If I could turn back time

Nothing too exciting happened yesterday. Josh and I went to Modiin in the morning to go to our banks. We also went to a grocery store where I was very happy to find Parmesan cheese. After camp Jordy came home and played nicely by himself. Danya went to Daniella's house to play and then later Daniella came here to play and the kids all had dinner together.
Last night/this morning the clocks changed so we lost an hour of sleep(for those of you keeping track we are back to a 7 hour time difference to NY and an 8 hour time difference to Chicago). Of course we overslept. I woke up at what was now 8:25 and realized that the kids needed to leave, but they were still asleep. Luckily we got them up, dressed and out the door pretty quickly. I spent most of today cooking for Shabbat while Josh did a lot of cleaning up or Shabbat/Pesach. We also spent a while on the phone with Alitalia trying to help locate Avi and Eva's luggage which didn't make it to Israel on Wednesday. Apparently it arrived yesterday but Alitalia's offices are closed on Fridays and nobody answered their emergency number. Hopefully we will be able to get it on Sunday! The kids came home and played and helped clean this afternoon. Then Josh took them to play hockey for a little while. Have a good Shabbat!

A Few Days

On Monday Danya and Jordy both went to camp. Danya was so excited to go that she asked me to take her there at 7am! Then Josh and I went to Kiryat Sefer to do some Pesach shopping. We wanted to buy some snacks and drinks to bring to the hotel. It was a little time consuming because we had to read all the labels carefully to make sure the items we were buying didn't have kitnyot(a lot of items here have kitnyot). Then we came home and picked the kids up from camp. I can't remember what happened in the afternoon although I do remember that it got cooler in the afternoon and when I picked Danya up she wanted to know why I didn't bring her a sweatshirt. I told her that I offered her one in the morning before camp and she didn't want one so I didn't bring one now. She said in a very disappointed "Mommy, you are supposed to be smarter than that". Yup, my 6 year old called me stupid! We ordered pizza for dinner. Danya insisted that we get pizza from the place that has an apple magnet. So it took longer since we got the pizza from Big Apple Pizza in Modiin, but it was really good pizza. On Tuesday Josh took Jordy to camp(it is great that his camp is in a shul that has a minyan that starts at the same time as camp) and I brought Danya to her camp. On the way we ran into someone and she and I discussed our Pesach plans. I mentioned to her that we were going up North. A few minutes later Danya asked me if it was going to be really cold where we were going for Pesach. I told her that no, I didn't think it was going to be cold. Then she asked me why I keep telling people we are going up North. I told her that the place we were going was in the North of Israel. After a few minutes I realized that she thought we were going to the North Pole for Pesach and that was why she thought it was going to be cold. After we got the kids to camp Josh and I headed to Yerushaliam. He wanted to get a few different Haggadah's and I wanted to pick up a few kippahs for Jordy(after his most recent haircut his kippahs keep falling off. When he was at Amitai's he lost his and borrowed one of his big knit kippahs and it really stayed on his head so we decided to get him some) and there was a kids siddur I wanted to get the kids. When we finally found parking we headed to Mea Sharim. We actually found everything we needed in addition to a few things we really didn't need. I was a bit disappointed that the Brooklyn Bakery was closed due to Pesach and I couldn't get the black and white cookie I wanted, but I was consoled by the Shwarma in lafa from Melach Hafalafel. WE came home and I decided I needed a nap. Josh picked the kids up and I slept for more time than I should have. I got up and made dinner for the kids and put them to bed. This morning Josh took Jordy to camp again and after taking Danya I came home and made a grocery list. We are having a little family gathering for dinner on Sunday night and I think I am the only person in the country stocking up on chametz. The store wasn't too bad but I couldn't find Parmesan cheese(gvinat parma). I have to go tomorrow in search of that, but otherwise I am all set for Sunday. The kids came home and pretty much behaved well. Danya went to Ezras and stayed for dinner. She then returned to have more dinner. I got the kids to bed and cleaned the kitchen a little. Here are a few pictures of Jordy and his friend Amitai. Also a picture of Danya and Jordy jumping for the Gushers that Josh brought back for them.

