The One With A Lot of Pictures

We were up early Friday morning. Nadav got up around 6 and Danya also was awake soon after. Nadav was excited to see he had new toys awaiting him when he came downstairs. He was also excited to see Pops(Bubs wouldn't show her face until later). The kids headed to school. Josh and I began the pack up as we were going away for Shabbat. A little later Nocky and Ruanne came by to say hello to Bubs and Pops. The kids returned from school and Bubs surfaced. They all went out for falafel while Nadav, Jordy and I stayed home. After they returned we finished packing and headed out to Zichron Yaakov. Danya and Jordy went in the car with Bubs and Pops which left Nadav a little bored and crabby. He decided to eat his feet at one point: We arrived at our hotel and were a little discouraged to see that we had to go up four flights with all our luggage and no elevator. Despite the lack of elevator the small, quaint hotel was very nice. Friday night we had a delicious dinner. Eventually Nadav fell asleep and we all went to bed...sort of. Nadav woke up at what I think was around 1(there were no clocks in the room and my watch battery had died). He then slept on and off until around 4:30am in our bed. He FINALLY fell asleep grasping onto my arm.
We were up at 8am Shabbat morning which was painful. Bubs and I took the kids to breakfast where Nadav threw everything I offered him. I decided to take Nadav on a walk to shul and perhaps get him to nap. So I followed the directions that the concierge gave me to the local shul. It was about a 10-15 minute walk and when I got there Pops and Josh were not there. It was a kiruvy kind of minyan. Since I didn't find Josh I figured the guy sent me to the wrong shul so I headed back to the hotel. Turns out the regular shul was down the block but I didn't try going farther. Oh well. Nadav was still awake and cried when I tried to get him to sleep. Once the men returned from shul we ate round 2 of breakfast. Then we hung out in the room for a while. Josh, Jordy and I took Nadav on a walk and again he didn't nap. We all had a great lunch and Nadav FINALLY fell asleep in his stroller with Bubs help. My in-laws took Nadav in his stroller to the park along with Jordy. Danya read all afternoon while Josh and I finally got to sleep. After Shabbat we headed to the midrachov for some pizza and a stroll. We returned to the hotel and everyone went to sleep. And then Nadav woke up at 1am. We put him in bed with us and eventually he fell asleep gripping my arm again.
Sunday Nadav woke up at 6 again. Once everyone was done playing DS and getting their hair dried we headed for breakfast.
(Note that Danya didn't eat all those plates of food, they were just stacked in front of her). Then we packed up again and headed out. We tried coming up with good stuff to do in the neighborhood but came up empty. So we headed to a toy store that had advertised purim costumes for 10 shekel. Danya found and fell in love with this bride costume however when we went to pay they informed us that it was only for people with a certain credit card that we didn't have and we were not paying 150 shekel for it so she said a tearful goodbye. Jordy found a costume that he loved even though he basically wore the same thing last year. We then headed to my in-laws favorite restaurant in Israel....IKEA!

Jordy went to play in the kid area(Danya was too big and Nadav too small but Jordy was just right so he went alone). We walked around picking up random items. We got Jordy and then we all headed to the cafeteria and ate lunch. We then headed home. Time to unpack and return to reality. Bubs and Pops took Danya to Kiryat Sefer in search of another costume. They returned with this:
Yikes! But she loves it and that is all that counts. Here is Jordy modeling him: Nadav was happy to see his crib and we were happy for him to have a semi-decent night sleep.
Monday the kids headed out to school. Nadav and I headed to playgroup where he kept putting his face in Yollie's face and saying "baby". We came home and he took a nap while I went to Rami Levi. When I returned Pops was helping with the landscaping. After Nadav woke from his nap Bubs and I took him on a walk to pick up Jordy from school. We also got Yehousha who came for a bit to play with Jordy. After he left Jordy happily packed his Shelach Manot.
Later, after Danya returned from softball, we all headed to Beit Shemesh for a BBQ at the Aronsons. It was really nice to see everyone. After enjoying a delicious dinner made by Dore we headed home.
This morning(I can't believe I am up to today already-I feel like I have been typing forever) the kids headed out. I went to do my mosaics. I have given up trying to figure out why only my photos of the mosaic keep getting rotated, but here they are:

The afternoon was pretty quiet. Danya packed her Shalach manot which she was excited to do. We got some pizza for dinner which was quite yummy and then everyone eventually headed to bed. Here is a picture of Nadav reading his "baby" a book.

Oh My G-d

Today was spent close to home. During lunch Josh was watching a Blackhawks game from a few days ago. At one point he yelled out "Oh My G-d". Nadav promptly repeated the phrase with the same energy. It was so funny and he kept doing it so I ran to get the camera. Of course he wasn't doing it as enthuastically as he had been before the camera but here it is:
Danya and Daniella went to a Purim carnival this afternoon while Jordy played with Moshe S. and went to English. Both kids returned home anxiously asking when Bubs and Pops are coming. Are they here yet? Are they here now? When are they going to be here? Nadav went to bed before they arrived. When they finally arrived Danya and Jordy were going crazy. They of course were excited to help them unpack their 4 large bags. Boy were there a lot of presents! From the mandrin oranges, to the giant box of Crunch bars, to the Power Rangers PJ's to the Mad Libs, to the Knob Creek(that one isn't for the kids)....and the list goes on and on. Boy is our dining room table covered right now. Nobody wanted to go to sleep, they were too excited. Eventually everyone did go to sleep and I need to also!

Make Like a Tree and Get Outta Here

(Can you name the movie the subject line comes from?)
Sunday, Rosh Chodesh Adar, began the 2 weeks leading up to Purim where all learning at school comes to a screeching halt and the fun begins. A note came home on Friday detailing the activities that would take place each day up until Purim, including baking hamentashen, yom sport, MANY dress up days, 6 graders teaching the classes etc. So Sunday the kids had to go in costume dressed as something related to one of the Sa'are Yerushaliam, Gates of Jerusalem. Danya took the easy route and choose Sha'ar HaPrachim-the gate of Flowers and wore a dress covered in flowers. Jordy decided he wanted Sh'ar Eshpah-Dung Gate and I cut a head and arms out of a garbage bag and we taped a few pieces of garbage on to it. Of course he took the picture and Josh told me that he got to the car, took it off and left it at home. Oh well. Anyhow, the kids also had the 6th graders teaching them for most of the day so school ended early(since it is too much for a 6th grader to prepare??) at 1:30. It was a BEAUTIFUL day outside, the beginning of a warm up-about 80 degrees and Nadav wasn't feeling well. Nothing major, just a low fever, perhaps teething? Anyhow, he and I went for a walk, in sandals, to get Jordy and Moshe after English. Later Danya went to school for another Erev Kitah where they made a project. Everyone had dinner, watched some Olympics and went to bed.
Monday morning I was going to take Nadav to our new playgroup however he still had fever so we decided against it. We did take him for a ride to the grocery store. Josh ran a few errands with Nadav while I shopped. Here is Nadav helping bring the the wagon of groceries: After school Jordy returned home and Danya headed to English and then softball. Jordy was invited to a friends house. Often when Jordy's friends call they invite themselves over and I was so impressed that this child invited Jordy to his house-until I realized that this is the one kid in his class that doesn't live on the Yishuv, but on the next Yishuv over, so I drove him over there and an hour and a half drove him home. I am always very insistent that when Jordy wants to play with a friend he invite them to our house but I think I should just start letting him invite himself over to friends, everyone else is doing it and I am the sucker who is always having kids at my house! I can't remember what they did special in school on Monday but I know they did something-perhaps dancing? We ate dinner, watched more Olympics and went to bed.
Tuesday morning the kids went to school and I ran to Shilat to buy Danya the leggings and t-shirt she needed for a dance show. After that I went to do my weekly mosaics. This week was more on the being creative side in regards to pictures and colors. Here is what it looks like-I am pretty proud but still not sure why the picture wont rotate.

I still have a ways to go but I think it will look nice. It was another beautiful day out so we worked outside which was so nice. Jordy returned from school with 3 big, chocolate Hamantashen that he made at school, sort of. They still needed to be baked. So while he got ready for swimming I baked the cookies for him. He ate one on the ride to swimming. After swimming he ate the second one and gave the third one to Nadav who thankfully wore a bib(he usually pulls them off) and had a great time devouring it.
Danya returned from her art class and she also had a bunch of smaller hamantashen which I then baked for her. She enjoyed eating them while doing some English homework. We watched the Olympics and the kids ate dinner and went to sleep. Josh and I were invited to Sheva Brachot at the shul across the street for someone we don't really know. They were called for 8. I arrived at 8:40 with my cake that I baked and the couple arrived at 9:15. We ate a little bit and left early as we both had work to do.
This morning, after getting the kids off to school, sans Gold costumes(as in Yerushaliam Shel Zahav), Josh, Nadav and I headed out on an adventure. We had been talking about planting fruit trees in our yard since the day we made Aliyah(that would be August 16, 2006). Last night at the sheva brachot a neighbor was telling us about a place they buy trees pretty cheap, however they only told us the neighborhood, not the exact location or the name of the place. Luckily the neighborhood was a tiny Yishuv with signs leading you to their nursery. While we were strolling around waiting for someone to help us Nadav had a great time running around, falling in a mud puddle, picking up little kumquats and calling them balls and squeezing them so the juice got all over. He had a blast! Anyhow, someone helped us and we ended up buying 3 fruit trees. We got an orange tree, a lemon tree and a red apple tree. Since the trees that were under 4 years-due to Orlah, the prohibition of eating fruit from a tree that hasn't completed it's third year, were half price we choose those. I know, we are cheap. The lemon and orange are in their 3rd year and we can eat their fruit after next Tu B'Shvat and the apple is in it's second year so we can eat from that in January 2012. I also bought 2 more spices since the first 3 are still alive and doing well. I bought nana which is spearmint and louisa which is lemon verbena. Nadav fell asleep in the car on the way home and I put him in his crib, covered in dirt and kumquat juice to nap. Josh and I headed out to begin the planting. I took the shovel and dug 3 holes for the trees(ok, Josh helped a little with one but I did the other 2 myself) and we had those trees planted in no time. Here is the orange tree:
The lemon tree:


And the apple tree:


I also added my herbs to the herb garden. Danya returned from school and was very anxious to go to her dance class to prepare for tonight's performance. Jordy came home from school and played DS all afternoon. At 5:30 I left the kids(plus Moshe) with Josh to go watch the performance which ended up starting at 6:15. Ugh. It just gave us mothers time to complain to each other about the fact that we had to pay for the performance of the dance class that we already pay for. The show was about 45 minutes and Danya had a great time-that's the important part, right? Here is a video of one of the dances. The lighting was terrible so this was the video that came out the best.



We came home, everyone ate random dinners and got to bed very excited for tomorrow when Bubs and Pops arrive!

Be Patient

Busy watching the Olympics. Stay tuned.....

Settlers Weekend

For some reason Friday seemed like a calm day. Even though I was cooking a ton and the kids were home in the afternoon all was ready early and we went into Shabbat nice and calmly. Robert was with us this weekend. We had a pretty quiet dinner. After dinner the Brodskys came over with Jordy and a friend of his and we all played a HUGE game of Settlers.
Shabbat morning Nadav and I went to shul while Danya and Jordy stayed home. After shul the Brodsky crew returned for a kiddush game of Settlers. Then we ate lunch and Jordan and his friend came back for yet another game in which Robert joined the cult us. After the game we took a walk over to the Zemel's to see Josh's old friend Bruce. After Shabbat Josh took Danya and Jordy to the parent child learning. Then they came back and Jordy went to sleep while Danya joined me in watching some of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. She kept referring to the athletes as the contestants which I thought was cute. She was really excited to see the Israeli and United States "contestants". When USA came out dressed in their matching Ralph Lauren winter coats Danya commented that "they always have that thing on it. The USA semel(emblem)." She then pointed to the Ralph Lauren logo of the guy on the horse. I then picked up the shirt Nadav had been wearing today which just so happens to have been a Ralph Lauren shirt. I showed it to her and she was so surprised to see it there. I explained that Ralph Lauren is not the USA team logo but the clothing makers. Danya headed to bed and Jordan and his friend, Oren, returned for one last game.

Saba Visits

OK, I know I am far behind and I am being kind of lazy so I am going to stick to the highlights and the things I remember since I have a photo.
Last week my Dad was in town. He was actually here the week before but we only saw him on Tuesday and Friday as he was working. On Tuesday evening we all had dinner together. The kids were excited for gifts from Saba and here are some of them waiting to see what they got(we don't need to discuss Jordy's disappointment that he got money rather than a toy but he got over it so all is well).
He came by again on Friday to say goodbye. It's always nice to see him even if only for a little bit.
Friday morning we also had an electrician finally. He was supposed to arrive on Tuesday so I was surprised when he rang the bell Friday morning. Friday morning when you are trying to cook and do laundry is not the best time to have to be without electricity. He looked at everything and said everything is fine and there isn't a problem. I told Josh we should invite him for dinner so he can enjoy cold food in the dark. He fixed a few minor things and said to call him if it happens again.
Shabbat was another quiet one. Robert was with us and spent most the time sleeping-can't say I blame him! Saturday night Josh and I went to a Bar Mitzvah party for a little while.
I already told you about our visit to the Gan on Sunday.
Monday morning Nadav and I went to playgroup. He doesn't really interact with the other kids but he enjoys playing with their toys.
Tuesday morning I went to do my mosaics. I made some progress. I finished the name and decided what to do with the background. Here are the pictures. I tried rotating them 4 times and it isn't working for some reason, so just tilt your head.
Nothing exciting happened yesterday that I recall.
This morning Josh and I took Nadav to Modiin to run a few errands including checking out the new Ben and Jerry's. Nadav enjoyed his first ice cream cone(he's had ice cream before just not in a cone). The rest of the day was spent doing the usual carpools and cooking for Shabbat. I also made Hamantashen tonight. It is VERY out of character for me to make them before Purim-I am usually making them Purim night-so I am very proud of myself for getting that done ahead of time! Have a good Shabbat!

