I Run For Life

Today was a very busy day! I went downtown in the freezing cold rain at 7:30am to run my 3rd 5K. Today's race benefited Magan David Adom so aside from being good exercise it was a good cause. Before the race began I was already frozen and soaking(with my 2 t-shirts, sweatshirt and rain poncho). I am not sure if it was because I was freezing cold or what but I actually ran my fastest 3 miles ever!!! I finished the race in 28 minutes and 9 seconds. You can see my results here(Click on Race Results and select Running for Life 3). After the race I came home and took a boiling hot shower as I was freezing!!! Then I got Jordy dressed to take him to Gabe and Dena's first birthday party(Josh took Danya to lice check at school and then to run a work errand with him and they met us at the party). We had a great time at the party but Jordy went nuts when he didn't get to blow out the candles or open the presents. After the party I was going to go to Target but I got a little lazy and was doing some stuff around the house. Then when I was kind of sort of considering going out my mom called to see if she could come over and maybe have dinner with us since my Dad is out of town. So of course that was much easier than leaving the house. My Mom entertained the kids for a while and I was able to clean the kitchen a little bit until dinner was ready. We all had a good time eating. Danya was telling my Mom about what she was going to do in Florida this week and she said she asked Bubs if they could go to the Parrot Jungle. My Mom asked Danya how she knew about the Parrot Jungle and Danya responded "My Mom told me" and my mom asked her "How did your Mom know about it?" and Danya responded "My Mommy is a smarty pants"! It was way too funny!!! Then the kids went to bed and we did some more cleaning. Now I am exhausted and about to collapse!!! Goodnight!

Shabbos

Shabbos was good. We were up late on Friday night since shabbos started late at night! After dinner Josh and I spent a while looking over the blue prints of the house and deciding what goes where and who gets which room. Shabbos morning Danya went to shul with Josh and Jordy hung out with me. I tried to get him dressed for about an hour and then gave up on shul. Danya came home with a friend from shul. They happily played until Gila and Amelia showed up. Avi wasn't feeling good and Gila wasn't going to come with all 3 by herself so Avi stayed home with the twins. We had a nice time with Gila but she had to leave when Amelia needed a nap. After they left Josh and I were dozing on the couch until Danya's play date got picked up. Then Danya had a tantrum about her friend leaving. Not much after that we gave the kids dinner and got them into bed. I forgot how nice it is to get the kids to bed before shabbos is over!!! After Shabbos I went out with a few friends, kind of an impromptu girls night out.

Funny Carpool

I needed to post the conversation in carpool because I doubt I will remember it later...
This morning Danya woke up before me and got herself yogurt and ate it while watching TV until I woke up. In the car she noticed Avery had a baggie of Fruit Loops and she said to him in a very exaggerated voice "Avery, those Fruit Loops look very yummy. Do you want to share some with me?"
Avery:"Sure, how many do you want? 5,000?".
Danya:"No, that is too many, I just need a hand full".
Avery:"A handful...that is so many!"
So then I asked Danya if she ate all her yogurt and she answered no, I only ate like 1,000 bites...there was a lot left. Think these kids have no concept of numbers???
Then Danya was talking about her trip to Florida next week and she asked me how many miles it is to Florida and I told her I didn't know but we could look it up later. I asked her how she knew to ask about how many miles and she simply replied "Because I am smart Mommy". Then she told me someone told her about miles once and she has a good "membory" so she knew.

