Lots O Pictures

Chocolate-y ice cream punims galore!!

Kid-isms, the dictionary

Here are a few words the kids say, as well as their actual meaning:

Burn fire / Bird fire (E: "It's like a big big nest that lives in a castle!") = Bonfire
Water fall mountain = Water fountain
Neutrons = Nutrients (E: "This banana has lots of vitamins and neutrons!"
Fritato = Frittata (when meaning a Spanish tortilla de patatas, or potato frittata)
Load down = Download

Pictures, parties, and Purim

I know I'm behind on the updating so here are a whole bunch of pictures for your enjoyment. There's a couple of non-kid family photos from our night out last week to celebrate the publication on my mom's new book, and one pretty picture of the amazing sky we saw on our way home from gan one day. But otherwise, lots of pics of the girls from the last couple of weeks. Watch them ride their new bikes for the first time, discover a creative new solution to the lack of a functional double stroller (one of which while they are decorated with face-paint princess crowns in honor of Purim), make a decorate toy phones out of an old lasagna noodle box, and, best of all, celebrate their 4th(!) birthday with a party at gan. Enjoy!

Happy birthday Bubby!

(sorry the video is so jumpy, trying to work that one out)

More sisterly cuteness etc.

New Shabbat corner!

Snow day!

After several days of high winds and rains, dark skies and frozie toesies, it finally started to snow! It began last night and has continued through this morning. We woke up to the pleasant surprise or close to a foot of snowfall. The four of us got dressed up warmly in lots of layers and went outside to play. While outside we found a cool snowman (one of a village's worth of snow people in the field outside our home) and joined the crowds taking pictures next to it. Shawn and I had a snow fight. Eliana made snowballs and threw them around. Bracha, my little desert baby, was not impressed. Finally I took her back upstairs and tossed a cardboard box, aka Israeli sled, down to Shawn so he could take Eli sledding on a little nearby hill. Unfortunately 'little' was a very generous way to describe it and they didn't have much luck getting any momentum (Shawn: What am I supposed to do, just shove her down in the sled? Me: What do you think sledding IS?) After we all came up and changed into warm, dry clothes, Eliana and I sat down to a bowl of winter ice cream. It turns out this popular winter treat I enjoyed in my childhood is not so popular in Canada, but Eli loved it as much as I do. Then I made a pot of delicious hot cocoa with a modern twist: I ran it through the blender while still hot to get it creamy and frothy. Once again Eliana enjoyed her treat, and once again Shawn was confused (Shawn: How did you make it? Me: Um, with milk, cocoa, and sugar?). I asked if he drank hot cocoa as a child and he ridiculed the question but it turns out what he calls hot cocoa is what I would call instant hot chocolate. I figured this out after he seemed confused as to how a stove top is involved. A giant snowman! Well, maybe not so giant...