outsidevoice

Image by Renault Futterer Last weekend Leah went to her first Tae Kwon Do tournament. She had been looking forward to it for weeks and spent hours in class getting ready for it. Not knowing what to expect, she was a little nervous, but was comfortable in her skills and abilities – for months she [...]

Today is Day One of Fifth Grade for Leah and Transitional Kindergarten for Benjamin. The first day of the last year of elementary school – and the first day of a “bridge year” for Benjamin. There’s a lot riding on this year. There is hard work and harder work, maturing and accepting, preparation and decisions [...]

Usually by the time Leah heads to camp it is the end of the school year, recitals have just finished, projects are done and everyone is exhausted. All the getting up early, managing deadlines and homework, schlepping, hours of rehearsal and messy rooms uncovered have driven us both to short tempers and rolling eyes. By [...]

I have a confession to make. It’s not the easiest and I’m not sure how I feel about the way I feel, but the fact is the following statement is true at times: Sometimes I worry Leah’s name is a prophecy. Leah – or at least the “L” from her name – is for both [...]

Author’s Note: This is long, and sadly has no pictures, but stick with it.  It’s a good one. Because of my mom’s involvement at our synagogue when we were growing up, somehow our family always had a special relationship with the head Rabbi.  The Rabbi was called by his first name in our house, but [...]

Answer: Because we’re Jewish.  You would think that’s a pretty easy answer, wouldn’t you?   It’s easy, but it’s not enough these days. For as long as I’ve been a parent, I’ve had the same conversation with kids of a certain age in this house.  “Why don’t we celebrate Christmas?”  For the older girls (many years [...]

Image by SilenceofNight Leah decided to help Benjamin make his Hanukah wish list this year. By the looks of it he had very little to do with it. Or he’s nuts. Either could be true. Or both. Benajmin: 1. Spongebob Computer 2. Socks 3. iPad 4. iPhone 5. Underwear 6. Monkey 7. Wizard Wand 8. [...]

How’s THAT for a face? She totally is at school today with the colored hairspray in her hair. I was entirely too tired to wash and dry her hair last night. It could also have been the chocolate headache I had. Who knew a Snickers bar could take me down? (Didn’t stop me from eating [...]

Leah started Hebrew School this year.  Coincidentally this was the year that we decided to switch congregations and now we couldn’t live farther from our synagogue.  It’s okay, though.  It’s a great synagogue. SOMEHOW I am lucky enough to be a part of a carpool from my neck of the woods for this.  They go [...]

There are these days.  There are these days where one word defines the entire day.   Some days it’s as simple as “simple” or “beach” or “win” or “end”. Hashimoto’s. There was no other word after that one today. It just sat there.  In my head.  Like a g-ddamned stone.  Unmovable. There were other words that [...]