Recital!

Note to self: almost 4 year old boys and 2 and a half hour ballet recitals are not a particularly good or pleasant mix. Therefore, please excuse the dearth of photography and on a related (but cannot blame said 4 year old for) note, please excuse the poor quality of those few photographs, as I was sitting very far away, and probably need a better camera and instructions on how to use it. (and thoughts or recommendations as to good cameras, beyond little point and shoots are gratefully accepted! My camera is great for outside, notsomuch anything else.)



That said, what a recital it was! The first act had all the "little kids" (and just the fact that my own little kid is no longer in this group makes me tear up) and they were just adorable. Really and truly adorable. And Yaakov loved the first act, and probably the second as well, but by the 10th, well...let's just say he didn't so much love it. And I am very grateful that the ballet studio is making up professional dvd's of this lovely show, because I missed a good portion of it trying to stop Yaakov from climbing all over the seats, which of course he didn't weigh enough to weigh down, so floped up and down happily in.


The show's theme was music and dance from all around the world. Amira's group did Africa, with the "Circle of Life" song from The Lion King. And really, she was just fantastic. She is elegant and graceful and a real ballerina.

(Amira is all the way on the right)

(Amira is all the way on the right)

Perfect fifth position!



Thankfully, they also took professional photographs in addition to the Dvd, which I can't wait to see! We are very, very proud of Amira and all her hard work!

Summer!

Ironically, given my blog title (and new super awesome blog header thanks to my super awesome graphic designer friend Yaeli!!!!) , I will not be driving a single carpool this summer. Amira is headed off to day camp ON A BUS! and Yaakov is going to a backyard camp around the corner from us, so we will be walking to camp! Oh, well, I forgot the once a week carpool to swimming lessons, but really, in the grand scheme of carpools, that is so little that I feel I can still happily call my summer carpool free!
On the other hand, this past week has been filled with so many carpools back and forth to play dates, the beach and Amira's ballet rehearsals (seriously, she had rehearsal every Sunday and Tuesday for the last month, plus the last week every single day an hour and a half!), that I think 10 weeks off (for good behaviour?) is well deserved.
We are off to Amira's Big Amazing Exciting Ballet Recital, and more blog (with the ever important pictures!!!) to follow!!

Happy Summer Everyone!!!

The Wedding!

And what a wedding it was.

It was the perfect Davidi and Becca wedding. Every little perfectly planned detail, every aspect of the wedding reflected who they are individually and as a couple and it really just incredibly beautiful and meaningful.

I am still processing and recovering, almost 2 weeks later, in fact. And I miss my family dreadfully now. Two weekends in a row, filled with parents, grandparents, siblings, and siblings in law, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews, and while it can get overwhelming, it makes me happier then anything else. Especially watching my kids joyously playing with their adorable cousins and sitting at the Shabbos table with the whole family singing Shabbos song after song, and hearing all the beautiful voices singing in harmony.
This was our Mezinke wedding, and just writing those words makes me well up with tears of joy and thankfulness and prayers of hope that Yehuda and I too, will merit such an incredible blessing.
Towards the end of the wedding my parents were seated with crowns of flowers and smiles of pure joy as my siblings and I, our spouses, our children, and the rest of our amazing extended family danced in circles around them celebrating the incredible blessing of having now married off all four of their children happily. Watching the generations of family, the love shining from each and face, and reflecting on all the beautiful traditions that have now passed down for so many generations, the feeling of belonging and of purpose and connection as well as sheer gratitude just overwhelmed me.

My kids had an absolute blast at the wedding. Amira and Ahuva took their flower girl duties very seriously, but were absolute dance maniacs! They barely sat down for a minute. In fact, I lost count of how many people remarked to me jokingly, "oh, she isn't shy at all, huh" and I would reply, "well, actually, she IS! She would never TALK to you!" Loll!

Months ago, Becca had mentioned to Atara and me that she wanted to do something special with the nieces and nephews for Davidi during the Tisch, before the ceremony, to take some of the pressure off for him. Since he loves kids, and especially these kids, and always lovingly refers to them as his muffins, we dressed them up as muffins (but got a lot of "what's with the cupcakes" comments) and they were a big hit (thanks to super amazing artist Meiravi!)!

And while Yaakov had to be bribed to walk down the aisle (Yaakov, if you walk down the aisle with Mommy and Abba and SMILE there will be a big Lego set waiting for you at the end! He did and there was!) he also had a great time. And this is my favorite picture of him-- ever!

And my other favorite picture:

All in all, it was an amazing 2 weeks, filled with laughter, singing, family and most of all love, and my bracha to Davidi and Becca is that their marriage should be equally so.

Happy Mother's Day!

Hello again and Happy Mother's Day! It's been a while, hasn't it?! Well, we're here and everything is good. We are counting down to my brother's wedding (2 weeks!!!) and Amira's 4th time as a flower girl! I think it is pretty cool that she will have been at, and flower girl'd at, all of my awesome siblings weddings!

