Deep Breathing in New York City

You wouldn't think that breathing the air in Manhattan could be refreshing. People complain of the special stink that is a tangy mixture of rotten produce, exhaust and urine. And yet, spending just twenty-two hours there this weekend was both renewing and energizing.

Earlier this month Josh and I had our 10th wedding anniversary. We celebrated this weekend by dropping off the boys at their grandparents' in Philadelphia and heading up to NY, NY.

I can't even explain how amazing the trip was. I have been dying to see something big. Something where you can't see it all without turning around in a circle. New York was just the ticket. I've been up there for a few brief visits before but this time I got to make the list of things to see. Josh was at my command. Hungry? Let's eat. Tired? Let's sit down. Want to find out what's down this street? Let's go!

We started off by walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was so exciting. I had so much fun! I kept saying "I can't believe we're doing this!"

After that we walked over to Little Italy and ate amazing pasta at a family-owned restaurant where our server was speaking Italian to the other workers there. Too much fun.
Along the way we saw this parking lot with vertical parking. I guess we're country bumpkins because we could not believe our eyes.

We checked in to our hotel, The Hudson, and took the subway down to the Empire State Building. We called Grandma from the top to check on the boys. Michael had been a little sad that he couldn't find us, but was fine after some hugs from Grandma, which she thoroughly enjoyed. Sam seemed to be in heaven with his Tio Juan (Uncle John).The next morning we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This picture is blurry, but they have an amazing Egyptian display including a real temple. Josh now wants to take our family to Egypt and learn Egyptian, just for fun.

We also saw some Monet, Pissaro, Manet, Renoir, Degas, and I had to take this picture for my dad, Van Gogh.

We walked down Park Avenue and took a look at the Upper East Side, then stopped in Central Park before taking a cab through Times Square to catch our bus back to downtown Philadelphia.

From downtown Philadelphia we took a train the rest of the way to Grandma and Pepaw's house where we saw our apprehensive toddlers waiting for the train on the platform. Michael burst into tears when the train's whistle blew and even though I had not missed them as much as I felt like I should have, as soon as I saw him crying I started panicking to get off of the train. I ran around asking "Where is the door?" then ran to my baby as fast as I could. He didn't let go of his mommy for the rest of the night. I guess I missed them after all!

We've decided that we really like walking around a lot. We loved being outside so much and walking all over town. We've set some goals to get out of the house more, to walk and exercise more, to take more sight-seeing trips, and, for me, not to let the kids' every demand rule our life.

Resolved: 1. I will teach my children that there are more ways to have fun in life than eating dessert. 2. I will get dressed in the morning and make dinner in the evening without giving in to whining. 3. I will make doctors appointments for myself and get my haircut regularly even if it changes our schedule or I have to leave them with a friend for a while.
4. I will occasionally delay their naps so we can get out of the house and have more fun. We'll see how long this attitude lasts. Probably until Josh goes back to work on Tuesday and I'm alone with two kids whose favorite word is "no." But is was sure nice to feel this way for a while.

Since Sam and Michael were born we've just felt like we've been sprinting a race. We were able to slow down and talk to each other without thoughts like "What am I going to make for dinner tomorrow" or "Will I really have time to iron shirts tonight?" running through my head. We were so blessed that one day felt like a week. We were so busy going from one thing to the next but each leg of the trip felt like it's own separate vacation. We couldn't believe we had only been gone one day.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Grandma, Pepaw and Tio! Sam especially loved being at your house and sincerely misses you. He points to the phone and says "Tio!" He wants to talk to you all the time! He is talking more and I think he just felt your love and is happier knowing there are more people in this world who love him. We had a wonderful time and thank you for your service taking care of the boys so we could take this trip and slow down in the City that Never Sleeps!

Freeze!

Do you ever want to freeze a moment in time? Here are a few I want to remember forever.
Bedtime after a trip to the Hair Cuttery where they were sheared, I mean buzzed last week.

Sam eating dinner with his toes on the table. We love to tickle them and are glad he's never crashed backwards and split his head open like my cousin's baby. They look so cute poking up over the edge of the table.
Sam eating pasta and hugging his new Alaskan sloth bear. I took the boys to see Josh at USDA one day last week and his co-workers lavished teddy bears and other gifts on them. They loved seeing Daddy at work and were sad he couldn't come home with us.

