TheAngelForever | The Angel Forever

Author Archives TheAngelForever

Planning a Bar Mitzvah

Posted on December 15, 2014 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

From the moment my oldest son was born, there were milestones that we had to think about. First was his bris when he was ten days old. Since we knew we were having a boy, we were able to plan a bit ahead of time for that.

Next up, was getting NHL ready for school. PreK and kindergarten came quickly and required school adjustments along the way. Of course, he also started going to Hebrew School.

Then, as we eased into elementary school the focus shifted toward getting ready for middle school. While that was a major priority in my mind, there was always something else making my thoughts race at times.

Middle school means getting close to the teen years. This is a huge milestone in the Jewish religion. Boys start to focus on their Bar Mitzvah preparations at about the same time. Hebrew school is not enough and shortly individual lessons with members of the clergy will begin.

As NHL turned eleven this summer, I knew the two year count down was on. Of course, with my internal count down and major denial shaking it off, I had to embrace the reality check. His birthday seemed to signal questions from some family and friends. They wanted to know if we had a date, time, location, and other details to share.

No, we were hyper focused on getting the kiddo adjusted to middle school. The here and now trumped something two years in the future. In passing, I spoke with the rabbi about it and he told me to get in touch after the high holidays.

Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and the rest of the autumn holidays came and went. Denial was strong.

We have talked to NHL about his Bar Mitzvah. He has preferences and has made it clear that he does not want certain things to happen. He has also made a specific request.

A reality check happened shortly before Thanksgiving.

I saw the phone number of our synagogue pop up on my phone. What I was not expecting was our cantor to be on the line. *GULP* It was time to talk about his Hebrew Birthday. That is the magical date that is the first day we could even consider having his Bar Mitzvah.

My brain was racing and TechyDad was still at work. I was not expecting the call, so it caught me off guard a bit. In the end, we found out the first day in 2016 that is acceptable for us to consider. We also know a day that someone else has selected that is out. What I never thought about was the likelihood of needing this big day to be right at the start of the school year. It now appears that we will have to think about juggling a Bar Mitzvah with the start of 8th grade.

While I am sure NHL will be ready for this big day (whenever it is), I am not sure that I am ready for the planning, saving, and chaos that go together.

If you have planned a big event for your child, like a Bar Mitzvah, how did you tackle it? One thing we have decided is to keep a lot of details quiet for as long as possible. We do not want disagreements to pop up like they did with our wedding

FYI, if you were curious about the picture above, that’s a photo of my father when he had his Bar Mitzvah.

Categories:
Educational family milestone parenting

Channeling My Inner Elsa

Posted on December 12, 2014 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Tis the season for lots of festivities, activities, and chaos. It all started here the night before Thanksgiving when our ten year old oven decided to make a loud pop and sparked. Au revoir Mr. Oven and hello Black Friday weekend appliance shopping. When we went to the store, they told us that it would not be delivered for over a week. The date was my birthday, but there was an event that evening that complicated things a bit more. They promised me that the oven would be here before I had to leave to get the kids from school.

TechyDad took two days off of work to do some deep cleaning with me and to spend oven delivery day at home. What we did not anticipate was an ice storm wrecking havoc on our entire area Tuesday. It took TechyDad almost an hour for a round trip to the middle school that typically take 20 minutes. When he got home, he said there was no way we were going back out to take the little kiddo to his school. An hour into our delivery window, the appliance store called. There were complications with the storm and we understood. If we were not flexible with the delivery time, we would have to wait until the weekend. We told them we would work with it.

Picking up the big kiddo from school was not too horrible for TechyDad. It was raining and the temperature was just above freezing. The event for the evening was still on and we were waiting for our oven. As I waited, I decided to do my nails with new Jamberry wraps. Yes, the photo above was my selection. I thought they were pretty and would be nice for the start of Chanukah next week.

What I didn’t expect was the nails to create a Frozen land making me feeling like Elsa. Just after I was finished we could hear ice pelting up against the house. We also noticed an hour had passed since the delivery truck had called saying they would be to us in about 20 minutes. When I went to greet them, it was a mess. There was sleet, freezing rain, and snow! The two men from Cocoa’s Appliance were fantastic and professional in a really bad situation.

When they left, we decided to eat dinner and assess the situation outside when we were finished. In about 30 minutes, everything had glazed over and the car was completely encased in ice. There was no way we could get to the event. Our new oven still had to warm up before it could be used. TechyDad made me some mini-cupcakes in our little cupcake maker and they had a theme to them.

We stayed inside the warm house and tried to forget about everything else. Of course, I laugh that it has hardly stopped snowing since I put my Let It Snow wraps on my fingers. If I get some tropical Jamberry designs next, will that work too?

What are your favorite and least favorite parts of the winter? Around here, it’s definitely when Elsa does not give up. Quite honestly I want to let it go and NO, I do not want to build a snowman!

Categories:
birthday Disney me moments

Everything Is Awesome Thanks to First LEGO League

Posted on December 8, 2014 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

When NHL started middle school, he came home one day begging to join the LEGO Robotics team. You could see the sparkle in his eyes as he got more and more excited about the possibilities.

We could tell that he was focused on joining. Not only did he tell us about it, he had gone to the instructor to chat with him. NHL wanted to make sure it would not interfere with Hebrew School. It seemed like the perfect fit for our little geek in training, especially since the main day was not a conflict with other commitments.

NHL took his so called homework assignments for this after school enrichment seriously. He asked to watch YouTube videos of other competitions and LEGO Robotics teams. I had forgotten that over the summer he went to an event at the library that sparked this interest thanks to a local college.

