purim 2011

today was the purim service/carnival at our temple, which is known for its revelry this time of year.  (the rabbis came dressed as woody and jessie from “toy story,” which was this year’s surprise theme.) 

the lower photo of toby as elmo shows the mac ‘n’ cheese box that each attendee brought to temple to use as a ‘grogger’ (noise-maker).  when the service was over, the pasta was donated.

the carnival didn’t exactly go as planned, as it poured on the bounce houses the temple had rented.  however, fun was had even indoors, where we ate hot dog (kids) and falafel (adults) lunches, polished off with generous portions of hamantaschen (all).

simon wasn’t particularly keen on wearing his winnie the pooh hood at temple, but we pulled it on as we exited the car at home, ostensibly to protect him from the rain.

we had debated whether to bring simon to this admittedly overstimulating event (we had similar misgivings when we brought toby to his first purim at the tender age of 6 months, dressed as a hamantaschen – see below for flashback photo), but the noise and costumes didn’t seem to faze him, and we were happy to attend as a family.  (last year, rick was stuck at home with a broken leg, but toby and i made it, dressed as thomas and sir topham hatt – see second flashback photo.  incidentally, we skipped purim in 2009, because the service that year started after toby’s bedtime.)

 

(2008)                                 (2010)   

particularly rewarding was the fact that as we pulled out of the temple parking lot today, totally out of the blue toby thanked us for taking them to temple for purim.  what a sweetie (and not only when dressed as an oversized baked good!).