Is it possible?

Can it be done, she asks?
Can you be in 3 major cities in one day?
Only in Texas (and Israel, of course)

In Israel I could start in Jerusalem, travel through Tel Aviv and get to Haifa all in a matter of 3 hours. In Houston, TX it can take 3 hours to get home from rush hour traffic.

Today I was in downtown Houston - despite the MLK day stuff - and I parked at the corner of Austin and Dallas.
Wish I had my cell phone charged up so I could take a picture of that!
Maybe I'll do that tomorrow

Did you hear the one about the "upscale" New York grocery store that advertised ham as a Channuka food?

I can't make this stuff up...See for yourself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balducci's

Chanukah, oh chanukah...

After eating some latkes and fried chicken (it goes with the theme),
lighting the first candle on the Menorah,
singing some Chanukah songs
and getting the good gifts out of the way early,
we went and torched Yoni's new beautiful grey winter coat on the flaming menorah - oops!

The miracle was, he wasn't wearing it at the time!
But it is pretty much ruined.
I think he wore it a total of 3 times
and it had lots of life left and room for him to grow

I'm tired of Chanukah already and we have a whole week to go....


Can anyone tell me how you make a 3 year old sit still long enough for guitar lessons?

Aunt Carol ROCKS!!!
She found Yoni a rock star guitar with an amplifier (we're not using that-EVER!) and a microphone and stand.
Plus she got Yael a touchy-feely cloth book and a relatively quiet duck clacker, its still a clacker.

Pics/video to follow when gramps downloads them.
Did you know (or care) that the iTunes store has free Sesame Street downloads...where am I gonna put em all?

Bowfire

I'm such a geek.

I was flipping through the channels and landed on Channel 8, public television. This group Bowfire was playing and I mean they were ROCKIN'!!!

They're Candian mostly, but we'll forgive them as they were AWESOME stage show for virtuoso strings and fiddlers and just throw in some Celtic dancing for good measure.

They're playing the Beacon theater in New York on April 28, 2008 and if you have any way to get there to see them it is totally worth it!

The TV show was electrifying, can you imagine what it would be like in person?
Support the arts and have a good time doing so!!!!

Oh and as an aside, today was my first day on my new job...
We had an employee meeting this morning in our new space - where our engineering bullpen will have 2 flat screen TVs for starters and there are to be no cubicles on our floor as far as I can tell - goodbye CUBE FARM!
Now if I can just head off my co-worker at the pass and not get caught in the same old "territorial biddy" trap and be misreable from the start, all will be well with the world.

It was an interesting evening in my world...
Let's start with my weekly Monday afternoon meeting which is normally extremly long and drawn out. It was even more so yesterday as our new boss sat in on it to get a run-down on all our activities and future planned projects - drawing it out from a lengthy hour and a half to an unbearable almost 2 hours. My canned soda was no longer cold at the end of the meeting and I had drank it all anyway (which almost never happens)
So I left the meeting a bit parched and overheated with the beginnings of a headache. Somehow I made it to the 5:00 hour and looked up - I was already late in leaving, meaning my dash across town would now become much more like a crawl in heavy traffic. For every minute late in leaving my desk, I was likely to sit in traffic on the freeways for another 5 min or so.
Then as I was waiting for the series of elevators to get to the tunnels to get to walk to my garage, in the relative warmth and not have to face the biting cold wind on the street level (lately there has been a strong sewage smell in a certain area of the tunnel - yesterday I was in such a state as to not even notice it) I was chatting with a female colleague and pretty much ignored (not on purpose, mind you,) one of my male engineers I work with pretty much on regular basis.

I had a pretty strong headache by this time and probably should have stopped to take some Advil before I left my 57th floor office. But I didn't.

I got in my car wearing my husband's blue winter coat (which didn't match my outfit, and was probably too warm) and didn't bother to take it off. Somehow, the little plastic bag that was covering the brand new vanilla scented air freshener in my car (that's a whole other post) had fallen off and I didn't notice the strength of the scent till later.

Eran has asked me now to go watch TV since the clickety-clack and the glare are irritating to him at 4:15 in the AM...

