Family Day on Nina's Base

Once every year Nina's base hosts families to come visit, reinforcing the notion that this phase of Nina's life really is very similar to camp. After a day there I've decided that the Israeli army, at least this slice of it is a combination of summer camp, college and prison.                                                 The Mallers and me and the two boys trekked down south to go check out Nina's home away from home. And Nina came too, because she's on vacation this week. Even though Nina works as a medic in the infirmary all day, it was really cool to be on the base and check it all out, and they did a great job showing off all of the cool air force-y stuff.                       Eitan was obviously in two year old heaven as he is obsessed with airplanes (or a-panes) and pretty much begs to go play at the Mallers on a regular basis. 

The day was spent visiting the infirmary, meeting all of her army friends and being a part of the whole family day shebang- they had planes on display, felafel and other snacks, an airshow, and explanations of what they do on the base in general. 

Ami said this picture reminds him of a scene in Dr. Strangelove. I never saw the movie, but here's the clip. And, I got in trouble for letting him go up there. Apparently there had been a rope up that the unruly families trampled that I didn't notice. Whoops. 

Here's a view of Lev's perspective on the day from my ergo carrier.

Doesn't Eitan look like a real mini-pilot? Between that jacket and the earplugs, oh man is this cute?

Mallers plus Eitan the Maller-wannabe.

This is pretty much how I roll nowadays, one baby in the carrier, another in my arms. I'm getting pretty good at carrying around a million pounds of kid, and have the backache to prove it.

So that was our day in the air force. Good times.

Hanuka Highlights

The last two nights of Chanuka are upon us. And yes, I know I spell this holiday as many ways as there are nights. That's part of the fun.

We've had a great week, and it's especially exciting to watch Eitan celebrate this year when he really seems to get what's going on- at least infinitely more than last year. Here's a taste of what we've been up to. And I use taste very intentionally as this holiday for us has really a lot been about the deliciously unhealthy food as much as I've been trying to stay on a healthy post-baby-pre-wedding diet.

Year two making latkes from scratch. I forgot to take a picture of them once they were done. Perhaps because they were gobbled up as soon as they came out of the frying pan (courtesy of the tag team of Nina and Eitan).

On Sunday night we hosted the K-baum siblings for a night of fun.

 The Jewish Santa Claus award goes to Hudy and Debra for the awesome t-shirts for Lev (which will be featured and pointed out in later posts) and a bowling set for Eitan

The best sport award goes to Uncle Yosef for still kissing baby after getting projectile vomited on.

And the sweet award goes to Nina for bringing the Roladin sufganiot. She bought one of each of the 11 flavors they're offering this year.

And the dummy award I guess goes to me for forgetting to take a family picture of the siblings. We'll have plenty more opportunities with the upcoming wedding festivities I console myself with.

Another night we went to Nina's apartment 

And on a very rainy day we did crafts. Eitan and Daddy colored and put together driedels and I did some crocheting and made Nina a picture for her wall with paint chip samples.

Oh and had more sufganiot- this time from our little Emek branch of Neeman pastries. They were as delicious as they are beautiful. The one on the right is Irish creme flavored and the cream inside was unreal, tasted like a shot of baileys, but creamy and frosting-y. So good. The middle one was also such a piece of art, both from the top and also once sliced. This holiday kills me.

So tonight is Shabbat and we're winding down Chanuka 2012. Tomorrow night we will have to get one more round of sufganiot as they really disappear from stores the day after Chanuka as we learned a bit harshly last year (I wasn't ready!!). Latkes, we've had our fill of- I'd rather eat french fries or baked potatoes anyways, but sufganiot, you will be missed. But on the other hand my cholesterol level may return to normal, so that's good.

