Pulling over the car on the way home

I love that Jonathan stops the car to watch the sunset with the kids.

Connor the mountain goat

Reading bedtime stories in the childrens' very messy room.  While I read to the two oldest, Connor pushed the closet door open, pulled all the shoes out of the staircase drawer, and then proceeded to climb in.

Cozy and content hanging out in his new hidey spot.

He made it all the way to Xander's bed, and sat there clapping to himself in glee.  They're the only stairs we have in the house, so he practices whenever he can! 

Important news

I am honored and beyond excited to share that as of July 1^st, 2015, I will become the rabbi of Temple Beth Orr in Coral Springs, Florida.  Jonathan, the boys, and I are thrilled to pieces to be joining this incredible community, and we can only imagine what joy the future holds.

However, although we are looking forward to this new chapter in our lives, we are at the same time so very sad to be leaving everyone whom we love here at B’nai Israel.  We have laughed, cried, and learned ever so much from you these past two and a half years, and we will dearly miss everyone when we leave. Please come visit us!

I find it deeply meaningful, and not at all coincidental, that the street name of both temples is the same, Riverside.  From Riverside Blvd to Riverside Drive … this move is beshert, or meant to be.


Temple Beth Orr's website has us on the front banner of its home page, oh my goodness! 

They say:

On Sunday February 22, 2015 at 7pm there will be a special congregational meeting held at Temple Beth Orr.  At this meeting the Board of Trustees will recommend that Rabbi Michal Loving be approved to serve as Temple Beth Orr’s Rabbi beginning July 1, 2015.  The Board and the Rabbi Search Committee are very excited to present this Rabbi.  She exudes warmth, compassion and energy.  Her love for Judaism, community and connection are contagious.  A copy of the letter introducing Rabbi Loving and announcing the special meeting is shown below.

Post-Hanukkah house exertion

I made Xander a Pandora music playlist of all his favorite songs and we danced for a while.  This somehow turned into wrestling, which then turned into "puppy pile Mommy" time.

Victory signs from the eldest.

Captain of the ship!

Turning on music to wind down.

Relaxing afterwards watching the music video for "Firework." 

January Hanukkah house

A congregant gifted me with a Hanukkah gingerbread house on Friday, saying that someone had given it to her but that her kids were too old for it, and would we still build it even if the holiday was over?  Would we ever!

Note Connor reaching for one of the bowls of candy.  One half-second after this shot, the candy was all over the floor.

This side has the "A" for Ari.

Lollipops make the world go round.

Xander made his own "X" on the roof, and then we did a "C" on the wall for Connor.

It even came with real (sadly inedible) dreidels.

As soon as these pictures were taken Ari proclaimed that the house was done, and we should eat it.  Xander agreed, and as we tore into the concoction, he exclaimed, "We're ripping open the house just like in Holmes Inspection!" (a reality renovation show we've been watching which X loves, as he learns all about how everything is built inside a home)

From the mouth of babes

Ari and I were singing "Old McDonald."

He insisted on coming up with the lyrics himself.

Old McDonald had a cow, E I E I O.  It said mooo.

Old McDonald had a sheep, E I E I O.  It said baaa.

Old McDonald had a Yentl, E I E I O.  She said meow.

Old McDonald had a Connor, E I E I O.  He said "babababa."


Then came the one that made me full-out guffaw.


Old McDonald had a Mommy, E I E I O.  She went "talkie talkie talkie" all through the farm!

Simcha at Mom's

The boys still say we have three cats.  I don't have the heart to tell them he's at Bubby's for good.

The State of the Union is strong

It's a few days late, but in case anyone hasn't read it, Tuesday's State of the Union from President Obama was awesome.  As my grandmother said, "it packs a punch."

Read it here if you haven't already.

And here is the Reform Jewish movement's response, from the Religious Action Center.

Managing money and taking responsibility

Xander wants to buy a certain toy.  We looked it up online.  It's $25.

He counted his money in his "spend" jar.  He has $18 and change.

He and Jonathan then did math.  If he gets 50 cents every week to spend for allowance, how many weeks will it take him to save up for the purchase?

14 weeks.

How many months is that?

3 and a half months.

His face fell.  He was crushed.

Then in one of those typical married moments, Jonathan and I looked at each other, had a wordless conversation, and said to him at the exact same time, "But you can work for it."

This weekend, he earned $2 by spending two hours with Jonathan cleaning the car, vacuuming the inside all by himself.

Yesterday he earned a quarter for taking out the trash cans.

It's this strange little balance act we're doing... we want to find jobs for him that we can pay him for, but we also want to make it clear that having household chores, like doing his laundry, are an expected way of his contributing to the family.

Anyone have any suggestions for jobs we can give him to earn money?

Ari playing video games

Note the feet!

