I am back, really...

Sorry I was gone for so long. I have been on modified bedrest, so it kept me trying to focus on the things I had to do. I was going to try to catch you all up on our holidays, but after a month, it just isnt gonna happen. So if you are curious, click on my flickr badge on the right. There are some WONDERFUL pictures. We had a great set of holidays, back to back blizzards.... (and its snowing again today) and business was CRAZY.

Bedrest drives me a bit nutty, but I am getting the hang of it. I have read the entire Narnia series last week. Next week is Trablinka, so far this is a really interesting book, if you havent read it, I definately suggest it.

2nd night of Chanukkah and Havdalah

Havdalah is the closing of our Sabbath (Shabbat). We always have a ton of people over. This week wasnt as big because there were sickies and some other family gatherings, but we still had a pretty good turn out.

We started at sundown, with the little havdalah ceremony. Dad lead with Aunt Melissa doing the handy work (ma was a bit dizzy, so I kept to just the photos).

We light a braided candle to show the unity we have gained getting together with others on shabbat. It also shows that when our lights are banded together we glow so much brighter and reminds us that Yeshua is the light of the world.



Then we smell the sweet spices to remind us our sweet rest during the sabbath. (Using all 5 senses) Lots of people use different spices, we use a mix of all spice, cinnamon, and nutmeg.



Then we talk about our wine bottle and what it represents. It is like God, and as we pour the wine into the cup He is filling us with Joy. We always fill it overflowing it onto the plate, to show how He is overflowing us with Joy to last our whole week and to share with others. Also that the overflowing wine should remind us of the blood Yeshua spilt to cover our sins. We each drink from the cup (sickies last ;) ) We ask the kids to explain each one, its really a wonderful time for them to learn and teach.

I also didnt mention we have a traditional blessing we sing for each part (candle, spices, wine), we sing them(in hebrew) because once again it helps them stick in our minds better.


Then we close Shabbat by extiguishing the candle in the overspilled wine. We do this with the all the lights out. This reminds us of the darkness that exists without God and we say a silent prayer for all those we know that dont have God in their life.

Then ofcourse its on to more candle lighting for Chanukkah. We had all the families bring their chanukiahs to light together. All the kids got to light one (except the baby ofcourse)





We spent the rest of the evening in midrash (biblical discussion, aka-friendly biblical arguing, LOL) and the kids played driedel, their new "cranium" game and watching Rugrats Chanukkah which is a family fav. Oh and dont forget donuts and latkes again, YUMMMMMY

Chanukkah 1st night & Shabbat

Chanukkah (however you want to spell it) started Friday night, so we also had Erev Shabbat. This means, LOTS and LOTS of candle lighting, hee hee.

Ali helped light the shabbat candles first...



Then Ali and Alex got their turns to light the 2 hanukiahs....



Then presents! Alex got a playing cards set, war and old maid are definate favs. Ali got stationary, which she set immediately to writing letters. Dawn got a cap and mittens. I was shocked at how excited she was, she modeled for us all evening.


(note the chocolate from the donuts all over her face, LOL)

And of course we had latkes and chocolate donuts...we love our "Fry Daddy" this week every year. Dont let the name fool ya, ma still does the fryin. Playin Old Maid while we snack.





We ended the evening with dad reading from the story of the Maccabees. Sleepy prego mom, fell right to sleep, so I didnt get any pictures of that.

Park day?

Well, we were the only ones to show from our group. But it was a beautiful day and the kids played with some preschoolers there :)

A dear friend of mine passed last week...

She was my best friend's mother, Alice Pankow. In the teen years it is so important to have that other mom, when you wouldnt listen to your own mom for anything. She was that mom for me. We shared the same birthday, although even though we always talked about celebrating together someday, we didnt. MS took her in her sleep.

I went to KC to her funeral last weekend. Cheri (my bfriend from HS) did a beautiful job of puting it together. I also got to meet her two kids (one for the first time, one for the first time in a LONG time). I also got to meet Butch's daughter for the first time (Cheri's brother). It wasnt for the best of reasons, but I was so happy to get to be with them for a while.

We had a good "stick around" snow Wednesday night. Although it was freezing (high of 18!)yesturday, convincing the kiddos that it was just way too cold to go outside was just not working. They got themselves all together to go out and I watched from the door, BRRRRR.


Little D was the first to venture out. (Only because the other 2 had school work to complete first)


Then the other 2 came to play, it was cold and getting colder though, so it only lasted maybe 15 min. I was surprised Little D didnt turn into an ice cube. She was out there for almost an hour.



Then the recovery, cuddling together....

Hebrew w/distractions

School is always interesting with a 3 yr old added to the mix...dad was trying to catch up on the Hebrew classes they missed last week. However, being that dad doesn't teach as often, he doesn't understand the challenge. At least I was there to run a bit of interference.

Looks like a focused study right.... well keep in mind this is what is going on around them...

She was having fun...I forgot to distract her for a bit.

Fingernails D's new passion

Gram has created a new favorite passtime for little D. She was just beaming....

Pictures!

Thanks to my dear SIL, I have lots more pics over in my flickr>>> go check them out. If you click on it, you can see them at the flickr site. It has most of our holidays this year, except Sukkout since Big Sister was in the hospital.