Chanukah Play!

Today Yehuda and I went to Yaakov's Chanukah play. We were so excited to see him perform- he has been singing all the songs at the top of his lungs for weeks! We were also excited to see how much the same and at the same time how different Amira and Yaakov's nursery shows were- same amazing teachers, very different children, 3 years apart!

Amira, Chanukah 2005, age 4:

Yaakov, Chanukah 2008, age 3 1/2

"I'm a Little Latke" 2005 performance

"I'm a Little Latke" 2008 Performance

If I had to pick which of my kids was shyer, not a question it would be Amira, but she performs happily, with a smile and loud-ishly, while Yaakov, well- you can see for yourself...He pretty much stood with a frown the entire time and didn't sing a word, and as soon as it was over he ran to us begging us not to leave. Sigh. The costumes were adorable, the rest of the kids performed admirably and we are very grateful to have the same wonderful teachers for Yaakov as we did for Amira!

A White Chanukah!

Artwork by Amira!

Just in time for Chanukah to start (yay!) we had 2 nice, big snowstorms Friday and Sunday! Today we spent the day shoveling, digging the car out, shoveling, de-icing, wrapping presents, watching the hilarious Chanukah e-card that Savta sent, making latkes and shoveling!
We are very lucky to have extra shoveling help now:

Some notes:

When you spend 30 minutes trying to get the car out of the driveway, it is a very good idea to make certain that the PARKING BRAKE isn't on before cursing out your minivan or your wife for making you drive to the Shul Chanukah party. (and no, Yehuda didn't actually do any cursing, of course, nor did he actually seem flustered at all, and only mentioned once, very gently, that he SAID they should walk...and no, I didn't make complete fun of him when we switched places and I got in the car so that he and our very nice neighbor could push the car and realized that he had been trying to drive with the parking brake on...I let myself enjoy him thinking that I was just much better at driving in the snow, being from Boston and all.....)

After 8 years of marriage, and 9 Chanukahs spent together Yehuda actually managed to surprise me by actually getting me a (very thoughtful and awesome) Chanukah present!!!!

The kids loved their first gifts and are happily playing away!

Big shoes to fill

In preparation for what is supposed to be the season's first big snowstorm (school already sent home all the Chanukah projects just in case today!) We got out our boots. Apparently, Yaakov has some big shoes to fill!

I think Yehuda's shoes are actually as big as Yaakov's legs!

Will there be shots?

The first question that my kids always ask before we go to the Doctor is:

Q: Will there be shots?
A: For the 7 (seven?!?!) year old well visit (yay for well visits!) there are no shots! There is a finger prick, but apparently those are no big deal to the resident 7 (seven!?!) year old, so phew. The nurse told her she could sit on my lap for that and her response:
"Why?" heh. My brave girl!

We have now been to the Drs office 4 times in the past 2 weeks. 2 for Amira, 2 for Yaakov. One ear infection, one cellulitis, one stomach bug and one (yay) well visit.
Thankfully none of the visits involved shots.

Amira is now 45 inches tall and grew 2 1/2 inches in the past year! That puts her at a solid 15% percentile for height, so yeah....not exactly on the tall side there. She is also 39 lbs, which is about the 5% percentile, so following the same growth curve that she always has! Good stuff. All in all a much more enjoyable visit then yesterdays (no, nurse, our insurance hasn't changed since the last time we were here, since that was yesterday...)

Not much else to report from here. Yaakov is thankfully feeling much better, although is still intensely kvetchy, so hoping that goes away very soon, and Amira and Yehuda are currently at the school's First Grade Math Night. Fun Fun for them!
Before they left, Yehuda jokingly asked Amira (who never gets jokes) if she had her calculator with her, and she (jokingly- and I don't know which was the bigger shock, that she actually got that he was joking, or that she replied with her own joke?) replied:
I have one in my brain- but it's on standby so that I don't use up the batteries!
Amira, funny!?!?

And again with the Nachas!

Every Sunday night I spend about 45 minutes going through all of the school work and graded homework that Amira's teachers send home from the past week. I love seeing what she is doing, and love seeing how much she is learning.

