Thirty-one

Really, what's a number right?

Well, today was my birthday.

Yup, 31.

And really, I don't feel any different than I did yesterday! So I think I'll just stick with 30!

Last night Jud made a wonderful dinner, we lit Shabbot candles, had challah, and my favorite, Sima's cheesecake for dessert! Awesome!

Today, the girls and I went out for lunch and got Caroline's hair cut! She "wanted a change"! (is she a little me or what?)

She looks adorable! And more importantly, she loves it!

Last minute, we decided to go out for dinner tonight...Papa Bruce, and Grandma were planning on coming to visit, but poor Auntie Mim is sick, so they stayed home to take care of her. (Mim, hope you feel better soon!)


Anyway, we went out for dinner tonight, it was kid's night at our club...Something we haven't done before, but recently, I made a promiss to Caroline that we would all step out of our comfort zone in the hopes of meeting new people, and hopefully, some new seven and a half year old friends!

So the kids had a blast doing crafts, playing games, eating ice cream....and Jud and I were able to have a nice dinner with some friends from Jud's work upstairs.

All night, of course, I was worried about the kids...I mean, we've had sitters, but we've never really left them with strangers. Seriously, every few months when I get into the "gotta workout" thing and I try to bring the kids to the Y .....Yeah, they just don't go for that!

But they really did have fun tonight! It was so cute on the drive home to hear them talk about their favorite parts of the day....Here's their take!



Caroline "Listening to the storyteller and playing with the nice girls."

Jack "When Mr. Taz pulled a dollar from my ear!"

Emma "Eating ice cream!"

Sam "Watching the alien movie with Jack and Daddy" (the boy's watched ET while the girls were out today!


We also heard lots of of hilarious comintary on the evening!...And details of the night. It definately sounded like fun, and the kids voted unanamously that it was definately something that they would like to do again.

Ahhh. It seems like life is getting easy!

A whole lotta nothin!

We had an awesome weekend! We had no plans, and pretty much did nothing but cuddle and play! As a family, we went to see Madagascar 2 on Friday, it was so much fun! The kids absolutely love going to the movie theater! It was a fun outing for the whole gang! Saturday, we just hung out...Caroline had a friend over to play. And then Jud and I went out for dinner with friends, it was really fun to actually spend a little time together! Time together, as a couple, is kind of hard to come by these days!!! So it was much appreciated!

Today, we had a few little visitors. My friend Dani was feeling very under the weather, so she finally agreed to let me steal her gorgeous little girls for the day! I have to say it felt great to have a baby in the house again! (Probably not what Jud wants to hear! ) Although, I could have done without the poopy diapers! Seriously, I don't know why it never seemed to bother me before? Does my kid's #&%& really not stink? Or have I just fallen out of the poopy-loop since it's been over a year since we've had diapers in our house?!!!


The kids loved having the extra "littles" here too! When Caroline and Jack got home from school, they were fighting over who got hold the baby first! But the baby's big sister, Miss Olivia, has a bit of crush on Jack, so like a true gentleman, he let Caroline have dibs on the baby, and he opted to play with Olivia.


Jack and Olivia









Caroline and the adorable little Lauren






The puppies were a bit jealous! Can you tell?








The ever silly Sam! Why is he wearing a glove you may ask? I have no idea! He had it on all day!






Even Emma wanted a turn with holding the baby! Just for a second and then it was back to playing with Olivia. When Olivia was leaving, Emma said she wished that Olivia could stay her forever and ever!

Such a proud MAMA!

Who could have ever thought...that from this gorgeous little face there would one day come such wisdom?



I know I talk about Caroline a lot, but I am just constantly amazed at what a wonderful person she is becoming! Her and I have a lot of good talks! We talk about everything, from the bullies at school, to how unfair the world is sometimes, to taxes! Yes that's right,we even talk about taxes! With all of the election stuff going on, she was hearing things from kids at school about how Obama was going to take their money! So we talked about taxes...we talked about how many people in this country have so much but many many more people in this country and around the world have very little. I told her that by paying taxes we pay for things like schools, roads, policemen, firemen, and lots of other people who keep us safe. And we also talked about how it is also our responsibility to help those people who don't have enough, who maybe lost their jobs, and can't afford to pay for food and clothes or even their house...Pretty complicated issue to be talking about with a seven year old, I know. But she got it.

