after her doctor’s appointment.  We got a call that my grandfather fell and broke his hip and is in the hospital when Shabbat ended.  We didn’t think my grandmother would make it here b/c of that but he’s had his surgery and he’s doing fine, thank G-d, and she’s been with him all night and all day and I think this might be a welcome break for her, to be with the kids and enjoy them a little.  If she doesn’t come then I’ll stay home and put the kids to sleep and wait for Jere to come and then I’ll got to the wedding a little bit later on.  So we’ll see what happens.

Yesterday was another cold, rainy day so Keren and I quickly did our food shopping after dropping the kids off at school and then we ran home and stayed in the whole morning. When it was time for a nap I put her into her crib and she started to cry.  I thought it was probably because she is so used to going out and she wasn’t tired at all (even though she woke up at 6:30 again!).  I the end I snuggled with her and gave her a speech about not crying when I put her in and she didn’t cry and went right to sleep.  I think she listened to me

When the kids came home from school I gave them lunch and then took Ben over to Robin’s house.  Talia, Keren and I continued on to see my grandparents in Petach Tikavah.  My grandmother had something removed from her finger and wasn’t able to drive so we went to them instead.  Ben didn’t want to go b/c he had a  bday party so he stayed with Eitan all afternoon and when we came home we picked him up and he was showered and in pajamas and ready for bed!  I love Robin!!

Anyway, we had a nice time there and I was able to help Talia with her book report while my grandmother played with Keren.  So that was a big help b/c that book report is due on Monday and Eric did the last one with her and I had to do this one with her and I was dreading it.  It’s a problem that Keren is always around and looking for attention.  It doesn’t give me any time to do homework with Talia. I think that next year when Ben starts getting homework I am definitely going to need to bring someone in to help during homework time to either do it with them or take care of Keren or the kids not doing the homework.  We really had a nice time there and went out to dinner with my grandparents and Aunt Suzie.  My grandmother suggested that we could start coming to her some weeks. I told her that it’s very nice but the whole point of this Wednesday visit started b/c she offered to come and help me so I could go shopping or cook, etc.  Now it’s turned into just a weekly visit with my grandparents which, while nice, doesn’t help me at all if I can’t get anything done!!  I told her that I would love to come another day but on Wednesdays I am already starting my Shabbat preparations.  So we’ll see what happens in the future.  Certainly on a Shabbat where we don’t have company, like this one, I can go there on a Wednesday afternoon.

This morning I schlepped out at 7 to get Foster from the bus and when I got there and turned my cellphone on I got his message that he had missed the bus!  So I went home to the kids, who were getting dressed and finished up and took them to school.  In the end he got a ride here b/c there was no way I was going back there for him 30 minutes later.

I went to Yerushalayim today with Robin and another friend from the yishuv.  We all needed gifts for past and upcoming Bar Mitzvahs.  Keren was pretty well behaved and we also stopped to get a bite to eat.  It was a really nice morning and we lucked out with the weather.  It somehow was nice and sunny in Yerushalayim even though it was rainy and gross here.  When we got home I transferred a very sleepy Keren into her bed and crossed my fingers that she would stay asleep!  She wound up sleeping for 2 hours.  Guess we tired her out in Yerushalayim.

Ben went straight to a friend’s house after swim and then from there went to some kind of Tu B’Shvat arts and crafts thing that they had in the shul.  Here is the project that he made:

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Meanwhile, Talia came home and then went out to her survival chug and came back with the muddiest shoes I’ve ever seen.  It tooka while to clean them and it is going to take days until they dry out.  She said the were racing in the mud.  I, of course, was just thrilled!  Take a look:

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When she came home she invited a friend to play and they played nicely until 6.  At 6 I took her friend home and picked up Ben. 

We got news today that we won the michraz and we now own a piece of land (pending approval from the vaad hakabalah, of course).  Very exciting news.  All 4 families all won their land!!  Incredible!!

I took a cute picture of Keren the other day wearing her dress up Barbie shoes:

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