The Case of Missing Mr. Turtle and YouTube

As I explained in my last post Y has a lovey called Mr. Turtle. Mr. Turtle is in fact a turtle. I had said he was a dog toy, by this I meant that he was bought in a pet store and was made to be a chew toy for a dog. This morning Mr. Turtle went missing. This has been a difficult day for us because although Y is not out and out protesting we can see that he is a bit perplexed by this. I tried faking him out with a dog that he got at the same time. He is also a chew toy and is the same material and same colors. Y keeps looking at it like, it is the right material and the right colors, but something is not quite right. I have looked high and low to no avail, hopefully we will find him soon, otherwise we are going to have to figure out where Mr. Turtle came from and see if we can find another one and hope he doesn't notice.

My other thought for the evening is YouTube once again! It has nothing to do with Mr. Turtle, but happened on Fri. afternoon and I did not have time to post it before Shabbat. We all know that when watching something public like YouTube that you never know what you are really getting. Well on Friday this was definitely true. Instead of previewing the Clifford show like I should have for S we just clicked and watched. It was a man narrating a Clifford story book and it looked like a legitimate Scholastic Books Clifford story. Well the story starts out about how Clifford has the hiccups and how the Howards' and Clifford's friends are trying to help him get rid of them. Well finally one of his friends, Mac, tells him to drink water laying upside down and low and behold that does it! So it shows Clifford's veterinarian telling Mac what a good doggy he is for getting rid of Clifford's hiccups. Then the next we see is the veterinarian cutting Clifford open with a saw and all of his innards falling out! Yikes! Not kid material. I quickly turned it off and closed the page. Fortunately I don't think S really caught what was going on because he was not sure why I turned it off. But from now on I will be even more careful before I let S watch something off of YouTube! Although for the record the legitimate selection of Thomas the Tank Engine is great.

Second Post for the day!

I am going out on a limb and typing two posts today. This by no means is a measure of how much time I have as the other one took forever to post. We are trying to get the kids to bed now. S won't sleep since he had a big nap today and M is mad that I won't nurse her, plus she hates to go to bed. Y is the only doing what he is supposed to be doing, which is sleeping.

The kids were just so cute today that I couldn't resist doing a quick up date. We have a big double stroller with baskets underneath. A while back we figured out that in a pinch S can sit underneath when he is too tired to walk. This has come in very hand since we no longer have a front pack to carry one of the twins in. So today while S was waiting for me to get the twins ready to go out and run errands he fell asleep sitting in the bottom basket, it was too cute. I got him up and in bed for a nap. An hour later he woke up, but then climbed back into one of the seats of stroller and took another nap. I leaned it back so it would recline. Guess it is his equivalent to falling asleep in the car.

The other cute thing today was Y is starting to walk more and of course we are so excited! I held his hand today twice and he was able to make it down the hall. Of course I know this means more work soon, but it is so much fun to watch! Mr. Turtle also got a bath today. For those of you not acquainted, Mr. Turtle is Y's best friend. He is actually a plush dog toy and was given to us as a gift, one for each of the kids. We lost number one and fortunately M doesn't care, but Y loves Mr. Turtle and to be separated from him while he got a bath was a very big deal. However, not only was Mr. Turtle about three shades too dark, Y put him in the toilet which had not been flushed! Yuck! So along with all the kids Mr. Turtle also got a bath. We noticed that he is going to have be mended too. I am considering finding out where he originated from and perhaps purchasing a back up in case this one doesn't make it.

M is just her cute little usual self and it is fun watching her since she is just such a girl! She has such a great smile and loves to just sit and watch and clap and play with her big bird. Our tub is two tiered here and so after we had emptied the water and she was waiting for her turn to get out she discovered that she could go up and down. Very exciting for her.

Today I also made another internet discovery. Not only is You Tube good for waisting time, it has quality material for wasting time! Not only can we watch Thomas clips and old cartoons and T.V. Shows, but I found clips from my favorite musicals today! I watched pieces of Singin' in the Rain and Father Goose and Fiddler on the Roof. It was great! OK Father Goose is not a musical, but still! S was less than impressed and wanted to know why we were not watching Thomas, but he did like the Singin' in the Rain piece, "Make 'em laugh" with Donald O'Connor. The kid does have some taste.

Food for thought

Normally I don't give Rosie O'Donnell the time of day in my life, but I was reading Fox news today and curiosity got the better of me. The article was about a photo on her blog of her daughter dressed up as a warfare guerrilla. I of course chalked it up to her being a typical neurotic celebrity seeking attention, but claiming not too. I have very little respect for RO since her stunt in Portland a few years back of trying to get the local radio station to change its name as it was also called Rosie. Can we say, too much time on the hands?! But I went to her blog and started reading a lot of the comments. It was really interesting and people viewed it from all different angles. Some viewed it as I first did, disturbing and horrible. Others saw it for what she claimed it to be, her daughter playing army with her brothers. Some people also saw it as a staged art political comment about how our real kids are dying in the war in Iraq. I decided that some of those other opinions were pretty valid. I found it shocking as we see it in the news here in Israel all too often. Little boys dressed up in guerrilla warfare because that is how they are brought up, that they should want to be a martyr and die in the war against the Jews. But I thought some of her loyal fans made good points. One, that her daughter is playing dress up with her older brothers and people need to get over it. Two, that it is a private blog and the media is just making too much of it. And finally that there are real men, women and children dying over there everyday and not one of them has drawn this much media attention. To me that is really sad. Why does the news make such a big deal over Paris Hilton and how Rosie O'Donells kids are dressed, but not over all the people dying in an actual war.

The other thing that impressed me about RO is that she has a non-profit that is for kids in the U.S. That in itself is not such a big deal, but it is the fact that she points out that 1 in 5 kids in America live in poverty. It has always bothered me to see such huge campaigns for all the starving kids in (insert country here) but have very little information on the large number of kids that are living in deplorable conditions in America, the land of the free and "rich." It is not that kids all over the world do not need help and indeed it is horrible that kids in China and India are working in sweatshops from a very small age, but I also feel it is important to take care of the those in your own house first. Imagine as parents that in our quest to teach children the importance of feeding the homeless our own children went hungry. We would never allow that. And I feel that aid to other countries is very similar we must be sure that things in all areas are right in our house before we can take care of others. This could be said of any country.

