Xander graduated kindergarten!

I can't believe he's going to be in 1st grade!

The evening started out with the play The Wizard of Oz,with all parts played by the graduating class.  I was really impressed that they memorized so many lines and knew their choreography.

Xander had originally been the Cowardly Lion, but then had wanted to switch for the non-speaking roles of Munchkin and Flying Monkey, remember?  Well, he got the lead back, because the boy who had replaced him as the Lion apparently started to cry for real when he was only supposed to be pretending.  Here is Xander our lion, "backstage":

And for my family or anyone else who is interested, below is the full 24-minute play (Xander's part begins approx 12 minutes in).  The only thing it doesn't include is the sing-along to Over the Rainbow.  The commencement ceremony followed with little black tasselled caps and cuteness, but that includes all the children's full names, so I'm not posting it.  Enjoy the play though!

The power of the mind

I am constantly amazed by my children's creativity.

- Xander leaps off my bed.  He says, "Wait, Mommy, I'm going to get my cape!"  He runs to the dress-up bin, grabs a cape, ties it around his neck, and runs back.  "I'm a superhero," he proclaims.  "I'm MICROSHOT!"  I ask, in confusion, who Microshot is, not remembering anyone with that name in the Marvel or DC universes.  "I made him up!" he says.  "He has radioactive powers with his microwave rays."  We actually took a long video of him explaining the various powers and nuances of Microshot (he is apparently also super fast, as fast as microwaves, and can fly) - but alas, we didn't register that Xander was only in his cape and underwear at the time, so sorry, not sharing with the world.

- I changed into blue pajamas, and Ari said, "Mommy, you're on a boat!"  And he pretended to be a wave and go "woosh, woosh," as if my blue boat PJs were the ocean, and we were all on board a yacht of our imagination.  The day after he played with the Playmobile pirate ship for a full 20 minutes by himself, making up voices and scenarios for the plastic people.

And Connor?  He's teething up a storm, putting everything in sight in his mouth, and is never happier than when he's in his brothers' presence.

For Savta

Hello my wayward grandmother without an email address,

We no longer have to use this blog as a method of communication!  I've set up an email account for you.

If you're on the computer reading this, open up a new tab and go to "www.gmail.com"

It will ask you to sign in to your account.

Your new username is "lillianjanetliss"

Your password is your maiden name, and then the 4 digits of the year that your father emigrated to the U.S. from Russia.  No spaces, all lowercase.

So if anyone wants to email you, your email address is "lillianjanetliss@gmail.com"

You can access this email from any computer, anywhere.

I hope it works for you!!

Love,
Michal

Media recs of the week

Books:  I recently finished Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson, which was hilarious at parts and like a car crash all at the same time, you just can't look away.  The woman's childhood in ultra-conservative rural Texas was as far from mine as could possibly be, which made it a fascinating read.

Movies:  Her with Joaquin Phoenix.  Highly recommend it.  A man falls in love with a computer operating system, and it's amazing.

TV: Better Off Ted was the best satirical show on television that no one watched.  And for anyone who's interested, Netflix now has the latest seasons of Scandal, Dr. Who, and My Little Pony.

Music: I have no idea, people. My repertoire is limited to the Frozen and The Lion King soundtracks, with the radio top 40 or Taylor Swift's RED thrown in for kicks every once in a while.  Plus, the Pandora oldies station for when I clean. :)

We are all God's children, are we not?

Last night, as part of an interfaith seminar series, I had the privilege and honor to speak about Judaism at a local mosque.  It was a fabulous event.  I especially loved the last part, where we got to observe Muslim prayer.  One of the women did my scarf for me, and more than one person commented on how natural it looked.  My Middle Eastern side is showing. :)

Spiderman shirts from Bubby!

Very excited Ari.

Eldest big brother.

This couch photo session was adorable to shoot.

"Wha?" says Connor, as Ari spontaneously kisses him.

Kiss recovery.

Connor makes a break for it.

The kids crack up.

They're all looking at the camera!

Chemistry for the preschool set

THE GRAND MILK EXPERIMENT

Ingredients: milk, pie pan, food coloring, dishsoap, Q-tips

Preparation time: 3 minutes

Experiment time: until you get bored

Put milk in pan.  Have children add food coloring.  

Dip in Q-tip.  Nothing happens.

Add droplet of dishsoap to Q-tip and VOILA! Color explosion.  From what I understand, the milk's fat molecules are repelled by the soap molecules, and we see the action through the food coloring molecules.

