Super Mema

This last weekend was Talmage's first primary program at church (the children aged 3-12 sing, give speaking parts and teach the whole congregation) and my mom (you know, Super Mema) flew out for the main event. She took the red-eye Thursday night and had to leave Sunday afternoon, which made me bawl like a little baby, but we sure had fun for the short time she was here. And boy did we fit in a whole lot of fun!

 

Mema had barely landed and we were already off to FAO Schwarz so that she could see our favorite ever play place ;) The boys think it's so fun to play with all the toys, and this time Mema bought them each a special treat. Talmage got a Mater and Everett got some Jake pirates. Talmage says that was the best moment of Mema's whole trip...he sure loves his "Mater-hawk."

I snapped this picture of Mom and Spiderman before learning that personal photos are not allowed. They want to take pictures for you, and charge $25 for the copies. Whatev! At least I have proof that Mema met Spiderman--T thought it was pretty cool!

Mema and T rocked the Big Piano.

We caught the last day of Madison Square Eats and had the most delicious lunch. I have been wanting to check this out for a while (there were around 30 food vendors set up at a park at the base of the flatiron building and you could choose a little of a lot of things) and this was the perfect way to do it. The green chili mac n cheese and the feta/olive pretzel were out of control delish.

You know, just entertaining ourselves during Everett's naptime!

Pizza at our favorite place before...

THE BIG APPLE CIRCUS! Opening night, no big deal, right? We had such, such, such an awesome time! The acts were amazing and the boys were mesmerized. Heck, us adults were mesmerized!

We're pretty sure that Pepa would have been in heaven watching this juggler. He made juggling 7 balls and doing all kinds of tricks look like a total piece of cake.

They gave all of us clown noses and we got a lot of mileage out of them. Everett has been wearing his all weekend.

On Saturday after a relatively frigid morning (both in temperature, and in T's attitude during his soccer game) we went to the Central Park Fall Fest. It was ridiculously packed with people, but we got to enjoy all of the beautiful fall colors and eat some Cabot cheese so it was worth it!

The boys also were able to jump on these "fit kids" trampolines which made them so, so happy.

After a successful primary program practice, a super-fast and generous trip to Costco from Mema and an Ever Knight nap, we went to the ward Halloween party. T's first time at a donut-eating contest was a major success. There were also crafts, a candy walk, and gourd bowling. 

And then we went trick-or-treating door to door around the church. The boys are going to have so many treats by the end of this week!

On our way home we saw some awesomely spooky decorations on 69th street Brownstones.

Mom and I went out that night after the boys went to bed. We went to Times Square because she hadn't been there in 10 years...and she pretty much decided she could wait another 20 years to see it again and be just fine! We ended up at Shake Shack and then came home and chatted for hours. I just love my Mom so much.

The next morning (Sunday) we carved the pumpkins that Mema brought with her from her California garden. They are perfect carving pumpkins and I just can't believe that she (and Pepa!) grew such amazing pumpkins...and brought them to us! So awesome.

Talmage and his finished product!

Talmage's primary program was so adorable! We realized later that we didn't take any pictures of my mom with T to commemorate the day, but there were these pictures from after church when she taught him to play the telephone game!

After church we went to Central Park and gathered some fall leaves for Pepa. My mom is so pretty!

By this point the end was near and my throat hurt so bad from tightening (you know, because I was trying hard not to sob). I wish so badly that I could live right next door to my Mama. When we were at Costco a man in line, obviously shocked that my Mom would come to Costco to buy her daughter fun treats when she only had two days in NYC, said, "That's how a Mom is supposed to be. My Mom always says, 'hey, let's go to da club!' You're how a Mom is supposed to act!" It's so true...she really is the cream of the mother crop ;)

I love these pictures showing Ever running to his Mema's arms. Those boys adore this woman to no end. I walked her down to the taxi, and you should have seen the mess that was my apartment when I came back up and they realized she was gone for good. Ahh.

The house felt so lonely without our Super Mema. She really has a sparkle that is not only contagious, but tangible. You just know when my mom is in the room, and unfortunately we are well aware of her absence now that she's gone. We're plotting how to get her back here, and we hope it is so, so soon!