This past weekend was status quo for us. Friday we had dinner at Maddie's school with The Pancake Man. They were the best pancakes I've ever eaten. I was completely stuffed when we left. He was pretty fun too because he could chuck a pancake about thirty feet and hit your plate. It was very entertaining.

Saturday Ryan helped move Mary into her new apartment. Grandma JoLene came over and played with Anna while Madeline and I went to her ballet class. Saturday night the girls went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house while Ryan and I went to dinner with my high school/college buddies. It's been about 12 years since I've seen them and it was so good to catch up. Ryan really enjoyed spending time with them. I loved meeting their spouses and everyone was so nice!

Sunday was more laid back as Madeline went to Sunday School. Ryan did some plantings (blueberries and strawberries) and mowed the lawn with a new(er) electric lawnmower. One charge will last for the whole lawn! It's nice reducing gas. Sunday the girls enjoyed playing "elevator" and "airplane" with Ryan. As soon as Maddie took her turn Annie was hell-bent on poking out Ryan's eyes or sitting on his head and as you can see from the video, Annie can teach her sister a thing or two about how to annoy her dad. It was cute!

Airplane

Maddie's art project from her art show

A story written by Madeline. I love the "frot" (forgot) and "ptator" (potato). As you can see, phonetics are more important than spelling right now :)

Ryan playing "elevator" with Madeline. Notice how Annie gets all jealous and has to distract Ryan.

She was poking him all over his face and head.

Finally she got her moment in the air.

Liberty Island

Ryan was having a little fun with the camera on Liberty Island. Madeline was trying to look out the viewer but had some trouble. She did get to see a little bit from it.

A BIG foot

The girls had fun checking out Lady Liberty's foot.

Ice Skating

Madeline was very proud of herself for learning to skate alone. Several other people made a point of coming up to her and telling her she was a great skater. Due to this, Madeline only wanted to ice skate for the remainder of the trip. Each day she woke saying "let's go ice skating!"
Unfortunately we didn't have time to return to Rockefeller Center.

Museum Wiggles

This was in the basement of the Museum of Natural History. We had fun going through the museum. Both girls really enjoyed their time here.

Fun stuff in NYC

Apple Store (see the line just to get in the place? It went a lot farther than the picture shows)

Annie being "contained" by Ryan (the Plaza Hotel is in the background)

Playing with the puppies in FAO Schwartz

Madison Square Park

The girls playing in the giant litterbox (I did witness one dog taking a leak then the owner covering it up)

Annie and Ryan at the Shake Shack waiting for our "concretes" in Madison Sq. Park

Maddie just sharing some love

The line was quite long (by our standards) for the concretes, however it moved very quickly. It looked like they had very tasty fat-cut fries. We only had custard though. Ryan was so impressed by my concrete that he decided to do a little "dairy queen" action by tipping it upside down to show me it's thickness. What he DIDN'T realize is that they double cupped the custard so my concrete promptly fell out of the second cup into the "doggy litter". He dug out the contaminated custard and probably saved me about 5 grams of fatness. The custard, by the way, was delicious and I recommend the wait to anyone that wants a fantastic treat.

Brooklyn

Anthony and Jessica (with Maddie) on Wednesday

Tony and Jessica's place

Their street (in Brooklyn)

It's been about 10 years since we last saw Tony, back in architecture school. We were very excited to visit Tony and his "new" wife (of 5 years). Jessica is one of the nicest people I've ever met. My words cannot even do justice to her friendliness and hospitality. We first had dinner with them on Wed. evening at a Chinese restaurant (which was very good). Then on Saturday night they invited us to their home in Brooklyn (or maybe we invited ourselves, I am not really sure). They have a fantastic row house that is wonderfully artistic and modern. Jessica, who is also a chef for fun, made great pasta and veggies. Everything was supurb. I can't wait to see them again!


