Oompa giveaway!

Check out this super-rad Oompa Toys $100 giveaway at I never grew up!

Chag Sameach!

Tonight we finally got our little un-kosher make-shift sukkah decorated. We were at our temple on Friday to decorate the sukkah there, we had a rainy day on Saturday and then we were busy all day yesterday. Running out of time. I was tempted to just say screw it since Josh is going to be away later this week so we'll really only have a few nights to even use the sukkah.



But then I realized that there's never enough time, it's never easy, and we have to just do what we can to celebrate the holidays and make these traditions a part of our children's lives and memories. They won't know that the walls and roof aren't kosher. They won't remember that we ate in the sukkah 3 nights instead of 7.

They'll remember looking up at the sky through the leaves.

Saying Kiddush with Baby Bear.


Eating dinner and reading stories, all bundled up in the chilly evening, looking up at the lights and stars.


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Editing to add a word about what we used for our sukkah.

We got one of those outdoor gazebos this summer, it has a metal frame, canvas roof and mosquito netting walls. For the sukkah, we took off the roof and put some branches over the top (we live in the woods, there is no shortage of branches and ferns etc). The walls are not kosher because they are not fastened tightly and will move in the wind. I think the roof is not kosher because it is not covered enough. But it's the thought that counts!

The paper star lanters are available HERE from moderntribe.com, and they are beautiful and worth every penny! Josh has become rather chatty with the owners over Twitter, they're great people running a great business!

CEIMB: New York Breakfast

This week's recipe for Craving Ellie in my Belly is the New York Breakfast, hosted by Imafoodblog.

This was a nice little change of pace for breakfast for me. I do eat fish but our home is vegetarian, so I just had cream cheese, tomatos and scallion. It was not particularly exciting, but it was good. I'll spare you the sad picture that I took of my little breakfast on a paper towel in my dark kitchen.