Ari at swim

His whole class goes free for two weeks!

May the Force be with all shoppers

Stopping outside the main doors of Target, Xander holds out his hand in front of him.

"Use the Force, Ari, use the Force!"

They approach the automatic doors with their right hands at a 90 degree angle, fingers splayed.

And the door... opens!

More Disney pictures

Poor Connor was deeply asleep.  But the other two were overawed to be in the presence of Kylo Ren!

Two siblings and five cousins.

I'm making small steps.

I am a night person.

I may have mentioned this once or a hundred times.

I write the best sermons at midnight.

My circadian rhythms are that of a vampire.

Unfortunately, that is not the way our house, or the world, works.

The alarm rings at 6:30am and Jonathan gets up, wakes up Xander, and starts to make lunches.  They need to be out the door by 7:10 in order to be at school on time.

Between 6:45 and 7am the other boys wake up and wake me up.  Depending on how annoyed I am that the sun is up, we either watch cartoons on my phone in bed, or I go downstairs and make them breakfast, say goodbye to Xander, and start the day.

This morning I was up and getting dressed before 7 and Ari asked me very hopefully, his eyes lighting up in anticipation, "Mommy, are you a morning person now?!"

"No," I replied.  "But I stopped yelling at people in the morning.  Does that count?"

The end of an era

We've now abolished dessert in our house, except for Shabbat.

We got really tired of "how many more bites do I need to eat before I get dessert?"  

Just eat your dinner, children!

Best story ever from Intro to Judaism

I've been teaching a three-part Intro course called the Taste of Judaism.  And one man just made my day, my week, my year.  He was asking me about the meaning of putting a mezuzah on the doorpost, and why you put it slanted: 

"Why don't Jews put it straight?  Is it because they're not very handy and don't have a level?"

I explained with a barely straight face that no, it was because of the compromise of the two rabbis (as explained in the link above).  Then I talked about the scroll that went inside it.

"Oh," he said.  "I didn't know that.  The package only came with the little box, and then I thought it was instructions in Hebrew that I couldn't read, so I threw it out!"

Disney World

Jonathan was amazing and took three kids by himself to Disney World last week to see his sister, who was visiting from Ohio.

Arriving at the hotel, the Wild Animal Lodge

Inside the Lodge

Looking at the animals from their room

Bigger boys on the top bunk

Little boy on the bottom bunk

Loving his sticker.

Happy breakfast!

 

Carousel

Zootopia preview.  Ari was clever like a fox.

"Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" playground.  Connor attempts to conquer a giant ant while Xander runs up the webbing in the background in his red jacket (with Ari close behind).

One day was The Magic Kingdom.  Other day, the land of Star Wars!

Jedi training

A real Snow Speeder

As close as Ari would get to the Storm Troopers

An average evening in the life...

 Connor in Ari's Iron Man costume from October.  Soon he'll be the "little brother" in age only.

Wrestling, bedtime, bedtime, wrestling...

January 22nd Installation photos

Again, not so much with the captions.  But basically: there was a photo shoot.  And a pre-service dessert reception.  Then a procession into the sanctuary with myself, my family, my mentor Rabbi Alexis Berk, and the temple leadership.  Then there was the service with a covenant piece between me and the congregation, and speeches by temple and URJ representatives, the mayor, and Rabbi Berk and myself. Then at the end they completely surprised me by blasting Star Wars music and having me accompanied down the aisle by Stormtroopers!  The oneg was completely Star Wars-themed.  It was an AMAZING night.  I felt utterly cherished and loved.

Sheryl and Jane

Debra

Steve

Suzanne

Rabbi Berk

Waiting to process in

Choir

Welcome by the Rabbinic Search Committee

Candles by Installation Underwriters

Lori leading the dancing to Miriam's Song in the aisles!

Passing the Torah from all past-presidents to me

Rabbi Berk's sermon

My response

Covenantal piece

Priestly blessing

Giving me a gift on behalf of the congregation

A shtender to hold my prayerbook!

Jay giving a speech on behalf of the URJ

Mayor of Coral Springs

Co-President of Early Childhood Center

Noah the videographer

Closing song

Cue the Star Wars music

The moment I saw the Storm Troopers

Being escorted to oneg

Each plastic piece was hand-made by Lauren: she did 12 of them!

The cake wasn't to eat, but was "Reserved for Rabbi Loving and her family"

Root beer floats!

Going nuts with the Pixie sticks, aka "Jakku sand"

Lauren the party planner

Cheering with Mom

Carol, chair of the Installation committee

The next night we had a party for the out-of-towners, and served the cake!