Blah

Its Sunday and we are off to a slow start. By slow start I mean still
In our pajamas at 3pm kinda day. Luke had an early morning shoot around and is now taking a nap before his game tonight. Cole is in his normal "Barney trance". He doesn't sit still for anything but when Barney comes on his whole world stops. There is something about that purple dinosaur that puts some sort of spell on my kid. The show is on every day but they only play the exact same 4 episodes on repeat. Luke and I have all the annoying songs memorized. We always catch each other singing them throughout the day. It's pretty funny to hear Luke sing, "I love you, you love me..."

I've been on a big health kick lately. Im not eating ANYTHING that's unnatural or processed. I have no idea how long I will keep it up, especially with Christmas coming. (might be hard considering cakeballs are probably not the healthiest...) I'm looking at it as more of an experiment to see if it has positive effects on my mood and energy levels. I've always tried to eat organic and all natural when I can, just never been this strict about it! Luckily I have found a ton of organic options and the produce here is amazing.

The last time I made tacos I was reading the ingredients in the seasoning packets. I decided I was going to never buy it again because
1. It's easy to make and
2. Seasoning packets have MSG and other preservatives that I can do without.
Today i made Luke taco soup and made the seasoning from scratch by following this recipe... http://allrecipes.com/recipe/taco-seasoning-i/detail.aspx

This is a also good article on the diet of the middle east.
http://thefoodfarce.com/2011/08/04/the-mediterranean-pristine-beaches-and…arteries/

Heather and Joey come in a couple weeks and we are really excited! It will be nice to break up the monotony of everyday life here. The team delivered our Christmas tree and Luke, Cole and I decorated it as a family. Actually Cole was trying to sabotage the decorating. He didn't quite understand why we were putting balls on the tree when they belonged in the hoop!

I will leave you with a pic of our Christmas tree and one of my cute boy that Anastasia took.

Bamba

If I come back after this year 20 pounds heavier it is because of this...BAMBA. It's a super popular snack food made here in Israel. It's has the texture of Cheetos, but instead of cheese, it's peanut butter flavor. Which may sound gross but trust me...it's not. It's not gross, its actually quite amazing. I've come to find that Israelis do a lot of things wrong, but this my friends, this they got right.

The nutrition facts are in Hebrew, which is nice, and dangerous all at the same time. Does a tree make a sound when it falls in the forest all alone? Do calories count when they are written in Hebrew? The answer is NO. I believe the saying "ignorance is bliss" applies here. Someone once told me Bamba was all natural with no preservatives, and I'm sticking with that. It makes me feel less guilty after I devour half a bag in one sitting. I'll tell you what I know for certain... they are truly little morsels of heaven.

Is your mouth watering? Don't you worry. You'll all be getting some for Christmas, that is if I don't eat them all on the flight home.

dear cole

You are 14 months old! You've grown up so much these last two months we've been in Israel.

You used to prefer me, but now you are becoming quite the daddy's boy. I don't blame you. Your daddy is pretty great. You cry when he leaves for work and you get so excited when he comes home. You love to play catch and shoot hoops with him. You always clap for yourself when you make a basket. I love that about you. Don't ever stop applauding yourself for a job well done.

You've mastered walking and have moved on to running. You are fast too! Yesterday we walked to the park. I made you hold my hand and you didn't like that. You are so independent already.

You like to watch cartoons with your breakfast. You especially love Barney and you dance to all the songs. You have some good rhythm son!

You love bath time, you actually love everything about the bathroom. Any chance you get you sneak in there to play in the shower and the toilet! I hope that you'll soon realize how gross that is. You love to unroll the toilet paper. You always flash a sweet grin when you get caught doing something naughty. You're going to have to stop being so cute if we are ever going to punish you. You could bring peace to the middle east with that smile.

You like to watch me do my exercise videos. Sometimes you try and do the moves. You are pretty good at leg lifts, and when it's time for wall sits, you go to the wall and do them too! You are going to be so big and strong!

You like to hide crackers and small toys in daddy's shoes. He has to dump them out every day before he goes to work.

