Does your religion determine how much money you make?

I think not.  But this article is fascinating nonetheless.  It makes me realize how closely religion is probably related to race, socio-economic status, and cultural educational expectations.

Click to magnify.

(Shout-out to Stephanie, who found this on a table at HUC and suggested that if I blog it, she'd have her own virtual copy. :))

Planes and propellers

Last Sunday was an air show at the local airport.  We went with Yasha and Eden and their mom and had a wonderful time.  Picture lots and lots of old planes, kids everywhere, and military personnel dressed to the nines for the 9/11 commemoration.

We stood as close to this one as we could.  Ari didn't like the noise, but Xander was in love.

Jonathan and Xander went on the tour of the B-17 vintage plane.  

Posing with the propeller.

A little overwhelmed with the close quarters and multiple levels of the plane.

Looking back after the tour.

It's serious plane week: last year, for Jonathan's birthday, Jeffrey and I got him a certificate for a two-hour private flight lesson.  It was forgotten about for over a year, but yesterday he flew!  It was gorgeous out, but really windy.

Note my hair, completely wind-blown to one side.

Pre-flight check.

Waving goodbye before take-off.

Closing up.

My artsy shot of the plane starting to taxi, taken in the door of the flight center.  

Ari and I spent the hour and a half of the flight checking email and talking to Nicole L. (hi, Nicole!).  Jonathan, on the other hand, did a couple touch-and-go landings in this airport and one a few suburbs up, did two high-G 180 degree-turns, a pull-up, a full stall and recovery, and basically flew it insanely crazily with the pilot's express approval.

And last but not least - today was a divide and conquer day.  I went to Nicole R.'s senior sermon and service at HUC, and Jonathan and Xander went to Comic-Con Cincinnati.  He did not want to go home to nap.

It's a bad picture because his face is crumpling about to cry, but I wanted a picture of him wearing his big brother shirt, given to him as a gift from the president of my last student pulpit.

Later today we schmoozed with Rachael and Danyul, and took a long walk to the park in the sunshine.  And tomorrow it's off to see Thomas the Train!  I love full weekends.

Xander-isms

Since everyone seemed to like the post about the hamotzi, here's some more stuff Xanderbugs has said recently that cracked me up:


Me: [talking about jobs he can do as a grown-up, from firefighter to astronaut]  "What do you want to do when you're a grown-up?"

X: [pausing, thinking deeply] "When I'm big, I'll grow up and blow the shofar real loud on the bima!"



Me: "I hate that, when songs get stuck in my head and I end up singing them all day.  Do you ever get songs stuck in your head?"
X: "No.  I take them out!"


Jonathan was making a mixed drink for himself, and Xander wondered what it was.
"It's an adult drink," Jonathan told him.
"Can I try that?" Xander asked, pointing to the rum.
Jonathan glanced my way and I shrugged my shoulders; why not?  He would hate it and then not ask again.  Or so we thought. His reaction?
"Mmm, this one is tasty!"


And this one's my personal favorite: we were all in the car today, driving home, when someone let one rip.  It wasn't me, it wasn't Jonathan; must have been a kid.  I asked Xander, "Was that you?  Do you need to say excuse me?"  And Xander looks at me all offended.
"It was Ari!  I poop quiet!!"

Turning lemons into lemonade

1) My license expired, so I had to retake the driving test for Ohio.  It was so annoying, we had to drive 45 minutes away.  But I scored 100%!  Much better than the 74% I got when I was sixteen.

2) Jillian Michaels' DVDs are awful, terrible, fabulous workouts.  I did it for 35 minutes last night and am so sore.  And I'm not thin yet either.  What's up with that?!  But I have hope for the future.

3) On a random stop to Old Navy, Jonathan met someone he knows from the game shop.  A Jewish family, who also go to our temple.  We've lived here four years now, it's official that we can't go anywhere without running into people.

