Israel, Where is your Jacket?

Yesterday I was having a horrible "I don't feel good and want to do nothing day." Luckily this day also corresponded with Stan's day off. So, he took Israel (and the girls) to the bus stop in the morning. (He also cleaned the house, folded laundry, and took the girls out for a while, but this post is really about the quest for the jacket.) Stan picked up Israel after school. When they walked in the door Israel was missing his nice winter coat. We need that coat I thought. "Where's your coat Israel?" I asked. Not surprisingly my 6-year-old couldn't tell me its location, if he'd worn it to lunch, to recess, or onto the bus for home.

I called the school, had his teacher check the classroom and the Kg playground (Nope), called the school again, found out how to track down the bus, drove to the HS where bus was (Nope), drove to the Elem. School, checked Cafateria (nope), playground (nope), classroom (nope) went back home all the while driving looking out at the road, maybe it fell out of the bus? maybe Israel dropped it coming home on his bike(nope)?

I pulled into the driveway feeling devastated- we're going to have to buy him a new coat for our trip to Utah next month. I don't want to buy him another, dang it I finally pulled myself out of the car and put my purse and jacket away.

And then I had this little hopeful thought in the back of my mind- what if Israel didn't put it on this morning? I opened the van door and there on the floor by his seat is his nice winter jacket.

"Just Like Me"

One of this little cutie's favorite games is "Just Like Me"



"Mommy, you have 2 eyes, just like me" (finds my eyes, finds her eyes)
"Mommy, you have 2 ears just like me" (finds . . . you get the idea)

Well a few days ago we were again playing this innocent game when I realized I really need to give my eyebrows some more attention.

"Mommy," Julia said, "you have hair just like me!"
"You have a nose just like me"
"Mommy, you have 2 eyebrows . . ."
and instead of saying just like me,

she said "Just like Granddaddy"

Ouch- and thankfully a good long laugh to share with you:)

Eliza Surprises

Usually Eliza doesn't want to be outside. Especially when it is cold or wet. The past 2 days she's been doing this:



After her bath this morning shockingly Eliza brought me 2 matching hairclips. Not only did she want then in her hair, but she also kept them in ALL day.

Israel's Photography, Happy Birthday to Me!, Fish Stix Puzzles, and It's Fall

Israel is a true budding photographer. He really enjoys creative pictures and had fun at this climbing site on Old Woman Springs Road.

So, I forgot to blog my birthday. I turned 31 and had the super great present of my friend Liz coming over from AZ for New Years. We played Pandemic (one of my all time favorite games that Stan got me for my birthday-thanks love!) put together puzzles, and enjoyed Joshua Tree Nat'l Park. We pulled taffy for New Year's Eve before letting off little poppers in the back yard and running around our back yard (at 9am) shouting Happy New Year with the kids. Notice the red on my hands and the kids lack of shirts? red food coloring is not to be taken lightly:)

On the Hidden Ranch Hike. Liz and I climbed into this little archway- Israel was our photographer

cutie patuty Julia wearing Stan's hat My cake is a cranberry pudding recipe I got from by friend Betsy. It was a caramel sauce. Not much could be better than this! I posted the recipe here.
This 500 piece fish stix puzzle was given to Eliza. The giver (who will not be named) insisted that it looked hard, but was really easy because of the fish stix design. This puzzle took at least 10 combined hours to complete. Super fun, different, and so challenging. Eliza said we could have it and to give it back to her on her 17th birthday. If you're looking for a puzzle challenge-it would be a good one.Sorry the video is sideways. I rotated it, but it didn't stay rotated. You'll have to rotate your head instead:)
Happy 2010 and remember- it's only 21 Days until Groundhog's Day. Don't forget to have a big party, eat groundhog stew (we're hoping we can catch one in CA) and watch one of the best movies of all time.

"How did you know my dad stinks?" and Giant Challah Bread

A neighbor surprised us the night before we left for Christmas in VA (and a huge blizzard- more on that here) by bringing us all lots of gifts. She used to be an Avon lady, and we were showered with lots of Avon goodies. For Stan she gave him cologne and 3 deoderants- to which Israel asked "How did you know my dad stinks?"

On another note I finally made Challah bread (I've fantazised about eating it since my study abroad in Jerusalem in '99.) I used a recipe from one of my Jewish professor's wives. It was 5 hours of rising time. Well in the directions it says 4 small round loaves or braid it. I wanted to braid it just like the kind we always bought early in the morning on Friday mornings in the Orthodox Jewish Quarter. Well, I foolishly made 1 loaf of challah bread instead of 2 or maybe 4 and not surpirsingly needed extra baking time.
It tasted just like I remembered and we devoured half of it last night. The trick was finding a container big enough for the rest of it:) I posted the recipe here Every Day Dinners.

Virginia for Christmas

Stan's parents kindly flew us home for Christmas. What none of us realized was that we would be landing right in the middle of a snow storm in Greensboro and attempting to drive North into a storm some called the Monster Blizzard of the South. After 5 hours of terrifying driving on mainly 2 lane roads (nothing big goes from Greensboro to Check, VA) in a front wheel drive minivan whose windshield and wipers wouldn't stop freezing, we finally reached enough civilization in Roanoke and thankfully were able to find a hotel with a short drive way the we could manage we spent the night and left the next morning at 10 am. Thankfully the snow had stopped around 7am and we were okay to drive into the mountains or wonderfully plowed roads. The trip from our house to grandma's took an impressive 30 hours. And the kids to better than was expected all things considered.










Our fun trip ended all too soon and we were headed back to the airport again. 17 hours to home.

ps-If anyone is around Greensboro we stopped at the most delcious eatery Elizabeth's Pizza Italian Resturant. It's worth your time- great service and even better authentic foods.