Happy Birthday, Nissim!

Today was Nissim's Hebrew Birthday- B"H he is two years old!  Its amazing to look back at where we were two years ago...and to see how much progress he has made.  KA"H he is an adorable little boy, full of smiles and laughs, who is learning how to make lots of trouble (he is officially in the "Terrible Two's" now- and he's making sure to live up to the title!)

I joined him in Gan today for a sweet birthday party- they played some cute music while the kids banged on tamborines, waved flags and pom-poms.  The most exciting part was when they put balloons (and then Nissim!) inside a parachute.  Afterwards we gave out ice cream to his fellow gan-mates, which they really enjoyed!

Of course we had to have another ice cream party in the afternoon with the rest of the Yunger Dynasty (shhh...don't tell them that Nissim and I got to have ice cream twice!)

May we be zoche to share many more wonderful birthdays, and continue to see  much Nachas from Nissim!

Chol Hamoed Pesach- trip to מערת המכפלה

One thing we've always wanted to do was go to מערת המכפלה- I was supposed to go in seminary but our trip was cancelled when the Intifada broke out...and I haven't made it there since.  So when we saw all the ads about special security, transportation, and activities in חברון over חול המועד, we decided to take advantage and go join the tens of thousands of other Yidden who go out to מערת המכפלה during Pesach and Sukkos.

It was a bit of a shlep going there- the buses going straight from Beitar were not leaving until late in the afternoon, and not coming back until the evening- not so conducive for little kids.  So we went to Yerushalayim (some by bus, some by car) where we took a bus from בניני האומה to חברון.  When we got there, the area was packed- Yidden of every color and stripe, all coming to daven by קברי אבות- it was such a beautiful feeling- to be part of a global community that is so varied, yet so united in our desire to connect to the רבש"ע.

After sitting down to eat and refresh ourselves after all that traveling, we waited on line to enter the מערה.  Since there were so many people there, the security was limiting the amount of people allowed inside at one time.  We had סייתא דשמיא and when the soldiers saw that we were waiting with such young children, they allowed us inside so that we wouldn't roast in the hot sun.  We davened by each of the קברים- even the children said some תהילים, and then met up again outside.

On the men's side, Bentzi was listening to a man describing how he went into the actual מערה (deep below the structure where everyone davens) as part of a secret mission about 25 years ago.  He bought a DVD from him, where he describes what he saw there, including pictures, videos, and quotes from חז"ל.  (Bentzi and I watched it at home once we got the kids in bed- and it was really interesting!)

There were many activites going on in the area around מערת המכפלה- singing, projects, donkey rides, and tours.  We decided to take a tour of the old city of חברון- where Yidden lived for hundreds of years, up until the pogroms in 1929.  The tour guide pointed out many different buildings, describing for us what life was like in חברון העתיקה.  We even walked through the Arab שוק, where he showed us where the מזוזות used to be, in the now Arab "owned" storefronts.  There were soldiers positioned all over the place (note the picture below of the soldiers on a rooftop) to make sure that we were safe.

We had a really nice, exhausting day- and while I wouldn't do it every חול המועד, we were very happy we went and hope to go again!

 

Our Erev Shabbos "Bath"

This past Erev Shabbos was a HOT day. And with such a long afternoon ahead of us, we were trying to come up with ideas to keep the kids busy, without creating a huge mess in the house.

The Solution: A pool/bath! We filled up the pool in our front yard (which is shady in the afternoon) and gave everyone a bath in the pool. They had a real blast- we can't fit all five in at the same time in our bathtub, and I let them splash as much as they wanted because it wasn't going to make a mess all over our bathroom! After letting the kids splash and "swim" for a while, we started washing them all down with soap and shampoo (the bubbles from the shampoo caused lots of excitement).

 

Once everyone was finally washed, dried, and brought inside to get dressed, they had let out lots of their energy, and they were happy to sit on the couch and read books- a real win/win situation!

We'll have to try this tactic more often!

Bruria's מסיבת סוף שנה

Phew! Its hard being a mother with 4 kids in Gan!  Aside from the daily ins and outs of taking care of such young kids, it means you have to shlep to all their parties in Gan!  Well B"H I think I'm done for the year (Yisrael will have a סיום on ספר שמות and ספר ויקרא after Tisha B'Av, but that's Bentzi's turn!)

Bruria's end-of-the-year party was something special.  First of all, its a big milestone- after all, she'll be in first grade next year!  Its really amazing to watch how she and her classmates have grown over the years- they are really getting big! 

The גננות that Bruria had this year did an excellent job of letting the girls do their own projects (not so common here in E"Y) and she's really developed her talents nicely.  She is also on the threshold of reading- she knows all her א-ב and while they haven't officially started wtih reading, on her own, Bruria's started sounding out words, and trying to read and write them.

Her "graduation" was a wonderful end to a wonderful year.  They prepared a beautiful program of songs and a short song-skit, all based on the theme of תפילה.  Bruria was singing the songs and practicing the motions in the house for weeks, so it was familiar to me by the actual performance- but I enjoyed it nonetheless.  Bruria really enjoyed her chance to perform- with a smile on her face and a nice loud voice, she was really a star!  (takes after her mother, no?!)

May we continue to see much Nachas from Bruria, as she moves on to 1st grade (we've already bought the uniform shirts!)   May she go מחיל אל חיל!