Settling in.

I feel like we've dived into the deep end with the new synagogue we recently joined.  My Toppall team certainly doesn't do anything in baby steps.  Sam is in the Pre-K class at the preschool, going 5 days a week.  And, Ian is in the religious school, going 2 times a week.  And I am showing up, on average, twice a day, 4 times on Tuesdays!  Yep, I'd say we are acclimated with the new place.

We've just completed the celebration of the Jewish High Holidays...Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.   Jeff and Ian went to services a few times over the Summer, but as a family, we hadn't attended until this past week.  Now that I have a basis of comparison between our last synagogue and our current one, I am more excited than ever that we made the switch.  It was the right thing to do.

While Jeff and I attended the adult service, Ian participated in the youth service for 2nd to 4th graders.  Sam was officially checked into the child care room, but even then, they escorted the youngsters to an age appropriate service for them to attend.  Both kids' services were 1.5 hours long.  And I couldn't be more pleased how well the kids did.  There was no arm twisting to get them to go.  They enjoyed it.

Sam is absolutely loving her preschool and speaks of staying there forever.  And Ian is enjoying the religious school, despite having to be there for close to 5 hours each week (unless you know, when a Jewish holiday isn't getting in the way of it being in session).

Ian loved getting to dress up for services and couldn't wait to put on his shirt and tie.  When he saw some of his friends wearing a full suit, he asked us if we could get him one.  No bribing needed to get this look.  :)

Seriously, could he be cuter!?!? 

Being a part of this new congregation brings tranquility with it.  There is a sense of inner peace for me. It was an easy transition.  I love that many of the Jewish families we are good friends with made the switch with us.  I look around the synagogue and feel joy that this is where Ian and Samantha will get Bas Mitzvahed.   And I am so happy that if a change was going to be made, it was done with our kids at such a young age. This is the experience I've wished for us.  


What a great way to bring in the Jewish New Year.

No car needed.

Sunday was too gorgeous of a day to be indoors.  It was sunny, 68 degrees and a little breeze in the air.  Finally, it felt like Fall was within our grasp.  Fall is my 2nd favorite season.  Why? Because it leads into Winter, which is my 1st favorite season.  I love sweater weather.  I love not breaking a sweat just walking from your front door to the car.  And I love the lack of humidity in the air.

I had cleaned the whole house, Ian was back from religious school and it was time to get outside.  I came up with the grand plan for me and the kids to bike to Sweet Frog (which is a little more than a mile from our house) and then have Jeff come pick us up and drive us home.  Jeff was more than a little skeptical that we would make it to Sweet Frog without a rescue mission mid-way.  He came up with the idea that we should start at Sweet Frog and then bike home.  It was more downhill this direction and we stood a better chance of succeeding.  I liked his idea, but was worried that if we already had the "treat" before the ride began, there would be no motivation to get back home.  Fortunately I was wrong and we did just fine.  Jeff was not needed to come get us.  Better than that, the kids did not complain once!  It took us almost an entire hour to go the distance of a little more than a mile, but we did it!

I was so excited and felt like we really accomplished something great.  That is until I logged on Facebook and saw the following in my news feed:


Josie's Frozen Yogurt- Fairfax, VA
We love to see families exercising together! We ran into this family who biked 15 miles to Josie's!


And right below this was a picture of this bike-riding-loving family.  I am pretty sure that it took them the same amount of time, it took us.  :)

Really?  Really?  Did I have to see this right after coming back from our most fabulous outing?

I can look beyond this "being-outdone-in-a-very-big-way" and focus on the good -- we got outdoors, we breathed in a lot of fresh air.  We were on the move for an hour.  We walked away from the electronics and no one whined or complained.  Take that family who biked 15 miles to get to Josie's and then has to bike 15 miles back home!  Ok, maybe I am a little jealous.  I told Jeff right before we left for Sweet Frog, I originally wanted us to go to Josie's, but felt the 2.5 miles distance might be a bit too much for this crew.  Maybe next time.

A girl on the go!




Stopping for a much needed water break.

A most delightful way to spend a few hours.  :)

dinner - ain't happening any time soon

Every now and then I really screw up the timing for dinner.   On Friday night, I had planned to make a Gluten-Free Veggie Lasagna for us to eat.  This lasagna is not an easy, 1-2-3-make and cook recipe.  It takes time to chop the veggies, saute them, then mix all the other ingredients together and build the lasagna, before you get to the point where you can put it in the oven to bake.  Even though it is time consuming, it is well worth it in the end.  Plus, I assemble it in two smaller pans, bake one for dinner that night and freeze one for a future dinner. 

The baking alone takes an hour, plus another 20 minutes it needs to sit afterwards to firm up.  At 4:45pm on Friday, Sam and I had just started making this lasagna. Not sure why I didn't get it started the minute I walked in the door after getting Ian from school, but somehow those 45 minutes flew by.  Jeff called about 15 minutes later and said he was on his way home.  I told him to take his time because we were tracking to eat dinner at 7:00pm.  This is a good 45 minutes past the time the kids usually eat.  Jeff's reply was, "Let's go out to eat.  We can have the lasagna tomorrow night."  You don't have say that sentence to me twice! 

