A Tale of 2 Parties

I have to be honest. I love my routine and schedules. I find it is the only way to stay afloat these days. So after the kids get home from school around 4 we do homework and they watch a bit of video, at 5 we do dinner, and at 5 30 we do baths. At 6 we are in PJs reading books and playing "calm" games (the calm thing does not always happen but we try...) 6 45 we brush our teeth, fill the water bottles and at 7 pm we say good night, although recently the kids have been staying up till closer to 8. But they need to be in their room, ideally in their beds.
So this works pretty well. And then of course once a week it's Shabbos and that messes everything up again. But we work around it. And then every month or two there is a Jewish holiday that throws a wrench into my perfectly structured evenings.
Right now we are in the middle of Channukah which means a week of mayhem and late nights and way too much sugar. I try to be flexible, but ask my husband, it is really not my biggest strength. We also wanted the kids to have fun, though, so I knew I needed to get out of my comfort zone.

Monday night we decided to take the kids to Channukah on Ice, even though the event did not even start till 6 pm, which is usually PJ time. Basically, Chabad takes over the whole ice skating rink in Central Park and there is kosher food, Jewish music, candle lighting and a performance by the Maccabeats.
We knew this was an ambitious plan so we asked our awesome babysitter to come with us for back-up. Of course we caused a stir on the subway there because there were 4 kids and 3 adults and lots of noise. We were kind of hard to miss. We got there okay and proceeded to put the 3 big kids in ice skates. This was their first time, so they were tripping all over their feet before they even got on the ice. But I have to say it worked out really well. The weather was beautiful, the views of Central Park amazing. A went off with her friend and actually got the hang of skating. The babysitter and I each took one of the boys and took them on a few rounds. My husband held the baby, because the skates did not seem to fit his feet well. I loved being on the ice- I have fond memories of going ice skating every Sunday as a child and it was fun being back in skates. We skated a bit, had dinner and then stayed for the Maccabeats performance- M was dancing and Y was loving every minute too. Things were going so well, I was surprised when my husband said it was past 8 pm and time to leave...I was having fun and would have gladly stayed for more skating.
But the baby and M were getting really tired, so we called it a night. The kids were super excited and the event was a definite success, especially given the fact that I did not come home stressed and overwhelmed.

The next night, however, was a different story. We were scheduled to go to a chocolate making party at a local candy store. First, Y refused to go, so he stayed home with a sitter. When we got to the store, M was not interested in making chocolate and instead was walking around touching all the candy...Baby AY was excited about all the sugar and I had to hold him and make sure he did not get to it. Then Y changed his mind and showed up with his sitter, who was not doing a great job of supervising him. He also started wandering around the store, grabbing things. I now had 3 out of 4 kids not participating and wandering around a store full of candy and chocolate, and my stress level was getting higher and higher.
I was counting the minutes till the pizza dinner, hoping that would offer a good distraction, when all of a sudden, Y grabbed on to the jelly bean dispenser and yanked, sending a cascade of literally hundreds of jelly beans flying all over the store...I was really embarrassed and decided I had reached my threshold.
I grabbed 2 slices of pizza to go and shepherded the 3 boys out of the store and back home where they ate, took baths and got back into my regular routine, while we waited for A to come home with my husband.

The moral of the story- you never know which event will go smoothly and which will require a lot of supervision and nerves. It's not always the one you think it will be. We are all partied out at this point and will spend the next few nights at home playing dreidel and eating chocolate gelt. I am happy we were able to do some fun things with the kids. I do feel that we are creating positive memories for them when we make the extra effort to take them somewhere special. That is something that is important to me and that makes all the stress and  logistics involved in planning outings ALMOST worth it. But I am looking forward to getting back to my boring routine.
Happy Channukah to all!

Celebrating Milestones

Eight years ago, on the sixth night of Channukah, my husband and I got engaged. Eight years later, there we were, trying to install four carseats and wrangle four children into the mini-van we had rented for the afternoon to go visit cousins in New Jersey. 15 minutes later, as we were finally ready to drive off, my husband and I looked at each other, not quite believing that we have officially outgrown a sedan and are now a mini-van family.
A lot has happened and changed over the last eight years. We now have an entourage- a carload full of spunky kids. I am happy to report that we still argue about the same things...kidding! And we still celebrate all the big and little milestones, including Baby AY's 4 week birthday! So Happy Engagement Anniversary to us!

Happy Channukah

We are almost ready for Shabbos Channukah. Highlights include my inlaws coming, yet more gifts/toys four our kids and Baby AY turning 4 weeks old. I can't believe how big he got. At his well visit last Tuesday, he was already 8lbs 15 so I am assuming we have cleared the 9 lb mark by now. And he is much more alert these days, which is nice to see. Although whenever he is awake, he wants to be held, so I am getting a lot of use out of my baby carriers.