The Hebrew particularly just amazes me- she can really read fluently now, and has gone from a somewhat legible print, to a really beautifully script in a very short time!

Here are some examples of work from last week:

And lest you think that Yaakov is undeserving of praise:

This one is particularly meaningful in light of his parent teacher conference!

When we told Yaakov how proud we were that he shared the Airplane with his friend, he replied (with a resigned face):

Yeah, well, I really didn't want to.
Heh. At least he is honest!

We look forward to much more Nachas from both of them!

Seven!

I hate birthday parties. Especially ones that I host. I usually start thinking "when will this be over" approximately 5 minutes after it starts.

That being said- after today, I might just change my mind! We had Amira's 7th (7th!?!?!) birthday party today and it was actually amazing. Amira has been planning this party since about 15 minutes after her 6th birthday party ended and about two months ago when we really did have to start thinking about it, I was already dreading the whole thing when I had a brainstorm: Why not call my friend, whose daughter, one of Amira's close friends, is in Amira's class and also turns 7 in December and make a joint party.

The Birthday Girls!

We would invite the same girls anyway, and this way we could split the cost and the girls would have one less party on their already packed Sundays. She loved the idea and we researched and rejected a bunch of different ideas (a ballet party at Amira's ballet studio would cost over $1000 for 25 girls, not including food! Bowling- too noisy...crafts- too much work for us) and ended up hiring the most amazing storyteller to run the party. She came with suitcases filled with a ton of different costumes and put on a show using each of the kids. Amira was the wicked witch, her co-birthday party friend was a princess, and there were knights (female) woods girls, more princesses, a bunch of queens, some wood animals and prince charming (also female- and a very good sport, I must say!).

I am still a little shocked to be saying this, but it was amazing. The girls were sweet, good natured, well behaved, participated beautifully, followed directions easily, and were just a pleasure. A 2 hour party literally flew by, and I actually was surprised to find myself thinking we should have made it longer.

Listening intently to the directions

The Princess and the Wicked Witch

The Wicked Witch

(who still got to wear makeup since a glamorous wicked witch is the best kind!)

The sister Princesses

The Wood Animals

The Woods Girls

Yehuda and Yaakov

The Queens and Knights

The Greatest Girls!

So all in all- a complete success of a party!

I am very happy that it is over, and was such a success, and really and truly cannot believe that my daughter is actually seven.

If you might indulge me a few moments to wax nostalgic...

From this:

Amira, age 4 months

To this:

Amira, age 7

I honestly don't know how the past 7 years have flown by so quickly, but we are so, so proud of our big girl and look forward to watching her continue to grow and learn and make us all proud, Ad Meah V'Esrim.

Nachas (or shameless bragging, you choose)

A word of warning:

This blog entry will probably be nauseatingly braggy. If this offends or irritates you, feel free to ignore this post and check in a couple of days from now, unless you are a Grandparent, Great-Grandparent, Aunt or Uncle (in which case it is required reading) or a really nice friend, in which case- wow, you are a really good friend! Thanks!



That being said....



I very much hope and pray that every parent teacher conference that we ever attend, please G-d, over the course of many years, please G-d, is as incredibly fulfilling as tonight's was.

The conferences are set up in 5 minute increments. Registration opens online at 8:00 AM on a Friday a couple of weeks before the conferences and you just know I was on there at 8:05. I scheduled the perfect 5 minute increment slots timed so that I had one 5 minute slot with the reading teacher, a 10 minute break (to make sure I had time to get from one place to the next and just in case the teacher was running late), then 2 five minute slots with the English teacher, then a 10 minute break, then 2 five minute slots with the Hebrew teacher.

Anyhow, I saw the reading teacher first. This is the one area in which the students are tracked for placement, and Amira is in the top group, so I already knew that she was doing very well, thank G-d, in reading. It was really amazing to see how her comprehension and writing have improved (as well as her handwriting- wow!) since the first weeks of school. I love seeing her journals. She started keeping one at home, too, and it is just adorable. She is really doing beautifully and thank G-d loves to read- as Yehuda and I do. I very much hoped to instill this love in my children, so that is really very rewarding for me.

