Happy Birthday to E!

We had a party at home for "the family" (and a few close couple friends) on Thursday evening for E's 3rd birthday. I spent a good week prior stressing about it but it came off very well. The food came out great and there was enough. E got some lovely gifts (some very noisy ones too!).

Here are a few pics:



The birthday boy before everyone arrived.



Cake face.



DH holding his 4-month-old grandson.



DH's mother and my step-father.



DH's 3-year-old granddaughter, Liri.



DH's sister, Helen.



My Mom.



Pre-Shabbat

E doesn't have gan today and it's too wet and cold to go outside to play. Hmmmm. What to do today? Generally, Friday is my chance to go out - with or without E - and do errands, window shop to see what's new in the stores, etc. I usually make a morning of it but it's so cold that it doesn't sound appealing today so I guess I'll just stay home, save the money I'd be sure to spend if I did go out, and concentrate on whipping the house into shape and cooking since tomorrow we're having 2 guests for lunch - our friend Ian and younger daughter, Abby. Ian's wife, Jo, is in the UK visiting her parents.

DH and I went last night and bought the paint for both girls' rooms - robin's egg blue for Y's room and cream for T's room. The painter is due to start painting the rooms on Sunday and I really really hope he will be finished by Thursday since Thursday night is E's party and I really would prefer that the house be put back together by then.

On Sunday, the library in Beit Shemesh where my Mom volunteers is having the mother of all book sales so I'm going sans kids. All books are 5 NIS (~$1.25).

That reminds me. I called my Mom yesterday to consult with her about paint color decisions. I caught her just as she was headed out the door. She said, "Can I call you back in a few hours? I'm going out to a protest." Huh? Protest? MY mother? It just struck me as so funny. I don't think my Mom ever publicly protested anything in her life. But there you have it. That's what this country'll do to you. A veritable smorgasbord of things to protest about. Just take your pick.

Shabbat Shalom to all!

What to Name a Post?

How come I have such a hard time coming up with a name for each post when they are very often about such everyday, mundane things that are going on with me/us? There isn't often a central subject or theme to them. There's a limit to how many posts you can have entitled "Things". Or "This and That". Which is truely what most of them are about - this and that.

Just sayin'.

Yesterday DH called me at work saying he'd seen someone selling on the Rehovot List a 9 ft. trampoline with safety netting around it for 300 NIS (~$79)!!!!! (These things cost $400-1000 new.) "What a dream for the kids!" DH and I both said. "A trampoline would solve our summer entertainment problems!" DH and I both said. And then we were both confronted with a reality check. No yard to put it in. O HOW I HATE APARTMENT LIVING!

We toyed with the idea of buying it, setting it up in the yard of our building and hoping that it wouldn't get stolen or vandalized and if it did, we wouldn't be out a fortune. I wasn't keen on that idea. Then we toyed with the idea of buying it and optimistically putting it into storage for one day when we do have a yard but between you and me....ain't gonna happen. So why spend the money and use up valuable storage space? In the end, we sadly let the trampoline get away. Very bummed about that.

Last Friday night at the dinner table, T started telling us about the decorating changes that she would like to make to her room, starting with painting, which it does desperately need. I called around, got some quotes and next week we will be having both girls' rooms painted. (Once upon a time I was the family painter but no time or energy any more.) T is definite about the color she wants the walls but I have to choose a color for Y and E's room.

Last night, in order to get some wall color inspiration, the kids and I went to IKEA and we actually walked out of there without buying a thing (except for dinner)! For Y and E's room, I am leaning towards a robin's egg blue or palest aqua. I am very drawn to that color and it's neither too boyish or too girlish. You can also couple it with a variety of nice accent colors such as red, chocolate brown, orange, chartreuse green, etc.

A New Week

E has gan every other Friday and this week gan was "on" so after I dropped him off there, I made a quick run to IKEA to pick up his birthday present - a wooden train and track set. I LOVE LOVE LOVE wooden toys! I got him the basic set and one extension set. If he loves it and actually plays with it, we can always go back and buy another extension set. I've seen how enthralled he is with the huge train track set they have at the gymboree I took the kids to during Chanukah so hopefully it will keep him equally busy at home. He adores balls and anything with wheels.

