Can’t remember the last time I wrote anything.  I think it must have been Tuesday!  So let me do a brief catch up just writing the important things that come to mind.

On Thursday Eric and I took our road tests.  Unfortunately, only one of us passed!!  Eric went first.  The driving instructor who gave us our 40 minute lessons told Eric that he was all right and that I should be a “קצת cowboy”.  He told Eric that he should go first.  So the menacing looking driving exam guy came to the car and Eric sat in the front and I sat in the back.  I thought Eric did great and then I went and I thought I did pretty well also.  In the end, the driving instructor was talking to the driving exam guy for a very very long time and they were gesturing and we were getting nervous.  In the end, it turns out that Eric was too tentative at the yield signs and he failed him for that!!  Crazy country!!  Frankly, where they have the yield signs they should really have stop signs anyway and there wouldn’t be so many accidents here.

Anyway, Thursday night we went to Petach Tikvah where my great aunt Suzie was making a ceremony for my great Uncle Hirsch who died 25 years ago.  We got a babysitter for Talia and Ben but took Keren with us.  It was sooo boring!!  What was nice was the we went out afterwards to a coffee shop/restaurant with Avi and Avivit.  It was a very late night and I was very kvetchy because I really wanted to go home and go to sleep but I also wanted to go out with them and have fun.  In the end I was glad I went, especially when Eric let me sleep late and took the kids to school on Friday!! 

They did have a very big Thanksgiving dinner on the yishuv that is invitation only and no kids are allowed.  We didn’t really officially get invited to it, although we think we sort of got an invitation.  We couldn’t go anyway b/c we had this thing for my great uncle.  We did make sure to put on the Thanksgiving Day parade for the kids on the computer.  Talia loved it!  unfortunately she couldn’t watch the whole thing b/c it was bed time but she loved the parts that she did get to watch.  My parents told me that it’s not truly living in Israel if you get to watch American TV real time.  I said it is, it’s just living in Israel in the year 2008!!

Keren has been sleeping through some nights, finally!!  Tomorrow I take her to Tipat Chalav and I’ll find out what she weighs (in kilos, of course) and find out what they want me feeding her and how often.  Right now I give her a meal a day of oatmeal mixed up with either a fruit or a veggie or sometimes both.  I am interested to hear what they say I should be doing (not that I will necessarily listen to them).

On Wednesday (I know I am skipping around but it’s just as it comes to me) I wasn’t feeling so great.  I have a head cold.  So I was resting in the afternoon and my grandmother called and said she was coming over.  I was surprised because she and my grandfather had just come the night before to help while I took my driving exam.  They came a few minutes after I woke up and they had brought my Uncle Ellie.  I had totally forgotten that he was coming in and they brought him over so he could see the house and where we live and everything.  So that was nice.  They stayed a very short while because my grandmother had an eye doctor appt.  but it was nice to see someone from America and the kids were excited because he brought them presents.

On Friday we took the kids to the mall after school and bought them Jelly donuts at a really expensive store.  It was a real treat.  The donuts were great!  The night before Eric had brought some home because it was ראש חודש but they were lousy.  This time we really enjoyed them.  We did a little bit of shopping at the mall and then we came home and got ready for שבת.  One of the things we got in the mall were stickers with Hebrew letters for my keyboard.  So I will probably be using more Hebrew in my blogs from now on.  I would like to learn how to type using a Hebrew keyboard.  Looking for a Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing in Hebrew

Anyway, שבת was nice.  We went out both meals.  We got home late Friday night and the kids were exhausted.  Ben actuallydidn’t wind up having such a great time there b/c he said his foot was hurting and he was just exhausted from waking up at 5:30 in the morning on Friday.  Talia had fun b/c she is very close to their little girl.  We had a nice time.  They were very nice.  שבת day we went to the Zeitchiks (probably not spelled right).  Her sister is a friend of my family’s.  We know them since the days of the Nevele where we used to go every year for פסח.  So it was a nice meal.  Ben had a nice time there b/c his friend Matthew and their family was there.  It was nice for us b/c they had Yeshivah girls over who fought over Keren so we didn’t have much holding to do!

Tonight is daglanut and it’s supposed to be a very big deal here.  The kids get their shevet name tonight and it’s supposed to be really something very special to see.  I had wanted to take Talia, I thought it would be nice for her but it’s late and we had a late night last night.  So in the end i don’t think any of us are going.  Oh well!

A friend told me that when reading my blog she likes to see how life is different here in Israel for us versus when we lived in America.  I basically said that we are all settled in and it’s no longer that different than when we lived in America.  However, I did think of her when Eric and I were driving past the yishuv the other day and we passed a donkey on the side of the highway!  Just something we didn’t encounter when we lived in America!!

Anyway, Keren is on her second round of Baby Einstein and before her brain turns to mush I am going to feed her and put her to sleep and pray that she sleeps almost through the night like the last couple of nights!