We all scream for...

Ice cream!

One morning during vacation, we went for a special treat- there's a milchigs place in town which serves delicious "זיסלק" ice cream- which is better than any pre-packaged ice cream around! The kids all enjoyed immensely!

Put on your dancing shoes...

This kids knows how to move!

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Brother's Keeper

(No, this post isn't about the IDF operation launched after the tragic kidnapping of Eyal, Gilad, and Naftali.  I hope its not callous to use this title, but it seemed so befitting...)

B"H Yehuda Leib is starting to talk, and one of his first words is....."Hila" (translation: Hillel).   He is always looking for Hillel and calling his name - he probably did this before he started talking too but its so much more noticeable when it has verbal accompaniment. It is so cute to see how much he looks out for his brother - something so unique and special about being a twin!  Uusually babies at this age are so egocentric...but I guess when you were born with a "partner" your "ego" includes him too!
Some examples:

• Once I gave Yehuda Leib a piece of Chalva- before he even took a bite, right away he ran to find Hillel, calling "Hila" - and pulled him to the kitchen so he can get a piece too (as opposed to some of his siblings, who go run to their siblings so that they can tease them...ahem!)


• I put some supper onto Yehuda Leib's high chair tray (he wasn't yet seated inside) - as soon as he saw, he brought me Hillel's tray which had been laying on the floor...then he ran to the couch where Hillel (who refused to take a nap all afternoon!) had finally plotzed, and starting pulling on him "Hila, Hila, Come!"


• One morning as I was washing dishes, I hear Yehuda Leib calling Hillel's name.  He was going from room to room, looking for his brother.  Then I noticed the front door was slightly open...and Hillel was trying to make a grand escape!  Good thing his brother noticed his absence before anything bad happened to him!

May Hashem help that they should always have such a close bond, and that they should continue to always look out for each other and want only the best for each other!

Coming out of my cocoon

I have been very much affected by the events that have been happening here in ארצינו הקדושה.  Starting with the kidnapping of Gilad, Eyal, and Naftali HY"D, and then escalating into a war which we felt and heard with our own ears, my thoughts have been pre-occupied and I didn't really have a heart to blog.  With countless mothers R"L burying their boys, how could I blog about the narishkeit that goes on in my household?

Cute Quote: I don't want to go to sleep!

One afternoon, Nissim took a late nap, so he wasn't at all interested in going to sleep at his regular bedtime. Also not when it was his older siblings' bedtime (which is always later than its supposed to be!)  He was too busy 'reading' a pile of books on the couch, fiddling with my cell phone, and looking for snacks to eat.  When my bedtime was approaching, I finally decided it was time to get him in bed.

(this conversation took place in Hebrew, as Nissim's speech therapist suggested that we stick to one language to help his speech develop, which B"H it has)

Mommy: ... נסים, עכשיו צריכים ללכת
Nissim: !באוטו
Mommy: ...לא, מתוק, האוטו לא פה עכשיו.  צריכים ללכת
Nissim (with his eyes all lit up, not missing a beat): !אוטובוס

(Editor's note: buses are SO much more fun than cars, especially if you own a car so a bus ride is a rare treat!)

I had a good laugh (along with Yael Chava Berlinger, who was visiting with us for a few days) and finally convinced Nissim that we were not going anywhere else except for his bed.  He B"H complied, albeit begrudgingly.

Feeling Green

When I was in high school, my friends and I were all into chatchkes with Anne Geddes' photography- for the unfamiliar, she photographed babies and young children in all sorts of cute poses, and sometimes she'd take a photo where the whole picture was black and white, except for the flower the baby was holding or the hat on their head.

I've always thought it would be cute to take a picture like that of one of my own kids (who are WAY cuter than the kids in her photos, IMHO), and I think my camera actually has that capability, but have I never had the time to read the manual and play around with it.  So Hillel decided to give me a chance for a pretty good shot, involving no special camera tricks.

It probably would have been cuter if he would have JUST gotten his lips green, and not his belly...oh well, one day we'll have to give him a lesson about cute photography techniques

Lag B'Omer in the Park

Our Lag B'Omer was nowhere as exciting as last year, but we did manage to have a nice family outing anyways.  It was a bit of a busy day since Nissim had (very minor) surgery to have tubes put in his ears that morning (I didn't realize when they scheduled it that it fell out on Lag B'Omer, and by the time I did, I didn't want to reschedule it and have to wait another few months!).  B"H it went smoothly (you can see from the pictures below that he looks quite fine!) and after we got home and he rested a bit, I took all the kids out to one of the parks in Giva B that we don't go to that often.  I picked up some bread and deli, and we had a nice afternoon and supper in the park.  (And for a change, I actually remembered to take my camera, and the batteries were actually charged, so I have pictures to share!)

(I didn't get many pictures of the big kids, who were eagerly climbing up to the huge slides, while I was busy watching Nissim and the babies, who were B"H busy running in all directions!)