Chillin' Out

Erev Shabbos was a real חמסין (our Mommy checked on Weather.com and it was 97 degrees!) - so while the rest of the family was busy shvitzing while they were getting for Shabbos, we got to lay around in our diapers, nice and comfortable!

Aren't we just too cute?

Grapefruit picking for Leket Israel

Our Doda Racheli and cousin Leora were here visiting for a week, and they thought of a really nice activity, that would be an opportunity for them to spend time with their cousins, while doing a mitzvah at the same time!  There's an organization here called "Leket" which collects surplus food and produce, and helps distribute it to poor people throughout Israel.  One of the things they do is send volunteers out to fields, to pick produce that was either planted specifically for them, or produce which the farmers don't need and would otherwise go to waste.  This produce gets sent to soup kitchens throughout the country, and is distributed to needy families.

So on Shushan Purim, Bentzi and the older kids (I stayed home with the "junior division") met up in a field  near Rechovot, together with a bunch of our other Yunger cousins.  The kids had a nice time learning about the mitzvos that Leket does, and then they went out to the fields to pick grapefruits.  It was fun climbing the trees to pick fruit, and they were allowed to taste the fruit while they were out in the fields (no problems with תרומות and מעשרות that way).

Thanks, Doda Racheli, for the great idea- it was so nice to spend time with you, and to do a mitzvah at the same time made it much more meaningful!  We hope to see you again soon!

(and no, Shifra Yunger did not get married...she must be wearing that silly tichel because its in style or something?!)

Double your Pleasure, Double your Fun!

These are the words I found myself singing (from an old  commercial for Wrigley's Doublemint Gum) when I was driving home from the exciting ultrasound where I found out I was carrying two babies.

B"H raising twins really is "Double your pleasure, Double your fun" (not to mention double the spit-up, double the diapers, etc!) but we are really trying to focus on the positive and to appreciate this double-bracha that Hashem has Blessed us with!  

With my hands doubly (sevenfold?) full, I haven't had time to snap many pictures, but here's a sampling -the twins don't really have much matching clothing, but I try to snap a picture when they do wear outfits that match!  (And even on the occasion that I do dress them matching, its rare that they both stay clean long enough to enjoy it!) 

Aren't they absolutely precious?  But since they don't look anything alike, I don't think they'd make it onto a Wrigley's commercial.  Oh well!  Maybe we'll have better luck next time!  

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.

Mishenichnas Adar....

Like every year, the kids in גן* came home with costumes on ראש חודש.  Nissim was an adorable leopard (cheetah?) with a long tail in back, and Naftali was מלך האותיות  (they are almost finished learning the א-ב so his גננת decided to make it an educational experience as well).  Aren't they both adorable?

* Yes, once the girls start כתה א and the boys start מכינה, no more costumes.  So while we had 4 kids in Gan last year, this year we're down to only two!  Oy, איך נפלו גבורים!  Good thing we had twins so that we can get that number back up!  (just kidding!)

Purim 5773

(Clockwise, staring from top left)

Yisrael- dressed up as a monster (you may remember this mask from when Bentzi wore it a few years ago). I really didn't like the idea of my sweety-pie dressing up like a monster, but when I told that to Yisrael, he said "But on פורים, its ונהפך הוא - so since I'm such a nice boy all year, on פורים I HAVE to do something הפוך!"

Hillel and Yehuda Leib- the only matching costumes I was able to borrow were skunk costumes (maybe next year I'll have time to make something for them!) - but even though I've never seen a skunk with a bow-tie, I must admit they looked awfully cute!  Yehuda Leib didn't want to smile for the picture...oh well.  He's only 3 months old, so we'll forgive him.  But next year, no more excuses, young man!

Nissim- was too busy "clowning around" to pose nicely for his picture...B"H he's such a happy little kid, this costume was just perfect!

Azriel Shraga- decided he wanted to be a tree, despite my efforts to talk him into being a policeman (we had a police costume in the house already).  So I gave in, and made him an adorable tree costume....and then of course he changed his mind and decided that he DID want to be a policeman!  Well, after all my hard work, I put my foot down - it was a really nice, original costume which elicited lots of compliments!

Bruria- was even more gorgeous in her Kallah gown than she was last year....good thing that it'll probably be too small on her next year (who wants to borrow it?!) since otherwise I'll really have to start worry about "chasing the chassanim away"!

Naftali- dressed up as מרדכי הצדיק- but I think he was more excited about the horse part of the costume than anything else- at one point he even told someone that he's dressed up as מרדכי הסוס!

May the simcha of Purim accompany us all year long!

SNOW!!!

Yes, its been a while since I've blogged, and while I've really been meaning to share with you about all the goings on in this house, I've been quite preoccupied (any guess why?!) But with today's snow, the most we've had in the 10 years that I'm here in E"Y, I just had to share the excitement.  We're taking a quick break to warm up after making a snowman and having a snowball fight, so I just wanted to share some pics so you can see how much fun we're having!

Its 10 AM and the snow is still coming down heavy - so hopefully we'll have some more time to play in the snow before it all melts!  There's already over 2 inches of accumulation- yes, I know that's nothing compared to a snow storm in Chicago- but for E"Y where, in the rare case that it does snow, it doesn't usually stick- this is a real "chavaya"!

Hopefully this blog post will be the harbinger of more....as I've got lots to share with you!