Happy Thanksgiving from Ms. Hana

Inscribed on the back of this picture,
taken by one of the BAC Staff members
(who only supervises Jonathan
for less than an hour in the mornings,
and is one of the hordes of staff
who is simply enamored of Yael)

"Nov 2007

Happy Thanksgiving
Thanks for your
Trust & support

Love Ms Hana Karny

and Happy B-Day to Yael

I love you too
Jonathan"

Eleventeen

Oh don't you long for another list of Yoni-ims?

Well, first off there is our Electric Company counting song which gets us through 12 quite nicely without any reference to "eleventeen"
That only comes up when he is outright counting on his own and gets so carried away that ten is followed by eleventeen. This usually comes on about the 3rd round of counting...

Another continuing Yoni-ism is his use of "baby" as a strong insult. He also knows that some words are "potty" words and makes sure you do too. Kids'll keep you honest for sure!

Lately he has been the line leader a couple of times, which I make sure to make a big deal of. He was line leader and snack helper (I guess it was his turn) on Yael's birthday and he also got to come to her birthday party in her class at school. Then a few days later he was granted the PRIVILEGE of being line leader since he followed directions ALL morning long. Sometimes he just has GOOD boy days, then there are the other times when you wonder why they don't call it "the terrible threes"...

Yaeli [miskenah] has had a rough bout of teething lately. At one point her fever got so high as to make me consider heading for the ER. Even had the grandparents on standby to take me there. But then the Motrin kicked in and we just kept feeding her Pedialyte and Motrin at regular intervals. She was a pitiful mess! And alternately slept and howled. She did want to be held pretty much all the time too. She still only has the bottom nub and a small beginning of the second bottom tooth, but the upper gums were trying to break through (I know I saw one tooth at one point, but have yet to confirm its continued existence at present since every time I try to get a peek in there she bites down on my finger; or when I let nurse her that one [or more] time at night lately, she has been trying to chomp down - not pleasant for mommy and makes me reconsider this whole nursing with teeth thing).

We recently had the memorial service for Aunt Clara (Z"L) and Maxine came in from New Orleans to be there. I still haven't made it to the Renassiance Festival like I wanted, nor Dewberry Farms which are both supposed to be family fun events. I missed the Family Fun Festival with my morning drive time DJ at Seven Acres (and I was there the day before, and saw all the preparations for it).

But next on my fun family radar is the All School Family Dinner/Fundraiser for BAC and then the Light the Night Extravaganza
where I promised to WALK from BAC to Seven Acres and back - pulling my kids in a wagon, and contending with an illuminated balloon or two - to raise money for Leukemia Research. Unfortunatley, like always, I will probably be flying solo - though this one is in the early evening/nighttime. We shall see!

As an aside, Today was Veteran's Day here in the USofA and Sam-O had off from work. Ask me how I know this...Go on, it's killing you right? Well I'll tell you anyway. He was at home in his Brooklyn apartment and felt the urge to while away the morning by chatting with his SUPER (stressed for a change) big sister. Can't wait to see Uncle Sam and Aunt Carlye LIVE and in person later this week on their whirlwind trip to Texas for some down home country food - Tex-Mex and Bar-B-Q and of course some turkey, fit in there for the traditional Family Thanksgiving Fiasco, I mean Feast! - was that Freudian or just a slip of the lip?

Enough rambling...I feel like it's midnight!
Goodnight one and all and lets all hope my children will sleep through the night with no feverish wakings or crying that their legs hurt so that I can continue to have coherent discussions in the morning.
My next post will bring you up to speed on all the exciting trials and tribulations regarding my JOB situation...the good, the bad and the ugly!
It should be a treat!

Yaeli's first Birthday!!!

Pics to come soon, as soon as grandpa grump downloads them from his "broken" fuzzy camera

Phew...

We can finally breathe a sigh of relief (or ramp up the indecision meter in my case) since we heard about the sale of our division.
It has been bought by a small private company that supposedly wants as many of us to come to work for them as we can.
Now comes the ringer, do I want to continue doing what I am doing or get the opportunity to try my hand at something new...
I think I'd like the challenge, boredom and monotony stinks!

SURPRISE!

Blogger FINALLY let me upload pics. Here's the invite in case you missed it...

But, now that it went off successfully,
I can blog about the secret surprise party we had for Mom, hee hee (turnout of 50 people or so, who all managed to keep the secret!)

Marie is finally turning the BIG 60
Do we need another reason to celebrate?
Join us in making this her best birthday surprise ever!

