Dying the shirts in camp

On the last Friday of camp we dyed our shirts. Very exciting!

Ready to begin...




















first, some instructions from the councilor (Dovey)




















trying to tie the knots - it was much too hard for all the kids under seven.... (Tomer)




















councilors got pretty tired.... (Ben is tired)




















no, I didn't do it myself (Maya)
















Look at mine! I did it myself! (Yarden)




















mixing up the dye (Deyon)




















After mixing the dye the councilors decided that it was way too messy for inside,

so we moved outside...















instructions about dipping the shirts in




















listening carefully




















and finally, the exciting part - dipping it in (Michelle decided to dip the whole shirt in all the colors - you are supposed to dip in different parts in different dyes)





















and the final product!
















It was fun! It was worth it! We will definitely do it at home!

what book is Michelle's favorite this week?

Michelle loves the new book we got from the library this week - What can you do with a shoe? by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers.
A boy and a girl play together dressing up and pretending to go off to the moon. It has lot's of fun ideas how to play with everyday items and turn them into carriges and brushes and other useful things. This book reminds me of our games with Elia.
This is a book in Amazon.

diet

We are blessed with two healthy children. I walked in the camp the other day and there were two moms discussing the constipation problem of their children. The different medications used daily (!) and what works and what doesn't. I wanted to remind those moms that their children eat pita bread and pasta all day long and drink nothing but flavored water. That they hadn't had even one fruit the whole time they were in camp and that they probably eat pizza and ice cream before they go to bed and that continues day after day. I kept my mouth shut. I would like them to know that medications are addictive in that the body gets used to them and that's why they stop working and you need to think of even more powerful stuff to solve the problem. It's a vicious cycle. Unfortunately, they didn't ask for my advice and so it should not be given. (I keep reminding myself not to say anything unless people ask, sometimes it's hard because it seems that a lot of people just miss the point, but then I ask myself to define "the point" and it's easier to keep my mouth shut).
I believe that diet plays a major role and the problem could be solved just by changing it. It would require a little more time dedication but I think the effort is worth it - healthier and happier children.
You can read a good article about diet here. (the best part about the article is that the guidelines are very simple - eat food, not too much, mostly plants. Then the author goes on to describe what exactly he means by the word "food".)

AIS Summer Camp

Every year my mom's school has summer camp for teacher's kids. For the past two years we have participated in the camp. The camp gives Michelle a group of friends that all speak English and it is a fun time when we can go to the pol every day, live at my mom's house, stop worrying (or start worrying even more) about the food that we eat, go to the library every day and have a real schedule. The camp is hard work for me (instead of worrying and taking care of my children I worry and take care of my children and other children), but Michelle enjoys it a lot (and this year Eshel does too).




















In the morning when there is still nobody in school we come to the library with baba (grandma) to pick out books for the day and to play a little on their beautiful colorful carpet (not the one in the picture, don't get me wrong)















Soon all the children come to the camp and the day begins with some games




















and food brought from home (mostly chocolate pita or cheerios with shoko) . Didn't I write that I worry about food?!)




















All the older kids are very fond of Eshel. They play with him and carry him and he laughs and crawls and bites (kisses) them in return. Michelle is a bit jealous of him - she would love to have so much attention from Ella - but then she gets to tell them what Eshel is allowed to eat and what not, how you can carry him and what he likes to do , so at least she has a big audience who listens to her with undivided attention.




















The arts and crafts that follow are just horrible (my very subjective point of view). Children color the pictures every day for 45 minutes. I don't know about your kids, but there is just no way in the world that Michelle is going to do that! It takes her two minutes to color the picture (we never do that at home and she doesn't understand what's the use of it. I personally believe that coloring the pre prepared picture has no benefits for the child and hinders his imagination.) and the rest of the time we sit and read books that we chose from the library in the morning. Sometimes we decide to draw a story or make a game and most of the time other children join us.

