Crazy Day!

I want to start off by writing that Ben and his friend Or are in the kitchen eating pizza babbling away in Hebrew and I just had to stop them and ask Ben what they were talking about b/c  I didn’t catch all of it.  Too funny.

SO yesterday afternoon when the kids came home from school we took them to Even Shmuel to check out the lot of land that was supposed to be ours by this afternoon.  We went with another couple and had a nice time looking at other people’s houses and we met a nice couple from Ramat Beit Shemesh who said they were moving b/c it was to chareidi there and they were hoping that some Americans would move in to Even Shmuel.  They weren’t American, just as a side note, but I guess they want the prices to come up!  Anyway, when we finished there we went to the mall there for dinner.  BIG MISTAKE!  We knew the people in the area weren’t as upscale as, let’s say, the people in Modiin.  We weren’t expecting, however, to see the kind of people that we saw there.  I wasn’t thrilled and neither was my friend that we were with.  The two of us sat there miserably mourning the potential loss of our beautiful and beloved Azrielli Mall in Modiin.  I mean, if Ben wants to be friends with other kids who have earrings in their ears, I guess that’s fine… OY!!

The entire evening I was doubting our pick of communities or rather of the area itself.  I calmed down a lot today when another couple went down and looked at the schools and talked to some people.  I think it’s going to be fine and I think that with time the area will get better.  I know it’s been getting better the past few years already.  I also think that maybe the mall is considered down town (wishful thinking?)

Today we went shopping (again) for dining room chairs and (again) came home empty handed.  Argh!  When we were on the way we found out that the deal with the people who were selling us the land kind of fell through and we would have to go another route.  So now we are all looking into buying from someone second hand or we are looking into entering the michraz, which is basically like bidding for it.  So it’s all become more complicated but could, in the long run, wind up being better for us b/c we might get a bigger piece of land in a more desirable area on the yishuv.

Here is a cute video that I took of Keren today:

The kids have been coming and going all day long.  It took me about 1 hour to convince Keren to go to sleep.  She staying in her crib from 1-2 calling me.  At 2 she went to sleep for about 2 hours.  Meanwhile, Talia came hom at 2:45, ate lunch, did homework and went to survival.  Then Ben came home and had a snack and went to try out a new chug that I don’t think I’ll be signing him up for.  He came home at the same time that his friend came to play with him (5:30!) and they played.  Talia came home while Ben was at this chug that he tried and then went to her friend to practice for some play that they are putting on for Ben’s class on Sunday.  It’s been nuts here tonight.

At 5:30 Eric took Keren to go pick up Bubby and her boyfriend who are in the area and wanted to stop by for a while. They came and they stayed until 9, at which time Eric drove them back to Yerushalayim. Bubby’s beau is adorable and they are very sweet together. They are coming back with Beth and Peter on Sunday when we’ll make Talia a belated birthday party for her friends.