Her reading teacher happens to be one of my closest friends and she is so, so super professional, as well as being just an amazing teacher, so it was very cool to see her in TEACHER mode.

One funny thing from her- she said that often she feels like Amira's mother because she finds herself saying the same things to Amira that I say to her (when she is caught up in her own little world reading or writing or coloring...although she said, and I find as well at home, that Amira has improved a lot in this area!).

Then I waited for the English teacher. And she was running late, and I was getting worried because my whole careful scheduling plan was in trouble, but thankfully, we ended up only using one of the 5 minute increments, and I was back on track, and the parents waiting after me were very surprised and grateful.

Amira's English teacher is just amazing. She is dynamic and fun and brilliant and peppy and really knows how to bring the best out in her students. Amira absolutely adores her and has really learned SO much already.


She started off by telling me that she just loves Amira, that she is just GOOD and sweet and incredibly brilliant. In fact, she said (and I quote, mostly so that I can remember this forever) "Amira IS the top of the class. And I assure you that I have not said this yet tonight." (picture me sitting here writing this, still grinning wildly, although at the conference I tried to keep a modest yet pleased face, but probably ended up just looking weird).
Then she said that really she wanted to switch places with me so that I could do the conference and tell her how I have raised a child like Amira (!!).
Oh, way to make the parents happy! (to which I replied, I really can't take any credit, she is just really good, thank G-d. She takes after her father).

She said that she gets along beautifully with all the girls in the class despite being very academically gifted (it happens to be a really wonderful class of girls and Amira is just really happy in school) and that she participates beautifully (this has actually been an issue every year so far- she is so reserved that she never participated, so this is really new and exciting!).

She said (and again, I quote, so that I don't ever forget this and can use this memory when I am reminding Amira for the 800th time clean up her toys before I have to raise my voice) "Not that I would ever want a class of cookie cutter girls to teach, of course it is always nice to teach different types of children, but wow- if I could have a class full of girls like Amira.....now that would be amazing." (!!!!!!!!!!)


She is giving Amira math enrichment (I don't think I have ever even USED those words before, unless it was in a sentence like: Math enrichment, ha ha, what's that?). Yes, MY daughter doing math enrichment. Ha! Thank you Yehuda's genes!

By the time I walked out of the appointment, 5 minutes later, I was pretty much floating on air, and floated on over to the Hebrew conference.

Amira's Hebrew teacher is lovely and gentle and just an excellent teacher, and the girls all love and respect her and love to play "Morah" and imitate how she speaks Hebrew! She, too, was glowing in her report. Interestingly enough, Amira seems to still be much more reserved in Hebrew class than in English. The Morah said that for the first couple weeks of school she thought Amira was just a quiet, sweet girl and an average student, and was actually shocked to realize how incredibly bright she is. She said that Amira has yet to answer a single question incorrectly, has an incredible memory, picks up everything easily and quickly and that she reads and understands Hebrew beautifully. She said that there was one major difference between Amira and the other 2 girls that are at the top of the class with her, and that was that while those 2 girls rushed through their work to finish quickly and do more and more, Amira does her work carefully and slowly and makes sure that she doesn't make mistakes. Hello Yehuda.

I commented to her that I was amazed (from watching Amira do her homework) at how easily Amira transitioned from writing in Hebrew print to script and she said most of the girls are not having as easy a time with it. She laughed when she told me that the girls that Amira sits with all copy her work, and that one girl is does it blatantly- she just stands up, looks at whatever Amira wrote, and copies it! She said that while she doesn't love that this little girl does that, she does love that Amira shares happily and easily and would never, as other super-smart (her words!) girls tend to do, cover over her answers and not let anyone look, and that that lack of arrogance combined with her level of intelligence is something very special.

I love that my daughter is THAT girl. I really do. I am beyond proud and grateful and blessed. And it is my hope and prayer that Amira continues on this path as a person and as a student.




Oh- and Amira's first report card! It is all official looking! They are graded either E (excellent) S (satisfactory) N (needs work) or U (unsatisfactory). Amira got mostly "E's" with a couple of S+'s thrown in and one "S" in science. Ok, so she is my daughter after all!

