Finally...some guests!!!

We've been here for over three months and are feeling well and truly settled. The honeymoon period is over and some minor things have started to go wrong. This week I had one kid home from school with a cold for 3 days, one kid at the dentist with toothache, the heating broke and the smoke alarms went crazy. This is really beginning to feel like home.

We also had our first proper house-guests this Shabbat and were finally able to put our 5-star guest quarters to use. A friend came to New York for a quick trip with her mum and chose Hotel Gilbert as their Shabbat holiday destination. (Actually, their first choice was not Hotel Gilbert, but the preferred family had suffered quite badly at the hands of Hurricane Sandy, and so our friend was forced to go with Plan B. We're not at all bitter about being the consolation prize.) We had lots of fun and enjoyed catching up with news from home. We especially appreciated the English chocolate delivery (chocolate orange and dairy milk - YUM!) and lots of other thoughtful gifts. We have also been joined tonight by Avrom's uncle who's in town for the brit of his new grandson (mazal tov Goldsteins!!!), and we're really pleased to be able to host him. He brought a huge box of Quality Street with him, so he is very welcome here any time. Our other foreign visitor this week was Avrom's brother who flew in from London for a couple of days for a work trip. He didn't come to Teaneck but Avrom and I joined him for dinner in Manhattan one evening. (It was my first time driving in Manhattan and I felt very grown-up and sophisticated.) Sadly, he came bearing absolutely no English chocolate whatsoever, so I'm not sure we'll be meeting up with him again.

In case anyone was wondering, Maya's birthday party last Sunday went very well. The Costco cake lived up to the hype and the girls seemed to really enjoy themselves. I think the best part for our kids was the fact that they didn't have to suffer the usual humiliation of their parents trying to talk Hebrew throughout the party. Parents are so embarrassing at the best of times, but when you have all your friends there and your dad keeps talking to them in the wrong gender it really is excruciating, apparently. Here's a pic of Maya and her cake (and Tzofi in the background playing Temple Run).

Tomorrow we have all the kids' parent-teacher conferences (that's a fancy American way of saying "parents' evening" or "aseifot horim"). I had to book my time-slots online 2 weeks ago, and only managed to get one slot at 9am and then all the rest spread out from 2 til 4pm, so I'll be spending a large amount of tomorrow on the highway driving to and from the school. I've heard that there are some ultra-competitive parents who sit at their computers and wait for the website to open at midnight of the appointed day, so they can book the best time slots. (Shockingly, Avrom will not be joining me as he has some "important work meetings" in Manhattan in the afternoon. Hmmm.) I am not all that worried about what the teachers have to say tomorrow. As far as I'm concerned, the kids have some nice friends, are enjoying their lunches and are in school for more than half the day - how bad could it be?

That's all for now. Enjoy your week and be in touch!!!