Pesach Vacation

Today was the first day of Pesach vacation. Danya and Jordy are each attending a Pesach camp for the week so while it is vacation we still needed to get out of the house. I took Jordy to his camp while Danya stayed home to finish her breakfast and get dressed(Josh was sleeping as he is suffering jet lag). Then I picked Danya up and took her to her camp. I realized that I was supposed to bring a pillowcase for Danya to decorate however I, along with most the mothers, forgot to buy one. I volunteered to get the pillowcases(7 total) for the kids whose mothers are as forgetful as I. I also stopped in Modiin at the money changer. I dropped off the pillow cases and returned home. Today was also a scheduler power outage and when I returned the power was out, so I decided to take a nap. When I woke up Josh and I picked Jordy up and he was all excited that he had fun at camp. Jordy's friend Amitai came over and the boys played together the afternoon. I picked up Danya and then I took her to Modiin to get her haircut. She was very excited because the place we went gave her a Popsicle after the haircut. On the way home we stopped to see if Tamar could come over for a playdate but she was playing in the park with Ezra, so Danya joined them. After Amitai left Sharon, Ezra's mom, called to see if Danya could stay for dinner, so we enjoyed some more quiet. After dinner the kids went to bed and Josh and I returned to our West Wing viewing.

Welcome Home Daddy

Friday morning I got the kids to school and then waited fr Josh's call to pick him up. I went to the Makolet and the bakery. Then I went to the airport to get Josh. He came home and unloaded his duffel bag and then fell asleep. I cooked for Shabbat and then tried to wake Josh to pick the kids up from gan. It was unsuccessful. I picked the kids up and they raced into the house to find Josh. They were so happy to see him, and then they wanted to see the gifts! It was like Chanukah all over again! The kids were all excited to see the great gifts from Josh and from their Aunts and Uncles(thanks guys!). Josh took them to the makolet to buy some batteries for one of the toys and then they played baseball in the backyard. We got ready for Shabbat and then the kids joined Josh at shul. Danya and Jordy returned with Daniella, who was joining us for dinner. The kids had a great time playing and at the end of dinner Josh started dozing off. We put Jordy to bed while the girls were still playing. After Daniella left Danya went right to bed. On Saturday morning we all slept a little late. Danya got dressed all by herself because she was going to meet Daniella at shul. Then I told Jordy we should get dressed and go out. I went upstairs to get dressed and Jordy came up a few minutes later all dressed(his Shabbat shirt was buttoned a few buttons off), I was very impressed. Jordy and I had planned to go to the park but we stopped at shul to pick up Josh first since it was so late. Then we walked toward the park but found the Kaplanskys and Danya and Daniella. Danya was invited to join them for lunch, so we left her with them. Then we stopped at the Spieglman house to see if Amitai could play, he couldn't but we made plans to meet up with him later. We went home and ate lunch. After lunch Josh and Jordy went to shul for mincha. When they returned Josh headed to bed and Jordy and I went to meet Amitai at the park. The boys happily played while I talked to Devorah Katz who was here for a Shabbaton. Then the boys went to the Spieglman house so I headed home to enjoy the quiet. Josh picked up Jordy around 5 and they played a little more baseball with some of the neighbor boys joining them. Danya came home as it was starting to get late. After Shabbat I brought Danya to Rachels birthday party. Then Michelle Mintz came to watch Grey's Anatomy with me.

Busy Day

This morning Jordy woke up at 5:30 and wanted to know if it was morning yet. I gave him his milk and told him it was not and he should go back to bed. Surprisingly, he did! The kids were a little lazy about getting up and about and Jordy didn't want to get dressed until the last minute. I did get them to gan on time though. Then I went to get a haircut. When I picked Danya up from gan her teacher told us that she needed to bring a hard boiled egg and a cooked potato for the mini-seder tomorrow. Since Jordy also needed the same we stopped at the makolet on the way home since I knew I was out of potatoes. After we got home Lori called to see if Danya could come over to play with Tamar. So I brought Danya there. At 4 I picked Jordy up from daycare and we went to the park for a little but he must have been tired because he just sat on the swing and didn't try to swing. After a few minutes he joined me on the bench. We went across the street to pick up Danya from Lori's. As we were about to leave I got a call from Amitai's mom to see if we could take Amitai for a few hours to play with Jordy. It was perfect timing because I was going to drop Danya at Kaplanskys to play with Daniella and I was sure Jordy would be mad he didn't have anything to do. So Jordy and Amitai played and ate yogurt. They always play so nicely. At 6 we brought Amitai home and picked up Danya. They ate dinner and then I put Jordy to bed. Danya worked on a welcome home sign for Josh and then went to bed.

