new blog

i have a new blog. it's basically the same old same old, but this time with a nyc city spin. it will be my go to  blog so all three of you who read my blog, please update your reader or bookmark the new blog! :)
here's the link:
NYCtaughtme.blogspot.com 

later dudes.

The Met (again!)

This time with Owen and Oscar and Ella. Rob had to work. The tour guide brought binoculars for the kids to view a landscape painting so they could actually feel like they were out in nature. He told us that when the painting was made in the late 1800's the artist told people to bring their opera glasses to feel like they were in nature too.. The artist charged people 25 cents to view his painting. He made $10,000. I could tell the tour guide really liked the painting and that story.



Owen took the Binoculars to the next painting when it was his turn. I love the idea for kids to bring binoculars to an art museum.

Food

Check out what came to the table tonight at the Peruvian Restaurant we were eating at. Hotdogs and French fries topped with hotdogs! It was an otherwise healthy meal.

Falling in love with the Met

Oh wow. This museum is unreal. And I experienced it with the perfect guest: my little Ella Bean. We were lucky to show up just in time for a free guided tour for children. She did a lot of sketching.

next family photoshoot,

Will involve me reading to the kids. Much like this picture. Isn't it lovely? I spent the last 20 minutes browsing this site for ideas. Copying is my speciality!

Newest member of the family

My sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl today. Congratulations and welcome to the family little J.

mad face

The running joke at our house is that Oscar is such a happy go lucky kid that he cant even make a mad face. Owen on the other hand is an expert. On a related note, I'm reading the Happiness Project. And one of the studies the author found was that woman who get Botox are happier because they cant make mad faces. Ha.

owen bear

this is a perfect example of owen. he is so serious and a little clumsy.

dancing kids

Ella has been talking about the movie Hello Dolly ever since she watched it with Grandma months ago. I had never seen it before. Finally I put it my netflix q and we watched it yesterday. I loved it. Here's Ella reenacted the scene when Dolly teaches Cornelius and Barnaby how to dance. Oscar is such a good student. Sorry for the completely unrelated music in the background.

Bowling

My favorite time bowling ever. We got a free pass in the mail to bowl at a fancy place in Time Square (shoe rental and one hour of bowling would have cost my family $60). I'm working on a video of our bowling experience, but for now here are some pictures. The kids could do everything themselves. Our chant for most part was, "Don't Stop Rolling!". It took their ball so long to get down that we had them throw their second ball before the first knocked over the pins. I haven't been bowling in a while so I don't know if it's standard to have bumpers automatically lifted for each kid, but it was a nice feature. Rob and I should have used bumpers. We didn't even break 100.

More pictures of the neighboorhood

our street today

a few week ago i posted our street with it's big yellow trees. today it looks like this. magical!

Snowy day

Big fat snowflakes. The seasons are so fabulous! And so are red cheeks.

cousins

we had a fun time with K and Aunt C over the christmas break. miss you guys! there's something about this picture that reminds me of the dress up days i had with my sister jeannine. am i right?

ringing in the new year

Went out for chinese food with C and K on new years day. for the record: this year's resolution is to make Sundays feel special, like a holiday. By at least going to church. Baby steps. Because my ward in NYC didn't start until 1pm, I was squeezing a full grocery shopping, 7 loads of laundry, and then I'd miss church because i was exhausted.  This year, my ward rotated the 9am time slot (one building holds 3 wards i think) I hope the time change will get me off to the right foot. And then from there, I'll take a break from the major chores and focus on my family and other simple pleasures.  It will take some planning.

Broadway

I bought scalped tickets to see Mary Poppins today. Adored the New Amsterdam Theater. It was a great way to end 2010 with C and K.

Snowman!

Check out this perfect snowman not made by us!

Our Street today

Watch out for yellow snow (orange glove got close)

New family pics

The gap in my teeth is slowly coming back. Told you.

Snow!

This is what it looked like a few hours ago. We already had our first snow ball fight. I can only imagine how much snow is on the ground now. It's a blizzard! Snow is such a treat. For now at least.

Santa came!

Christmas tradition

Matching pj's. How many more years will they still be excited to match? This year I bought the same size for all of them.

outtakes

when i took these pictures last week, I had my iphone on automatic flash every 30 seconds. here's some of the outtakes. love each of them. rob's fake smile in the last one cracks me up.

Ornaments!

Every year my parents send out ornaments for the kids. They adore opening a present early! Thanks grandma and grandpa!