And again, making pretty patterns.

What happens when they both do it at once?  Two polar vortexes!

Family of five

Taken on Father's Day.  Ari is laughing, Connor is confused why Robin's face is covered by the camera, and Xander is holding a paper airplane because we got him a book on how to make different types, and it's now his new favorite hobby.

The two youngest

Ari at school before his haircut, comparing and contrasting two blocks.  I think he's about to knock down the tower.

Connor and I.  Is there a time, perhaps the next season in my life, when I won't look so tired?  Apparently that time is not now.  And, I highly doubt, anytime in my near future.

Abba and Shula sent a care package!

Israeli candy YUMMMM......

"Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles..."

If you're standing up, you might want to sit down.  Before you fall over.  Because I..... COOKED!  Like, real, honest-to-goodness, using-the-oven, cooked.

A long time ago (months and months and months), I had seen this recipe online for Spinach-Artichoke-Dip Stuffed Chicken Breasts.  I love spinach artichoke dip.  I love chicken.  The dish looked really really good.  It looked like a restaurant dish.

I checked the online menu of local restaurants.  No one made it.

I asked Jonathan if he would want to make it.  He hates cooking meat.  He pointed out that no one else in the household but me likes spinach artichoke dip.

He had a point.

I waited.

I pondered.

One random night last week, I decided that I really wanted this dish, and darn it if I wasn't going to make it myself.  The woman who wrote the blog entry said that this was an easy recipe to make, an "after-work recipe."  I trusted her.

(I was a fool.  The woman lied.  It apparently is only easy if 

a. One has ever cooked meat before, or 

b. One knows what a meat thermometer is and how to use it or 

c. One knows what "to taste" means, because really, how much is that?!  or 

d. One is not constantly interrupted by three young children.  

But, I digress.)

Where was I?

Oh yes, the recipe.

Cut and pasted blatantly from her blog:

Ingredients:

skinless boneless chicken breasts, trimmed of fat

prepared spinach artichoke dip

To taste: salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried basil 

1 can of medium artichoke hearts (packed in water), drained

1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved

3 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp all purpose flour

2 - 3 large cloves of garlic, minced fine

2 cups grated mozzarella cheese  

handful of fresh basil, cut into ribbons

I somehow figured out how to take the excess fat off the chicken breasts, and then I sliced deep into each of them, making a pocket.  I inserted a big spoonful of spinach artichoke dip into each pocket.  Per her instructions, I threaded two toothpicks into the edges of each chicken breast to keep it together.  It actually worked.  (It would have worked better had she specified not to use party toothpicks, which were the only ones I had in the house, as apparently the pretty blue and red and yellow colors can actually come off and stain the chicken once it's cooked... but I digress again.)

Then Ari and I "liberally sprinkled" the chicken with kosher salt, black pepper, dried basil, and garlic powder.  (Which meant I told Ari to sprinkle things until my chicken looked like the chicken in her pictures.) 

Behold, toothpicked-and-liberally-sprinkled chicken:

Next up I had Ari help me rinse, drain and quarter the artichoke hearts, wash and halve the cherry tomatoes, and mince garlic. (Again, the blog author forgot to specify in her recipe that having a 3 year old help with everything adds to the preparation time immeasurably.  Apparently her little daughter in the pictures is a cooking genius who never ever tries to do such things as oh, smash artichokes until they're a paste, or accidentally fling garlic across the room.)  It took three times longer than it would have had I done it myself, but he had fun and got to participate.  

Then Ari scooped everything into a bowl, and together we added olive oil and more salt, pepper, and basil.  Oh, and the flour.  Who knew that a mere two tablespoons of flour would thicken the dish and make it much less runny? (Don't you dare say, "people who cook.")  We poured the bowl's contents over the chicken.

Behold, artichoke-and-tomato-mixture-topped chicken:

Next, I put the whole thing in the oven.  The recipe said to take it out when the thermometer read 155 degrees.  Okay.  After 10 minutes I took it out, unwrapped my brand-new meat thermometer, stuck it in a thick part of the chicken, and realized that I would have to wait a few minutes until the damn thing heated up to read it, at which point the chicken would already be cooling.  I looked in her recipe.  No tips.  I dug the thermometer wrapping out of the recycling bin.  Huh. Again, who knew.  Apparently you have to insert the thermometer from the beginning.

