Live Free or Buckle Up?

New Hampshire is the only state in the union that does not have a mandatory seat belt law. Yesterday the state senate voted against a bill that would require those 18 and older to buckle up. Although I think it is ridiculous that people argue it isn't the state's place to dictate a "personal choice" such as using a seat belt, part of me thinks the New Hampshire senators may be onto something. If you are stupid enough to not wear a seat belt, I suppose it is some sick kind of natural selection. Those New Hampshire citizens who would rather not buckle up as they Live Free or Die, and then get in an accident and don't die... those are the ones that are the problem. If you haven't figured it out yet, seatbelts save lives. You shouldn't need a law to make you do it, but if that's going to push you to buckling, go for it. Legislate away!

A day in the life of Spring Break

This is the first April vacation in at least 4 years that I haven't brought the kids down to New Jersey for a few days. Something about a week without packing suitcases or coolers or sleeping at someone else's house appealed to me. The weather has been fabulous, and I haven't planned anything special other than playing outside for the kids. I know a lot of moms went out of their way to plan at least one outing a day for their kids. Not us. If you can't find something to do to keep you busy I'll give you something to do! (My mom used to always say that to us, and I can't believe I have resorted to it myself... sigh)

7:44 - I wake up to discover Jason still asleep beside me. Technically he is the only one who has overslept since I don't have to get the kids off to school. He hasn't slept well recently because of his allergies and the surprise 90 degree temperatures. He'll be cranky this morning.

7:50 - I go out to get the paper and discover our neighbors mail tossed all over our lawn, a mailbox across the street vandalized, and some cans tossed in our grass. No school and warm weather and the teenagers don't know what to do with themselves. Still in my pj's and robe, I collect the mail and pick up the cans. Nothing like a little morning exercise.

8:30 - I'm standing at the sink and look down to see what appears to be a tick crawling up my white robe. Little bugger must have grabbed onto me while I was outside and has made his way all the way up to my chest. I get the heebeejeebees, flush him down the sink and then google "deer tick images" to indeed identify my kill. You gotta love the internet. Fifteen years ago you'd be wondering and have no way to find out what kind of bug it was! Off to the shower to make sure he didn't have any friends.

9:15 - I discover two pieces of glass in the sink which I find very confusing since I didn't break anything. I email Jason to see if he broke something, but he didn't. I then go through everything in the kitchen to try and find something broken. No luck. I then turn to the boys to ask if anyone broke anything. They swear they didn't and the mystery continues. I find Alanya who denies it... for the first few minutes and then I can start to see her crack. Turns out yesterday she broke a glass tube that sits in a rain guage out on the deck. At least I know what happened, and no one got hurt. Although why the two jagged pieces of glass ended up in the sink, and how she did it without cutting herself.... I just don't want to know.

9:45 - Piano teacher arrives for lessons. I must have been busy because before I realize it she was on her way out the door. Hmmmm... wonder if the kids practiced enough last week.

10:00 to 3:30 - I cook. The last two days were hot here and I have a hankering to turn on the oven. I make two meals worth of glazed mini meatloaf and tried making it by mixing the meat with some TVP for the first time. We'll have to wait and see how it came out because it all went in the freezer for another time. Noah has been asking, so I make two loaves of Zucchini Nut Bread. Always searching for a semi-healthy cookie, I make about 5-6 dozen Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, much to the delight of the three monkeys. Wrapping things up I have some challah in the final stages of rising. This time I make one regular size loaf and two half-size loaves. The two small ones are for "Bob the Builder" (our contractor who is working in our basement) and his employee. They said my Challah Baking from last week smelled so good it was all they thought about on the way home that day. While I'm cooking there are various interruptions, negotiations, drinks, snacks and other issues I must deal with as the kids run in and out.

11:00 - The Price is Right. The kids love it. It's sort of educational, right?

12:30 - Basketball in the driveway.

