We like to party. We like, we like to party.

Life has been one party after another around here. T's normal question of the day: "What fun things have you planned for today?" has been replaced by: "What party are we going to today?" Because seriously, we've had a lot of them. Don't you just love December sometimes?

 

My camera didn't visit all the events of late, but she was there for some of the fun. Thank goodness.   

 

We decorated mounds of cookies at our playgroup book exchange party. Talmage opted to eat the whole cookie instead of just licking off the frosting. Wow, he must be growing up!

Everett ate a HUGE spoonful of sprinkles while I took out my camera. I didn't notice until after this picture was taken, but if you look closely his little chipmunk cheeks are full of green super crystals!

When I wouldn't let him repeat the spoonful of sugar incident our party was transferred to the hallway where he looked like this for a little bit^^^

The presents all looked so pretty! Every family brought a Christmas book and everyone came home with one. We brought "How Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas." My boys are obsessed with those dinosaur books!

This is the book we got--a classic that I am thrilled to add to our collection!

We had a Christmas breakfast with the members of our church. The decorations by the youth were fabulous and the food was yummy.  

My two favorite parts are pictured above: 1) The brass band playing Christmas songs and 2) the primary children singing Rudolph. See that little red-nosed Talmage!

Santa also showed up at the party. T immediately noticed that this Santa's suit was much redder and beard was much whiter (and faker) than the previous Santa we saw. Thus, we had a long conversation about Santa's merry city elves!

I don't have pictures from this last week's parties, but boy they've been good! I did find a picture of a fruit tree we made for one of them though...my picture priorities sometimes astound me ;) I'm grateful for all of the love and holiday cheer we've shared with friends so far this season, it makes being away from our family during this fun time less lame!

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T on ice, and a long walk home

 Some of the clerks from James' courthouse met at Bryant Park for ice skating and we decided to tag along since T has been itching to get out on the ice all season long.

 

All I have to say is, wow, who knew that T would be so natural on the ice. Our Canadian family would have been very proud of his skills, and he asked for a hockey stick to boot!

 

Not surprisingly, Everett took one baby lap around the rink and then decided that his rightful place was on dry ground...with snacks and his DD. Doesn't he look adorable in baby skates though? 

 

He spent most of the night being brother's cheerleader.

 

Talmage, on the other hand, skated by himself for a solid two hours. By the end of the night he was able to do spins and was really getting fast. I made him hold my hands for a picture (above) but most of the time I was chasing him around (below). 

 

I was kind of afraid that he'd want to skate all night, but when the Zamboni came out at 8 pm, we were all feeling tired and were ready to head home.

 

We took the scenic route, of course, and decided to walk instead of take the train or bus so that we could see all the department store window displays, and a few fabulous trees.

 

The New York Public Library tree.

 

 

This is the Bryant Park tree and I really, really thought it was amazing!

 

The boys had earned a treat because of their excellent skating and cheering, so a treat they got.

You see that GIANT wonder behind me? That is the gorgeous Rockefeller Christmas tree. I wouldn't mind seeing that thing again this season.

 



Saks projected a mini-film onto their storefront, and my boys thought it was just the greatest.

I wish you could see how huge this wreath was.

 

And then there was the snowflake hanging between Tiffany's and Bergdorf Goodman. Wow! We didn't take a lot of pictures of the windows because frankly, by that time it was beyond freezing and super late so we just enjoyed and kept moving. Yep, this night was definitely something special.

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It's been J week around here

I must admit, teaching small children does not come naturally to me. The first thing I do after all the children leave on my co-op weeks is call my sister and tell her, for the millionth time, that it's a miracle there are people like her in the world that desire to teach young children for a living. She is brilliant at it, by the way. If we lived in the same city, or heck, even in the same state, my kids would be shipped off to Aunt Ash's for their education. But alas, they are stuck with me who is trying desperately to learn a thing or too {and be a little bit more} like her.

 

But that wasn't really what I sat here to write tonight.

What I sat here to write is the following, kind of:

 

I was sitting on my kitchen floor this evening, eating a giant bag of sour patch kids and hiding from my children who were destroying their bedroom, when I thought about a comment a friend made during our monthly mothers group meeting a few days ago. She was talking about healthy eating habits and she said she basis it on their weekly eating rather than their daily consumption. The kids might eat brownies all three meals one day but if they mostly ate fruits and vegetable that week, shoot, she's patting herself on the back. And who really let's their kids eat brownies all three meals in a day, because two meals is definitely my limit around here. So see, we all should pat ourselves on the back.

 

Umm...back on track. 

 

I guess that thought popped into my head since I was cooking dinner, healthy dinner even, but it probably had more to do with the hard mothering day I had experienced and frankly, my spent mind was just a-wandering wherever the heck it wanted to go. Sometimes I just brush my random thoughts off just as that, random, but it only took a moment before I realized that the foody thought might have been a little taste of inspiration for my hungry soul. I guess I'm realizing lately that life is made up of so many different moments, and by the end of the day it feels like so very many of them are taxing and stressful and just, blah! Because, seriously weather? And let's not mention how my 2-year-old somehow thinks that napping is a thing of his past and my 4-year-old just never stops--that body and that mind of his just never, ever stop. And it's currently 11 degrees outside with wind chill. And as a matter of fact, all of those things put together make my muscles tighten, and the wrinkle in between my eyebrows intensify, and by the end of days like today I am, well, I already told you that I'm eating straight out of a sour patch kids bag--and I'm talking the Costco size one, people. Mothering has been tough lately, and that's the truth.

