You know, Lady Gaga at Midnight

Yes, all three of us are mothers and mature adults (and btw, so not Gaga fans) but that didn't stop us from meeting up at midnight in Times Square to see Lady Gaga herself cut the ribbon for the new H&M flagship store.

 

 There she is, looking sort of like a mannequin wearing a tie-dye jumpsuit.

 Some people had been standing in line all day so that they could shop with Lady Gaga. While I admit that might have been an awkwardly awesome experience, we had other things to do, you know, like change diapers and make dinner, so we only saw her from afar. It was still fun.

 

 They also had about a zillion cameras on her so that we could watch her every move on the big screen. Not that that's creepy or anything!

Amanda, Mary Martha and Me after the confetti and screaming at midnight. Sheesh, you would have thought it was New Years Eve. But no, just another normal night in the life of Times Square.

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They went to Chicago

So, last weekend James and Everett went to Chicago while Talmage and I stayed in New York. They went to introduce Everett to Mum, his great-grandmother who he was long overdue to meet and to visit with Grandma. Talmage cried when he found out he'd be left behind...until I told him about mommy/son date nights full of movies and popcorn in mommy's bed, then he was counting down the seconds until their departure. The trip was really special for James and Ever, and it was great for me to spend some alone time with T (although seriously? why can't my date ever sleep in a little!)

 

One thing that surprised me was that I missed Evie way more than he missed me. I was sure that my little Momma's boy would be devastated that he didn't have me for three whole days. I mean, he's pretty much in my arms all the day long. But, psshh--that kid didn't even miss me an inch. Granted, his "Winnie" was spoiling him up one side and down the other so I know he was just in grandchild heaven but sheesh, remember us little people Ev, ok? I don't know if I should feel shafted or proud by his independence. Mostly I'm just grateful for an awesome Grandma that took good care of my little boy and his Daddy while they were away from me!

 

Here are some pictures of their adventure in Chicago:

 

James entertained Ever by taking selfies all the way from LaGuardia to O'Hare. There were a whole lot of pictures that looked a whole lot like this when I got my camera back!

Everett came home with all sorts of amazing new toys, like the fireman hat and giant coloring book above. My favorite thing is to ask him where those things came from. He says, "From Winnie, she's my Grandma!" So, so cute!

Remember how Everett didn't miss me? Well...above you will see why! Winnie had all of his favorite things ready for him when he got to her house--including bacon and "punkin patch cookies."

Three of just the sweetest of sweet shots of Ever with his Winnie!

And this picture above, now that is something really special. I am so glad that Everett was finally able to meet this delightful woman we know as Mum.

When they were about to leave Mum's home for the day Everett yelled, "No! Not yet! I need to give my Mum a kiss!" and ran to her bed to give her loves. Things like that just melt my heart.

A kinda-blurry picture of all four of them.

 

My cute boys posing before church on Sunday!

Their flight was delayed on the way back because, surprise, it started snowing around these parts. Say goodbye to my smiley-face because remember how me and the cold don't get along. Zero percent. But I regress, James and Everett had a lot of down-time in the airport and Everett spotted a kid watching Ninja Turtles and invited himself to the show. Soon, all of the little boys in their terminal were crowded around this kid's computer. I love that Everett has pushed himself front and center! They were home a few hours later than expected but Evie was a champ. And so was James ;)

As for me and T, we did a whole lot of undocumented fun stuff last weekend, like eating McDonald's French fries, taking Metro North an hour out of the city to see the Blaze (an exhibit which features 5000 ridiculously incredible carved pumpkins, like the T-Rex above) and attending a Diwali Celebration at the Met. It was beautifully busy and T kept thanking me for "all da fun fings you have pwanned!" But let's be real. When the boys were reunited I asked T if he was so happy to have his brother back and you want to know his response? "Yeah, 'cause now I don't have to play with you, Mom." Thanks kid, thanks a lot!

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Just a few things

 This picture was taken right after he said, "Hey Mom, I need to study my subways."

 Stanford football party cupcakes! Forever members of the nerd nation :)
And they beat Oregon...hooray!!!

Ev said, "Bruvver, will you wead me da scwipchas?" {will you read me the scriptures!}

Melt my heart.

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Our day downtown

We went downtown with some other moms (and a million toddlers!) to the 9/11 memorial this last week. It is a lovely tribute to all the people who lost their lives and I'm excited to go back when the museum is open. The memorial is very peaceful, at least when our kids aren't running around playing tag!

We didn't stay on the grounds for long (because remember the tag game?), but instead opted for this park with an amazing view of the Freedom Tower. Gosh, the view...

When everyone else headed home, I decided to take my boys to an art exhibit that I knew they'd love--CANstruction! All of the art pieces were made out of canned food, which will eventually be donated to the New York food bank. It was incredible. Some of our favorite:

Up!

 

Fairytale castle.

 

Ev said: Is fooky! (It's spooky!)

Superman.

 

Some more minions.

 

And since we were already in the neighborhood, we decided to stop by and see this guy. That was definitely the highlight of my day.