You have started giving Eskimo kisses. You give one to mommy, then daddy, then mommy, then daddy. Its a game you love to play, and we love it too. It entertains you forever! You have a little cold and your nose has been a bit runny, so lately we've been getting wet Eskimo kisses! We don't mind.

We can already tell you have a great sense of humor. You will do anything for a laugh, you love to entertain! You are such a sweet boy and bring us so much happiness. We are so glad you're ours!

Winning

Yesterday was game day. Luke's team came out on top and he was leading scorer and game MVP with 18 points. He hit five 3-pointers and made it look like it was easy! I am a VERY proud wife.

I was finally able to watch a game. I usually have Cole with me and games with him on my lap aren't quite the same. I spend more time trying to stop him from pulling the lady's hair in the row below us, than actually watching the game. And now that hes walking?? Forget about it! This child has found his legs and he can not be contained.

We decided pretty early on that finding a babysitter was a must, and find a babysitter we did. Her name was Yael. She was sweet and great....and two days after watching Cole for the first time, she decided to move to Germany. (coincidence? maybe...) Either way, we found ourselves on a baby-sitter hunt once again. Luckily, our friend Anastacia found someone interested in the job; a preschool teacher from the international school that she volunteers at. Her name is Rachel and she babysat Cole for the first time last night. For about a hundred shekels, I got to watch the game by myself.

Although things seemed promising, as soon as I left the house, on came the separation anxiety. Surprisingly, the person suffering was me, not Cole. Leaving your child in another country, with a complete stranger is just plain frightening. There's just no other way to put it. I have a lot invested here! I grew this little yearling from seed. He's my everything, and how well can you REALLY get to know someone in a 10 minute interview?

I was sitting there watching the game, trying to enjoy myself, but my mind was elsewhere...

What if this "Rachel" is really a serial killer who preys on blonde baby boys?
What if she forgets to feed him and his tummy is rumbling he's so hungry?
What if he misses me and he's sad and cries all night long?
What if she thinks Cole is really cute and kidnaps him and raises him as her own?
What if he has a really stinky diaper and she never wants to watch him again?
What if she doesn't give him his sippy cup and all night long he's thirsty, I mean parched?!
What if she forgets that he likes the satin part of his blanky to touch his face while he falls asleep?
What if she let's him watch an 'R' rated movie and his first word is f$@&!

It took everything in me not to leave at halftime. I finally convinced myself to stay. After all, there is two men in my life, and my husband needs me too. I'm glad I stuck around because Luke had a great second half. I waited for him after the game. He came out of the locker room with a certain swagger he has after a game he feels good about. We walked home together, just the two of us, like we used to do in Italy. We talked about how blessed we are for experiences we've had and how great it is that Luke is still getting paid to play the game that he loves.

We got home and found Cole perfectly happy, sound asleep in his crib with the satin part of his blanky touching his face.

Turns out Rachel is not a serial killer, Cole was well fed, and they didn't even watch TV. She's actually a really sweet girl. She said Cole is, "the cutest baby ever," which makes me like her even more.

I see many, many date nights in our future.

All of our prayers for our time here in Jerusalem have been answered. God is so good! Everything is falling into place, which only makes me feel more confident that we made the right decision to come here.

Halloween 2011

Guess I'm a little late on this post. Better late than never!

They obviously don't do Halloween in Israel, so we had to get resourceful.

If you're wondering the shade of Cole's beard, it is Cinique eyeshadow in "chocolate chip" and yes, that sign is written in lipstick, Revlon "berry love".

I think he makes a pretty cute bum.

Toys

We had to leave most Cole's toys behind, but he's making do just fine.

Meet his current favorite toy. Long plastic tubbing. He uses this to make scary noises with. This kid, like his dad, is easily entertained!

Hapoel Jerusalem

Here are some pictures I've been collecting this season.

