From the Vista Academy Times, written by Chana and Mama

On November 6, our little friend Katie Jonis died. She was 7 ½
years old. She had a problem called a cerebral hemorrhage in
her brain. She was living with her parents, Jodi and Jon, and
her brother Jake in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia.

My mother and Katie’s mother have been friends since
elementary school, so I got to meet Katie when she was little.
When they were in the US this summer, we saw each other
twice. Katie was a very nice person who was fun. She liked to
do gymnastics and go rock climbing.

Katie was born in Singapore and lived in Massachusetts for a
few years, too. People all over the world knew Katie, and we
all miss her.

If you would like to sign the online condolence book, please click here
http://www.legacy.com/bostonglobe/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=120053126

Katie

Katie, you little sweetheart. You will be missed so much.

She's a Polar Bear!

On Friday, our heat was out (thankfully, fixed before Shabbat). But Batsheva had decided on Thursday that she was going to set her alarm for 6 a.m. and take a shower. And when Batsheva decides something, there's nothing that's going to stand in her way. She could see her breath in the bathroom and she still went ahead with her shower! (the rest of us could barely get out of bed and Ilana refused to even take her pajamas off, so she spent the rest of the day with her nightgown hanging out among the other layers of clothes I put on her!)

As we say, "She's a polar bear, grrr!"

Yo!

Ilana and I are outside on the swing, waiting for PB to return from school. Ilana points to our lawn sign.

Me: "Who are we voting for, Ilana?"

Ilana: "Yobama!"

This is some dead turf (literally)

Batsheva, Chana and I have been spending our evenings phone banking from home for Obama. We're calling NH voters. This being the end of the election and we being johnny-come-lately volunteers, we're certainly not getting the cream of the crop with our turf.

So far, we've made 91 calls and contacted 10 people. 2 screamed at us for various reasons, 2 were "resident aliens" (I am VERY proud that my girls didn't laugh until *off* the phone!) and the other six had all died from between 2 all the way to 27 years ago! Where did they get this turf?!

Ilana gets political

Me: "The polls are now saying it's very close. What if McCain wins?! I can't take staying in America with another Republican administration."

Sam: "We can always go to Israel."

Me: "Okay. Fine."

Ilana: "We can't go to Israel!!!!!!"

Sam: "Why not?"

Ilana: "Because I haven't finished my toast!"

Ilana chews. And chews. 2 minutes later:

Ilana: "I done! Now we go Israel".