Michael at nap time. He still hates the flash, but just look at that face I get to kiss a million times each time he goes down for a nap. I could eat his chin.
He has started singing a few words of the lullabies with me. He'll sing the rhyming words at the end of the phrases in "I Am a Child of God," "My Heavenly Father Loves Me," "I Am Like a Star," and "Edelweiss." Today I sang him one I used to sing a lot when he was born but haven't used in a while. It's "Mother, I Love You" but I sing "Michael, I love you. Michael, I do. Father in Heaven has sent Mommy you. When I am near you I love to hear you whisper so softly that you love me too. Michael, I love you. I love you. I do." He kept pointing to himself while I sang! He looked into my eyes and held my hand and said "do" along with me with a very sweet smile on his face. I asked "Again?" And he smiled and nodded. I sang it two more times and he seemed to understand the song and just kept holding my hand and looking into my eyes. He smiled and said "Church." I think he says that when he feels the Spirit. He said it yesterday during the spiritually charged rest hymn in Sacrament Meeting. I just want to keep this moment in my pocket for ever.
Sweet dreams, Michael, and don't grow too much before you wake up, my boy.

Apron Fest 2008

Left: Enrichment Craft Day project that started it all
Center: Cute herb-motif apron that matches my kitchen. I traced my favorite old apron to make it.
Right: Toile apron for my friend Melanie.

Now that these and the boys' aprons are done, I can move onto completing last year's Enrichment Craft Day projects! I love having time to do these things!

Red and Green All Over

My dear friend Amy just picked up and moved to Utah. As a going away present she left me her son's cherry tomato and green bean plants. This is a small consolation, but it is a daily reminder of this fantastic friend. Every morning Sam, Michael and I go out to water the plants and inspect them for ripe tomatoes. The white netting on our patio is to keep the boys in, but it's also been great at keeping the squirrels out!

We've been enjoying the tomatoes in salads but aren't sure when the green beans will be ripe, since they don't change colors to tell us. Amy was sad to leave these plants before they'd even seen one red tomato, but, the house they moved into in Utah has a garden full of ripe tomatoes and zucchini, so she feels blessed for her simple efforts to plant a garden in Virginia. Likewise, we have been blessed by their little plants and are encouraged to plant our own next year. So, Seth, here are your vegetables! They are growing very well and are giving us a chance to learn to take care of something. Sam and Michael have gotten better about keeping their toys out of the dirt and leaving the dirt in the planters! I hope that they will make the connection that the plants are producing the tasty vegetables. It's been a lot of fun to watch them grow and it reminds us of you each day.

Linda - Part 2

A major part of Linda's visit was spent watching the Olympics. We stayed up late watching Michael Phelps and women's gymnastics. During on of the races the commentators kept saying "Look at the determination on that face!" As if you're expected to have any different expression when doing the 200m fly. We laughed so hard and the next night when we opened the armoire to watch gymnastics, Josh had decorated it for us:

Things got a little loopie as the week went on and the sleep deficits grew. Josh took this self portrait himself. I think we'll use it on our Christmas cards this year. What do you think?

Here is the final result on the apron. I give it a total score of 17.50. Difficulty 8, performance 9.5. It's little red anchors. If you look closely you'll see that the pattern on the pocket is at a 180 degree angle to the rest of the pattern. She's got an eye for style!


We had a great dinner at the Lowe's Thursday night. For a full report see the family blog. Then we met up with them again for lunch in Georgetown on Friday.

Here's Michael with his cupcake.

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Linda's flight was delayed a few hours due to thunderstorms, so she went to the museum of Natural Science and hung out at the airport for a very long time before she got to go home. We miss her so much. Watching the Olympics isn't the same without her and I was really dreading being alone today without her friendly chatter. Come back next summer, Linda! We miss you!

Linda Part 1

My niece Linda from Texas came to visit and spent the week with us. She was a good sport as I put her to work lifting the boys, hauling the stroller in and out of the van and loading the dishwasher for me while my back continued to heal. She even had a smile on her face while helping me schlep around town. She learned how to clean up toddlers after they've eaten yogurt, how to get the long double stroller up over a curb, and how to answer when people ask, "Are they twins?"

Josh picked her up from the airport Monday and brought her and a big bag of Panera sandwiches home for lunch. We had Family Night and took the boys on a walk before putting them to bed. We stayed up late talking about Linda's life (did I mention she's a good sport) and got to bed before it got too late.
On Tuesday we got up bright and early and headed out to the National Cathedral in Georgetown. Linda navigated the double-wide stroller around the pews while Sam and Michael kept pointing saying "Church!" and "Moroni!" They liked it and knew it was a special place.They especially enjoyed the Children's chapel with pint-sized pews and a cool door to knock on. Here they are completely fascinated by the Gothic style arches. Just kidding. I think Sam's expression can be read as "enduring to the end." Don't worry, Sam! Good times ahead! After that we came home for lunch and nap time. We all had a nice long nap! We made dinner and took the boys swimming for the 3rd time all summer. It's just better to have an extra person helping at the pool! Then we headed out to Nielsen's Frozen Custard in Vienna. Yum, yum!