2:00 - Noah heads off with a neighbor to play tennis while Ben and Alanya decide to design celebrity trading cards they can sell and make a million dollars. I just showed them how to copy and paste a picture of Hannah Montana off the web. I think before they make a million they may be sued a million for copyright infringement, but they will have fun along the way.

3:30 - Technically the end of our "spring break day" since the kids would be getting off the bus now. It wasn't a day at Disney, but not so bad in my book. Who says you can't have fun at home?

A sucker for some challah

About three weeks ago Noah came home excited about an assignment at school. He had to pick a country, write a short paper, find a piece of literature from that country, find a recipe and then make the recipe and bring it in for their Cultural Buffet. From day one he said he would do Israel, his literature was a Hebrew song/poem that Jason used to sing to him when he was a baby, and his recipe was challah. Not any challah. My challah.

I do not claim to be a master of this delightful, eggy Jewish bread and I only make it rarely. A local grocery store makes a wonderful challah and I often buy it there. The problem comes during Roshashana when challah is supposed to be circular. Every year I go to the bakery and ask them if they will make it circular, with no success. I've ordered and bought circular challah from fancy bakeries and it was expensive and not very good. So we started making our own challah.

Noah describes himself as a "bread-itarian" and challah is probably his favorite. He even says his favorite holiday is Roshashana because he can eat all the challah he wants with butter and honey all over it. The boy is in heaven. So I shouldn't have been too surprised when he announced he would bring challah into the Cultural Buffet. The thought of making enough bread for the entire fifth grade to try didn't excite me, and to be honest, I tried my best to get him to change to anything else. He insisted. The approach I then took was to convince him I should buy it. He wasn't thrilled about that option.

Last night I asked Noah if he was upset I wasn't going to make the bread. He said "no, just disappointed." Mother guilt promptly kicked in. He loves my bread so much and thinks it's so good he wants to share it, and I can't find the time to make it? Guess what I did today? All day? You guessed it. The third and fourth loaf are just finishing up now. I'm a push-over.

Birthday Parties... 21st Century Style!

After our coast-to-coast skype of a wedding (read all about it here) I thought I'd add another chapter to how great technology can be. The other night on my birthday my parents took part in my virtual birthday party. All the fun with none of the calories I guess!

My parents had sent a birthday package earlier in the week, and much to the dismay of my children, it sat unopened. When we were ready to pull out the cake, we skyped my parents down in Florida. They sang Happy Birthday to me with Jason and the kids and we captured it here in this picture.

While they watched us all enjoy my cake, I opened their gift and we visited. Later I carried the laptop into the living room and Ben and Alanya played the piano. We wrapped things up by taking them down to the basement so they could see how the construction on the new family room is coming. I can't help but think twenty years ago this would have been an episode of the Jetsons. Pretty amazing, isn't it?

Happy Earth Day!

In celebration of Earth Day, the first and second graders had to create hats made out of recyclable materials. Here were our two creations. Alanya is modeling her wreath made of newspaper with paper tulips adorning it. Benjamin went for the "let's see how much crap we can glue gun on this box" method. Both were spectacular!

I think it's wonderful that Earth Day has stretched into much more than a day promoting awareness and education on going green. Teach the children early and hopefully they will incorporate all of these ideas and philosophies into their lives. For a great series on Earth Week and how to incorporate Going Green into your home, check out Jennifer's blog Getting Ahead!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I was 5. I was in my favorite outfit, a blouse with denim gauchos and a matching vest. The party was at Papa Gino's and I got to go in the kitchen and make my own pizza. The cake had jelly beans all over it, my mother must have snagged a deal on clearance candy after Easter. And I got a Super Star Barbie. The first time I can remember wishing for a certain gift, and I actually got it. Like my wish really did come true!

Back then who would have thought that 33 years later I'd spend my day with my family, racing out of church afraid we'll be late for our baseball game. Sitting in the sun while my two little ones buy too much candy from the concession stand, and my oldest strikes out three batters. My husband buying flowers and a cake and taking us out for dinner. That little girl never could have imagined how it would turn out. Like a wish really did come true!

