One more

There are you happy now?
this picture is of Yoni and Yael twirling their umbrellas and singing on the porch during the non-existent rain spell during TS Eduord a week or so ago.
This picture along with some awfully cute video of the same instance was taken with my camera phone. I wanted to post the video but the phone won't let me send it via the internet so I am going to have to investigate a different way to get the pics/video off my stupid phone before I go and lose it (the phone, not my sanity) again.

Wow! Gymnasts are amazingly attractive athletes

For the most part anyway!
If this-pic 1 or maybe this-pic 24 or this-pic 25 (I tried to post the pics but the site wouldn't upload them right!) isn't the poster on every American pre-teen girl's wall between Zac Efron
and Hannah Montana in the next month or so, then the world is just a sad, sad place.

This American gymnast, Jonathan Horton (I'm partial to his name - Jonathan is a winner in my book and anything that conjures up Dr Seuss) - again, not the movie but the book - is clearly a winner! He is the picture of what a sport is all about. He's petite and was probably tortured mercilessly by schoolmates. He hails from Houston or Katy, but we'll claim it, and then ended up in Olympic gymnastics. But wowee-zowee look at those arms and that game face - such visible concentration! He was a gracious competitor and a team leader and between him and the Prince William look-alike Justin Spring and the clincher Sascha, Raj, Kevin and Joey - I have a new respect for the sport. I never really watched mens gymnastics before but I was rivited to the rings and high bar and parallel bar events. I'll admit that I prefer watching the ladies on the floor routines which just seem too technical and not very artistic. And I never got the vault or pommel horse other than another part of the all-around rotation events.
Again, I'm a day late and a dollar short here - but Americanism has pervaded my mind apparently and as I am in the throes of a serious headcold, not to mention that my surefire insurance broker is still working on a stupid policy for my closing on Friday since my initial one has been rejected by the issuer. This is a minor MAJOR nightmare, but at least we have some time to gnash my teeth and hope they can pull this off.
In the meantime I managed to call in sick to work and arrived a few hours late. During that time I actually slept for an extra hour as my wonderful husband got the kids dressed and off to school all by himself - I just couldn't move this morning. And he also managed to make sure that they got food for breakfast and lunch. Then we enrolled Jonathan in a week-long camp at a more Jewish school and put in an application for financial aid for him. We will give the camp a try and see if he likes or hates it and go from there. there are MANY logistical issues about putting him in school there, but the Jewish and Hebrew Education he would get there would be far superior to what he has had up to this point. And I have been looking for a way to make it happen as the Momma I feel that it is my duty to provide the best education possible within our means. And Hashem will see to it that it is possible if it is meant to be.
Along that thought, I just have to share this story and then I'm off to bed cause I need to get over this headcold so I will be lucid for the extremely difficult personal days ahead!
So every afternoon on the way to scoop up my beautiful children from their school by 6 PM, I drive on a strech of highway 288 where there is a dead spot for my cell phone service. How do I know this? because I am generally taking advantage of the half hour or more in the car to chat with friends and family, as we can still do that kind of thing in the wild state of TX. So usually I recognize the area from the variety of bridges and intermittent service along with dropped calls.
Today however, I was talking to a complete stranger and I overstepped my bounds even of TX friendliness. They had a garage sale (which I couldn't go to and buy anything for my house because that's like the Namer family/sepahrdic new baby superstition - you just don't do anything new or in prepartion for it until the day that it comes to fruition, which is why I have yet to start getting boxes and packing) and they still had a few items that we might be interested in obtaining.
So I was being nosy and asked where they were moving. She told me they were moving to Israel to make Aliyah and I got so excited, I told her I would be happy to help rid her house of stuff to make the move less stressful, and she mentioned it would be a mitzvah to help her too, etc etc etc. The fact that the items she has left just happen to be pretty much the items I was most interested in - make this an even stranger coincidence. We talked about Nefesh B'Nefesh for a second and even where they were moving (Houston to RBS - seems like a familiar route) And the whole time I was driving I didn't really pay attention to where I was on 288. I looked up after the call was over and I was already past my usual dead zone and we had carried on this entire conversation like old friends with no dropped call and no interruptions. It was just a little sign I think - since I was so genuinely excited that she and her family had the opportunity to make this move at the very time where I am putting down roots for the first time in my life. Things always have a way of working themselves out!
And on that happy note - GOODNIGHT BLOGOSPHERE!

More Milestones

As far as I am concerned, my Yaeli is growing and changing daily.
About four days ago she realized she could say mommee instead of momma.
Yoni has become noni instead of no-no.
Abba has become ba-ba instead of Ba and she is still ya-ya.

She can also say some 2 word phrases such as my shoes and my turn.
She also know how to play "peek-a-boo" it comes out as pee-boo from her, but is so much fun when she hides under the blanket and/or so do I.
She has definitely grasped the toddler concept of what's mine is MINE!

Yoni has finally gained the confidence to get in the swimming pool on his own - as long as he is wearing his full-on floaty suit. But it makes him happy to splash around. And he can also swim underwater when the mood strikes him. When he can stand the length of the whole pool he is like a little fishy.

We went to a swimming birthday party recently and it was just about half an hour too long. The 2 year old birthday girl who had been jumping off the side of the pool and going down the slide all evening long into the waiting arms of one parent or the other, decided to jump in the deep end un-aided and with no-one to catch her. Scary few minutes as there was general confusion. then the lifeguard jumped in and got her safely to the side of the pool and into the arms of her shaken parents. needless to say, that was the end of the party. then yoni in his extremely tired state, fell off the picnic bench backwards and conked his head on the concrete pretty hard. He was a little shaken and cried for a few minutes but we watched for any signs of a concussion and all seemed ok. Oh-and earlier in the day, Yael had drunk too much of the baby pool water and threw up into the trash can -right before dinner was served. And the other kids were over tired too, making for general crankiness all around.


In other news, we have secured flood and homeowners insurance and are set to close on our very first home on FRIDAY, AUGUST 15. I along with my loving family will be eating macaroni and cheese and tuna and Ramen noodles for the very near forseeable future!