Happy new year!

"Shana tovah u'metukah" means "[Have a] good and sweet year."





We're all off to Marion, Indiana tomorrow morning at 7:30am... wish us luck!

Note(s) to self

Dear self,

Please remember these things for the future:

- Yes, you've worked out for two weeks now.  But stepping on a scale every single morning is probably not helping you.

- When substitute teaching at religious school, do not wear the blouse you borrowed from a friend.  Or at least, not the first time you're away from the baby without pumping for more than four hours.  Exhibit A: third-graders lined up at the drinking fountain.  You feel very warm.  Your 15 year old teacher's aide all of sudden looks at you in utter confusion and says, "What HAPPENED?"  And you realize the entire right side of your blouse is completely soaked.  Having borrowed a hair dryer from the religious school educator, you then return to class... with huge milk stains all over your shirt.  Sigh.

- Also remember though, in your milk mortification, that you love teaching religious school.  There's no reward like the 8 year old who stated bluntly when he met you, "I hate Hebrew school, it's never fun!" and who then came up to you at the end of the day, held your hand, and said, "Wellll... the beginning of the day was boring, but the afternoon was fun."

- Your eldest son is very loving and sweet.  This is sometimes unhelpful, like when he opens the door for you to come out and blinks as Simcha runs past him.  Or when he feeds cookie to his little brother when your back is turned because Ari was so obviously interested.  Xander's first food was avocado, and he didn't seem to be that interested in solids for a long while.  Ari's first food is now sugar cookie with sprinkles.  Not so surprising that now Ari really wants to eat!

- If you have a daughter, never, ever name her Rachel.  On Friday I had a free facial and invited Rachel J. over (Max's mom), and it was great, really relaxing.  On Saturday the new rabbinic student Rachael and her husband Danyul came over to schmooze, and Rachael is quickly becoming a good friend.  Today I was supposed to get together with Rachel D., Liam and Jack's mom, for who I'm also pumping once a day, since she is having trouble nursing.  Do I know no women with other names?!  Although, hmm, on second thought, all these Rachels are really nice, maybe I should keep that name in mind.

- Try not to discuss service outlines with your three year-old in the room.  While making Play-Doh shapes with Xander I took a call from the cantor at my High Holiday congregation.  We discussed song cues and melodies that had been unclear.  Hanging up five minutes later, you say to your (you thought) Play-Doh engrossed son, "I was talking about teaching Torah for Rosh Hashanah services on Wednesday!"  Without missing a beat he picks up a different color Play-Doh and says, "I don't want to come. It will be boring for me."  You pause, not really not knowing what to say.  Unfortunately you think he's right.

- Said kids are awesome though, and you shouldn't underestimate them.  Xander's home sick from school with a fever today, and Jonathan already had his day booked with appointments.  You were all worried about finishing High Holy Day things with both kids in tow, but as you sit here typing (on a break from service outlines), he's sitting cutting with scissors and Ari is cooing to his blue stuffed lion in his swing.

- Try not to get addicted to kid's music.  You've listened to Laurie Berkner more than any of your own music lately, and strangely you're completely okay with that.

Thomas the Train!

Preparing for Thomas: engineer hat, engineer kerchief, train whistle, and frog boots.

 I can't WAIT to see Thomas!

Say "cheese"!

 Thomas was huge, attached to the real train at the railroad an hour north of us.  The train rides went every hour, so there was about a 15 minute period every hour where it sat smoking on the track. We waited in a line worthy of Disneyland to sit on the bench in front of it and get our official picture taken.

 Thomas steaming away, so you can see the full view.

 The "Adventure" tent, with train tables galore.  He of course had to see how the bridge worked.

Very focused on moving the Duplo.

Sharing with a new friend.

 Posing in front of the screen with Percy, Thomas, and Rosie.  He was thrilled.

Then it was our turn for the train ride!  Xander's head is barely visible behind the family in front.

 Even Ari got into the train ride.

Handing the conductor our tickets to holepunch.

The conductor was cracking up at how seriously Xander was taking everything.

Totally jazzed to be on the train.

 Completely engrossed in the view outside.

 Train rides are so lulling.

 Jonathan and I posed.  Xander couldn't be bothered, he was on a train!

 After the train ride came the hay maze.

 I'm a smart boy, I can find my way out!

 Miniature golf came next. 

Concentrating so hard, it was almost a hole in one! 

 So that everyone can see busy it was.

 Xander loved my Thomas tattoo.  Ari was a bit more dubious.

Bounce house!!

The outing ended with story time and then a pizza lunch.  And, because it so special, we all went to the ice cream shop and Xander picked out his very own blue bubblegum ice cream.  All in all, it was a fabulous day.  I don't think Xander's ever been happier.  Thank you, Savta, for making it happen!

No topic really. Just a random conglomeration of things in my head.

This is the seventh day I've been working out at home.  It's kind of frustrating, because the only time I have free is after the kids go to bed.  So once they fall asleep, I change into workout clothes and hit the rug in the front of the TV.  I'm borrowing videos from Rebecca, and so far I've done The Firm: Pump, Jump and Jab, Bob Harper: Cardio Conditioning, Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred, and Jillian Michaels' 6 Week Six-Pack.  I like the latter two the best; she's more encouraging than the others when she talks to the viewer, her moves are easier, and they don't hurt my knees at all.  I haven't noticed any changes yet, but I have some serious motivation: come late December I have to buy nice interview suits and bima clothing for when I go on callbacks.  And I don't want to buy all this nice clothing in bigger than my pre-pregnancy size!

Very cute interaction today:  

Jonathan held out his arms as wide as they could go and said, "I love you THIS much!"  

Xander's eyes widened and he said, breathlessly, "That's a lot of much!"

Jonathan made CIDER.  I don't know how he did it, but it involved apple juice, spices, and a crockpot.  It's fantastic.  You all wish you could have some.

Tired me with boy snuggles.

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.