OW!

Nathaniel learned the word OW! Unfortunately, he says it when hes hurting you. LOL he will walk up, pull Elie's hair and say ow. Now to teach him not to do it:)

New Car?

Mike got an offer on his car. Not as much as he wanted but I guess we need to be more realistic. So, we took a family trip to the auction yesterday. Mike picked up a 96 minivan for cheap. He is going to seal the deal with his car- kind of sad we have had that car almost as long as we have been married, but we will never really have the money to restore it. He is going to have a mechanic check out the van so we can decide weather to licence it and make it the 2nd family car or sell it, get the money back and try the auction again. Its always a gamble there but our new car is working out very well

The City Museum

We joined a new home school group recently. We had our first field trip Friday to the city museum, which although pricey was lots of fun. There were tunnels, giant slides, big ball pits,a magic show, craft rooms...
Eliana and I took a rag doll making class but we seem to have lost our dolls:( Now that we know how we will be looking for new scraps and trying to make more.
The new group seems full of friendly people and has lots to do. Once again this year we are facing the full calender and how to trim down outings to make sure we get enough school done. Ironic isn't it, that the objection to homeschool is classically "socialization". We have so many activities I can't possibly do them all.

Moved in Again

We are two weeks into our new home. I realize I didnt post even once this whole summer but it has felt like its been one VERY long day. We got moved in and unpacked and painted at the house. And the doctor called. Nathaniel had a very high lead count. When it became aparant that the landlord was unwilling to fork over the dough to do an abatment, we packed up and moved... AGAIN. We had to stay in mil's house for two weeks while we searched. We are finally settled (hopefuly for good- we have renewed our commitment to not move for two years) Everyone likes the new house- there is lots of room. Oh yeah there was a new job thrown in there. Maybe I should rename this blog crazy house.

New Examiner title

Saint Louis Breastfeeding Examiner

I dont live in Springfield anymore, and STL homeschool examiner was taken

Moving`

The story of this move actually begins last summer. For years Mike had worked from one contract to another, a really bad time would be when it took three weeks to get a new job. Then all of the sudden the economy crashed and he was out of work six months. When he was offered a job in Decatur we couldn't really pass it up. We were tired of moving and went there intending to fully embrace the town. I even started looking for jobs my parents could do there hoping they'd move near us. The only flaw was, we really didn't like it there.
Meanwhile, Michael was trying to work things out with Kelly (Bryan's mom). At first she was fine with modifying visitation, since we were now five hours away and every other weekend wasn't going to work. But then she changed her mind. Barring lots of money (and I mean LOTS) and a friendly judge there really was no forcing her. SO Michael want to his boss and after a few weeks of negotiations got approval to telecommute from the STL area. We had already taken a vacation from both jobs during the second week of May, my parents were also off as we were supposed to visit them. So we went house hunting and found something we liked right away. We packed up, booked a uhaul, and sent my parents a train ticket. Instead of visiting them they would come to us and vacation in STL.
The only problem was... the owner of the house kept postponing meeting to sign a lease. So we came back to look at some other houses on Sat (move in is booked for Monday) and found something, amazingly. Its right near the kid's friends and down the street from a park. Of course the first house was at the bottom of our affordable range and this is at the very top but... we will make it. On Monday afternoon we hit the first glitch, our old landlord who has always been pretty nice decides that he wants to replace all the carpet so he's keeping all of our deposit. Further evidence that while an honest landlord isn't non-existent its rare. But at least hes not trying to get more money out of us so we let it go.
The house hasn't passed inspection so we stay the night with my MIL. All eight of us. We pass two nights which she is asking for payment for (to pay for extra gas and electricity) and in other ways making everyone uncomfortable. So we spend the third night at a hotel (and this is when the uhaul starts racking up fees) We tried doing activities with the kids but even that wasn't that much fun because the car was stuffed with luggage and people and everyone was stressed about how much money we spent. Finally we got to unload the truck on Friday. Saturday we drove my parents back to Kansas City. Sunday, we started cleaning. The last tenants left the place pretty trashed. That's what took so long to get moved in. We are finally getting settled in but, we have gone through all of our savings and we need another vacation!

Head Coverings

I cover my hair on Shabbat. Some of my freinds do all the time. Some of you have no idea what I am talking about LOL whichever camp you fall in, check out coveryourhair.com
I love their products and have found myself wearing their hair accessories many times when it has nothing to do with religion, they are just nice looking!
Plus if you join their facebook page, they have giveaways all the time just to get the word out about their products!

