Ilana's first joke!

Today, Ilana looked into her bowl of cereal, smiled up at me and said, "O's 'timming'!" (swimming).

Comic genius!

Go, Uberimma, go!

B'sha'ah tova. Can't wait to hear good news....

I'm obsessively checking email and your blog to hear what's going on!

We're off!

I know, we're really always "off" around here, but, seriously! We....are...outta...here! I'm taking the girls to FL to visit my parents tomorrow. G-d bless them, I don't know why them invite us time and again because, frankly, with 7 of us in their (lovely and very large but still) 2-bedroom condo, it sure ain't much of a vacation for them.

Now, if only my darling, sweet, fabulous daughters will get along reasonably well and speak politely to each other, me and their grandparents. We....can....do.....this.....

I hope so, at least. I already told them (truthfully) that it was extremely unlikely that we were going back next year, that this sort of trip will require at least two years for me to recharge my batteries for. Since I said that two years ago after a rawther difficult trip to StoryLand ("Hey, look at those kids fist-fighting over there!" "Ah, that's just those Boston girls we saw fighting by the LAST ride"), they know I mean it.

It....will....be....great.......



to.....sleep......without.....socks.......on!

Homeschoolin' PB

We had a really fun homeschooling day recently! We've been working on Hebrew reading in a new kriya book (she's at the very beginning stages. Like identifying the letters and reading them with patach or kamatz under them).

Science: On her own, she found some big magnets and then started investigating what they stuck to. So together, we made a list with pictures and words of what the magnets stuck to.

She came with Chana and me to karate in the morning and played with Ilana, then went back to the kids' class in the afternoon.

And we made this super giant "Penina Batya". She was wearing a striped dress that day, so it was fun to find some old fabric and use that!

We're using a new Kindergarten curriculum book that I bought for Batsheva but never opened for either her or Chana, and it said to have your child glue gems to letter outlines on paper. This reminded me of why I never used it for the other kids (dumbing down), but I figured she might like it (and the giant PB was from that book too, and I *never* would have done that without outside encouragement of some type). So I outlined "PB" on paper, and even found flat jewels. Gave her a bottle of glue and told her to "go for it" while I cooked dinner. She got bored quickly and left her project half done on the floor. Where Ilana fell into it and got groovy glue dreadlocks in her hair. Oh, well, not everything works out perfectly in homeschooling!

SCD Birthday Cake Photo

Thought I had lost that photo forever. Boy, was I bummed out. I don't think I have ever been as proud culinarily as after making that cake!