...במקום שאין אחות

!השתדל להיות אחות



Hillel is being very cooperative with his sister's antics...
and he sure is a pretty little boy!

(Yehuda Leib, don't get jealous...I think you're gorgeous too!)

Cute Quote: Pronunciation Problems

Both Bruria and Azriel Shraga are learning how to read this year, but since the boys learn with a yeshivishe pronunciation, and the girls learn with an Israeli pronunciation, it often causes confusion (and arguments!)

Bruria, listening to Azriel reading his Kriah homework:

Bruria:  That's not how you read that word!  Its "OH" not "OIY"!
Azriel:  That's how my Rebbe says it!
Bruria:  הרבי שלך לא יודע
Azriel:  הוא כן יודע- Right, Mommy?
Mommy:  Bruria, Azriel is right- we say it "OIY"
Bruria: (making a face and shaking her shoulders) But my Morah says "OH"!
Mommy:  Bruria, your Morah is also right!
Bruria:  But how can they both be right?  זה שטויות!

(we've had conversations along these lines more than once - with ת being pronounced "t" vs. "s", and קמץ being pronounced as "ah" vs. "uh")

Disclaimer:  I'm really not sure how to address the issue- especially since I don't really understand or agree with why the Bais Yaakov system has pretty much across the board adopted the מזרחי pronunciation, even though all their male counterparts use a Yeshivishe pronunciation.  But since we can't fight the system, we do our best to explain to the children that there is a big difference between modern day עברית and לשון הקודש.

Cute Quote: What makes you fat?

Bruria's been commenting a lot lately on my growing abdomen- she has yet to ask me anything directly, but she's awful suspicious....here was an adorable conversation we had one day last week, as we were walking home from Gan:

Bruria:  Mommy, your belly is SO שמן!
Mommy:  That's because I'm an *אמא שמנטוז!
Bruria:  But Mommy, you don't eat so many potato chips!
Mommy:  Potato chips, Bruria?  What does that have to do with anything?!
Bruria:  Because if you eat a lot of potato chips, it makes you get fat!  But you don't eat so many potato chips, Mommy!  I think your belly is so big because there's a baby inside!

*שמנטוז is Israeli slang for "fatso"- although I'm not sure how its really spelled!

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!

 

The "Queen" of all Pekelach

For days, Bruria has been talking about the משלוח מנות (AKA Pekela) she has been making in Gan.  "Its a כלה, and if you turn it, it turns into a מלכה" - I could not figure out what she meant...until she came home with this exquisite project today:

They took a formula can, glued a toilet paper tube to the top, and then decorated each side of the tube as you see above- with the nosh was all inside the can.  Bruria is so proud of her work of art (they really did most of the project themselves really excited about it, and now that the junk food is all gobbled up, she's planning on using it as a jewelry box!

Mirror, Mirror on the wall

One feature of the Minkus house which you just can't miss is the wall of mirrors along the living room wall.  Growing up with a house full of girls, those mirrors got PLENTY of use- we'd admire our outfits in front of them, put on makeup in front of them, dance and act in front of them, why, we'd even just talk to each other while looking at each other in them, rather than facing each other!  (Remember those days?!)

I hadn't thought much about those mirrors lately...until I went with Bruria to Gedalia Minkus's wedding last week.  Before we went home, I took Bruria to the bathroom...and right before she entered the toilet stall, she noticed that one wall was covered with a wall-to-wall, full length mirror.  Bruria was ecstatic!  She pranced around in front of the mirror, turning around slowly to admire her dress, she lifted up her arms and danced, watching her reflection...it brought back such fond memories!  Since we don't have any full length mirrors at home, she doesn't usually have this opportunity!  I had a hard time getting her to actually use the bathroom, since she was so enamored with her reflection!

The ULTIMATE compliment

My darling Bruria is ever the social butterfly, always wanting to go to play at a friend's house.  So imagine how great I felt after the following scenario:

Yesterday I bought Bruria and Yisrael each a deck of cards- card games (primarily war), have become the new obsession in our home.  I decided to teach Bruria how to play "Spit" so that she'd have a variety of what to play.  So we were sitting on the rug, playing "Spit" (I was letting her win; isn't it nice that I can control myself for my daughter's sake!?) when the phone rang.

"שלום, זאת רבקי ברים, אפשר לדבר עם ברוריה?"