Seredipity's manager the female "Igor"


Enj0ying (finally) our three scoop with slice of triple layer chocolate cake sunday from Serendipity

This was the one time while in NYC that we were irritated by a rude person. After being seated at Serendipity (which was pretty quickly since we only waited about 15 minutes) we decided what to order. We had just come from lunch and were stuffed but had saved a little room for dessert. Apparently, as we found out during the process of ordering, there's an $8.50 minimum per person. We found out that Madeline counts as a "person" and our order didn't add up to enough. At this point we'd been at the restaurant for about 30 minutes (after being seated). Then "Igor" came over and told us Madeline counts as a person and we needed to order an equivalent amount for her. This threw us all for a loop so we spent about another 30 minutes trying to figure out what to order since we literally couldn't eat that much food. So we asked if we could take something with us. Guess what?! They don't have takeout containers. Okay, who's being difficult now? Another 15 minutes go by and we decide to order the sunday, a piece of triple layer cake to go and a hot chocolate. But that still didn't add up to enough so we told the waiter we'd just have to figure something out. We even asked him if we could just pay more for our order. Nope. Finally he comes back and asked if we really wanted the hot chocolate: Ugh, NO, NOT REALLY YOU DIPWAD. So he didn't make us buy that. I forgot to mention that Igor made a BIG scene and it was mildly embarassing (mostly because Anna decided it was time to nurse while everyone on our side of the place was staring right at us. Eventually we ate our ice cream and left. We determined that the food wasn't better than any other place and it wasn't worth the poor customer service to ever go back. In fact, I'd put it on the list of places to recommend NEVER to go to. Maybe visit the outside, peek from the street and RUN AWAY as fast as you can. Actually just prior to entering I spoke to a man who said he hated the place, the people were extremely rude and he was only there because his daughter drug him back. Smart assessment, but not so smart for returning.

Macy's Flower Show

One of the many outside windows decorated in flowers

The flower sculpture of the day

First Floor of Macy's

McDonalds is located on the kids level (7)

One of the arrangements on the kids level. This is Barbie Mariposa.

It smelled so nice in Macy's. Once you walked in the door you're hit with the smell of flowers. I thought this show wasn't as pretty as the one we went to 8 years ago. But still quite impressive. Maddie did notice a very feminine male employee in the makeup department. He was fixing his lipstick and she asked me if he was a man or woman. I told her he was a man. She aske why he wanted to look like a girl. I told her, honestly, "I don't know". But it wasn't her first encounter with boys wanted to be girls in NYC. During the Easter Day Parade she saw another man wearing a dress. She, again, asked why a boy would want to wear a dress. I told her he probably thought they were pretty. :)

First full day in NYC

Preparing to leave on our first outing to "uptown"

Breakfast next to the Belgian waffle place (that wasn't open for breakfast - gofigure)

Annie and Ryan

Maddie and I climbing a large outcropping of rock

Just singing in the rain... Annie wanted to walk herself.

Wednesday was rainy. It only lasted until around1pm and was only a light drizzle. It did make the rocks slippery so we didn't get to climb as much as desired. I did fall on the big rock and still have the bruise on my knee to prove it. We briefly (20 minutes) lost Ryan and Annie as they walked around. But good thinking told Maddie and I to stay put until he could find us, which he did. I still don't know what he was doing during that time!

Riding the subway

At one point in our trip we were making our way somewhere and we accidentally got on the wrong train. It's actually pretty good that we only made one mistake during our trip since the system is fairly complicated. As we were making our way to correct the error we had to get on another train to get back to the correct way. The train slowed and I could see into the car. I have to tell you that during the entire trip I only had the sense of foreboding once and this was the moment. I looked into the train car and it just didn't look right. We walked into the front of the car and I saw on my right side a homeless man sleeping on the first set of seats. Another man sat across from him. In the, perhaps, ten seconds in which this all occurred I saw the homeless man urinating in his sleep through his clothes onto the man across from him (who then shot up and started kicking the "peeing man") while simultaneously a nice looking woman straight in front of us urgently commanded us to go to the other side of the train, which we did. This all happened so quickly that none of my family took notice of the events. I had to explain to Ryan what happened. He may have been feeling as though he missed out on a somewhat funny string of events, but I wish those images were never burned on my brain. In retrospect it is funny, sort of. And I am very glad Madeline didn't see it happen.

Ground Zero

Firefighter memorial wall


I've included a few pictures of the pit. The subway is constructed and running through the site. I thought about taking the subway through there to get an inside view but we didn't have time before meeting Steve and Slomeet (not sure if that's spelled right) for dinner. They were surprised when we showed up with two offspring. Slomeet is working for a law journal and Steve is working for a local architecture firm. They now live very far north on the island and no longer and the upper west side.