Happy Birthday to me.

Frugal Friday - a little bar of soap

Who was it that decided in our society that in order to wash your hands you had to have a little pretty plastic bottle with a pump and liquid soap inside? About 10-15 years ago it seems there was a shift to liquid soap, and not just good old Dial. Now people splurge at Bath and Bodyworks for scented soaps that they can change with the seasons. Have you even priced a bottle of liquid hand soap to a plain old bar of soap recently? You may be surprised.

This whole bar soap vs. soft soap occurred to me two summers ago when we were at Disney World. Our hotel suite had two bathrooms so every day we got a complete refill on soaps and shampoos. Two sinks, plus a mini sink in the kitchenette and two showers... that's 5 mini soaps. Now, stay for a week. We're talking 30-35 bars of soap. How crazy is that? Then I wondered about all the barely used bars of soap in hotels when people stay just one night. I'm sure they just get thrown away. Such a waste. Ever since then I always throw a sandwich bag in my suitcase to put the used, usually damp and sticky soap bars in to bring them home. Naturally with all these mini bars of soap sitting around I decided I would no longer purchase liquid soap. If a bar was good enough for my grandparents, it is good enough for my kids. Can you believe a kid was over once and asked "where's the soap?" I think the kid didn't know you could actually wash your hands with a bar of soap!


So my Frugal Friday thought is to bring back the bar. Every time you save a mini bar of soap from the trash that's at least a few pumps of liquid soap you don't have to buy, and a few more pennies in your pocket.

She thinks she's all that at the age of six

Last night Miley Cyrus, someone who is revered in our house by a certain six year old someone, was going to perform on American Idol. When I was six I would have done anything back in the 70's for the ability to record the Donnie and Marie show, or a Shaun Cassidy special, so being the cool mom that I am I DVR'd it for her. When I got up this morning Alanya begged me to put it on.

Keep in mind my kids rarely watch prime time television, not because we don't want them to, it's just that our bedtime routine requires us to start getting washed up and winding down before eight every night. When it really comes down to it, I'd rather have my kids reading in bed than watching tv. Don't get me wrong, they know about American Idol and who is popular and who isn't likely from the bus or playground, they just never watch it.

So this morning I fast forward to the Miley Cyrus song, and Alanya kept watching after that. She saw Matt Giraud get voted off, then he sang, and (gasp!) the judges used their save! Well, Alanya thought this was the best 6 minutes of any tv show she had ever seen! All of a sudden, Matt was her favorite, and he was the best singer, and thank goodness he didn't have to leave! As if that wasn't funny enough, she got off the bus and told me that she was talking to her teacher about American Idol and who her favorites are - Matt, because she has never even seen anyone else! I hope the teacher realizes I DVR'd it because if Alanya really saw it she would have been up at ten last night!

For now, Alanya was the coolest of the cool first graders... finally able to hang out at the water bubbler and talk about American Idol. Somehow I have a feeling next week she'll be begging me to tape it again!

A little Easter fun

We had a great day on Sunday, despite Ben having a fever and being sick. It's amazing what 8-hour Advil can do to perk a kid up! Here are a few shots from our day. The kids woke us up at 6:30 to look for their baskets. It would have been a whole lot earlier if we hadn't set some ground rules the night before. When I was little my parents always took an Easter morning picture of all of us lined up on the couch with our baskets. Here is this year's picture, and if you look closely behind Alanya you can see the Easter Bunny didn't sneak out in the middle of the night after hiding the baskets!

This picture is for my niece Madison who made these adorable Easter basket cupcakes. I told her I'd post it here for everyone to see. I don't know how she did it, but those Twizzler handles actually worked and you could lift them. Maybe next year Madison will be in charge of all the desserts!

Wishing everyone a belated Happy Easter!

