Tonight I am sitting at our table and chairs that we borrowed from a neighbor and writing my blog!  No more floor for me.  My tush appreciates it!

So I collapsed into bed last night and didn’t have a chance to blog.  After school yesterday Ben went out for a playdate and Talia came straight home.  My Savta came a little later on, as did my great Aunt Suzie.  They brought some plastic shelving for me that I put into one of the bathrooms to hold stuff.  Big help.  They also brought me some other useful items that I’ve needed since our lift isn’t here yet.  The best was Savta’s yummy noddle and cheese pudding!  They stayed for a while.  It was nice.  Talia and Ben were kind of looking for something to do while they were here and my grandmother suggested that they go play with friends!  So I guess they had had enough and she had had enough and wanted to just sit and talk so I sent them out again for another playdate.  That’s the great thing about living here!

When they left I walked accross the street (literally) to meet with the pediatrician here.  Unfortunately he doesn’t do well visits for kids under the age of 5.  So although Talia will go to him for both well and sick visits, Ben and Keren have to go to a tipat chalav, which is basically a clinic run by nurses from what I understand.  I am going tomorrow so I’ll see what it’s like.

After that the kids played and then I gave them a bath and we went out to dinner at a friend of mine from camp who lives down the block.  We had a BBQ, it was delicious.  Unfortunately, they have a big dog and Ben was really scared.  It was a very friendly dog that jumped on me when we walked in.  That’s all he had to see!  So they put it upstairs but it came down twice before they locked it up behind a closed door.  so the rest of the night Ben announced that he wanted to go home every 5 minutes!  Eventually he let us eat in peace and the kids fell asleep there on their couch watching tv and Eric carried them home.

So today we woke up and Talia decided that she wanted to walk to school by herself.  I was against the idea so I figured that I would walk her part of the way and then she could go the rest herself.  When it came time to leave me she chickened out.  She got really sad b/c she really didn’t want to go to school.  I wound up walking her the whole way with Ben also and then into the building and then she stood there crying that she didn’t want to go to school.  I felt SOOOOO terrible.  I left her at school, what else could I do? 

I took Ben who was very happy.  On the way there he told me that he wanted a playdate with “a little girl who wears glasses.”  I said okay, I would find her mom.  As we got close to school Ben saw her mother and told me!  So I introduced myself to her and asked if she had a little girl who wears glasses and she said yes!  I asked if she would like to come to our house after school and Ben piped in and said, “No, i want to go to her house!”  Her mom got a kick out of him and invited him over.  He played very nicely there until 4:00.

After I dropped him off I went back to Talia’s school to talk with someone there about the fact that Talia is miserable.  She was VERY simpathetic and said she would talk to her teacher for me.   I told her I could talk to her teacher but over the phone would be difficult in Hebrew.  I also signed her up for something called chancha or something like that.  It’s where a sherut leumi girl comes to the house and helps with Hebrew.  She also told me that Ulpan is starting next week for Talia. 

When I picked Talia up her spirits were high.  She told me that she understood some of what went on today.  She also said that she figured out when her teacher was telling another girl something and she explained it to the other girl and he teacher said “yofi talia!!”  so that made her feel good.   Then her teacher called me and we spoke a little and she said she had a good afternoon.  Talia told me that the morning was not so great but that the afternoon was better.  I hope gettting her off to school will be a little easier tomorrow and a happier experience.

After school Talia came home with a friend.  When her friend left she went next door to play with the little girl there.  She is very busy after school and is certainly enjoying her social life.  She has another playdate lined up for tomorrow. 

When I picked Ben up from his playdate the mom told me that she suggested they take out the cars to play with but that Ben said he would rather play with the dolls that she had.  She said she figured that he has other sisters.  Also, she is a full year younger than him and she said that he was helping her with everything and being very “big brotherly.”  Eric said he probably likes being the older one for a change.

Anyway, they came in for dinner eventually and we made grilled cheese in the sandwich maker and those instant pastas that you add water to, like the Traditions Soups that they have in America, and then wait 5 minutes and it cooks somehow.  They have yummy flavors here.  The kids had Thai noodles.  They loved it.

Since we have no trees or plants by our house, Talia decided that she would plant a peach pit and grow a peach tree.  We’ll see how that one turns out.  She left a stick by the area that she planted the tree so that she would know where it’s going to come up.

After baths Eric said goodbye to the kids and told them he was going to America.  They were really sad.  They got used to having him around constantly.  They made a big deal about it and Ben was screaming “I want to go to America”.  He just told me yesterday that we were lucky that we didn’t have to get onto a plane and go!  Talia was upset but was calmed down when Eric assured her he would get her the undershirt she wants with the “skinny straps” and bring them back for her.  Eric was really sad but I told him that they are usually sad when he travels but that then they forget about him (in a good way!) and they are happy.   I am going to be lonely at first also but I know that we always manage and we’ll adjust.  The first time is the hardest.

On that note, I am going to say goodbye to him b/c the taxi should be here momentarily.  Keren finally cried herself to sleep.  We just started to Ferberize her.  Then I am off to sleep.

The link below is the picture I took this evening of the sunset.  It looked better in person than in the picture.

http://www.yorkphoto.com/share/p=4631220468645030/l=418945919/g=70636009/cobrandOid=1002/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB