How we know we love our kids

When Hanukkah shopping....

Jonathan buys Xander things that are pink.

I buy him pirate things that contain cannons.

Oh, the pain for each of us - but our child is happy!

Heartbreaking... and heartwarming

This link will bring you to a video of how Israeli preschool and elementary students reacted to the barrage of rockets.  Their resilience is amazing.  To quote my grandmother, "Defense in time of war is not only military."

Love love love

Apple Hill

On Friday we spent the day at High Hill Ranch, one of 50 farms/ranches/orchards that make up Apple Hill, acres and acres of land east of Placerville.  We went by dozens of craft booths, ate apple cider and apple fritters, picked our own apples from the trees, and the kids ran and ran and ran.  Oh yes, and there was candle-making and face painting.  We were too busy enjoying the day to take pictures, so just took ones of X's face when we got home.

Xander's snake

Smiling snake boy

Movie night in the evening.  Madagascar 3 had singing and dancing animals.  You can't get any better than that when you're 4!

I wasn't going to post this picture, but Jonathan insisted:  me relaxing on my last vacation morning!  You can see the steam from the tea.  Not pictured is the kitty cat directly to my left. :)

It's 8pm and both our children are asleep!!!

I can't quite believe it.

We all had a stupendous time at Dorothy and John's.  I'd never been to a Thanksgiving dinner like it.  I grew up without any extended family in the area, so to have a whole bunch of relatives congregate on a house bearing food - there was so much dessert we didn't even cut into one of the pies! - is amazing.  We had brought a whole bunch of toys for the kids, but we didn't even need them.  All the relatives played with them! Ari was a little grumpy, admittedly, because of his teething, but despite that, it was a wonderful evening.

Both boys were literally snoring in the backseat halfway home. They then stayed asleep as we transferred them to their beds.

Being Jewish I don't believe in Christmas miracles... but wow, do I like Thanksgiving ones!

"Rabbi" seems so boring now

"Mommy, I'm a ninja pirate."

"Really?"

"Yes!  Ninja Pirate Captain Jack Sparrow Alexander Loving Jedi Knight!"

(Note: The "Jedi Knight" portion is sometimes changed to "Petey Penguin" if he's wearing his new Monterey Aquarium penguin hat.  Apparently one can't be a Jedi and a Penguin both!)

We're back!

What a whirlwind week that was.  Stops in Long Beach for the wedding and to see my family, stops in Fresno and Clovis to see Jonathan's family, then Monterey for a quick vacation of our own.  There are seemingly countless pictures of Disneyland, baseball playing, the Monterey Aquarium, and more.  I'll get to them eventually.

Right now the kids are in bed and I'm perusing videos online.  Here are a few choice tidbits to share with you.

- For sheer artistic beauty, there's nothing that beats Torville and Dean's 1984 Bolero.  The sport has changed so much, there are no jumps in here, just passion.

- For an incredible dance performance, see Pink at the 2012 AMA's.

- Fascinating video about what it's like to have sensory overload, and what it means for even just one person to be sensitive to it.

- One of my favorite shows, The Big Bang Theory, surprised the audience with a flash mob last month! And I only found out about it now.  Awesome video here, article here.

- BEST GAY MARRIAGE argument ever.  Watch out, they'll marry your girlfriends!

- Amazing explanation of why our sky is dark at night.  Fun, interactive science!

Other things on the internet: I read pretty much anything that shows up on my news feed on what's going on in Israel right now.  Plus, Hostess is closing!  I know it's unpopular, but in my book, good riddance.  I didn't really like any of the snack cakes, they were too fatty and processed.  It's not such a loss.

- Books:  I haven't been as good as I used to at recording the books I read - just got busy, I got guess.  And now I can't remember them!  Did I ever mention The Thoughtful Dresser: The Art of Adornment, the Pleasures of Shopping, and Why Clothes Matter, by Linda Grant?  Interesting, but I really couldn't relate to most of it.  I was intrigued by Boychicks in the Hood: Tales of the Hasidic Underground by Robert Eisenberg, but it was definitely dated.  Most of my other reading is job-related: The Tot Shabbat Handbook, Lilith's Cave: Jewish Tales of the Supernatural, The Courage to Teach and Quantum Teaching, etc.  Well, that and stuff like Harold and the Purple Crayon and Yo Ho Ho! A Pirating We'll Go: Little Pirate Poems.

And that crying would be Ari...

Six steps to eating corn on the cob

 First, inspect the cob very carefully, turning it all around to see what it looks like.

Second, take an experimental nibble and look up for approval.

 Third, try and take out the holders on the side, just to see if you can.

 Fourth, take a real bite, getting your whole face into the corn.

Fifth, chew and ponder.  Do you like it?   Do you not?

Sixth, make your decision.  YOU LIKE IT!  Smile and giggle, then repeat entire process until all corn is consumed.

Miriam and Danny are married!

Heading out to the rehearsal dinner.  Mom babysat the kids, it was like date night!

About to get in the car in the morning.  I felt all spiffy in my outfit: new jewelry from the CBI WBI (Women of B'nai Israel) sale, and then, would you believe, I was trying on some old dresses I found in my mom's closet... this is the dress I wore to junior prom when I was 16!  It still fit perfectly.  Made my week.  

 Loadin' up.

Xander is amazed by Jonathan's picture-taking ability.  I think I was focused on making sure we had everything for the day (good shot of the dress though!)

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My lovely hubby and eldest son in the newly revamped Temple Israel sanctuary.  The whole building is stunning.  But the place where I grew up, became a Bat Mitzvah, Confirmand, and was married no longer exists.  Sniff.

Here's a shot of Ari, because Jonathan's always worried that we only ever record Xander. :)

 The bride signing the ketubah.  Gorgeous!  And to think we've known each other since Girl Scouts.

Chanting the 5th wedding blessing.  Someone asked me later if I was a rabbi, too, based on my chanting. :)

The reception was quite fun (no pictures because we were too busy dancing!).  And listening to toasts.  Bob Saget is Danny's cousin and gave some very off-color remarks... I'm back in the land of "Is that so-and-so?  It looks like so-and-so."  And then it is that person.


Then it was home for about an hour, and then Mom and I bundled up to go see Barbra Streisand at the Hollywood Bowl!  We were on the 3rd six o'clock bus out of a local mall, then joined the 18,000 strong in the bleachers.  It was a wonderful performance.  Not exactly Streisand at her peak (so I hear), but I enjoyed it.  More than that, I enjoyed my mom enjoying it.  So it was well well worth it!  Here's a review of Friday night, which was apparently nearly verbatim for when we went on Sunday.

The sibling bed when I got home.  Ari always has to be snuggled to someone!

Random pictures from school

On Halloween, pre-kid costumes.

Xander waxing rhapsodic at the lunch table.

Ari in his old classroom, before he moved.

Great parenting advice

From an email from the kids' school about being "good enough" but not "perfect" parents:

1) Your child isn’t you (don’t try to make up for your own childhood)

2) Be who you are

3) Accept that nothing is going to be as you expected

4) Do not have an unrealistic expectation of yourself

5) Show that you are not perfect!  Be human!

Words to live by...

YES!!!!

This afternoon I turned to Jonathan and said, "Huh.  We don't have a TV.  How will we watch the election coverage?"

"I'll rig up the antenna," he said.  "It's what we did last time."

I paused, then thought back... and yup, 4 years ago November 4th was the last time we watched live TV.

It can't be coincidence that Obama won both times.  Obviously it was us!  :)

HALLOWEEN

Aryeh the maneless lion, and Jonathan the Scottish pirate

Captain Jack Sparrow was very disappointed that we were taking pictures and not trick-or-treating already.

Home from the big excursion, and sorting/eating candy.  Halloween was one night where CA actually fell far, far short of Ohio.  In our neighborhood in Cinci everyone sits outside their houses with candy, and it's an unofficial block party.  Here in CA (everywhere I've lived, north and south), people stay in their houses, and you ring the doorbell.  It's a solitary thing.  But no matter to our children.  Either place, there's lots of sweets!

Now for a short series of Ari Discovering the Hershey Bar:

 Mom, why have you never given me chocolate before AAAAGHH IT'S AMAZING!

 I am so so SOOO happy with my chocolate.

 Giggle giggle squeal, I will never stop smiling as long as there is chocolate in my life!

Not to be outdone, his brother shows off his Blue Raspberry tongue.

They actually went to bed at 9pm, which isn't too bad considering all the sugar they consumed.  I'm glad that Xander's at the age that he thinks Halloween candy is magical, that it only lasts one night.  He asked no questions about where all the leftovers went... shhh don't tell him they're in the pantry. :)

Learning styles

From an email listserv I'm on (BabyCenter, if anyone's interested).  People always talk about three types of learners, auditory, visual, and kinesthetic, but I've never seen it broken down like this before.  The differentiation  makes so much sense!  I'm overwhelmingly a "print learner," and never knew it.

Educators have identified two kinds of visual learners: picture learners and print learners. Many children are a mixture of both, although some are decidedly one or the other, according to Mariaemma Willis and Victoria Hodson, authors of Discover Your Child's Learning Style.

Picture learners think in images; if you ask one whether an elephant is gray, he'll probably summon up the image of an elephant that he's seen at the zoo or in a photograph. 

Print learners think in words; they quickly learn to read and easily can memorize the correct spelling of words. They're also the ones who like to practice writing and forming letters. If you ask a print learner if an elephant is gray, the first thing he'll conjure up is the word "elephant," and then he may try to recall what he's seen in a book about the animal.

Fascinating!