Stay Healthy Saturday - go figure

Last week I posted about how healthy we have been this winter. I knew I would jinx it. Ben came home from school yesterday with a fever of 103.6. He zonked out on the couch and the temp came down a bit with Advil. He's a little better this morning, but he still has medicine in him. I just hope he's better for tomorrow.

I'm off to start baking for Easter. Jason has already made six dozen sweet rolls. I have a carrot cake and cherry squares on my list. Wishing everyone a Happy Easter!

Just a bunch of cashews

We are an interfaith family, and it sometimes takes a week like this, the overlapping of Passover and Holy Week, for Jason and I to stop and reflect on the choices we have made. By no means is being an interfaith family unique in today's day and age, but after nearly 14 years of marriage and being a parent for almost 11, I have come to the conclusion that every interfaith family is different in their own special way and no one does it exactly the same way. There is no rule book on how to do it, and no right or wrong. Jason and I did look for a how-to manual when we first were engaged, and we bought a number of books that we hoped would guide us in what we were attempting to do, but unfortunately nothing was a perfect fit for us.

Our choice to raise our children Catholic while instilling in them a sense of their Jewish cultural heritage may not be a popular one. Conservative Christians may wonder how I can believe in Jesus, and not feel the need for Jason to convert. And on the flip side, conservative Jews likely wince at the thought that we are teaching our kids Jewish traditions and that Jason gets up every Sunday to help me and the kids get ready for church. That's OK. We only need to answer to Him. What we are teaching our children is that we have a universal and all-loving God. Daddy learned about God the Jewish way because his mom is Jewish. Mommy learned about God the Catholic way because her parents are Catholic. Does that mean one way is wrong, and the other right? Of course not. So how could we possibly teach them differently?

Tomorrow night we will celebrate Passover by retelling the story of how the Israelites escaped from slavery in Egypt, just as Jewish families have done for thousands of years. We will follow the Seder, or order of the ritual, and pray the same prayers and eat the same foods. The celebration actually brings me closer to Easter as my family performs the Seder the same way Christ did with his disciples at the Last Supper. He said the same prayers, ate the bitter herbs dipped in saltwater to commemorate the tears and pain of the Israelites, shared wine and broke matzoh. Breaking the unleavend bread and passing it around the table to share with others is what you do on Passover. I wonder how many Christians actually know that.

Describing our interfaith family and traditions is not always easy. For our kids, it is just the way things are in our home. A year or two ago they were talking about how we were Catholic Jews, and one of them declared we were Cashews. Although silly and simplistic, for now the label works. We're just a bunch of cashews.

Play Ball!

**Late afternoon update**

Noah won the competition and apparently it was the RedSox boxers that put him over the top!!

It's opening day here in Boston and we New Englanders take it quite seriously. Noah's teacher is having a prize for the kid who is most decked out for the occasion and Noah has every intention of winning. Here he is. From the toes up, red socks (of course), RS boxers, RS tshirt, RS jersey, RS jacket, baseball necklace, four RS bracelets and four RS hats. He'd make Terry Francona proud!

Bunco virgin no more!

When I moved to this neighborhood seven years ago I started to hear about a game called Bunco. If you have never heard of this no-brainer dice game, let me fill you in. Bunco is the new Bridge Club. An excuse to get a bunch of women out of the house, have some laughs and a drink or two if you like. You don't just call someone and say "let's play Bunco tonight", it's a commitment. There are Bunco Groups that meet monthly and rotate houses. Some have crazy rules about bringing the hostess gifts like socks, dishtowels, or even panties. I know, sounds odd, and up to this point I have dodged invitations to join a group.

A few weeks ago I was asked again by someone who was just starting to put together a group. My first reaction was to say no, but I stopped myself. I don't laugh enough. I don't get out enough. You can never have too many friends. And let's face it, life is too short and can throw too many curve balls. A few years ago I told myself I was never going to turn down an invitation, and I seem to have forgotten that, so I said yes.