History and people

Usually my news consist of four sources. Katu news in Oregon so I know whats up in my home town, Yahoo news as I log in to check my e-mail, Israel National news so I know what is happening here, although it mostly political news and my husband, sometimes reliable in passing it on sometimes not, but always informative when it comes. Lately I have started reading Fox News on a regular basis. David has been reading for years so I would glance at it every now and then but recently I have decided it gives the best news for whats happening globally. We support Fox new as we feel it is one of the more pro-Israel news sites out there. I am a bit slow, but I recently figured out that they categorize all the news. Not just local, global, etc. But for example "Crimes" is broken down into most recent crimes, sex crimes, murder and so on. I started reading it then found it to be most depressing as there too many listed that involved families. However, last night as we were unwinding from Amalia's wedding, I discovered that they list all the recent archeology discoveries too. It is so cool! Some of them I knew about already, but some I had not. I could have spent all night on there reading about all different discoveries. I love archeology. For a while I think I wanted to be an archaeologist, probably during the Indian Jones phase. I mean really, who didn't!? I have seen these adds to volunteer on digs, always think it would be fascinating. My husband thinks I am nuts. Why would I want to sit in miserable conditions, sifting through dirt when I probably won't find anything anyway. But I think it would cool. My aunt did one years ago and I think that is awesome! I found that organization that we came to Israel with had an event where people got to do just that. I want to contact them and find out if they are going to organize another one.

The other thing I found was a website called Find a grave.com I found it on Wikipedia when I was looking up information on Katherine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. If you have not been to Wikipedia you should check it out. You can truly look up anything and since it is created by the public for the public if you find incorrect information on there you can edit it. Anyway, so while I was on there I found the Find a grave web site. It started out to be for famous people, but the person who started it opened up to all people as a genealogy tool. It was late and I did not have time to look at it as a genealogy tool, another hobby I have which is currently on hold. However, I looked up actresses out of curiosity and it was cool. They listed factoids about them and if it was available cause of death and where they are buried. It had people from all over the world. I really want to use it as a genealogy tool as I started my dad's family years ago and really did well on my grandmother's side, but everyone else is been a bit harder. I would also like to do my husband's family. Our past is so much about where we came from that I think it is great that more people are making tools available. As our older relatives pass on we lose part of our history unless we can get it down on paper.

Both hobbies are about people's lives and how they lived. One is more personal as they are my ancestors and the other is about people's lives I am not directly related to but helped shape the world I live in now.

What we have been up to

After a week of being sick I finally managed to get the kids out for some activities in the afternoon. We have been to Malka Mall, which has air conditioning, free play areas and a petting zoo. We did not go in, we just looked at the rabbits and birds. We also made it to a couple of parks. A great trick that I have learned from my mom is to take the kids on a bus to a new park. It is cheap and the kids think we have had a huge adventure. Thursday was a big day we finally, please G-d, got the kids registered as American Citizens and applied for their passports. It was a huge mess and suffice to say that if the U.S. government would quit giving money to terrorists and re-organize their staffing situation there it would be a lot more efficient! However, we went with another couple and while we were able to get everything done, the husband of the other couple had to come back the next day. The fate of many of the people there. So I should not be complaining too loudly.

The other exciting thing about Thurs. is that I got to leave the house with no kids for 4 whole hours by myself! I went in search of a wedding outfit for a wedding we are going to tonight. No such luck. Actually I went to what is called a gamach where you can rent fancy outfits for just such an occasion and then return it. You pay a deposit and then get it back when the dress comes back. I only went there as the bride and crew were going to be there. Great dresses, however, nothing suitable for nursing. But the great thing is I got to socialize with out my kids! Then I went up to the Shuk and bought all our veggies for the week. I know, I know, I get free time and what do I do? Go grocery shopping. But hey, it was still exciting!

Truthfully our new family anthem should be G-d Bless Av! She is the sister of the bride to be and is the daughter/niece of friends of ours from Seattle and Portland. Av lives in the area and comes over at least once a week, usually more, to help out and just hang out. So it was Av and her brother who rescued me on Thurs. so I could go out. The kids are great for her and she said her and her brother were able to hang out. She made them dinner, cleaned up afterwards, and got everyone ready for bed. Now in truth we have hosted Av for many a Friday dinner since we have been in the country, but what she does for us far out weighs a few Shabbat weekends. We really enjoy having Av around and she likes being here so it is great for everyone.

In kid news, Y and M both have 8 teeth each. I think Y is getting more but we will see. Also, Y has taken his first steps! We have all witnessed it now, although of course I was the last one to catch him in the act. So I expect he will be up and running soon. He can also climb up the foot stool now and play in the kitchen sink or grab things off the counter. I will have to start making sure the foot stool gets put back when we are done with it. Y also points when he wants something. On Friday night he was playing the drop game with S. He would drop his turtle from the crib and have S get it. When S would not get it, he would point and cry. It was really cute. S is getting big and seems to be on another growth spurt. He is also getting smarter by the minute! He is great at identifying tractors, helicopters and other vehicles. He also loves, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy and Fog Horn Leg Horn. We have discovered this thanks to You Tube and a search for various cartoons. M has become Princess Puff Puff, D came up with it, but it really suits as she has this straight hair that always stands up. It is really cute. Also, I have given up with initials. M is making her own progress, and is interested in the foot stool but is not really ready to climb it. When we were at the park she did explore and liked going down the slide, but she is much more cautious than the boys. She takes after her mommy.
I am in the process of trying to get the twins to give up nursing, but we are going very slowly. I need to get juice concentrate so I can encourage them to drink more. They get tired of water, but in this heat the kids all need to drink more. Although I am probably cursing myself, dare I say it, M is sleeping through the night! It seems that if we put her to bed late enough she does sleep through the night! Hurray! Now if Y would even cut back, I could be half way sane again!