Funny Story

I forgot to write about a funny thing Jordy said yesterday. I asked him if he was hungry after the birthday party and he said "my tummy isn't hungry because it wants to play".

Pillows?

This morning when I got up Jordy was standing quietly in Danya's bedroom waiting for her to wake up and play in the attic with him. I was impressed that he didn't wake her because he usually does, but I think he was entertained because Danya was snoring. Anyhow, Jordy and I went to the attic to play a computer game. Then I made the lunches and the breakfasts and then I got the kids dressed. I wanted to walk to school but both kids wanted to go in the car. Danya actually was complaining that she was lazy. Plus she wanted to take her CD in the car. So we got in the car and drove to school. During the 45 second drive I was entertained by Danya's singing. Danya has this CD that Uncle Danny gave her last year that has hebrew music. Last year she would sing to it really loud and never pronounced a word right. I hadn't heard her sing to it since we have been here(she listens to it on her little CD player and headphones). In the car she was singing at the top of her lungs getting all the words right and even the accent! Funny! I hung out at home this morning and received a funny phone call from Danya's teacher. I had no clue what she was talking about....I knew it involved me coming to the school and bringing something but I had no clue what she was talking about. At one point I am sure she was laughing at me. I finally understood that I was supposed to bring some pillows to the gan for Pesach but I wasn't clear about where I was supposed to get them. I finally figured it out when she gave me the persons name and they live 2 doors down from me. I was supposed to get the pillows from the woman who sewed them together and bring them tomorrow morning. Then I went to meet with my parents builder to see if they needed the extra smooth walls or the plain smooth walls. I picked Jordy up from Covi's birthday party and we came home to play more computer games and do some puzzles. Later we picked Danya up at Neuman's house. Then we stopped at the makolet to get some Wacky Mac for dinner. After dinner I put Jordy to bed and Danya came to write a letter to Josh to tell him she missed him. I put her to bed and am ready to collapse.

Early Morning

Jordy woke up early today. He wanted breakfast at 6am. Then we watched Blue's Clues together until 8ish. We woke Danya and I got the kids out the door. I did some stuff around the house and then ran a few errands in Modiin. I picked Danya up from gan and we came home and had a playdate with the Mintz family. They left at 3:30 so I could bring Danya to a birthday party. I then went to get Jordy from daycare and brought him to the party and I stayed to help out. We got home a little after 5 and he kids painted for a while. Around 6 we had dinner and talked to Josh. I got Jordy into bed and then Dov came to babysit so I could go to a few pre-pesach sales around the Yishuv. Of course Danya was awake when I returned, so I got her into bed. Now I am reading about the general strike that is scheduled to begin tomorrow. Our concern is that Ben Gurion is scheduled to be closed...lets hope it opens again so Josh can return on Friday as scheduled!

Feeling Better

Not sure why I forgot to post last night. Yesterday was a better day than the one before. The kids both woke up feeling fine. So they both went to gan. I was going to run some errands in Modiin but decided to push it off a day and stay home and do some laundry and cleaning up. I picked Danya up and brought her to gymnastics. Then we came home and I opened the box with my craft stuff(who am I? Martha Stewart??) in it and pulled out my needle point. Danya sat next to me and watched as I worked on it while she listened to her CD on her headphones. We did this until it was time for English. I brought her to English and then picked Jordy up from daycare. After we got home Lori called me to tell me that after ulpan Danya was going to go to a birthday party for her neighbors daughter. Danya isn't really good friends with this girl so she wasn't invited to the party but Danya was playing with her in the park and somehow Danya got invited(my guess is she asked to be invited). The good news is that she would be out until after 7 and be fed dinner. Jordy and I played some games and watched some movies and I gave him dinner and put him to bed. Danya came home a few minutes after Jordy went to sleep. We got to talk to Josh(the Internet had been down for 4 hours so it took longer to have the phone call) and Danya was so excited! Then I put Danya to bed and relaxed.

