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!