Our party theme is the 1950's
That's when Marie came of age
Join family and friends to celebrate
This party will be all the rage!

GAG GIFTS ARE ENCOURAGED
(BUT NOT ESSENTIAL)

It's a surprise party
so please don't spoil the fun!

Slow down some so I can catch up

Once again, I am typing one-handed while cradling an inconsolable child in my arms. This time, Yaeli, my beautiful, wonderful barely 11-month-old TODDLER (yes you read that right, she is more upright than not)
She is now trying out her 4th pair of soft-soled shoes and I think we finally found a winner. The first pair was clothe - pink and white polka dots - about the size of an 18 month old foot, but it was what I had at the time. She manuevered out of those shoes and socks before we even hit the door of the school across the street.
Then I tried some hand me around leather shoes that a friend gave me. No dice. Too big, she was out of them in a flash. So I bought some infant ballet slippers that I knew were the size of her feet. She couldn't get her tootsies in, [they were exactly the size of her foot, but the opening was too small to get them on] so I gave up on them.
Finally, success!
I got a pair of leather shoes at the closest Babies R Us I could find. They would be SO adorable with the wedding dress tulle thingie she already outgrew, as they are white with little pink rosebuds on them. She wore them today with her blue top and 18-month old (Yoni hand me down) rolled up cuffed navy pants cause I am a little sick of pink! And she lasted the whole day in them. I even called to check on her and they said she fell asleep in them outside.
What?!?! The lady [Quin, whom I love most of all since she is there when
i come to pick her up] told me she was having so much fun that she wore herself out and had to be carried inside whereas she fell asleep the second she was lifted up onto the shoulder of said lady. [Aside...I LOVE Yaeli's daycare ladies, and they LOVE her. Recently, I gave the summer workers who watched her a special gift, just from Yael - I hope they liked it]
Tonight she is ruthless...she must be teething or growing again as she has sucked down 2 full bottles, won't stop crying or nursing, and has acidic diapers that leave her nether regions RAW and hurting. She has already had a dose of herbal teething tablets and baby aspirin. And she is still only fitfully sleeing...

We survived

The high holidays came and went and we survived. We even had a few moments of intense spirituality thrown in while chasing after the "under 5 crowd" in the play room next to the shul (keep reading).

We spent all of the time as a family and even managed to be part of the Meyerland community for a minute or two...

Yoni didn't get sick at all until the holidays were all over and, drum roll please my baby Yaeli learned to walk - unaided - at the playroom at shul on Yom Kippur in front of all the other mothers who were chasing their little ones to get them to sit down and eat something. I was so proud, but sad too, as she is REALLY no longer a baby. And of course to punctuate that point the newborns were there and she is a giant next to them, but petite in her own class.

Also to punctuate the point, I was feeling blue as my body adjusts to this new phase (maybe it was actually fasting again for YK that did it) and generally yucky as I forgot how hot it is walking to shul in Houston after 10 AM. I REALLY wanted a shower after that and the ripe smell of all the other unwashed bodies was a little overwhelming if not distracting in shul.

So there - I felt more spirituality running after the children and watching them interact with each other than I did in shul for the few minutes I actually made it in there. I took Yaeli in shul there to fall asleep for a few minutes since there was so much activity that it was impossible for her to relax and get a nap which she desperately needed. Yoni was having none of it - he was WAY too busy having fun. When we went home for break is when he finally succumbed.

We may have…

Toothage.

Yaeli my darling sweet baby is maybe, finally getting that first terrible tooth that makes her especially clingy and cranky and adorably squeezable.

She has spent the entirety of the RH holiday and even a might before that with her lips and gums firmly clamped around her passy. It has been a series of pacifiers as they indubitably get changed around and fall on the ground, etc.

So she stands alone unaided for a few seconds at a time and is even coordinated enough to clap her hands at the same time. So taking the customary step or two is now usual fare rather than an accident. Why she can’t figure out how to move her feet as well as she moves her hands to clap is a little beyond me. Maybe she just has to figure out how to balance that small frame of hers.

She better not wait 7 more months to walk on my birthday like her brother. In a few weeks time is Bubbe’s birthday and that would be just fine for me. Then she would have a special sentiment on each of her grandmother’s birthdays (She was born on Safta Yosefa’s b-day)

Wowie zowie...