The other night a friend picked me up and we had a good laugh that I was a Bunco Virgin. I had no clue what it was I was getting myself into. Three hours and two margaritas later I left with $73 in my pocket! Wooo hooo!! I was a Bunco maniac! I won for most Buncos as well as most overall wins! Too funny. Beginner's luck everyone kept saying. When I got home Jason asked when the next Bunco night was... Daddy needs a new pair of shoes!

Stay Healthy Saturday - 5 Toothpastes

Back in November I read this post on Getting Ahead where Jennifer shared how she gives each of her kids their own tube of toothpaste to help cut down on the spread of germs. Have you ever seen a child put toothpaste on a toothbrush? They basically scrub the tube up and down and all over the toothbrush, then the next child picks it up and does the same thing, so on and so on. No wonder kids get sick all the time! I read Jennifer's post, and although it seemed a hair bit crazy, it was easy enough to try. So I dug out three cups and three tubes of toothpaste. The kids thought it was all very exciting.

Jump ahead five months to April. I am thrilled to report that this winter..... NO ONE HAS GOTTEN SICK!!! You read that right. No one. Noah had a little sniffle for two days back in January. That's the closest we even got to a common cold. I am completely shocked and amazed. Was it the new toothbrushing system? It must have helped. All five of us also got flu shots, that can't hurt. I try to encourage hand washing, but come on, we're talking kids here. I have thought about posting this for a month or two now, but didn't want to jinx our house. Knowing my luck we'll have a stomach flu raging through the house within 24 hours, but I'm taking the chance.

My conclusion? We have a new toothpaste system in our house from now on!!

The wedding guest

When I was six years old my family moved from Massachusetts to Texas. As I look back now as an adult I realize how huge this was because my parents had never lived more than a 20-30 minute drive from my grandparents. Every time we'd say goodbye after a visit the tears would flow. All we had were letters and phone calls, but back then "long distance" was expensive. There was nothing called unlimited minutes, or "friends and family". Later when I was studying overseas it was a similar story. Email was non-existent and every other Sunday my parents would call me at 7pm my time. If I missed the call, forget it, I'd have to wait another two weeks. We have come a long way in the last seventeen years, but I didn't realize exactly how far until our most recent trip to Seattle.

Last weekend every member of Jason's family found themselves in Seattle for his cousin's wedding. Everyone that is except for one very important person... Grandma. At 89 she is the matriarch and inspiration for all of us. Active in her community even today, she didn't begin to slow down until a few years ago when she survived a stroke. So she doesn't ride her bike or go hiking anymore, but she still enjoys each day. The day after the election Jason spoke to her and she told him some people had encouraged her to use an absentee ballot so she wouldn't have to battle potential crowds. Are you kidding? Grandma insisted on going to the polls. It was an exciting day and she wanted to experience it. A trip across town to vote is one thing, but a cross-country flight from New Jersey to Seattle would be too much. Grandma wouldn't be at the wedding.

Jason's aunt had other plans though. Before she left for Seattle she set up her laptop in Grandma's living room. Then the night of the wedding she and her daughter set up a second computer in the ballroom. With the assistance of a family friend that helps care for Grandma, a Skype call was successfully placed, and there she was. Grandma was at the wedding! As each guest arrived, they went over to the computer and said hello to Grandma. She was like an actual guest, except sitting on a table and resembling a MacBook. Shortly before the ceremony started the rabbi came up to us and asked about the laptop, and for a brief moment I was afraid he would tell us it wasn't appropriate for a religious ceremony. Instead he wanted to suggest that we move it to the front row so that Grandma could get a better view!

The wedding began, and as the bride and her parents walked down the aisle a cousin held the laptop up for Grandma to see. The bride smiled into the computer and waved, and when Grandma beamed and waved back the tears started flowing all around. Jason's aunt had done it. Grandma was at the wedding. No wedding is complete without a family portrait, so here it is.

If you look really close, you can see Jason on the laptop screen taking the picture. What a wonderful thing technology can be when it really can make a difference. Who needs "long distance" when you can actually be there??