Israel Insomnia

Well I have coined a new term, it is Israel Insomnia. It is a lack of sleep due to the brain being so full of all the things you should be doing for your impending Aliyah rather than sleeping. I have had minor bouts of this fora few months but as the real crunch has hit and all the work and questions are piling on so is all the anxiety. So after going to bed at midnight last night I woke up at 4:30am wide awake. At 5 I gave up trying to fall back asleep and went downstairs to call the woman who is renting the house we bought to ask her the 30 questions Josh and I listed last night. Of course when I called she asked me to call her back in 2 hours, so I proceeded to watch GI Jane while making lists and looking stuff up on the web. I got dressed and got Danya up and then called her back at 7. I was happy to have talked to her and get some answers to some of the questions we have been really anxious about. When Alex came over she brought Danya a plant as the plant Danya had made in school had died and Danya was really sad about it. Danya was so excited about her new plant and Alex said she would teach her how to care for it(which is good because I have no clue). Danya and I had a funny conversation during carpool today that I wanted to share with you. We were discussing bikes and the fact that she has a bike and Daddy has a bike but I don't have a bike but I am going to buy one soon we can all ride together. She then asked what about Jordy? I reminded her that he has a seat that is attached to Josh's bike. She then started complaining that it isn't fair..."How come Jordy gets to just sit there when I have to pedal and do all that work? I want to relax like him. No fair."! I thought it was such a funny complaint and the fact that she used the word relax was cute too! When I got home from work the dress we ordered for Danya for Matthew and Marissa's wedding had arrived so we tried it on her. Pretty cute huh? Then I unloaded the groceries and began the cooking. I then spent most of the evening on the telephone and now I am about to collapse! Have a good night!

Israel, Israel, Israel

Danya did not want to get out of bed this morning! I had to almost drag her out of bed! We were a little slow getting out the door and then I needed to move a car seat and I had a whole bunch of stuff with me and I had that feeling that I was forgetting something but I couldn't be bothered with it. While picking up carpool I looked at my clock on my car and realized that it was much earlier than I thought which I was a little confused by. So I looked at my watch but then wasn't sure which was wrong...my watch or the car clock so I went to pull the good old cell phone from my purse, since Sprint always has the right time and realized what I left at home...my purse! Of course this was right after I made the turn on to Lincoln from Devon so I had to take a little detour back to my house. And of course my car clock was wrong...we were like 15 minutes late..oops! Today was a very Israel day. I got in touch with the appliance company and got an idea about appliances and prices and options. Then after work I had another shipping company come out for yet another estimate. I had really liked the first guy but now I really like the second guy. Not sure if it is good or bad that I still have a third guy coming out in a couple weeks! I think it is great that I have a lot of options but not so great that it is really hard to compare them and that half of the service provided is going to happen on the other side of the world. Anyhow, maybe I will really love the third guy and it wont be a questions....or maybe one of the estimates will be substantially lower than the others....who knows. Either way, I will keep you updates. On a kids note...While I was working on my computer before the shipper guy came Jordy found a text book on the floor(that I was hoping to resell but it isn't looking good)and he sat with it for almost an hour turning the pages and counting the page numbers. I never would have thought of having him do it but I am thinking of bringing a text book on the airplane to Israel to keep him busy!

Bug Eyes

Well since my car was still in the shop I didn't drive carpool but I took Danya to school. I ran a few errands after work including Walmart and the fruit market. Then I went to go get my car...yippee! Of course they had to order a part so I will have to bring it back next week to finish the work. Oh well! I was so happy to get home...it has just been non stop and I was looking forward to a nice quiet relaxing evening. Of course it never works the way you plan it but what can you do! I spent most of the evening on the phone, organizing house stuff etc. etc. I am writing this blog while I am watching the Sopranos from Sunday. Here are some pictures of Josh and the kids goofing around!

Happy Belated Monday

As they say better late than never so....Monday....Back to the regular schedule. Danya was a little excited to go to school and show her Morah's her lost tooth and her mitzvah notes. After Danya left I spent an hour doing more cleaning/organizing. Then the shipping guy came. In about 5 minutes he determined that we have 12,000 lbs. of stuff and will need a 40 foot container and with all our stuff and our intended purchases we would be at the 30 foot mark. How he figured this out I have no clue. If he is accurate I also have no clue. I have appointments with 2 other shippers so we will see what they say. After this guy left I went to work. After work I came home to make dinner for Sima and Jeff Niger since Sima is on bed rest. Once Josh came home I went there to drop off dinner. After that I went to Marissa's house to give her mom my rings to have cleaned. I ended up spending a while there chatting with Marissa which was really nice since we never really get to talk. Then I went to Kinko's to FedEx our passports and Visa forms to the Israeli Consulate. After that I went to Gila and Avi to drop off a stack of books I had borrowed(did I mention I am trying to clean out the house?). By the time I got home I was so exhausted I couldn't write a blog. So I am doing it a day late. I will add yesterdays pictures later!