 

But when I blog before bed at night and I see pictures of this week's adventures, the smiles on T and Ever's faces and the memories that we've made I think, geez, I kind of rock at this mom thing and boy, isn't it the greatest gig ever? Do you get what I'm getting at? Because that's a crazy different picture of how I view my life then the one I painted above. When I look at the bigger picture of mothering and what I am accomplishing with my children as a whole I find more joy, fulfillment and I see success. I think my personal piece of revelation tonight is that some days will still be hard and might be the equivalent to brownies for every meal (think the sugar rush after and not the deliciousness during!), but if I can see that each week Talmage and Everett both get their fill of emotional, spiritual, physical, social and educational veggies, than I'm going to pat myself on the dang back...if I have the energy!

 

Anyway, here are a few J week pictures:

 

J is for jellyfishes. This was Tuesday's project. We also counted jelly beans in jars and had jam sandwiches. The kids were super loving the jellyfish project (especially after we watched a clip on youtube about exotic jellyfish!)

Talmage was tired after a long school day and this is where and how he decided to rest. He was mad that I wanted to photograph him!

I told him that Mom's official job is to take pictures or he wouldn't remember being a little kid when he got older. He understood the logic and decided to give me one little smile!

I just love how this kid writes his name. Just the cutest little letters!

Thursday's preschool was J is for Jesus...one of the perks of having an at-home preschool! We talked about the Christmas story and even acted it out. We also set up this little manger scene...and turns out the whole Bronx Zoo was there in Bethlehem!

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Seeing Santa--ABC Carpet Store

Word on the street is that the ABC Carpet Store Santa is the best in New York City, so heaven knows we had to check him out in person and see what all the hype was over. The hype, my friends, is mainly because there is more magic in this one man than almost any other being I've ever known. He was genuinely jolly and took so much time with each child. Everett told Santa that he would like a scooter for Christmas, while Talmage said, "I'll just be grateful for whatever you bring me!" Santa promised to deliver a grand surprise and then with a giant, swirly lollipop gift we were off to visit the Union Square Christmas market. We might see a few more Santa's this season, but my money is on this St. Nick being the most magical of them all.

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They bleed blue

Just a typical day of them playing "BYU football player" whilst wearing lots and lots of blue.

They dress themselves now, and I kind of adore it.

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It's beginning to look a lot like...

The last few days of the Big Wig's visit were pretty Christmasy! 

 

The boys decorated both of our tiny trees all by themselves.

They were so good with all of the cute little ornaments.

Oh Christmas T!

 

Nothing like decorating for Christmas in your PJ's.

Winter's Eve is the UWS's Christmas party, and these stilt dancers were probably my favorite part.

Just a few pictures of our freezing family!

Hands down Everett's favorite part of the night was watching this guy chainsaw a huge block of ice into a bear.

On the last day of their visit we went to the Natural History Museum to see the origami tree. This was my first time seeing this tree that so many people rave about, and now I see why. It is so entertaining.

 



 

The dinosaurs--all hand folded at an origami party held by the Natural History Museum.

Why do I love that panda bear so? They are darling.

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Sayville

When Papa was young his family lived in a Long Island town called Sayville. He was 13 years old when they made the cross-country move from California and as if this age isn't hard enough, he was the "new kid" who had no New Yohk accent. The snapshot of his Sayville experience was dark, so when they moved back to Sacramento three years later he never had the desire to return.

 

But a few weeks before coming to visit us in the city, he decided that it was time to make peace with Sayville and we started planning our journey. We rented a mini van and drove to the most charming of New England towns to take a walk down memory lane. I think all of us learned a lot during that visit, but this most importantly: sometimes we demonize a period of time based on a few negative events, but when we really search our soul we can see that the same time period was also full of joy and so much happiness. I'm so glad for the reminder about the beauty that can be found in life, and I'm especially glad that Papa was able to see Sayville through adult eyes and share so many amazing memories with his grandchildren.

 

The only word that truly describes this town is charming. It just was. All of it. This was the house the Biggest Wigs (Great Papa, KK, Papa, Uncle Buck and Auntie Lynn) rented when they first moved to Sayville.

We walked to the local elementary school to see where Papa used to pick up the papers for his route. You see how we were walking in the dead middle of the street? Yes, we surely had left that big old city of ours!

 

That sweet little Ever Knight playing at Aunt Lynnie's school.

 

We visited the United Methodist Church where Papa attended as a child (and munched on 50 donut holes from the Dunkin Donuts across the street, which was not there when Papa was a child mind you). That sign outside the church was completely meant for me, I think.

They turned Papa's middle school into the community college and boy, how I would have loved to go to a middle school like that. It was absolutely beautiful.

The boys gymnasium with all those crazy boys!

The girls gymnasium with just the two of us!

There were a couple of places at the middle school that brought back bad memories, specifically the crying tree and the fighting steps. We went back and "owned" those places, and reenacted it a little bit too ;)

 

We went to the Sunset home that the family moved into a year after landing in New York. It was across from a canal where the children could boat in the summer and ice skate in the winter. It was so picturesque and I can definitely understand why KK chose to move her family there. Shoot, I'd move in if the commute wasn't so wild to the courthouse! 

Next, Papa took us to see the East Bay. We listened to the waves, enjoyed the colors of the boathouses and listened to stories about Papa and his friends driving their boats to Fire Island. 

We finished off at Sayville High School before heading back to the city. The boys slept for the whole drive home and we all talked about how much we enjoyed seeing a piece of Papa's childhood. It was a great day.

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