Room Makeover

Yep, I painted a chalkboard onto the kids' bedroom wall!



They've finally outgrown their obsession with scribbling on walls, but when it was full force... oy boy! I was painting over the doodles again and again and again. Until the leftover paint finished... and then it came time to be more creative.

It's done! See the area to the right? I have some magnetic strips to hang artwork from, but the area below is a rightful mess! I will hang up some of the educational posters we bought to cover it.


Oh, my, did I say it was done? Excuse me, my mistake.
It's not done till I put up a sweet ribbon around the perimeter to frame the new chalkboard.

Neat, huh? You can also see the magnetic strips in the photo above. And on the left, I finally hung the orange organizer baskets I bought eons ago.

Here's a better view:

So there you have it! A fun little room makeover for the boys.

(And no, the intended purpose of the baskets is not cat storage.)

Oh, and before I end this post, would you like to see the drawing that's hanging in the corner of this picture up close?


Of course you would.
Drawn by Meshulem Zusha, age 5.5
Funny Faces:

Medium: the sticky paper left over from some circle stickers.

Kids Going to School:

Medium: a sheet of stationery paper with a school bus on it.

I especially love how different all the kids are, since I know most kids this age stick to one specific style of drawing people. And the fact that he gave the driver an official looking hat and made him face forward. And the blinking lights he added to the stop sign. Funny boy!

Take a Guess

What's this?


Maybe this post from over a year ago can give you a clue...

Around Town- Astronomy Edition

The Poozils are fascinated by space and all that is in it. They love it when I take photos of the moon and then we examine it together.

Sometimes we get lucky and chance upon the moon with a halo around it.


I was so excited to get a shot like this. It made for a great lesson in moon phases. I had explained to the boys that the entire moon is there all the time, regardless on how much of it we can see. But this real life example was much more impressive!

And this picture is just a treasure. Amazing what just a measly 10x zoom can do. All the dark and light spots... and you can even see craters on the bottom!

Hope you enjoyed this astronomy edition of Around Town!

!#@%$

We've been having a very ...interesting few days around here.

Within a 48 hour period, most of the food in our house spoiled. It just got funny at one point, because better amused than exasperated, right?

I made a delivery of grocery items on Thursday night and bought a few things from a takeout for Shabbos as well. I fell asleep putting Adel to sleep halfway through putting away groceries, so some things stayed out all night. But that caused only a small percentage of our food mishaps.

The rolled out pizza dough went unrefrigerated, blew up and popped the bag it was in.
The potato salad and tomato dip were also left out and spoiled.
I didn't have time to wait for the salmon to defrost fully, so I baked a huge mass of like twenty slices all together with the skins. Then I spent hours picking out the fish from the skin, and I'm not yet fully done! I think I will make fish patties.
The butternut squash spent the night on the blech and I guess it wasn't hot enough because by morning it was slimy and smelly.
The mashed potatoes from the takeout did make it into the fridge but they smelled off right as soon as I got home.
The soup just tasted bad.
I'm sure there was more.

EVERYTHING went wrong. Every food I bought or prepared had a problem. Well, the lettuce salad was okay. At least I was spared when I went to stock up on food the day after the disaster- I picked up a package of cold cuts that expired months ago, and luckily I checked the expiration date and took a fresh pack.

Oh, and out of the sweet new summer clothes that we are finally able to wear, two items ripped.
Uncanny. Two different items (polo shirt and romper). Two different children (Gedalya and Adel). Two different stores (Children's Place and Crazy8). Two different days (Friday and Sunday). But the same exact type of rip (in the fabric, not on the seams) on similar materials... and both articles were being worn for the first time! Imagine that.

But- on Shabbos something funny happened that just might negate all the weird stuff. We have a large beanbag/ottoman cover that we keep our stuffed animals in. The kids use it as a lounge chair. Well, on Shabbos Adi was playing in the boys' room, and then I find her- atop the beanbag, lying on her belly... arm and legs hanging down, but not reaching the floor. She was asleep! No pictures, obviously. She'll have to do an encore one day.

{Reunion}

In the morning, Zusha heads off to cheider with his Tatte.


In the afternoon, I pick him up.


And there is a little girl who couldn't be any happier!


And a big brother who couldn't be any happier!

Listen to What My Girl Can Do

We have this cute little musical elephant toy at home. I bought it for Adel after seeing the special ed teacher playing it with her. At that point, Adel had just turned one and was doing nothing. I mean nothing. To get her to look at a toy, let alone touch it, was an accomplishment. She wasn't interested in toys because she was unable to activate them. Well, this toy is so sensitive, that it starts wobbling and playing music at the slightest touch.
It's out of production already, so I couldn't find it in a store. I wanted it very much because it was the only toy she was interested in. After much searching, I found one on ebay. Although Adel is able to play many more toys already, this is a favorite classic of hers. She loves the songs on it and will randomly hum a tune from the toy throughout the day.

Here she is, humming to herself.


And here is the part of the song she is humming.


Listen to Adel again, and then to the toy again. Cool, huh?

Lag Ba'Omer!

Last night:

Last year:

We left our house on Tuesday morning and headed to cheider.


Snapping photos, more and more... last chance!


Somebody is really looking forward to being a big boy!


We dropped Zusha off at cheider and took Gedalya to the park until the festivities began.

Upsherin portraits by Mama.
Saved myself the $300.
Bonus: the bench is real, the leaves are real... not props and a backdrop.
Another bonus: natural poses and expressions.


And then, it was time to join everyone at the bonfire.

We arrived at the bonfire and Hillel lifted Gedalya up on his shoulders.

Shortly, the other fathers lifted their upsherin boys as well.
There are four boys in this photo. There were about 6 all together.



The preschool classes stood by the wall, while the rest of the students and Rebbes danced around the bonfire.

Adel stood by the fence and watched.



They brought a table to the middle of the yard and lifted the boys onto it. The two Rebbes each proceeded to snip off a lock from each boy.
So Gedalya got bangs!



After that, the dancing resumed. Hillel took Zusha into the circle as well, since it was his brother's simcha.

The ceremony was over and we took the boys for ice cream...


...and then to the park.




On our way home we took the scenic route, to make for some more gorgeous photos.
Gedalya's curls bounce all over the place as he runs.

To see more posts about Gedalya's upsherin, click here.