So last night after one of our little heart to hearts, she asked where we donate. I told her we donate to a lot of different places. She said, "but what's the one that you talk about a lot?" I asked, "do you mean AHOPE?" She said yes, and asked about what AHOPE is and what they do. So we talked for a few minutes about what they do and who the children are that they help... and then, without hesitation, my sweet little girl said, "do you think that this year for my birthday, instead of me getting presents, we could donate presents to the kids at AHOPE because they probably don't get birthday presents..."

She really gets it!
I am so proud of my beautiful little girl! She is the change we need to see in the world! We need more selflessness, more empathy, more people wanting to make a difference! We need more people to be as smart as second grader!

VICTORY!!!!!

So proud to live in a Blue state!!!!

And I'm so thankful that I didn't have to stay up until 3am to do this!!!

Not the sign I was hoping for.

I just picked up Jack from school, he was sad to report that McCain won their moc election at school...

Today's the day!

I dropped all four of the kids at school, and then went to vote!

After I voted, I took my "I voted" sticker into Starbucks for a free coffee. Now I feel extra jittery! I have a feeling this is going to be a long day! I'm just hoping that everything turns out OK so that I can get out of bed tomorrow!

Here's to HOPE!

Party Time!

This weekend we hosted an engagement party for our longtime babysitter, Jessie, and her now fiance, Brad! Jessie has been a really important person in the kids lives, and in mine. She is the first person we ever had babysit! I'll admit, I started out as one of those neurotic moms, who almost never left her children... And really the only reason that I ever left them with Jessie is because I knew her! I used to babysit for her when she was little! I know her wonderful family. I know what a funny and sweet person she is. I know how loving she is. I know how responsible she is. I know that I can trust her.

When Jessie started babysitting for us, she was in college, and we only had two kids! (doesn't that seem like forever ago?) But here we are six years later and Jessie is still our number one! She stuck with us through all of our moves, even lived with us for a little while! The kids absolutely adore her! They cheer so loudly when I tell them that Jessie is coming, that I almost feel bad. She is so creative, the stuff she comes up with sometimes! Even Caroline is amazed!

Jessie and Brad have asked all of the kids to be in the wedding! Caroline for one is super excited, she can't wait to go shopping for dresses. She told me that it was going to be just for her and Jessie, (not me) because, I was not in the wedding! Ouch!


Anyway enough of me kissing Jessie's @#& !!! Here are a few pictures of her other side! She finally let loose after the guests went home!


Sorry Jessie, I just had to do it!!!


Fondue Fun!

Halloween!

So it's been awhile! Not for lack of action, that's for sure!

We were in Green Bay last weekend for a Halloween party with all of the cousins! BIG FUN! Lots of games that the kids just loved! My sister Jean really went all out, she's so creative! And the creative apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, check out the costumes that Mari and Meghan made!








Here's a few pictures of the kids and some of their cousins!!!

What tough bunch of heroes!







A game of pass the apple! Watching the little kids do this with no hands, was seriously the cutest thing ever!


Then of course a crowd favorite, the mummy wrap! This was Jud's face when he found out he was choosen for the roll of Mummy #2




After a crazy week at home, four class parties, 80 treat bags to make for class parties, me cleaning like crazy to get ready for a party we're hosting this weekend, a gazzillion loads of laundry, we finally had trick or treating tonight. The kids actually talked Jud into dressing up this year! I honestly never thought I'd see the day! The Kids had a blast and decided that they do like our neighborhood, because everyone gives "big candy"! On the way home they boys were declaring this the best Halloween ever!

After a last minute costume change for both boys, here they were tonight.

Here they are!

Pictures from Simchat Torah

Something never to be attempted again!

Tonight I took the whole gang to temple, all by myself! And we all survived!

