Let me catch up on Friday through Monday since I haven’t posted in a while.

Friday the kids went to school and Keren went in for a nap and I prepared the house for shabbat so that we would be able to go straight to the pool after the kids got home from school.  Talia of course didn’t have to go to school until 9 and instead of getting up late after her zimria she got up and got dressed and was ready for school, for once, before Ben!  So I took Ben to school and Talia hung out and played on the computer until it was time for her to walk to school.

After the kids came home we quickly ate and got packed and ran to the pool.  We were there from 2-5 and it was really great.  Keren loved the water and had a blast.  Talia and Ben loved the fact that they knew so many people there!  I explained that last year the same people were there but they didn’t know them b/c we had just moved in.  So a ton of their friends were there and they had a blast.  I bought them ice cream and ices while we were there (a requirement now) and I tried to give some ice cream to Keren.  She didn’t know what to do about the coldness.  She kept opening her mouth and then making a terrible face when I put the ice cream in her mouth.  It was adorable.

We came home and I fed the kids and gave them showers and then Eric came home.  He was exhausted from his midnight flight but made it through dinner without falling asleep.

Shabbat was nice.   We ate out.  It was uneventful.  We came home at 4 and Eric and Keren went to sleep while Ben and I went to the park and Talia went to a friend.   While we were at the park Ben wanted to see if there were any swings free that he could swing on.  He said to me “I am going to catch a swing”  I asked him how to say that in Hebrew and he told me and it turns out that he was translating it word for word fro Hebrew to English!!  So funny.

Sunday Eric took the kids to school (much to Benjamin’s dismay) and let me sleep.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t fall back asleep after the alarm woke me up so I relaxed in bed with my book.  While I was reading I heard little steps and then I saw Keren at the door.  She saw me and came to me and I lifted her into bed with me.  A few seconds later I heard Eric calling her from downstairs!  He was washing the dishes and she came up to me without him even noticing.  Funny.  These days she is able to get down the steps by herself so it’s not so dangerous when she goes up, although we still prefer it if she doesn’t go up by herself, obviously.

I can’t remember what we did yesterday while the kids were in school but I know we did something.  I think Eric fixed the screen that Keren had broken a while ago.  He brought a tool to fix it back with him from America so that it wouldn’t keep breaking.  Oh, we also went to the supermarket to get some milk and I stopped in for a blood test at the Macabi center that’s there.  My doctor wanted me to do a routine blood workup.  Unfortunately, no one told me that I had to fast for 12 hours and I didn’t read the referral b/c it was in Hebrew.  So I still have to do that and I am waiting for a good day.  I think I will do it Tuesday morning.

When the kids got home we were all ready to go to the pool since the kids didn’t have any chugim.  We told them we were going and even said that Talia’s friend could come.  I told Eric that we should probably call the pool just in case they weren’t open for some reason.  Of course, when he called they said that this month they aren’t open until 4 and on Sunday’s they aren’t open at all!!  Ben freaked out!!  We told them we would take them to the beach but Ben was really upset.  Talia was happy and she said her friend would just come with us tot he beach instead.

We had a great time at the beach.  We went a different way than we usually go and it took us no time at all.   The kids really had a nice time.  The water was warm already and Talia and I went in really deep and swam.  At the end Talia got a bite from something, we think from a jellyfish and we was not a happy camper.  I gave her cream when we got home and she didn’t complain about it much after that.  Keren, who has no fear, crawls right into the water.  She was getting hit in the face by waves and couldn’t care less.  In the end her eyes were all red from the salt water!

Last night we put the kids to sleep and then went back to Tel Aviv to meet our friend Liron who was in on business from America.  We went to the port in Tel Aviv.  It was really nice.  We left Keren screaming in her bed with a babysitter sitting on the couch.  I felt so bad.  We didn’t get home until 12 and today Eric and I pretty much walked around like zombies the whole day.

This morning I took the kids to school and then took Keren to the park to play on the slide.  She LOVES the slide.  We came home and I left Keren with Eric while I went to meet a friend for breakfast at a nearby cafe.  It was a nice, relaxing morning for me!

Ben brought Chen and her brother home from school with him as well as a friend of his that he’s been asking to come over for a while.  His mother was so excited when the boys said they want to play!  She couldn’t believe it for some reason.  Ben has been to his house once but he’s never been here. 

The kids played nicely and then Eric made them slushies while I put Keren to sleep.  While the kids were drinking their slushies the kids were talking and we overheard some not nice words, words we like to call ”bathroom words.”   Eric asked them to stop using those words and they basically laughed at the way he asked them!!  I guess he didn’t conjugate a word correctly and they thought it was hysterical!  They are already starting to laugh at us   So he basically had the total opposite effect that he wanted to have.

Anyway, Eric went to lie down for a bit so he can work tonight without being too exhausted.  I didn’t get to sleep and I was kind of tired the rest of the day. 

Ben had karate today.  His friend left a little before 4 and he went.  He insisted on wearing sneakers b/c he said there is a board that he has to break with his foot and he can’t do it with his Crocs.  So he wore sneakers.  When he came home I asked if he broke the board and he said that his teacher didn’t take it out today.  Oh well, there is always next week.  

Talia’s friend came over while Ben was in Karate.  I fed them all dinner when he came home and then they played outside and inside and all around very nicely together.  It was just a really busy and a really crazy day.

Keren has been doing this thing where we weren’t sure if she was scratching her ear or the back of her head.  Eric thought it might be lice and I was convinced it was her ear that was bothering her.  Tonight she was clearly trying to rub the back of her head.  We looked and she has a bad rash there under her hair.  It never stops with this kid.  So I gave her some antihistamine that I had from something else she had and put her to sleep and I will take her to the doctor tomorrow to check on her ear and on that and also give him the blood work results that we had done on her for her 1 year checkup.

Tennis update:  Tennis was great tonight!!  Really getting back the game more and more as I play.