It was Ian's turn to pick which restaurant we got to go to.  I called Ian upstairs and told him the news. 

Ian: Hmmmm, how about Glory Days? 

Me:  Ok.

Ian:  Or maybe, Red Robin.

Me:  Ok, Ian, it's your choice.  Wherever you want.

Meanwhile Sam is whispering, "Red Robin, Red Robin, Red Robin, Red Robin, Red Robin..."

It was very funny and a sort-of a subliminal message to Ian to pick Red Robin.

Ian:  I need to think about it a little longer.

Me:  Ok, Ian.  Just make your mind up by the time Daddy gets home.

Jeff (walks in the door at 6:00pm):  Ok, where are we going to dinner?

Ian:  Glory Days!
(You know he picked this JUST because Sam wanted Red Robin.)

So let's do the math, shall we?  Friday night.  Glory Days.  A 15 minute wait.  Sitting down, putting the order in, waiting for the food.  Yep!   It's about 6:55pm. 

Here's a picture of the great, long-awaited (finally cooked!) Lasagna.  Looks yummy, doesn't it?

Frightening

It's been awhile since Sam has gotten nose bleeds.  She had been getting them pretty frequently and I felt fortunate I was always around to help her and get the blood to stop flowing as best as I could.  The worst it had ever gotten was a time when it happened in the middle of the night and it seemed like it wouldn't stop.  I rushed Sam, who was about 2 years old at the time to the ER, with the blood literally pouring out of her nose.  You can imagine how fast I was driving to get there. Nor did I care about finding a parking spot.  Fair Oaks Hospital should be lucky I didn't make their doors drive-in style.  Everything turned out fine and the staff needed to calm me down more than Sam.

About 18 months ago, we had gone to see a specialist to make sure it wasn't a sign of something more serious and to see what our options were to end them.   Since as of that point, the nose bleeds weren't frequent enough to interfere with her life, we chose to not do an invasive treatment to cauterize the source inside her nose. 

Over the past year, the nose bleeds were getting far and few between.  It had been at least 4 months, if not longer since Sam's last one.  I was actually at a point where I was no longer documenting when it occurred, which nostril the blood was coming from and how long it lasted. 

The other morning I had to go in Sam's room and wake her up to get ready for school.  I can count on one hand how often Sam has needed to be woken up because she was sleeping past her normal rise with roosters internal clock she has in her. The first thing I saw was blood all over the sheet.  It really freaked me out.   Fortunately, as I put her light on in her room, she raised her head to bury it under her covers and I knew Sam was still breathing and mobile.  Deep down I knew it was from a nose bleed, but I will never get over the site of seeing my daughter's blood out of her body.  And the blood must've really been flowing too because it not only went through the sheet, but also completely through the mattress pad underneath it. 

All I could think of was, thank G-d the blood stopped flowing on its own.  What if it hadn't?  I had stopped checking on her in the middle of the night many years ago, but what if I should start again?  And how often?  Once every hour?  Every 2 hours?  That's not a very practical way to live. 

I guess Sam is used to this by now, because when she looked down at the sheet and saw all the blood, she instantly put her thumb and finger to the base of her nose and hold it like the dr showed us.  I told her it was ok, the nose bleed had already stopped.  And then I pulled her into a very big and long hug.

I couldn't stop thinking about it all day.  Seeing all that blood is a sight I will never get used to.

It's time for Apple Picking!

It's been a year and therefore, enough time has passed since our last family outing to go apple picking.  Our memory is a bit fuzzy on how miserable we can get and since I am stickler for keeping traditions alive, we loaded up the car and headed to our favorite apple orchard in Purcellville, VA.

This time we actually got there on the first try.  There was no getting lost.  No heated 'discussions' on which turn to take or what exit we should've gotten off at.  We actually had a very enjoyable drive to our destination.  I believe this is the first time in our 6 years of going that we all were speaking to each other up arrival.  How refreshing!

Good friends met us and I got a silent chuckle knowing they had a tough time finding the orchard too.  Jeff was able to get on the phone and help direct them to the right spot.   We headed out to the apple trees and had a wonderful time picking apples.  That is until Ian had enough.  It wasn't Jeff this year.  It wasn't Sam.  It was Ian!   He went from happy-go-lucky to get-me-out-of-here-as-quick-as-possible within 2 minutes.  Crazy, right!  It's always someone and I guess now, it was Ian's turn to be a Mr. Cranky Pants.  The only thing Ian ruined for this trip was our snack afterwards at one of the picnic tables.  We high-tailed it out of there after paying for our apples, rather than listen to Ian complain about how he didn't want to be there.

I think what happened was that Ian was spending most of his time climbing in the trees and got bitten by little nats on his legs.  All of sudden, he became very itchy.  And when he's had enough, he's had enough.

