Our little Zach....he's such a cutie pie. Blue eyes, still blond hair (for now), it's hard to believe he's ours.

He's been a little more difficult to manage as a two year old than the other boys were. But he's getting better, and seems to be pretty happy. He goes to school with me when we take Moshe and Eli, and he thinks he's really going. He gets his backpack and everything, and gets busy doing activities there for the 15-30 minutes that we stay most mornings. Next year he gets to go.

As for everyone else, we're fine. Moshe learned tonight that 5x8 and 8x5 are the same thing (with stacks of blocks), and he was fascinated. He couldn't wait to tell his brothers, who I don't think will appreciate the information as he does. I am really going to try to do more "teaching" things with him....I haven't been, and we're both missing out.

I think I will have Eli and Moshe take turns missing school and staying home with me on Fridays. That way, I get a helper before Shabbat, and we get to spend more time together. This going to school 6 days a week thing is not right for us.

Please write and let me know what is going on with you ... Kimberleiba@aol.com

Shabbat Shalom,

The Goldmans

PS...I made this sandwich plate for Zach one day, and thought it was fun. It should at least make you smile.

Thanksgiving

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

We did get to celebrate Thanksgiving here. Some friends of ours (originally from the US) have a dinner every year, complete with all the American traditional food. I made a tricky but very yummy chocolate kahlua cake. It was good, but I don't know if it was really worth the effort. I had to slice it into layers and add filling in between. Slicing a bundt and moving the pieces without breaking them should be an Olympic event! We also brought sweet potato casserole, complete with Israeli marshmallows on top. If you have ever tried to buy regular marshmallows in Israel, you will know what I am talking about. The only ones here are usually a bag with both white and pink mixed together--and the pink ones are flavored, well, pink. Unfortunately, the white ones also end up tasting pink, but we tried separating them for 2 days beforehand. At the party, they also served sweet potato casserole, complete with REAL mini marshmallows brought from the States! I ate that one. It was delicious. Living in Israel brings trials which no one who hasn't experienced it would understand.

Shabbat Shalom,

The Goldmans

A Real Update

OK, so I haven't been spending the 15 minutes per week I committed to posting this blog. But today I will.

As most of you know, we will not be making the trek to the US this year for Thanksgiving. We are sad...we look forward to it all year, and probably depend too much on connecting with loved ones during the visit. I say "depend too much," because we don't for the most part communicate enough during the year with many of you, and, instead, leave it all ------

Well, an hour later here I am. I was interrupted by some company. So much for my 15 minutes! I'll have to continue later.

OK, now it's tomorrow.

As I was saying, we leave too much catching up to be done in person. And this year, it won't happen. So, let's chat! On the phone (I have a vonage line that has a Miami telephone number), by email, we could even Skype with video. Email me at Kimberleiba@aol.com, and we can plan a chat date.

As for what's been going on...

Moshe and Eli love preschool. What's not to love? And they do seem to be learning Hebrew. But, now that they are away so many hours of the day, I am experiencing the lack of time with them here to do things that I believe are valuable. Chore time, and just plain old time with me, doing all kinds of things. Cooking, gardening, things that are fun and important for them to learn. And, of course, the outside influences of others who don't share our values regarding health (junk food given at school too frequently) and behavior are taking their toll. There is a reason I really wanted to homeschool. In fact, there are many. And I am looking forward to doing it again. I figure that they will finish this year, and possibly go next (of course, next year Zach will join them), and then after that, I will begin the homeschooling again, at least with Moshe.

In the meantime, we pushed back their entrance time from 7:30 to 8:00, and I have begun to go with them, with Zach and Yoni, and play and spend that time there from 8:00 until 8:30 most days. They have free time until then, and parents are welcome. Zach absolutely loves it, and is always sad to leave, and it is nice to spend that time with/near them, seeing what they do and participating a little. It's even good for my Hebrew to listen and try to speak.

Well, my time is up. Shabbat comes in so early these days!

Oh, I'm sure you're wondering what that scorpion picture is all about. I found it. Here, outside our house. YIKES! I was terrified; I had never seen a real one. I think it was injured, because it wasn't moving too fast, and I caught it. Chaim was not home, but I knew I had to, because I didn't want it walking around there. I know I need to get used to creepy crawlies--they really are all around, especially now that we live more out in the country.

That's all for now. Shabbat Shalom!

The Goldmans

Everyday Life

Family life....

We were able to make it to the zoo during the holiday week. The boys all had a blast, and Yoni was so good.....he finally fell asleep and I grabbed the shot.

Here I am cutting Eli's hair.

And another nice photo of us in the Sukkah.