Of course you can't just run into IKEA for ONE thing and I walked out with about 15 items and having spent 400+ NIS. One of the things I found in IKEA's marked down section was....I guess you'd call it a large shallow Teflon pot. It's so large that when I put it on my stove top it covers two burners. It was marked down from 255 NIS to 135 NIS. I brought it home and made matbucha in it (a garlic-y tomato-based salad - similar to salsa - that you simmer on the gas for a LONG time). Came out great!

It's been a VERY cold and rainy few days. Shabbat was hard due to not being able to go outdoors with the kids. We basically stayed home, had a pajama day (a.k.a. mental health day) and skipped shulgoing. The afternoon was spent with Y practicing her cartwheels in the living room and E spent the afternoon playing Superman, gleefully jumping off the coffee table over and over and over and over and over and.......I was too tired to care and didn't have anything better to offer him that he would have been interested in doing. T got a fire lit under her and tidied up her room BIG TIME. When she was done, the Queen of England could have visited and I wouldn't have stressed about it. T IS capable of tidiness and order when the spirit moves her.

E's gannenet (daycare teacher) has been commenting on how poor E's language skills are. She claims he hardly says anything at all in gan, that he doesn't know opposites, his colors, etc. DH also took E for a developmental checkup at Tipat Chalav (baby wellness clinic) and they were also concerned that he didn't know the word for "star" when she pointed to one and that he didn't know the word for "milk" even when she pointed to a carton of milk in a picture and spoke to E in English. And yet when E is at home with us, compared to what they were just a few months ago, his language skills are growing in leaps and bounds. True, he mixes - and I mean MIXES - his English and Hebrew which can be very, very funny but if not funny then adorable but he is coming out with complete sentences now and then. I was also reading him a bedtime story the other night. I showed him a picture of a cow and right away he pointed at the cow and said "chalav (Heb: milk)" and then "milk". So I don't know what everyone's getting all worked up about. I keep telling everyone to slow down. WE see his progress at home and yes he's far behind where Y was at his age but a) he's a boy and b) he's dealing with two languages. I'm NOT worried. I do wish though that he would be able to sit for long enough for me to read him a book.  He just doesn't have the patience for it. At the most, when I try to read to him, he'll take the book away from me, quickly look at the pictures himself and then throw the book across the room and get up and run off to do something else.

I finally made it to the doctor on Friday and as I suspected, I've got bronchitis. I should know. I've had it often enough before. So. Bronchitis confirmed. Drugs acquired.

T was home for Shabbat this week. At the dinner table Friday night she was almost - almost - outgoing and it was so nice to be able to have a two-way conversation with her instead of the one-word grunts that usually pass as conversation with her. She was just very "laugh-y". (Is that a word? Well, it is now.) She was laughing at the little ones' nonsense and DH's witicisms which normally she wouldn't be caught dead doing. It was just nice to see her so light and "up". At the dinner table, she started telling me what decorating changes she'd like to do to her room. Mostly just re-painting which it does desperately need. And then maybe some pretty stenciling around the two windows. So by the end of today I will have gotten 2 price quotes for repainting her room. Both girls' rooms are due for a facelift. I used to be the family painter but I think those days are over. No time, no energy.

Tigger

Sadly, my decision to adopt a kitten several months ago wasn't the best decision. DH was against the idea but agreed to a trial period of 3 months. Tigger had turned into a BEAUTIFUL, healthy, large male with lots of energy but he tended to be on the aggressive side with the kids and they were often bitten or scratched for no reason. The cat also hated DH and I must say the feeling was mutual. DH did not appreciate the cat jumping on his desk, being anywhere near his computer and sprawling all over the papers on his desk. Just all around, the cat brought an added element of stress into the house and even I, as much as I miss having an animal in the house, had to admit defeat and that adopting him had been wishful thinking.

So on Thursday I posted about the cat to http://www.agora.co.il/. I had a number of inquiries about him quite quickly and then today a young man asked about him and ended up taking him this evening. He's a sweet young single man, post-army so.....early 20s.....who lives in Gan Yavne (20 minutes from us) with his mom. He happens to work down the street from where I work so this evening after work he picked me up and we came home. Just 2 days ago I'd ordered 2 bags of food and a huge 18 kg bag of cat litter which I was happy to give him as well. I let him borrow our cat carrier cage to get Tigger home in and he'll return it tomorrow.

It was a sad decision but I'm very happy to have found a good home with someone nice so quickly.