tales from a far-land

Here is the update from our kids' Sunday School teachers yesterday ... From Ms. Ruth (Madi's Class): Dear Parents, Today we were excited to start the day painting our "apples" for our Apple Plate together with the "honey" container. We also had fun working on our Rosh Hashanah worksheets.  Thereafter we enjoyed our circle time learning more about the very special forthcoming Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. We spoke about all the beautiful traditions and read "Sound the Shofar".  We also spoke about the wonderful mitzvah of Tzedakah and said the "Sh'ma", reminding us that there is only one God.  Rabbi Mari visited our room, together with the Pre-K class, and she also told us many interesting facts about the Shofar and Rosh Hashanah, and blew the Shofar for us.  The children were fascinated and asked many questions.  She read "Where is God?" showing beautiful pictures that God is everywhere. It was then time for sn

Madilyn has been super busy coloring new art pieces for me to display.  She is becoming really creative and expressive in her drawing.  Love it! "A Sunset with Clouds" "A Chinese Food Restaurant"

While at Religious School on Sunday, Aiden colored this little masterpiece.  He says it is a fish swimming on top of the ocean.  If you look really hard, you can decipher the orange fish at the top. Aiden typically doesn't like to color much, so I wanted to make sure to capture his first real art piece. I hope it is one of many, many more.

The kids both had their first day of Religious/Hebrew School yesterday.  Madilyn is in Ms. Ruth's Kindergarten class and Aiden is in Ms. Julia's Pre-K class.  They seemed to really enjoyed it, but Aiden admitted he was a little sad that he could not be in Madi's class with her.  Here is the verbiage that I received from each of their teacher's after class yesterday.  I love that we get an email telling us what their day entailed because when we asked the kids what they did all morning, they just replied, "Played. Colored. Sang. Ate challah." From Ms. Ruth (Madilyn's Class): Dear Parents, Welcome to our first day of Sunday School. We had an amazing first day, and the class bonded so well together. We started the day coloring in a couple of pictures related to the forthcoming Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, including the Shofar, and spoke briefly about this tradition. We were excited to have some circle time, where we got to know each other (discu

Madilyn started kindergarten this past Monday.  It has been an emotional, but very exciting week for all of us.  Madi is loving school and starting to make friends.  She loves her nightly homework assignments and was excited to have her first test on Friday.  We are so proud of her and cannot wait to see how well she will progress throughout the school year. The night before the first day of Kindergarten, Madilyn was so excited.  She wanted to get everything prepared for her first big day.  She laid out the clothes she was going to wear on her first day. She helped pack her lunch.  We read books about Kindergarten.  She even went to bed without any issues or excuses.  It was an exciting night. Monday morning, Madilyn woke up and got dressed without any problems.  She was so excited.  If she was nervous, she didn't show it.  We took tons of "First Day" photos and headed out the door to drop her off at Lookout Mountain Elementary School in Moon Valley.  The

My little man is four.  I cannot believe it.  Everyday this little guy impresses us with his wit, his athletic skills, his kindness, his stubbornness, his determination, his intelligence, his affection, and his overall boy-ness.  He makes our household so much fun and yet, a little challenging, all in one.  Either way, we couldn't imagine our lives without him.  Happy Birthday, Mr. Man! As a continuation of a tradition I started with Madilyn, here are the answers to Aiden's interview questions at age four: What is your favorite color?  Blue What is your favorite food to eat?  Chicken Nuggets   What is your favorite television show?  How to Train Your Dragon Who is your favorite Super Hero?  Wonder Woman Who is your best friend?  Brayden Who is your teacher at preschool?  Ms. Jessie and Mrs. Christina   What is your favorite thing to do?  Watch a show What is your favorite fruit?  Bananas, grapes and cherries.  They are all tasty. What is your favorite toy?

This past Saturday, Aiden celebrated his fourth birthday at Let It Roll Bowl in Phoenix with family and friends.  What a fun party! The kids loved bowling.  It was a little chaotic, at first, but the kids, eventually, started to take turns and bowled their little hearts out.  In between frames, the kids enjoyed popcorn, pizza and cupcakes.  We will definitely take the kids bowling again soon.  Everyone had such a good time!

Last Thursday while I was out of town on business, Madilyn attended her first ever Meet the Teacher event at Lookout Mountain Elementary School.  As she starts Kindergarten next week, we wanted her to get the opportunity to meet her teacher, Mrs. Lillie, and see her new classroom.  We thought this would make kindergarten a little less scary and help this transition go a little more smoothly.  Madilyn was very nervous and broke into tears before she even walked into the kindergarten building.  Per Josh, the tears continued to roll until Madilyn was approached by one of her preschool friends, Meadow, who gave her a big hug.  The girls then grabbed hands and walked into the building together even though they are not even in the same kindergarten classroom.  Madi did meet her teacher and checked out her classroom.  After her nervousness subsided, she became excited and couldn't wait to tell me all about it when I got home.  Let's hope now that she has met her teacher and has been e

Last week, the Farrell-Landers family visited one of our local water parks, Wet'N'Wild.  This was a first for the kids and they loved it!  We spent the entire day running from the water slides to the water structure to the wave pool to the lazy river.  The kids loved the wave pool the most.  I am sure this will become a favorite summer activity for our family.