Animal Kingdom Policies

Amira went to another sleep-under (see previous post) tonight, so Yaakov gets the very exciting runner's up package of being able to choose the bedtime stories all by himself, with no Amira to roll her eyes in true Sendor-Woman fashion at the very surprise choice of "Cool Cars" for the millionth time, PLUS he gets (by permission of Amira herself) to sleep in Amira's bed.
Anyhow, in a surprise Yaakov move, he chose to read a book about animals instead of "Cool Cars" (Amira, you missed out!). We were looking at a picture of some whales and dolphins, and he asked:

Mommy, are those Killer Whales?
Me: Um, yes, I think they are.
Yaakov: Cool. We saw Killer Whales at Sea World.
Me: That's right!
Yaakov: Are they called Killer Whales because they KILL people?
Me: UM....Yes. But...
Yaakov (Interrupts) Well, if the Killer Whales at Sea World try to kill anyone, the dolphins would just tell on them.
Me: Um...(trying, as always, to keep a straight face and hoping that my little 3 year old really doesn't know what he is referring to.)
Yaakov: Hey- is that a BEETLE!? Beetles are SO COOL.

Me: Maybe we should just stick to "Cool Cars."

Conferences and more dentistry

I'll begin with the good news:

I survived another teeth cleaning despite my phobia of things being scraped against each other (chalk, pots on grates, forks on plates, scraper thingys on teeth, etc) have no cavities (and the dentist was very happy that I am still match for match with Yehuda the Dentist's pet super flosser, no cavities for all!, and a shout out to Jen, who thinks I should make Yehuda a Super-Flosser costume for Purim- genius!) and Yaakov's parent teacher conference was a success.

He is doing very well in nursery, learning a lot, apparently very popular and super smart (can't hear enough of that!). He picks up all the songs and stories immediately, and is starting to actually have an interest in art projects!
Oldest children have clean slates going into their first conferences. Subsequent children, on the other hand, very different story. I think about my parent's conferences and laugh. By the time they got to Noam, the teachers just couldn't have any expectations since the first 3 of us were so, so different. Shira- Just fine, probably could work a little harder, Atara- Wish all students were like her, David- well, um, we'll skip that one, suffice to say- he is super-successful and well educated NOW, and then Noam...well, by that point they probably gave up any preconceived notions.
Meanwhile, Amira had the same nursery teacher (we love her) and her opening statement- wow, Amira and Yaakov really are night and day, aren't they. Yep.

High expectations result for little Mr. Yaakov thanks to little Miss Amira (looks like she takes after Auntie Atara!).

On the "needs work" end, Yaakov is a space cadet. Yep, surprise of the century.

When they ask the kids to line up with their coats on, he is staring into space on the wrong side of the room. When they walk down the stairs, he is the only one on the wrong side. When they sit in circle time, he is playing with his shoe, the crushed milk cup from lunch, his hat, and yet somehow manages to learn everything they say. But hasn't quite gotten the weekly routine down yet. So, needs work. But again, surprise of the century it is not.

I would not be particularly surprised, either, if Yehuda-Super-Flosser's parents (Mom feel free to comment!) had similar discussions with his teachers back in the time of no baths.

Bible Lessons

As I head off to Parent Teacher Conferences tonight (for Yaakov, Amira's ELEMENTARY SCHOOL conferences are next week) to hear all about how Yaakov is doing (certain to be a very different kind of conference then I am used to as of yet....), which I will be sure to post about soon, I leave you with the conversation at dinner tonight.
Yaakov: Mommy, Yaakov dressed up as Esav and he was really hairy and he was bad and Yaakov was good.
Mommy: That's right.
Amira: Good, Yaakov! You listened in school!
Yaakov: Esav liked to hunt and fight (said in his cool MAN voice) and Yaakov liked to study. We like to study too. Abba always studies.
Mommy: That's right!
Yaakov: Is hunting bad?
Mommy: Um...
Amira: Hunting isn't bad, if you need it for food, but it isn't as nice of a thing to do as study.
Mommy: (phew)
Yaakov: Fighting is really bad. And if we fight our Mommies, we get in a time out. (says he who experienced this phenomenon multiple times today)
Amira: (laughs) I don't think they had time outs in those days. Wouldn't that be silly if the Parsha talked about Exav's time out?
Me: (laughed. really hard. tears in my eyes) um, yes. Yes that is very true.