The big 3-0

My handsome hunk of a man turns 30 today. I could write a 500 page novel about how great of a person he is, how he is the best daddy ever and how he makes me happier than I ever knew was possible (if that last part sounds familiar, it was in my wedding vows. It's still true)

Instead of a novel, I'm writing a blog post to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE! Life with you is exciting and wonderful. Being your wife and mother to Cole is the greatest joy!

I love you so much, I want to shout it from the hills of Jerusalem for all the world to hear!

I thank God for you every single day.

Pj's in the afternoon

Its Saturday afternoon here and we are off to a slow start. This is pretty normal for us. Everything in town shuts down on Saturdays so there is literally nothing to do and no reason to get ready. Luke's still asleep. Little man and I are still in our pj's and Cole is currently eating cheerios...out of the box. I already know the outcome of this and it’s a messy one. But he's having so much fun reaching his little hand into the bag...and if he's entertaining himself, that means I can enjoy another cup of coffee.

I guess I shouldn't be so careless with a full box of Cheerios....they are expensive here. Not just Cheerio's, groceries in general. A big box of cereal costs about 30 Shekels, which is about ten dollars. Milk is also about 10 dollars a gallon. I would say everything is double, if not triple, what it costs in the states. Good thing my man has a job. No ones goin hungry 'round here!

 

our chubby boy combing the beaches of Tel Aviv

I'm thinking about making breakfast for Luke. The problem with this is breakfast for him is not complete without either sausage or bacon. Both are hard to find here. Grocery stores don't sell it because pork isn't kosher. For some reason I've been really missing bacon lately, which is weird because I'm not usually a huge fan of it. I guess the saying is true. You always want what you can't have....even when its bacon.

Luckily for us, there is a one butcher in the city center that sells everything "non-kosher" We can get shrimp and pork there, along with other non-kosher and American products (bbq sauce, refried beans, taco seasoning, ranch dressing) I can't really think of anything we would want but are unable to find. The main thing I miss as far as food goes are easy staples, like canned soup! They don't quite understand the concept of convenience foods; which they are probably healthier for.

Cole and I have been here for about 6 weeks, and I am seriously starting to miss home.  Some things I miss....in no particular order:

-Drive-thru's (especially for coffee)

-My house!!!

-My shower

-My own bed

-TJ Maxx

-Target

-the colorful leaves in Oregon

-1st Baptist

-my pots, pans & dishes

-the view from our decks

-Having grandmas around to baby-sit

-my oven (we only have a TOASTER OVEN as of now; we are supposed to be getting a real oven soon!)

-all my clothes and shoes I had to leave behind

-A DISHWASHER!! (I hate washing dishes by hand!!)

-Going to Oregon football games

-Going to the mall without having your car searched for bombs, and going through metal detectors. (Yes, I'm serious)

And of course we miss our family & friends most of all!

Ok, I'm done feeling sorry for myself. It's a beautiful day & we need to go outside and play

HolyLand ---> this way

Hello? Is anyone out there?

 Here is Cole a coulple weeks ago when he was just starting to walk.

heyyyy baby, wanna ride?

New friends & a trip to tim tam

Last post I talked about Sukkot, but what I didn't know at the time is that Sukkot lasts for a week. This past Wednesday was the last day of Sukkot and we got invited to our very first dinner in a sukkah.

Yuval and Zim are a really nice Jewish couple we've gotten to know through our friends Brian and Anastacia. Yuval does p.r for hapoel (Luke's team) We been invited to their home a couple times and really enjoyed ourselves. They are so warm and welcoming.

*Notice Cole, sneaky sneaky

The dynamics in that family are hillarious. Zim (the mom) is warm, friendly and a great cook. She's American but moved to Israel as a teenager. Yuval (the dad) is outgoing and goofy. He always talks to Cole with a Donald duck voice. They also have 3 sons and a big extended family who are just as entertaining.

I'm thankful we have people who've taken us in, while we are so far away from our own families.

