Happenings

Ella had her first dance performance on tuesday. She has been taking a movement class after school that I adore. The class focus is on imagination and creative dance. My favorite was watching all the kids write their name with their head, then shoulder, then leg. I also loved watching them runn around the stage as fish, butterflies, and sharks. Then they pretending they were at the beach but it started to rain! So they had to leave quickly! All this is going on with the dance teacher in front leading the way and (my favorite part) A LIVE DRUMMER! Every week! I couldn't have been move proud to see her on the stage doing her thang. The boys brought her flowers. They were proud too until they got bored and started to do laps around the auditorium.

Movie set

Our street has been closed down all week for an upcoming Bollywood film. It's been so cool to see all the giant lights and people working on the movie. I was hoping for a massive dance scene down the street but all I've seen so far is them taping the comings and goings out of the building and cabs.

advent 2010: take a family photo

 Rob and Owen are the identical twins. They both resisted the whole time but we still love them anyway. You should have seen the look on Rob's face when I asked him to move the couch for the picture. Oh wait, you can.

your everyday bro

found this picture of oscar.

Advent

Really stretching it today: Paint/color Trader Joe's paper bags with Christmas music playing in the background! Ha. The kids loved it. By now most of the candy has been eaten out of the calendar
and the activities haven't worked out as planned. the kids still ask for it first thing in the morning. I'm enjoying it. Nine days left! I have to restuff the calendar.

Advent 10

Ginger bread man

Advent 10

we did a sloppier version of jordan fernery's watercolor paper chains. The kids painted random colors on paper. Ella cut the strips. Oscar handed me the strips. I taped. Owen got bored and started painting his hands, the table, the paper towels. Truth is, his stuff actually turned out the best but I couldn't use any of it for the strips. After I complemented his artwork, he corrected me and said, "it's architecture." in his three year old voice. Then we read A Charlie Brown's Christmas. And Oscar gave me the biggest hug after we sang Hark the Harald Angels Sing at the end.  Fabulous event.

gap campaign

check out my kids in this gap campaign. and rob's legs. i'm so proud. Emi's there too!

Origami lesson

Forgot to mention that they gave simple origami lessons next to the tree at the museum. I did all the work, but the boys felt like they made origami boats. And couldn't hold still for a picture. They adore their boats.

Livingroom

I'm going to miss our Christmas tree in a few weeks. It's going to be replaced by a coat rack. I'm tempted to wrap it in Christmas lights and ribbon and a tree skirt just to keep the same festive mood going. I'm half kidding when I say this.

Advent 2010

See the Origami Tree at the Museum of Natural History. I've always wanted to do an origami tree. Everything about this tree was stunning. Even the ceiling.

Wallpaper

We got wallpaper as a Christmas present. Here's our masterpiece. We love it. We're tempted to do more.
The store's description: From afar, a traditional pattern emerges; up close, however, it's a dog's day.
That's how I would describe my house and family.

forgotten pic

Advent 2010

Make and decorate sugar cookies. We were joined at the last minute by another set of identical twins and an older brother. Of course I thought about the slight chance of them all falling in love and getting married someday. It's a perfect match!
I loved Rob's look when he came home from work and saw our family had doubled. Oddly enough it was a fun night.

Kids room

While it's far from feeling finished, I like the direction it's going. Accidently we started following an orange and blue color scheme. With all the other colors mixed in at times. I think it works well for a mixed gender room. All three kids live in here. So manhattan.

Potty trained graduate

I'm proud to say that Long Hair is completely potty trained. Night and Day! I still have him wear a pull up to bed just in case but he has been dry 5 nights straight.

First snow fall

Short hair in orange. Long hair in blue

Advent 2010

Santa beards (one of my favorite days)

More pictures of the Tree

I hung up margaret's card (see post below) and then took some more pics of the tree without the lights so I could see the ribbons better.