So this is another post about the weather, but OMG! We were in the middle of the dirty side of Tropical Storm/Depression Erin and after all the wet weather here already this summer it was a doozy! Working in downtown Houston with a view of the rainstorm from the 57th floor has its advantages, especially when there is a lightning storm going on and the buidling next door has a grounded communication tower that acts as a lightning rod. I was watching the storm out of one of the engineer's windows and we saw no less than 3 direct strikes in a matter of less than 10 minutes. It was AMAZING to say the least. I was in such a mood that I was flabbergasted rather than scared (or too stupid to realize that that could have hit our building if it were not for the fact that the tower was higer than our 71 floors up.) The soundtrack in the background was the firetrucks on the ground and the faint of heart swooning nearby. Luckily this all played out around lunchtime and the less hearty could descend into the tunnels and the bowels of the buildings to escape the show.

This was the scene on Highway 288 just before Holly Hall. Where I go by almost daily from downtown to get the kids from school. Good thing I went to get Eran on 59 first, but that was under water earlier in the day, too.

We (Houston and South Texas in general) just have no place for the water to go since we are so over-saturated at this point. Some places have had more than 36" of rain in the past 2 months. It's been a great summer for Eran, except for that fainitng spell, but not so much heat - except for those few days of over 105 in the shade heat advisory days...

Oh so cute…

Pic from Disney, but still applicable

Yaeli is progressing by leaps and bounds, or at least one step at a time.

We wave bye-bye to ourself (and even on cue, like she know what it means), babble a little and even....(drum roll please)

started standing independently for a few seconds last Thursday (which the day-care lady neglected to inform me till) I was all excited about it this AM.

This weekend she even accidentally took a step or two.

It’s official, we are now a toddler.
LOOK OUT WORLD, HERE WE COME!!!
Yay Yaeli!

in case you were wondering

Mother Nature has decided to play games with us this summer. First it was the summer of endless rain, now it is the super heat we are usually accustomed to. See here the REAL heat advisory that the NWS felt compelled to issue for several Texas counties. They should title these things, "use your common sense, stupid!"

heat advisory now in effect until 7 pm cdt Wednesday
The heat advisory is now in effect until 7 pm cdt Wednesday.
Greater than normal relative humidities will lead to a stretch of afternoons with heat indices of 105 to 109 degrees for the next several days. Heat indices will reach around 100 degrees by noon, and peak between 2 and 5 pm. Heat index values near 100 degrees may persist as late as 7 pm. Overnight low temperatures will only drop to between 75 and 80 degrees. [Ed: That’s reasonable enough]

If possible, seek shelter from the afternoon heat in air conditioned areas [Ed: Duh!]. Direct exposure to sunlight can increase the heat index by another 15 degrees. If you plan to be outside, avoid prolonged exposure or strenuous physical activity. [Ed: Duh!] Your body can lose up to a gallon of water an hour through perspiration. Drink plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration. [Ed: Duh!] Alcoholic and caffeinated beverages can increase the rate of water loss in your body, increasing the risk of heat exhaustion or stroke. Wear lightweight, light- colored, loose-fitting clothing. [Ed: Duh!] Wear a hat to shield yourself from the sun. Always use a sunscreen to reduce possible sunburn. [Ed: Duh!] If children will be outdoors playing or practicing sports make sure they stay hydrated and keep a sharp eye for signs of heat exhaustion. [Ed: Duh!]
Pets can also succumb to the effects of excessive heat. Insure [Ed: Uh, spelling, much?!] pets have adequate drinking water and a shady place to rest. [Ed: Duh!] Do not keep pets [Ed: or kids, see this recent sad story] in cars with windows rolled up, even partially. Temperatures inside a car with the windows up can reach over 150 degrees quickly, resulting in heat stroke and death.

A heat advisory is issued when a heat index of 108 degrees or higher is expected in the advisory area. The heat index is a measure of how hot it feels when the effects of humidity are combined with the temperature. A heat index of 105 degrees is considered the level where many people begin to experience extreme discomfort or physical stress [Ed: Duh!].

The Greatest Show in Houston

So we went to the circus and we saw this version which was actually quite a nice change, since there was only one ring and your attention was not too divided to enjoy all the acts. We walked in the door and this was the first thing we did even before we got to the pre-show festivities.