Jud is out of town, and it was Sam's consecration tonight! So that meant me, with four kids, in temple. Of course, I like and idiot thought is was just the consecration tonight, but oh no, it was also Simchat Torah! Which meant full services! Yikes!

They actually did pretty well, considering it was past their bedtime.


The boys stuck it out because they heard there were going to be Carameled apples at the end!

I have pictures of them dancing off their sugar high, to the band afterwards but blogger isn't letting me upload them. Sorry baby! they were cute!

They all did pretty well, Sam was very excited to be up on "stage"!


I was not too excited about putting four overtired kids to bed two hours past their bedtime, but we all survived! Looking ahead, tomorrow is PIANO! Yeah!

Did you see this?

Too nice?

I love my kids!

I love how Caroline reads stories to Emma and tucks her in.
I love how Jack always holds the door open for everyone.
I love how Sam colors special pictures to cheer up Jack.
And I love how Emma will share her special puppy with Caroline.

I love so much about all four the kids. They are all very compassionate, and caring kids, they are very well mannered and kind, they are sweet and sensitive, really remarkable kids! I am so proud of the people they are becoming.

Lately though, I've been wondering if I've encouraged them to be too nice.

Why else would Sam get punched in the face and not tell on the little bully?
Why else would Jack stand holding the door for ten minutes while the whole school passed right on through?
And why else does Caroline worry so much about the same three brats who have been terrorizing her since kindergarten?

In my attempts to teach them empathy, have I somehow diluted their confidence?

I worry that I have taught them too much about not hurting other people's feelings, and not enough about standing up for their own.


Caroline is having an especially difficult time at school these days, and I just don't know what to do. I can't believe the vicious girl stuff is starting already. Caroline is the sweetest little girl, she would never say or do anything to hurt anyone, so why do these girls pick on her?

And even when they are being so mean to her, why is she still constantly trying to be their friend? Why can't she write them off and just not talk to them anymore?

Does she feel like she needs everyone to like her? Have I taught her that?

I'd like to tell her just what I think of these little jerks, and how I wouldn't be too upset if she all out whopped one of them, but my motherly instincts tell me that's not the right thing to do. So what is?

She's avoiding going to school. She's even waking up crying about it. It breaks my heart, and I don't know how to fix it.

I'm ready for this election to be over!

For many reasons, the least of which is, I am sick of these phone calls....

Happy Birthday Baby!

!

To the most wonderful friend, husband, and father a girl could ever dream of finding! I love you!

Now, the tough part.

Up until last week I was doing pretty well with the wait. I was avoiding watching the "lists" trying not to think or obsess about too much about the WHEN!

But last week, I just couldn't take the not knowing anymore. I broke down and added our names to the unofficial list of waiting families.

Turns out we may in fact be much closer to receiving a referral than I had thought!

All of my avoidance tactics seem to be failing. I've cleaned every inch of this house, I've painted and repainted rooms, I've even organized the basement storage room! I just can't stop thinking about the little one.

Here's where the wait gets tough!

To know that I have another child, that he or she is in Ethiopia right now, it's hard to wrap my brain around the whole thing. There are so many emotions. So many questions. My mind is constantly wandering. I worry constantly about what my child must be going through at this moment. What the Birth Family must be going through...what is happening in their lives for them to have to make this incredible sacrifice? It's heart wrenching.

It's really difficult these days for me to focus on the task at hand, raising these four wonderful kids!


I'm beginning to find comfort in all of the mundain daily chores, doing my best not to be consumed with emotions, but it's not easy! Luckily, Jud is traveling an obscene amount this month, so I have very little time to have a wandering thought;)

Yom Kippur

We were planning to go to services last night, but Jack was home sick from school. Turns out he has strep. And considering how germs fly around this house, I thought it might be wise to visit our pediatrician last night to have the whole gang checked! Luckily we seem to have caught it before it spread!



I'm still learning about what it means to be a Jewish family. Here's what I've learned about Yom Kippur.


Yom Kippur is also known as the Day of Atonement.

