Monday, January 19, 2015

the last half year of our lives.

we've been busy.

We finished off the summer in Utah camping and relaxing in the beautiful desert heat. The kids and I stayed cool by visiting waterparks (Drew took 4 weeks of swim lessons) and splashpads and drinking a lot of slurpees. I hiked the Y 26 times and took tennis lessons through Provo Rec.

Spencer studied all summer and took the New York bar exam in Buffalo, NY. He found out in November that he passed with flying colors. Not that I was expecting much less.

At the end of August we spent a wonderful week in Orlando, Florida sweating with 1000's of other tourists at Disney World. It was hot, but the crowds weren't too bad. It's one of those things the babies continue to talk about. They ask to go back often and want to reminisce about things they saw and did while there. We went to a lot of the parades, ate lots of Dole Whip. They loved seeing all the characters from their favorite movies come to life. We had the best time ever. We definitely will be going back.



September 5th we flew to New York City with a couple of suitcases and stepped foot in the apartment we had only seen pictures of. It looked bigger in pictures, but it's just the right size (and price) for us. We spent that first night on the floor sleeping on duffle bags with the windows open. The orange street lights streamed in the windows along with the hot steamy air and a couple of hundred mosquitoes. The next day the movers arrived with all of our stuff that had been stored away for the summer and we became more civilized.

Moving to New York
Spencer started work September 15th. Shortly after he started we understood what everyone had warned us about. Those 80 hour work weeks are real. real hard and real tiring.

Drew is in a co-op preschool with some friends in our neighborhood. I teach 2 weeks every 8 weeks and we rotate to different apartments. Claire wants to go with him every time we drop him off at school. He's learning and growing in all different ways. He has become an excellent scooter rider (he's got to keep up with the city kids) and has expanded his vocabulary with words like taxi, fire escape, Big Apple, subway and Vampire State Building. No matter how many times I tell him it's Empire, he continues to call it Vampire. Drew is still really into Star Wars and surprises me how much he knows about a galaxy far, far away.

Claire is a big 2 year old (2.5 year old) she's been sporting 3T clothes for a while and I fully attribute it to her HUGE appetite. She was potty trained right before she turned 2 in June and now we're just trying to break the pacifier obsession. She got a pink scooter for Christmas, the only thing she continually asked to get for a number of weeks, and has become quite the swift rider. She's funny. She has a cheeky little personality and makes life fun. She is responsible and independent (Often doing more on her own than her older brother does) She is a great listener and usually only has to be told once about a specific rule or request before she remembers (read: before she reminds you and tells you what to do). She always tells you "You're my best friend. You're my favorite." I love it. Her voice is raspy (due to huge oversized tonsils) and instead of saying "The End!" at the end of a story she yells, "AMEN!"

In October we saw as many Halloween decorations and attended as many events as we could. The kids dressed up as mummys and skeletons for different events we went to. We enjoyed trick or treating and braving the crowds of the Upper East Side brownstones and then coming back to our building for even more candy.

November we enjoyed some mild fall weather. The kids and I explored more and more of Manhattan visiting different zoos, museums and lots and lots of parks. They ate lots of pizza and bagels and those carbs went straight to my thighs. (still working on losing some of that weight now that we are getting more settled) Spencer continued to work late (LATE) nights and most weekends and I became a single parent for a lot of the time (read: I gained 15lbs of stress weight). Spencer turned 29 on the 6th of November and we didn't do much except order some late night pizza when he got home from work. My family (parents and sisters family) was able to visit us for Thanksgiving. We saw all the touristy sights, ate cronuts and my sister and I went to go see a show (Matilda!) Thursday morning we got up early and headed to the parade route to see the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. We had a great view from inside Central Park around 72nd street. Not sure if it is worth going again for though…


In December the City was transformed into a winter wonderland. Decorations popped up everywhere and the Christmasy feeling was in the air. Spencer and I celebrated 6 years of marriage on the 19th. We saw Santa at Macy's at Herald Square, and tried to see as many of the decorated Christmas trees and tree lightings around the city as we could. We went ice skating in Central Park and checked out a few different Holiday Markets that had popped up for December. We took a bus to pick up a Christmas tree and had it delivered a few hours later (new experience for all of us). The kids anxiously stared out the window waiting for it to arrive. We didn't want to waste any of Spencer's precious time off traveling so we spent Christmas here. Just the 4 of us. It was quiet and different, but we had a great time. We went to Chinatown on Christmas eve for a big feast and then headed up to Washington Square park for caroling under the arch with a couple other hundred people. The kids were so excited Christmas morning and we spent the days following just lazily playing with toys and talking with our families.