Growing up, we never really celebrated Mother's Day because my Ima firmly believed that every day is Mother's Day, and I absolutely agree. However, there is something really nice about waking up to very excited children with presents!
Yaakov came home from school on Friday with a package and a big card and told me: You can't look until Sunday, it's your Mother's Day present. It's a secret and a surprise. It's a Jewelry Box.
What a master secret and surprise keeper, Yaakov!
Amira on the other hand, ran inside from carpool clutching a package, turned her body sideways so I wouldn't see and ran to hide it in her room. And every time I came into her room yesterday she said, "Mommy, DO NOT LOOK over there by my bookcase. Just don't." I didn't.
So, this morning, they very excitedly woke me up to give me their cards and presents: Yaakov's was a jewelry box! Can you imagine my surprise!? And Amira's class put together a book called "Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul from class 1G2. It is absolutely precious and I really will treasure both gifts forever. I always imagine, though, the teachers laughing their way through making these projects. In both classes, my kids were asked why they love their Mommy's. Amira's answer: My Mommy is special because she once helped stop my nose from bleeding. And she always helps me with my homework, especially my math homework, and she is pretty and she loves me. Yaakov's answer: I love my Mommy because she always hugs me when I cry. But for those parents whose precious children come home with their fancy project on which it is written: I love my Mommy because she once bought me a toy. Or, I love my Mommy because she gives me food, and my personal favorite: I love my Mommy because once she was nice to me. Well, I wonder if I would cherish the project as much if that's what it said!

Anyhow, to all my faithful readers: Happy Mother's Day! May you feel appreciated and loved by your children today and every day.

Darth Vader

Yaakov really, really loves Star Wars. He has never seen the movie, of course, but has Star Wars legos, and uses lego poles to build his "guys" light-Savers (his words). Every time we go to the Library, he runs to check and see if the movie is on the shelf, and to ask me if he is 13 yet and can watch the movie.
Answer: no, but you are one week closer than the last time you asked!
I took him to the Bike Store last week to order his new 2 wheeler with training wheels and the guy showed him all the bikes popular with the 3 year old set- Thomas, Lightening McQueen, but no- none of them were "cool enough" for Yaakov. He ended up chosing the plain blue bike, because it wasn't babyish. Since when did my baby care about things being babyish!?
The bike salesman asked him how old he was and Yaakov answered sadly "Not 13."

Meanwhile, we were discussing at the Shabbos table what Amira wanted to be when she grew up- she goes back and forth between wanting to be a teacher, a doctor, and a ballet teacher/doctor. Her teacher sent us a note last week that she has been put in math enrichment (ha, my kid is really good at math!) and she said, well, I am one step closer to being a doctor! Or a ballet teacher.
What does Yaakov want to be when he grows up?
Darth Vader.

Conferences take two!

I am home from round two of elementary school parent teacher conferences, and as Amira's English teacher said to me tonight, it's going to be a good night for you. And thank G-d, it really was. I will spare you all the details, suffice to say that she is doing beautifully in school and most importantly is very, very happy to be there. Please G-d, all my future conferences should be as wonderful.

One funny story from her reading teacher:

The reading class was just this week assigned their first real, big book report, due in 2 weeks. It will involve a lot of work, all of which Amira is very excited about. Her teacher was very, very amused, though, when Amira raised her hand in class to ask if it was permissible to write her book report on a book that she wrote herself. Loll!

In other news, it was sunny and warm and as such, bike and park weather! I do love the winter, but there is just something wonderful about spring, and especially this kind of weather before the bugs come!

I put Yaakov on his trike from last year only to find that he is too big, and not just that- he was fully proficient at riding a two-wheeler with training wheels, something that Amira only learned to do last summer! Amira is doing so well on her bike that we are planning to take off her training wheels this weekend, G-d willing!

Yaakov borrowed a friend's bike, hopped on, and off he went! So it will be off to the bike store this week for us, to buy his first real bike!

Nature vs. Nurture

Two Posts in one day!? Well, as I was watching Yaakov play with his legos today (legos rate up with polly pockets in terms of being tiny, easy to lose and annoying to clean up, but both kids can spend hours building things, which I must admit, I love.) I was thinking about how my mom always says that when we were all little, she wanted to give the girls and the boys equal toy opportunities, so she gave us all dolls and trucks. My sister and I used the trucks the drive our dolls around, while my brothers used the trucks to run over the dolls.

Now, Yaakov may be very happy to dress up as Tinkerbell, but while he is wearing said costume, he is also running around with a make shaft gun, shooting away. I don't even know where he learned about guns, or shooting, but oh, does he know. He makes a beeline for the Star Wars Movie every single time we go to our Library and every single time asks me if he is big enough to watch it. (Answer- when you are as big as cousin Akiva.)

My parents did not allow guns in our house, and my brothers compensated for that by making anything and everything into a gun. Sandwich? Crust eaten into the shape of a gun. Legos? Make awesome guns.

So, despite the fact that I am a republican in a family of democrats, I am not pro-gun, and do not have them in our house.

Supposedly.