things in flight

It was cold here. Unexpectedly, wearyingly cold. And now it's melting-warm. The ice has gone, crocuses are thumbing their nose at the weatherman, the planters on our front steps are muddy and I'm here to tell you that they will soon start to smell...odd.

Time is flying? no. Time has done many things, since mid-February, and flying hasn't been one of them. But gone it is.

Purim tiptoed up and shrieked delightedly, before zooming off into the sunset.

It's not Purim without hamentashen, a friend was informed by her daughter. And indeed not.  I made hamentashen, using a recipe adapted from the Board of Jewish Education's handbook, Food Allergies in Jewish Schools. (an excellent, excellent handout..) 

Pretty, no? But the things tasted like I had sucked all the joy out of the cookie-and-jam concept. Next time, I told QG, screw the whole grains and bring on the fat! She blinked, and mildly suggested that maybe this variant was okay? Ha. 

But such feats of nutritional thumb-in-yer-eye were not managed before Purim. Instead, we did costumes...

Neither cheetah (can't you tell?), alas, was inclined to model their costumes, but hey - they were happy. So who cares about the details? Okay, so I do. Which is why I'm scribbling notes here about how I made them. Just in case I decide to Do. It. Again.

(pause to consider this: I made Purim costumes. No, really.) 

(No - really?)

(did I say "again?" Oh, no. I think I've finally cracked.)

Feeling terribly, terribly brave, I dragged my grandmother's sewing machine to crafty friends' home, shortly after handing the corpse of my laptop over to the fix-it (whoops, sorry, that'll be 79.99 and you'll need a new one) Mikes. There, with much handholding, I managed to cut a pair of rectangles, fold, hem part of each side (leaving room for the arms at the top and slits at the bottom, so the boys can run) and cut a circle at the top, for the head. Attach a tail, and voila! cheetah costumes.

Oh yes, and face paint. Which was the only part of the costume that the kids kept on for, oh, five minutes after I put the camera away. Hm.

Megilla with the Man and friends and whoosh! there went Purim. 

Next up: Pesach. And a challenge. With two 7 yr olds, two 3.5-4 yr olds and one 2 yr old, nearly no budget and a no electronics rule, what would be a good Afikoman gift? Noting that, alas, one of the 7 yr olds is not a game player, both 3.5-4 yr olds will probably make the older ones crazy by wanting to have the same thing, balls and things that are going to fly are a bad, bad idea (many kids, things flying in air? oh, no), and the 2 yr old is probably not going to like the idea of waiting until after the sabbath to use any crafts...

anyone got a suggestion?