Summer 2014, in pictures.

The girls joined the York Region Children's Chorus in January.  This is their final concert in May

Squish placed FIRST in long-jump at her school track meet, qualifying for the Area meet. 

Big smiles, though she didn't place at Areas... No Regionals for us. 

Banana got partial upper braces AND a lower spacer. So much for her being the less expensive kid!

Happy 11th birthday, Banana and Squish!  It's a zombie minion, in case you couldn't tell...

Family birthday Dinner. Homemade Frozen themed cake. Inside, the cake is blue. 

Banana and my bubbie 

The Hubs' best friend and his wife came to stay (they live in Calgary) for about a week when his grandmother died. La and I went shopping

Went to the James Taylor concert with my pal. We entered to win upgraded seats...

We started here...

And ended up here...  FIFTH ROW!!!!!

Got invited to the Queen concert...

It was a fun night...

Then it was time for Banana and Squish to head off to sleep away camp! (August already!?)

The Hubs and I went to the drive-in...

The Rogers Cup...

I went to Niagara Falls with some girlfriends for a weekend (THAT'S a whole other story!)

But I missed Visitor's Day at camp...

We grew our own vegetables this year. That is a standard kitchen sink.  We had beets the size of baby heads!

We went on a solidarity with Israel march...

And made our first trip as a family to the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE, or Ex)

 

Sunday fun day on a Monday

I love long weekends.  Even the one before Banana and Squish start back at school.  

Long weekends equal sleeping in late, staying up late, movies, popcorn, campfires and s'mores. If we're lucky, the Drive-In in Sharon is playing good movies for the four of us and long weekends there mean TRIPLE features! (Nothing either good or appropriate for two 11 year olds was playing this weekend)

Saturday, the Hubs worked, and Banana was at a friend's, having slept over.  squish and I spent the day in our PJs, relaxing and getting nothing done (I got some housework done, but not much). We had our neighbours over with their 3 kids for dinner.  The kids ate and then we sent them off to play while the adults ate and chatted.

Sunday we slept in, then spent the day catching up on some very overdue chores. The Hubs wanted to barbecue, even though I was thawing veal scalloppini, so I made a run to the grocery store while he mowed the lawn.  After dinner was a movie with ice cream. 

Today we actually did sleep in again, had a quick breakfast and headed out to Burd's Family Fishing to go... Well, obviously... Fishing!  The Hubs bought Banana and Squish their own rods this summer and we rented rods at Burd's.  There are two ponds at Burd's. One is a bit less stocked and therefore patience is a must. It's for people who want to relax while fishing. The second pond is for people who want quick catches. We opted for the first pond. Within minutes of getting her line in the water, Squish hooked a fish!  (Burd's stocks rainbow trout). 

While the Hubs was helping her unhook her fish and get it into our basket, his bobber sank.  He'd caught something too!!

Because I'm a good wife, and I also enjoy fishing, (even though I find baiting the hook with worms gross, and I can't fathom getting the hook out of the fish) I dropped my line, which needed bait, grabbed his rod and reeled in his(my) first catch of the day.   And this was supposed to be the harder pond!

A little while later, and I caught a fish on my line!  We were up to three fish. 

Poor Banana had yet to catch anything other than reeds and pond grass.  Though she got a couple of nibbles and her bait did disappear a couple of times. We thought, since the other pond was supposed to be easier we'd relocate there and hope Banana could snag something there. 

It was then that the winds picked up and the rain started coming in. We were not deterred. It wasn't cold and it was only drizzling.  But the wind made casting challenging as we were casting into the wind. 

That being said, I managed to catch another fish. But it got away as soon as I got it close to shore.  A little later on, I caught yet another fish and Banana helped reel it in. 

Banana did manage to catch a fish using her Dad's line, and all in all, we went home with 5 fish totalling close to 6 pounds. Burd's gutted and de-headed them for us.

Guess what we had for dinner...?

Yesterday, I lost my children

I didn't know my sons, and they didn't live with me, but they were taken from me, regardless.  

You see, my sons were kidnapped on their way home from school and murdered by their kidnappers. My sons are your sons.  Eyal Yifrach, Gil-ad Shaar, Naftali Fraenkel.  For eighteen days we prayed for their safe return. For eighteen days we did mitzvot in their honour.  And on the eighteenth day, a full chai, we learned that our boys were gone. Murdered by the same animals who took them.

My sons are your sons, our sons were raised by different mothers, but they are our sons, their mothers are our sisters, their fathers are our brothers.  While they mourn the loss of their biological children, we mourn the loss of "our boys".

We are Klal Yisrael.  We are a worldwide community.  Our loss is great and it is felt across this great planet.  Every Jewish community in the world is mourning the loss of our boys.

