Saturday, September 30, 2006

Baking Honey Cake!


Yummy!!! The week before Rosh HaShanah I had an amazing opportunity to join Erin's pre-K class for a morning of baking honey cake. Of course, as most people know, honey cake is pretty, well, gross. On the other hand, when I told Erin that I'd be coming in to her class to help bake honey cake, she just lit up.
That morning I asked Erin if she wanted to wear her baking dress to school since we would be baking. She said yes so I put it on & realized that we won't have too many more opportunities for her to wear it while we bake. She's actually grown into it!
I was there with 2 other mothers & we had a nice time watching the children & helping with the baking. My girl had the biggest smile on her face the entire time we were baking. After we finished & I left work, I have to admit that I had a pretty big grin on my face myself.
That night Erin joined us in eating her yummy honey cake for dessert after dinner. I will never again look at honey cake the same way. She was so proud of herself! (Of course I was pretty proud of her myself.)

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Rambling Away. . . .

It's been a while since I've written anything here. It isn't that interesting things have been happening but rather that life has gotten crazier here.

Last weekend David & I finally decided to have Erin's 4 year picture taken. We took her to this place that everyone is wild about (Sadie's). The kid, & I do mean kid, just didn't know how to capture Erin's "essence." David & I aren't totally satisfied with the pictures but bought them anyway. I had the pictures taken in 3 different outfits. Hey! They gave me an hour. I couldn't see shooting tons of pics in just 1 outfit. My friend Michelle has this company called Madi Adi where she makes the cutest outfits. Erin wanted to wear that outfit for the day, & boy am I glad she put her foot down because those are the pics I love the best. 1 of the other outfits she wore is a dress patterned with Chinese lanterns. I bought this dress from someone I'm friendly with in my local FCC group - Jolene. I'm totally in love with this dress, & Erin looks wonderful in it to boot. Too bad the photographer didn't know how to set up a shot. He was ready to snap pics with Erin's hair in her eyes. Duh!

Hopefully David will be able to figure out what's happening with my camera &/or computer so I can upload some more pics.

Atfer having her pics taken, Erin had her friend Kerri's birthday party to attend. We spent a great afternoon partying with Kerri & some of Kerri's other friends. Erin did not want to leave! She had so much fun she couldn't wait to tell her daddy.

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Miss Ethel Says . . .

Well, the time has come.

As of this evening, Erin has started to quote Miss Ethel - her pre-K teacher. Mind you this isn't really a bad thing. Erin adores Miss Ethel & is learning so much each day. Last night while waiting for David to cook dinner, Erin rocked on her horse singing "Hinei Ma Tov" a Hebrew song about friendship. Tonight at dinner, she informed us that Rabbi says "Shabbat Shalom" (the traditional Sabbath greeting) on Fridays.

Tonight before going "nai nai" (Erin speak for bedtime) she needed to go to the potty. She always leaves the door open so she can see me. Of course, it's always a thrill to see your kid go pee & poop. She told me she needed to close the door which upset me as I thought she was playing around. I told her to leave the door open. Her response? "Miss Ethel says I need privacy for potty time." AAAGGGGHHHHH!!! When did Miss Ethel become the person she quotes??? That's supposed to be either David or myself for at least the next 90 years. Right?

I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Monday, September 04, 2006

What a Weekend!

I wish I could say that this was a great weekend. After all, we had 3 days off instead of our usual 2 that we rush through. Unfortunately, this was definitely a weekend in need of a "do-over."

I worked Saturday morning which I know set Erin off. Although she loves having Erin & Daddy days, my going in on Saturdays really throws her off kilter. Not to mention that I had a horrible day at the bank. When I got home, it was so great to have Erin run up to me with "huggies & kissies" as if she hadn't seen me in weeks. Her smile just blows me away.

I was lucky enough to have some adult time that night with a few of my girlfriends. I have recently gotten into scrapbooking & actually done quite a bit. I got to LL's house around 7:00 - just in time for LL, Mich & I to sit down & chitchat. After Lis got there, we decided to order dinner thinking pizza would arrive quickly. Mich & I ended up going to pick it up because a 2 hour wait wasn't acceptable to any of us! Once we got back to LL's, we ate & then sat down to some serious scrapping. I popped out 2 little books - 1 for each of our pets (Star & Kira). I felt as if I had really accomplished quite a bit. We had so much fun that I got home at 3:00 am!

Sunday we went down to the synagogue where I teach 1st grade on Sundays. After hanging around for about an hour, I was upset to find out that my curriculum wasn't all ready to go. I usually take the weekend before school starts to do my yearly lessons. I'm not the kind of person who likes surprises when it comes to what I want & when I want it. Erin & David came down with me, & Erin did pretty nicely considering I couldn't just let her play with everything. We did a bit of running around Sunday & had a temper tantrum almost every hour. I guess once she left the synagogue, Erin felt she could let it all out - and boy did she ever! Getting her to nap is impossible so she was rip roaring tired too. It didn't help that all of a sudden my back decided to take a vacation. I will, however, admit that my mood was altered by only having 5 hours of sleep. Once Erin wakes up, we all have to wake up. She doesn't want to miss a single moment of the day.

Today we went out early again to shop even more. Erin only wanted to go to school. Poor child really hates having her schedule messed with. Face it, this past week was pretty hectic with having no school for 2 days, then going back to school, & then having no school again. She really misses her time with Miss Ethel & her friends.

Normally Erin does super great when we go to Barnes & Noble. She'll play with the Thomas the Train setup for a while & then hunt for some books. Today all she wanted to do was talk - very loudly - about the fact that I wouldn't get her the books she wanted. What can I say? She's just not ready for the big kid stuff yet. That & the fact that she doesn't have much in the way of attention span for more than 15 minutes. Then we went to WalMart where she only wanted to go to the video game dept to play. Now you have to know that Erin is a very deprived child. We didn't let her take her Leapster into the store.

We got home, had lunch & then napped. That was nice until I heard Erin ask to play something that David said no to. Let the screaming begin. Again!

Thankfully, it's after 9:00, & she's been in bed for an hour so we've had some peace & quiet. Of course, when I'm ready to go in myself in a bit, the last thing I'll do is take a peek at my gorgeous girl, whisper to her that I love her & thank G-d for putting her in our care.

As I told Erin this afternoon, she is momma & daddy's very breath.