Here comes the Bride (in a very sparkly dress) Part 2, or what is the difference between boys and girls

We didn't find out that HRH the royal Princess was a girl until very near the end of her pregnancy.  Matter of fact, we had, up to that point, been told that she was a boy, oops!
That afternoon, I made the mistake of visiting the baby section at Wal*Mart to peek at baby girl stuff. We didn't have anything pink. We had blue, or brown, or green, or Thomas Tank engine, or cute little puppies- because those were the ONLY choices. Surrounded by all the frills and sparkles, butterflies, dragonflies, flowers, or no flowers, every pastel shade imaginable, all the choices, I did what any very pregnant & now very overwhelmed Mommy would do..... I sat down in the middle of  the baby clothes and just c-r-i-e-d.
     Some poor soul tried to inquire if I was alright or needed assistance (see very pregnant above), did I need an ambulance? Yes, I said, I did need assistance.  My baby was going to be naked for life, because how was I ever to pick something for her to wear? I left with a 3 pack of tiny white socks and a minuscule pink hair bow.

    Luckily for me, the Princess came out with a royal opinion, and just after her first birthday, blessedly, started picking out her own clothes. And, the trend has continued!

The Dress arrived today! After much deliberation, and much disagreement between Mother & Daughter, we were lucky to find this one- and oh, what a dress it is!

Perhaps a nice Frozen Tutu? Sorry, evening wedding, maybe some other time.......

                                       (or, never........)

Or, a winter fairy ballgown? Maybe, a jeweled tiara? No, it's a summer wedding..........

Then we sort of settled for this......for the Princess, though, while lovely, it's rather drab and burlap sack-ish

And, then we found it, and honestly, both got a little teary.
Heaven help us when she gets married! 

A summer wedding suitable, Queen Elsa/frozen , party dress
decidedly un-sackish!

Part 3, coming soon, will be solely dedicated to trying to match a hair bow

Batman & Popeye Avenger will be wearing black dockers shorts & polo shirts.


Read part 1 Here

Here comes the Bride, part 1

Calm down, it's not me! And, yes, part 1, because there will be at the very least part 2.

This wedding, like most weddings, seems to have taken over our (my) family.
The Bride & I went to preschool together, and became fast friends, our older sisters, being the same age became fast friends, & our mothers, being in the same boat so to speak, became fast friends. It was kismet for sure!
Our families have remained close all this time, and the only thing that would make us more related is actually being related. And, we are so darn excited for the wedding shenanigans to happen!!!!!!!
This will be the first wedding the kids will go to & actually remember.
This will be their first trip to the wedding state.
Their first out of state road trip!!!
OMG, so totally exciting.

Of course, any little wedding go-er must dress the part- Mimi to the rescue!
She took us to the Sears store in my childhood mall, in my childhood town (that keeps changing).
It. Was. Strange.
This mall is a ghost town if ever there was one, & if not for the Sears, the building would have been torn down long ago. All the stores in the mall are closed. All the stores that I would have frequented 20 years ago. But, in a weird way it was fun to watch them frolic around the playground of my youth, where it was once so busy, that on the weekends that Sister & I were deposited to get out of the house, we clung to each other with the fear of being separated.

This is the stage where we were made to visit Santa's wonderland for the first 18, yes 18, years of my life.

Now, there is a sign asking people to 'please stay off the stage', but that would mean there needed people to be there in the first place.

I can still smell the coffee beans here. Pretty sure they diluted our cappuccino with hot chocolate, but I always felt so sophisticated while I walked the mall with that green, Styrofoam cup and a biscotti, trying to not chip a tooth....

Awww, the good 'ole days

All our fancy party clothes are being sequestered in my closet, with visiting privileges.  

And, all party shoes will be taken out, once daily, for breaking in. I fear, though, that Popeye's shoes will be plain old broken by the time we make it to the wedding. He says that they make him feel like dancing a jig- and from the noise in the kitchen, I would have to agree. 

Did I mention we are excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 (please ignore the crumbs)

Of Frogs and Flowers

 Once upon a time, in a land far away, lived a little gray tree frog, named Herman, or Sherman, depending on who you talked to.

 

He liked to spend his days resting on the edge of his bucket.

Or, some days on the side of the citronella lamp.

He was very happy, until the Royal Princess Ogre came and started to poke him.

Now he hops to safety whenever anyone walks by.

The END

Can you tell we are having fun watching our little frog? I am pretty sure he was a stow-away on the flowers he likes to live in. Apparently grey tree frogs are not native in our part of the country, and it is rare to see them out of the trees. They are also similar to chameleons, in that they are able to change their color to match the surroundings, but do it at a much slower rate.

It would seem that of allllll the bulbs I planted 18 months ago, one has finally bloomed! Clearly it wasn't expected, and was a nice surprise!!