This year we've learned a whole bunch of Israeli insider Chanuka stuff thanks to Eitan's school. The Israeli lingo for this holiday is different here and back home. Apparently, most of our Chanuka terms are Yiddish; menorah, latke, dreidel, and here they use Chanukia, levivot and sivivon.  And I do think it's a good unifier that the one term we did come to this country knowing is the same in the US- sufganiot. Thank god. Also, they have different songs here. I mean, I guess it makes sense that "I have a little driedel" isn't in the canon of songs that all Israeli children know. One song we learned has Eitan's name in it- super exciting. Here's a techno version, the song is Banu Choshech. 

So that's been our Chanuka in Jerusalem, year two.

Chag Sameach!

Strawberry Season

Along with Chanuka and sufganiot season around here is also a much less caloric and oily seasonal treat-strawberries.                                                      As weird as it is to eat perfectly ripe, juicy strawberries in the middle of a bone cold rainy Jerusalem winter day, when things are in season here, you just go for it. And freeze them so that come summer strawberry pies and shakes are available. 

Thankfully it's a long season- I remember getting strawberries in the shuk last year almost through Purim. So we're not going to worry about freezing just yet, and are just going to enjoy these sweet little healthy bites.

Here's Eitan enjoying the first of our winter treats:

In this first batch, we had a real surprise- Siamese twin strawberries! Check it. How cool? I'm glad I'm not pregnant anymore (for a million reasons...) because I'd worry it was a sign or a message about what was growing in there. Thankfully there was just one little (big) baby Lev in there and yes, I was too freaked out to eat or cut up these twins.

PS- How good is that picture of the strawberries up top? I'm so impressed with my photo skills right about now.

Equal Opportunity Parenting

Last week I was compelled to share the fact that we call little Lev Beetle Bailey when his hat rides low and covers his eyes. 

This week, it's only fair to share incriminating pictures of the big guy. One of the gifts Eitan when all the grandparents were in town was a set of lego blocks from my mom. One day when playing he looked and the top of the bin they came in and called it his helmet, and now demands to wear it every time he rides his little bike. 

Ami said that the hat looks that the hats that the band Devo wore in the 80's. Now, I never heard of these folks, but he is right...Well done Ace.

Chanuka!

Last night was the first night of Chanuka. After much anticipation in school and after listening to a LOT of Pandora's Chanuka station and watching the sufganiot multiply in the street it's finally here.

Things...

We're settling into our new routine around here with the two boys now that all the parents have left. For Ami and I, it means less sleep and not so much time to do our own thing, for Eitan it means less attention and maybe an extra few minutes of Sesame Street here and there, for Baby Lev, well, every thing's the same for him.

Here are some highlights of our new normal:

This week, the Redskins played the Giants on Monday night football. Which here turns into (very early) Tuesday morning football. So I dressed the boys accordingly, and thankfully, the Redskins won.

On the same day, I made a mushroom quiche and put it in the oven. Then about 20 minutes later I spoke to Nina about running some errands in town, got ourselves together and left the house. A full three hours later, while on Ben Yehuda street, I realized that my quiche was in the oven. I freaked out and made Nina come home with me in case the house was full of smoke (or totally burned down) to open up the windows and air out the house while I waited downstairs with the kiddos.

Thankfully, the building still stood, and there wasn't even smoke somehow, but my planned dinner was a crisp quiche hard as a rock cookie.

If you don't believe me, see for yourself. By the way, I re-made it later in the afternoon and it was delicious.

Eitan's been throwing out some hilarious lines lately. Recently when he was playing with his cars or something I told him it was time to get dressed for school. He looked at me straight in the face and said, "mommy, I'm working". It was pretty awesome. He is quite the little parrot. Another day, I was cooking and he was hanging out in the kitchen. He saw a head of garlic and grabbed it. When I asked for him to return it so I could use it, he said "I need that" and held onto that sucker for an hour. He's lucky he's cute...right?

And last, but not least, a bonus shot of little Lev looking very pensive. I don't wonder why.

Aren't you thrilled you just spent time reading this brilliant addition to literature?

Lots of Lev