shavuot

Shavuot is the holiday in which you ea dairy. i think that this holiday doesn't follow the theme of "they tried to kill us; they failde; therefore we eat", but we eat nevertheless, or it wouldn't be a hebrew holiday.

so what did we have? the Naozim hosted a wonderful dinner with two other friends, they made ravioli, salad, rolls, and blinzes.
we brought bourekas and boikos (both are savory cheese pastries, in the picture above), goat cheese pie (with sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil) and cheesecake.

i've never made cheesecake before. got the recipe from my mom who got it from my aunt - and it didn't say the size of the pan. it was 11pm our time, so i figured it would be ok to call my grandma, wish her a happy holiday and ask her for some more instructions. and it was very lucky that i did! i got the recipe all wrong - i almost used the egg whites instead of the yolks and threw out the yolks! maybe it was the hour or maybe the recipe was a little cryptic... anyway, after safta sara sorted it out for me i had it all right and the cake turned out really well. the best cheesecake i ever made!

"white" cheese is one of the things that all israelies miss here. it's nowhere to be found. for those of you who are not familiar, it's like cream cheese that's not fatty (usually 5%-9% fat but you can get 0.5% as well), with the consistency of yogurt or labane but it's not tangy. and it's the main ingredient in cheese cakes, duh.
so i had to improvise! instead of the 9%-fat white cheese in the recipe, i used cream cheese which i cut with some yogurt and milk to get the right quantity and consistency.

i can add recipes on demand.

chag sameach!

words

Ella's words:

Apple, Aba, Auto, Blue, Circle, Ima, Oh-Ow, Ori, Pooh, Puff, atata (ambatia) This

she blabbers more and more, says little stories to herself.
she understands so much, it's pretty amazing! for example, she knows some people's names even though she doesn't say them. scrooge, doggie, duckie, panda, eeyor, poh, spongebob. she understands ambatya(bath), hungry/dinner/eat, mayim/water, milk, motzetzi(pacifier), yes and no (she shakes her head), bye bye and hi (wave), tut (strawberry), orange/tapuz, shoes, socks, feet...

my fork

May 16, 2010

Ella has her own little fork now, and she's already pretty good at it!



uuummmm!

shell game

May 14, 2010


what's in the camera?

it's so great to have grandparents in town! (and aunts too)

May 9, 2010

yayy for visitors from Michigan! it was great to have Sandy & Gary and Erin over.
besides planning and executing Ella's birthday party, we had lots of fun time together, a trip to Gesthemane, and lot's of walking.
By now Ella can walk a long stretch by herself, but she wants someone to be on the other side to catch her - and she's OK with that someone not being her Ima or Aba!




Veeto the rat is a joy. Thanks Erin and Matt!


playing with the water fountain at Gesthemane


dancing with grandpa



high five!


bye bye

Ella's first birthday party

May 8, 2010

our plan to have a birthday picnic down in the park rained on (well, not literally) by the weather - it turned out to be a cool windy day. so we moved the party inside. Erin and Grandma Sandy decorated and cooked, Ben and Grandpa Gary actually took the grill to the park and came back with the food, and everybody that came made it a very special day for Ella!


click of the picture for the full album.


p.s. - i want the recipe for those baked beans! (and while you're there, the potato salad too)

charts

weight to age and height to age charts, 0-12m.

Ella's birthday day - 5/5/2010

Ella's birthday celebration part 1 - "party" at daycare

We joined Ella and her little buddies for cupcakes and some outdoor fun on her birthday. Unlike some of her friends, Ella found the idea of frosting stuck to her fingers unnatural, and preferred that i help her out. We therefore don't have the obligatory on-year-old-with-frosting-smeared-all-over-her-face birthday picture.

daycare playground is fun!


Ella points at Ori and calls him by his name. She doesn't call us by any name yet (she knows most of the time who we are, and usually points or turns in our direction when we say eyfo aba or eyfo ima - but she does call Ori).


On the way home after school, we stopped at the playground by our house for some more fun. This is Ella's first time on the swing!

Ella's birthday cake

May 5, 2010 - Happy Birthday Ella!

Let the birthday celebrations begin!!

last night i worked on baking cupcakes for Ella's birthday party at daycare. i call them pseudo-healthy, cause they have carrots in them. here's the recipe. (i didn't use the butter in the frosting - just cream cheese - i think it turned out alright)

then some late night decorating:


...things look a little different at daylight:




Happy birthday little lady! i hope i'm doing an OK job trying to make you happy. your Aba and I love you very much and wish you all the happiness in the world. Every day that goes by we watch you grow, learn, and show off your smarts, beauty and talent. we're proud being your parents and love you more then ever!

yayy!

OK... this is not new. we waited with the announcement until we can catch it on video:
Ella can walk!

she doesn't really want to walk without holding on to something, but she sure can. and here's the proof:



she's been walking short distances for a couple of weeks now (although she did walk all the way across the living room once!). she can lower herself to sitting very slowly and carefully, so usually if she's stuck (meaning, we let go of her hand and she doesn't want to or afraid to take the first step) she just sits herself down.

May 3, 2010 - Piano

That's where i found Ella when i came to pick her up at daycare :)
(i tried to take a video with my phone but it failed. maybe i need a smarter phone... :P)
Coffy complained that she kept changing the key.

 

one day we'll have a house (with a back yard, deck, garage, washer/dryer and dishwasher), and we'll possibly need room for a piano.

May 2, 2010 - dance

May 2, 2010

Ella and Peter on a trip to JoAnn fabrics.

It was Ella's best car ride in more than a month! she recently doesn't take to being in the car (it's spring traffic... cubs games + lots of people out and about make Lakeshore Drive a parking lot). she particularly liked it when Peter fell asleep, which meant that his hair, baseball, and water cup are fair game!

May 1, 2010

 
 
 

Nachos and beer

May 1, 2010

well, an empty mug. but we still thout it was funny :)