I inserted the thermometer.  Crap.  Now the dish wouldn't fit in the oven, because the top of the thermometer brushed the top of the oven.

I rearranged every %^& shelf in the oven.

I put the chicken back in.

I took it out at 155 degrees.

I topped it with a whole bunch of Parmesan and grated mozzarella cheese.

Behold, meat-thermometer-cheesed chicken:

I put the dish back in the oven.  I took it out when it reached 165 degrees. 

Two hours had now passed since I started.

This had gone from an "after-work dinnertime recipe" to a "the children are now in bed and I am still cooking" recipe.

I admit that I did not follow the next step exactly.  I did not lovingly slice the fresh basil ribbons and place them atop the chicken.  I savagely ripped the now-wilted basil by hand and threw it on half-heartedly.  

But I was elated.  It smelled fantastic.

The instructions were to "serve hot and gooey," and my mouth was watering.

Behold, the finished dish:

I got out my plate and cutlery.  I was reaching for a serving utensil to put a piece on my plate.

And then the baby cried.

I was crestfallen.

I nursed the baby.  I put him back to bed.

20 minutes later, I cut myself a piece of still-kinda-hot-but-no-longer-gooey chicken.  I plated it, if by "plating" one means, "this is so tender it came apart in pieces and now looks really odd on the plate," so there are no pictures.

But oh my goodness it tasted AMAZING!! In all seriousness, I was proud of myself for trying something new.

And yes, Jonathan was right.  No one else in the household will touch it.

But that's okay by me.  I have leftovers upon leftovers.  And all of it is delicious!

The saga of cheese

Xander and Ari don't like string cheese.  I don't know why.  However, they love cut-up cheddar, so I give it to them in their lunches sometimes.  Last Friday, for a change, I gave them cut-up mozzarella, the exact same mozzarella that they had had for dinner the night before, in their English muffin pizzas.

This is the conversation on the way home from school.  Jonathan was driving, I was in the passenger seat, and all three boys were behind us.

Xander:  "Mommy, did you make our lunches today?" 

Me, dubiously:  "Yes, why?"

Xander: "I didn't like the cheese.  It had black bits on it."

Jonathan: <chuckles, knowing full well the cheese was pristine and feeling sorry for me>

Me: "Well... did you try it?"

Xander: "Yes, but I didn't like it."

Me: "Okaaay."  <I decide to try the other boy, ever-hopeful>

Me: "Ari, did YOU eat your cheese?"

Ari: "No."

Me: "Why not?"

Ari: "I didn't like it."

Me:  "I see.  Um.. did you try it?"

Ari: "No."

Me, getting exasperated: "Why not?"

Ari, looking like this is the most obvious answer in the world: "Is [dis]gusting!"

Jonathan and I looked at each other and cracked up.  Who can argue with such logic?

Connor the cat

Ooooh!  Shiny light!

Must keep patting it until I catch it.

Let me examine it more closely.  It is obviously complicated.

Daddy? Do you see the light too?

Wait a minute - DADDY!!!  You're HERE!  I'm going to crawl toward you as fast as I can.

From April... unearthed from the art bin

At a temple program, Xander had a teenage babysitter at one point.  They apparently made books.  

Page 1: decoration.

Page 2: Xander at age 5 and a half, for posterity.

The boys' new room

The view looking toward their back wall.  It's a "tall" bunk, so Ari can swing his legs all he wants but won't be able to hit the bottom of Xander's bed for years.  The steps are drawers, which is great for storage.  And we still need to get a mattress for the trundle on the bottom, but figure it will be good for sleepovers in our future.  Xander had a ball deciding where to put all his posters and accouterments.

The other side of the room.  Jonathan first read a picture book for Ari, and is closing with a chapter of "How to Train Your Dragon," which is more of interest to Xander.  Removing the small bookshelf from their room enabled us to put it in the living room, where it's now "Ari's shelf" and contains toys that are below Xander's level.  Jonathan fixed the toy kitchen so the wheels work and it's not lopsided, and Ari has been fake-cooking up a storm.  I think it's been helping with middle child syndrome that he now has his own space.

Still here

Just got busy.

But two great things all in one day:

1) My grandmother replied to this blog, which means that she has access to a computer again!  She recently went from the transition from her own apartment to an assisted living facility, so HOORAY, everyone in cyberspace cheer her on.  It's not every 90 year-old who's computer-savvy.

