Monday, August 31, 2015

First day of school!

Xander on way in.




Sitting at his desk in class.  Jonathan said he looked really sad and scared after this picture was taken.  I was at home getting the other boys ready.



Mr. Connor getting into the car




Little boy with a backpack!



(No, we're not ignoring our middle child.  He refused to pose and every shot we tried to get spontaneously was immensely blurry.)




First day success!  Celebrating the end of the day with ice cream at Cherry Smash, a local fun ice cream joint.

Friday, August 28, 2015

I feel honored

Ari's class named their class mascot today.

There were four votes for "Rabbi Loving."

Five votes for "Chloe."

Chloe it is!  I lost by one vote.

That's pretty good. :)

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery and Science

This was the ball cage outside of the museum, before we went in.  Note Xander to the bottom left and Ari near the bottom middle.  





Real-time demonstration of how hurricanes work.  The guy in the blue shirt lit the candle by itself, and it was a small flame.  Then he put the trash can around it and spun it around, and wow did that flame get high.





Full view of the two youngest in the double stroller, both enthralled.



The museum was lovely.  Nothing rivals the Exploratorium in San Fran, but this definitely was a good day's excursion.  The funniest part is that the volunteer docent who took our tickets looked at me in my shorts and ponytail and did a double-take: "Rabbi?!"  Of course he belongs to our congregation! :)

Tie-dye cake

Best. Mix. Ever.





We had six mixing bowls, all with different colored batter.






The top of the final cake.  No pictures were taken of the insides, sadly, as we were too busy eating.  But believe me when I say it was awesome!

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Bonding

We spent twenty minutes in the car swapping knock-knock jokes as a family.

I looked up a whole bunch on my phone so we could keep going.

All three kids were cracking up.

They now tell their favorite ones over and over and over.

I marvel at the fact that this repetition can be so amusing and yet so annoying at the same time!

Friday, August 21, 2015

Serious breakfast conversation between my two eldest

Snot is salty.

Ari likes the taste, Xander doesn't.

Snot can be many colors.  

It doesn't feel good when you cough it up.

Snot has germs in it.

Connor eats his snot. Both agreed that was ewww.

At this point I interjected and talked about the beautiful role of Kleenex in our lives.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Summary of my life

At dinner tonight with congregants, Connor goes into my purse to amuse himself and is obviously frustrated.

He pulls out a NFTY bencher (mini-prayerbook).

Ugh, he tosses it aside.

He pulls out a solid metal temple nametag.

Ugh again.  It too is tossed haphazardly to the floor.

Finally, success!  A red Hot Wheels car.

Happy toddler.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Our Florida addition

Behind the family is a new mango tree, in a pot.  It has been dubbed "Mandy the mango tree," after our friend in Sacramento.  Kind of an odd naming-after, but hey, it keeps him in our thoughts!  

And we're all really looking forward to the mangos. :)

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Connor picture bonanza

Camp has ended, and Connor was in the "Little Ant" class.  The teachers put together this wonderful collage of him on the last day!  I was so touched.  It must have been a ton of work to do this for every child.




The back of Connor's collage.  





A picture that didn't make it on his collage.  There are hundreds of photos of my kids on the camp's private FB page; I downloaded them and will get to posting the good ones eventually.





 
Connor getting ready for the TBO Open House.  "Youth Small" was the smallest size, so he wore it as a dress and it worked out perfectly!

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Grateful

Ever had days where, even though nothing was perfect, everything still felt right with the world?  You're where you're supposed to be, with the people you're supposed to be with, doing what you're supposed to be doing?

I've had a lot of those lately.

#feelingblessed

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Gender (non)conformity

Yesterday, I painted my toenails, and Ari wanted to paint his and his fingers too.  Xander joined in the fun, and by the end, each of their fingers and toes was a different color: red, purple sparkles, white sparkles, black, and white.  (Connor's toes are purely red).

That evening I asked Ari if anyone noticed them at camp.

"Yes!" said Ari.  "People said it was beautiful."

I asked Xander the same question.

"A lot of people commented, actually," Xander told me.  "They all said, "'Why do you have nail polish if you're a boy?'"

"What did you tell them?" I asked, curiously.

"I said that I like nail polish, and that boys can wear it just like girls.  There are lots of things that are for both boys and girls.  You can be a boy and do girl things, and be a girl and do boy things."

SO. PROUD.

(Also, a reminder that yep, we're not in CA anymore, nobody asked at all when he painted his fingernails two months ago!)