We've made it to January (and NO we did not attend the ball dropping in Times Square on New Years Eve) and we're excited for what adventures are planned in 2015 for our family. We're adjusting to life in New York. We like it. We like exploring this 22sq mile island we call home. We're adjusting to the sassy and rude people we come in contact with and are trying to remember only the kind hearted ones. The novelty of living with an elevator is slowly wearing off. The kids typically fight about who presses which button, but the longer we live here the shorter the tantrums. They've stopped asking "Where's our car?"and have started asking "are we taking the bus or the subway?"

2015, we're ready for you.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Birthdays.

We've officially got a two and four year old.

Drew and Claire have their birthdays 4 weeks apart and it is all we have heard about the past few months (more like Drew's been talking about his birthday since about October)

We had Claire's woodland fairy birthday in June on a beauitful summer evening with fairy and gnomes playing in the backyard. She spent the party painting "fairy houses" and eating cupcakes.


Drew has been talking about a Star Wars party for months. Telling me all the details and games and food he wanted to have. I think all of his four year old dreams came true. We had pizza, and played with lightsabers in water and "Carbonite Jell-o"- all the things Drew wished for.  He knows way more Star Wars trivia than me. 

We've loved to have a beautiful backyard and space to run around and play this summer. We're soaking it all in and gearing up to move to the concrete jungle.

Monday, June 16, 2014

Farewell Ithaca

The last few weeks we had in beautiful Ithaca went so fast. We were busy dejunking and preparing for the movers to come, while Spencer was in the thick finals. We also wanted to eat at all of our favorite places and see all our favorite sites. 

Luckily my dad was there to document a lot of the things we did (hike up the belltower, play at Stewart park, Taughannock falls, and even pounding the "air craft carrier" at Wings Over Ithaca)

We love Ithaca. It will always have a special place in our hearts. It was our first real adventure as a family and a real growing experience. The friends we made there over the three years will be our friends for life. I'm so glad that we were able to explore this part of the states. I can't wait to take our kids back there several years down the road and show them the apartment they learned to walk in and grab a bite to eat while we walk around campus. Farewell Ithaca, until we meet again.

Thursday, June 12, 2014

Graduation

Everything we have been waiting and working for came and went so fast.

Spencer graduted from Cornell Law school on May 11th, Mother's Day. I couldn't be more proud of him. 
As soon as Spencer put on his regalia Drew asked him, "Are you a real lawyer now?"

The whole day I kept asking him "Are you excited?? Are you so happy? Are you sad?!" … in typical Spencer fashion he answered with no emotion, "I'm fine."


Walking towards Barton Hall, Drew kept counting all the lawyers in their red gowns.


Congratulations Spencer! We can't wait for our next big adventure!

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Easter

I loved following the #BecauseofHim hashtag via social media over the last few weeks. So many beautiful testimonies born in such a simple, easy way.

mormon.org/BecauseofHim

#BecauseofHim:

I can be with my family forever.
I can be resurrected with a perfect body.
I can become a better person.
I can forgive.
I can receive comfort through any heartache.
I can love more fully.



Thursday, April 17, 2014

Our Nation's Capital

The last of Spencer's spring breaks we spent in Washington DC. The weather was absolutley perfect. As you can see from the progression of pictures, over the course of four days the babies got a little sunburned. It goes to show how little sun we have seen in the last six months.


We stopped in Gettysburg on the way. 

 Air and Space museum, Capitol Hill, National museum of Natural History

 World War II memorial, White House, Lincoln memorial 

 The National Zoo

We had a lovely time exploring DC. Everything is FREE (thanks to all those American's paying taxes this time of year) !! We'll have to go back when the kids are older and can actually appreciate all the sites. Drew loved the Natural History museum, and Claire loved being outside and getting sunburned.

One afternoon we were walking some of streets downtown and we were approached to be interviewed for the local Fox nightly news. We were prepped on the questions and then the cameras started to roll. It was questions regarding "Gwyneth Paltrow’s Working-Mom Backlash"and what I thought about it as a mom to two young kids. A couple of awkward moments and ill-phrased answers later the camera shuts off and the crew says thanks and we walk off. 


 I turn to Spencer and ask, "How was that? did I sound stupid? what do you think?" 
. and all he responds is, "You have food on your face."  

Well, until next time Washington DC. Keep the food carts coming, and maybe take some of those barriers down in front of the White House; Oh, and a drop in the metro fee wouldn't be bad either.