2) I downloaded photo editing software onto my new laptop.  Expect long-overdue pictures in the near future.

Lilah tov, goodnight.

Big events

- We had to meet with the boys' teacher to discuss Ari's... temperamental behavior.  She thinks it might be a delayed reaction to Connor's birth, since this week it's been all about Xander and moving on to 1st grade, and Connor and his crawling.  We've made more effort to spend private time with Ari and it's working.  Oy, middle child syndrome already!

- The boys got a bunk bed!  It came in five 70-lb boxes.  Thank goodness Jonathan knows how to use power tools.  It's all put together now, it took three days (one day for the bed, one day for the staircase, a third time for the trundle).  Their room feels new.  They're in love.

- My laptop died a sad little undignified death.  I write this from a new one.  What did I do before technology?!

- Other things of note... Jonathan has been working more hours than usual on computer consulting projects.  We're managing the Ohio house from afar, finding new renters.  And I find myself strangely invested in cooking lately.. I'm made dinner more than a few times, and tonight am branching out to actually cooking meat.  I must be feverish.

Snakes, birds, and the boys who love them

I love talking with my sons.  Just chatting, about nothing.  It gives me such insight into their personalities.

Last week Xander and I were talking about dreams, and he told me that he remembered one of his from the night before.  He and four friends were on a big ship, and there were four steering wheels, operated by three of his friends and Ari.  They asked him if he wanted to be a lookout, and he said yes.  He saw a BIG snake, a sea snake who could breathe underwater, and he shouted "Snake! Snake!" The snake poked its head onto the ship to say hello, and.... then Xander woke up.

Ari at breakfast opened the door to let Osher in, and was shocked by what he saw outside.  "Mommy, Daddy, bird!!  Osher play with bird!"  And yes, apparently Osher had brought us a small present right outside the door.  Ari was upset and followed Osher straight to his food bowl, kneeling down to give him a strict talking to in a very serious tone of voice.  I thought  he was mad because Osher had killed a living creature.  But no... he came up to me after Osher went into the other room, exasperated, and said, "Mommy, you talk Osher!  He not clean bird outside!"  He thought Osher should go on time out since he had made a mess and wasn't cleaning up after himself. :)

And Connor?  He obviously doesn't talk yet, but he IS babbling up a storm, which is fun to hear.  He's also pulling himself up and falling a lot.  But he is one determined child, and just keeps on going.

It's amazing to watch them grow.

Ari is so busted!

Uh oh. Is someone trying to unlock your device?

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Lock Cam takes a picture of anyone who tries to unlock your device 5 times with an incorrect PIN, password or pattern--just one more way that Lookout keeps your device, and everything on it, safe and secure!

This picture was taken using the front-facing camera on your device.

10 years!!

Today is my tenth wedding anniversary.  We've been together 11 years, and Xander is 5 1/2.  So this is the tipping point, from now on we've been together with kids longer than without.

It's crazy.  Where did the time fly?

10 years ago, when we had talked about this anniversary, we said we would go to Scotland.  Or Hawaii.

But a decade and three children later, what did we do?

We had a masseuse come to our house, and we're going out to dinner. :)

Wow, we were young.

Pictures from Mom's visit

Three of my four boys playing the video game Marvel Superheroes.

 Mom and our cheese puzzle!  To any puzzle lover out there: Springbok is the best brand ever.  Each puzzle piece is unique, and they all snap into place.  You can never accidentally connect two wrong pieces, it's lovely.

A very tired Bubby dancing with Connor, part one.

Very tired Bubby and Connor, part two.

Reading the older kiddos bedtime stories.

 One would think from the lesser amount of pictures we take of him, that we don't like our middle son as much as the others.  Not true!  It's just that he's three years old, and never stands still.  Here is one of his rare moments of repose, admiring the quarter he received from the Tooth Fairy.

Xander took this picture.  I'm impressed!

Xander took this one, too.   He's got a good eye!

 Mega-sandwich.  Man, that puzzle was hard.

And last but not least, how my mom found herself more often than not... putting a baby to sleep.

The Tooth Fairy came to our house!

We had to pull Ari's front tooth in the end, and he was such a trooper.  In case you can't read the words on the envelope, it says, in the Tooth Fairy's writing (which looks amazingly like mine, what a coincidence):

Dear Ari,
You were so BRAVE!
Love,
The Tooth Fairy

He looks so much older with the missing tooth and the haircut...