From the day we heard the boys were missing, we prayed for their safe return.  We sent messages across the globe.  We attended prayer vigils in our communities, in our shuls, on the internet.  We performed mitzvot, we spoke in hushed tones and we vilified the kidnappers.  We praised the leaders who spoke out against the kidnappers. We wondered how other leaders could say nothing or, could vilify ISRAEL for this crime. We discussed retaliation, we expressed disgust at the obvious celebration of the "Palestinian" people and their photos holding up three fingers and claiming "three Gilad Shalits". I have started a movement to take that three finger salute back and use it in memoriam of our boys.

The pain of losing these boys so senselessly has rocked every Jewish community the whole world over.  Women were speaking in salons and supermarkets, asking if the news was true and sobbing in each other's arms. 

As Klal Yisrael, we mourn our sons.

Baruch Dayan haEmet.

Underlying Themes in "Frozen" That Seem To Be Ignored

My kids LOVE the movie "Frozen", Disney's latest. And if you're like me, you've probably watched it a trillion times with your little ones.

The story, on the surface, is sweet. It's a very Female Empowerment story and the music isn't that bad. (I know, I know... If you never hear "Let it Go" again, it'll be too soon). 

But what about the underlying issues that are never addressed? (WARNING:  if you haven't seen the movie - spoilers abound below)

Elsa accidentally strikes an exuberant Anna in the head with her magical snow powers prompting the King and Queen to seek help from the trolls (incidentally, the only area NOT affected by Elsa's later fit of eternal winter). Once the head Troll, or Troll King fixes Anna's injury, the King and Queen's response is to isolate Elsa, fire a bunch of hard working Palace staff, lock the gates and never explain the situation to Anna. So both girls get punished for an innocent accident.  One who doesn't even remember why and one who was the cause, but was actually trying to save her sister who was moving way too fast for Elsa to keep up with.  So the message? "being different is bad and you should be isolated from the normal people"

As Elsa grows, so does her power. In response, what does the King do? Tells her to wear gloves. So, if we hide the problem it will go away.  Conceal, don't feel. Elsa is not encouraged to learn control over her powers, but to conceal them.  Yeah. I don't see that being a problem later on. The message? "Being different is bad and you need to hide it"

As in almost all Disney movies, the King and Queen die, leaving Anna and Elsa parentless, with the skeleton staff left on board and a set of powers that have been left unchecked for the past - oh, let's say 10 years. 

Three years pass and Elsa has come of age, which means she can now take the Throne of Arendale (a Norwegian village, evidently), as it's rightful Queen. 

The day is emotional at best. And let's remember, Elsa has been given exactly Zero - Z-E-R-O - hours of training to control her abilities.  Anna has been so starved for attention that she literally falls for the first guy she meets who shows her any affection. There's a message for our girls - cute princes are just waiting for you to fall into their traps -- I mean LAPS. Yeah. Laps. 

So, of course, Anna and Hans want to become engaged. (Nah. There can't be any ulterior motives on one or both parties, now can there?!)

When Anna goes to her sister, Queen Elsa to receive her blessing, Elsa does what any responsible adult would do and refuses to offer her blessing since Anna literally JUST met this guy.  Anna gets mad, Elsa gets mad, and Elsa releases a spiked wall of ice, revealing her powers (betcha didn't see that coming!). So now, of course, all the townspeople and the visiting dignitaries are terrified of Queen Elsa.  Who does the only logical thing - isolates herself in an ice palace on the North Mountain. But not before setting off an eternal winter (Anna's words, not mine. Though how they know it's eternal after only a day or so, beats me). The message?  "Being different is bad AND scary. You need to be isolated from all the normal people."

Anna pursues her sister into the snow (hilarity ensues) and she meets Kristoff and his reindeer, Sven.  Even Kristoff is incredulous that Anna wanted to marry a guy she'd just met ("what's his last name?", "Of the Seven isles")

They find Elsa, who sets a giant snow monster on them - because when you have powers like Elsa's, you're evil, too. So you set mean creatures after your sister. 

The Duke of Weaseltown (pronounced WESS-el-ton) sends his henchmen on a search for Queen Elsa and Princess Anna. Of course, he wants her killed. 

Anna and Kristoff cavort with a friendly snowman named Olaf, who likes warm hugs and dreams of summer, when he'll be a.... Happy Snowman!

Anna and Elsa argue, Elsa strikes Anna with her powers again, but this time in the heart. Kristoff takes her to the trolls, who then try to marry they two of them together (because you're nothing if you're not married). They return to Arendale, defeated. Elsa gets captured and brought back to Arendale, where she causes a major snowstorm. Hans (Of The Seven Isles) attempts to kill Elsa, Anna steps in, freezes into a block of ice, breaks Hans's sword and Anna thaws because of her act of true love.

