We Siyum Again

Time to catch up.

A week ago last Sunday, we did a very exciting activity: we cleaned the playroom! Okay, the actual cleaning wasn't very exciting, but the result was. And now that there are not thousands of little legos scattered across the entire floor, the kids actually can and do play down there. And since we finally got that done, Sara Nechama was allowed to finally get her first two-wheeler (with training wheels).

The Tuesday following that, we were once again at a siyum. This time, Yanky gets the mazel tov. His class finished their first mesechta of mishnayos: Berachos. They made a pretty big deal out of it. The siyum was held at school in the evening. The boys each recited a mishna into a microphone in the school beis medrash. Then, we all went down to the lunch room for a warm, fleishig, catered meal. It was even yoshon! There were two speakers and a short video of all of the third grade boys doing whatever it is they do in the gym and in class. After bentching, there was singing and dancing. They even had a man there playing a keyboard, during the meal and during the dancing. This time, siblings weren't invited, so it was just me, Yosef, my mother, Hadassah and Yanky. My father was the lucky one recruited to babysit the others. All in all, it was very nice, but a pretty late night for Yanky, and also for Tzvi who decided to wait up for us.

The next exciting event was this past Shabbos. We had lots of company. First, we knew we were having Davy and a friend over (this turned out to be Eli Greenblatt, in case anyone happens to know who that is). They came Thursday night and stayed till after supper Sunday, although we only actually saw them a fraction of that time. Well, since Davy sort of lives in Baltimore, but most of us other Isenbergs in Baltimore never actually see him (except Yosef who sometimes sees him Sunday mornings), we invited the Shmuvitals over for Friday night to also enjoy his company. It was a very nice meal, especially since Ahuva didn't actually eat the fleishig baby food that according to Avital is extremely gross, but apparently edible to babies. As a matter of fact, I don't think they even opened the container.

Shabbos day, Davy and Eli got to meet lots of family members on the Glazer side. My brother and family were in town for Shabbos, so we invited them to come over Shabbos afternoon and for Shalosh Seudos. Then we arranged for Julie and fam to come over too, so that they could see the NY Glazers also. So, we had an extra 10 people around for Shalosh Seudos. I don't know about Eli, but Davy was pretty unfazed. I guess he's used to lots of people around.

Motzaei Shabbos, I recruited the two ninth graders to dry the Shabbos dishes. No wonder they spent most of the time at my house out of my sight! Actually, in their praise, they did the chore willingly, and I even offered them melave malka afterward. The melave malka brought up an interesting shaila -- Yosef sat down to eat fleishig, Davy was eating pareve, and Eli was eating milchig. Can they bentch with a mezuman? Davy said he happened to be learning this topic in kitzur s"a and knew exactly where to look it up. Turns out that they could, but one of the not-fleishig guys should lead.

Sunday, we got pizza from Eden Cafe in honor of Davy's visit. Considering how well the pizza went over, I think my family would be happy to have Davy over again. :-)

The only other interesting thing I can think of from Sunday was Tzvi's playdate. My sister Elisheva is in town, and I offered one of the kids to go over to my parents' house to spend time with her. Tzvi took me up on it. And I just get a kick out of saying that Tzvi had a playdate with my sister.

And now, I must conclude this blog, because Yanky is looking over my shoulder as I type, and he's said that this has gone way too long. Stay tuned for our exciting vacation adventures. The kids have off of school for an extended weekend this coming . . . well . . . weekend.