Christmas Cards

I really love Margaret's Christmas card. My first of the season. I get bogged down with this tradition but she showed me how simple and thoughtful it can be. Most importantly, my kids loved the picture of Santa on the front.

santa again

we saw santa again. i didn't take any pics but i bought one. And I don't own a scanner so i can't post it. this time we went with Dot. I love how she talked to him. She very confidently, almost pacing said something to the effect of, "Well, Santa, I know the boys were here a few days ago. They told you about the scooters? Remember? Yes, well, I wasn't with them, so I didn't have a chance to tell you what I wanted. They also forgot to tell you what color. So that's why we are here again." He made sure that he remembered everything. I love Santa. I want to go again before the lines get too crazy. This time with just Dot. Love that girl. She adored the Macy's windows too. I could have walked around and do that with a five year old all day long.
I ran 2 miles today. I'm slowly trying to get into the swing of things out here. It's been such a surprising adjustment! We've lived here for two months. And I still feel out of whack. Even a little blue at times. But I think as soon as I get my footing, I'm going to love this place. Tomorrow's goal: get a library card. I need a book. And so do my kids. I miss reading them new books.  I get so bored of the ones we own. Hopefully tomorrow we also get a dresser and bookshelf off of craigslist. I'm been throwing all my clothes in bins and a sloppy pile in my closet. Which is sort of my style anyway, but it would be nice to have a dresser for those rare occasions i put my clothes away.

Advent 2010: Writing letters to Santa

If all goes well, we'll drop these letters off at Macy's tonight. For every stamped letter Macy's receives, they donate $1 to Make a Wish Foundation. I almost would rather give the foundation $3 and skip the trip, but the kids *might* think it's cool to drop it off. We'll see how the day goes. They want scooters in specific colors (as seen).

EBay

My first eBay auction happened a few days ago. I was the only one to bid on this awesome Jonathan Adler duvet cover. I Won it for $30! Plus $10 shipping. His same Hollywood style duvet covers retail for over $200 (king size) so I was excited to snatch this up. I adore the pattern. Perfect mix of feminine and masculine in my opinion. I watched The Kids Are Alright the other day, and adored their extremely feminine bedroom (the main characters are lesbians). Oh the perks of being a lesbian are endless! Haha

Advent calendar 2010

I think this is the third year of the advent calendar tradition. I have Jordan Ferney to thank for giving me the idea this tradition. Every year I use some of her ideas, some of mine, and other ideas from a google search. Here's the list for this year in order:
1. Sing a Christmas song
2. Write a letter to Santa
3. Make new ornaments for the tree
4. See the lights at Rockefeller Center
5. Read Luke II
6. Donate a pair of PJ's to ella's school's pj drive
7. Take a bubble bath and make Santa beards
8. Tell each family member something you like about them (dot's idea)
9. Mail Christmas cards to both grandmas and grandpas
10. Look at a window display at a department store
11. See the origami tree at the Museum of Natural history
12. Watch a Christmas cartoon/movie
13. Explain the reason why we have Christmas Trees (dot's idea)
14. Donate Food
15. Check out Christmas books from the library
16. Bake cookies
17. Make a paper chain link, display in kids room
18. See Christmas Tree at Lincoln Square
19. Draw the nativity
20. Drink hot chocolate and talk about goals for the new year
21. Read a Christmas book
22. Build a snowman (crossing our fingers!)
23. Buys gifts for nieghbors and place at door step
24. Open and wear Christmas PJ's
25. Talk about the gifts the wiseman brought Jesus

Here's the calendar all stuffed with candy and slips of paper filled with activities. I love my advent calendar. My hope is that my kids fight over it after I die! Ha

I was told to experience Macy's on 34th St as soon as possible in order to avoid the crazy crowds. I went today (it's not even December yet!) and it was delightful. We looked at all the display windows, went to Santaland (empty!), looked at the display windows outside again, saw Macy's marionette puppet show, and on our way out looked at the display windows again. Loved it.

Why did he do that?

I hate to label my kids because they are so young and I still think there's time for development and maturity but Short Hair is accident prone. Today he stuck his arm in the door and got it jammed. It spiraled out of control when a neighbor called 911 and fire fighters and an ambulance showed up. So embarrassing when the super unscrewed the door as the were arriving and got his arm out. We drove him to the ER in a cab and got him x rayed. When we got there i realized i forgot to put a bra on and of course hadnt brushed my teeth. Nothing was broken. He loved every minute of attention. Made for a memorable day non the less. Also made me realize I have the best neighbors in the world. They came out and really were there for me and my family. Next time I'll tell them to just call the Super though.

Our tree

I have never loved a Christmas tree more than the one we got this year. We bought it from a local market a block from my apartment and Orb carried it home. The kids and I threw on all the ribbons I could find in my craft box. It's at the end of our hallway so I can look at it all day long.