NINE

On Sunday Merri turned nine years old!  I can't believe it!  

She is a lovely, gracious, elegant creature and we are so proud to be her parents.

Around these parts we decorate elaborately to celebrate birthdays.

And we eat specially made cakes.

What a special day!  Oh to be nine again!

SnowMAN

If you can have a snow drought, we have had one.  Until today.  He was outside by 6:30 and had this created by 7:10.

Ending to a lovely vacation

Will has had an attitude problem since yesterday afternoon.  He arrived home from a special adventure with his aunt.  He was greeted by his brother, who wanted to share some new things about the Power Ranger's.  Will shut him down and said, "I don't want to hear it." 

We had some words, time spent in his room and he seemingly snapped out of it. 

I don't know what set him off, perhaps it was the shirt with a missing button.  But it grew in size from there.  Disrespectful, disobedient, destructive, thoughtless and selfish.

I am completely and utterly exhausted, emotionally and physically.  When this happens we are ALL hostages.  No one can make a move without being screamed at.

As he sat on the stairs waiting for the time to go out and wait for the bus, I laid out how his afternoon would go.

He would come home from school and go directly to his room.
There will be no playing with legos or hero factories.

We will reasses as needed.

I love him so deeply and at the same time have such rage.

Motherhood is not for the faint of heart.

Random

I gave up Facebook for lent.  I should have given up cookie dough.

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The kids have been on vacation this week and each of them have had wonderful adventures.  Well perhaps not Eliot, but certainly the big kids have had a wonderful vacation.

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Merri's first sleep over party is next Friday night.  We are shipping the boys out to various friends and family.  We are taking her and 4 of her friends out to dinner and then back to our house.   I have planned wonderful decorations.  The kind in which she will feel so very special. 

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Genetics are a funny thing.  Jer has brown eyes, I have blue and all of our children have blue or green eyes.

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There isn't much funnier than a 16month old who climbs on his father as he is doing push ups or crunches. 

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We are watching Lost on Netflix.  FREAKY and oh so good!

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My daffodils are virtually bloomed.  Um...

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I need to be running more regularly. 

On Stage

Ollie's Holiday Show in December

Merri was in a holiday recital in January.  She did GREAT!

Not to be out done, Will was in a President's Day performance.

He was George Washington!  It was absolutely precious.

It was quite an honor for me to be invited to Will's performance.  He was the star!

Changes

I am not cut out to stay home, at all.  I just can't handle all the minutia.  But recently I switched jobs to one where I work 100% from home.  Being able to better manage things like, meals, homework and my own exercise regime makes for a better balance for the entire family.  We still have our babysitter, as I am working from home.  But it is a slow ramp up period so I am taking full advantage of the time.  The house is better organized and Jer built me a wonderful new desk. 

We are collecting things to sell at our yard sale and I have listed some items on Craig's List.  But before all of this wonderful change we had some pretty wonderful holidays!

Kicking off the season was a trip to the Nutcracker with a favorite Auntie!

 

Followed by the Christmas Pageant staring 4 of our kids!  Three kings and Eliot as Baby Jesus, who I don't have any pictures of as he slept the whole time.

It was precious and we were honored!  We further got into the spirit with the last of consecutive Kindergarten Holiday Concerts for a while.  Ollie was fantastic!

It was wonderful and he was so proud!  We followed up the concert with a Hanukkah party!  Lots of gelt, potato latkes and good friends.

And then it was Christmas Eve!

We went off to church in all of our finery, then home to have chinese food.  We set out treats for Santa and his reindeer and were all snuggled in our beds.  We listened to the big kids chatter with excitment via the baby monitor.  It was precious listening to them.  I, selfishly, look forward to the day when they no longer blieve in Santa.  But listening to them carry on about how long they could stay awake hear Santa arrive.  And even more exciting was the thought that perhaps they would see Rudolph!  "His nose will be so bright and RED!"  Darling, just darling.
I, like most mother's, worry that what I have purchased will not be enough or loved by the recipients.  But every Christmas morning, my heart swells with Christmas Spirit as they squeal with delight!  They loved everything and were pleased with the gifts they gave to each other.

We ended our holiday season with our family in Maine for a belated Hanukkah party celebrated on New Year's Eve.

So far 2012 is teeing up to be a fantastic year!

Religion or Heritage

Religion, noun, is defined as, by Merriam-Webster(2nd definition):

a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.

Heritage, also a noun, is defined as, by Merriam-Webster(2nd definition):

a) something transmitted by or acquired from a predecessor:  Legacy, Inheritance
b) Tradition

My faith is more important to me that it is to my  husband as a result we decided that we would raise them Christian.   I have found many websites for interfaith families and they all seem to be predominatly Jewish with Christianity in the back ground.  Our family is the opposite.

I want my children to understand that they are Jewish and they are Christian.

Because they are learning about God/Jesus at church and what I am teaching them they have certain attitudes, beliefs, and practices in allignment with my beliefs.

Because they are being taught certain traditions by either myself or their other familiy members.

Should their come a day when one of my children wants to embrace Judiasm as a religion, I will have hopefully provided them with, perhaps a small foundation. 

It is an age old problem amongst interfaith families - Typically the dilution of one, both religions, however, by identifying hertiage and religion provides me with a frame work with which to raise these children, without negating their Jewish heritage.  

For that is part of who they are.

Mr. Eliot

On October 9, 2011 we had a birthday!

I do believe it was the fastest year that I have yet to experience!  And now...

He is a very busy boy.  Happy First Birthday!!

Ten

Ten years have flown by!  Literally flown by.

We have grown in every sense of the word.  Our hearts, our mutual respect, and most notably our family.  We have allowed and encouraged eachother to examine ourselves, to learn more about ourselves and follow our dreams.  I am a better person because of him and he because of me.  We are lucky enough to be best friends.

Hearts have overflowed with love, faces have hurt from the laughter and cheeks have been tear streaked.  And we wouldn't have it any other way.

First Day

On Tuesday the red head, who had been our baby for 4 years, went off to kindergarten.  A very exuberant and effervescent boy boarded the bus, truly his life long dream, that has been picking kids up at our house for the past 3 years.

And he had the greatest day!

He comes home everyday saying that the day was better than the last.  And he loves when he sees his brother and sister at lunch.

A right happy boy.