Not just the reasonable

We've been trying lately to bring back the optional.  Because life is pretty busy.  Work and school and commuting and sleeping and kid time and life maintenance (supermarket, cleaning (sort of, occasionally), cooking etc.) takes up more than all the hours available.  And not that all that isn't satisfying and nice, but we've been trying over the last year, and especially the last couple of months to bring back a little more of the optional fun stuff, having spent the last several years quasi-successfully paring it down.  So the trick is, without becoming overextended, how go beyond only just what's reasonable and realistic, to also occasionally do the not-at-all-necessary things we'd like to do.

So, when Noa was born our old friends Rachel and Lina came to stay with the big kids (and come hang out a little) while Mike and I were at the hospital.  Big treat to see them.  And then my bro Jon came out to help us with her simchat bat instead of us trying to do it ourselves or find someone local.  Again, super nice.  Later that month we had Thanksgiving with friends here, and stayed just a little bit later than we normally would have.  There were enough people there who the kids knew well enough to run around pretty independently of us, which meant Mike and I had a tiny little bit of grownup time.  We also re-joined Netflix for a trial month to watch the new Gilmore Girls run -- once a week for four weeks, doing TV instead of house or work stuff after kids' bedtime.  And over the break, we went to Atlanta for 4 days to visit old friends Kate and Rob and kiddos -- Eytan and Li'el were so excited to run around with their big kids, Oren alternated nap schedules with their youngest, and Noa slept a lot.  And to add to the mix, during the week everyone had off from school post-Atlanta, we watched a movie with Eytan and Li'el (who have seen clips of Curious George, Sesame Street, and Cinderella, but have never really seen a whole movie before -- except once when Eytan's old daycare showed one as a treat, but he found it frustrating to have to sit still for the hour an a half).  Anyway, sent as a present from Mike's brother and family, we watched Frozen, in short episodes during Oren's naps.

So, that's the theme, getting fun and friends back into life here and there, alongside kids and work and drives and sleep and family and travels.  Slowly.  Just a little at a time.  Of course I didn't end up taking any pictures of any of these things (there's one below from Atlanta that Kate took, along with a couple taken by the mom of a friend of Li'el's who came over to play last week), but I'll chalk the lack of photos up to enjoying the time we were spending where we were.

Oh and here are two videos, one of making "sparkle soup" and a funny out-take from when we were trying to make birthday videos for some folks with recent birthdays.