Recital Day!

The kids did a small recital as a result of their classes they've been taken since October. The boys have been taking a piano class that is more like an intro to music. They learned basics of hwo to read music, where notes are on the keyboard, etc. They did a small demonstration of what they learned rather than playing a piece onstage. I just took a couple pictures.

Eliana took ballet. First they got on stage and played a game where they dance till the music stops then freeze, then there was an ensemble piece with all the girls in it. I am still figuring out the new camera so this turned out to be like four video clips. Yes, she is the youngest in her class, three was the youngest allowed and she had just turned three when we signed up.

Nathaniel's Laugh

Nathaniel has the best laugh! He laughs more than I remember any of the other kids doing. I dont know if this is the cause or result of his great laugh, but the older kids have made it there mission to crack him up. They come up with some crazy stuff. Here you see Zach throwing a car into the toy bucket and Nathaniel just cracks up. This went on for about 10 min.

Looong weekend still not over

We went back to STL for the weekend, first got a very pleasent suprise. My MIL house was very clean and waiting to welcome us.We had a pretty good time. Sat we went to service. On Sunday I took the kids to the Science Center with my MIL On Mon morning I was planning on the zoo but it was a bit chilly. Mike says lets go have the transmission checked (it was pulling a bit after the long drive) and eat brkfst then go. So far so good, our extended warrenty just kicked in so we have to make sure we maintian so they dont have an excuse not to pay. The mechanic says it needs a rebuild and a this and that. but he says dont drive home without fixing the thermostat. Well I know a mehanic here who would do it for much less but Mike calls warrenty to see if its covered and mentions the transmission issue. Now we have to fix it. They wont pay if they know we drove another hundred miles after we heard it had a problem. So then, we cant find a stupid rental, the mechanic has a deal with enterprise for $50 bucks for a van but they wont do a one way, we cant afford to rent the whole week so... my MIL ends up driving us home and turning in the van the next day agggh. Now we are waiting to hear from the mechanic, the warrenty co sent an inspector, they want to get out of paying it since our warrenty just kicked in they are trying to prove we did somthing wrong. If they pay its still like a 500 bill. We should be able to pick up the van tomorrow but of course they wont start till they approve the repair soo who knows when we can go get it the whole thing sucks

Stl for the weekend

We will be spending this weekend in St Louis and attending Seder at Beit Tefilah, my kids are thrilled

Parenting Thoughts

This morning I took Nathaniel to a baby play group and was self scolding for letting him mouth the toys wehn I saw other moms diligently taking each toy out of their baby's mouths. I started thinking, am I being irresponsible or just plain lazy. Should I be chasing him around not letting him chew the toys when thats pretty much all he wants to do.
Now, the boys are outside and I wont let them go in the front because I think its safer to be in the back away from the street. They say its too hard to ride their bikes back there.
Is it possible to be too lackadasical and too over protectibe in one day?

Party Failure

Well its official, my book party was a complete failure. I spent a good amount of time feeling sorry for myself but I am pretty much over it. DOnt think i will be trying again anythime soon though, will stick with other ppl's houses. I think the books are great, they will sell themselves, I will let other ppl find freinds who will show up.

Fish

Our biggest pet ambition around here, at least for now, is the fish. But, they recently got a home upgrade.

Van- something I am loving

I am a bit behind here, we bought this van a month ago, but here it is. 2003 Chevy Venture probably the nicest vehicle we have ever owned. Definetly happy with it. I entered it on a list of things I love at tidy mom- check it out.

Party Day

So.. all week I have been cleaning house and begging ppl to come and now... I am not sure I have any yeses. I only had four to start with and one is sick, one never confirmed, one was a freind of the sick person, and one I still have4 to call and remind, I am a bit nervous she will back out too. Oh well at least I have a clean house

Usborne Books

Well I have decided to try selling Children's books. I hope it works. I must admit I am a bit nervous since it is based on home shows and individual sales and I have has such a hard time making freinds here. I am exited on one hand because they are neat books and they arent that expensive. I think I could do well, if I can get ppl to come to my house and try it. That is the hitch. I feel like such an outsider here. Now that I have done it I am so nervous no one will respond to me at all cause I just dont have freinds here. oh well, guess I am only out a few bucks if it doesnt work but I am really hoping it will.

Purim!

MATHATHON!

Its mathathon time again!!!!

Please support Yosef or Zach this year Thanks