And, of course, then the bugs chewed the stem off.......

Now they are in the kitchen- where it is much easier to see them.

An (un)Kosher Sunday......

    Sunday, at our house, means two things   1. Brunch 2. House Cleaning

Now that I am old, there is something so peaceful and easy about Sunday.
There was a time it meant rushing around, trying to get everyone into clean & pressed clothes to sit in a pew for hours of my life that I won't get pack. Power to you, if you do that. It meant starting the week exhausted, and with a mucky house needing cleaned, and clothes needing to be washed and ironed for the next Sunday.

One of the real perks of being Jewish....We start the weekend off with a big party on Friday night! Nothing says, Yippee it's the Sabbath, like a shin dig on Friday night!
Saturday is spent enjoying family and doing things we enjoy- gardening, working in the barn, sewing, reading. It is a day of rest and recuperation from the week, leaving Sunday to get it together....but in a very leisurely manner, starting with a big breakfast (also, equals motivation for the kids to pick up the floor. No small person eats until the floor is done)

While entirely un-kosher, this morning I tried the bacon cinnamon rolls that have been making the rounds on Facebook and Pintrest.  What? Yes, bacon cinnamon rolls.  I suppose someone, somewhere thought about the bacon sprinkles that frequent fancy doughnuts and cupcakes, and decided, why not just roll-up a slice of bacon in a cinnamon roll? Why not?!



Pardon the fuzzy picture, I am not technologically minded, but you get the idea. Delicious, cinnamon-y bacon flowers! Pop these babies on some green pip cleaners and make any girl or boy happy.
I used the cheapy, refrigerator rolls from Wal*Mart, not even the jumbo ones, just the small ones. I cooked the bacon to mostly done before rolling them up, and baked per the directions on the rolls can.  Quick, easy & yummy! While they were good, there was certainly room for improvement.
Next time, I might try a brand name jumbo roll and fancy smoked bacon. Or, suck it up and make my own rolls.
To easily make this kosher, use your favorite bacon substitute! You could really roll up anything- roast beef, ham (not kosher), maybe cream cheese (would that make it a danish?)

We also paused for the boys to model their new Kippot (plural of kippah), or what might be more widely known as a Yarmulke. I found these on Etsy at Kids Kippot. She has a variety of fun and inexpensive kippot for the younger crowd.  Batman picked, not batman, but Legos, and Popeye picked spiderman, and is now anxiously awaiting a scooby doo- because he 'must have variety'.

Why is it so hard to get both children looking the same way, & not making a strange face?
These darling saucers are being held on by Kippah Klipz, neat little clippies that stick with stick-um to the inside of the Kippah and hopefully keep them on the noggins. I see a steep learning curve with these buggers, something reminiscent of trying to get the stick-um + the patches onto the boy scout shirts. But, they are very clever, and reasonably priced with free shipping.

Side note- Husband and I recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of our first date with a romantic evening at a casino buffet, where I ate about 5lbs of the greatest Brussels sprouts ever and something that might have been raspberry pie. Yep, Romance right there folks!

The Pursuit of Happiness

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

Here is what I believe-

Everyone should be able to....

love who they want.

wear what makes them happy.

spend their life doing what they love

live their life in a way that makes them happy 

.....so long as it isn't illegal and doesn't hurt another person.

Here is what I don't believe in-

Santa Claus, the tooth fairy or the Easter bunny 

Getting to decide, legally or otherwise, how other people get to live their lives

Getting to decide, legally or otherwise, how to define 'family'

Picking your personal highlights out of the Bible, and throwing them around to hurt people 

Being 'Christian' is the same as being a good person

Being 'Atheist' automatically makes you a bad person, or a witch 

Someone else standing in the way of my child's happiness ( That is MY job!)

My Children like to plan their birthday parties, more so than any other annually occurring holiday. And, we talk about them, a lot.

This will be the one day of the year they go, do, see, be a part of anything they want with whomever they choose. It's a big deal- literally, anything goes.

I have a child, and not the one you would expect, maybe, if you know my kids, that has started to plan, as he puts it, 'the ultimate spa day'.

yes, he.

The day will start with a yummy breakfast, 'probably at cracker barrel, because you can have breakfast anytime of day, & a bottle of rootbeer to drink'.

We will go to the 'fanciest spa', & 'wear fluffy robes'.

We will 'have a mani/pedi, & gunk on our face at the same time'. 

'We will have to have cucumbers on our eyes, but I don't know why'.

'There will be yummy snacks, like grapes and cheese'.

'We can also drink orange juice out of fancy glasses'.

'AND IT WILL BE GREAT!'

and it will be

I don't know what this means right now, but it doesn't matter. I am only in charge of making sure it happens. 

Here is what I do know- you jack with my kid's happiness and life goals, and I will not like you.