No Photos

OK, lets get caught up and back on track! Friday was a good day. I didn't have to drive carpool and I got to leave work early(which I would have done regardless since there was a MOUSE running around our office!!!). I had time to go to the store, go running, give the kids dinner etc etc. On Shabbos we walked to my in-law's for lunch and spent the rest of Shabbos there. Danya slept over at Bubs and Pops house but Jordy didn't want to so he came home and much later in the evening Lanie and Ari came over with dinner. Today was a busy day. We ran a lot of errands and I tried as hard as I could to do some organizing. I am meeting with the shipping companies this week and they get to come and look at all our belongings so aside from needing to know what I am and am not bringing with so they can determine what size container we need I also needed it to be clean enough for complete strangers to go snooping...it isn't quite there but it will have to do. I am proud that I am getting rid of a lot of stuff we don't need(not so easy for a pack rat like me). I also spent a large part of the evening filing out visa applications(no, not the credit card type) these forms need to be filled out 3 times for each member of the family and it can't be in photocopy. My hand kills but it is done! Now all I have to do for that is get the 6 forms for the kids forms notarized and then I send them along with our passports to the Israeli consulate and they send them back(hopefully!) stamped saying we are making Aliyah. Crazy some of the processes we have to go through! Anyhow, I am off to listing some old stuff on eBay...maybe we can make some money off of all the stuff we don't need anymore! Wish me luck!
Sorry about the lack of photos...I will try to do better tomorrow!!!

Video

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Photo Sharing

It's Over!!!

Pesach is finally over! I have to say I am looking forward to a 7 day Pesach with 1 day Yom tov and 1 Seder!!! The second days of Pesach were nice. We were at my parents which was much quieter than my in-laws. Danya and Jordy weren't happy to be going away from Atara, Moshe, Talya and Yoni but after a little while they were happy to be there. Danya's favorite activity was to feed Maayan and she got to be very good at it! I will add a video of her feeding Maayan dinner on Tuesday before lunch. Jordy didn't want to get dressed the whole time. On Wednesday Bubby came for lunch and he opened the door for her saying "Bubby I am not wearing pants"! We played a lot of Uno, Miles Bournes, Candy Land and Guess Who. Jordy was very eager to play Guess Who with me he said "Come on Mommy Lets play! Ok, let's go....how do you play?". So I had to teach him. It was fun though. After Pesach Josh checked his e-mail and we got an e-mail from our lawyer in Israel that we signed on our house! So we are now home owners in Israel!!! Heading to put in more laundry! Hope everyone had a good Pesach!!

Crispy-O's

Danya and Jordy are so busy playing with their cousins and having fun. Jordy and Talya seem to be playing nicely and Danya plays nicely with Atara and Moshe but Danya and Talya or Jordy and Yoni are bad combinations! Although I have to say Yoni seems to be holding his own against Jordy.
I did want to share that Jordy's favorite pesach food is Crispy-O's! He can eat 4 bowls of the fruit flavored ones a day! He will also eat the cocoa, frosted and even the apple flavored, but he like the fruity ones the best. His other treat is apples in chocolate spread which I think he likes better than apples and peanut butter. Good thing we are moving to Israel where chocolate spread is an acceptable lunch! Danya is very mad that there is nothing good to eat. All she wants is kanidel or potato kugel. She keeps complaining that all there is to eat is Matzoh...she is just like the rest of us!
We are "moving" to my parents house tonight for the remainder of the holiday. It should be much quieter there although I think Danya may be mad that she is leaving the big kids.
Next time I post we should be Matzoh free!!!