A fun filled night

Well I definitely spoke too soon last night. When Michelle was over I mentioned that the kids had been sleeping through the night nicely since Josh left. Well I shouldn't have opened my big mouth. At 1:30am Danya came to tell me her tummy hurt. I went to her room to sit with her as she was crying. Then she threw up for the first time. Followed by the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and finally the seventh time, which took place at 4:30. A few times during this fun three hour vomit fest Danya woke Jordy. I was kind of hoping that both kids would just sleep really late in the morning. Well Jordy woke up at 6:45 at which point I set him up with a video and went back to bed. He came back after the video and I gave him breakfast and got him dressed. I brought him to gan while Danya was happily sleeping in her bed. I returned and crawled back into bed. There were a few phone calls which woke me up but otherwise I slept until Danya woke up at 10. I spent the rest of the morning hoping she would go back to sleep but she didn't. She did watch a few videos and admitted that she was feeling a little better. When I picked Jordy up from Gan he was crying. Something about wanting a friend to come over. I told him he couldn't have a friend because Danya was sick. We came home and all 3 of us sat on the couch to read. I realized that Jordy was exhausted and crabby. I eventually convinced him to take a nap on the couch. He woke up about 40 minutes later screaming. His face was all flushed and he was burning up. He had 101.9. I gave him some Tylenol and he laid back down. Then he got up and watched a few videos. That was the theme of the day...videos. I gave the kids some dinner and Jordy went to bed. I tried to get Danya to go to sleep but she kept saying she wasn't tired. Last I saw her was at 10:15 when she was complaining she was hot. I am hoping that we get at least a little more sleep tonight than we did last night!

The weekend

Friday was a very productive day. I took the kids to gan and stopped at the makolet. Then our new cleaning guy arrived. He got to work and he was a really good worker. At one point I came into my room and he had moved all the furniture so he could dust and mop underneath them! A little later I had the handyman come to do a few odds and ends that needed to be taken care of. After I picked up the kids and sent the workers on their way, I gave Danya and Jordy a very short bath because for some reason there was no hot water(maybe because there was no sun and more rain?). The kids got into pajamas after their bath and played nicely until Shabbat. Josh called and Danya spoke to him but Jordy was too busy watching the Wiggles on tv to focus. He did later mention that he didn't get to talk to Daddy. After I lit candles we headed into the cold and rain to walk the block to the Siltons for dinner. The kids all had a blast and they made a mess! It was a really nice dinner when we were all able to sit down for a moment! We got home around 9:30 and Danya had a sleepover in Jordy's room. They both insisted on hearing a story except when Jordy laid down with me and Danya to hear the story he fell right asleep. I read for a bit and headed to bed in the guest bedroom since the heat still isn't working in my room. I was hoping that since they went to bed so late that Danya and Jordy would sleep late this morning but that was wishful thinking. Good thing I went to bed early! The kids played and fought most of the morning and then we headed to the Neumans house for lunch. There were a lot of kids and not a lot of adults at that meal! Jon is in the states now, so it was me and Yocheved. We had a great time there and hung out until about a half hour before Shabbat ended. We got home and made Havdalah soon after. The kids had dinner and went to bed. Then Michelle Mintz came over because she needed to do laundry. We chatted and then she picked my brain about some Aliyah related stuff. It is 10 now and she just left. I am going to watch some tv and then head to bed!

