Home James!!

When all is said and done, this past month of holidays was actually quite pleasant!

Quick breakdown:

Rosh Hashana was spent in Iowa City, this is a tradition we've had for the past few years now. We always walk away smiling!

Yom Kippur was supposed to be in Postville, I was sick so I told Shuky to go bunk in our Rabbi's house in Des Moines and I stayed home with the kids. While not the most conventional set-up, it was actually much easier than I thought. The kids played and kept themselves busy, I just didn't stress about the mess and didn't have to get dressed at all. Aside from the thirsty-scratchy-dry-throat feelings, the fast flew by!

Succos. The first days were spent in Des Moines, at the Rabbi's house. Had a great time, we always love being their guests! Great food, awesome company, easy to deal with the kids as it's all done in the same location. Couldn't ask for a better deal.
For the second days, we had multiple plans, one after the other falling through. We ended up in Kansas City, at the house of the couple that directed Benny's camp this summer. First of all, as a family, they are awesome people. As hosts, they are awesome people. As company, they are awesome people. As the people cooking, they are awesome people. I know I'm sending mixed signals here but we kind of liked them. And we had such a great time at TLC! Benny had a blast, he was super excited to be seeing all his friends from the summer. He loved the dancing and singing. We are so happy that all our other plans fell through!! While we didn't get to see everyone we wanted to see (we never made it to BIAV) it was really nice to see those we did!!

Between all the different holidays, Bella seems to have totally come out of her shell. She is talking SO much more and is a lot more outgoing when it comes to interacting with other people. Don't get me wrong, she was no wallflower before. She was just shy. She is still shy, but a whole lot less!

I'm happy to be back home and staying put for a while (although we will probably go away for shabbos here and there), we have no real travel plans for the foreseeable future and I am just fine with that! My kids are definitely happy to be getting back into their regular routine, as am I.

Love these two!!!

Hope everyone out there had good experiences as well! See you around!