4) I knew that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur were imminent, because I've been preparing for my pulpit.  I also knew that this meant Xander's birthday was coming up soon (he was born on October 7th).  But until Jonathan mentioned it, it hadn't occurred to me that we would need to plan a party.  Oy-ness!  So now we have RSVPs for five three-year olds, plus Xander, to be at our house with their parents in a couple of weekends.  It will be fun, and Xander will love it.  Downside: did I already say that there were going to be five three-year olds at our house?

5) The teens down the block were playing football on Sunday when a stray touchdown knocked down one of the power lines.  Duke Energy had to come and fix it.  What could have been annoying became an amazing adventure: Xander came with me to collect all our candles, then we very carefully placed them around the house and lit the ones in any room we were in.  Xander's favorite was when Jonathan read him bedtime stories by candlelight. And Ari... he was transfixed.  He just kept staring at the flame with wide eyes, completely in love with the way it shimmered.

Two year-old grace before meals

"Baruch atah Adonai... look, there's a birdie!"

"Elohanu melech... it's looking for bugs, Mommy!"

"Haolam, hamotzi lechem min... IT FOUND ONE!  IT'S EATING IT!"

"hamotzi lechem min haaretz. Bt'a'avon.... Look, a second birdie!  It told its friend to come!"

And then the birdie conversation commenced over dinner.

Pride in one's children?

The story behind this was simple.  I was playing on the floor with Ari in the middle of the rug, and had my laptop scooted to the very end so I could look back to check any incoming email.  During the middle of our play I went to the kitchen to get a snack... when I returned two minutes later Ari had turned himself around and scooted forward.  He was mimicking my exact earlier position, and was actually typing gobbledygook!  I cracked up then ran to get the camera.

This was blurry by accident, but I love how you can see his typing in motion.




And now the saga of Mr. Underwear-Head:

Giggling at his ingenuity in choice of headwear.

Doing an underwear-head dance.

Giving his brother a hug in front of the mirror.

I love the look on Ari's face in this one: what are you wearing?!

Deuteronomy 6:7 fulfilled

Ari studying Torah trope with Iah, a second year rabbinical student

("And you shall teach them diligently unto your children")

Bonus pictures

I had completely forgotten I had taken these on my phone.

Very proud Bubbe.

Two out of my three boys.  

And no, we don't do anything for the mohawk.  It's completely natural. :)



Also, from the depths of my laptop, a picture just for fun: numbers in an internet age. Click on it (even twice) to magnify.

Labels have such different nuances

I've felt like I've had two kids before: childbirth helped with that, as does having both kids need something at the same time.

I've felt like a Mommy before: when Xander calls my name, or Ari reaches out to me with a plaintive look in his eyes.

I've even felt like a Mom before: when I fill out permission slips for Xander's daycare, or take either child to the doctor.

But yesterday was the first time I felt like a Mother:  I found myself standing in front of the open refrigerator door at ten o'clock at night, wondering why the watermelon and cantaloupe were slowly going bad.  Then it occurred to me that they were going bad because no one was eating them, because they weren't cut up into pieces in a bowl.  Then I realized that I would have to be the one to cut them up.  So I found myself standing barefoot in the kitchen after the kids were in bed, cutting up melons.  Not only that, I was removing the watermelon seeds.

Not only did I feel like a mother...  I think I just became my mother!

Watering, tractors, and brotherly love

Ari and Simcha post-nap smiles

Happy to help water the lawn.

Focused on spraying.

Hi!

Brushing teeth at the end of a hard day of playing.

We visited my friend Rachel's parents' farm:

 Xander liked the animals, but he loved Liam's toy tractor.

Farm dog.

Taking turns pushing each other.

Climbing up the fence to better see the cows.

And lastly, a dinner party with Mom and Nancy that saw some awesome brotherly love:

Kisses!

And then Jonathan suggested I turn on the flash, and what do you know, the pictures were clear:

Lovely laughing boys.

You notice there are no pictures of myself or Mom with the kids?  Yeah, we noticed too.  After she left.  Sigh.