Gan Visit

I am too lazy now to give a full update now however I needed to share an outing we had today. This morning Josh and I took Nadav to visit the gan(preschool) we hope to send him to next year. We happened to arrive at lunch time(they provide meals). Nadav saw all the little kids sitting around the little table on their little chairs and he wanted to join them. So the head of the gan brought over a little chair for him, which he was so excited about, and then placed a plate of shnitzel, spaghetti and corn in front of him with a little fork. He was so happy! First he set his shnitzel on the table next to his plate and the little girl next to him picked it up and ate it. Then he grabbed his fork and went to town on the spaghetti and corn. He didn't do so well with the fork so he mostly used his hands. The girl next to him kept tossing spaghetti on him and visa versa but it was so cute to see him so excited to be a "big kid". When he stood up there was so much spaghetti on the floor that as he stepped down the entire bottoms of his shoes were covered in spaghetti. He really seemed to enjoy being there and seeing all the other kids. Hopefully he will enjoy it as much next year.

Report Cards

Friday morning was kind of quiet. Since I was only making dinner, and it was just us for Shabbat, I didn't have a lot of cooking to do. Meria and Moshe came over to play with Danya and Jordy respectively. On Friday Danya and Jordy came home with their report cards. Danya did absolutely fine. A lot of getting to school late but otherwise completely good. Jordy however had me completely shocked-across the board Mitzauyan-excellent. First off I am not bragging, it is just that I was a horrible student so I am amazed that he is my child and I am living vicariously. Second-have you met Jordy? Maybe he isn't perfect at home because he is perfect at school? His picture was even on the front of the report card, so no chance it was the wrong report card. On top of that, an award is given out to 2 kids in each class for being the best for the semester and Jordy got that as well(OK-now I am bragging a little). We are so proud of him and only hope that he continues to grow in his educational endeavors. Here is a picture of him with his award(along with the one he got the first week of school for being the best student that week and the one he got the first month for being the student of the month-more bragging). Notice that one of them has a bite out of it? Nadav got his hands on it the day Jordy got it and he took a bite. Anyhow, Friday night we had a nice dinner without a power outage-we didn't use the blech.
Shabbat morning Danya and Jordy didn't want to go to shul. I got Nadav dressed and we went to shul for a few minutes but it was too early so we went home and returned a little later. After shul we all walked to the Balsam's where the kids all ate lunch together. Then the Rotter girls arrived to babysit and we went to a Bar Mitzvah lunch at shul without the kids. Although it was complicated to arrange in terms of the kids, it was a really nice lunch. When we returned to the Balsam's Nadav was sleeping so we hung out a while. Danya had a tummy ache so we headed home. After Shabbat Josh took Jordy to the parent child learning while Danya rested.
Sunday morning I had an eye doctors appointment. You couldn't have picked a sunnier day to have your pupils dilated. The nice part, aside from the fact that the doctor was my friend Sharon, was that during the 30 minutes while my pupils dilated I ran to the grocery store. For dinner on Sunday night I made the spaghetti bake that was so popular last time I made it. I was convinced that nobody would eat it this time but I was pleasantly surprised. Not only did Jordy eat it(after insisting he doesn't like it)-he ate 4 servings! Jordy! Who never eats anything.
This morning Nadav woke up with red marks on his face and hand. They didn't seem to bother him but I gave him some benedryl as they looked bad. You can kind of see them on his face and his left hand here:
He and I then headed out to playgroup. He doesn't really play with the other kids as much as he tried to take toys from them or steps on them to reach things. Keren Mandel did teach him how to play ring around the rosie. He didn't get the whole "fall down" part but he liked holding her hand and dancing around. The afternoon was the regular carpool afternoon. After dinner, which was another crowd pleaser-hot dogs(half grilled and half boiled as Danya doesn't like them boiled and Jordy doesn't like them with the black stuff on it) Danya called Bubs and Pops to do a chat on webcam. I was only there for a short bit but Danya was hysterical making funny faces the whole time. I didn't have the camera with me but I will try to get her to make them again tomorrow for the camera.
Here is another Nadav picture. He is brushing his hair while sporting the ugly pacifier clip I just bought him. We lose pacifiers all day long so hopefully this will help.