As for us, the grown-ups, we are fine and just moving along. We are still debating where to move and what to do. We have a little less than two months and we still have more questions than answers. I really don't want to have to move again if we can help it so we are now looking into school options, Gans, location in relation to what we will be doing in 2, 5, 10 years, etc. Because David's line of work is not a conventional job and it is more about achieving more knowledge and where that will take him in the next few years, it is a little more tricky to envision. So we are going from the angle of where we want the kids in school, what kind of neighborhood we want to be in and how close the area is in relation to the rest of Jerusalem. We know that our lives will probably be centered here in Jerusalem for a while so we have to decide do want to live in a suburb and commute in or live directly in the city and which allows for more options for the kids, etc. We both agree that we would rather raise our kids outside the city if possible. I am also concerned that since we have moved here the kids noses have not stopped running, which makes me think allergies to the environment, there is little chance of having a yard here, and no option for a house, and I still say it is dirty and smells funny! Not all areas are like that but enough. It is a big city, it has noise and pollution and it is not always pleasant. On the upside, the school options are huge and we have a lot more help with the kids thanks to all of our friends who live near by. We also have more neighborhood options and we will always be closer to where ever D is working. I do also like the closeness of a lot more activities, more parks, the malls, zoo, etc. So we are weighing the pros and cons and hopefully we will have some place by the time our apt. contract is up here. Or like our friend pointed out we will be living our tents and camping until we do! (Not really!)

Another tooth!

Y got another tooth on the bottom left. This makes for a grand total of 8 now! M. is still holding at 4. Guess she is going to take her time. I think as soon as everyone is better I am finally going to quit nursing the twins. With Y. having 8 teeth now he can eat just about everything and M. does a good job just with her 4. Also at this point it should all just be comfort nursing and not nutritional value. I know they won't like it, but I need my sanity and my sleep.

We are all still sick here so nothing new for now.

TTFN

Question

Why did the baby crawl on the table?
Answer: To get to the clothes pins of course!

Yesterday M. managed to wiggle out of her booster seat, which she was buckled into and crawl on the table to get the bucket of clothes pins I had sitting there. She was happily playing in them and passing a few to Y. I have decided that M. should be called Danger Woman since she is always trying to push off the table with her feet or climb on it. Y is Captain Destructive as he is always pulling things down and breaking them. Today he ruined D.'s cell phone by chewing on it. Guess we will be getting a new one! D. wasn't too happy this morning.

We are all sick here I think S got it first and now the rest of us have it. Yesterday evening D. asked me, "How long are you going to be sick?" Groan..... As if I want to be sick and I planned this out! So, lucky for him I feel better today, not well, but at least I can get out of bed. Guess I am back to running the house already!

Shabbat

We had our first shabbat here in Jerusalem and it was very nice. The kehila (community) here is really amazing. We had dinner and lunch with friends from the kollel. Really sweet couple who just celebrated their first anniversary. We were their first guests to bring kids! Hope we did not wear them out too much. Our down stairs neighbor invited us for a late afternoon meal toward the end of Shabbat and I went to a kiddush for a neighbor down the way that just had a baby girl. The woman hosting the kiddush has twin 15 year old daughters, so that was nice to see. It was very nice seeing everyone out and about on Shabbat and even though we are in the center of the city, our neighborhood is set off so that we don't really feel it. Everyone has been really friendly in introducing themselves and making sure I knew about the kiddush and offering help etc. It is not at all what I would expect to find in a big city and it really feels like a small community here. Our downstairs neighbor said that the whole area here which is comprised of Romema(the neighborhood we are actually in), Mattersdorf, the neighborhood below us and another neighborhood connected are really nice and are all connected community wise. She said that it is really unique in Jerusalem. I really like it. The other nice thing is that people are on all different levels here so I am not so self conscious about where I am religiously. That is a really nice feeling too. And surprisingly I am really finding a lot of green. The park is dinky and S. was bored in about 10 min. but there are lots of big large pine trees and they really smell great and cover up the city smell. All in all things are going well. Maybe it will be a good summer after all!

Getting Settled

Well, it has been two days in our new temporary home and I have decided that over all it is a good apartment and a good location. It has taken a couple days to get past the fact that apt. is outdated and the floors need a good cleaning, but over all it is a good set up with a good amount of space. I am trying to unpack only what we need so I don't have to re-pack it in two months. However, I did set up the kids room and it looks great. S. has his own room with all our stuff and the twins have a separate room with all the toys in it that works also as a play room. I was really for putting all the kids in one room, but after this I am really considering one room for the twins and one for S. Our room is tiny as it is really just a small area just past the twins room but it has a half bath and it will work.

As for the area it convenient to everything which is nice and it is nice that I see D. not only everyday, but every few hours. He leaves at 7:30am, pops in again for about 15-20min. at about 8:40am then we see him for two hours at lunch 1:30p-3:30p and then again at 7:00pm. It really helps to know he will always be in for at least a little bit in a few hours. We have a nice path behind our house that has a great view of a pretty green area and there is a park. So for temporary housing it is pretty good. It is also nice that we have had a friend stop by every afternoon to help with the kids. So it is also convenient to free help!

Now on to the project of house hunting......uggghhhh....will keep you posted on that.

Our new home

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are in our new temporary home. Tonight we moved to Jerusalem and will be staying here while we look for temporary housing. As fas as moves went, it actually went really well. We had friends from the south that came and helped out. We met them while they were living in our neighborhood, although by coincidence we also have mutual friends. Anyway, they came up to help and gave me and the kids a ride to Jerusalem. D got a ride with the movers. That is the other reason the move went well. Since we have no car and this is not like the States where you get everyone to with a truck to help you move, we had to hire movers. Also we needed someone to move the refrigerator, stove, etc. So unlike family and friends who say, "what is this, are you sure you want it? Why are you so unorganized?" They just get to work and ask what needs to be taken down. And besides for them the more unorganized people are the more they make. Although to be fair, for us, we were pretty organized. Hard to believe, I know, but like I said,"for us we were pretty organized." The apt. is OK, we don't plan on settling in too much as we are not staying here, but it will do for now. We had one of the rebbetzin's (Rabbi's wife) bring us dinner which was very tasty and we had some friends drop by. So it is kind of fun being near everyone too. On Shabbat one of our friends had a small get together at her place so we got to say good-bye to people there. And S went to play at a friends yesterday. And we had two friends make us lunch today. So that was our good-bye. Pretty quiet, but nice. We will really miss everyone, but on the other hand I will enjoy being in the neighborhood here. Gotta run it is late more later.