Yuval told us about an indoor play place in Jerusalem for kids. We went to one in Tel Aviv and Cole had a blast, but we didn't know they had one here in Jerusalem. Yesterday we ventured out with our new navagation system to find this place. The navagation system was the best idea ever. We can now explore the city without the risk of ending up in the gaza strip. The drive was supposed to be an 20 minutes, but we left at rush hour, so it ended up taking us an hour. Driving in Israel is like nothing I've ever experienced before. These people are aggressive on the road. Luke loves this, I hate it.

The crazy long drive was worth it because Cole was lovin' life at this place. We were sitting there watching him play. He had a huge smile on his face, and was squealing with delight. In those kind of moments you realize you will do just about anything to make your child happy. You want candy for dinner? Ok! You want to stay up in till midnight? Sure! His smile melts me. I am in some serious trouble.

The play place is called Tim Tam. It was filled with crazy kids and it smelled like a mix between dirty socks and wet diapers.

There is nothing more attractive (to me) than my man with my baby. Plus, he got a haircut and was looking good... don't you think? If there wasn't so many kids in that place I would of rolled around with him in the ball pit!

After Tim Tam we stopped at a toy store and bought Cole a new toy. Actually, that’s not true. After Tim Tam we immediately headed for the nearest anti-bacterial soap dispenser and scrubbed our child from head to toe,.... and then we got him a new toy. What a good day for our bubba boy!

He must of wore himself out because he slept for a whole 10 hours last night. If he will sleep that long, I will take him to that sweaty, smelly place every single day. I haven't slept 10 hours straight since before I was pregnant. For those of you who have never slept 10 hours straight, let me tell you.... it's glorious.

sukkot

Luke got yesterday off for Sukkot, which is another Jewish holiday.  For Sukkot, they build Sukkah's, which is a man-made tent of sorts. The walls can be made out of anything but the roof must be made of organic material like branches and palm leaves. They gather in the Sukkah's to pray and also to eat a large meal. The purpose of building a Sukkot, is to experience how people lived back in the day. From what I understand, the meal is somewhat like a Thanksgiving, with the purpose being to refect on the many blessings of the year. It must not be completly mandatory to actually build a Sukkah, because we went to the park today and we saw people eating their meal in camping tents:)

I found a little written about Sukkah's, (or booths) described in Nehemiah chapter 8.

Luke had a tournament this week. He got MVP of this first game. I was reluctant to take Cole, but I really wanted to go, so I gave it a shot,. I’m glad I did because Luke played great and it was so fun to watch. Cole actually did way better than I expected. The arena is loud, really loud. There are fans banging on drums the whole entire game. It’s a really intense atmosphere.

We got to sit right behind the teams bench. Cole got really excited when he would catch a glimpse of Luke. He would wave to him and squeal, it was really funny. Every time Luke made a shot the cameras would film Cole and I, we got to watch it the next day which was fun. He looked very confused seeing us on TV. Cole loved watching the cheerleaders dance, and they also loved Cole! The cheerleaders are hilarious/ridiculous. They always dance with props. (drumsticks, and hula hoops etc)  Their outfits, dances, are so bizare that they deserve there own blog post. I will get some pictures of them next game. 

We are off to the grocery store. The stores have been closed for 2 days for the holiday and will close again tonight at 4 for Shabbat, (or Sabbath, Saturday) We have been surviving on pita bread and cheese.

If you want to feel closer to us here in Israel, get some middle eastern flatbread and hummus. (Trader joes has both) Its a staple here. 

I'm pretty sure I've ate my weight in hummus already...

Yom Kippur

Hello friends. Thanks for keeping up with us here in Israel. Luke and I decided it was for the best that the blog went private so we could  freely speak our minds about our experiences here. When we were in Italy,  we had a some Italian fans find the blog. They left some mean comments because they felt as though I insulted their country with a few things I said. I just want be honest and tell it like it is over here, without the fear of being stoned by Israelis.

Speaking of being stoned...starting tonight it is Yom Kippur, which is the holiest day of the year for Jewish people. (it actually lasts 26 hours) The day is for fasting and prayer. Nothing is open..nothing. They don't use their cell phones, watch television, or do anything that requires electricity. You are also not allowed to drive. There are lots of people out and about walking everywhere. Supposedly if you are caught driving, people will stone your car. I think we will be staying in tonight!

