Sukkot is here, yet we have no sukkah

Which shouldn't surprise me in the least actually. Aba works. Alot. And he has friends which build these great magnificent sukkahs that can hold 100 people. And inevitably these friends ask for his help, and he always obliges. Aba also helps the rabbi build the shuls sukkah. So that means we have no time to build a sukkah of our own.

But every year while helping friends build there, loaning out our extension cords and heat dishes so they don't freeze in their sukkahs, allowing them to borrow our folding tables and chairs so they have enough seating for their guests, we go with out. Even if Aba did have enough energy to actually build us a sukkah, we would have nothing to put in it!

This year with our house being for sale I guess it would be kinda odd. I mean if a Goyam were to come and look at our house and we had a roofless shack built outside...

But every year Aba tells me of how our Sukkah will look next year. It will have walls to keep the wind out, tons of branches and greenery on the roof and walls, a table and chairs, heat dishes and lights. It sounds wonderful, and every year the vision gets grander in his head. Now I will just have to wait until the year when work does not force him to work through the holidays, the Rabbi does not need help, and friends to not call to borrow our sukkah supplies. And someday we will have a sukkah of our own.

Aba wants a pig

Yes. you read that right. Aba wants a pig. Yes we are orthodox Jews and have no use for a pig or pork. But Aba wants a pig.

I have told him no on several occasions. But we all know what happens when I tell him no, and he has his heart set on it, like with the TV in his car? He gets it anyways. So Aba wants a pig, although he is not sure what type he wants yet...

He says they are great! They can eat all kinds of leftovers including spoiled milk and rotten meat! ( We have tons of that sitting around, right?) They can turn a pile of manure into compost in the dead of winter! ( yep a pile of manure) All great reasons to get a pig, right?!?!? Oh and he was going to get a pair, but I have talked him out of that since they reproduce every 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days. That is a lot of pigs!

Now don't get me wrong, I love pigs, in fact my first word was Pig ( betcha didn't know that) and I remember playing with the piglets on my uncles farm when I was little. But I also remember the smell, and the flies. And pigs get BIG.



I definitely don't want a pig! But it looks like we will be getting one sooner or later ( yes I know we live in suburbia, but we are moving to the country someday soon...) I have been informed it will be coming home as a "surprise" as well.

Aba will build a pen, get a dog (pig) house, and bring it home. And any questions that I may ask will be answered with a knowing "You'll see" Great. I guess we will be getting a pig.

So does that mean I can randomly bring animals home too? Well as long as I "secretly" build a home for them first?

So when looking for our house just look for the house with a mezuzah bigger than your head, and a pig in the yard.

Wordless Wednesday

a summer favorite.

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From the mouths of Babes...

Shared by Miss B with me on the way home from preschool:

"Momma? 2 boys in my class lost a toof. Now they have a hole in their smiles! Hee Hee Hee!!!"

And why isn't the media covering this?!?!?

Okay, I usually try to keep this blog away from politics, and email forwards, but something came across my inbox this morning that I could not ignore!!! An email that said England will no longer teach about the holocaust for fear of offending Muslims who say it never existed. What??? Since when do students, children get to decide what happened in history!!! Here is the email:
Disgrace for England!

This week in England every memorial of the holocaust has been removed from the school study programs, arguing that it hurts the Muslim population that denies the holocaust.

That is a sign of an upcoming worldwide disaster, terrifying evidence of how easily countries can give in to anti-Semitism.

It has been more than 60 years since the end of World War 2 in Europe as England didn't lift a finger to save the Jews that were butchered by the Germans and now they are Boycotting Israel Academics and removing the holocaust from the schools study programs. .

This email has been sent in order to create a chain of memory for those 6 million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1900 catholic priests, that have been murdered, raped, burnt, starved to death, and humiliated by the Nazis.

Now, more than ever, considering the efforts of Iran and others ' denying the Holocaust, it is most crucial to do whatever it takes to ensure that the world never forgets .

This email should reach at least 40 million people in the world.

Join us and become a link in the chain of memory for those who have past in the terrible events of the Holocaust. Help spread this email around the world so others may understand and help as well.

Please send this message to at least 10 of your friends or contacts. Please do not delete this email; it only takes one minute to pass it on. Thank you for your efforts.

Now, I don't watch the news, but I would think being surrounded by orthodox Jews on a regular basis one of us would have heard about this before now! So my second thought was is this a hoax? And upon googling I discovered that it is real, very real.

But I only found 2 news sources about it! Why are they trying to keep this from the public? Apparently everyone in the world needs to hear several times when Madonna takes her famous friends to Israel for the High Holidays, which has absolutely no impact on the future generations and is purely gossip, yet when a whole nation will no longer learn about the holocaust, only The Daily Mail and The British Times Online are strong enough to report it? Where is the mass media? Why is this not being blown up on news stations everywhere? Why is this being allowed to happen?

If we do not teach our children the past, they will be doomed to repeat it in the future. Why are we allowing a small religious sect to dominate what is being taught or rather not taught in schools? We need to learn from the past, not forget it.

Baby B walking

Just like me???