Ground zero was different than I had anticipated. There was a memorial viewing area with the names of the dead, as well as a memorial area with images from the event and days that followed and reconstruction plans. It was difficult to see into the pit at times. I did see the "stair" on an off-street but was talking with Slomeet and didn't have time to stop and photograph the stair. It was packaged up in a manner that made it difficult to see anyway. We weren't even 100% sure that it WAS the stair, but Slomeet and I felt that it probably was. There are several buildings still in the process of being torn down and renovated. One new building (#4) is already built. It's a very large area and I was able to get a sense of the event by being there. It probably feels differently for a person who isn't used to seeing the sky than someone like me, who looks at it all day long.

Ground Zero

Photo's of fallen firefighters


Memorial area

Previous layout and reconstruction plan

The Big Apple

Annie after bath at Mona's

Maddie drawing during dinner

Lunch at S'mac (the yummiest Mac and Cheese place around)

Yummy!

Annie loves to say "cheese" for the camera

I couldn't really think of just one "title" for this post because so many came to mind, such as: Naked Cowboy, Homeless Man, Hidden Wall on Canal Street, Ground Zero. There's just too many so I may break up the posts and go with themes.

First and Foremost, I survived BOTH plane trips despite my certainty of instant peril. Madeline and Anna both loved flying. The flight to New York was very turbulent but the flight home was very smooth. I did much better on the way home.

Conferences

Little curled piggies with her new short hair

Maddie's long hair before the cut

Minni cutting 5-6 inches off her hair

My cutie patootie after the cut

Annie just being cute. I said "smile, show me your teeth"

Annie's first tatoo

Since the last post Ryan went to Canton OH for a prospective project with work. He enjoyed visiting the football hall of fame and came home with the coolest football pen. It has a little foam football on it that spins. I love it, but it's for Maddie so I will just have to envy her.

Last week Madeline and I attended her school conferences. She's following the rules better and seems to be improving in that respect. She still has a way to go, but at least she's going forward and not backward. She had her first visit to the pig too (I guess it's an incentive to keep still and follow the rules). She was very proud of being able to go to the pig! She picked out a chocolate egg. Chocolate is a great incentive for her as it's her favorite food/type of treat. Academically she is doing fantastic. She's excelling at all of her subjects, knows all of her sight words for the year and reads very well. She's in the highest reading group at school. Interestingly enough, she doesn't really care for reading or any of her academics actually. I hope she started to apply herself so she can really excell. Spanish is still going very well and now Madeline and Lisset focus on conversational Spanish.

Maddie had dance on Saturday and it was parent observation week. She is doing fantastic at coordination and following the steps, some of which are pretty difficult. We're thrilled because it's a huge improvement for her. She struggles with coordination and we're feeling pretty happy that she's improving. Recital is coming up soon. Her dances are very classy and her costume is cute. It's blue which is Grandma Linda's favorite color. I know if she can see Madeline she will love her costume this year.

Annalise is doing great. She's still working on getting her final molar in and that last front tooth. They're coming in slowly. Her vocabulary is great. She says just about everything you can imagine. She calls Maddie "sister" in addition to "Maddie". She can recite entire sentences of songs or repeat a sentence of what you say. It's spontaneous so we never expect it when she does it. It's funny and I can't remember right now what she's said. It's a little hard to understand everything she says, but it's getting better.

Pretty soon we'll trekk out to New York City. Madeline is looking forward to going up into the Statue of Liberty. I'm looking forward to eating lots of great New York food, especially the pizza. My best friend Mona is lending us her apartment for a week while we visit. She just happens to be in India and Moscow during that time at a wedding and it's unfortunate we will not be able to see her, but I think she's happy NOT to spend a week with all of us in her apartment. HA!





ETA: I forgot to mention Madeline's hair cut. On Saturday she had 5-6 inches cut off since she's no longer growing it out for the wedding. It's super cute curled under.

Daylight savings

We have moderately recovered from the time shift. The girls went to bed late and were both tired this morning. Madeline complained about the daylight but I think the real issue was lack of sleep.

Friday the girls went to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Annie was reluctant and cried a lot as we left but was very content and happy when we returned so she loved being there! We went to a great French-Belgian restaurant. Ryan doesn't care for that type of cuisine, but it's one of my absolute favorites. They had fantastic tomato soup, french bread, frites(Belgian fries), and entrees. We had a brie-apple tart and brie-pear crepe. Honestly the crepe didn't have enough flavor, but the tart was fantastic. I'm trying to figure otu when I can get back there to have more frites. Plus they had the most fabulous chocolate mousse. I haven't had mousse that good since I was in Belgium 20 years ago (yes, I AM that old). Anyway, if you're in town and want to know a great place to eat let me know!