Costco shopping

Jonathan clears a path as Ari and Connor push the cart, and Xander drags his feet to get a free ride.  Before his brothers joined him, Connor was actually pushing on his own, turning the heads of everyone who saw the cart move seemingly by itself.  It's especially impressive considering the cart contained 80 lbs of litter and 20 lbs of cat food!

Wow I feel old

Did you know that Girl Scout cookies are FIVE DOLLARS A BOX?

I feel like an old fogey.

Back in my day... they were only $2.50!

Family = love

During our family program at religious school last week we talked about families, how they come in all shapes and sizes. But no matter how different people's families are, they all have one thing in common: LOVE!  So we decorated rice krispie treats in the shape of the Hebrew letters that spell ahava, "love" in Hebrew. 

(It was a very popular project, as you can imagine.)

Rabbinical amusement

I told the story at Tot Shabbat last Friday.

I practiced.

I had funny voices.

I had props.

I was feeling good about it.

I was totally upstaged by the adorable two-year old dancing behind me the whole time.  People kept laughing at the wrong times in my story, and I knew it wasn't me.

She was so cute!  I'm glad she was getting into the service.

I also have a new understanding for W.C. Fields, who famously said, "Never work with children or animals."

:)

Fagel Herbstman, zichrona livracha

1922-2015

Fagel was... a powerhouse.  I didn't know her well, but she, her sister Ethel and my grandmother were  first cousins, and as intertwined as the three wicks of a Havdallah candle.  The matriarch of that side of the family, she always made me feel welcome whenever I went to Chicago, and she and my mother were very close.  

She was the connection to history past and present: she regularly sent over checks to my grandmother in gratitude for Savta's father, who had brought over Fagel's father and the rest of the family from Russia.  

My own mother uses the name "Bubby" with my kids because that's what Fagel's grandchildren call her.  My mom wasn't fond of her own Bubby, and once swore that she would never use that name for herself when I had kids.  She changed her mind when she realized that Fagel was the quintessential Bubby, who exemplified what the term should be, and she wanted to follow her example.

I will miss her laughter and her open arms, always.

Red letter day

I just folded five loads of laundry (the ones in which the treasures were found).

All the socks matched.

Washing machine treasures

Leaves are Ari's trademark.  (The plush Hanukkah candle was a seasonal special.)

What I did with all our leftover Hanukkah gelt

Make hot chocolate, of course!

1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla
cinnamon
nutmeg
ton of chopped chocolate

Melt all the chocolate in a 1/2 cup milk, then add everything else.

YUM.

Where have I been?

Just for fun.
Create Your Own Visited States Map

The rocking chair

We have a small wooden rocking chair, one which used to be mine, that my mother had saved over the years.  She gave it to us when Xander was born.  As a girl, I used to always read in it.  So as an adult, I put it next to the chair we keep in our dining room, next to the bookshelves.

No one ever sat in it.

I tried putting it in their room.

No one ever sat in it.

And I realized: they only read with us.  In our laps or next to us.  Hard as I try, neither of my older boys will pick up a book and read as their solitary activity of choice. (At least, not yet.)  They'll pick up a ball, a LEGO piece, a paintbrush... anything but a book, really.

So I decided to rethink things, and think about where that chair would really be used.

I put it in the living room, next to the train table, with a view of the TV.

They sit in it all the time.  They watch movies in it.  Argue over who gets to sit in it while playing video games.  Try to lift the baby into it.

Just another reminder that I can't recreate my own childhood in that of my sons', I guess.  They're definitely their own little people.

Divide and conquer

I took living room clean-up and Jonathan took teeth-brushing and PJs.

Xander and Ari won clean-up; they finished with 146 points, me with 114.  They ran around like crazy putting things away.  The living room is spotless.

I think I sent them to Jonathan with a bit too much energy, though.

First thing I heard from the bathroom:

"BOYS!  You do NOT pour water on each other's heads!"

Bringing in the New Year

We watched Mr. Peabody and Sherman, which was quite fun.

Both older boys stayed up til midnight.

Jonathan did something amazing with wires and remotes and all of a sudden we had a TV hookup to watch the ball drop.

The best part though was two kid comments:

Xander:  "So, Mom, you'll be 34 in 2015, and I'll be 7, and Ari will be 4, and Connor 2, and Daddy 45.  So everyone but me and Daddy will be multiples of two!"

Ari: "I love snuggling [with you] on the couch.  I feel like we're married!"  

Earning extra mom points

 

That huge fuzzy-looking monstrosity standing next to the branch in the terrarium on my dining room table?  That's Sally the Spider, folks, aka the large tarantula from Ari's class.  The small cage contains the crickets.  They're about to feed it.

Right after I took this picture I left the room.

More Hanukkah

Everyone fascinated by the kinetic light Newton's cradle I got Jonathan.

Ari thrilled to pieces with his 5 Minute Spider-Man Stories book.

Showing me his book.

Xander modeling the eyeglasses straws he and his brothers got from Mom.

Air hockey!  I had to keep Connor corralled in my lap as he desperately wanted to join in.