Long delayed update

It was a long couple of weeks, very busy but fun.

Tuesday 9/28 I got to chaperon Micah's class field trip to see Mr. Cohn's sukkah. There were reporters, and we got a very nice writeup with 3 photos in the MetroWest Daily News.

It was fun to accompany the kids. Besides really wanting to see this sukkah (I studied with Mr. Cohn, and his brother was one of my professors. I've been hearing about his very special sukkah for years, but this was my first visit.), I got to observe Micah's class in action.

Poor Micah is having a tough time. He is the oldest kid in the class, and waay more mature than the other boys in the class. But he's still a little boy, so the girls get ticked off at him, too. Third grade is a transition year. And to make matters worse, his buddies in second grade are no longer sharing a classroom with him (last year they were combined, this year separate).

Ok, anyway. It was fun.

Wednesday was a whirlwind. I have GOT to find a babysitter to help with Wednesday driving. Both boys have appointments every other week, and now Sofia is going to have gymnastics.

But after all the appointments, we drove down to my friend D's house in Sharon for a wonderful dinner in her sukkah. I love D and her family. And the food was yummy!

Thursday was Shemini Atzeret. Rather than sit in shul another day, I dropped Micah and Sofia at a friend's house for playdates, while Sam and his friend and I met up with several other families at the Farm. We spent about an hour cleaning shallots (until I had an allergy attack!). Then picked up the kids, and playdate continued at my house. (Actually, I think Micah stayed at his friend's house, and Sofia went to preschool). Sam had over the new kid in the class, and it was great. He's a very sweet boy and really really happy to be at MWJDS this year.

Unfortunately, however, Thursday morning also brought the demise of "Moishe HaDag", the boys' fish.

Thursday evening was Simchat Torah. Temple Israel does a GREAT job with this holiday. In the evening, we have Klezmer musicians, and dancing all around the sanctuary and social hall with ALL the Torahs (I think there are 9 or 11). Sofia had a blast - she loves to dance and loves the excitement of waving flags or holding her stuffed Torah and dancing in the circle.

Friday morning was more Simchat Torah, and this time I was one of the honorees - each year three people are chosen. It was nice, but kind'a embarrassing. I was the last, since I was reading Haftorah (I was called "Kallat Maftira", "bride of the maftir/extra portion"). I had to stand under a chuppah (held by four good friends plus my sons), and liten to the Rabbi talk about me. He does great at that kind of thing, and he was very funny. Dayenu (it would have been enough).

My parents came up, and were overwhelmed by the whole thing. Of course, my mother does not approve of all the things I do, which were instrumental in my being chosen, so she wasn't thrilled. Aside from more dancing, we also do this really neat thing in the morning service: all the kids sit on the floor in the center of the Social Hall, while the adults make a large circle around them, and we unroll an entire Torah. The Rabbi walks us through the scroll (Micah and his friends were very intent on following every word and line, and clustered around the Rabbi - it was lovely).

Then, when we return to the sanctuary to actually read the Torah, the aliyot (honors) are called in groups rather than just individual people. So a whole 1/4 of the room was invited up at one time. When my parents returned to our seats, my mother muttered "yeah, we don't do anything like this at our synagogue." Hmmm.

Looong service, so lunch didn't start until after 1pm but overall a wonderful morning. Then my parents hung out all afternoon at our house (nothing like spending a few hours with my mother to make me feel like the worst parent in the universe), and stayed for Shabbos dinner.

Whew.

Saturday we took it easy. Went to the fish store again, got a lesson in ammonia testing and got another betta fish (the boys call him Lucky but I'm sticking with "Yitzy HaDag"...). So far he's still alive...

Sunday morning, we had Bar Mitzvah prep meeting at shul for Sam and his grade. The kids stayed with the Cantor, and I'm glad Sam was comfortable with the boys form the religious School - there are a few he has become friends with in youth group and some he knows from nursery school. The parents all met in the chapel with the Rabbi and asked all sorts of detail questions about the bar mitzvah year.

Leave it to one guy to drop the "r" word when describing the invitation process. And then he walked out. My friend had to practically sit on me to keep me still.

Oh well. While we were all meeting, Micah and Sofia very nicely stayed in the lobby with my laptop, watching a movie.

Then we drove out to Springfield to go to the Big E, the New England States Exposition. It was hot and noisy and crowded. I had fun. Sam was a bit panicked for a while, but calmed down eventually. Boys discovered "fish on a stick" smoked salmon, their favorite treat. David was a total kill-joy at the carnival part; I let each boy do one carny game, and then he lectured them about wasting money. He realized his error the next morning.

David left again Monday. Quieter week, now that the holidays are over. But Tuesday, as I was driving to Newton Wellesley to get my stitches removed, the preschool called to say Sofia had a fever. I had to have my neighbor pick her up, but neighbor had an appointment so another friend had to then go get her. I met them back at the day school. Poor girl, fever and belly ache.

So no school for her Wednesday, although I had to bring her to Sam's team meeting. And her gymnastics class was canceled, which made life a little easier. Sam did his blue stripe test in Tae Kwan Do, whew.

Sofia was fine most of Wednesday and Thursday morning, so she went back to school....and got sent home with another fever (which I couldn't actually detect on the thermometer). So off to pediatrician. Quick-test was negative, but throat is red, so she's on antibiotics at least until the long strep test results come back.

So she's home today with me. Making a mess.

This Sunday is our Buddy Walk, so I've been busy making t-shirts for the team. One more to go...