Noni and Grampa

Noni and Grampa were our inaugural UWS visitors, and I've been lonely for them ever since they left. It was so nice to have them all to ourselves ('cause I'm selfish like that sometimes!), and whether we were hanging around my apartment or we were out exploring the city it just felt special.

 

I realized a few things while they were here:

1. This house was MADE to be filled to the brim with people. Sure, it is small, but even with 6 people in 480 square feet it never felt cramped. Actually, it was quite the opposite. My apartment was full of love, joy and so much energy. It felt cozy and perfect (so much so that my grandparents cancelled their hotel reservations because they felt so at home here). Yes, if I could I would fill these walls with so many babies, you just wouldn't believe it. But I can't, so I expect you to come visit and help me out, ok?
2. My boys are so blessed with such wonderful grandparents, and so many of them. Because our family is so young, the boys have great, and even great-great grandparents in their lives. For most of my growing up years, Grampa was my only Grandfather. He is the best Grampa any girl could ever dream of having--kind, strong, fun and caring. He told us great stories from his youth and from the war and made us laugh with his jokes. My point is that on this trip more than ever I realized how blessed my boys are to have him in their lives, plus Noni and all of their other grandparents. They have A LOT of them (last count I think they have 7 Granpas and Grandmas, plus some adopted along the way!) Family provides such perspective and love.
3. Our sleeper sofa is darn comfortable. I tried it out and I must admit, that is one comfy couch. Come visit and see for yourself!

 

The first night Noni and Grampa were here we made caramel apples. My mom's caramel recipe was really delicious (and not quite as hard as we expected) and everyone got an awesome sugar high from those bad boys! I showed this picture to Grampa and we agreed that I got my blue eyes from him ;)

We dipped the caramel apples in s'more ingredients (because caramel apples aren't sweet enough?) and they were so, so good. Oh, and the boys dipped theirs in orange sprinkles too. Our table was kind of chaotic that evening, but in the yummiest way possible.

Some of my favorite moments of Noni and Grampa's trip was watching them read stories to the boys. Little Everett would pick out a book and drag it to both N and G whenever they sat on the couch. I'll admit, it made me tear up a time or two (and not just because they were reading some awfully sad children's books, the Giving Tree anyone?)

We went to Carnegie Deli and had a lunch that made for 4 meals. It was huge!

And Ever was just as spicey as normal during that lunch trip. Noni and Grampa seemed to love that he points his fingers at me (and others) but that's because they are just grandparents and see no wrong with these little monsters.

 

Noni and I escaped one evening to a movie premiere a few blocks from our house. We saw George Clooney, Sandra Bullock, Regis Philbin, Emma Watson and other famous friends...no big deal, right?

That little Noni is so cute ordering shish kabobs from the street vendor. It was on her NYC bucket list, and I'm glad it happened. That street vendor was so nice and took good care of us.

Grampa and the little boys were cute eating their goodies on the street as well!

One afternoon I may have made Noni and Grampa dress up with random clothes from our costume drawer. You know, because isn't that what you do on a Wednesday afternoon?

Another night Noni and I escaped again, this time to see the Broadway show Newsies. Talmage and I stood in line and got tickets through the lottery. It was such a fun night and Noni really loved the show!

We went to the stage door at the end of the show to get autographs from all the stars. I made Noni take a picture with the main character, Corey Cott, because isn't he the most adorable thing you've ever seen? He is so extremely talented.

You all know that goodbyes do not look good on me, so after T and Noni hailed a cab together I sobbed my way over to Central Park. We loved having Noni and Grampa come visit us...and hope they will come back soon!

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Barton Orchards

Our dear friend Eisley had her 5th birthday party at an apple orchard an hour north of the city, and we were so honored to attend. Eisley and T were best buddies when we lived in the Bronx, and we have stayed in close contact with their family even on opposite sides of the country. Now we're in the same state again, but still don't see nearly enough of each other. I just love them and it was such a fun day! 

 

Barton Orchards--it was like a farm and orchard and country theme park and garden all in one. For as long as we are in New York (ha, as if we make plans like that!) going to this orchard will be our new tradition. Because it really was that awesome!

So, mostly I took this picture because that goat was on the other side of the fence and couldn't bite me or my skirt (as petting zoo animals always seem to do). Later, when I saw that that goat had jumped over the fence I felt a little less cozy with my camera.

The birthday girl herself. I still think of her as the little binkie girl running around in a diaper on my back patio. Ahh...I love that 5 year old!

Melissa planned this party perfectly. All of the kids had so much fun and were kept busy for hours on end (the party was from 10 until 12:30, but we ended up staying until 5 pm). This is when they went gem mining in a little water mill.

Everett thought it was fun, until a big kid threatened his spot at the mill--then his game face came on in full force!

There were multiple jump houses and a huge bouncy slide. For the first time in Everett history he went in the jump house, and he even had himself some fun!

I look at this picture and feel like I'm looking at T and Eisley instead of Everett and Sophia. Such sweet babies!

T and Daddy on the train.

At the top of the orchard was a barn with little go carts and games. Oh, you thought those were for the kids? That's funny.

I told Ev that he could pick and eat an apple if he smiled for the camera. These are the two pictures he let me take, the little ham. I guess he earned his apple!

T and Eisley after they did a slide race. Yes, I think I am totally and completely ok with them being friends for life!

Do you see how beautiful it was? I don't think we could have planned for better weather if we tried. Talmage rode his own bike-cart around this huge track multiple times. It was not easy...he's a stud!

And Daddy definitely wins an award for being an awesome Dad! He pushed Everett around that whole track, while carrying all of our belongings in his backpack.

