We had a very busy Shabbat.  It flew!!  Friday night we went out to new friends.  I say new friends b/c we’ve known them for a while but were never invited there for a meal.  It was a really nice meal.  We stayed until close to 10.  When we got home we put the kids to sleep and went straight to sleep ourselves.  At 1 in the morning there were kids talking and singing and yelling.  I thought it was coming from outside at first but then I realized it was coming from next door!  Our neighbors!!  I thought for sure they would wake up the kids but fortunately everyone slept through it, everyone but me and Eric.  Uch!!  I later found out that the parents were away and I don’t know what kind of part was going on over there at 1 AM but it was ROCKING.  So we had a horrible night sleep.

Shabbat day I stayed home with Keren and got ready for the company.  I put Keren in for an early nap since I was fairly certain that she wouldn’t nap when the company was here.  It was a very nice afternoon.  The only problem was that all the kids wound up playing in the dirt outside at one point and there was mud all over the house.  It was so bad that I had to sweep and then mop when Shabbat was over.   We also had a TON of leftovers.  I begged the girls who slept here for Shabbat to take them back to school with them but they barely took anything. 

Today I skipped my book club.  I love going but I couldn’t get out of bed.  It turned out that no one in our family could get out of bed.  At 9-ish, when I finally called out to Eric that I was awake and he should bring in Keren to snuggle with me, he told me that she was still in bed but had just woken up!  Talia and Ben also, it turns out, slept until around 8.  Eric said that the alarm clock went off but the sound was all the way down on it (thanks, probably, to Keren) and he slept until 7:40.  So we all got a bit of a late start today.  

Talia had early dismissal today b/c of the fast so we took Keren to the park behind the shul which is also right next to Talia’s  school and hung out there until she was finished.  Then we all went home together and I did some homework with Talia while Eric and Keren napped.  After that I picked up Ben from school.   He had a normal day. 

Talia had a friend come over to play for a little bit.  Friends of ours came over for an hour to chat for a while.  Close to 3 I put a movie on for the kids that Eric just finished downloading last night.  I figured they could watch it from 3-5 and then when the fast was over we would all eat together.  My cousin’s husband Avi came over to daven here and break his fast here.  He was working in Yerushalayim and it was on his way home.  I was really happy b/c I had all that left over food from Shabbat and he really helped us put a dent in it.  Now I won’t have to throw it all out at the end of the week.  I should be able to finish most of it. 

Tonight Eric is flying out.  I hope that he doesn’t get stuck in NY over Shabbat.  I have a very bad feeling that he’s going to get stuck in some kind of snow storm.  I already told Robin and she already invited me for Shabbat in case he gets stuck.  Eric is getting a ride to the airport in a few minutes.  A friend is going tonight on a flight earlier than him so he’s going to hang out in the lounge for a while and save the money on the cab.  Ben was crying in bed tonight b/c he’s sad that Eric is leaving.  I better make this a fun week for him with lots of play dates so he’s not sad.  Poor kid.  He’s always upset and then the week always flies right by and he’s always surprised when I tell him that Eric will be home the next day.

Today Keren was walking around saying “opa, shuk a duk.”  My dad, when he was here, would give her a ride on his legs and say “shuk a di duk”.  She was running around saying it over and over again today.  It was really too cute.  I guess she misses her opa!  I am glad that she remembers him.