Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Talmage participated in a Christmas pageant at the Church of Heavenly Rest on the Upper East Side on Christmas Eve. I proposed the idea to T around Thanksgiving after emailing the church and learning that you didn't have to be a member of their congregation to participate and he immediately wanted to do it. We attended last year and he remembered all of the live animals, the dancers, and the children singing their praises to Jesus! He was cast as a page to one of the wisemen, and he took his role very seriously. They practiced A. LOT. during December so that they would be prepared for the show, and I'm very proud of our little 5-year-old and all of those kids for doing such a great job! There were two performances on Christmas Eve and after the first one T was tired and really wanted to go home, but then we talked and he later told his Dad, "I remembered that there were people in the audience who wanted to feel the Christmas spirit and I had to do my job." I'm so glad that we were part of such a terrific pageant and spent all of Christmas Eve focusing on the true meaning of this season.

Christmas day was extremely low-key. We opened presents, ate good food, and spent the day lounging around the house enjoying new toys and each other.

Christmas cookies and milk for Santa on the left. And on the right, a picture I snuck Christmas morning before the kids woke up!

How cute is this kid in his new Batman costume?

Santa brought her a Sophie giraffe and her smile says it all!

I don't think I've ever seen T laugh harder than when James read him "The Book with No Pictures." Let's be honest, anytime someone says "butt" it's just about the funniest thing ever!

Merry Christmas 2014!!!

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Some City Sights

This post is a little obnoxious, but mostly I want to remember all of the fun things we did and saw this holiday season. And look, James just took Quinn on a walk and my writing time is limited. So I'm going to photo-dump now so maybe I can write something intelligent later. Maybe.

Christmas stars at the Time Warner Building and hot chocolate with my man, Ever Knight.

"He is the Gift" billboard in Times Square for Monday family night.

A Friday night walk around the city to see all of the department stores holiday displays. Our favorite? Macy's. Hands down.

Rockefeller Tree. And 10 trillion other people who wanted to see it!

NYPL Lion and the star at Tiffany's.

By the end of this night I was wearing Jim's gloves, T and Ev's scarves, and Quinn in the pack. Either I look really cold, or like a pack mule.

A morning date with my littlest two to see the angel tree at the MET.

Quite possibly my favorite tree of the season--Ever's artwork from preschool!

The origami tree at the Museum of Natural History.

 The Bryant Park Christmas tree on a Saturday morning.

 A long line of nutcrackers and Mr. T, pretending to be one!

Another view of that pretty Radio City and some HUGE Christmas lights across the street, because why not!

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2014 NYC Santa Crawl

I make it a point to see as many city Santas as possible each holiday season. They all have their own personalities and the stores are all decorated so beautifully and I tell ya, I just can't help myself. Believe it or not, we saw five Santas this year and that wasn't even all of the ones I was hoping to catch. But it was a good group (including my two absolute favorite, never miss men in red!)

1. Gracious Home

This was part of Winter's Eve, a huge block party on the Upper West Side near our home. It was raining cats and dogs, James was held up at work and Quinny was hungry (or otherwise dissatisfied)...but we got our first picture with Santa of the season! And they even printed you pictures and emailed you the picture FOR FREE. Merry Christmas to all, right?

2. ABC Carpet and Home

If you are spending Christmas in NYC, this is a don't-miss man! He is one of my favorites, dressed in fancy St. Nick grab and sat in the most fantastic winter wonderland background. You can take all the personal pictures you want of your kids on his lap and this year he gave each child a toy reindeer, hand-crafted in Germany. Yes, this is the fancy Santa and I just adore him.

3. Church Party Santa

You know, because he was giving out free candy canes. But no way were they going to sit on his lap!

4. Macy's

We usually love Santaland at Macy's, but this year our experience was a little less jolly. Turns out our Santa was having a rough day and definitely didn't take well to Quinn trying to tear off his beard or screaming in his ear. T was unimpressed and Ever was being a goofball, so yeah. But at least we didn't have to wait in line this year because I wised up and got us a fastpass. Is it weird though that I kind of missed waiting in line?

5. The Plaza

This is another one of my city favorites--a definite must-see. We squeezed in a visit on Christmas Eve before running to T's pageant and as always, this holly, jolly, rosy, smiley Santa did not disappoint. I love that he takes so much time talking to each child and making them feel important, plus that NYC background is dreamy.

 See you next year Santa(s)!

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T's Publishing Party

Talmage is officially an author as of last weeks publishing party. He wrote an entertaining story about when he and Everett decorated the Christmas tree, and both text and illustrations were top notch. He was excited to have ALL of us in his classroom (Daddy took the morning off of work and Quinn was on her best baby behavior). His class sang us a song, T made Miss Steiner and Miss Denise hold his new baby (she cried, the cute little stinker), we ate treats, and overall just had a great morning. We couldn't ask for a better teacher or better class for our Talmage-boy!