The message - not only boys can be heroes. And an act of true love can come from your sister just as readily. This message, I like. 

But what really bothers me still, is the isolation Anna and Elsa were put through. Why lock the gates?  Why isolate Anna?  Why not teach Elsa to control her powers?  Why make "different" synonymous with "bad"?

Your thoughts?

Why Honeymaid Graham Crackers are The Only Graham Crackers We will buy

http://youtu.be/2xeanX6xnRU

On March 10, 2014, HoneyMaid put out a commercial celebrating families. 

In this advert, we see a father feeding his baby a bottle. Pan out, Dad kisses baby on the forehead. But it's not the dad feeding the baby. It's his/her other father. Yep. A gay couple. 

Further families portrayed are a family where the parents are tattooed and playing drums (gasp!!  Their child might learn to enjoy music!!!). And an interracial couple and their children. They had the audacity to - are you ready for this? - HOLD HANDS IN PUBLIC!!!

What is society coming to?  All these different types of families?!  My goodness. 

All of the families portrayed in this ad had one thing in common. For as different as each family was/is from each other, they all love each other. 

And that is what HoneyMaid is trying to convey. That families are different. But they all love. 

The backlash they received was probably not unexpected, but what was even more impressive, was that the messages of hate and intolerance were outweighed 10:1 by messages of love and tolerance.

This is a business, a company, that I can happily buy products from, knowing that they value love and family, not what type of family.  Unlike an unnamed (as in I will not name them) pasta company that have made it clear that they support ONLY the traditional heterosexual, monoracial family. 

I am only one voice, but hopefully, more people will hear the messages and pass them along. 

Meet Grayson

Grayson is a 9-year-old boy who lives with his family, goes to school and does pretty much what other 9-year-old boys do. With one difference. 

Grayson LOVES My Little Pony. He loves them so much, that when he needed a new lunchbox and his mum took him to buy one, he chose a My Little Pony lunchbox. And his mum, being the incredible woman she is, said nothing about the gender bias of the show and bought him the lunchbox. 

This story should end here. But it doesn't. 

Because Grayson carried that lunchbox to school, kids at the school started to bully Grayson.  How did the school react?  They asked Grayson and his mum what they expected would happen if a boy brought a girls' lunchbox to school. They told Grayson to hide it in his schoolbag. Then they banned Grayson from bringing it to school at all. So, rather than deal with the bullies and put a stop to Grayson's torment, they laid blame on the victim. 

I told Squish about Grayson last night (Banana was upstairs sleeping - she wasn't feeling well) and told her he was being bullied because he had a My Little Pony lunch box and liked the show. Squish and Banana both like the show, too. Out of curiosity, I asked Squish, "what do you think of this?" Meaning both Grayson's love of My Little Pony and the bullying. 

Her response made me think I'm doing a good job with my girls. She said:

"That's dumb. People should be allowed to like what they like and bring whatever they want to school without being bullied. If he likes My Little Pony, who cares?  No one else should."  She meant that no one else should care if a boy likes a "girl's" show. 

I hugged her and she said she wanted to write Grayson a letter telling him he should be happy about who he is. And to let him know WE care and we are speaking out for him, and with him. 

We are behind you, Grayson. 

To the cashier at Metro

Thanks for the compliment that at least I "knew what was for dinner" when I was in last week picking up ingredients for that night's dinner.  We were talking about how I couldn't find a certain type of noodles and how your family (your siblings) are so picky. 

The thing is, I don't always know what's for dinner. Most of the time I get home from work and think "we have to be out the door for {insert program here} by 5:45. What the hell am I going to feed the kids?"

Funny thing is, I have a crock pot, a full fridge and freezer and pantry, tons of ingredients, a good imagination and access to a few really good apps for cooking. Yet most days, I can't figure out what to make. 

Often, we have leftovers available to eat. But my kids usually won't eat leftovers. They have to REALLY like what was for dinner the night (or two) before to deign to eat *gasp* reheated pre-cooked leftover food.  

I have a finite amount of time from Monday to Thursday to get food stuffed in their faces, homework done (or at least started), piano practiced, swimsuits, towels and karate uniforms located (still can't find Banana's karate belt. Let's hope she grades for her yellow and we won't have to look for her white one anymore), art supplies gathered, music binders collected and somewhere in there I have to manage to feed myself or get some housework done. Usually it's one or the other. 

I'm not complaining, and I didn't feel your  comment was insensitive. I just had to laugh a little because you thought I had it all put together, when in reality, I'd only picked the recipes a couple of hours earlier to complement the one dish I knew I was going to make. 

At least I can pull off the illusion of pre-planning. 

That said...

What am I going to make for dinner tonight before we run out the door for swim lessons?