The team put us up in a decent apartment. The location couldn't be better.  It is across the street from a large park,  a two minute walk to Luke's gym, and a 3 minute drive to a large mall. The mall has an H&M, Zara, Nike Store, Toys R US, Office Depot, a mcdonalds and Sbarro pizza.  When you're walking through the mall, you almost forget you are in the holy land.  It feels modern and normal. I'm quickly learning there are many shades of Israel.

Our apartment is in West Jerusalem, which is a 15 minute drive from the Old City. We are in desperate need of Garmin. We've gotten lost countless times. Thank goodness we've found our way back before we ended up in the Gaza Strip. 

So here is the outside our home for the next 9 months.

Our place is considered  large compared to most  apartments in Jerusalem. We have 4 very small bedrooms, and a sunroom we turned into  Cole's playroom  It's no castle on Mt. Baldy, but at the end of the day, I'd be happy living in a cardboard box as long as my boys were there with me.

The decor is....not my syle.   Check out the painting above our bed in the master bedroom. 

We live on the 2nd floor, but often take the elevator because Cole loves pushing the buttons. He knows which one to push and gets a huge smile on his face when the button lights up. It doesn't take much to keep this kid happy.

Some of Cole's current favorite things are  remote controls, cell phones, playing with daddy's shoes, empty paper towel rolls, and my new rolling pin. He also loves to climb into this little cubby in our kitchen.

He loves to take anything out of its package. He loves to swim in a sea of diapers. 

I guess I should also mention that as of Monday he is WALKING.  He has also slept through the night the last two nights in a row.  Fingers crossed that one continues...

Luke is doing really well. Its the end of his "work week" and he is feeling very exhausted.  He has declared Yom Kippur his new favorite holiday because he was in desperate need of these two days off.   He had a practice game this week and was the leading scorer with 20 points.

Ladies & gentlemen...the guys still got it.

Today I ran out of coffee and really wished I could hop in the car in my pajamas, throw some sunglasses on and go get some drive-thru. Israelis copy a lot of American things, but they haven't quite figured out how glorious drive-thru coffee is.  Does anyone have an insider connection with Starbucks? Can someone tell them there's a housewife who desperately needs one in Jerusalem?

our new normal

Well, we've been in Jerusalem for a little over two weeks now. I am just starting to feel like I'm finally recovered from jet lag and fully adjusted to the time zone change. Its amazing how long it really takes to get back to "normal".

It's still crazy we live in Jerusalem. Believe me, I never thought I'd say that.  I knew that Luke's basketball career would take us places....just never imagined it would be here. It is really amazing living in a city that means so much to my religion. It's surreal visiting places I've only read about in the Bible.

Garden of Gethsemane

 
 I know that life here will not always be easy. Living thousands of miles away from everyone you love is never easy.  But life is an adventure, especially our lives. We are going to do our best to soak up the experience and make the most of our time here in the Holy Land.

In other news...Cole is the proud owner of 4 new top teeth! He now has 6 teeth! With each tooth he gets he looks less like a baby, and more like a little boy.

He had a rough couple weeks because all 4 of those top teeth came in at once!! Now that they are in, he is back to his normal happy self. I think he likes it here in Israel. He is taking a couple steps by himself, but hasn't quite mastered walking yet. He loves to dance and he smiles all day long. He is looking more and more like Luke everyday. I still think he looks a lot like my older brother Adam too. He pretty much looks like Luke & Adam's love child.

We are so happy that we have a park across the street from where we live. Cole loves to go and watch the big kids play. You can tell he wishes he could run and jump like they can. Luke had the day off so we spent an hour playing in the sunshine. People were out BBQ'n and it was a gorgeous day. I could definitely get used to the weather here.

For a native English speaker as myself, Hebrew has got to be one of  the hardest languages. But Luckily, here in Jerusalem, they provide you with pictures too.  Clearly this sign is saying that dogs are welcome to poop in the park. right?

And now its naptime for all 3 of us.