Saturday night we have a family party and then Sunday afternoon we are going to, you guessed it, yet another Channukah party. It's nice to spend tuime with all this family we usually don't  see so often, but it gets a bit overwhelming especially with our kids overdosing on sugar and going to bed too late.

But I am going to try and stay positive and enjoy the craziness. In that spirit, I will share with you, Y's new favorite Channukah video. Chag Urim Sameach!

Channukah Parties Galore

Channukah has arrived and with it lots of latkes, donuts, chocolate and gifts.
Last night was the first night and after candle lighting, we gave the kids some gifts and played dreidel.
Today, M had a Channukah party at school. He was so excited that I came and he participated beautifully, singing all the songs with his Morahs.

M is super happy to be having a Channukah party

M "reading" the song sheet that has all the lyrics

M enjoying donuts. His baby brother slept through the party!

This evening we also had a party at our shul. There was pizza and latkes as well as art projects and a magician.

The highlight of the evening was when the magician made balloon shapes for all the kids there. Of course my kids were the last in line and we had to wait forever...the magician made Y. a little dog and hearts for both A. and M. On the way home, M. dropped his balloon and it popped. He then dramatically exclaimed, "Mommy, my heart is broken!" It was a classic moment.
 The boys still need quite a few reminders about fire safety and staying away from matches and candles, but otherwise the kids are all really enjoying the holiday and overdosing on chocolate "gelt".
Tomorrow I am going to Y's school to tell the students a bit about Channukah, and then my inlaws are coming to spend the weekend with us with yet more gifts for the kids. What's not to love?
Wishing you all a "lichtige" Channukah!

Ready to Leave Hibernation

AY is officially two weeks old and I am ready to rejoin the world. When M was born, my midwife at the time suggested to me that I not leave the house for the first two weeks so I would not overdo it. At the time, it seemed a little crazy to me, but I decided to give it a try.
I thought I would go stir-crazy not going out for so long but the truth was, it was really relaxing to just be home. And it definitely was a good safeguard to not overexert myself. So when AY was born, I decided to do the same thing. For the first week of his life, I left the house only two times- for a pediatrician's visit and to take A to buy shoes at a store around the corner (this was not really planned but I felt that she needed a little extra attention)
The second week, I only left the house on Sunday to go to the bris. This past Friday, I decided that I was feeling well enough and was ready to get some air. I picked M up from school and it felt nice to be outdoors again, and to see some people other than my lovely family. Last night I went out for some frozen yogurt and today, my mom and I took the older kids to the playground, which was my longest outing yet.
So I guess I am now officially leaving the house again. As nice as it was to have this time to rest. I am looking forward to getting out a bit, taking AY for some walks, doing some of my own errands rather than relying on others and taking M to school. And I am definitely ready to rejoin civilization.

And now for some Channukah fun- presenting the Maccabeats singing Matisahu's "Miracle"

Y's Channukah Party

One thing that has been hard to navigate with Y is all the holidays coming up on the calendar. His teacher has been very supportive and for Halloween, she did most of the teaching about Halloween when he was out in therapy or in the afternoons when he goes to the Chabad preschool. He stayed home the day of the Halloween parade. Thanksgiving wasn't much of an issue but now we were getting to the Christmas/Channukah season.
His teacher again agreed to teach about Christmas when he is not in class. For the holiday party we will be making gingerbread houses which are not really religiously significant. And she asked me to come into class to teach about Channukah. So this past Tuesday, M and I went to visit Y's class.
We read "Sammy Spider's First Channukah" and I told the kids the Channuka story. We then decorated little dreidel picture frames and played a quick round of dreidel. Lastly we tried some of the latkes and dounts that I had brought along. The kids weren''t so impressed with the latkes but definitely enjoyed the donuts. Typical- the sugar does it.
It was a cute little party and all the other  non-Jewish kids were really into it as well. In an ideal world, Y would be in a Jewish school but I guess for now we will make do with what we have. I am greatful that his teacher is so accomodating and interested in working with us.
Another thing about the holiday season  is holiday gifts for all the teachers and therapists. So I went to Barnes and Noble yesterday and rang up quite a bill buying giftcards for all the people who play important roles in my kids' lives. While it does add up, it's only once a year and I figure it is a good investment to show appreciation and create good will.
Do you do holiday gifts? What do you usually give to teachers, therapists, doormen, etc?

The video that went viral

I am sure by now, most of you have heard about the Maccabeats' new Channukah video Candlelight. Like Bangitout claimed, if you haven't seen this yet, you must be in a coma. But just for fun, I figured I would give the video that already got over 1.5 million views some more publicity. Although they don't need me- they've already made headlines on CBS, The Huffington Post and the Washington Post. Happy Channukah to all!