Holy Hail

Brrr....this morning I woke up and was freezing! It was still raining and very cold outside. It was clearly very cold since it appears that my heat wasn't working(remember from past posts that when it gets too cold the heat doesn't work?). I got up and got the kids up and about. We walked to school and then I came home. I just wanted to curl up in bed under 100 blankets(but I didn't). I took Michelle to get a refrigerator and then I took her to Rami Levi(the grocery store). By the time I got home it was time to pick Danya up from gan. Problem was that there had been down pour after down pour of rain. We came straight home and I made Danya some hot cocoa. While I was washing dishes I looked out the window and there was a massive down pouring of hail...I mean massive and it lasted over 5 minutes. There is now an accumulation of hail on the lawn and on our marpecet....did I mention that I am freezing? Anyhow, at 3:30 I went to take Danya to Lori's for English. As we were about to walk out the door Nocky rang the bell. He was on his way back from NY and had a package to drop off. Then we went to Gerson and there was no cars there. I called Lori who said I was supposed to have gotten a call that English was cancelled...so back home we went. Then at 4 we picked up Jordy and went to a play about an Elephant and a jungle and I am not sure what else...I kind of spaced out but the kids had a good time. When we came home Jordy helped me make chocolate chip pancakes for dinner. After dinner I read to Jordy and put him to bed. He got mad at me and said "I am not your friend anymore because you tell me you love me too much". Of course he kept calling me after I tucked him in, needing something, was in pain, bit his tongue....he went to bed about 40 minutes after I first said good night to him. Then I read to Danya and said goodnight to her....that was about an hour ago and last I heard from her was 15 minutes ago, so hopefully she is sleeping too! Now I am going to go make the bed in the guest bedroom(where there is heat) and go to sleep! Enjoy the pictures of the hail on my marpecet and on the grass in the backyard.

We Miss Daddy

I woke up this morning to the sound of rain pouring down. Normally this wouldn't be something that would be so exciting but there was a scheduled power outage from 8:30am until 5pm unless it rains. So I was happy to hear that we would have power! When Danya woke up she came in my room asking if Daddy was in the bathroom or went to shul. I reminded her that Josh was still in America and she was disappointed. Danya and Jordy were pretty good about the morning routine and getting out. After they went to school I ran a few errands. Later I picked Jordy and his friend Covi up from Gan. The 2 of them played pretty nicely but at the end Covi asked if I could call his Mommy because he wanted to go home. Jordy was sad after he left but eventually he calmed down. At around 4 we went to the house Michelle and Nathan Mintz are renting to meet them there and give them their keys. Then we went home to make them dinner and returned an hour later. After dropping off dinner there we picked Danya up at the Kaplanskys and headed home. We had some shnitzel and green beans while we discussed our days and waited for the phone to ring. Danya and Jordy were so happy to talk to Josh, it was cute. After dinner the kids watched a little TV and then we came across some books I forgot I bought them before we moved. I read to Jordy a little and put him t bed and then a half hour later I repeated the process with Danya. Of course it is 9:28 now and Danya has returned to my room numerous times with numerous excuses as to why she can't sleep. Hopefully we are done with that for the night because I need to collapse!

The first 24 hours

Sunday Josh and I spent the morning in Jerusalem. We got the passport pretty quickly and then continued to window shop and eat(we had pizza first and then falafel). Otherwise Sunday was typical. On Monday morning Danya came into our room and she woke me to ask me if Josh had left yet. I thought this was funny because he obviously would have said goodbye to her but even funnier because Josh was still in bed! Josh packed and I coordinated a cleaning guy for Michelle and Nathan Mintz who are coming on Wednesday. Not to much else happened Monday that I can remember. After Jordy went to bed I took Josh to the airport. I came home and went to bed. This morning I got the kids off and they were at Gan at their usual time....15 minutes late. Then I went to Modiin to change money and to the bank. Then I stopped at Home Center to buy some light bulbs. Then to Rami Levy(grocery) and back home. Danya had a playdate in the afternoon so I was off the hook until I picked Jordy up from daycare. We stopped at the park on the way home and then hung out at home. At 5:30 we picked Danya up from her playdate and headed back to Modiin for dinner at Burger King. The kids were very well behaved and ate nicely. On the way home Jordy told me he was angry at me because Daddy didn't come with to dinner...can't win with him! We came home and the kids went to bed and now so am I!

Happy Belated Anniversary!

A year ago yesterday I started this blog! A lot has changed in a year!!! In that year I have posted 256 times and have had 10,472 visits!

Shabbat was nice. Danya went to Daniella's for dinner so Josh, Jordy and I had a nice quiet dinner. After dinner Josh and Jordy walked to pick Danya up while I read. When they got home, Danya and Jordy got all their blankets and pillows and headed to the attic for a sleepover. They were really tired and actually fell asleep right away. This morning Danya got Jordy breakfast and then helped get him dressed. The two of them headed to shul. After lunch the kids played with friends and went out. Josh and I took a walk later to collect Jordy and then Danya. We came home when Shabbat ended. The kids ate dinner and then went to watch High School Musical which Rebecca picked up for us and Chani delivered....thanks for the join effort! As I type Danya is singing and dancing in the attic!

