Awwww...

And I Used To Work Here...

I found out today that my old boss was arrested for obstruction charges in the murder investigation from January. I'm not surprised. She was always worried about her own paycheck and didn't care a bit about her employees. This would have never happened with the group I worked with. What a shame that the facility is closed now.

Poor Miss Judy. Karma sucks sometimes. I would give just about anything to see what's going on in the other two facilities right now!

Here's the article from the Lake County Daily Herald

Photo Update Post

Last week was a busy one for us. Jacob had a strings concert and Hannah had her birthday party. First up, strings.

Jacob LOVES playing the violin. I have to admit that he's not too bad at it either. I actually don't mind listening to him practice because the songs actually sound like what they are supposed to sound like. His concert was huge. All of the kids (4th grade through high school) that feed into their high school were invited to play. I was amazed at the middle school orchestra. They were playing stuff that we might have played in high school and sounded awesome. Anyway, here are some pictures.

4th grade strings. Behind them and to the left is the middle school group. To the right are the 5th graders.

Jacob waves from his spot.
Jacob just before going inside.

Hannah was so excited that it snowed on her birthday. It wasn't as bad as what they had been calling for, which was good. We were supposed to get 10 inches of snow and got about 3 because it rained longer than they thought it would. Of course, it all melted Sunday since it was in the 50's. Anyway, we had her birthday party on Sunday afternoon and a ton of her friends showed up. (Thank goodness for places that don't charge per child!) Here are a few pictures.

Jacob on the rope swing.
Hannah on the rock wall (the girl on the right). She loved this and proved to be a great climber!
Hannah.
I love this one of Daniel. Pretty typical!
The kids get instructions before going into the playroom.

Hannah's cake. Yeah, I bought it. :(
Jacob and me on the big slide.
Hannah blows out her candles.

Happy Birthday!

Today is Hannah's 6th Birthday. Where in the world has the time gone? It seems like just yesterday she was born and now she's walking, talking and reading.

Happy Birthday Bear!

I'm In There!

I made it into the article...it's just one line and she kind of took what I said out of context but there I am! :) It's fun to be in an article!

Here's the link:
The Jewish Week: Gentile Women And The ‘S’ Word

Yay For Hannah!

Hannah taught herself how to ride a bike without training wheels today! I was out there with her for a little while but my back was killing me. She was so determined to learn that she did it herself! It's so funny to watch her riding a big bike with the other kids on the street.

Bloobedy Blah...Part 2

The kids started Spring Break last week. I know it seems early but they always have Spring Break at the end of the third quarter. The teachers take a day for grade card prep and a day for teacher's inservice. I actually don't mind having the kids home...it means I don't have to be shuffling the kids around a whole lot. Our synagogue is also on Spring Break for Hebrew school and for Sunday School, so we really get a break. What'll really be nice is if the 80 degree days they're forecasting for next week pan out. I've got a lot of gardening work to get done.

This is kind of exciting...

I belong to a listserv for non-Jewish mothers raising Jewish children run by the Jewish Outreach Institute. 95% of the time, the things that go on make me want to quit. Not only are these girls way hard core, but they're very judgemental about others. It makes me so mad. Anyway, the leader of the listserv sent out a post about a lady that writes a monthly column for The Jewish Week newspaper. She's writing an article about the term Shiksa and would like to know our opinions/experiences with the word. I had to write her because A) I love the term Shiksa and B) my fantasy football team name was Shiksappeal.

So, I wrote her an e-mail with the information we were told she was looking for and got an e-mail back saying that she'd definitely use my experiences in her article. How cool is that? We'll see if I actually get in or if she uses my name (I said she could). Her article should come out next week.

Bang, Bang Choo Choo Train

We made it to and from Chicago on the train. I really think Amtrak is something everyone should do at least once. The kids really enjoyed it. Coming home, there were several kids, also heading home to Kansas City, that kept our kids entertained. At one point, they were all hanging out in the Lounge and were reprimanded by the conductor for being too loud. Oh well. It was a great experience.

This is Union Station in Kansas City.

Daniel sits in front of an old sign while we wait for the train. All Aboard!
The observation car. The kids loved hanging out in here.
We ate breakfast in the dining car.
These were our actual seats. Lots of room and pretty comfy.
A view of downtown Chicago from the train.

We took the Metra into Buffalo Grove where Bobbi and Ed picked us up.
Hannah, David, Daniel and Jacob pose for a picture.
Bobbi scheduled manicures for everyone. Here, Bobbi, Rachel and Hannah get their nails done.
At the wedding, they took pictures of each family group. This was ours.
The weekend went by so fast. Here the kids are on the train headed home. This was the observation car.
The boys look out the window and see the Mississippi River.