 

We ended our adventure with Everett dancing to these awesome musicians in the park while Talmage climbed a light post.

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It was magic.

"You know, if you say electric doors, it will come." She told T at a midtown bus stop.

He had been running circles around us, this lady and me, pleading for "dat darn bus to finawy come" and asking more whens, whys and how comes than any of us patient bus-waiters could handle. I mostly can never blame the kid, he does pretty well for being only four. The problem is that he looks six and has the mind of a man so I expect a lot from him. We had been parading across town for hours in search of a free flu shot, which we found, but why is it always so much harder to get home than it is to get there? Oh yeah, probably because I still have a dumb-phone and I always forget to Google map my way home before we leave. The shot was a cinch, but walking up and down streets pretending for T's sake that we were not totally lost, now that took some time. Yep, that's life in the big city people. Glamorous, yeah? There was also a little New York Public Library detour, and a walk through Winter Village in Bryant Park so yes, I do believe that T's circles were being run out of pure desperation, and starvation, and self-induced sleep deprivation (darn that time change!)

But as soon as she brought up this idea of magic words it was as if the whole world stopped. Well, maybe not the whole world (we live in a busy place, you know) but T's feet, those babies were immediately frozen like a statue. His mind on the other hand? I could literally see the wheels spinning through those big brown eyes, which were of course glued to our new magic-speaking friend.

"You shouldn't tell him that, it's not true." said a red-lipped lady who covered her silver bob with a ball cap. She was not amused that the bus was tardy, nor by our new friends magical antics.

"Oh, but it is true," she said with a grin. T stared at her, utterly mesmerized by every word that left her mouth. "But you have to believe. It doesn't work for adults, but if kids say those magic words, then poof! Here comes the bus."

I could see it in his face: my old-soul-in-a-small-son wanted to believe in the magic she was spouting. He wanted to say those silly words and prove her right, or maybe wrong, well maybe he just wanted an excuse to say those silly words. But he just couldn't get himself to do it. Maybe it was embarrassment? He was probably over-thinking it, he's awfully practical. And sometimes his people skills, well, they're not so hot. He slammed his big body into the stroller and sulked while the red-lipped lady and I chatted about how my neighborhood used to be swarming with "hookahs." Yes, hookers--her conversation choice.

By this time we had been waiting for a good while and people were getting antsy. And crabby. Oh, and lest you think this story is only about T, Everett was there as well screaming at the top of his lungs about how he wanted some "farties." You know, Smarties.

Our new friend, who was now super late for a meeting, was about to hail a cab when from the stroller we heard a few little squeaks that faintly resembled two magic words: electric doors.

She was the one that saw it, the M7 heading right towards us. With a wink in T's direction she said, "See, works every time!"

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Store to Store

Halloween seriously rocked around here! One thing is for sure and it's that New York knows how to par-tay. The days leading up to Halloween were busy in all the right ways--full of activities and parades and devilish treats (I was going to call them heavenly, but devilish sounded a little more Halloween-ish!) We had so much fun!

 

Let's start with the treats. Between preschool, our mommy's group and our family, the treats and festive food was incredible. I didn't get pictures of everything (like the giant pumpkin cookies!), but here's a little nibble of what our Halloween was like:

 

cups of dirt

 

bat pops

centipede meatballs

 



jack-o-lantern oranges filled with fruit salad

 



Mexican meal in a pumpkin!

 

7 layer spooky dip

 

The decorations on 69th street were so amazing. They hold a huge block party on Halloween night and all of the houses are decorated from the bottom up. We walked down that street almost every day all week long looking at the progress of the brownstones, and it was certainly impressive.

 

Just a few of our favorite details:

 



the fog machine

 



so many pumpkins!!!

 



a whole family of cute spiders!

 

Halloween day was a party from sunrise until sunset, and that's really not a joke. We came home for naptime, but when it became perfectly clear they were NOT going to sleep I put them right back in the stroller and we went out to party some more! It was an all-around fantastic day.

 



some of our cute costumed friends at the morning Halloween party

the superheroes being super!

free jamba juices for kids? awesome! free jamba juice for me because they accidentally made an extra? even better. follow that up with $3 BOO-ritos at Chipotle. yes, Halloween was good to us!

 

my cuties at Lincoln center

 

Something I found very endearing was that the shops around our neighborhood allow children to trick-or-treat to their stores. Instead of going door to door, my kids trick-or-treated store to store. And we're not just talking mom and pop shops, my kids trick-or-treated at Kate Spade! Seriously? Can I trick-or-treat at Kate Spade? After a few stores the boys knew what to do and I'd let them go in by themselves. Wow, my kids are so big lately! 

helmut lang

 

swatch

and oh, kate spade!

 

One of their favorite treats was from a local deli--pickles! It was the first treat they begged to eat!

 

But have no fear, they soon asked for the candy. And boy did they get candy!

Talmage and Everett spent hours the next day organizing, counting and playing "math" with their candy. Oh yeah, and eating it! What a happy Halloween we had!

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