Random musings

Over all today was a pretty good day. We were able to farm all the kids out to play dates so we could pack and paint. The packing is going slow, but the painting is going good. It is in our contract that we have to paint on the way out, so that is what we are doing. Fortunately D is an expert at touch up painting and has been able to just do the highlights and make it look really darn good!
I am muddling through the packing. Ugghhhhh......

Y got two new teeth today and bit me to test them out! Ouch! His stitches are coming along nicely and D. will take them out on Monday. It is really handy being married to a paremedic/engineer/computer geek/handyman/economist..............He can do a lot of really neat things. Like keeping out internet going as M pulled down our router and broke it. So for the next few days we are doing a proverbial duct tape fix on our wi-fi for internet access.

Does anyone else out there watch Smallville? Is it just me or is it getting too dramatic? We watched the season finally on monday and I have to say that although I am a sucker and of course in the fall I want to know what happens, but I think they are going to have to wind that show down soon as it is getting away from what it started as. Although I guess it is following the comic books, but it has gone from being lighthearted to really dramatic and soap operaish. Oh well time to find a new show or just bail on TV altogether. That is really the only show I watch. Although I have been known to watch Little Mosque on the Prairie (A real show out of Canada). It is a half hour sitcom i found on Peekvid.com which streams movie and TV shows. I have also been known to watch Becker re-runs on there.

As far as my cooking kick I succeeded in making butter cookies that turned out really well and D and I shared in making blintzes. Tues. was Shavuot and is the holiday where we received the Ten commandments from G-d on Mt. Sinai. It is traditional to eat a dairy meal. So we had had thinly sliced cheese potatoes, blintzes and butter cookies. Yum, Yum!

Well that is all the news here in the Jensen house. Next time I post it will probably be from our new location in Jerusalem.

have a good weekend!

Mile Stones

Ok I am posting two blogs in one day as this one I started awhile ago but then had to put on hold as the kids were too distracting and it got put on the back burner. So I am going to finish it now.

The next few days will bring a lot of milestones with it that I have been thinking about them and what to comment on while it is still relevant and I have time.

The first is of course that the twins will be 1 year old on May 22, this means we have survived our first year as a family of 5! Wow! Never would I expect to be raising 3 kids. It has been a challenge for sure but also a lot of fun and I am proud to say that although, I have my moments of stress, agravation, messy house, etc. I was still able to get out with my kids by myself. Although within the neighborhood I stay pretty much in the house or at the park behind us, I also took my kids on the bus to Jerusalem, Herzilya and Raanana. D. and I also took them places together too. I am really proud of that fact. It is a lot of work, but worth it. I never wanted to be stuck at home because of the kids and thanks to my mom's example, I am not. Even with out a car. Anyway, it is really hard to believe they will be one. It seems they have been here so long that they should be having Bat and Bar Mitzvah's tomorrow! Then on the other hand, it of course has gone by quickly and it is amazing that they will be one tomorrow.

This means of course that S. will be 3.5 soon and is also a milestone. He is not a baby anymore and has not been for some time, but it also means he really is not a toddler either. He really is a big boy and will be in Kita Aleph(first grade) in just two short years! He really is growing up. He wants to help with everything or do it himself. He really can get dressed by himself, although it takes a whole lot of nudging to do and loves to do little things like take garbage out for us. Which is right at the end of the apartment basically.

The fact that the twins will be one year soon, also reminds me that S. was just one year and a few weeks when we arrived in the country. That really blows me away. To see that we have come that far, that our new babies are the same age as when S. arrived. It is just a milestone in and of itself. And that of course leads me to thinking about my family.

This summer it will be two years since I have been back to the States. I have missed a lot by being gone. The biggest is that I have a beautiful little nephew who is a year and a half and I have never met him. I have lots of photos and I hear him talking when I am on the phone with my sister, but it is not the same. And even though I can imagine my sister as a parent I know it will be different to actually see, the last time I saw her she was expecting him. I also have missed the smaller things like family vacations, birthdays, holidays, etc. I really miss those things, even just taking off with my mom and sister to go shopping or over night to the beach. And of course I miss my dad and my aunts and uncle and I miss my friends too. When I left many of my friends did not have kids and now they have children that are also about 1&1/2. It is just a part of my life right now and I am hoping that I will be able to visit in the fall. I think about what it will be like to be back. I remember when I was in Hawaii for 5mo. and in that short time so much had changed and it was weird being back, now after 2+years in a foreign country I imagine it will be quite different. I have been back to visit since we moved here, but it was 6mo. after we moved here and although somethings were different it just did not seem so remarkable. But now I just can't imagine what I will think or feel. But I am excited to see Oregon again and spend some time at the ocean and in the mountains.

On Tuesday we move, this is not just a milestone in that it points out that we have been here long enough to need to move, but because we are making more permanent plans. We came here on a program called Nefesh B'Nefesh and the agreement was that we would stay three years with no plan of returning to America when the three years was up. I look at it as a three and a half year contract. When we left, I did not even know if I would make it the three years. Now we are at two and a half and although we are moving, as an Israeli citizen I am starting to feel more settled in. There are things I would like to have a better handle on, like the language, but in general I feel at least like I really belong in the country on most days. Some days when it is needed I even get asked for my Israeli ID instead of a passport! Yeah! It means they see me as Israeli too! Many people have been asking when we are coming back. To that, my answer is, I am just taking a bit at a time. Right now we know we will be here at least through 2009. To say we are here forever, is too far to think about, but to say we are here short term is not being honest. So we are planning on being here for the long term for now, but we never know what tomorrow will bring.

One thing that is hard to imagine is that the twins have no connection to America. They were not born there, they have never been there and unless we move back there, it will never be their home. They are Israeli and that will be their first nationality. They will of course also be American Citizens too, we just have to turn in the paperwork. It is just that they are Americans by default because we are. I am really not even sure how much attachement S. will have. He has spent the majority of his life here. If we stay permanently the kids will automatically grow up with hebrew and english as away of life. In any case it will be much different than my childhood.