Wednesday morning we slept in a little, thank you Sam and Michael!, and went to the fabric store where Linda picked out this adorable fabric for an apron. After lunch while the boys were asleep she cut it out and got most of the border sewn on.
Here are my helpers in their aprons. I finally finished Michael's and he was so happy he ran toward it and gave it a hug. I guess he'd been feeling a little left out after all. That night we went out to California Pizza kitchen with another trip to Nielsen's Frozen Custard for dessert! Josh insisted. He is hooked on their peach custard and wanted to go again tonight but the boys were too tired. Ha!Thursday was an adventure. We drove over an hour to get to the Prince William County Fair to see the animals and found that the gates didn't open for the public until later that afternoon. The website had a whole list of events during the day so I thought we could get in. Sigh. We had my friend and her 2 kids in the car with us so we drove the 7 of us to Frying Pan Farm and still got to see some animals. These are the first farm animals the boys have seen and they loved it! Sam could have spent all afternoon petting this goat. He was very gentle and liked looking at him.

Here's Michael looking at a real live horse! He pretends everything in our house is a horse and sits on things saying "neigh!" Lo and behold, a real horse and he just couldn't believe it. Linda had a hard time getting him out of the barn.

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I'll have to do the rest of her visit on a separate post because it's getting to be hard to drag the pictures all the way down to the bottom of this one! Maybe a better blogger could do it, but I give up in favor of the Women's Gymnastic floor exercises! Go Nastia and Shawn!!!

Over the River and Through the Woods

We spent the weekend with Pepaw and Grandma playing, sleeping in, and being pampered in general. The boys ate them out of link sausages, hotdogs, and cheerios and left a trail of toys everywhere they went. They had fun watering the flowers with Grandma, killing bees with Pepaw and getting to know their Tio Juan (Uncle John). I threw my back out on Friday so the extra-long rush hour drive up there Friday afternoon was terrible, but Grandma Rolph made put me on bed rest and gave me 3 Advil every 6 hours religiously and I am doing much better tonight.

Here they're watching a slideshow of pictures of their cousin Noah. They kept reaching out to touch him and I think they really miss him! We miss you, Noah!

Being Cute

I like to call this picture "The Cutest Nud*est". After their bath they both bolted out of the bathroom and sat down at their little table. Note the toys: wisk broom, soap, puzzle, rubber duckie. I thought it was too funny. They were talking up a storm and when I came around the corner, this is what I saw. They have so much fun in their little animal towels. They even like to play with them fully clothed during the day. Sam is a frog and Michael is a hippo. They like to see themselves in the mirror and laugh and laugh at themselves and each other. Too much fun.

I need to do an entire post on my new passion for aprons, but in the mean time here is Sam helping me cook in his new apron. He reached for that big spoon and started emptying the noodles into his bowl all on his own initiative. He and Michael spent 20 minutes moving the pasta back and forth from one bowl to another, emptying and reloading the utensil drawer, and, in Michael's case, eating pasta. Not too surprised when he wasn't hungry when we actually sat down to eat!

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The second half of the video is Michael watching the planes land last Saturday. He could have stayed there all day watching planes take off and land. We are getting them excited for our trip on an airplane to see Grandma, Grandpa, and all of their cousins next month.

Just a few fun things we've been up to lately.

Growing Together

I've been taking a break from blogging because the boys had random summer time fevers but are feeling better now. Here are a few glimpses into life we've captured with our NEW CAMERA! Thanks, Josh!

Fighting over a pen together. Everyone told me not to interfere with their fighting and they would learn to work it out. Here is the progression. Last winter Sam learned to walk first and took toys away from Michael because he could. Then Michael learned to walk and began taking toys from Sam. Then Michael began pushing Sam to get toys away from him. Sam learned to push back and scream at insanely high pitches to get Michael to stop. Michael stopped and now negotiates by bringing one of Sam's favorite toys in to him hoping he'll lose interest in what ever he has that Michael wants. Seems to be working.




Playing with farm animals after breakfast









Going down the tree-slide at the mall on a muggy day








Michael helping Daddy throw out the trash





Michael puckering up to give Mommy a kiss through the bars at the playground. I wish I could say he came up with this on his own, but no, I taught him so I could get some sweet little baby kisses while he's busy playing. Sam does it too.








Sam reciting something very important or singing. Can't remember.







In synch swinging. This is their favorite thing to do. We tend to be at the park during off times somehow and they hog the swings for up to 30 minutes at a time. We are having a lot of fun!