Making pita

Ever since we took Abigail to Kibbutz Gezer, where they had an activity that included making pita, I’ve been thinking that I’d like to make pita at home. I’ve done it once in the past and it came out great, but then I lost the recipe and couldn’t find another one that looked worth trying.

Here are some of Abigail’s pictures – she really enjoyed it!

They made sure to keep the kids safe – only the taboon guy got close to it.

Mr. Taboon also made sure the pita didn’t get burnt.

Too bad they couldn’t protect the pita from the destructive things a four-year-old can do – in this case, putting chocolate spread on it. What a waste! Anyway, when Ohad said today that he preferred I use the outdoor barbeque to make chicken, I figured I’d finally use the cheapo wok we bought and make more pita. (You flip the wok upside down on the barbeque. Works like a charm.) Instead, I ended up finding a recipe that actually recommended you make the pita in the oven and I didn’t feel like standing in front of the barbeque anyway, so I made them in the oven.

The recipe makes 8. We were able to take 2 to freeze – the others all got eaten straight out of the oven.

The kids kept asking me how you make the pockets. You don’t. They just magically appear :-)

Tefillin...

Today, 13 years less 30 days (in the lunar calendar) - Matan was born. And today, on Lag Ba'Omer, he put on tefillin for the very first time.

Me with Matan and Yirmi (and a head covering). And, believe me, it's just the way I'm standing...

My dad with Matan, after shacharit, taking off the tefillin.

After shul, most of us went for breakfast and I even gave a very short speech - now translated to English (only because I never give any speeches at all, so if I've already written something, I may as well share it):

I chose to speak about “Shma Yisrael”.

“Shma Yisrael” is the first prayer I taught my children. Every night before they went to sleep, I made sure to say the first line with them. As soon as they were able to say that, we went on to the second line and then I taught them to sing the whole first paragraph, just as my parents taught me.

Shma Yisrael is unique in that it includes rules about when to say it, “teach them diligently to your children and speak of them while you sit in your home, while you walk on the way, when you retire and when you arise” and about the places where we should put the passages, “You shall bind them as a sign upon your arm, and they shall be for a reminder between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.”

As young children, only parts of this can be fulfilled – “speak of them while you sit in your home, while you walk on the way, when you retire and when you arise”. Later on, one can fulfill, “You shall bind them as a sign upon your arm, and they shall be for a reminder between your eyes.” (Putting on tefillin) – which is what Matan has begun to do today.

Matan, I hope that in the future, as you grow, you will be able to fulfill more and more of the words of Shma, to “write them upon the doorposts of your house” and, when the time comes, also to “teach them diligently to your children”.

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I think (hope) it sounded better in Hebrew :-)

Thank you once again to all who joined us today!!!

If you need a good laugh

Loved, loved, loved this...

What do we leave behind us?

As I sit in my little kids’ room waiting for them to fall asleep, I sometimes wonder what they’ll remember of me when they’re older. Will they remember me sitting in their room, singing to them, often for a whole hour, with them setting up their own ‘playlists’? The songs I sang? Will they remember how I matched their clothes and set up outfits in the drawers so it would be easy to dress them in the morning? Will they remember the silly voices I make for them when I read them stories? Or how I we play a game we call, “hug me but don’t make me fall”? And then I think what my parents have given me and what I remember of my grandparents… and what of all that is really important.

I’ve even come to some conclusions about what is important to me… I guess I could sum it up as two things:

Values and devotion. I know what things my grandparents valued and to what things they devoted their lives – (two obvious examples are Judaism and education).

Interests and talents. I know my maternal grandfather was interested in photography, he wrote and sang beautifully… My maternal grandmother knitted fabulously (she could copy anything she saw in a store) and had an ability to distinguish more colors than the average person. My paternal grandfather was incredibly organized and read a lot… He also translated quite a few poems (both ways, I believe – from Hebrew to English and English to Hebrew). My paternal grandmother – hmmm… I don’t really know that much about her, even though I was 6-1/2 when she died. Time to ask my dad…

One of my aunts loves movies, is a talented artist and likes dinosaurs (we have a whole collection of stuffed dinosaurs :-)). My other aunt died when she was just 16, but I know she doodled in her notebooks and I think we have a lot in common…

With parents, I think it becomes even more specific, beyond the things I wrote about above, it’s also what type of books and music they like, specific things they do or have done, how they like to spend their time, expressions they use, places they visit and even physical objects that they are particularly fond of… and habits, quirks… I’m sure a lot of other things too.

These thoughts have made me even more aware of the things I want to emphasize to my children. So, Hadas knows that I have an organ donor card that I carry in my wallet and that I signed up to the bone marrow registry. All of them know that I donated my hair to children with cancer. (It was fun, highly recommended – pics below.)