I like the idea that I live overseas for the experience of it, and for giving me a different perspective on the world. I also hope that my kids will gain the perspective that the world is not so big and that there is more out there than just their little corner. There are also the everyday benefits of living here too like being a country where Judaism is the major religion and that our religious holidays are national holidays,etc. I love being here for something and other things I really miss in the States. But that is way it is and every time we leave we take something with us and when we go back there is always something we miss. That is the nature of life. So I am going to enjoy what I have here. And look forward to visiting the things I miss in the States.

Creative Cooking

Cooking is something that is done out of necessity in our family. The only one that actually likes to cook is my aunt who lives in California. This is not to say that we can't cook, in fact my mom is a great cook, it just means that if we could find someone else to do it, that would be better. However, since I have become religious and observe the Sabbath, which is sundown Friday to sundown Saturday and I cannot go out to eat, I have started learning to cook. Amazingly enought I am starting take great pride in what I cook and I am even begnining to *GASP! * enjoy it. It has just taken me a few years to get beyond chicken and corn and pasta and shepperads pie and a few other things. So I am quite proud of myself that in the last few months I have added some new things to my repitoire. The first is lasagna which I always thought was a lot more difficult, however once we figured out that the noodles do not have to be boiled first, I have found it really pretty quick and easy. The second is chicken in red sauce, the third is chicken in a white non-dairy sauce and finally I have figured out how to make Challah from scratch no bread machine! The chicken dinners I am really excited about, not because they were difficult, but because I figured out how to make two full meals out of one whole chicken that we had cooked and then not eaten. It has been frozen in our freezer for a while and I was very excited to use it up. I think that has something to do with being a parent and working on a tighter budget than when I was single. I now get all excited when I can make a real meal from left overs. Oh the excitement of parenthood! Maybe I should get out more......Oh and I also made baked french toast this month. It uses about as many eggs as frying it, but no oil and I add cinnamon, sugar and orange zest to the batter and it makes it really sweet. Look mom, I can finally cook!

ER

On Friday afternoon I had first experience with taking an injured child to the ER. Y pulled down a very think glass mug I had on the desk and of course it smashed and then because it scared him, he promptly sat down in it. This caused a huge gash on his calf and when all was said and done required 6 stitches and they want us to see an Orthopedist when the stitches come out to make sure there is no permanent damage. They told us this after an Orthopedist saw him at the Urgent Care and told us we had to go to a real hospital to get him stitched it was so deep. Get my 1 year old stitched up was of course a bit traumatic and so I have a lot of thoughts on the matter.

I am dissapointed that I panicked instead of being calm. D of course was not home, he happened to be in Jerusalem for a brit milah, so here I am with three little kids and a major catastrophe. I am glad I had the presence of mind to tell S. to keep M. away from the living room no matter what and that he is old enough to understand. I washed off the cut to see how bad it really was, but even as i picked him up I knew it was bad. I am dissapointed that I did not wrap the wound and apply direct pressure. I am glad I got the neighbor kid to come and watch the other two while I ran down to the neighbors to if they were in as he is a doctor, but no such luck. I also should have had the presence of mind to just call our doctor, which the neighbors on the other side did for me, and he is the one who said to go to ER. But it made aware of just how unprepared we are for major emergencies. This is ironic considering D is a paramedic and we used to be prepared for anything. Now with 3 little kids we seem prepared for nothing. So I have made a plan of action that we will be putting into affect this week. And what is first and for most is to have 100 shekel (about 20$) cash on hand in the first aid kit so that we have money for a cab, parking, anti-biotics, what ever, so that we can get the important things taken care of. Since it is a pain for us to get to the bank I do most everything by debit card and D pulls money out on Thurs. on his way home, but since he wasn't home..... we had no cash around the house. We are very fortunate that the neighbors were able to take us and stay with us the entire time. Now that we will be living in Jerusalem there is not doubt we would have had to take a cab and with out cash that is impossible it could have been a very bad scenario. We could have called an ambulance, but if the patient does not stay over night insurance won't cover it. That is about 500 shekel around $100.00. So a very expensive cab ride. The other thing we will be doing is re-stocking and up dating the first aid kit. I thought it was good to go, but since we have not needed anything (Thank G-d) for the last couple of years, we need to rotate supplies. And of course as Y and M get taller I will be keeping a closer eye on where I put things. Y in particular is just an accident in the making and on Friday I had already saved him from two potential disasters, it just seems like he wasn't going to give up until he succeeded in giving himself a real boo-boo. I of course feel like the worst parent in the world, but not even the doctors and nurses in the hospital said anything. And Israeli's are known for speaking their mind when it comes to anything, but particularly the safety of kids. And the neighbors with the 8 kids assured me that have spent lots of time in various Urgent Cares and ERs. And my mom said she did with my sister as well. But I feel like this was just total carelessnous and should not have happened. Fortunately other than when he got stitches, Y was a real trooper and although he is clingy he is not bothered by it. I thought he would favor the leg or something, but not at all. And you would think he would learn not try and pull stuff down but he was up and at it yesterday fishing around on the desk for what to pull down, of course there was nothing there. The one thing I do have to say is that Israeli ERs are very efficient. Despite the fact that we had to go to Urgent Care and then an ER we were only gone about 2&1/2 maybe 3 hours tops. And that was from the time we left the house to the time we returned home. From my experience in America you could spend all day and all night in an ER before you are seen. I remember spending 2-3 hours in one ER room waiting for my sister to be stitched up. Maybe we got some priority because of the age of the child and the nature of the wound, but even so I am impressed. For as bearucraticaly messed up as Israel can be, their ERs are truly and properly efficient. So in the end I am truly grateful that Y will be fine, his stitches come out in 10 days and he probably won't remember a darn thing. But I can't help feeling a little guilty that it happened. Particularly since there are some people who I know who have never had stitches in their whole life!

OK M is awake I am off!

Never Say, "Never!"

