Edible Edifices

Today we had a really fun afternoon...we made houses out of wafers! The foundation was a tea bisquit, and we used chocolate spread to stick on wafer "bricks". Then we made the roof from more tea bisquits, "cemented" together with more chocolate spread. The kids had a really nice time making them (Azriel Shraga needed my help) - and they had even MORE fun eating them! (of course he needed NO help with that!)

Here's an up-close view:

In case you're wondering what motivated me to do this....Yisrael has been giving us a hard time going to cheder- he doesn't like to leave us when we drop him off. So today Bentzi took him, and saw that there were doing construction by his school- so he told Yisrael that he should watch them, because in the afternoon he'll get to build something with wafers! I was like..huh? How will we do that? But B"H I figured it out, and it was a big hit!
I just hope he won't start asking to do this everyday...its not nearly as healthy (or economic!) as building with legos or clics!

Konked out on the couch

Naftali has this new thing where he likes to stand up in the stroller- even if he is strapped in! Today we were out ALL MORNING, and the entire time he was standing or sitting up- he wouldn't even lie down to take a bottle! (Azriel Shraga was with us too, but when he got tired, he just laid down in the stroller and took a nap!)

Finally, when we got home, Naftali collapsed on the couch- but lest you think that he laid himslef down on the couch- he was standing up (suprise!) against the arm of the couch...but he was so tired that he just konked out!

Cute Quote: Financial Woes

Yisrael: Mommy, how much money do we have?
Mommy: B"H we have enough money to buy everything that we need.
Yisrael: But Mommy, I NEED to know how much money we have!
Mommy: We have more than one hundred shekalim!
Yisrael: Do we have Meah v'tish'im v'tish'im shekalim? (whenever he wants to use a big number, that's the number he uses!)
Mommy: Yes!
Yisrael: (with a look of relief on his face) Oh, good!

Finger Lickin' Good!

We have a great book that Bubbie bought us a few years ago, which teaches colors and couting. Each page is a different color scheme, with numerous photos of different objects.

This morning, Azriel Shraga was looking at the brown page. He came up to me with the book, and showed me- "Mommy, look! Cocolate!" He then ran back to the couch to continue looking at the book. A few moments later, I glanced over in his direction, and I saw that he was rubbing the picture of the chocolate with his finger, and then he stuck it in his mouth to lick it! He kept doing it even after he saw I watching...and he seemed totally serious about it!

(That's a great diet tactic.....)

Cute Quote: מי האיש החפץ חיים

(Intro: When I cook beets, I started peeling and cutting them first. The juice from the beets is very healthy- its full of antioxidants- so we started saving the juice and drinking it)

Yisrael: You should drink some beet juice, Bruria.
Bruria: But I don't like it.
Yisrael: But you should drink it because its very healthy. If you drink it, then even when its time for you to be מת, you will still live לעולם ועד.
(a few minutes later, Yisrael hands me the cup of beet juice)
Yisrael: Here, Mommy, put this away. I don't want it.
Mommy: Yisrael, why didn't you finish the beet juice? Its very healthy! (I was egging him on!)
Yisrael: I don't like it, but I drank some [anyway] so that I will live לעולם ועד. I don't want anymore now.

(IY"H he, and the rest of us, should all be zoche to אריכת ימים, whether or not we drink beet juice!)

Fishy Fright

(I know you're probably all thinking that I've totally lost it- she's blogging about her goldfish?!?!)

Tonight I had to scoop all of the fish out of their bowl (container, really) so that I could clean it out. As I did, the "Mommy" fish, as the kids dubbed her, jumped out of the cup I had her in, and plopped onto the floor. She was flapping around all over the place...and of course I was too freaked out to pick her up. B"H Bentzi was there to save the day...otherwise I would have had a few very dissappointed children tomorrow...

Junior Gymnastics

We changed the clocks about a month ago (right before Yom Kippur) so its been getting dark really early- Shkiya is before 5 PM! So since we can't spend as much time outdoors, we are trying to come up with more indoor activities. Today's activity was......gymnastics! We had a lot of fun doing somersaults (or גלגולי ראש as the kids say in Hebrew!)
I even did a headstand for the kids, which they LOVED - even Naftali thought it was crazy to see his Mommy upside down! (I used to be the headstand champion growing up- and while I can't do it for nearly as long as I used to, I think its pretty amazing that I can do it all, after having 4 babies!) I tried showing the kids how to do it against the wall....obviously they couldn't do it, but we'll have to keep practicing!

We all had a blast, and when we were done, we were WORN OUT! (Good thing it was bedtime!)