Tiger Ari

Facepaint courtesy of McDonald's.  Not pictured is Pikachu Xander.

Loaded root beer floats

How had I not known about root beer schnapps before this?!

Baruch dayan emet, blessed be the one whose ways are beyond understanding

Those are traditional words one says when one hears of a death.

Shimon Peres, 93 year old former Prime Minister of Israel, died yesterday. The world mourns him.

Of more importance to my immediate family is the death today of Blackie Orange Loving, our Kenyan sand boa.

Xander was inconsolable.  Ari asked me if I would do a funeral at home.  So I sang the first stanza to Esai Esai, we all talked about how much we loved Blackie, Xander lit a yartzheit candle and I said Kaddish.

I was impressed with Ari's poised explanation when he spoke to my mom on the phone after:  "Blackie died. He's with God."

What a week.

New house rule

30 minutes of reading equals 30 minutes of playing MineCraft.

Xander sets timers. :)

Quite a lot, actually

The last ten days have been busy.

I have resigned from Temple Beth Orr as rabbi, and we are currently contemplating next steps.  That's all I'll say about that.

I got the chance to read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and oy, it was terrible!  I was so disappointed.  I've read better fanfic.

I also got the chance to finish Dara Horn's Guide to the Perplexed.  I liked this book much better than Harry Potter, but I did have trouble relating to the characters. I think they were all a bit too flawed for me and not particularly likeable.  But the writing itself, the way Horn composes her words, is absolutely beautiful.

Antonio came to visit!  He is and will always be awesome.

Jonathan and I went to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios for a day.  Pictures to come.

And now Holly is visiting.

Hooray for friends!

I laughed so hard

I came home from services last Shabbat.

Connor greeted me at the door with an excited, "I had donut!!"

"Good for you, sweetie," I told him.

I walked to the kitchen and saw an empty Krispy Kreme box.

"Wow, a lot of donuts, it looks like," I said.

"Yeah!  We had donuts for dinner," added Ari.

He paused.

"Daddy lost his mind."

Night out on the town with Odelia

The classics

We showed the kids the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, in tribute to Gene Wilder.  And The Neverending Story.  And Beetlejuice.

Xander loved Beetlejuice, but Ari wasn't a fan: "Mommy, Daddy's showing us a movie about ghosts.  I don't like it.  Do we have to watch just it because he saw it when he was a kid?!"

Because Jonathan broke his banana into a bite-sized portion

Jonathan switched all the doorknobs to handles

Just because he could.  And it made the house look nicer.

#goodhusbanding 

 #fixerupper

I love Florida clouds

An non-update

The outdoor fence is up.

The children are growing like weeds.

I'm starting to think of High Holiday sermon topics.

My daily swim is becoming colder and colder.

And that's about it!  More to share once my sister comes to visit and we take pictures tomorrow. :)