My babies

My babies are growing up so fast, now they are driving in cars with a boy!

Dan's update

Since Blogger is not uploading my pictures tonight and I actually have time to write, I will fill everyone in on what has been going on here this summer.
We have been beyond busy entertaining family and friends. My brother Danny and his family visited for close to three weeks and left their daughter Liel behind to help me with the kids. What we did not know when we made these plans was that Danny would have the opportunity to move to Florida with his company. About three weeks before his trip he started asking me about the cost of living in Florida and what the average electric bill was and I figured he was asking me these questions because he was considering a move. I was right, so we spent the majority of his vacation trying to find schools for his children and a place to live. All while trying to have fun and celebrate Eitan's Bar Mitzvah. We were very very busy.
Liel stayed behind to annoy me. I should not say that because most of the time she has been helpful, when she was reminded to take her head out of the clouds. Sometimes I wish I could be fifteen so that I did not have a care in the world but then I remember how much I hated high school and I am content to have my feet firmly placed on the ground. Liel is really a delightful person to be around. She has a fantastic sense of humor which keeps you on your toes because she always has a come back. Matt has enjoyed having her around because when her father is not around he has someone to tease on Shabbos. The girls really enjoy her and want her to do things for them all the time. "Liel, I want juice" or "can I have a snack?". She even changes diapers and wipes poopy bottoms! She is leaving on Thursday, which makes my girls very sad. "No Liel I do not want you to go!" They do not understand that she is coming back in about ten days and they will be seeing her more frequently.
I wonder what it will be like to have Dan's kids around our kids on a regular basis. Liel has all the girls speaking Japanese and taught Jordan to say "Up yours Daddy!" The girls actually repeat what ever she tells them to say. I am sure Eitan and Adina will take full advantage of our little parrots. Maybe they will teach the kids Hebrew instead of Japanese? Matt and I may be in trouble!

Grrrrr....

I was planning on writing an update tonight. The company has been gone for a little over a week and I never posted any pictures of us in the pool or saying goodbye and that is when I discovered that my charming niece "lost" all of our photos. LOST you say? They were not where I left them and I was surprisingly calm because we back-up our photos, most of the time, and I knew all was not lost. Well Liel is one lucky girl because they are on the computer just not in the photo program anymore. So now instead of blogging I am moving photos.
I guess Eric was right and we may need to find a new program to store our photos or we could just beat Liel.

This and that

I went to the doctors office twice today. Can you believe I planned it that way? Akiva went in the morning for a nurse visit. He needed to get some shots, which I hate! They weighed him and he weighs eleven pounds and fourteen ounces. I could have sworn he weighed more than that. He has grown so much, I cannot believe it! He is smiling and laughing all of the time. I can really get caught up staring at him and talking with him. He sleeps like a champ. With all the chaos, he still wants to eat his final meal for the day at nine and sleeps through the night. He typically wakes up between seven and eight in the morning. You can not beat that.

The big girls were my second trip to the doctor today. I kept them home from camp today to spend time with their Uncle Eric and we started the day at Lion Country Safari and ended at the doctors office. They had a blast feeding the giraffes and the goats. The cousins were not as brave as our fearless Sydney who did not want to stop feeding the giraffes. I think Liel will eventually warm up to the purple tongued giraffe but in the mean time we will just laugh at her. Uncle Danny fed the giraffe although he was a little squeamish at first. Eric fed the giraffes and loved every minute of it. We made a stop to feed the Lorries where they landed on several heads, I was very proud of Tanya when the bird landed on her head because she did not pass out. Adina was very brave and fed the birds without screaming or freaking out. Sydney asked me if she could touch the bird and when I told her she could her eyes lit up and she did it. Eitan even held a bird. Lior and Jordan enjoyed getting close up to the birds.


Sydney's bravery continued at the doctors office where she was thrilled to pee in a cup, stand on the scale and have her temperature taken orally. At two years eleven months Sydney weighs twenty seven pounds and is thirty four and a half inches tall and she will be the first to tell you that she did not cry at all. She will also tell you that when they pricked her finger it "hurt terribly."
Lior, at two years eleven months weighs twenty eight pounds and is exactly three feet. She continues to be one pound and at least an inch taller than Sydney. She helped Sydney by going first to show her that it was not scary and when she flat out refused Sydney stepped up to the plate to help her. She was not as happy when they pricked her finger and was mad at the "Doctor nurse" who gave her a boo-boo. They got a clean bill of health and are ready to start school in the fall.
That is right, Debbie the procrastinator brought her children to the doctor before she absolutely had to! Are you impressed? Well you should not be, we are getting ready to change health insurance and I am just being cheap. Maybe I can get Jordan in before we switch...
Jordan was ready to get examined today along with the big girls. She took off her dress and climbed up on to the table to be checked out along with her sisters. I wonder if she will be as eager when it is her turn? She is really ready to be a big kid, on Saturday she peed on the potty for Matt. He was changing her diaper and she kept pointing to her bottom saying "pee potty" so Matt took her and after a long wait she actually peed on the potty! She went again today when Liel was baby sitting her. Maybe she will be fully trained by her second birthday. A girl can dream!
Liel came with me to the big girls appointment today and she earned her money! Jordan was all over the place. That child is wild! If Liel was not with us she would have been strapped into the stroller the entire time screaming her little head off.

Summer time blues in december

One day last week we received a letter from our preschool informing us that they would not be having summer school. I was sad, I was beyond sad and began racking my brain for possible activities for the girls over the summer that would not require me to follow them around. I thought that I would sign them up for swimming lessons, maybe a cooking class and the little gym but all of those things require one hundred percent of my attention. With a new baby and Jordan to watch in addition to the big girls I was in a state of panic. Well not quite panic but I was really concerned that the kids would be stuck in front of the television all day while I nursed the baby and broke up fights.
I called my brother Danny and asked that he send me his oldest daughter for the summer so that I could have an extra pair of hands. He agreed to give me Liel for the summer but also tried to give us his youngest son, Noam. Chances are not good that we will take Noam as he still needs help and parental supervision. I need the kind of help that can go see a PG-13 movie and asks me to get her into a movie that would make her parents angry. Matt and I are very excited that Liel will be spending some extra time with us this summer, we really enjoyed her visit last summer and can't wait to spend time with her again.
Imagine how excited I was when the school called me on Friday to let me know that there were other parents who were upset about the lack of summer school and there would be a meeting today to discuss it. If there are at least ten kids interested in camp they will have a program for the kids. The program will be five days a week from nine to three which is more than I wanted to send them for but now they will have a safe place to go where they can play with other kids their age. So keep your fingers crossed that there will be plenty of interest and that Lior and Sydney will have a great time this summer.