Amira is very into "In those Times." Last week she saw an old picture of Yehuda (in camp, circa 1989) with his Super-Cool Jew-fro and her comment:
In Abba's time, did they have baths?

For your viewing pleasure, the Picture:

Mommyish

I begin, tonight, with the conclusion of this blog entry:
I must purchase Yaakov BOY dress up clothes.

We have lots and lots of GIRL dress up clothes, including many tutus, fairy costumes, flower girl dresses, princess costumes, high heeled shoes, "mommyish" (as in Amira and her little girlfriends' compliment du jour, loosely translated to mean that something looks grown up, I think. And involves the wearing of a lot of black, heh. Whatever it is, I am happy that for the moment, moms are still cool. Although I don't think anyone uses the word cool anymore, except maybe me, which I am sure Amira will find decidedly un-cool at some point. But I digress, and for now being "Mommyish" is good. Go Me!) jewelry and purses.
On the other hand, our boy dress up includes a cowboy hat, and last years Purim Dragon costume, which he puts on, gets scared of, and takes off. And then he puts on the Tinkerbell costume, complete with wings, and gets annoyed and embarrassed when I laugh, especially when he zooms around his race cars in said costume.
But then, I remember that Atara and I (ok, fine, just I) used to dress Noam up in our old ballet tutus, and here is, happily married B"H and expecting his first child in the next month, G-d willing!! I wonder why we never inflicted this on Davidi?
Anyhow, I am now frantically googling superman capes, and tool belts, and other such BOY dress up, because I would like for him to have that option, despite the fact that he looks very cute as Tinkerbell.
A superman cape for Chanukah maybe?

Dentist's Pet

This afternoon when Amira came home from school I reminded her that today we had to go back to the dentist to have sealants put in her new GROWN UP MOLARS. She got that "I am going to cry but I don't want to so I am going to hold it in but look really worried and get a permanent wrinkle like my Mommy's in between my eyebrows" (side note, I recall very vividly my first grade English teacher telling me that if I didn't stop squinting and making my worried face all the time, I would have wrinkles by the time I was 30, which wasn't such a big deal to me then, since 30 was positively ancient and who would really care by that point, but 30 is around the corner and darn it if she wasn't right about that. Sigh.) but she agreed to go and told Yaakov to get his coat because we were going to the Dontist (as in Ortho-Dontist). To which Yaakov replied, it is NOT called a Donist, it is called a Dentist. Hee.

She was really brave (of course!) and there was nary a kvetch out of her (yay!) and when we were leaving I told her that I was really proud of her for behaving so beautifully and she told me:

I didn't kvetch because I know it is something that is good for me, even though it tastes like I have sand in my mouth (and made a really lovely gagging face to go with it!), I was happy to do it. I really don't want to get cavities. This is also why she flosses every night.
Thank you Yehuda, Dentist's pet.

Yaakov, on the other hand, threw a fit begging for "his turn." To which Amira responded:
Oh Yaakov, you silly, sealants are only for grown up teeth, you still have baby teeth! And Yaakov promptly burst into tears and cried "But I don't want BABY teeth, I am a BIG boy."

Anyhow, I don't think Yehuda has missed a night of flossing (well, except Friday Night and Yontif, I guess, and I can see that that pains him) since we married. Which, I must admit, sometimes annoys the heck out of me. Not the flossing and brushing, per se, but the never makes a mistake, always remembers everything perfectly (We will have arguments, yes, yes, mostly me doing the arguing, where I will insist up and down that something happened exactly as I remember, but in the end, he is always, always right) never does anything wrong kind of thing, which, when you are as highly imperfect as I am, can grate. But I am hoping that the longer we are married (almost 8 year’s now- wow!) the more like him I will become and not vice versa (except in the area of speed. I am fast. Yehuda is not. I could do with added patience; Yehuda could do with added speed. Combine us and we are unbeatable!). And yes of course, I, too, floss every night. I really don't want cavities.

edit: Ima correctly reminded me that Yehuda does not play basketball slowly. He is very speedy in basketball. Notsomuch in telling a story, though, but after re-reading what I wrote here, who am I to talk really.