Pesach Plus

Well here we are on Sunday night and I need to think back to recap since Wednesday.
Wednesday-We did a rushed last minute cleaning and vacuuming of the cars. Then I headed to work. It is the best day to go to work since nobody else is there. Lanie and Ari brought Maayan for a visit which was a lot of fun! Made the day go by quicker! Then I ran a few errands and packed up and Josh and I headed to my in-law's where Danya and Jordy already were with Alex. We joined David, Jodi, Atara, Moshe, Talya and Yoni, Danny, Avi, Matthew, Uncle Joe, Uncle Lenny and crew. Of course Jordy still wasn't 100% and Danya was still sick. First seder was fine. I spent most of the time between the 2 houses since the seder was in the Pesach house and my kids were sleeping next door. Dinner was great and we all had a lot of fun. After seder I crashed but of course we were woken several times throughout the night by both sick kids. At one point Danya ended up sleeping in my bed and I slept in the little fold up futon on the floor. Around 4am Danya announced to us that her tooth had fallen out to which we probably replied "Go back to bed".
Thursday-We had a very tired day. I don't remember much but we had a fairly quiet lunch. Alex took Jordy out for a walk during lunch and didn't return for a long time so that was a nice day that was quiet. I do remember taking a nap at one point and that is about where my memory of the day ends. I do recall that it was a very long day. At some point towards the end of the day the Drapkin family arrived. Then at what felt like midnight, but wasn't really we started the seder and then I left again to put my kids to bed. It is all a blur but it was fun and we all had a good time. Of course we had another night of sick kids and waking up a dozen times in the night.
Friday-Again Alex came and took Jordy out most of the day. Otherwise the day was pretty much like the one prior. We had a very quiet dinner and went to bed at a reasonable time.
Saturday-We are almost at the end! I actually got Danya to get dressed and go to walk towards shul. Josh met us along the way and we headed back to yet another meal! After lunch Danya stayed at home and Josh and I took Jordy to the Shiners house to see Jay and Arleen and their twins. We left when Jordy had a tantrum. When we got back Danya was sleeping sitting up on the couch. She ended up sleeping for about 4 hours. We were happy once Shabbos was over and we could all shower! Danya and Jordy went to bed not long after their baths. At about 4 in the morning Danya woke up to get a drink of water and I remembered that we never did anything about her tooth so I ran to my purse and luckily I had a dollar and I switched it.
Sunday-Danya was so happy when she had a dollar and she ran to show everyone. Of course right off the bat Moshe told her that there is no such thing as a tooth fairy and that her parents are the tooth fairy. I told her that it wasn't true and that I had nothing to do with the dollar but Moshe was mad at me insisting that it was me. After I went for a run we did a lot of eating, cooking and talking and finally decided to go to the nickle arcade after lunch. We drove to Northbrook and of course Jordy fell asleep in the car so I sat in the car reading the Jewish Image magazine for an hour and a half until he woke up. We played game and won prizes. On the way home Danya had a little piece of garbage and she opened the window and threw it out the window. Josh and I were stunned and we told her all about littering and how if a police man saw it he would make us pay money and out little lecture put her in tears for the whole ride. When we returned we went to dinner at the Pesach house with Saba, Savta, Lanie, Ari and Maayan, Bubby Gladys. We also had Tal, Orly and Maayan Benezra. There were a lot of people at dinner but we all had a good time. After dinner we took a few family photos and then the kids went to bed...and now you are all caught up! (The pictures are of Jordy with Naava Drapkin playing dress up, Yoni, Danny with Talya and Jordy, and the group photo which was the best of the 5 we took but Jordy didn't really like the photo taking process, hence the hands over the face-wish us good luck at Matthew's wedding!).

Pesach Cleaning/Eating

This morning for the first time in a week Jordy woke up without a fever!!!! Actually, for the first time this week Jordy didn't wake up in the middle of the night. Danya still had a fever this morning but she was OK. They were both well rested which was good because they didn't fight or whine too much when I left. After work Danya was feeling better but not 100% so Pops came to pick up the dinner that they were planning on eating at our house so as to keep all the kids healthy for one more day. Danya was very sad that she wouldn't get to play with Atara, Moshe, Talya and Yoni yet and she had a little bit of a tantrum until I convinced her to help me clean for Pesach. For some reason this sounded like fun to her. I would like to point out that until now I have been in denial that Pesach was even approaching and all of the sudden it is tomorrow and I have done nothing! Danya helped me clean off the top of the fridge(by eating the 2 cookies that were left in the box of cookies) and then I went through the pantry tossing all the old stuff that I will never use. I figured I wasn't going to take the year old Taco shells to Israel with me so may as well get rid of them. I am finding that as I go through things it is much easier to get rid of stuff when you realize the alternative is packing them and shipping them to another country. After the cleaning we ate our dinner. Then Danya, Jordy and I packed all their stuff. I was going to have the kids wait up to do bedikat chametz except that Danya was so tired that I gave up. Josh came home as I was going to put them to bed, so he tucked them in. Then I headed to my in-laws to make a few more pies and help out a little. Now I am home and I still have a ways to go plus a few loads of laundry-shoot, and it is 11:17pm! Have a Chag Kasher V'Samech!!!