Water and Cookies

Well we had big plans....last night we went to sleep with big plans to get up and out of the house early and I knew, when Danya woke me twice and then Jordy woke me twice, that waking up this morning was not going to be fun. I was right. I had to drag myself out of bed but worse was that the kids were tired from being up during the night that I had to drag them out of bed as well. We finally got the kids out the door to school and then Josh dropped me off in Modiin so I could get some things done. He continued on to Yerushaliam to get his Teudat Maavar(temporary passport). We were worried about getting this taken care of quickly but when he was there Josh asked them if rather than them mailing it to him if he could come on Sunday to pick it up(we had been told that this is a common practice and we should request this). They said that he could. So hopefully Sunday morning he will have it in hand with no problems...hopefully. Lori ended up picking me up from Modiin and bringing me back in exchange for me picking up some groceries for her. I went to get Danya from gan and Jordy saw me and was hysterical crying that he didn't want to go to Shira's(daycare) that he wanted to come home. He was so sad and tired that I let him come home. When we got home the water wasn't working. I didn't think much of it since it is very common here for the water to be out for an hour or so due to work being done somewhere. Later in the afternoon I took Danya to English. When we returned our water was not working still. I called a neighbor who said her water was fine but she would come look at our main water shut off. Our main water is outside near our next door neighbors house and it is with there water valve. Apparently they had fences put up today and while the work was being done they hit a water pipe. The guys shut all the water but forgot to turn ours back on when it was repaired. This neighbor didn't realize our water was even housed with his water. It was useful though since I now have a key to the fenced off area that houses our water shut off valve(since the neighbor but a locked gate covering it). After the water fiasco we got a delivery from another neighbor. The husband works in the states and he was very kind to deliver a package of girl scout cookies that Lisa had shipped to his office(if you want to order cookies Lisa can still get them...get in touch with her fast...there are only a few days left). I only had to pay with one sleeve of Thin Mints. We happily ate cookies and dinner. The kids were pretty tired and went to bed at a decent time however Jordy woke up twice both times saying weird things("Make the TV go faster"). I gave him some tylenol because he felt warm and hopefully he will sleep better.

Lots of kids

This morning Josh and I went to the grocery store which is always a fun adventure. I learned that Wednesday morning isn't such a bad time to go. I picked up the kids at Gan and I came home with 6 kids. Jordy had a playdate with his girlfriend Ariella and 3 of Danya's friends came over since we are rotating turns on Wednesdays taking the kids home and then to art. So I brought all the kids home and fed them all Wacky Mac and then sent them to play. Not long after I took Danya and the girls to art. I stopped on the way back to take a picture of my parents house which was tiled yesterday(the roof that is). After art 2 of the girls went home but Tamar came to our house. Everyone was playing fine until Tamar sat on Jordy(on accident?) and then all hell broke lose. Jordy hit Tamar in the ear which caused her to cry insisting that her earring fell out(it didn't) and then in Tamars defense Danya grabbed Jordy by the head and hurt him. Danya kept saying she did it on accident which really made me mad because how do you grab someones head and turn it on accident??? I sent her to her room but she wouldn't listen, she just kept screaming and yelling...bottom line is that Tamar went home early and Danya has a few punishments this week for not listening when I asked her to go to her room. Once everyone calmed down the kids ate dinner and I put them to bed. Josh had to run out to get passport photos taken since his office just informed him that they want him to come to New York for a week preferably BEFORE pesach. This shouldn't be such a problem except that as new citizens we can't get a passport but we need a temporary passport. He can't use his American Passport to leave or return to Israel since there is no visa. We never got the temporary passport because where were we going? When we went to Chicago it was within the first 3 months of Aliyah so we were still able to use the American passports. I just figured why get a temporary one if we will just need permanent ones at the end of the summer? Well now he is going to attempt to get one expedited(apparently if you beg you can get it done). The other thing is from all the forms we filled out I have a whole bunch of passport pictures but get this...Israel passport pictures are a different size than American ones so he had to get new pictures. Anyhow....we will see how that goes tomorrow...stay tunned!