We have snack at ten. At first Michelle really wanted to order chocolate pita and I promised myself that here in the camp Michelle is going to eat food that she wants, she will have all the choices available to other kids. So the first day she did order chocolate pita and shoko. She ended up eating my egg sandwich and drinking water. Sometimes she still orders something that I prefer she didn't (like shoko or white bread with yellow cheese), but it's never chocolate pita - I guess that was too much for her.

Sports are like free time at the gym with lots of equipment available.















There are the scooters that everyone enjoys very much...



































Eshel loves them too!

There is dressing up (the little scarves for dancing turned out to be very lovely princess costumes)







































Sometimes there is climbing.

Kids are free to choose to play ball together or to run all by themselves. The councilors are there to make sure that everyone is safe and sound. This is my definition of fun. Usually older kids play some conventional game with the ball. The five-six year old also play together making up rules as they go (sometimes they even have a referee). The three year old are either playing with the six year old and following their rules or they are on their own riding scooters or bouncing a ball or just enjoying the wind while running around in circles.

After sports we have pool for two hours. Needless to say, it is the time everyone loves the most!

Lunch makes me wonder why the school doesn't have stricter regulation on food(yes, yes I remember the economical explanation and logic, but parents should care...) and in the end of the day there is movie time.




















Most of the little ones fall asleep and wake up when their parents come at three.
Our day continues in the library reading books, playing with Eshel, running around. Then we go to the cafeteria to eat and by the time we sit in the car to go home Michelle is exhausted and ready for her night's sleep at five thirty. Eshel stays up 'till eight and then he too (usually together with me) goes to sleep.

Next day everything goes on the same schedule.

Michal's house

Visited Michal. Nothing changed except that she has another baby... She is very calm, very patient, very Michal. To be with her made me very calm too and I realized that everything can wait, life is not a race, it is a journey. We travel the journey and we want to make it pleasant and fulfilling for our children, we don't want them to think that it is a competition where you have to prove something to someone all the time.
What do you do when your child tries to hurt someone? You hug and calmly tell him to stop. (It works! I saw it.)















Playing on the living room carpet.




















Playing and feeding and laughing - all is possible.

dad's b-day

On the 10th dad had a birthday. Elia came and we all spent the day at the pool (mom was working but we sat and drank tea together the night before). Michelle was happy, she was at the pool and Elia was spending time with her!

haircut

On Thursday night I was already sick but that didn't prevent me from getting a haircut on Friday (I did want this haircut for the last two months).















We are still sick - no fever but running nose, headache and overall not feeling well.

On Thursday we had friends over.















Played ball and read books































Michelle read to everyone in English. Orgil and Uriel were very happy with her stories.

garden

At the garden this week we planted the squash that sprouted on our windowsill. Rony also bought lots of seeds that were planted as well.
We found some tomato sprouts in the garden - it was very exciting to find them as we didn't actually plant them. Our stivia plant was not doing well in the sun so we decided to move it to the shade (if anyone knows how to grow stivia please let me know).















Ethan and Eshel digging















While watering the plants the bus got most of the water. Rony and Tal found this car in the wadi last week. It was the best attraction for the kids.




















Uriel is watering the rosemary plant

The garden is very exciting for all the adults - we prepare the sprouts, we try to read and decide where to plant what, we try to organize our garden (but it looks like everything is just going to grow where children are not digging). Children are less interested in the garden - they like to dig and play with mud and they love watering, apart from this it is just another day together playing and running together.
I believe that it is still a very good experience for the kids. They see us working and not just sitting and chatting in the park. They do dig and water the plants and they see the seeds grow into plants. I hope soon there will be vegetables to pick and eat straight from the garden and then, I am sure, kids are going to love it.

caterpillar

This is our biggest find this week - it is about 10cm long and 4cm wide. It was pretty ugly but the children were very excited! They were watching it for about an hour even though the caterpillar played dead.






























If anyone knows the name of this thing we will be very happy to know. I still didn't find it on the net.

sprinklers

On Saturday evening we went to Helen's house.






























Running through sprinklers is a lot of fun!
Helen and the family wait for this moment for a whole week.




















Shay and Michelle are cold and happy.















It takes so little to make them happy, wouldn't it be nice if it could be the same for us?