Miss B is a dolly girl. She carries her baby dolls around constantly, dresses them and feeds them, takes them for walks and puts them down for nap. I love that she is so kind and gentle and is such a good doll mama, so when we got the American girl catalog in the mail the other day, I knew the perfect Hanukkah gift for her would be a Just Like Me Doll, but apparently as I perused the choices, there is no Just-like-Miss-B doll to be had! Yes they have all the components of a Miss B doll, just not on one doll! Simple though I thought, I will call the company and tell them the combo I would like, and they can piece together the right doll, I mean you would think it would be fairly easy for a doll company to put different hair or eye color on a doll, right?

Apparently not. I described what I needed: Medium skin, Dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and earrings. I mean couldn't they pop the brown eyes out and put hazel in and add earings??? Apparently not. So disappointing on one hand that I can't get this special doll for her, but on the other hand it really shows how special she is, that they do not have a generic doll just like her.

So anyone know where I can get her a doll just like her?

No more Mr. Nice Aba

this was declared last night over dinner. A dinner that did not go as smoothly as planned. Yes the children behaved, but Aba decided that we have been being much to nice to the children allowing them to get away with more than is allowed.

This is all my fault I have to admit. I allowed B to skip school yesterday because

A> N gets out of school on Wednesdays at the same time she is supposed to arrive a half hours drive away.
B> I got stuck talking to the principals secretary about PTO mishaps for over a half hour. If she went she would have been in class for less than an hour. So apparently my priorities are a bit messed up.
C> while I was at PTO Tuesday night N used this as a reason to skip his homework (basically he did not tell Aba about it).
I am sure there are more reasons, but those are all I remember.

Upon last nights declaration
1. we will have no more TV on school days and only movies on the weekends.
2.Our families priorities will be Judaism first.
3. All boys must wear Keepas at all times and say hamotzi before eating.
4. Education is our second priority.
5. N must learn to read a book all on his own. And do extra work assigned by Aba.
6. B must go to school everyday , and I will be signing her up for the expensive glorified daycare lunch bunch on Wednesdays so she arrives on time.
7. J must be potty trained N-O-W, despite the fact he still can not communicate properly.

I have been informed by Aba our children are a mess and we are going to be tough on them till they all straiten out and fly right. J sneaking out of bed at night? Not anymore! School trips planned on High Holidays? Not for our kids! School involvement with the PTO? Not if it takes me away from the family!

Lets see how long this lasts, but for now it is Boot Camp with Classical music, Paper and Pens, and Potties all around.

Wordless Wednesday - my boys

being silly





and remember I do follow

Another Monday...

overcast and wet. A great way to start the week. J had his hearing test today and past with Flying colors so it is strickly a speech issue, which is great (and he has been making great strides with his "teacher" speech therapist).

Today is one of those days where warm comfort food is what we all want warm bread and butter, rich soups and fancy coffees .

thought for the day: Why is it that babies always find the one wet spot of paint on the wall to touch?

and the push for fall is on!!!

Aba has been trying to get some end of season fishing in, even though he could fish year round, he prefers to focus on Hunting with Master Hunter once the season opens ( in just 2 weeks!). N has just returned from Camp Jackson and had a great time. While I was scared he was going to loose Teddy (now wouldn't that be a nightmare) he managed to bring him home. Yeah!!!

B did her big recital in the Park yesterday and did a great job (Pictures will be coming soon) and we got the bonus of it being car show day, so we got to spend a few hours wandering through the old cars and tractors. Joy of Joys.

and sometime last week Baby B got her 2nd tooth. I think that is all the new news for now. Last week was really hectic with the Holidays and all, so hopefully I will have more time to blog this week.

wordless wednesday

is going back in time many many years to bring you a pic of who else but Me!!!

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Watcha readin'?

I love to read, but barely have the time for it anymore, as there is always something to do... But over the summer I scored and got 2 really good books at Costco. If you liked The Red Tent and Memoirs of a Geisha ( The book not the movie, the movie sucked) than you would like these too. The Gilded Chamber which is currently our read aloud book on car trips for Aba, and The Garden of Ruth.

On another note why is Baby B fusing more now that she got her first tooth than before it came in? I wonder if she decided she likes the numb feeling ones gets from Oragel?

4 clean kids

early in the morning. A feat all its own.

The first day of Pre-K is today, and B is all set to go as long as we get the immunization sheet and health forms back from Dr. Lujan; if not her first day will be Monday.

Is anyone else as interested in the Duggar family as I am??? It is some kinda sick obsession. I want to know how they do meals, chores, laundry, handle fights, etc. Well, not just how they do, but how all large families do. I read a few blogs by moms of many, and I just have an odd fascination I guess. I like to look at it as research, since with 4 sometimes even the most mundane tasks become monumental. If you are as curious as I am maybe you should take a look over at Larger Families and Notes from the Trenches with me.

Super J to the rescue!!!

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a helping hand

Recently a friend and neighbor of ours found out she was pregnant. While this is great news, she has been put on permanent bedrest and is barely 4 months along, which is difficult to say the least, when she has just become a SAHM to her 2 year old, and released the nanny. With everything going on they are not able to rehire a nanny.

I have no idea what would happen at our house if that happened, how she can stay in bed with an active 2 year old... I guess this is when it takes a village, or community to raise a child. I am now bringing meals over to this child 3 times a day to help out, and while it is difficult, and I complained about it last night when I first found out I was volunteered for the job, I really am glad to help, and try to make this time as easy as possible for the mom to be and the little 2 year old.

A thunk in the night..

turns out to be J, who has rolled out of bed. Good thing he is in the bottom bunk.



(picture taken in July at Mystic Springs Resort in Utah)