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Homeshuling

Last year, in honor of Lag B’Omer, I held a backyard picnic/campfire for Ella’s class and lots of other friends. We roasted marshmallows, sang songs, kicked around the soccer ball, and played with toy bows and arrows. Everyone hung around for hours because it was so much fun; it was one of my favorite gatherings…

Zoe celebrated her fifth birthday last week and really, really wanted a birthday party. So much so that she began planning it sometime around December. So far, we have celebrated the girls’ birthdays with a family get together, or a very small gathering of a few friends (following the rule of thumb “as many guests…

Today is my (ohmyGodwhendidshegetsobig) five year old’s birthday. This year, it happens to fall on the same day as Israel’s birthday, Yom Haatzmaut. For us, celebrating one birthday is quite enough, and since I’m sure Israel won’t cry if we ignore hers, the choice is fairly obvious. I’m allowing this confluence of events to give…

While my two girls are the best of friends (when they’re not busy never playing with you again for the REST OF MY LIFE) they couldn’t be more different. Despite nearly identical upbringings, one of them eats everything, and one eats only treats (unless bribed with the promise of treats.) One started recognizing letters and…

I know the Omer is supposed to be a time of mourning, but around here, it’s a time for jelly beans. I may not have made counting the Omer any more meaningful (I have been counting for much of my 42 years, and I still can never remember from year to year what “omer” really…

11 See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. 12 Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land Shir HaShirim 2:11-12

The girls and I spent most of Passover at my mother’s house in Baltimore, where we also visited with a wonderful woman whom I met through this blog. (She was already friendly with my mother from shul — it wasn’t as if I just showed up at the door of someone who clicked “like” a…

The kids and I are in Baltimore for most of Pesach, which means that I get to raid my mother’s recipe box. You know, the kind that’s jammed packed with stained 3 x 5 cards and newspaper clippings, all bearing the secrets to the foods of my childhood. Since there’s still time, and you probably…

Reposting from last year, since I haven’t done anything creative this year. Yet. from April 2009: With all things Passover pretty much packed up until next year, we’ve been experiencing something of a denouement around here. I’ve been wondering what to blog about….what Jewish thing is going on in our lives now that the ultimate home-shuling…

“What matters?” Zoe likes to ask, her arms held up in the universal child-asking-a-question gesture. She thinks it means “what’s the difference?”  To me, she sounds just like Yenta in Fiddler on the Roof whenever she says it, most often after I correct her pronunciation of a word. ( “Shrimp, shrump,” she shrugs. “What matters?”)…
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