Tendu, Jete, Grand plié

When I was maybe 4 years old (my memory of real and false things is not as good as my sister's, so Ima, please correct me if I am wrong) my Grandparents came to visit and I told my Grandma all about my ballet classes and what wore and what I was learning and who I carpooled with and my Grandma was very happy for me and mentioned to my mom how wonderful it was that I was taking ballet and loved it so much. Turns out I just had a really active imagination and was not, at that time, taking ballet lessons. My mom promptly signed me up for said lessons, although I never turned out to be particularly agile or coordinated, and sadly, did not continue on as a dancer (of any sort. I can barely do an aerobics class.)

So, what else are children for but to live vicariously through?

Amira has taken gymnastics and Israeli dance and loved them both, but really, really loves ballet. And she is actually very good at it! She came home this past Sunday truly thrilled because her ballet teacher only had to correct her posture once! And she had done a perfect tendu! And I must buy her a pink ballet skirt!

Nebach! Nebach! Nebach!

This morning in carpool, Amira and her friend "Y" were talking about the new girl’s choir that their school is starting for girls in first through eighth grades. This choir will be for a one time performance only- at the all important "Mother-Daughter Brunch" which yours truly is chairing for the PTA! (Curtsey, bow!)
Amira really wants to try out (she makes up for lack of a particularly good voice, or ability to sing on key as of yet, with lots of enthusiasm and hilariously mispronounced words) and was telling her friend all about it. They then proceeded to discuss how "Y" would be able to hear the girl’s choir, since the performance will be for women and girls only, and he came up with a brilliant plan to dress up as a girl! Amira thought about it for a second and said:
Amira: Um, I think they would probably realize that you were not really a girl.
"Y:" Why? I would wear a dress.
Amira: They can tell by your voice.
"Y:" Ohh. Nods. (His voice is higher pitched then either of my kids, plus he is 5.)
Me: not able to keep from laughing out loud, so I turned up the music and happily listened to them singing along with all the wrong words.

Yaakov's favorite song of the moment has the words "Revach, Revach, Revach" to which he sings (loudly but on key!) Nebach, Nebach, Nebach!

Sleep Over's should really be called No-Sleep Over's

My kids had a busy social calendar this weekend, which made them very happy and consequently made me very happy, albeit very tired. Amira was invited out for lunch on Shabbos, and then she and her friend came back here for the afternoon. Yaakov also had a play date here. Later in the afternoon we went (with the respective play dates) to our neighbor's house where approximately 10 neighborhood kids played hide and seek. Very cute. After Shabbos, Yehuda took Amira to the Shul's Motzei Shabbos parent/child learning for their weekly Chavrusa in Chumash, which they both love (Amira for the prizes, last night she got a pencil!, and Yehuda because he loves seeing how beautifully Amira's reads Hebrew now). But the most exciting part of the weekend was that Amira had her best friend sleep over last night! They watched "Mary Poppins," (very cute hearing them sing along) had ice cream and popcorn(ongoing internal battle over healthy vs. cool mom was very quickly decided in the favor of cool mom, much to Amira's delight) and stayed up until 10:30 chatting. I thought they would sleep late(r) this morning, but nope, they were up and about by 5:30 AM! Thankfully they didn't wake Yaakov and played quietly downstairs until 6:30 when the rest of us got up. Amazingly enough she stayed in a pretty good mood all day, despite being completely exhausted (although I carpooled her and a friend to ballet in the morning and her friend's mom brought them home and she marched in the door in her leotard, tights and ballet shoes, and had forgotten her shoes, skirt and jacket at the studio, which she only realized once she walked in the door. And then the waterworks started.....). Anyhow, this was (according to Amira) her 3rd sleep over, counting once when she slept at her best friend's house and once when Ahuvi slept over without Atara and Rafi. But also once she slept at Savta and Saba's by herself, and she didn't know if that counted, and she has had 2 sleep under's. Sleep under's involve just as much not sleeping as sleep over's, despite not actually sleeping at the friend's house.
Yaakov really wanted a sleep over, too, but we told him that in order to have a sleep over, you have to start sleeping through the night....