Wednesday, August 12, 2015

(blush)


Official Temple Beth Orr Logo


Have you seen our exciting new t-shirts?
Get one today for only $10 and share your loving feeling!
There will be many great opportunities to wear our
t-shirts and show support for Rabbi Loving.

For more details and to order online go to:

Please bring this form to the office with your payments


TBO Loving feeling tshirt!


                                   Temple Beth Orr, 2151 Riverside Dr., Coral Springs, FL 33071
                                   954-753-3232    Fax 954-753-2559   www.templebethorr.org

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Finally watched a few episodes of Dr. Who

And okay, call me shallow, but it's just not the same without the flirting!  Peter Capaldi is an amazing actor, but I never watched only it for the plots.... sigh.  I still miss David Tennant.

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Books, TV, and hammers

So I read this book last month, and am only now getting around to mentioning it:  Blood and Beauty: The Borgias, by Sarah Dunin.  It was a rollicking good historical fiction about the pope's family in 15th century Renaissance Italy.  It's like House of Cards, only real!  I hadn't realized until after I finished the book and was fact-checking it for historical accuracy that Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI, was actually the model for Machiavelli's The Prince!  It was a very screwed up political family, to say the least.  And the book was excellent, really bringing the characters to life.

The new season of Dr. Who and Marvel: Agents of SHIELD have been on Netflix for a while now and I haven't seen them.  It's a travesty, I know.  Don't give me spoilers.

And what else?

Jonathan and the boys went to Lowe's for a "Build and Grow" program this morning.  The older boys worked with him to nail together a model wooden car, they each got their own safety goggles, apron and kid hammer.

Connor got one too, but then, as Jonathan tells it, "he hit his brother on the head and the hammer got taken away.  Hammers are a privilege, not a right!"

Connor apparently felt differently.  :)

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Monday, August 3, 2015

Various and sundry updates

Life for each of us....

Connor can now say "book," "ball," "truck" (no "r), and a few others.  He is also smart enough to communicate in other effective ways, such as pointing and motioning.  He's excellent at making his feelings known... such as, when someone is reading his brothers a book and he wants attention, he takes off his diaper and purposely poops on the carpet.  (Yeah, that was a fun day.)

Ari has an adorable boy-crush on his swim teacher.  This morning the first thing he asked was, "Is Mr. Matt coming today?!"  Then he paused, smiled, and said almost dreamily, "Mr. Matt is SO beautiful.  And so nice!"  Yes, he is, Ari, I like him too. :)

Xander excels at making up games for himself.  He uses household objects and creates little projects, like tying a light-up wand to one of my old Sigma Tau Delta cords (now a play toy) and attaching it to a paper towel roll to make... something.  He's amusing himself, and that's what counts!

Jonathan and I went on a date day and saw Inside Out.  I thought it was fabulous, maybe Pixar's best movie yet.  I won't tell too much about it but let me say for the record - after you watch it, call me so we can discuss it!  I'm so glad we went without the kids.  It's a movie that will stay with me for a long long time, figuring out who I am and how I work, how I help myself and my children deal with moving, and how my actions can be reflected in their eyes.

I really really like the weather here.  It's been warm but not hot, humid but not too humid, when it rains it's warm rain, I love seeing the geckos everywhere, and the ground is constantly lush.  I'm kind of amazed, I thought I would hate it.

Coral Springs as a whole has been an unbelievably lovely surprise.  I'm still discovering what it means to be in a "Jewish area."  Our neighbors across the street are Jewish.  The guy who worked the customer service desk at the movie theater is Jewish.  SCHOOLS CLOSE on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur because so many children are absent!  It's a whole new world.  Also, everyone is from New York.  I've heard this area referred to many times as "the sixth borough" or "New York lite."

And I'll close with our new favorite dinner meal.  Jonathan bought a box of fusilli because it was on sale:

The boys thought it was awesome and dubbed it "loop'dy-loop pasta." Then our neighbor showed me the proper way to cut up a mango, and voila, since we live in the tropics, we now buy them in bulk. It's the fruit du jour, and "loop'dy loop pasta with red sauce, and then mango" has been the dinner of choice for three days in a row.

I hope you all are doing well, and have a wonderful Monday!

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Skunks, selfies, and strange yellow Minions

Jeff and Connor exploring a skunk at Underground Reptiles






Wrestling, aka I've been dog-piled!  






Ari's photograph of his little brother






Ari's photo of himself







Jonathan's selfie with Connor





Okay, have two.  I couldn't decide which was cuter!






The older boys after seeing the Minion movie.






It's late at night as I type this, I'm indecisive.  Both pictures are good!