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Sukkot Celebrations

Posted on October 13, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As I write this, we will be getting ready to celebrate Sukkot. Sukkot begins Wednesday night at sundown and continues to Friday night at sundown. Yes, there are more holidays in the fall than just Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This is a very busy time of year and can leave your head spinning.

Growing up, I remember some of the Jewish celebrations at nursery school and beyond. As an adult, I recall my aunt and uncle building a sukkah in their yard and going to their house for a party with other family and friends. This photo was taken in their sukkah in the fall of 2001.

Sukkah decorations post Sept 11, 2001

Now, I watch as my boys learn about the different holidays at home, in school. and Hebrew School. We create our own memories and continue with traditions that have been passed along from generation to generation.

JSL’s class has been working very hard to create decorations for their school. Check out the fantastic Sukkot display that they made with all of the other classes:

The little guy even agreed to jump into a photo to point to the item that he made within the display.

JSL was able to select from several different items to decorate. He listened to the list the other day and immediately wanted to make a shofar. This is a closer view of his masterpiece.

Wishing everyone who celebrates a festive Sukkot. May you enjoy spending time with family and friends in your sukkah and being one with nature.

Categories:
family holidays jsl looking back school

My Disney Drummer Boy

Posted on October 8, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Dear NHL,

Back when school started, you came home with a band sign up sheet. I had forgotten that this is the year that you can begin to take lessons in school. When I asked you what you wanted to play, you did not hesitate and said drums. I filled out the form and asked the band teacher a quick question. He e-mailed me back and told me that you were the first to sign up for percussion, so you were good to go.

We rented the set to see how you would like this before we invested more money. After about a week, your percussion set arrived at school. This bag is big and VERY heavy. Here is a photo of the day it arrived next to the sliding door in my car.

This week, you had your second lesson and are in love with it. I am hoping your interest will continue. We need to set a routine for practice time when JSL will leave you alone to play. The best part was that Nana and Papa brought you a special gift on their return from Walt Disney World. They called me to see what I thought and I said it seemed fun and very different. Here you are with them:

Yes, while at Animal Kingdom Nana and Papa saw drum sticks with Mickey animal prints on them. You loved them and immediately asked to test them out. We are waiting to do that until after Yom Kippur. Then, we will break out your items and let you put on a show. I look forward to listening to you show your musical side and can not wait to see how this continues.

Love,

Mommy

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Categories:
Dear Kid Saturday Disney family milestone Music nhl photos school

Thinking Pink October 2011

Posted on October 7, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As October rolls around, brands, bloggers, news shows, and most of the world start to point their attention to the color pink. October is breast cancer awareness month, so it only makes sense.

Cancer in general has hit so many people that I know and love. Breast cancer has done the same. As I wrote in the past, my Aunt S is a breast cancer survivor. She was diagnosed just over eight years ago, just before NHL was born.

This coming year, I will likely have my first mammogram. When I left my annual visit with my gynecologist in the spring, she gave me homework. She wanted to know exactly when my great-grandmother was diagnosed with her cancer. I knew she was very young when she passed away, but when I found out how young, the realization hit hard. My Mimi’s mother was diagnosed when she was 32 and passed away by the age I am going to turn in December. With this information in hand, I am sure I will be getting more screenings this year.

Am I scared about having a mammogram? No, I know it may not be comfortable – but the amniocentesis and labor that I have experienced are likely worse. Two years ago, Robyn vlogged about her experience with a first mammogram. I love that she did this and shared her feelings along the way. If you have never watched this, I highly recommend it. Thanks to Robyn, I hope to document some of my experiences in the coming months.

My friend Debra, A Frugal Friend, lost her mother to breast cancer six years ago. For the third year in a row, she will be having a breast cancer awareness event on her blog in honor of her beautiful mother’s memory. Debra shares breast cancer news, personal stories, and some giveaways from companies that support breast cancer research.

So my question to you this week:

How do you help causes like breast cancer awareness and others that are important to your family?

To all those who are survivors, have lost a friend or loved one to breast cancer - hugs to you. Remember, early detection saves lives, so please remind both men and women to do monthly exams. Yes, men also get breast cancer.

P.S. Do not forget to stop by my two current giveaways running right now. You can find them here and here.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #172

Categories:
Aloha Friday bloggy friends family health awareness PSA

Rosh Hashanah 5772 Celebrations

Posted on October 2, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

At nursery school, JSL has been creating a lot of items especially for Rosh Hashanah. The class has a display in their room of shofars that each of the kids made. I can not recall which of the ones was his. My guess is that it was one of the predominantly blue ones.

The kids got to see a shofar up close and even heard the rabbi practice the blasts before the holiday. Earlier in the week, a bee keeper came in to visit the classes. At the end of the day, the kids were allowed to take a piece of bees wax home with them.

As we walked out of the building, I noticed that most of the kids had their noses to the wax. Silly me, I had no idea what it was all about. Even JSL got in on the act when we got to the car.

Of course, when we arrived home I had to check it out myself. OMG – it was sweet like honey and smelled amazing. I was most definitely in love with this scent and so were all of the kids.

Since apples and honey are big for the holidays, the kids were making a lot of apple art. JSL arrived early one day and jumped right into his. I have to say, if they had allowed blue, his apple may have been that color.

Wednesday night, we went to celebrate the start of Rosh Hashanah with Nana and Papa. JSL and I picked out some of the apples that we got on his field trip the week before. They were perfect and ready to go with the honey that Nana got from a coworker.

We also had round challah with raisins on the Halloween table cloth (kind of funny no?!) and both of the boys helped to say the blessing.

Now I look forward to seeing how JSL learns about Sukkot and the rest of the holidays this year. He gets so excited and I can not wait to watch as he learns about our traditions.

How do your children embrace your holiday traditions? Feel free to share some of what your family does for any holiday that you celebrate.

Categories:
arts and crafts family food glorious food holidays jsl photos school yummy

Birthday Cake Making Dreams

Posted on September 19, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

This weekend, we went to visit my brother and his family. My niece, SG, turned four on Saturday, so it was time for a birthday celebration. When we arrived, her cake was sitting on the dining room table. Check this out and guess the theme:

This gorgeous cake was made by a co-worker of my sister-in-law. Here is her business card in case you happen to live out in western NY.

Not only are Molly’s Cakes delicious, her work is gorgeous. She also worked around a slight complication for my niece. SG is highly allergic to eggs. As you can probably guess, this can make baked goods complicated. We make cupcakes with no-egg substitute in them for birthdays to allow her to enjoy what everyone else is eating. Molly made SG’s top layer of the cake with no egg. It was a pumpkin cake. The bottom two layers had chocolate and vanilla with egg. Oh and the fondant was a new kind that she was testing. While I did not try any, others raved about it.

Did you guess the theme of the party? Here’s a little more decorations to help you out:

Here is a photo of the cake with the cute little toppers added right before everyone enjoyed the cake:

The birthday girl seemed very happy with her layer. Check her out with her cloud cake layer.

Of course, seeing SG’s cake made me realize how much I would still love to take a Wilton Cake Decorating class. They are given at several of the local craft stores. One of these days, I may. I think I am ready to explore with fondant, but then again – I really love my piping fun with cupcakes.