The 2008 Presidential Elections

On Election Day, I took my kids to vote (and made sure that Yaakov did not press any buttons and enter my vote prematurely, as he did with Yehuda last year!) and from there we went to the dentist.
For the first time ever, the dentist was (shockingly) easy! and fun! The kids have no cavities (Yay!) thank G-d, and the dentist was beyond impressed with Amira's flossing and brushing technique (again, thank you Yehuda!). We were very surprised to find that over the past month, Amira has apparently been teething (thankfully this appears to be a much easier process in an almost 7 year old then it was in a 7 month old) and has 4 brand new GROWN UP molars. So, apparently, this *almost* makes up for the fact that she has yet to actually lose any teeth, although she did have 2 pulled last year. Both kids appear to have inherited my "small jaw." Yes, yes, Ima, small jaw/big mouth is quite the conundrum isn't it.
So, back to the election.
Pre November 4th:

Yaakov: Mommy, what's an Obama?
Me: (trying not to laugh) He is a man who is running for President of the United States.
Yaakov: oh.
Silence.
Yaakov: Does he run fast?
Me: (heh)Yeah, I guess he does!

Amira and I were discussing the candidates:

Amira: Mommy? Right we are voting for the white one?
Me: (Ack! Um, what, oy!) um....what?
Amira: You know, Senator McCain. He has very white hair. Senator Obama's hair is brown, Mommy (rolling her eyes at my dense-ness).
Me: Yes! Right! Yes, he DOES have very white hair doesn't he. (Phew.)

So on Wednesday morning, around 6 AM Amira comes running into my room and says:
Mommy, who won!? Who is President??
Me (bleary eyed from staying up far too late): Obama won.
Amira: silence..... Really? But when we voted in my class McCain won! Oh, well- I am still SO happy because I have 4 more GROWN UP TEETH than I thought I had yesterday! Well, those are the important things, aren't they.

and no, Rafi, we haven't bought a house in Israel, yet.

Snacks

When I was a kid, my mom always packed us these super healthy, homemade lunches. A sandwich of some sort on whole wheat bread, a piece of fruit, some carrot sticks, and home made baked goods like muffins (Shira's Favorite Good for Me Bran Muffins is the actual title of a recipe my mom submitted to a cookbook in 1980-something. I really do not recall when exactly they were ever my favorite muffins). I longingly eyed my friend's yodels and Pringles and rolled my eyes at these embarrassing healthy lunches.

Little did I know that what was natural (pun intended) to my parents then would be the height of cool these days?
And so, here we are, and I am the mom now, and snacks and lunches are a VERY IMPORTANT THING to my children, just as they were to me.
And so I have this ongoing internal battle with myself over said snacks. Do I send them what I *know* I should be sending them? Or do I make them happy now and send them what most of their friends are getting? While I am eternally grateful NOW that my parents have always been so health conscious and am trying very hard to follow their example (ok, maybe more follow my mother's example, notsomuch my father’s, V'ha Meivin Yavin), I also remember wanting JUNK so much, that I became too focused on it, and that was also not a good thing.
Yaakov is the least picky child I know (Thanks Yehuda!) and while Amira may not be the pickiest, she certainly has her "rules." So lunches might be a sandwich on whole wheat bread, or organic yogurt, or whole wheat pasta with cheese (sauce and cheese for Yaakov). I bought these really cool thermos's at the beginning of the school year and when you put the food in hot in the morning, it stays hot all day!, plus a veggie (Amira will eat any vegetable, as long as it is raw) a fruit, and as Amira calls it "A Junky Snack."
My kids really love their junky snacks. Choosing the Junky Snack is the highlight of the morning. In fact, in the middle of a massive tantrum after school one day, I finally got Yaakov to calm down enough to tell me what was wrong and his reply: "I WANT JUNK! I WANT SUGAR." Um, yeah, that's REALLY going to make this tantrum thing better. String cheese it is. Most of the time Amira eats the junky snack and the lunch, and leaves the fruit and veggies, unless I send her with a pickle- those are moderately junky, so ok to eat. Of course when she gets home she is STARVING and I have to be the mean Mommy and make her eat her healthy snacks. Sigh.
Lately she has been asking me to send her salad for lunch, and that definitely works, and I (again, what’s up with that?) feel like my mother when I say “Stop eating so much salad- eat something else for once!”