After the fun zone, our little family headed to the orchard to pick a bushel of apples. We picked four different kinds and filled our bag to the tippy top. The boys had more fun than I even thought they would. They were very careful to not pick any with bruises or bites and that were totally ripe. We have a big bag of gorgeous apples in our kitchen right now. Yum!

Oh, the apple orchards were so beautiful. For a few minutes I even thought I wanted to live in the country, which was obviously the apple cider talking because me + country = seriously never. But a visit to the country, and this orchard in particular, now that is just a little slice of heaven for my soul. And fresh fruit from a tree, it almost makes me tear up with gratitude. I really love our world.

Once again, James won the award for being a seriously awesome Daddy. He let the boys climb all over him to get the apples they wanted. And if I wanted to tell you the whole truth and the full truth than I should mention that he might have boosted me for an apple or two as well. Or ten-ish.

 

And then after apples, came the pumpkin patch!

Everett picked out this little beauty and carried it around for a few minutes. He kept calling it his baby and said, "Oh, is so tute!" Then in an act of 2-year-old rage he threw it to the ground and declared, "I don't want anyfing!" He decided he couldn't stand that pumpkin, or any pumpkin...until 4 hours later when he realized that we didn't buy him one. Oh the drama of a 2-year-old on a city bus in Harlem.

Talmage, on the other hand, found the perfect pumpkin all by himself (after checking out just about every pumpkin in the whole field) and carried that thing around like a trophy of his awesomeness. And his independence is pretty awesome sometimes. I really loved watching him think as he looked at all his options, and picked the pumpkin he loved!

Again, it was just a beautiful day.

The day was made only more beautiful by apple cider donuts. They were out of powdered sugar which made me a little sad, but the cinnamon sugar ones were unreal.

As if our car was not full of enough yumminess, we then picked bags of peppers and tomatoes (which were way cheaper than anything we can buy here in the city). Plus, we got to pick them and reminisce about how cool it was when we got to pick fresh veggies from my dad's garden last summer.

Everett was a total goner when we got back in the car, poor kid has been sick since the calendar said it's fall. Getting the car back to the airport (and then us back to our house) was kind of a doozy, but all in all the trip was a total success and completely worth it. Happy birthday Eisley, thanks for letting us come to your party!

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Randoms

It's the beginning of October and I've gotten behind on blogging. Life has gotten a lot busier lately. Good busy, and not too busy, but busy nonetheless. We are really building a life here in New York City, it's all coming together nicely. Talmage started co-op preschool last week with 3 other kids his age and I was up to bat on week one. He also started soccer and is trying to learn how to think and kick and run at the same time! Everett, that boy doesn't need any extracurricular activities because his attitude keeps me busy enough! I started a new little writing job (that I do during quiet time or at night) and between that, and keeping my house running and hosting company and making time for the scriptures and hangin' with my husband, my blogging time has been seriously neglected. But that's not good for me, blogging is my release and my treat. So here I sit at my computer, excited to tell you what's been happening around here lately. This is just a little hodge-podge post full of our doings in the last weeks of September. 

 

Happy Octoberfest! We went to the German parade and the boys got more candy than they probably will on Halloween. James was in heaven seeing all the German floats (although most of them were advertising beer) and the boys kind of think that Octoberfest is the best holiday ever--but maybe that's not a good thing?!

I saw this sign and laughed so dang hard. That's some awesome spelling!

We went with some girls from church to the Bronx Zoo. It was pretty warm and most of the animals were away for the winter, but as always it was fun to be with friends.

Ever Knight thinks riding this scooter is the best thing ever, although I will admit that he mostly just pulls the scooter behind him as he walks to the park. And heaven forbid I try to help push him on the scooter. Phew, that boy is independent. I don't know where he gets that from ;)

He is lucky that he's so cute, isn't he! And he really is. Such a charmer, that little one is. He smiles at people and wants me to stop pushing him in the stroller so that he can wave hello to street people, homeless men, construction workers and every dog in sight. I love his little smile!

The boys and I went to a lunchtime concert down the street from our house (right across from the temple). The music was incredible and yeah, they gave us free Wafels and Dinges so basically my life was made. Oh, and PJ Clarke was there handing out free lemonade and brownies too, so, why did I wait until the last day of concerts to attend? Some nice man on the street said that the concerts will return in May, and so shall I (after hibernating the winter away, of course).

Marne and her family moved to Texas, even though I told them it was completely not allowed and totally rude. Alas, she's going to be living in a mansion for half of what I'm paying for my little pad, so I get it. But still, so sad for me and my boys that miss them so much. The last week she was here Marne's husband surprised us with tickets to Newsies so that we could go out on the town together. The show was really incredible, and dessert afterwards was fun too. Mostly, it was great to spend time together before her big move.

First day of preschool for all these cute kiddos!

Ever since I saw Newsies, my boys are completely obsessed with the songs from this show. Ev walks around singing, "Look at me, I'm the king of New York" and then doing head spins and leaps on the ground. Talmage likes to climb up poles while singing, "Now is the time to seize the day!" Considering their growing interest in Broadway (and because I saw this and it was FREE!) I took them to see Broadway on the Hudson. Nine different shows were represented (including Phantom, Newsies, Cinderella, Pippin, Annie, Rent and more) and they all sang one or two numbers from their show. We got there early and had premiere seating and the boys loved it. Now they really want to go see Newsies on Broadway. I really do think they'd love it!

This park in Battery City was so awesome. T and Ever ended up playing on this round-about bike for at least an hour. So fun!

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