Dumb Camera

Well Danya and Jordy both woke up in the middle of the night last night. When Danya was crying I was so confused(and tired) because I thought it was Jordy but Jordy was already laying next to me...I thought I was losing my mind. I was almost relieved that Danya was awake and I wasn't insane. When we all woke up for the day Danya was crying that her stomach hurt her. Of course she now has fever too. Just another day in our house! The kids stayed home all day with Alex and she said that they were kind of out of it most the day. After I came home my father-in-law dropped off dinner since they weren't all going to come over with the kids being sick. Before Josh came home from work Danya and Jordy were playing in the basement and being really cute and I took the camera to take pictures for the blog. I got a really cute video of them digging through a toy box but I accidentally deleted the video...sorry! After dinner we all watched part of the Winnie The Pooh Heffalump movie. Danya was laughing so hard at the beginning that I thought she was going to hyperventilate! After a little of the movie we put the kids to bed. Here's to hoping they/we sleep well tonight!

A Fun Visit to the Doctor

Sorry for the belated post-I was just too tired last night. Sunday was a long day. Of course Jordy was up a few times in the middle of the night. When we finally got up in the morning he was still sick. After Josh went to shul I took Jordy to the doctor. The doctor examined him and decided that since he has been running this fever too long that he wanted to look into it some more and see if it is bacterial. So we went over to the lab where they drew blood. After that we headed to the bathroom for the good old urine test. While I tried to convince him that it was funny to make a pishy in a cup(this has worked in the past for Danya) he did not think it was funny at all. He sat on the toilet screaming for about a half hour. Without going too much into detail, we finally got our sample. I got home with him at noon. Josh then took Danya with him while he was going to play hockey. I took Jordy to lay down for a nap and we both fell asleep. He woke up a few times but actually slept until a little after 4! He woke up and asked for breakfast! I was so glad he slept because he was so tired. After Josh returned with Danya from some Pesach prep. at his parents I headed out to 5 stores to get all the ingredients I needed and headed to my in-law's to do some Pesach cooking. I got home around 10 and did a little cleaning and collapsed into bed.

Shabbos

I am trying to remember if anything exciting happened during the day Friday and I don't think so. Jordy was still sick but we are getting use to it at this point. After dinner on Friday night Danya decided she wanted to play out Y'tziat Meytzraim. She told Josh he was Pharoh, she was Bnei Yisroel/Moshe and I got to be Hashem and even funnier was Jordy got to be the Makot. So sure enough she would pretend to be working in a field and I, Hashem, would say there is a new Makah and Josh would pretend to be disturbed by the plague and then would tell Danya/Bnei Yisroel that if they got rid of the makah that he would let them go, so I would take the plague/Jordy away and then Josh/Pharoh would change his mind and Danya/Bnei Yisroel would sigh and go back to work! It was pretty funny but I was really impressed with how much she knows about Pesach. After that we all went to bed. Jordy woke up several times in the night but I was so out cold that Josh got up with him. Then at about 7 when they were both up we gave Jordy some more Advil. Then Danya brought all her Pesach projects into our room and showed them all to us, sang the Manishtana and told us all about Pesach. Then we sent them down to play and Josh and I both went back to bed. I knew Josh was really not feeling well when he accepted my offer of Tylenol. He NEVER takes medicine unless it is bad. We both got a few more hours of sleep and then ate lunch. After lunch we tried to get Danya and Jordy to nap but that didn't really work. They were playing in her room when we heard a knock on the door. At first I was being lazy thinking that whoever it was would go away eventually but then after a minute I remembered my dad mentioning they might walk over. So at the second knock Josh went and sure enough it was my parents. Danya and Jordy happily gave up the napping attempt to play with Saba and Savta. Danya did the whole pesach project demonstration again for them. Then Savta took the kids to the basement and they were happily playing for a LONG time(a benefit of having a kindergarten teacher in the family). After Shabbos Josh drove my parents home and we are now watching last weeks Sopranos so we will be all caught up for tomorrow new episode!

Hooray For Emily!