Everything has been relatively awesome with this first middle school club. I actually wrote most of this post while sitting in a college lecture hall during the teams FLL (First LEGO League) competition. It was an eye opening experience on many levels. I have a feeling that with more practice and guidance, this is something that NHL will really enjoy over his academic career. Who knows where it may lead him down the road.

What clubs are your children involved in after school? I would love to know more about them and how you know if they are the right fit for your child. Do you ever go to visit, observe, and/or help out? I have a feeling we may be doing more of this down the road to give everyone more hands on deck.

Categories:
Educational school

Holiday Gifts and Online Party Incentives

Posted on December 5, 2014 12:20 pm by TheAngelForever

Over the years, holiday shopping has changed a lot for me. I used to love going to the mall and outlets. It was almost a sport to try to get a good deal during the month of December. Since I got married and had kids, life has changed a lot. The chaotic pace of every day life means that I don’t have the time or energy to deal with crowds, parking lots, and too many people. That is time that I can be making memories with my boys.

If you are still searching for the perfect gift for a loved one, friend, teacher, co-worker, or other woman in your life look no further.

As a Jamberry Independent Consultant, I would love to assist you in selecting some nail wraps and products for gift giving this holiday season. If you place an order before December 10 (US), it will arrive by December 24.

Jamberry also has a festive new set for the holidays. The Tis the Season Holiday Gift Set includes the Joyful Season, Joyful Celebration, Joyful Laughter and First Frost (December Sister’s Style Exclusive) wraps. Those would be a wonderful gift alone, or you could add a little something extra on.

If you want to get a group of friends together to host an online Jamberry party (you earn rewards), just let me know. I have a special going on that may interest you.

Let me know what your favorite wrap is (or a top three), I would love to know and why you selected it.

Disclosure: I am a Jamberry Independent Consultant and paid for my own starter kit to sell these products. If people purchase items from me, I will earn money for my business.

Categories:
holidays me moments shopping

Kid Friendly Hanukkah Holiday Recipes

Posted on December 1, 2014 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone

The holiday season usually means that the boys want to share something Hanukkah related with their friends at parties. While I often go into school to read a story and/or play dreidel with the kids, I wanted something new and different this year. The kids and I saw some holiday recipes and baking ideas that we hoped to personalize for The Festival of Lights. To get ready for Hanukkah, the boys and I went to Price Chopper together. We were on a mission to get baking supplies for kid friendly #HolidayAdvantEdge recipes. Thanks to #CollectiveBias we were looking for ingredients to make Marshmallow Dreidels and Hanukkah Cookie Pops.

When we arrived at Price Chopper, we went right to the baking aisle. The boys immediately found the Betty Crocker cookie mix that would be perfect for our project. We also grabbed some marshmallows, icing, powdered sugar, and gel for decorating. That’s where we saw a sign that let us know to head over to the front of the store where there was a Favorites for Baking section with additional items for the holidays. In this area, we found the Crisco Shortening Sticks (alternative to butter), holiday Hugs and Kisses from Hershey, along with winter sprinkles. The only items we had to go back for were pretzel sticks and Hanukkah gelt.

No Bake Marshmallow Dreidels

For years, we have seen photos of people that made Marshmallow Dreidels, but we have never made them. We had planned on making our own glaze, but it did not want to work. Thanks to our oven dying the night before Thanksgiving, I was lucky when Nana and Papa had frosting that we were able to use. This ended up being a great substitution because I can see making these as a snack with kids in a classroom.

Ingredients:

Large Marshmallows
Hershey Hugs or Kisses
Frosting (food coloring optional)
Pretzel Sticks
Sprinkles or Colored Sugar Crystals

We set up bowls with all of the ingredients so the kids could just grab what they needed. Knives to spread the frosting was the only additional item that was needed. First, we took a marshmallow and put a pretzel stick about 2/3 of the way into it. Once this was secure, it was time to frost the outside of the marshmallow. We selected blue, but any color would work, including regular chocolate or vanilla frosting. Once a thin layer was all the way around the marshmallow, a slightly larger amount was placed onto the bottom. This acted as the glue that held the Hug or Kiss into place. The last step was to put some sprinkles or colored sugar on the outside to make it more colorful.

Hanukkah Cookie Pops

Cake pops are still really popular, but they are more time consuming and not as kid friendly. We decided to make cookie pops for Hanukkah that the kids would decorate for themselves. If I was taking these to a party, I would make the cookie pops ahead of time and pack them to bring with supplies for the kids to finish making at the event.

Ingredients:

Betty Crocker Cookie Mix
Cookie Icing
Egg
Water
Crisco Shortening Sticks (Butter Flavored)
Crafting sticks (soaked in water for 20-30 minutes)
Sprinkles, Hanukkah gelt, and other decorations
Parchment Paper

We followed instructions on the package of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix. Since we were using Crisco instead of butter, we read how to substitute that on the side of the Crisco box. For the half cup of butter, we used half of a Crisco stick and a tablespoon of water. This was mixed with the egg really easily to form the dough. JSL then helped me to make tablespoon sized balls of dough while our crafting sticks soaked in water.

When it was time to put the sticks into the dough balls, it helps to flatten them ahead of time with a water glass. Then you place the wooden pop stick at least half way into the raw cookie dough. It is crucial to keep these spread out on your cookie sheet with parchment paper.

The cookie pops baked at 375 for 8-10 minutes. They should just get a little brown on the edges and need to set. Once the cookies were baked and had cooled, it was time for the kids to decorate. They used the cookie icing and then put sprinkles, gel, and Hanukkah gelt on them to make them festive.

What are some of your favorite holiday recipes to make with your kids? Be sure to let me know and leave links to your posts to share in the comments below.

Disclosure: I am a member of Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and its client. I am a frequent Price Chopper customer and have written about them on my blog in the past.