 Making fun of someone, because of their choices, is not okay- EVER.

Denying someone life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness, just because you don't like what their life & happiness looks like, based on a religion they might or might not follow (which is why there is separation of Church and State, in this great Country of ours, founded on the right of religious & personal freedom.....), is, sad.

Here is what else makes me sad- one day, maybe soon, there is a solid chance that someone will say something horribly hateful to one of my children, and make them feel bad about their life choices.

One of the the favorite movies that I like to watch with the kids is 'Hairspray', the new one, not the old one with Ricki Lake, though I have promised to show them that one as well, so we can compare them.
The whole movie can be summed up nicely by a line from an African American Woman, currently being oppressed by segregation, after a catchy tune titled, 'Don't leave me without love', when she finds her teenage son, has fallen in love with a white girl. Let's remember, it was a big issue back then, just like other peoples love lives (& other choices) are a big issue today....

Motormouth Maybelle: Well, love is a gift, a lot of people don't remember that. So, you two better brace yourselves for a whole lotta ugly comin' at you from a never ending parade of stupid. ( New Line Cinema, 2007)

 Lots of things are gifts, that we are all unique is a gift, but that won't stop the ugly coming from the stupid parade.

George loves Enid, & the day she taught him to tell time

George, loves Enid, a lot.
Today, she helped him learn to tell time.

George met Enid at Temple, any Jewish mothers dream come true! Unfortunately, for George, she was already taken, though, that was not enough to distinguish his flame for her. Every week, he would save her a seat, even though she had sat in the same seat for longer than he had been alive. He made her crayon pictures, but was too embarrassed to  ever bring them to her. He was smitten.

Enid, can make George sit still and pay attention. While she understood that little boys are often little boys,  there is also a time and a place for everything, and if you were going to sit in THAT chair, you had better shape up or ship out, buster!
He never would tell me what exactly she said to him those times when his feet starting kicking or his body got wiggly, but whatever it was, was enough. And, when it wasn't, she would do what any Mother would do to a sassy youngster- get a good hold under the armpit and haul him up.

It must have been Hanukkah, because the tiny Chapel we use for our services was pretty full, and the fam was all spread out. George had taken up his post on Enid's right, looking very dashing in his tiny suit, that he had spent all day lovingly laying out. And, then we got to the part where standing up is not an option, but a must- even those who struggle to remain upright magically find the strength- not a choice.
I don't know if George was just slow, or if he just wasn't going to, but he didn't move fast enough. Enid, reached over and hauled him up by his arm. There was no debate, and certainly no back talk, just a silent, standing boy.

He said that she just understood him. I don't doubt it.


George lovingly laid out his outfit and accessories for today's gathering- his prized pocket watch, the one he earned for being brave, when his noggin was stapled back together, being among them. They both enjoy being snappy dressers, and Enid is always worth dressing up for.
And, once again she whispered those magic sit-still words to him, and he sat, studying his watch. Before we left her today, he had figured out  how to tell time. I don't know how, exactly, but very much believe that she was whispering, again, magic words in his ear.

Enid Lowenberg, 1923-2014

The BedazzledPineapple, is sad to share the passing of one of its most devoted readers.

Stick 'em up! Its SCIENCE afterall

I promise there is a point to this, and we will get there sometime......
      Last week, my trusty Father (GPH), was head chauffeur, toting my oldest nephew to and from a super neat space camp, requiring them to traverse Kansas City highways during both morning and afternoon rush hours. If you do it right, it's not bad,but when you do it wrong, you wind up as a talking point for GPH.
When asked what the main difference between riding with Mimi and GPH, Nephew replied that riding with Mimi was, "Are you warm/cool enough? Do you need a snack/drink? What about a new toy?", and riding with GPH is all, " Don't go fast or follow too close!".
Which is true. I think Mom (Mimi) is still working out the trauma of her Gege making her brother and sisters sit on the curb to eat drive-thru hamburgers.

I love my Mother, a lot. She is about the greatest Mimi ever.


This weekend she and GPH came up, for a number of reasons, and they brought her precious babies presents. She brought them......cap guns. The real kind, with the paper rolls of caps. And, then she told them that they could hit them with a hammer when they got tired of shooting each other- which was about as soon as they could find a hammer. When that got old, they figured out how to pop them between their fingers and thumb ( it only burns a little!)

Tonight, Batman wanted to know if we could see what happened when we set a cap strip on fire. Being the Mom that I am, I shut that down pretty quick. No explosions here! Only responsible adults here!! Even if it does sound pretty cool...
So, then, Batman says...." Let me get my journal, we can call  it an experiment! It's SCIENCE, after all!!"
This boy should be lawyer, with that kind of argument.


Me: "Dude, we can't blow up the house, record it our journals and call it science."