This morning Jordy was still sick. He had 102.6 and was just so terribly sad. He pointed out that his incision hurt him. I realized that maybe the band-aid that was over it was more that just decoration. I called Josh and he told me that Jordy had been pulling out his dissolvable stitches and it started to bleed. So now I was worried that he had an infection and that was why he has been so sick...SO I asked Rebecca to fill in for me during carpool and I called Dr. Jona and left a message. Of course by the time they called back I could have driven carpool. When the woman called back she told me he was out of town and I should take him to our pediatrician. Of course Dr. Goldberg left town for Pesach yesterday but they fit us in to see Dr. Singer. Jordy of course went crazy there. He didn't like Dr. Singer. Of course he is fine and has no infection, just a virus. I brought him home and headed to work. After I got home Danya, Jordy and I played with stickers and wrote their names with ABC stickers. Then Jordy and I played The Letter Factory Board Game while Danya ate her Wacky Mac(Jordy wasn't hungry). I did some Shabbos cooking and the kids played some more until bedtime. A new addition to my blog today is video. I would like to thank Emily for figuring out how to do this and then sharing it with the rest of us! Here is a video of Danya and Jordy running wild in the basement...not too exciting, but just fun since it works! Enjoy!

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Photo Sharing

Test 1,2,3

After Emily posted a few very cute videos of Simon on her blog I decided to try it, so here is a test...

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Photo Sharing

No Day But Today

This morning was a busy one...first Danya woke up and wanted to come into our bed, then Jordy woke up and didn't feel well and he wanted to come in our bed. It was very crowded! Jordy was not feeling well and when I asked him what hurt he pointed to his lips and said "My Mouth". He had 101.5 so after driving carpool I took him to Dr. Goldberg for a walk in visit. It was very crowded so we waited a while and Jordy just sat next to me staring at the kids who were running around yelling. Dr. Goldberg looked him over and said his throat was a little red and he needed a throat culture. Jordy has never had one before but had been there once when Danya had one. Either way, he knew it was not something he wanted and as soon as he saw the nurse open the swabs he started crying and help his hand over his mouth shaking his head. Of course I then had to be the one to pry his hand away. He gagged so much I thought he was going to throw up! I felt so bad for him. After all that they said the rapid was negative! So I took him home and gave Alex the Advil instructions and headed to work. After I got home Danya showed me all the Pesach projects she brought home from school. She had a garbage bag full of projects! They really made a lot of great projects and they are all useful, so we will get to use them all. Danya and Jordy ate and played while I ran a couple errands. Then I picked up a babysitter. I gave her the run through and then Josh and I headed out with Rebecca and Jeremy to see RENT. I had been so excited to see it as Josh and I saw the movie and got addicted to the music. Only problem is that I am completely jet lagged and exhausted! So I kept yawning during the play. It was still great but we didn't get home until 11:15! We had a good time and I can't stop humming the music ".....No day but today".
Sorry no pictures today, more to come tomorrow!

Is it bed time yet???

After getting a good night sleep I got right back into the swing of things. Danya was pretty good about leaving the house today as I think she was just happy to have me back. Alex called me in the afternoon to let me know that Jordy wasn't feeling good. She took his temperature and he had101.5 She said he just wasn't acting like himself. He had a cough but not his asthma cough, which is good. I told her to give him some Advil to lower the fever as I fear another seizure. When I got home he was feeling better and was pretty happy. Of course an hour later the Advil wore off and he was just so sad and crying. Before bed Danya and Jordy were happily playing a game on Josh's laptop. Then they went to bed and I am soooo tired that I don't even know what I am typing anymore. Night!

I'm Back!

