Shabbat and (thankfully) the Return to the Normal Day-to-Day Routine

Shabbat here was nice, and quiet - 2 things I very much enjoy. We ate out on Friday night at a meal with three other couples, each of whom had 3 similar aged children - what a rush. Netanel was a little overwhelmed and managed to hurt himself 4 times within the first 10 minutes but he seemed to calm down (a bit) after that. On the plus side, because Shabbat basically starts at 9 a.m. on Friday (or 4:20 p.m. but, believe me, it feels like I just roll out of bed and light candles), it means that we were home from our meal by about 8:30 - another thing I enjoy.
Shabbat lunch was just us and we were done eating by 12:30, just in time to put Tani (and Elie) in for a much needed nap. Our afternoon was very eventful as we went to my sister-in-law's house in Nofei Aviv (about a 12 minute walk from us) where we were celebrating her son, Maor's, third birthday with a "Tzitzit Party". Let me clarify, a Tzitzit party is basically a good 'ol birthday party except that Maor got his first pair of tzitzit, made the bracha, and we all dove into a delicious tzitzit-shaped cake made by my mother-in-law. It was quite the festivity and we were glad to be able to be here to share it with the family.

So for those of you who may not keep up, we started saying "Mashiva Haruach u'Morid Ha'gashem" on the last days of Sukkot. I'm pretty sure that it's not a coincidence that it rained cats and dogs (I've always wanted to say that but now that I type it I think it just sounds odd) on Friday night and Shabbat day. The rain and thunder on Friday night actually woke me up and I sat in my bed terrified that our power was going to go out (oh, yea, it does that A LOT in Bet Shemesh). Shabbat morning started out cloudy but was actually nice and breezy when I went with Tani to meet Elie at shul. However, as soon as we were cleaning up from lunch and I was commenting how I hope it didn't rain again because we had the party to attend at 4 - the rain started coming down. Unfortunately, we have been a little lazy about taking our sukkah down and all of the decorations and the s'chach were still in there - oops. Elie is currently dealing with it now but I think we may be buying all new decorations in a year from now.....
The coolest thing about the rain was the reaction of the kids and parents around here. We had left our stroller downstairs, (we live on the top floor of a townhouse building so our apartment is up about 36 steps), and Elie wanted to get it for fear that it would be a pool of water if it stayed there. Seeing as he had no interest in going and digging out the raincoats from the box they are in, Elie decided to just run downstairs and get it. When he came back up he had the biggest smile on his face. He said that all the parents were standing at the doors of their apartments putting their kids in raincoats so they could go run around in the rain. I could hear the "shouts of glee" up in our apartment as the kids enjoyed jumping in the puddles and getting extremely muddy. In Israel, rain is such a blessing that kids and parents alike celebrate it when it happens rather than run indoors to get away from it. I'm not saying that I'm going to wrap up Tani in a poncho and let him run free outside the next time it rains, but it's a nice sentiment nonetheless.

That's all the news from Shabbat and this week finally start our routine again....ahhhh....Tani is back in Gan and Elie and I are back in Ulpan. Thankfully, our ulpan is only Monday through Thursday so Sunday is still kind of a "free day" for us. By "free" I mean - let's get everything done in the 5 hours that Netanel is in Gan - go, go, go!!
Additionally, I believe (and I think my sister, Gila, would agree with me) that tomorrow should officially start the "Countdown Until Mommy and Daddy Come to Visit" - 34 days!

Leezy