Bye for now!

Sukkot

We had nice holidays at our new house. Our sukkah fit as if it were built for this place, and we had great sleeping weather. Here are pictures of the boys building the sukkah.

Commanded camping.....fun stuff.

Shabbat Shalom!

Strange Baby

OK, this kid is weird. He likes broccoli, peas, carrots, spinach, and sweet potato. He does not like apples. And, now I know, he does not like BANANAS. Bananas! Who doesn't like bananas? Strange. How am I going to get him to drink a smoothie for breakfast?

Here, Moshe helps out and tries to feed Yoni.

Little Guys and Expanding the Family

I wanted to see what Zach would look like with long hair...this is as long as it got before I finally cut it.















This is Buck. We named him. He kept hanging out with us at the park, and got along great with our dogs. Then we found out that he had been abandoned. Well, we couldn't really keep him away, since we don't have a fence all the way around our house, and he made himself comfortable in the doghouse that nobody else was using. We still haven't fed him, but he seems to be our "outside" dog. So much for waiting to increase our family size.

Shabbat Shalom

Here we are

OK, OK, here are some new pictures!

I still haven't unpacked my computer software, and since I have a different computer I am using, working with my pictures is difficult. Sorry for the delay.

Yoni's still a cutie pie. 6 months now, he just began solid food about 2 weeks ago. So far he's enjoyed sweet potato, spinach (when it was mixed with the sweet potato), peas, carrots, and broccoli. Strangely enough, he did NOT like apples.

Schooltime!

Moshe and Eli, ages 4 & 5, went off to school for the very first time this week. They are able to walk by themselves (it's right next door), and love their new independence. Of course, it's all in Hebrew, and I know they'll pick the language up quickly. Here are some pics from the first day: before, en route, and after. Zach can't wait until he can go too. What fun!

Settling In

Little by little, we are settling in to our new life. There are still boxes and things everywhere, but we are getting comfortable with our new place, new routines, etc.





Moshe sleeps in the same room with Yoni (6 months old now!), and he is learning to help take care of him. What that means, exactly, I don't know, as I haven't really been able to come up with anything for him to do. But we say that, and he's very proud. He wants to help change him, but the little one is just so darn wiggly....I'm a pro, and it's hard even for me.





We enjoy our family meals al fresco, and have front row seats for the beautiful sunset every night.

Zach...is two. He's the first of our children to actually behave like a two year old is known to do, so we are sometimes a little glad when he gets himself into sticky situations, hoping that he will learn something. Here he insisted on sitting on the groceries in this cooler(after being told not to).....and got stuck. Boy, was he mad. I couldn't stop laughing. Never a dull moment around here.

movin' on up

Well, we did it. We moved four children, two dogs, two cats, and a lot of stuff to our new house. It was tough, but we really are enjoying our new place despite the disarray. It is a single family home with a garden which includes a fig tree, pear tree, olive trees, grapes, pomegranates, and almond (I think). It's lovely.

Here are some pictures of the move, and us enjoying our new surroundings. There is a small playground and a very nice grassy area just across the street...even the dogs love it.

Shabbat Shalom,

The Goldmans

Camp Creation

Last week, I decided to do some special things with the boys, as they are not attending any type of camp this summer. I made a "camp" at home, with a theme for exactly 7 days: the days of creation. It went something like this:
Camp Creation Schedule
Day 1: "Let there be light". Race separating clothes into dark and light. "scratch art", scratching a design on a paper that already has thick black crayon covering it. Sitting in a very dark room, experimenting with a flashlight.

Day 2 : "Water, Water Everywhere". Run in the sprinklers. Experiment with sink vs. float items. Making paper boats for the bathtub. Water balloons. Ice, water, steam. Baby Einstein video about water.

Day 3: "Earth, Sea and Garden." Play the Garden board game. Go outside and pull some weeds, dig in the dirt. Make land and water forms with plastalina and water. Read books on flowers, plants, trees, and The Giving Tree.

Day 4: "Sun, Moon, Stars." Baby Einstein video about space. Books about planets and stars. some kind of spaceship/astronaut thing.

Day 5: Birds and Fish. Look at books on topic, fish craft

Day 6: Animals and Man: books about the body and animals, wild animal video. Pretend to be an animal, and everyone has to guess which one. Trace around child's body on butcher paper, and they fill it in with drawing. Make gingerbread men.

Day 7: Rest!

We all had a lot of fun, and I hope to do something like this again in the future. It's amazing what you can do with just a little effort.

And Chaim found a really cool lizard outside.

Now, we are getting ready for our move....only 4 more days in our house. Big changes are ahead! Shabbat Shalom