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!

Gigantic Grapes

Yisrael is learning ספר במדבר and just finished learning about the מעשה המרגלים.  Yisrael came home all excited, telling me that his Rebbe wants to make a play with them, and that the boys can prepare mammoth sized "fruit" for the מרגלים.

We decided to prepare a bunch grapes- we took balloons, covered them with layers of paper mache (this project kept us busy for 3 afternoons!) and then, once they were covered well and dry, we painted them purple, tied them together, and made a really nice looking bunch of grapes!

All the kids had fun helping - there was more than enough work for everyone - and they are busy dreaming up ideas of other things we can make next time they have vacation...any nice ideas?

Nissim on the move!

A few days before Sukkos, Nissim decided to take a few steps on his own- but of course, as soon as I started to spread the word, he promptly decided to stop!  No matter how hard we tried to encourage him to walk, he refused- he was scared of walking without anything to support him - he just wasn't quite ready yet.

So I decided that we're not going to pressure him.  I knew that it would happen sooner or later, and rather than pushing him to walk and making him more scared, we were just going to drop the whole issue until he was really ready.  But when I started to get reports from his gan after Sukkos that "Nissim walked 20 steps today" or "he walked the whole length of the yard" I must admit I got a bit antsy.  But I continued to tell the kids (and myself) not to pressure him...

Well finally, one day last week, while my hands were dirty with paper mache (that's another post), suddenly Azriel Shraga says to me- "Mommy, Nissim is walking!"  - I turned around, and sure enough, my little miracle boy was walking across the living room!  Of course my hands were filthy and I couldn't grab my camera...and I only had a chance to catch him on film today (by now he's an expert at walking!)

Since then Nissim's been on the go- playing games with his siblings, where they reach out for him to walk to them, and then he 'teases' them by changing directions when he's within a foot of their reach, or walking back and forth from the couch to the wall, etc.  Its adorable to watch, and we are full of gratitude to HKB"H for this milestone. May we continue to see him grow and flourish!

Trouble viewing?  Click here to download the video.

Cute Quote: Love and Marriage

After getting a very exciting phone call from my sister Adele and her (at that time unofficial) Chassan Yakov, I told the kids who had called, and why:

Mommy:  Do you know who that was on the phone?
Kids: Who?  תגידי לנו!
Mommy:  It was Adele Minkus- do you remember her?
Kids: Yes! 
Mommy:  Do you want to know why she called?
Kids:Yes!  Yes!  Tell us!
Mommy:  She called to tell me that she found a Chassan and she's going to have a Chasuna!
Bruria:  They're going to have a Chasuna?  Do they love each other?
Mommy:  Yes!

Here, I paused, watching their faces, waiting for a smile, a smirk, a giggle, or an inappropriate comment.  I figured I'd have some really good "Cute Quote" material here.

But no one smirked, smiled, giggled, or commented.  Apparently, Bruria's question, and my response, didn't strike them as funny or inappropriate.

And that's when I realized that this was the cutest quote of all.  For my children, the concept of love and marriage hasn't been tainted by Disney or Hollywood.   Their understanding of the concept is exactly what it truly is, without being poisoned by Western society's perverted views.  To them, love is what exists in a home home where a Mommy and Tatty live in harmony (most of the time at least!) working together to achieve their goals and raise a family with happiness and devotion. 

I was so touched to realize how lucky I am, to be able to raise my children in such a beautiful atmosphere of קדושה, where they can appreciate the values so inherent in our תורה הקדושה, without having been poisoned by negative influences.

And on that note, my bracha to Adele and Yakov, as they begin to plan their בית נאמן בישראל, is that they too should be zoche to build a home where תורה values ring true, without any negative השפעות!

Grape Picking in Bat Ayin

I think most families have the same challenge during vacation time- what to do with the kids that will be fun AND cheap at the same time?  Add to that being age-appropriate, and close enough to get to- that makes the challenge even  harder.  Bentzi and I were putting our heads together, trying to come up with some nice trips for the kids over the summer, and Bentzi found out about a free grape picking event in Bat Ayin, one of the yishuvim in Gush Etzion, which is not far from us.  He readily volunteered to stay home with Nissim (the vineyard wasn't exactly stroller friendly) and that I should take the kids (we can also only fit five of us in the car).  So I headed out with the 4 older kids bright and early, to hit the vineyards before the hot summer sun was at its hottest.

When we got there, each kid was supplied with a special shears to cut the grapes off of the vine.  Everyone had fun finding the grapes buried within the leaves of the vine, and we were amazed at how many crates of grapes we were able to pick.  Just as everyone was starting to get tired, the vineyard owner offered us a ride in his tractor- which was a lot of fun and left us invigorated, ready to do more.  We got to taste plenty of grapes - yum! - and we even brought home a huge bag full to make our own wine (which we did...but the product was not so successful!)

It was also nice to see the מצוות that are connected with farming, hands on.  We were show where the פאה was, and warned to make sure not to pick from there.  And Yisrael, who had learned all the הלכות this past year in Cheder, was busy explaining to everyone what he had learned about לקט and שכחה.  It was a nice חזרה for him, and a wonderful learning experience for the rest of us!