Guess we're big on getting the souvenir photo op everywhere we go, along with that twirly, spinning light-up toy. We got one of those with a piroutte-ing elephant on top.

Here are some pics of the Namer family "clowning around" at the Circus





I could have lived my whole life quite happily without the stupid acts with the cat and dog tricks that I found to be silly and boring, and a waste of time (or at least filler time). I'm sorry, but I'll just never be able to be excited about a dressed-up poodle, carrying its own hoops to jump through, in its mouth.

We really loved the second act though which was the live elephants and tigers and cossacks horse tricks and flying acrobats and an amazing display by the Shenzhen Acrobatic Troupe and "video game" and the last act was the most amazing of all. Read more about the Yunnan Flyers and these other acts here. The Motorcycle Mania thing was really awesome as the closer. I even caught myself with my mouth open catching flies. The best part was an exhausted Yoni sitting on my lap and me whispering to him in awe "Wow, how'd they do that?" As we were leaving, Yoni was perched on Abba's shoulders and he says so precociously - "Wow, That was amazing, How did they DO that?" in the most awe-filled innocent voice. It was a priceless moment, with no prompting, that I just had to share.

As I said, Yoni was exhausted. So much excitement for such a little one and he missed his afternoon nap to top it all off.
So here we a have another priceless gem...He was so tired he fell asleep in the car with his snack pretzel in his mouth.
Abba removed it only when we saw it at home and only after we had a good laugh and snapped a few pics of the event for posterity.

So that was a run-down of our trip to the circus. Yael was clositered at Bubbe's house and meanwhile learned how to get around on the walker. Guess we're in for a quick learner with her as she's not even 9 months and does all kinds of (in my non-biased mother's opinion) amazing, circus worthy, cute baby tricks!

cuteness!

So this has nothing to do with my cuties from home, but it amused me so you in blog land get to hear about it.
I work on the 58th floor and have to take several elevators to get to my floor. In the evenings as everyone is trying to go all at the same time, the elevators can tend to get “cozy” and all the gentlemen will generally defer to the ladies to let them get on first. Well this woman was holding her golf umbrella (since Noah is making a comeback – literllay we have had rain for 37 of the last 48 days – since June there have only been 4 days without rain of some kind, not to say that there haven’t been periods of lets say “not rain” rather than sunshine)

Anyway, she reminded me of my mother’s cousin Roselle – cropped non-colored hair, sporty glasses, strappy sandals, leather briefcase and stylish but youngish outfit.
The second elevator came and all the ladies entered in as per the custom. Then we arrived at the tunnel level and she was now in the back part of the elevator with the gentlemen standing in front near the doors. Well the men started to part ways to let the women pass. There were a few younger gentlemen there and this particular lady just started to beat them with her umbrella in a jovial way. She was kidding that the gentlemanly ways need to go out the window in elevators in a tunnel and to just move on outta the way. It may have been on of those “you-had to be there kinda moments, but it made me smile all the way to the car – which is actually quite a hike in the tunnel. Usually I take the street if possible (not raining) just cause it’s a bit shorter, but I still get stopped by crosswalks at street corners and have to inhale the food smells, and the occasional homeless person, and police whistles while directing traffic, and fumes from buses and cars the whole way. Also have to push my way through the throngs of people waiting for the buses to come. But I like the idea of walking outside.
So there!


Here is a cute picture of my little doctor from our Purim in July day at Camp! I told him he was a surgeon in his Spiderman do-rag and sent him with his doctor case with his stethoscope and bloodpressure cuff. The coat must be from their dress-up clothes at camp! Isn't he adorable?

camp bami

Supposedly the kids are supposed to go swimming everyday, but it rained for 2 weeks solid here so that didn't quite happen. Despite that, Jonathan has definately made some improvements in the Waterfront area. In Florida I was able to convince him that he could use floaties and finally let up on the death grip on momma...Now he has real lifeguards who have taught him to blow bubbles - which I couldn't do all on my own...Baby steps. At least I know he's learning water safety!

Here are a couple of Summer Camp pictures of my camper.

Here are some busy bees making an art project for posterity...


Here is Dancing Yoni at the Pajama Day Parade. We're still working on snapping our fingers, but isn't he cute for trying

Walt and the girls

Minnie, Yaeli and momma with Pappa Walt