I got to the airport at 9:15ish on Sunday night in Tel Aviv. I waited in the longest line to get my luggage checked(which ever line I am in anywhere is the longest line). When I was towards the front I saw a familiar face getting in line. Mic Osband and his wife Ayla and their son were on my flight. It was so great seeing him after all this time. I talked to them for a little bit and we agreed that we would talk later as I really needed to buy the kids some gifts as I hadn't yet. I ran to every store as I needed anything. I ended up buying them Noah's Ark t-shirts that are black and white with permanent markers to color. I thought they were 18 shekel which was really cheap. When I was paying I realized they were $18! Not so cheap after all! Then I went to the plane to my middle seat. I sat between 2 Israeli men who were snoring most of the flight. I ended up sleeping most of the flight. When we got to NJ I talked to Mic and Ayla some more and we exchanged phone numbers and e-mail. Then I went to the plane to the Chicago flight. I landed at around 8:30 in Chicago and once I got my luggage I headed home. When I got home Jordy was just standing there staring at me. I told him I missed him and he was just staring at me. Then he told me he wanted me to watch a show with him. I sat with him to watch a DVD that Josh rented on Sunday and he just cuddled up next to me and held on to me. He didn't want me to go but I needed to shower and get to work. So he finally let go of me. I went to work at around 10. I spent the day digging through all the papers that had piled up. When I got home Danya and Jordy were both really excited to see me. Danya wanted he presents! They were both excited about the shirts and sat nicely while coloring them. They also liked the ring pop candy's I got them. The rest of the evening is a blur as I was exhausted! Josh loved the rugalach from the bakery from Hashmonaim, so the Aliyah is still a go! The kids went to bed and I stayed awake until about 9 and then I fell into a very deep sleep!

Rain and Fog

Woke up this morning from all the rain outside. I was contemplating trying to sleep some more since I didn't need to be up for another half hour but then the phone rang with a call from Josh. We discussed the house options once again. Then I got dressed and ready to go. Lori was going to a birthday brunch for Cheryl Fishman and then she was going to pick me up. She took a little longer than planned so we didn't leave as early as expected. Once we were on the way to Yerushalim we hit a patch of major fog. It was really bad that everyone had their hazards on so you could see the car in front of you. Aside from the fog slowing us down we passed about 4 car accidents, one major one, so it took even longer. Our plan was to go to Misrad HaRishui(the Israeli DMV) to pick up Seth temporary license and then go to the mall. It took us a while to find the Misrad and then we had to wait there for quite some time. By the time we got to the mall it was already 1 and we were starving. We went to Pizza Hut first and man was it good! Just like I remembered. Then Lori and I did a quick abbreviated shopping since she had to get back to pick up Tamar. Unfortunately I didn't get all the things people requested(sorry in advance!), but I did get a few things and she found some stuff for Tamar for Pesach. Then we came back and she is giving Tamar a bath now and we are going to have dinner. After her kids go to sleep Lori will take me to the airport where I hope to do a little shopping as I haven't really gotten any gifts for Danya and Jordy and they won't allow me back into the country without gifts. I will post next from the other side!

Shabbat in Hashmoniam

Friday night we had a nice Shabbat dinner at the Kaplansky's. It was great getting a chance to really sit down and chat with everyone. Then all the kids headed their different directions leaving us adults to talking. After dessert Michelle and I took a walk to see all the kids hanging out in the streets(on Shabbat they close they yishuv to cars-except ambulances and the security so the kids can roam the streets). We got back at around 1:15(we didn't leave until about 12:45) and headed to sleep. Then Shabbat morning I got up around 9 and we were out the door to Shul by 9:30. Shul starts at 8:30 and all the women all go to shul and if you leave any later you miss it! After Shul I met a whole bunch of people, a lot of whom had Chicago connections, specifically Bracha Rothner who was so excited when she met me and realized that she knows both my parents and my in laws. I made her even happier when I told her I was there looking for a house. As a whole, whenever I met someone and told them I was planning on making Aliyah there they were so happy and friendly, offering advice or help etc. It just seems like such a nice place to live. After lunch I took a nap for a couple of hours(believe me-this trip has not been very restful and I really needed those few hours and then some). Then Michelle woke me to take a walk to go see the Bnei Akiva Moadon. All the kids are very involved in Bnei Akiva there and they have a big building for it. It was nice to see all the kids at their peulot/snif(?). After havdalah I packed up my stuff and said goodbye to the Kaplansky's and Lori, Max and Melissa picked me up. Max and Melissa had been at Lori's for Shabbat and she was on her way to dropping them off so we all stopped to take another look at the house I really liked. I just needed another opinion and they all loved it. Then we dropped off Max and Melissa and went to a restaurant to pick up dinner. Lori and I ate and chatted and now I am going to sleep I think the earliest I have all week at 1:30(did I mention I have been like a zombie all week as I haven't had much sleep, not to mention the jet lag? I feel like I have been sleepwalking through the week).