While we were there, the vineyard owner's wife- who is originially from the US- told me about a natural spring nearby which was made into a mikveh hundreds of years ago- and is still used today.  She said its a lot of fun, so after we were too hot and exhausted to continue picking grapes, we headed to the spring.  The spring flows from within a cave, and there is a structure with a kosher mikveh inside.  Yisrael and Bruria tried going in the actual mikveh, but it was too deep for them to reach the floor.  Outside of the structure is another pool they built, which is much shallower- and the kids had an absolute blast splashing around in the water- they were there for hours - literally!- and they enjoyed every mintue! 

I hadn't come prepared with bathings suits (I think I did have one towel in the car) so afterwards we went for a short hike in the area to dry up- where we found ancient homes and a shul- I'm not sure which תקופה they were from.

We finally headed home, happy and exhausted - and best of all, aside from transportation, the trip was completely free!  (unless you count the pie of pizza we bought when we got back to Beitar because everyone was starving- I hadn't planned on being out until almost 4 in the afternoon!)

A lovely afternoon in פארק בגין- עין קובי

Yesterday we planned to go to the park in Gilo (which many of you are familiar with) to have a BBQ and play in the park.  But when Bentzi came home from morning seder, he commented that it was a really nice cool day - and its a חבל to "waste" going to פארק גילה on a day like that (for those of you who are unfamiliar with this park in southern ירושלים, it is on the side of the mountain and very shady- so even on a pretty hot day, its rather cool there)  So we changed our plans and decided to stay local, and spend the afternoon in one of the parks here in Beitar.  Yisrael wanted to go to one of the new parks in Givah B, but when we got there, we couldn't really find ANY shady, grassy areas which would be comfortable for a BBQ.

So we came up with an impromptu Plan C- to go to פארק בגין, a forest preserve that's 5 minutes down the road from Beitar (in safe territory, no worry!)  It was close enough that Bentzi was able to drop me off with some of the kids and then pick up the rest of the crew (we don't all fit in our car)  It was a great choice- we picked a nice spot with picnic tables, and got our BBQ started.

There's an interesting blog I visit from time to time, written by a frum woman here in E"Y.  She has many tips on frugal living- and one post of hers describes how to make a BBQ without buying any coals, using bits of wood instead.  I figured we might as well try it out (we did bring coals along just in case!)- so the kids got all busy collecting different sizes of branches and wood scraps that had fallen from the nearby trees.  It was a lot of fun for them, much more so than a regular BBQ- even Naftali was busy bringing me twigs to put in the fire.  (Anyone who has bought cheap "coals" here in E"Y has seen that they are really just pieces of wood covered with a black substance- and our "coals" worked just as well- if not better!)

It was a great learning experience- the kids got a mini science lesson, as I explained how the fire burns the wood, and how the thicker pieces get really hot so even when the flames die down, there is still plenty of heat from the wood.  Bentzi offered a mini mussar lesson, using the fire as a משל to illustrate how the fire of תורה goes into a person's נמשה and heats it up, and how once a person's נמשה is so hot with תורה, that heat can spread to warm up others.

While the food was cooking, the kids had fun climbing in the olive trees right by the picnic tables.  Bruria is already becoming a mini seminary girl, asking me to take pictures of her in various poses in the tree.  Yisrael and Azriel joined her, and then we even got Naftali to go up- so we got a few nice family shots.

After a delicious lunch, we played in the historic site nearby- עין קובי - which has underground caves running from the ruins of ancient houses, to a water cistern which they dug.  The kids had fun crawling through the caves and coming out at all the different exits (I tried joining them but there were parts of the caves which were a bit too narrow for me!)- we gave them a flashlight and they had a real blast.

Before beginning to head home, we lit a small bonfire (now that we were experts!) and roasted marshmallows- a delicious treat to leave a sweet taste in our mouths after a really fun afternoon!

Cute Quote: Who gets to learn תורה?

I held my breathe this morning as I got Yisrael ready for Cheder - with the rest of the family on vacation (except for Nissim), I was worried that he would get upset and not want to go to Cheder.  I packed him up some nice snacks, and was very gentle with him, not wanting to upset him.  As the clock got closer and closer to 7:30, I was wondering (and silently davening!)-  how I was going to convince Yisrael to go to the bus stop alone- he usually goes with Bentzi since they both catch a bus at the same time.  B"H Hashem answered my תפילות in the best possible way:

Yisrael:  Oy, its almost 7:30 already!  Where is Tatty?  We are going to be late for our buses! 
Mommy: (cautiously) Yisrael sweetie, Tatty isn't going on the bus today...he has vacation today.
Yisrael: YESH!  I'm the only one who's going learn תורה today!  I am the luckiest person in our whole family!  Quick, Mommy- give me my תיק - I have to hurry so I won't be late!

And he cheerfully ran out the door, on his way to go learn תורה!  (Not quite the standard scene depicted in  חז"ל of תינוק הבורח מבית הספר!)  Imagine my relief- and happiness- at such a sweet reaction!  May he always have such a חשק to learn תורה!  (I sure hope this scenario repeats itself for the next few days, and that I don't חס ושלום get an עין הרע for posting this!)
 
(I didn't bother mentioning that the reason Tatty didn't come back from Davening yet was because he WAS busy learning תורה at that very moment!)