Before

The braid

After

I spend time talking to the kids about things that are important to me, explaining my belief and giving them examples of the way I interpret things (e.g., despite the fact that I don’t drive on the Sabbath, when one of the kids was in bad emotional shape at their dad’s house, I felt that the right thing to do was to drive to them right away). I get silly with the kids and dance with them to Bryan Adams… and they’ve seen me eat peanut butter with a spoon (like my mother used to :-)) Sometimes Hadas (who goes to a boarding school in Jerusalem) calls me and tells me she heard a song I like on the radio (yes, she still knows what a radio is). And Matan  laughs at me when I’m not sure about a word and I pull out the dictionary. Lilach can always catch me when I’m being ridiculous (often) and trying to trick them. Abigail and Nomi know that when I take them out of the tub, I wrap them up in a towel and tell them to be careful not to fall and then I laugh with them that they “fell into my arms” as I carry them to the other room. Yirmi knows that I sing silly songs to him all day long… (oh yes, I do.)

I believe that making our lives meaningful to us is what makes them meaningful to our children (and then to their children). This also gives them the message that they should work to make their lives meaningful… and maybe the title of this post is misleading, because it isn’t just what we leave behind when we die, it’s what our children and grandchildren (and maybe even generations beyond that) have with them throughout their lives.

What do you think is important? What do you want to give your children ?

One-handed

This past year, I've had the pleasure of holding Yirmi - a lot. Often I was nursing him, while other times he fell asleep curled up in my arms, so peacefully that I didn't want to put him down. I really don't believe you can spoil a baby by holding him too much (if so, all my kids are terribly spoiled). I like to imagine that I'm transferring the feeling of comfort and being loved that will stay with him forever...

I sat on the couch a lot, was happy that once again I was breastfeeding during the Olympics. And I sat up in my bed, with the TV pillow that Ohad bought me as a gift when Nomi was born (sometimes falling asleep briefly while still holding him), but probably my favorite place was in front of the computer (because I'm such an addict. I totally am). So although I can't open my computer with just one hand (poor design, if you ask me), I've found some things that I can do:

- Read and answer some of the ~300 emails I get a day (though since I've switched to gmail, it's now closer to 80). The answers when I'm typing with one hand are usually shorter. I learned to touch-type 25(!) years ago and taught myself to touch type in Hebrew about 20 years ago, so typing with one hand just seems to go so slowly.

- Read updates on Facebook. I'm so not a snoop, but when people post things about their lives, I find it fascinating.

- Catch up on reading blogs. Though I've gotten pretty far behind and am even worse about commenting.

- Play Scramble (via Facebook). I play using only the mouse. I think it's the most brilliant model for a game ever, particularly the room that I play in.

- Doodle on Sumo. Here are the things I did yesterday:






And my favorite...


Any other ideas for games or fun things to do on the computer that don't require the keyboard?

Making things meaningful

I keep putting off writing this post. In fact, it's been so long that the issue came up again and reminded me that I am just not getting around to things.

It started like this [ok, male audience, if you exist, you can stop reading]

[really, I mean it, close this window & come back again next time.]

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I go to what we call the mikva - a ritual bath and every time I go, I remember going with my mom when I was younger. She often had to drive a very long way (try Lawton, Oklahoma to Dallas, for example) just to take a 2 minute dip. But her taking the time to go there and taking me along, sometimes as "the mikva lady" (the one who makes sure every last hair goes under the water) taught me something. It taught me that this meant something to my parents, enough for them to make the effort to continue even when it was really difficult. It was enough that I remember these trips every time I go. It makes me feel like I'm part of a chain that I don't want to break...

In Israel, the mikva is maybe a 5-minute-drive from my house. Kids aren't really supposed to know you're going there (though I'm sure it looks suspicious for me to leave the house with a towel and a hairbrush, in the evening, alone) and you certainly can't take your daughter along. So how do they learn about it? How do you get them to understand that it's meaningful? What memories will my daughters have that will make them keep going?

And when I thought about that, I thought about how we make other things meaningful. I guess it's repetition, involving the kids, explaining things to them, letting them ask questions... Probably many other things that I've missed.

What makes something meaningful to you? What things would you want your children to feel are meaningful to you when they grow up? What do you think we, as parents, can do to make things meaningful to our children?


And I have to leave you with a few pictures from this afternoon, since I got all the kids together :-)

A surprise from Singapore

One of my sweet blogger friends, Bea (let me know if it's OK/possible to link to your blog) sent Yirmi a terrific surprise. I totally love it! I was amazed when he took it and started 'driving' it all over the house. He's never played that way with a car before. (We've now put it away so it will stay nice for when he'll enjoy it even more.)

Thank you so, so much!!! It fits in perfectly with our car collection that currently includes 2 Fiat 500's, a VW Bus, a Porsche 356B, and several others. Um, yeah. Ohad seriously loves cars (his favorite is the Citroen DS). (OK, I admit it. I like them too.)

Earlier this morning, Yirmi was holding the Xbox remote and looking at a baby video. Such a boy. The girls are totally ambivalent to the remote.

Next up: teaching Yirmi to play Guitar Hero :-)