I handed the phone to Bruria, sure that our game was over.  I only heard Bruria's side of the conversation, but it went something like this:

"מי זאת?"

"מה את רוצה?"

"אבל אני משחקת עם אמא שלי!" (said with a shrug of her shoulders, her body language that means, I don't want!)

"שלום!"

Aaaaaaawwwwwww...

An expert Challah Baker

Last Friday, Bruria was NOT in the mood to go to Kaytana- and no amount of cajoling was able to convince her otherwise.  So she stayed home and helped me get ready for Shabbos- and she was a tremendous help!  She washed dishes, swept the floor- and then she wanted to help braid the Challos. 

Now those of you who know me well, know that I'm a real perfectionist when it comes to cooking and baking- not only do I like to make sure my food tastes nice, it has to look nice as well!  But I saw how eager she was to help, so I overcame my nature and let her do it- she braided all the Challos- ALL BY HERSELF (I stood next to her and coached her a bit, but she really did a fine job!).  The first one came out a bit lop-sided, but the next two came out absolutely gorgeous- almost as nice- if not nicer (gasp!) than mine!

Maybe I'll let Bruria stay home more often on Fridays...definitely seems like it paid off!

Happy (Early) Birthday to Bruria!

Today was Bruria's birthday party in Gan.  The גננות make a whole fancy party for the girls- three at a time (although it usually ends up being nowhere near their real birthday!)  We baked a cake together for the occasion, and Bruria was so excited that her Mommy and baby brother came to her gan!

My Chassidishe Daughter

I guess living in a city where the majority of the population is Chassidishe, it's to be expected that your children start mimicking them!  Look at this original creation, made exclusively by Bruria!

Roar!!!

Today our neighbor's daughter had a Bas Mitzvah party, and one of the fun attractions they had, for the younger girls, was face-painting.  The woman who was doing the face-painting (a friend of my neighbor's) asked each girl what they wanted to be- so Bruria asked to be a lion!  These pictures were taken after some of the make-up had already washed off....but it still looks pretty good!  Just imagine how amazing it looked right after she had finished!

B'Shaah Tova?!?

I think the picture says it all!

Cute Quotes: Is there such a thing as verbal dyslexia?

Well if there, is, then I think that my kids have it!  You're likely to hear the following in my house:

"Mommy, I shinifed my fornclakes"
"When will my piccups go away?  Its bothering me!"
"Can we bake puccakes for Shabbos?"

Or the best one yet:

(Bruria is playing with Naftali, who's in his crib)
Bruria:  Beekapoo!
Mommy: Bruria dear, you're supposed to say "peekaboo" not "beekapoo"!
Bruria: Nuh-uh, Mommy, I'm saying it in Ivrit!

Afternoon in the park

Today we decided to take the kids for an afternoon outing with Savta.  So as soon as I got back from the hospital, we loaded everyone into the car and went off to Park Gilo in Yerushalayim.

Savta treated everyone to ice cream from the ice cream truck (I guess now the kids will know the real purpose of the truck...oh well!) and then we went to play on the monkey bars.

Naftali had a real blast on the monkey bars- apparently he is quite a dare-devil!  He kept wanting to hang from the bars without anyone holding him- and he's got a good grasp. Then, when he had had enough, he'd just let go and let himself fall, even though no one was holding onto him (don't worry, I was hovering closeby and quickly ran to catch him as he dropped!)

Here's a video of him hanging from the monkey bars (isn't he nuts?!)

(if you can't see the video, click here to download it)

Cute Quote: Don't be my friend

Whenever one of the kids comes home with a "pekelah" (goody bag), Bruria always convinces them to share it with her. Usually she tells them that she'll be their friend, or that she'll share her candies with them when she gets some (she's a real conniver!).

Today, Azriel Shraga came home with a pekelah after his Shavuos party, and right away Bruria walked up to him, getting ready to shnorr- but before she even had a chance to try, Azriel Shraga said to her, "No I don't want you to me my friend!" and refused to fall for her tricks!

The case of the missing Bruria

The other day, I woke up early, and quickly took a shower before the kids would wake up. When I got out, I peeked into their room...everyone was sound asleep in their beds...except Bruria!

I started calling her name, but she did not answer. So I quickly threw on a robe, and ran downstairs to what she was up to. There was no sign of her anywhere. Where could she be? That's when I noticed that the front door was wide open. Oh no, where did she run off to before 7 AM?