I always thought that was an old wives tale. I always told,"Never say, "Never" it will come true. If I had known how true that would be I would have picked different things to say "Never" about. But lucky me G-d has a sense of humor. I have spent my life saying, " I never wanted to: Get married, have kids, be religious, live in Israel, the West Bank, Jerusalem.........." Now some would say that these are things I can control and that is true, but somewhere along the way my husband convinced me that getting married was a great idea, particularly to him! And that having kids would be fun and to set a good example, we should be religious. And if we are going to be religious we may as well live in Israel,......and just so we would know that G-d has a sense of humor, he gave me twins,...................Well you get the picture. Although I do admit that living in the West Bank was %100 my idea and I have never regretted it. So what is the latest, "I never.......," Well that would be living in Jerusalem. Ugggghhhhhhhh..............................................

So what happened? I'll tell you. Last Wenesday D. went to sign the final contract on our wonderful new apt. and found out that they could not go through with it and that they needed to sell it. So I found out Thursday morning and I guess D. found out Wed. night. We have been in a state of shock and disbelief to say the least and in between a lot of stressing I am trying to be positive. We thought we had a lot of options at least for a temporary solution, but as it turns out, the only viable one is to live in Jerusalem. We are going to rent the Kollel apt. for a few months until we can figure out what to do. Our apt. here is already rented so there is no way to renew or extend the contract, there is nothing else for rent in the neighborhood we want to live in and we can't even agree about where to look for anything else. Nothing else even seems to make sense.

Now on the one side I hate Jerusalem, I hate being it, staying it and do anything there, short of few touristy things. On the flipside, living the apt. will actually accomplish almost everything we want. It is: In our price range, close to the Kollel, about a 1min. walk, close to the zoo, a great view out back, close to a park, another kollel couple is right down the street, the street it is on is a dead end, so minimal traffic and we deffinitely have our pick of grocery stores and all services are just minutes away. And to top it all off, it is a 4 bedroom apt. Of course it is a small, outdated, apt. Although it does have heat and air. We can't really settle in because it is temporary so most of the bedrooms will just be packed with boxes........

Really the bottom line is we just have to look at the positive, at least I know who was living there before. It was D. basically we will just be moving in with him. And hey, I know that G-d has a sense of humor! Do you think if I said," I never want a billion dollars, a house, a sail boat and a motorcycle for D." that we might get them? Does reverse psychology work on G-d? Some how I am thinking, "no." But it would be worth a shot.

Oh and to top it all off, did I mention that the kids have all had chicken pox! I am soooooooo lucky! Of course the good news, I will never have to worry about it again now.

Also, Y. is starting to walk as long as he has something sturdy to push like a foot stool or chair. I have video of it that we will try to download soon.

OK Y is up, so off to get him before he wakes up M.

TTFN

The Great Ikea Myth

A few days ago I read an article titled the Great Ikea Synagogue. The story went on to discuss the new owners of Ikea in Israel are Haredi Jews (in secular terms, Ultra Orthodox), how they had put in a synagogue so that men could pray there. (Men are required to pray(daven) 3 times a day.) So now, it would not be necessary for men to leave the store to daven, they could make a minyan( quorum of 10 men) right there in the store! It was complete with Torah, prayer books and other religious objects. All printed neatly with the word Ikea on them. Now I have only been to Ikea once in my life and that was when we were here in 2003. It seemed exciting and impressive and every year in my mail box comes their pretty, glossy catalogue and I look over it lovingly, not unlike we did with the Sears Catalogue when we were kids at Christmas time. All those toys...................Well now they are grown up toys like couches and book cases and kitchen gadgets.
Well yesterday I got to play hooky with one of my good friends who needed a day off. Her kids are 12-9 and had art class so she could not take off with them, instead she took off with me and my kids. After running a few necessary errands, we were off to Ikea. The Disneyland of Israel.
Now, Americans here love Ikea because the furniture looks like American Style furniture and Israeli's love Ikea because they now have more disposable income and love having somewhere flashy to spend it. And well, since Ikea is European, I guess they feel at home shopping there as it is a European store.
So we arrived at the store and dropped S. off at the kiddie care center. After registering him, he was off with out so much as a good-bye. After all they had wooden trains, a huge plastic ball pool and T.V.! Certainly more exciting than hanging out with mommy and crew. We loaded the twins in the cart and I headed off to shop while my friend waited for D. to meet up with us as it was his early day. I was so excited, everything new and shiny and fancy. Until I got to the bookcases which is one of the things I was really after. And here is where fantasy turned to reality. *Note: For those of you who love Ikea, read no further as the rest of this is blasphemy. The quality of the book cases was so poor, even the higher end stuff I would not have spent that kind of money for. This observation continued through out the store, the furniture was expensive and made with cheap material and gave me the impression that it would seem worn out the first time my kids sat on it. This is not to say that we walked away empty handed. For who could resist fancy do dahs and kitchen gadgets we weren't aware of that now we cannot live with out! Actually that last part is not true, we bought kitchen shears which I have been wanting for awhile as I hate the fact that I open S.'s icepops with the same scissors I use to open all our packages from the states, etc. Yuck! And we bought a new can opener this wil be our third one since Jan., I hope it works althoug it seems to be MIA and I am hoping it is with our friend. And we bought two insulated tote bags which I think will work for long bus trips. And finally we found little 3 shekel toys for the kids. Because all in all they behaved really well. An hour later our free time was up at kiddie care and it was time to collect S. Just in time for me clean up the mess he made in the bathroom.....but that is another story. He was not ready to go, but finally decided that seeing his abba was a pretty good incentive. Off we went to find the gang. We finished the kitchen gadgets and headed up to the kids area with toys and flashy bedroom furniture. For us it was like being kids again, cute little tea sets and wooden train tracks. So I feel we did pretty well by only spending 9 shekel in that dept. Check out time arrived. Uh oh, how do we get to check out? We saw it when we came in, but now how do we get there? Ikea is set up like a maze, complete with arrows on the floor to follow to be sure even the most disciplined shopper won't miss a thing, in fact one may go in circles a couple of times trying to find the way out and there by ensuring that you might have passed up on that nifty little bobble the first time and the second time you passed it looking for the bathroom, but surely not the third time as you look for the way out. And the other dissapointment, now as I said before this store is owned by religious Jews. There are not ONE, but TWO places to buy lunch and a place that sells fancy pre-packaged cookies. Although both of the places are kosher, they were kept at a minimal supervision. A level so low that the owner of this place would not eat here himself. This was a huge dissapointment as we expected to take the kids to dinner there. For about half the population the level of Kashrut is acceptable, but for people like D. and me it was not enough. Normaly I don't have a problem with this. The fact that this store and its restaraunts are owned by someone who would not eat in their own establishment bothers me. D. says it is a matter of economics as most people don't care. But I bet most of you would not go out to eat in a resaraunt where the owner would not eat the food in their own place and that is how I feel. So with our curiosity satisfied and our urge to buy fancy doo-dah's placated we were off to find dinner. It was a fun trip and a good time was had by all, but I think for now I will stick with the fancy catalogue pictures and go to local quality retailers who will deliver and put my furniture together for me. And the next time I need a fancy doo-dah and an hour of free baby sitting I know right where to go.

