Chanukah

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,

Every cubic inch of space is a miracle.

~Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Our family is Jewish and we celebrate Chanukah.  We say a prayer and light candles for eight nights to celebrate the miracle of the oil in the temple that should have lasted for one day but lasted for eight.

It's a beautiful holiday that we fill with family traditions; latkes (potato pancakes), jelly donuts, spinning dreidels and story telling about Chanukah's that have come and gone.

One of the miracles that we'll hopefully get to celebrate this year, will be, that our two year old son, does not get a hold of the menorah and burn our house down.    =)

Whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year, I hope that it's filled with family, wonderful memories and no trips to the ER (see my Thanksgiving post below).    =)

- Shayna

Happy Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving 2010, I am not sure that I will be able to look back and call it a happy holiday.

It started out great!  My Mom, sister and aunt came and got all the kids early - even our 2 year old!  We had two days to ourselves before we left to go to my parents.  It was amazing to hear the sounds of silence and to be together alone!  Although I still found myself missing the kids.   =)

We got to my parents only to discover that my Mom had a cold.  Unfortunately, I have asthma and when I get a cold, it usually turns into an asthma attack!  Can you guess what happened next?  No, I didn't get an asthma attack, the first thing that happened was worse...

My two year old son and I were playing where is your nose, where is your mouth, where are your eyes and when he found my eyes he poked his finger straight through my cornea and scratched it in two places.  I am here to tell you that I don't think anything has ever hurt worse (No, not even child birth)!  It burned so bad and I thought I was going to be blind.  I went to the Dr. the next day who gave me some antibiotic drops to put in my eye, they drops just burned!  It turns out I had a allergic reaction to the drops! I had to go to the ER, where they gave me drops to paralyze my eyeball, steroid drops, and then new antibiotic drops. I was still blind, it hurt my bad eye too much to open my good eye.  If I didn't live it, I would not believe this happened.  Finally we got in touch with a friend of ours who is a Retina specialist Doctor who told us to buy over the counter Refresh PM ointment.  It really worked well.

Once my eye started feeling better, I got sicker from catching my Mom's cold and I had a horrible asthma attack!  I then had to go back to the hospital for a breathing treatment, steroid, antibiotic, etc. 

It was the worst weekend ever!!! 

Although it did show the true meaning of Thanksgiving.  I am thankful for my family. My husband, sister and the rest of my family really took care of the kids and helped me try to get better.  I am truly thankful!

Songs I Love

I wanted to share some of the music that has touched my life and I hope you enjoy these songs as much as I do!

The words of this song say it all!


My four girls and I always cry when we listen to this song!


The song my husband and I danced to at our wedding!



The song my Dad and I danced to at my wedding!


ENJOY - SHAYNA

The Warmth of a Classroom

Today, I had to go into my kid's school to help out with the after school program.  While I was there I went to see my daughter in fifth grade.  Her teacher had the classroom set up so beautifully!  There were pics hanging from the ceiling, there was a paper chain going across the room and on each piece of chain was a nice note the kids wrote about each other, etc.  The minute I walked into that classroom, I could feel the love and warmth.  What a refreshing change from when I was a kid and my school had a rolling chalkboard and the teacher had a paddle by her desk!

I am sure the kid's don't realize how lucky they are to have such a wonderful classroom and school.  It made me think of the kid's around the world who would give anything just to attend school.

Looking at that classroom today made me realize just how lucky we are!

Apology Note To My Marriage

My husband and I have been married for seven years.  I love him just as much as the day we got married.  Although I must admit that neither of us take care of our marriage like we should. 


A marriage should be taken care of like a newborn.  It should be fed, nurtured, paid lots of attention to, and most of all loved!  While, there is nothing seriously wrong with our marriage, it could use some attention, it has been neglected and we need to apologize!

The years go by and each year more and more stuff takes up the space that our marriage use to fill.  Instead of going on dates, we're making playdates for the kids.  Instead of deep and meaningful conversation over dinner, we chat with our kids about school, yell at them to eat their food and we remind them that our home is not a restaurant.  Instead of going to bed together, we do other things to unwind, i.e. play computer games or watch television.  I must admit, my husband, would probably run to bed with me every night if I was up to it but the truth is, while I love my husband with all my heart and soul - I am tired!  With five kids, I feel "all touched out" by the end of the day and it's not fair to him or our marriage.  I am sorry.

We both need to make the effort and remind our marriage that we have not forgotten about it.  They say when you have more than one child, you need to make an effort to give each one special one on one time and I agree.  But I am also coming to the realization that a marriage can be like a child.  We need to remember to give it one on one time and remind it that it's also very loved and special.

We're sorry and we're going to do better, starting right now.  I am logging off and going to wake my husband who has fallen asleep in the baby's room while he was putting him to bed.     =)

"Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing." - Goethe

- Shayna

Finding the Time

I cannot tell you how often I sit down and the computer and think that I should write somthing on my blog.  Unfortunately, there is always something going on.  The kids won't leave me alone to write (you know the saying "the minute you start to do something, you become a magnet for the kids)!  I need to finish work on the computer for my job.  There is always something, but I need to remember that I need something for me.  That's the reason I started this blog, to have a creative outlet that was just for me.

So, I am going to make a pledge to myself and my fellow bloggers to start blogging again, at least once a week.

I have enjoyed reading so many of the blogs on this site.  I hope that with regular posting, you will also enjoy mine.

Thanks - Shayna