I went outside, calling her name (what did the neighbors think?) but there was no Bruria in sight. Yikes! Where could she be? I ran up the steps, and sure enough, there she was, in the middle of the path leading to our apartment...sitting on one of our little plastic chairs, happily munching on (of all things!) chocolate chips!

Girls will be girls

Yesterday I went shoe shopping with Bruria. I know from experience that if Bruria sees shoes that she thinks is pretty, she'll decide that she ONLY wants that pair, even if they are not too practical (aren't most of us females the same?). So I warned her ahead of time that we are going to buy the shoes that Mommy says are good, and she agreed.

When we got to the shoestore, he had a rack outside of shoes that were on clearance from last year. I found one pair in her size, but they were an ivory colored shoe with sequins, which I was sure would fall right off. Not very practical, but definitely very dainty. Bruria was thrilled when she saw them, but I saw that they were a bit too wide on her, while the size smaller was too small. Plus, I really wanted her to get a darker color.

So we asked the salesman to bring out something else. They were a pretty black shoe, nice, but not nearly as pretty as the first pair. As soon as I tried them on her, Bruria said to me, "These are making a boo-boo on my feet. The other shoes are much more cozy!" even though I could see clearly that the second pair fit much better.

I asked the salesman if he had them in another color- and he brought out the same shoe in a shiny silver-grey. As soon as Bruria saw them, her eyes lit up, and before she even tried them on, she said, "These are VERY cozy, Mommy. The other ones (the original ivory pair) make boo-boos on my feet."

Oh, girls! At least we were both happy with our purchase- they were pretty enough for Bruria's liking, and practical enough for mine!

Happy Un-Birthday, Bruria!

Today, Bruria had a birthday party in Gan. Really, her birthday isn't for another month, but since they do a party for three girls at once, the party never falls out quite right. Bruria was still thrilled to have a party (who isn't?!) but if you'll ask her how old she is, she'll still answer "Three and a half!"

Half of the excitement was being able to go to gan with her Shabbos dress and shoes- she got up at 6 AM and came to wake me up- fully dressed! She was begging to go to gan- and was quite annoyed to find out she'd have to wait another two hours until gan started!Our neighbor Devorah Levine did her hair, and I even let her have a little bit of make-up (I still remember when I was a little girl, how exciting it was to have makeup!) She was so happy, she practially bounced the whole way to gan!

I came to her gan a little later in the morning, for the actual party. Bruria was thrilled to see me, but I think she was even more excited that Naftali came- she had lots of fun showing off her 'baby' to all her friends.

For the party itself, the teachers have a bunch of cute songs and dances that they do with the girls- they dance under arches, they spin a hoola hoop with ribbons around them, raise them up on chairs, and much more. (I am VERY impressed with all the work that her Morah's put into it!) Then the girls gave out cake, and at the end of the day they gave out pekelach (goody bags). It was really quite beautiful!

Here's some pictures- enjoy!

Its raining, its pouring!

Inasmuch as we really need the rain here in Eretz Yisrael, I think a lot of people still have the "Oh no, its raining today" reaction when they look outside the window in the morning and see the rain pouring down.

My kids really get excited when it rains- when they wake up in the morning and see rain, they get so excited (maybe because they get to bring their umbrellas to school?!)

One day last week, when it was raining, Bruria sang "משיב הרוח" (Rebbe Alter's song, in Hebrew) the whole way to gan ON THE TOP OF HER LUNGS. It was cute, but also a bit embarassing!

Today, when I was bringing her home from gan, she started saying "Its so good that Hashem made rain because now all the cucumbers and carrots and tomatoes will grow and they will be so yummy and juicy!"

Good to see that she's got the right attitude!

Yungers in Action: Serach bas Asher re-enacted

Today Bruria made a Kinor out of clics, and she started running around the house singing a song about Serach bas Asher- she must have sang it at least 20 times by the time I got the camera out- it was absolutely adorable!

(for those of you who requested the words:)

שרח לוחשת לסבא יעקב
על אוזנו לוחשת סוד

עוד יוסף חי- הוא מלך בצמרים
יש לו שתי בנים- מנשה ואפרים

- עוד יוסף חי
דיין זון יוסף ליבט
הוא מלך בצמרים
ער איז א קעניג אין מצרים