Summer Stock Sunday: At the Park

It hasn't been very warm around here, but at least the sun came out...so we went to the park!
See more Summer Stock Sunday pictures at Robin's place!

Bubbling Over

Do your kids like to blow bubbles? Mine do.

They love to chase the bubbles around, try to catch them and pop them.

There's something a little bit meditative about blowing bubbles, watching them grow and change and float away.

And sometimes they don't work out quite right...they might pop in your face.

But when you're blowing bubbles, you've got to remember to breathe.
And that's important.

I made a big batch of bubble juice (as my kids call it), from a recipe I found at Real Moms Guide:

10 Cups water
1 Cup eco-friendly dish soap (I used the Mrs. Meyer’s soap)
4 Tablespoons light corn syrup
Directions:
Stir well and let set over night.


We refilled old bubble containers so we had the wands all ready.

Making Bourekas

I somehow got it in my mind that I wanted to make Bourekas for Shavuot. One of my favorite Israeli treats, a boureka is a flaky pastry stuffed with...cheese, potatoes, tuna...etc. I found a recipe online and it went something like this:

You need:
1 egg, lightly beaten
8 ounces (1 3/4 cups or 225 grams) cups shredded mozzarella cheese
salt, pepper, your favorite seasonings
(chopped leeks - which I added into half the bourekas, because I had one leek from my vegetable delivery)
1  package frozen puff pastry
1 egg, lightly beaten

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, mix the egg, cheese and spices (and leeks)

3. Divide puff pastry into 5 inch squares. Place a heaping tablespoon of cheese filling in each square. Dampen the edges of the squares with water, and fold in half diagonally to form triangular pastries. Pinch the edges together to seal the filling inside.*

*Working with the puff pastry was super easy. I defrosted it overnight, and then when I was ready to use it, I spread it out onto a lightly floured surface, cut each piece into quarters (so I ended up making 8 bourekas), and made the pastries. So easy I did it with one hand - held the baby with the other hand!)
4. Brush tops of borekas with beaten egg.

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden.

Serve with salad - super duper yummy. I have one more package of puff pastry left in my freezer, can't wait to make them again. Next time I'm trying a potato filling...or a potato and cheese filling...or mushroom and spinach...or....yum.

Six Months Old

Look who is six months old!

Loves to swing.

Crawls, pulls up to standing.

Ticklish and funny.

Doesn't sleep through the night.
Sigh.
But he's darn cute.

End of an Era?

Tonight David and I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

If you're a friend or a blog follower (or both), you know how much I love this series, both the books and the movies. I actually noticed that I have a Harry Potter "tag" for blog posts! (For the record, this post makes #4 in my posts about the Boy Wizard.)

I personally felt horribly bittersweet when I finished the series. I wasn't ready for it to be over but I was so happy to find out the ending.

Now I feel the same way about reading the books with David. He is 9 years old and a very well-read child. He loves to read, and would stay up til all hours of the night reading if I'd let him. He knows that he can read much faster on his own than I can read to him out loud, but I adamantly insisted that the Harry Potter books had to be read out loud together.

But now it's over. And I feel bittersweet. I'm so happy to have shared these books with him but I'm sad that this compulsion to read together has ended. He's just not as excited for me to read anything else out loud...he'd rather read it to himself. He didn't need Harry Potter to instill in him a love of reading but it was certainly a fun part of his reading history. I'm so hopeful that for the rest of his life he'll remember how we read these books together.

(Side note: I'm that crazy mom who absolutely insists that one should, if at all possible, read the book before seeing the movie. Any book, any movie. David is beside himself with delight that he will be able to see the final Harry Potter movie in the theaters this time. He's finally caught up to Hollywood. I can't wait to take him! And I hope I've taught him the important lesson that the book is (almost) always better than the movie.)

On the bright side: soon Sam will be old enough to read these books with and I can start all over again at the beginning! And then Yael! And then Solly....so it's not quite over yet....

Solidarity With Israel

Today was Israel Solidarity Day/Walk With Israel.

I must admit to being less than impressed with the whole event. Too much speechifying, without enough crowd-pumping. I know that the Maccabeats performed at the end, but my small companions pooped out before the entertainment!

So here are my Israel-loving companions:

 

My children have a pretty strong connection to Israel, even though they've never been there. They know that their parents met there, they know that we lived there for a time, and they know that their Uncle Harry lives there. They also hear about it all the time, they read books about it, watch videos about it...and they know that they will travel to Israel when they're older. We talk about those journeys all the time.

...but I must admit that the Walk With Israel leaves me wanting...it doesn't inspire. It's hard to get the kids to enjoy something that I find to be missing the proper excitement and energy. I have to think a little harder about what I want to do about it in the future. Where's the sparkle!? I know that there are so many political issues and questions about Israel...but that doesn't matter - I want my children to Ohavei Zion - lovers of the land of Israel.

How do you inspire your children to love Israel?

For some beautiful pictures from Israel and around the world go see my pal, Robin at Around the Island, who is again hosting Summer Stock Sunday. And link up!

What are you up to this summer?

Shalom Sesame Shavuot & Hebrew {Reviews}

I received two DVDs of the most recent Shalom Sesame episodes for review.

The first, Counting Down to Shavuot, was adorable. It really managed to get most of the elements of the holiday into the video, if not overtly, then in a subtle way. There was a sofer writing a mezuzzah, there was counting down the weeks to the holiday, decorating the home, eating dairy (including the usual stinky cheese from Moshe Oofnik!), and a really great telling of the story of Kabbalat Torah, the Receiving of the Torah. (I wish that segment was available on their YouTube Channel.) There were a few segments that were silly or too long, like the "chasing the cheese" (?!) and I was a little weirded out by Ben Stiller's choice of costume...why does he want to dress up like cheese? (Plus, since when is the Cable Guy a person in your neighborhood?) I loved the sign language poem at the end of the show, and overall this was a great way to teach kids about Shavuot.

The other video, Grover Learns Hebrew, also had a few highlights. The story of Eliezer Ben Yehuda was great. I plan to use it with kids in Hebrew School - it was really well done:



The rest of the video was a little bit basic for my family, or it was over their heads. The basic stuff? Grover learns just a few words - boker tov (good morning), todah (thank you) and bakbuk (bottle). Over their heads? This really cute segment about onomatopoeia words in Hebrew (I'm embarrassed to tell you how many tries it took for me to get that word typed correctly.)


Cute, right? But totally over the heads of my kids. A nice version of the Aleph-Bet Song - my kids weren't familiar with it but they recognized that the letters were "the same as our Aleph Bet Song, mom!"

So...bottom line? Both videos are worth watching with your kiddos. I recommend the Shavuot one if you're making a choice. 

Full disclosure: I received copies for review from the publisher. I was not obligated to say nice stuff in any way.