Tu B'Shvat

Tu B'Shvat, the New Year for the Trees, is a big deal here. In Lev's gan they started learning about the environemnt and trees over a week before. The kids each made great projects and had parties to celebrate the holiday, full of dried fruit and fun. Estie actually begged to go back to school for her party, and since she'd been fever free for over 24 hours, I agreed.

Lev made a picture of a candy tree from old magazine pictures on a piece of recycled paper that he also made!

Estie's basket of dried fruit

I had tons of fun plans for the kids- going to the shuk and a birthday party for the trees in the park, but Estie was worn out from her return to gan and pretty much passed out, so Dara's husband, Yoel, took Lev out for some special Tu B'Shvat ice cream, which he shared with his sisters.

On Friday I kept Estie home because I was starting to get a cold and I couldn't handle taking her back and forth to school in a 4 hour span (it's a cab ride to get there). Plus I kind of wanted to give her one last day of napping. So, Estie, Chaya Bracha and Mommy prepared for Shabbat, bought challah and juice and shnitzels and napped until Lev came home. Then we went out for pizza downtown. I showed Lev the restaurant that Saba Lev used to take Mommy to on Friday afternoons and we got to see tons of people dressed up like trees for Tu B'Shvat.

When we got to the pizza place, it was super crowded, so the pizzas were coming fast and a bit burnt on the bottom. While we were eating our pizza, Lev asked 'They make pizza all the time?' I answered 'Yes.' He surmised 'They don't do a very good job of it.'

Thank G-d we had a nice Shabbat together and our friends Erez and Naomi took Lev and Estie to the part for about 2 hours on Saturday so I could rest and clean up. The kids 'got' that I wasn't feeling well and did a good job of reading to themselves and even let me take a shower Friday before Shabbat and Saturday right after Shabbat without going crazy.

Today, Estie dressed herself. This means that her underwear is inside out and backwards and her pants and undershirt are backwards as well. But it also means that Estie dressed herself, so I'm ok with it. She also chose to wear every barrette she could find! I'm super proud of Estie because she went to gan very nicely with her friends Eliana and Benny and their mother and big siblings without freaking out about a new experience!