My head will fall off

Today was back to school day!!! Josh brought Jordy to school on his way to shul but Danya was not ready yet, so he left her home to get dressed and eat and he was going to take her on his return(I was being lazy and sleeping). Danya came to me to ask me to get her breakfast and I decided that now that she is 6 she can get her own breakfast(aka I was too comfy in bed and didn't feel like getting up) so I told her to get a bowl and spoon and cereal and then to CAREFULLY pour the milk. Well she did it with no spills, so I think I am going to put her in charge of breakfast from now on. After school Danya and Tamar came here to eat lunch(they both forgot to eat at school...something I am going to talk to the teacher about tomorrow) and then watch Cinderella 3. They played all afternoon very nicely. I picked Jordy up at 4 and they were just coming back from the park. All the kids were heading to the daycare lady's house but Jordy saw me so he kept running toward me. We went home and after a bowl of Cheerios and Capn' Crunch(which I think Danya should have prepared) he went to play with Danya and Tamar. Tamar stayed until 6 and then I made dinner. Since I need to go shopping tomorrow and we didn't have too much to choose from for dinner I made something I haven't had since my mom made for me when I was about 12...Hot dogs and noodles. Well I am not sure what I did wrong or if the chicken hot dogs and bad Israeli noodles had something to do with it or if my mom had a secret ingredient that she never told me about, but it was no where near as good as I remembered it. We also had some melafaphone(cucumber) with salad dressing. Then after some negotiating, I got Jordy to bed. He called me into his room a few minutes later saying his tummy hurt because he ate too much. Then he went into a story about how his head was going to fall off on Sunday(everything with him in on Sunday...I think it is the only day of the week he knows). I asked him why he thought his head was going to fall off and he said "If someone does this(and then he gestured to his neck) that my head will fall off". I asked him why he thought that and he replied with "Don't tell Daddy and Danya". I am not sure what they are teaching him at his gan or if he is getting some of the translation wrong, but he comes up with the weirdest stuff! After I convinced him that he head wasn't going to fall off he went back to bed. Danya decided to clean the attic a little in exchange for money to put in her wallet. Then she went to bed as well.

2 funny Jordy Stories

Today when I picked Jordy up I asked him what he did at school today. He told me that while they were outside playing he, Amitai, Ariella and Yehousha played house. He said Yehousha and Amitai were the dads, Ariella was the sister and he was the baby. He said that the mom was dead because she tried to kill a ghost. Obviously this was a little disturbing so I asked him whose idea that was. He said "Amitai". Then he added "Ariella". After another minute he realized what was going on and he said "Amitai, Ariella and Yehoshua's but not mine". Jordy has learned that denial is the best route. Another funny thing I forgot to report yesterday was that after the carnival we were waling home but Jordy was complaining that his boots were hurting him(he was wearing rain boots since he was boots the monkey). After walking for a while I asked him how his feet were feeling and he said in a sad, whiny voice "My feet don't feel good, they are throwing up".

Sushan Purim

Just when we thought Purim was over....we pulled out the costumes one more time to go to the Purim carnival that Bnei Akiva had on the basketball court this morning. Since today is Shushan Purim and the kids are out of school it was the perfect activity. The kids had a great time playing games and winning prizes. There were 2 activities that were the highlights...for Danya is was the makeup booth. She had her face painted and got a hair wrap(we waited in line almost an hour and then it took about a half hour to get done so you know she really wanted it since she just patiently waited for her turn). Jordy really liked the moon walk/jumpy things. There were 3 of them and while I waited with Danya for the hair wrap Josh took Jordy to the baseball field where they had them set up. Jordy then played there for about an hour. He came back all sweaty and gulped down 2 cups of grape drink. Then after the hair wrap I took Danya and Tamar and Jordy wanted to go again.