It is the time for us to focus on our behavior toward other people, toward the world, toward our inner selves, and toward God. During this time we ask God's forgiveness. We say "I'm sorry" and try to find ways to become better people.

We pray, both as individuals and as a community, about the past year: Did we do our best? What could we try to do differently in the upcoming year?

We promise to try harder to grow, strengthen, and improve the quality of our lives and the progress of our world.

Fall is here!

Hopefully this works! I have some new photo software that I've been trying out! Here's my first little video! Our Fall so far.

Kristin

What can I say about Kristin.

My Sister, my friend, my idol.

It's hard to find the words to describe just what an incredible person she is. For starters she is the most honest, devoted, hard working person you could ever meet. She is also obscenely modest! Sometimes I wish she could see herself the way I see her. Her genuine kindness, her supportive words, her ablility to listen without casting judgements, her beauty. These are just a few reasons I have always respected, trusted and loved her.


First of all, I must admit these sad little photos don't do her justice. For my 30th birthday, Kristin made me an awesome video (which like a total dork, I watch all the time!) with pictures of us growing up, and memories over the years, all to awesome well thought out music...Well, maybe by the time she's 40 I'll have this whole video thing figured out so I can do the same for her. But for now, this will have to do!



While I was going through boxes yesterday trying to find pictures of Kristin, I found a box with letters that she had written me over the years. Through every rough patch in my life, Kristin has always been there. Never trying to tell me what to do, or remind me of how I may have messed up, but instead to simply say, "I'm here if you need me". And over the years, I've needed her a lot! She was the one who gave me the "you're a woman now" speach! Explained what that meant, and how things would change! She's the one who has always encouraged me to trust in myself and follow my heart. She's the one who told me "you'll never please everyone, as long as you're happy they'll come around".


Kristin has been involved in every big moment of my life in some way or another. She was even in the delivery room when Jack was born! ( She's a little squeamish in "gross" situations so the fact that she was there was big! )




We have a pretty big family!


Kristin has 22 neices and nephews on our side of the family and another 5 on Mel's side. One thing is for certain, you could ask any one these kids who the greatest aunt is...without hesitation they would all reply KRISTIN!

She gives so much of herself and her time to all of us in this family! Most weekends she is running around town trying to make it to 5 different soccer games and football games, going to birthday parties, picking up kids to go the movies, or having kids at her house to give their parents a break. We all owe her big time!

Not only does she do all kinds of stuff for all of the kids and for us siblings, she really does the brunt of the work for my parents. I mean a ridiculous amount of work! Honestly, some days I think she's nuts! She takes care of all the maintence for their house, their apartment, and their cottage. She shovels their sidewalks, and takes in their mail. She mows the lawn and cuts down trees, she builds rockwalls, and campfires. And really most importantly she is someone my mom can count on, who is there to help her put up Christmas decorations, or understand a bill from the insurance company, or just there to listen.

Kristin is and has always been a remarkable big sister! From the time that we were little, she has always taken me under her wing, protected me, taught me, loved me. I have learned so much about how to be the person that I want to be from watching her. She truly is and has always been my idol!

She is so fun to be around! And the girl can dance!


Kristin is at every family function, wether she had previous plans or not. She is someone we all count on! (maybe a little too much)

Kris, I hope you know we are here for you too! One of these days you can start calling in on some of the favors we all owe you!

I love you Kris!

Happy Birthday!

So much for not being a political blog!

Rescue the Rescue


By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Published: September 30, 2008

I was channel surfing on Monday, following the stock market’s nearly 800-point collapse, when a commentator on CNBC caught my attention. He was being asked to give advice to viewers as to what were the best positions to be in to ride out the market storm. Without missing a beat, he answered: “Cash and fetal.”

I’m in both — because I know an unprecedented moment when I see one. I’ve been frightened for my country only a few times in my life: In 1962, when, even as a boy of 9, I followed the tension of the Cuban missile crisis; in 1963, with the assassination of J.F.K.; on Sept. 11, 2001; and on Monday, when the House Republicans brought down the bipartisan rescue package.

