Pesach Memories by KB

Welcome back to school!
I hope everyone had a peaceful and fun  pesach break. I spent pesach in New York with some of my family, some of my husbands family and I was lucky enough to be there for the birth and bris of a new nephew (a highlight for me). For my boys, eating ice cream, a Yankees game, a subway ride, visiting Times Square and Statue of Liberty were some of their highlights.

The children shared their Pesach memories:

Leiba: "I went to bubby & zaidy's house. I said the mah nishtana with mommy and daddy and my sister. But Yochi was asleep, he can't do it"

Hannah: "At Colombus. I ate matzah with cream cheese"

Ari S: "mah nishtana then dayenu. I sing with ima and aba and I eat matzah"

Pearl:"I went to bubby's house and then we ate matzah. I played so nicely with my baby. I ate chocolate cookies and matzah and then I sing the mah nishtana"

Ruth:  "I went to Colombus to see Shoshana with my family. I see my cousins"

Henia: "Pearl was sleeping that's why Hashem told me to wake up in the morning. We went to a light show and we went on a big blue airplane."

Noa: "When I was going in Joey's and Lev's house and we were eating matzah and chocolate with no sprinkles on it"

Ari E: "I went to my bubby's house and everything smelled good and Ruthie came to my house"

Sam: "I went to Grammy's house with my mommy and daddy and baby Sella. We ate matzah and chocolate.

Rami: "Henia came to my house"

Yoni: "I saw Mickey Mouse and Minne and I got a Mickey hat. And Goofy. I saw Winnie the Pooh, Tigger. I went with Jacob, Esther, and mommy and me."

Shabbat Shalom
Morah Leah

A Different Kind of Paint in KDH

We are always looking for different ways for the children to express themselves through art and have a variety of experiences. I recently visited another preschool and was looking through their art supplies and artwork. Most of what they had was familiar to me. Then, I found something new! 

Solid Tempera Paints. 

These paints are solid, come in a tube and glide on easily. ("Almost like lipstick," is what Morah Sara Carter remarked, after seeing them.) The colors are vibrant and can be layered. They dry almost immediately, so there is no need to use a spray to set, like certain pastels. 

We purchased them for our class, and set them aside to use after Pesach break for the April 

Self portraits.

Look at how engaged the children are in this activity! 

We are sure you will agree with us that the results are fantastic!

Morah Ruth

Fruit Salad

Passover just ended. This year we made a lot of fruit salad, some of the children like fruit salad and some don't, consistent with most of their likes and wants; some do and some don't. Besides for much of the food being hit or miss, we had a most peaceful and wonderful holiday altogether as a family along with guests sprinkled everywhere. So what made this holiday different from all other holidays? Where was the bickering, the bantering, the stress and the turmoil that goes hand-in-hand with having many guests, young children and teenagers and twin three-nagers one family? What was different? Nothing. Well something was, that is… Me. And my husband. We sat down and made a very conscious decision to change our perspective, to have a paradigm shift of sorts, in how we look at each one of our children. This made all the difference. Each one of them acted exactly as they always act. You can be sure none of them took time out before the holiday to do deep soul searching and figure out how to make this Yom Tov less stressful, how to be on their A-game. That was us - the adults in their lives. In our house you can say we are a fruit salad of sorts, no I didn't say fruitcake. We are a healthful, colorful and refreshing fruit salad. Filled with the sweet stuff, tart, sour, soft mushy hard prickly and juicy delicious fruits. You get the picture. Each of the children is themselves and always going to be themselves.  It is the choice we the parents make and how we deal with them that makes all the difference. We so often hear others or ourselves bemoan "what do I do with ----- she/he's acting so ---- I am going out of my mind!" Putting the onus on the kid, something about them has got to change. So maybe it is with 8 you just cannot get away with blaming each of them for all your own problems, maybe that is why we took the leap of faith and owned this whole week. And you know, it worked. Nothing was different, it was all the same. They played, they fought, they bantered and laughed, it was wild, loud, messy and crazy- but it was different. It felt good, it felt peaceful, it was enjoyable. I was the Mom, I was in control- of---MYSELF.

Model Seder Preparation in KDH

Kitah Daled Hey children are Seder experts. 

They prepared all the foods for today's model Seder.

Peeling and Grating Apples for Charoset

Peeling and Grating Horseradish Root Maror

  

Washing and Checking Lettuce for Maror and Korech Sandwich

Peeling Hard Boiled Eggs

Parsley for Karpas From Our Garden

Mixing the Batter for the Brownies

Setting the Table

Great Job -  Kitah Daley Hey!!!

Morah Ruth

                                             Of Exhaustion and Kindness

           (Leaving the Chuppah with my Two Brothers, one of my sisters and Mom) 

It is really important that our children be kind and nice and polite, even expecting an extra measure of goodness that when they don't display it we are can get exasperated.   We think we raised them to be better, or at least we thought we did, to be patient when their sibling is annoying them, to share a new toy, to have tolerance for every child in their class.  In the society we live in, tolerance, kindness, good deeds, are paramount. What we also need are reminders that it is an ongoing process, that will probably continue for most of ours and their lives. Recently while on a plane, where most life affirming events take place anyway, I was reminded of this fact. Good middot, or manners or acts of kindness are not easy to practice or matters of habit; they are hard work, constantly. I stood up at the end of a short flight but a long day. I was in NY for my first cousins wedding, stayed up dancing till late, up early to start the day visiting with family and friends and now it was after midnight on a much delayed flight. My legs were in agony, walking all day and low blood circulation at its finest. My body was achy; I just wanted to find my car, shower and get to sleep. As I rose from my seat right in front of me was a woman who looked similar to me. Many years older and wearier, but definitely one of my own with her hair covered as mine. In the instant that our eyes met, I had the most exhausting thought- that I must offer to give her a ride, spend 30-40 minutes walking at her pace through the airport, not my usual 15 minute dash, make small talk (which was worse at this hour? Not being able to walk my usual speedy pace, or talking- I did not know) and drive her to where she was going, out of my way but probably not enough to warrant not offering her a ride at this late hour.

I was miserable at the thought. Miserable that I felt compelled to the do the right thing and miserable about having to do it. She quickly asked me, “are you from Toco Hills?" I said "no, I am not. Is that where you are going?" With which she replied, "yes but my daughter in law is getting me". Whew! Was I relieved, what was left of my night could go on as planned. I smiled, I said goodbye, I hurried out of that plane, rushed to the escalator and made my way speedily to my car. But the entire drive home I could not get myself out of my head. I don't remember the last time feeling an obligation so heavy and unpleasant and then such relief at its termination. I'm a pretty helpful gal. I work hard and do my share of good deeds like the rest of them. Perhaps it was sheer exhaustion or something else, having to be there for a complete stranger. Whatever it was, here is how I would like to internalize this event. When my children don't want to be kind, I will now remember how difficult this was for me and I will not be astonished or confounded by their lack of good grace, I will understand that we all have good intentions and know what the right thing to do is, but sometimes, it is just so hard. It might be tiredness, stress, emotions, or plain bad mood, all of these things get in the way of doing good, now I hope to remember this and now I hope to judge you less and help you accomplish more.  It still doesn't me we don't have to do it---I just got lucky this one time.