Ian loved, loved, loved climbing the trees.

Look Ma!  I got apples!!!

Is that a monkey in the tree?  No, it's just Ian.



Now, let's get down to business and pick some apples.
 

Sam and her friend, Ruby being silly.

This is the beginning of the end for Ian.

Walking out to the exit with smiles on most of our faces.

Will we go back next year?  You betcha!  Odds are at some point, all of us will be happy arriving and leaving.

 

It's a secret!

The other day I was told something in confidence.  It wasn't an earth-shattering revelation.  It wasn't a confession or information that would shed light on illegal activity or of a scandalous nature.  It was merely a conversation between me and another person.  Then at the end of the chat, the other person says to me "Keep it on the down low". 

That night while getting ready to go to sleep, I started filling Jeff in on my day and recalled my conversation for him.  When he realized I was telling him something that wasn't public knowledge, he stopped me in mid-sentence and said "Stop".   Jeff had no desire to hear any more and wished that I hadn't even told him what I already had.

Here's my thinking -- being married means that you can share this stuff with your spouse.  They supersede any pact or agreement given that you won't tell anyone else.  Right?  Not to my husband.  He has a very high moral code and wishes to not be brought into any third party conversations that aren't public knowledge. 

I argue that everyone would agree with me that you can tell your spouse.  Sometimes you want to bounce off what you heard and what a better person than the one who is closest to you? 

For example, what if my BFF told me she was cheating on her husband, but that I absolutely can't tell another person?  Fine.  I get that.  But, my gawd - how can I not tell Jeff?   How am I supposed to keep this secret to myself and not get it off my chest to anyone else? 

So I pose this question to you.  Do you agree with me that there is an unwritten rule that spouses can be told secrets or confidences told to you?  Now, of course, you need to determine in advance that this spouse being brought into the inner circle will not then go tell anyone else and can be trusted to keep a secret.   

I guess from now on, when I am told to "keep it on the down low", I'll need to clarify and see if that includes Jeff.  And I'd like to request that no one tells me anything that I can't share with my husband.  :)

Changes are brewing.

There were two things I could always count on;  General Hospital coming on at 3:00pm each weekday and eating dinner together as a family. 

Within the same week, both constants in my life took a left turn, when it should've gone right.

I've been watching General Hospital since I was 5 years old.  For the past 36 years that I've been tuning in, you could set your watch to it starting at 3:00pm on ABC.  Over the summer, commercials started announcing that as of September 10th, it was moving to 2:00pm. I guess I should consider myself lucky that they are keeping the show on and not giving it the same fate as "All My Children" and "One Life to Live".  When something like a 3:00pm start time has been happening for as long as this show has, it really throws you off to shift everything up to an earlier start time.  Not that I plan my day around watching General Hospital, but I knew exactly at what point I'd have to leave the house and pick up Ian from school. No more.

Unless Jeff gets caught in a late meeting or I have a girl's night out, our family can be found at the kitchen table having dinner each and every night. It was the rule, not the exception.  I find eating dinner together as a family one of the most important things we do with raising kids.  It gives us a chance to talk, recap our day, go around the table and give the best highlights.  We are able to put down all the electronics and enjoy each other's company.  Take some time and unwind.  Not to mention, this is the best opportunity to get a well-rounded, healthy meal into the kids and have them try new foods.

I plan our meals for the week on Sunday and go grocery shopping accordingly to be ready to make dinner each day.  As each day flew by last week, I realized even if I made the meal, we wouldn't be around to eat it.  I thought for sure, I'd be able to get our act together for Tuesday.  Nope.  Then Wednesday.  Nope.  Three nights of dinner planning that will get moved to this week.

With our new Fall schedule, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays can find us in the car during the dinner hour shuffling back and forth between activities.  As soon as I pick Ian up from school, he goes directly to his next stop.  There is no passing "go", no collecting $200, and no time to gather the family and eat together at the table.  It is a bit of a mess.  The only bright side in all this is that I don't have to cook dinner.  By the time we are all in one place again, at the house, it is too late to begin serving dinner.  In order for Ian's energy level and focus to remain elevated, I've been bringing him a substantial snack to eat in the car, when I come to get him at the end of the school day.  I've been rotating between pizza bagels, chicken & cheese quesadillas, or a burrito filled with bean, rice and cheese.  It's a nice, tasty, hot mini-meal that he can eat on the go and be ready for religious school or gymnastics.  Because Sam likes to do exactly what her brother is, all of a sudden, Sam is hungry too and needs the same exact thing, at the same exact time.

When the activities are over, it is time to wind down with our bedtime routine.  The kids usually need another snack at this point, not a full blown dinner. 

I never thought we'd get to this point where we weren't home for dinner.  But then again, I never thought they'd move General Hospital to 2:00pm either.  Each occurring on its own was a lot for me to wrap my mind around...both in the same week, I feel like we are entering the twilight zone where anything goes.