But this moment is the scariest of all for me because the previous three were all driven by real or potential attacks on the U.S. system by outsiders. This time, we are doing it to ourselves. This time, it’s our own failure to regulate our own financial system and to legislate the proper remedy that is doing us in.

I’ve always believed that America’s government was a unique political system — one designed by geniuses so that it could be run by idiots. I was wrong. No system can be smart enough to survive this level of incompetence and recklessness by the people charged to run it.

This is dangerous. We have House members, many of whom I suspect can’t balance their own checkbooks, rejecting a complex rescue package because some voters, whom I fear also don’t understand, swamped them with phone calls. I appreciate the popular anger against Wall Street, but you can’t deal with this crisis this way.

This is a credit crisis. It’s all about confidence. What you can’t see is how bank A will no longer lend to good company B or mortgage company C. Because no one is sure the other guy’s assets and collateral are worth anything, which is why the government needs to come in and put a floor under them. Otherwise, the system will be choked of credit, like a body being choked of oxygen and turning blue.

Well, you say, “I don’t own any stocks — let those greedy monsters on Wall Street suffer.” You may not own any stocks, but your pension fund owned some Lehman Brothers commercial paper and your regional bank held subprime mortgage bonds, which is why you were able refinance your house two years ago. And your local airport was insured by A.I.G., and your local municipality sold municipal bonds on Wall Street to finance your street’s new sewer system, and your local car company depended on the credit markets to finance your auto loan — and now that the credit market has dried up, Wachovia bank went bust and your neighbor lost her secretarial job there.

We’re all connected. As others have pointed out, you can’t save Main Street and punish Wall Street anymore than you can be in a rowboat with someone you hate and think that the leak in the bottom of the boat at his end is not going to sink you, too. The world really is flat. We’re all connected. “Decoupling” is pure fantasy.

I totally understand the resentment against Wall Street titans bringing home $60 million bonuses. But when the credit system is imperiled, as it is now, you have to focus on saving the system, even if it means bailing out people who don’t deserve it. Otherwise, you’re saying: I’m going to hold my breath until that Wall Street fat cat turns blue. But he’s not going to turn blue; you are, or we all are. We have to get this right.

My rabbi told this story at Rosh Hashana services on Tuesday: A frail 80-year-old mother is celebrating her birthday and her three sons each give her a present. Harry gives her a new house. Harvey gives her a new car and driver. And Bernie gives her a huge parrot that can recite the entire Torah. A week later, she calls her three sons together and says: “Harry, thanks for the nice house, but I only live in one room. Harvey, thanks for the nice car, but I can’t stand the driver. Bernie, thanks for giving your mother something she could really enjoy. That chicken was delicious.”

Message to Congress: Don’t get cute. Don’t give us something we don’t need. Don’t give us something designed to solve your political problems. Yes, Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke need to accept strict oversights and the taxpayer must be guaranteed a share in the upside profits from all rescued banks. But other than that, give them the capital and the flexibility to put out this fire.

I always said to myself: Our government is so broken that it can only work in response to a huge crisis. But now we’ve had a huge crisis, and the system still doesn’t seem to work. Our leaders, Republicans and Democrats, have gotten so out of practice of working together that even in the face of this system-threatening meltdown they could not agree on a rescue package, as if they lived on Mars and were just visiting us for the week, with no stake in the outcome.

The story cannot end here. If it does, assume the fetal position.

Shanah Tovah

(Happy New Year!)

Rosh Hashanah is the name of the Jewish New Year. The words literally mean the "head of the year". It marks the start of the new Jewish calendar year and begins a ten day period of reflection and introspection called the Ten Days of Awe.


We all went to services tonight...and we all made it through the entire service! Caroline and Jack were incredible, wanting to read along with the prayer-books and luckily Sam and Emma seemed content to snuggle in to Jud and I and just listen. WOW!

This is a pretty HUGE day for Jewish families so of course we got all decked out!







During the 10 Days of Awe, we set goals for the coming year and prepare for the holiest of days, Yom Kippur.