Sometimes I try to compromise and give them the Organic! Transfat Free! Super Healthy Sugar! type of junky snack, but my mom just rolls her eyes at me and says, you really think THAT's healthy?

Blogging

I have thought about blogging for some time now, but every time I think "I should write a blog" I immediately counter that thought with "but I'm not funny." I love to laugh and laugh often as anyone in my family will tell you, and I find a lot of things very funny (especially my Uncle David), but I am not particularly witty myself.
My favorite blogs, which I will link to just as soon as my very funny and very articulate friends give me permission, are hilarious. I find myself nodding along and laughing, which tends to make me look really crazy since I generally catch up on reading those blogs on my beloved blackberry while I am waiting in Carpool Line. Which brings me to the reason I decided to actually write a blog----Carpool.
I drive a lot of carpool.
And there is something about the confines of the car that brings about really great conversation. When I was a kid I used to love going places in the car alone with my mother and/or father and now I love the drives that we take from here when we go visit my parents because it is 3 hours and 15 minutes (without traffic and when I drive, about 3 3/4 hours when Yehuda drives) of uninterrupted time spent talking to Yehuda and my kids. Some of the most intense, fascinating, and important conversations that I have ever had with my parents and with Yehuda have been while driving. So carpool. It takes up a lot of my day, but most of the time I really like it.
This year, my kids are in the same school (yay for less shlepping! Boo for more tuition!) so I drive carpool 5 times a week, split up between 3 different carpools. One morning carpool, one 1:30 dismissal carpool with 3 other moms, and one 3:30 dismissal carpool with 1 of the same moms and 2 additional different moms. I have a handy-dandy color coded schedule hanging in my kitchen, as well as each one dutifully noted in my blackberry because I do not want to be that mom who forgets to drive carpool (ever again, I mean).
School is only a 10 minute drive from my house, but somehow the whole process, from making sure I have the correct car seats and boosters in the correct spots, loading and buckling and taking off coats and putting on coats, and finding the tiny little car-marker-ball-sticker-scrap of paper or snack that has fallen somewhere in the car but the child will scream for the duration of the ride unless I find it RIGHT NOW, choosing the right music (No, NOT this one!) waiting in the carpool line, waiting to turn, waiting for the train that inevitably decides to pass just as I pull up to move, and so on, you get the picture, is about 45 minutes each ride.
The worst is the dreaded Thursday Afternoon 3:30 dismissal which involves me getting in a long line of minivans, showing my carpool number (35) to one of the carpool directors, waiting until they start dismissal, because even though school actually ends at 3:30, if you don’t get in line by 3:15, you will be in the 2nd, or even worse, the 3rd shift in which case you won’t be home until 5 PM, waiting for them to call Carpool 35 over the loudspeaker, waiting for each of the 4 kids to mosey on out of the building and sloooowly amble over to where I am frantically waving my hands, making sure each kid has their coat, bag, lunch box, (yes, I am pretty sure your mom sent you with a jacket today, seeing as it is 20 degrees outside) saying “Buckle up quickly” over and over again and then waiting in the line behind all of the other moms and dads doing the same thing, just slower, then driving each kid home. Plus there is Thursday Sports Club for Yaakov and Sunday Ballet for Amira, in addition to all the general errands I so enjoy and when you add that all up, that’s a lot of time spent in the car.
So, the bottom line is, while I may not be particularly funny, my kids are and my kids’ friends are, especially when in the car and thus, here we are, with a blog.