A day in the life

Yesterday actually remained a pretty good day! We ended up going to a friend's house to play that we have not seen in a while. I told her we are moving. These are the people that we stayed with when we were checking out our current home and her and her family have been amazing. However, since the birth of the twins we have not seen them much and I can feel the distance. They live at one end of the neighborhood and us at the other end so getting together with the 3 kids has been just too much. It was nice to visit with them, but it reminds that this one of the reasons we are moving. We don't fit here as we are away from all the other kids in S.'s gan who live down there and with D. gone so much we don't do things here and we don't do things with the Kollel as we are too far out. It is hard to start over, but sometimes new beginnings are necessary. It is like the Girl Scout Song;" Make new friends, but keep the old....." And it is true we will keep up with our friends here as we have done in Portland, but I will look to making new friends too.

Y is making walking progress, he was pushing around our foot stool today while walking! Yeah!

I have also been working with S. on his colors and his writing today. He opted not to go to Gan so rather than let him off the hook we have been having Gan at home. It is interesting to see how he works. It has been really insightful.

OK I am off to make lunch!

Ciao!

Little Things

Not much is new here, but it is the little things that make life good. This weekend for Shabbat we went out for lunch. Our hosts have a son in Gan with Shmuel and another family came that is just a year older and also friendly with the boys. It was great not have to have lunch prepared as I just did not feel like cooking. We had a quite the week with our late Wed. meeting and it was great to go out instead. And while we were there Y. started walking by pushing on of their chairs! Yeah! He is gettting close. The other good thing was while I was walking to the bank today. Normally I hate cell phones, I find owning one to be nuissance about 75% of the time. However, I keep one around for logistics mostly and socializing on rare occasions. Today was one of them. I HATE going to the bank. It is up this huge hill and if I have the kids then there is no way to get a ride. So I dropped S. off at Gan and prepared to trek up to the bank. On the way I called a friend to let her know I had seen her in-laws in the local Portland Jewish Newspaper. Turned out to be a great conversation and we got to chat all the way to the bank and back. It made for a great start to my day as I got exercise, the kids got a nap and I got talk on the phone with out feeling guilty! I hope the rest of the day goes this well!

TTFN!

The "M" Word!!!

No not that one! We are already married and for 7.5 years too! I mean the other "M" word. Yes, that is right.......Moving. Uggghhhhhhh! I hate it! However, it seems that we have developed a pattern of moving approximately every two years and it would seem that our time is up here in beautiful Karnei Shomron. So if we like it so much why are we moving? Well I would like to see my husband everday and the kids need to see their father everyday. Now, if he had a job where he had to be gone that would be one thing, but if a move can make the difference between how much we see D. well then, I think that is the wise move. So we are moving to a place called Tel Tzyion. It is a 35min. bus ride to Jerusalem instead of an 1hr. and 45min. Big difference. The bonuses are that, D. won't have to leave until 8:00am everyday and will be home by 8:30 everynight, we are close to the city with out having to be in it, which means more trips to the zoo, especially since the twins will be getting a zoo pass for their b-day from their marvelous Aunty Tutu and Uncle H! It also means we can go in for Kollel events and go home the same night and visit all of our friends who live in Jerusalemand go home in the same day with out a huge shlep. We are also closer to the central bus station for going to visit friends in the N. and S. hurray. The idea that we can go to the Shuk for veggies is great and we can meet D. for lunch is also great! Oh and the apt. has a yard and NO STAIRS! And it is really well cared for the couple we are going to be renting from bought it, up graded and are now moving back to the States. So really nice place for a good rent. BUT......and there always is..it means starting over. New friends, new neighbors,etc. It is a more religious neighborhood and we had to be interviewed, although brief, to make sure we would stick to the general principals of the neighborhood. Not a problem although a bit different than what I am used to. Also, very little in the catergory of lets say....GREEN! As in minimal trees, grass, vegitation. Except for our lovely little yard. Coming from Oregon I need my natural green surroundings and being a Duck of course. D. said I had to choose between seeing him and having trees. I said it was a tough decision....He wasn't so happy with that answer so I decided I had better decide on seeing him everyday instead of the trees. I think it is a good choice. On the up side we are at the end of the street, near the bus stop and it is a dead end so few cars and a view. We are in an apt. building with a total of 6 tennents, so not so far off of what we are used to now. The bedrooms are small, but we have our own Master bathroom which is unheard of in Israel. And the kitchen is tiny but with room to add cabinets, etc. And the living room is big and has a tiny study off of it for the computer and D.'s stuff so we can keep the kids out! Yeah. It will be hard to say good-bye to all our friends here, but hopefully they will come and visit us and we can always come out to visit them too. Hopefully this will be our last move for a long time. And for anyone who is curious, we will still be in the West Bank, but a lot closer to the city.

In other news.....in my sister's blog she commented on the V. Tech Tragedy. It is a tragedy that was felt here in Israel too. As one of the proffesors who died, was an Israeli and a Holocaust survivor. Not only was he Israeli, but he was laid to rest in Raanana. Which is very close to where we are now. D. was hoping to go to the funeral, but unfortunately with the fact that it was a Friday, the buses would not make it practical for him to go and be back by Shabbat. I think it just shows how small our world is getting and that one tiny pebble sends out so many ripples. My prayers go out to all those who were affected by this senseless tragedy.