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Charlie Brown Christmas, Live at the Lyceum

It was another fabulous year of watching Charlie Brown and all his Peanut friends find the true meaning of Christmas at the Lyceum Theater in Brooklyn. Last year, my little boys matched their alter-egos Charlie Brown and Lynus on accident. But this year, oh this year, those two were planning out their outfits all week! They laughed their heads off through the whole performance but mostly they were excited to take a picture with the actors after it was over. These are the same Charlie Brown and Lynus from last year and they made our boys feel like a million bucks. This is one of our favorite Christmas traditions, one I hope to continue for a long time to come. Last years pictures: HERE

 

And of course a large portion of the fun is taking the "above ground" train to Brooklyn. We basically ride subways for a living but in the sunlight they are so much cooler, right? And on our way back to the train after the show T said, "I'm thankful for all the artists in Brooklyn that color all over the walls." That's graffiti kid, and technically it's illegal! {We didn't tell him that, because so many times it is super awesome!}

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Sicky Quinny

I feel like all of my posts lately start out the same. Here it is: "I really wanted to write the other day but I couldn't because my baby was screaming, my toddler was hungry and my big boy had to be at play practice, but today I'm finally going to allow myself a second to write. Amen." Am I right? I said, am I right? (Charlie Brown reference anyone?) Well, so, I guess it's Groundhog Day because that's exactly how I was feeling again today. Like, gosh wouldn't it be nice if I had time to write more often so that when I actually sat down to write I didn't have to apologize to myself, to my creativity and to all of you (ehem, Mom) for not writing. New Year Resolution maybe? Yes, that and train my baby to fall asleep without deep-knee bounces. And limit my intake of Oreo's.

The real time-suck lately has been that my kids can't seem to catch a break in the sickness department. I mean, I was just barely seeing the light return back to Everett's eyes after our "Welcome to Flu Season" Thanksgiving and then, wham! he was sick again and Quinn wasn't far behind. Our house is full of nebulizers, humidifiers, saline drops and snot-suckers and I'm juggling more ear infections than I have children. Quinn was finally diagnosed with RSV and croup, a dangerous combination for a 2 month old that has led to daily doctors appointments and trips to pharmacies all over town to find the perfect medications and tools to heal her. It's been really scary because she gags and chokes and coughs until she is blue in the face and her eyes start bugging out of her head, and then she whimpers and cries in exhaustion and fear. I must admit, a few nights ago I was up every few minutes with her and instead of being grumpy that I was up again, I was grateful that she was still alive and that we weren't yet in the hospital. A little personal to share in this space, maybe, but that's the truth. It's been a stressful and scary week, but she just started a new round of antibiotics and already I think she's on the up and up. And Everett, our sicky pro, is loving the perks that come along with illness, namely lots of juice and lots of movies! Hopefully this round of antibiotics will slay those ear bugs for good. Talmage has somehow stayed healthy, and miraculously so have I. May the force continue to be with us!

So...there you go. Life lately at the Wiggy abode has clearly been quite glamorous! Lucky for us we live in a pretty great city and as long as Quinny's being carried she's a decent adventurer so we've still had our share of Christmas fun (which maybe sometime mid-January I'll get around to documenting!) In the meantime, I'm just feeling awfully grateful for so many things and awfully hopeful that we'll all be healthy again soon. And of course, here are this week's favorite Quinn-pics:

One of these days getting medication for my children won't require hours (3 1/2 to be exact) of walking from pharmacy to pharmacy (5 to be exact) in the cold, subway trips during rush hour, or being yelled at on the street for not having a hat on Ever's head. But then again, one of these days I won't have this pretty view as my amoxicillin is being filled! Also, how cute is it to see Quinn's name on the Pharmacist's board.

 The picture on the left is more realistic, but the picture on the right is so elfishly cute!

 My doctor wants Quinn to sleep in the car seat so that she can be elevated when she coughs. Lucky for all of us she wouldn't dream of sleeping anywhere else. Except my arms of course! And that picture on the right? Just Quinny enjoying her sauna.

 

 It's no secret that Quinn is a crier, but I must admit that lately we have been enjoying small moments of cooing and smiling before the next screaming storm. She is just the cutest baby and the amount of love I have for her is more than words can express. Each time I have a baby I think that there has never been a baby more loved in all the world, and since there are more people in our family to love them, I guess that's true. That sweet Quinny-girl, gosh she's good.

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