Bring on the next one

One holiday down, a bunch more to go!

It was a very nice Rosh Hashana.  We had really nice meals at home with the kids in the evenings and during the days we had nice meals with friends.  It went by very fast.  The first day I went to shul with Ben and Keren (Eric and Talia were already there) and got there in time for the kiddush that they have before Mussaf.  I hung out a little but then had to get back home to put Keren to sleep.  Today I made it for the first kolot of the shofar blowing and then again turned around and went home and put Keren to sleep.  So there was pretty much no shul for me.  I miss the days of hiring someone to watch my kids for me so I can sit in shul and daven!

I started a new tradition this Rosh Hashana.  I have been thinking about it for a while and asked a rabbi about it this summer and decided I would start on Rosh Hashana.  Before now I’ve been lighting just 2 candles for Shabbat, a custom that my mother took from my father’s mother.  When I got married I did as my mother did and lit 2 candles b/c that is what my mother does.  This year I decided to add a candle for each of my kids.  Talia and Ben were really excited about it when I told them what I was doing!!  They were cute asking which candle was for who. 

This morning it rained at about 7.  Eric said the rain woke him up.  They were calling for rain so it didn’t totally surprise us.  It was still a very warm, sunny day but not as hot as yesterday.  The people who we ate by today had a hafsakat chashmal and they wound up with no air-conditioning.  Luckily, although it was hot, it wasn’t unbearable in their house without the air on.  Had it been yesterday, we might have had to have left and taken the food to go!

Talia was upset that we didn’t have a fish head and a pomegranate at the table and the other things that she learned about.  We told her we would do it next year!!  I have a friend here who does all the simanim so I’ll have to call her next year so she can help me figure it all out.  Talia was into it.  I had no idea!

Here is a video of Talia singing a song for Rosh Hashana.  I think she made it up.

So tonight Eric is off to the States.  He’s been here so long that it’s weird now that he’s gone!  Of course as he was on his way out we saw our first mosquito since we are back.  I killed it with the tennis racket zapper that we have and I am praying that I am not woken up by buzzing in my ear tonight!

Tomorrow, being a fast day, Talia gets out at 11:45 (although I have no idea why they can’t just dismiss them at 1:30 instead).  I told her to make plans for a play date or something b/c I will be fasting and I am not entertaining the kids tomorrow!!  I have to find out if they have their English chug.  Either way, there’ s plenty of time for a play date and the chug.

I took an adorable video of Keren which I hope to upload at some point over the next coupld of days.  If I can”t figure it out b/c I video taped her on the big video camera, then I will just redo it on the small digital camera and upload it from there.  I am pretty sure I can get her to perform again.