I would also like to point out something else too while we are on the topic of violence. Although I do not wish anyone to go through this type of tragedy it makes a handy point. As I said we have a friend from the States here now and in the three weeks she has been here, there have been two major shootings in the U.S. One in Gresham, Or. at a highschool where Thank G-d no one was killed and the Virginia Tech. Tragedy. Can I just point out that at least we know who our enemy is here!

And finally the family news!

As I said we are moving and had to go through a little interview and check our potential new place. We had to do this last night at 9:00pm! Yuck! So rather than cart all the kids in and stay somewhere and deal with getting them back. We left S. with friends overnight and just brought the twins in who are just still young enough to sleep where ever and be OK the next day. This is the first time we have left him overnight in two years! And we have never left him with friends just Grandparents. He was really tired and had fallen asleep at 5:00pm and we had to leave at 6:15pm so our friends came and got him in a stroller. He woke up a bit and was sad, but by the time I called to check in he was fine. I guess a little ice cream makes up for being ditched by the parents. It was really hard for us to leave him overnight, but really smart. I got hom at 12:45AM and there was no point in waking everyone up to go get him. So he stayed and went to Gan with his friend. I will pick him up in an hour. On the flip side it was nice to have a slower morning than usual. Although I still have not gotten as much done as I would have like. Anyway, our big boy is growing up and staying with friends now. Yikes! I am not ready! But I am glad he did well.

The Twinnies are snoozing now so I better get some stuff done before they wake up! OOOPPPPSSS! Too late!

La'Hitraot!

Time for the Local News!

D. is on vacation now so I have time to catch up on my blog! Well actually he has been on vacation for a month and this is his last week. So actually it is more like I finally have time to blog!

The last couple of months have been busy with Purim and Passover and a visit from my mother-in-law in between. It is exactly a month between Purim and Passover and there is a lot to do to get ready for both holidays. Passover deffinitely being more intensive. So I will hit the highlights and then talk about our week up north in Tsfat!

Purim was quiet and enjoyable, we had our first attempt at Lasagne and it is now a family tradition on Shabbat. Yeah! Betty Crocker look out! Well actually she is probably safe for a long time as the kids favorites are still hot dogs and peanut butter and jelly! They take after their mommy!

We had a week long visit from my mother-in-law which was wet and soggy, but we needed the rain. We spent most of the week hanging out in the apt. with a couple of local trips into Raanana. However, D. and I got to go to a wedding with no kids! It was great as I got to meet a lot of people from the Kollel and that was good networking. Very nice people too. We also went out to a dinner here in the neighborhood at a friends for their just married son and daughter-in-law. So having D.'s mom here was great!

Then the weekend before Passover we had a friend from the States come and visit. She is here for a month long visit in Israel. M. has been here before once for a year and once for 8mo. in the 90's. What is really crazy is that we grew up together in a way, as we lived next door to her aunt and uncle for many years. My parents are still good friends with them. She is not Jewish but loves Israel. We invited her to come stay with us over Shabbat as she was getting in on Friday afternoon and we live closer to the airport than her going all the way to Jerusalem. It was really fun and we have found we have a lot in common. It was really amazing to think that we knew each other as kids, but have not seen each other in maybe 15 years. As kids we never would have expected to be visiting with each other in Israel to say the least! We are hoping to get together this week again and probably one more time after that before she leaves. We will deffinitely be keeping in touch after she goes home. Or at least as much as we can!

The day after she left we headed up to spend the week of Passover up in Tsfat. Tsfat is just above the Kinneret( Sea of Galillee) near the Lebanon border. We stayed the week with our friends C&N who had their baby at our house last July. All in all the weather was great. We wanted to do a lot of hiking but soon discovered that get out before noon with kids was impossible. We settled for short walks around the city. In the "new city" they are layering brick on top of the old road while doing some work part of the road caved in a building was discovered! We could see the window, but that was about it. When it first caved in you could walk right up to it and check everything out, but by the time we got there it was fenced off and I could not get in. Although I did take some pictures which we will try to download this week. Tsfat is built on 7 layers of city and it is forbidden to tear up the ground or even do archeological digs because the history there is so immense. That to start digging and researching they would never be done and it would destroy what is there. So they jut cover up and build on top. In the old city there are Synagogues built in the 1600's! Unfortunately with the kids, there was no way for me to go to services. Tsfat is gorgeous and some of it really reminded me of Oregon! They have pine trees there! It smelled so good and the flowers were all bursting with color. We are hoping to make it back up there in August too. Will have to see how it goes.

Finally this past shabbat we had a house full of 19-21yr. olds and that was a great time. R. we met when we were living in Raanana, A. is a regular and we are friends with her parents in Seattle and her aunt and uncle in Portland and then her cousin came and brought a friend from University. It was a lot of fun and a kick to host them.

The week we are soaking up our last week of D's vacation and we are hoping to go to the zoo and head into Jerusalem to do some errands.

As for kiddy progress reports: S. is up to my waist now and his language skills and coordination are really improving. When he wants to he can now put on his own pants, start to finish. He loves helping out with the twins and helping me cook. He loves to help bake cookies, cake and french toast.

Y is starting to stand on his own but not yet walking. He is into everything and is as tall as our desk! Time to start putting things higher up! He is also a crawling disaster and some how is constantly give himself boo-boos! He is eating more solids and has even been known to eat a peanut butter sandwich on occassion! Although his favoites are bannanas, cookies and cheerios.

M is also starting to stand on her own and is really gaining weight. Yeah! She is such a good girl, she is pretty self sufficient and will usually entertain herself. I love it, especially since the boys are well, such babies! S and Y deffinitely need to be closer to me at all times. Although M is always up for a good snuggle. Her favorite activity is finding paper to shred. I think she might be part hamster! Her favorite foods are her baby food pears with raspberries, oat meal and cookies!

As for the parents, we are doing fine. And just trying to keep one step ahead of the kids! E-mail me for the web adress if you need it. We will try to get the most recent photos up soon!

OK the natives are restless and D. has his hands full! Hope all is well.

Alina