I bought the kids pizza there although there was a meltdown since they ran out of cotton candy and drinks by the time we went to eat. We recovered with thoughts of getting a prize from the game table. Jordy got bubbles and Danya got a Velcro wallet. It is pretty dorky looking but she now wants money to put in it and keeps asking for chores to do so we can give her shekels. The kids hung out at home the rest of the day watching one of the movies from Bubs and Pops and playing. We are looking forward to getting back to school tomorrow(at least I am) although Purim was fun. We definitely got our moneys worth on the Purim costumes though...they have been wearing them all week!

Happy Purim!!!

Shabbat was pretty quiet. We had meals at home and the kids spent all Shabbat day playing with friends(all of whom were Israeli). On Saturday night, after Josh heard Megillah across the street, we went to the big shul for a Purim carnival. Poor Jordy was so tired that Josh took him home pretty early. I heard Megillah while everyone was at the carnival. Danya and I stayed until the very end. This morning Jordy woke up at 6 to go to the bathroom. I am not sure how, but I convinced him to go back to bed and he slept past 9am! After I went to Megillah reading we gathered our Shalach Manot along with the Yishuv Shalach Manot that we volunteered to deliver, and headed out with our red wagon. It was a beautiful day and since there were a million cars making a million stops we decided to go it by foot. We went around the entire Yishuv and collected a bunch of Shalach Manot along the way(and ate a lot of them on the way as well). When we were walking up the the house we got a call from Nocky and Ruanne saying that they were stopping by soon. We were happy to see them and the kids were even more excited when they saw that they had 2 big bags from Bubs and Pops! They dug in enthusiastically and yelled with joy as they pulled out toys, movies and candy. After they left we headed to the Kaplanskys for Seudah. Aside from us they had a family who are cousins with Michelle and a family they are friends with from Rananna. Turns out that family are people we worked with in Moshava a few years back and didn't leave on the best of terms(anyone want to guess who it was????). Apparently 10 years later we are all past it(mostly) and we had a great time at the seudah. We came home and called Pops to wish him a happy birthday(according to Danya it his 21st birthday...bet he was happy about that) and a happy Purim. Danya also got to talk to Adina Drapkin who she has been wanting to call all week. There is no school tomorrow since it is Purim in Yerushalayim so I am not sure what we are going to do all day...Danya keeps asking to go to the game store so that may be a possibility. We will see. Happy Purim everyone!!!

Falling Behind

Sorry I haven't posted in the past few days. Not too much has happened. We are getting ready for Purim, which means Danya and Jordy change into their costumes each day after they get home and they run around playing Dora and Boots...they are just trying to get into character. Josh and I hit the big grocery store this morning to buy stuff for Shalach Manot(which Danya keeps referring to as Shalach Manotim). This afternoon, after they returned from their afternoon activities, both Danya and Jordy got to pack their Shalach Manot for their friends. It was really cute the pride they took in making sure each bag got the required items. Danya was on her way out the door after Jordy had packed his and she asked him if he was excited to give Shalach Manotim and he said yes. Then as we stepped out Danya said in a very excited voice "This is the first time Jordy is giving Shalach Manot. I am so excited for my little brother". Isn't that cute??? We also keep having a countdown as to how many more days until Purim. Tomorrow they go to Gan in their costumes and have a party, so they are really excited about that(and hopefully it will mean that there won't be any fights about getting dressed and going to school...maybe we won't be late???). In other news, Jordy had a playdate with his girlfriend Ariella the other day. When I went to pick him up he wouldn't come upstairs when prompted. He wanted to stay. When I said we had to go he asked if she could come with us to our house for a playdate. We promised that they could have a playdate next Wednesday. With that Jordy turned to her and said "Ariella, want to sleep over at my house?". To which she responded yes. So he was all excited because he thought that was how it worked...unfortunately Ariella's mom and I put the kibosh on the co-ed sleepover. Danya also had a fun activity this week...at the youth center there was a showing of the movie Cars for 5 shekel. I let her go alone with her new friend Eden and Eden's big sister. I gave her 20 shekel since rumor had it they would be selling drinks and popcorn. She came home broke telling me that she had a drink and popcorn and then gave the rest of the money to Eden so she could buy popcorn since her sister wouldn't give her any money. I thought that was nice of Danya. I think the funniest part is that we have Cars on DVD(and ours is in English) and we have popcorn, but obviously it is more fun when you get to go somewhere else to watch it and spend money. That is all...stay tuned for purim photos!