Saturday Maddie had dance class, then we had our weekly shopping trip at Whole Foods. It was too cold to do anything but play games in the playroom. Annie took a three hour nap! We went over to our friends Scott and Marcie's house Saturday night in order to plan the travel portion of our October Disneyworld vacation. The great news: the plane tickets are booked! Which means we're pretty much set until October.

Sunday school went well but Madeline mentioned that a couple of buddies failed to appear (I am guessing due to the time change). We did go to a movie, spur of the moment; The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. It's one of Maddie's favorite "silly songs by Larry" so I thought it would be a great movie. It was. It didn't have the typical Christian lesson, but it had overtones and was a wonderful movie. Annie slept through an hour of the movie and enjoyed the last 20 minutes.

Madeline has been having a tough week. She's had a variety of behavior (talking back and sassing) issues. She's been spending a lot of time in "time out" and we're pretty exhausted from all of the complaining, whining and naughtiness. She's been crying a lot too, which I think is due to not getting enough sleep. We'll pull back her bedtime for a bit and see if that helps. My memory from times like these is that it's a phase and hopefully will soon pass because I am WORN out!

Visit to the Dentist

Annalise and Madeline had their dentist appointment yesterday. Annie was not very happy about the ordeal but did quite well. She is ready for brushing with an actual toothbrush, as opposed to the little rubbery finger brush we had been using. The dentist said her last 1-year molar is starting to poke through. Then, I think, she just has a few more teeth to come in; 2 year molars and (lateral?) incisors.

Madeline had new xrays taken, teeth checked, plaque scratched off and a sealant replaced (it popped out apparently). Unfortunately she does have a small cavity between two teeth which will be scraped out and filled in a few weeks. If history repeats itself, it should be an uneventful filling. She did well last time and will surely do well again. (she loved the laughing gas last time) We're committed to flossing better and will do whatever we need to, to make sure Maddie gets the hang of it.

OH, how could I forget! The dentist said Madelines two front bottom teeth are LOOSE! Maddie was VERY excited to hear this. She should be losing them pretty soon. Little did I know that one of the defining moments of Madeline's life would be losing her first teeth. She's been pining away for this moment for a couple of years now. It will be very exciting and Santa brought her a tooth fairy box just last December so she's all set!

Thin Mints

Mmmm, can't you just taste the thin mints? Imagine smelling them right out of the box and then again after they've been partially digested and brought back to our world projected from Madeline's stomach. Nice image, eh? That was our image right before bed last night.

But, lo and behold Madeline is feeling better and even went to school around 10am this morning. She had eaten some popcorn and watched Pocahontas. I mean, popcorn and pocahontas will cure anything, right?! I will have to try that out next time I'm feeling ill (which I hope is a LOOOONG time from today - like even years maybe).

Poor Maddie threw up after being transported from our bed to hers so she was asleep. She couldn't even talk more than jibberish as we were asking her questions. She fell back to sleep pretty quickly and hasn't had any issues since. I'm glad she bounces back so quickly and that, this time, it smelled minty.

The way to start March

Picking out the animals

Stuffing her bunny

Saturday was very busy. We were out of the house around 8:45am to drop me off for a haircut while Ryan and the girls went to Whole Foods. After which Madeline went to dance class. After dance we came home, Madeline and I went over to a baby shower for a gal at church. THEN, as if that wasn't enough for one day Maddie had a Daisy event at Build A Bear Workshop. And, the most exciting part of the day hadn't even happened yet. Ryan and I had tickets to They Might Be Giants. But for part of the day we weren't even sure we would be able to make it. That afternoon Annie spit up again and we were getting to be more sure that it was actually puking, versus spitting up. So we called the sitter and cancelled. I started feeling ill myself so I wasn't sure I'd be able to go. Mary and Grandma JoLene came to the rescue (Grandma has been speding LOTS of time at our house recently). I think both of them already have the bug that Annie does. I was able to eat a little dinner and deciced to try to go to the concert. Thankfully they had some decent tables and chairs there so I was able to sit most of the time and conserve energy. Ryan took this video. The concert was fabulous and I am so glad I went. TMBG is one of my favorite bands and being able to see them in a small venue that holds a max of 650 was great. They were very close to us. I'm still feeling sick today but it's noticably better since I am able to eat a little bit more than before. Annie got really sick in the middle of the night last night and isn't quite back to herself yet. I got to spend my Sunday cleaning the house that nobody else would clean the previous days when I was feeling sick. Lucky me! It's just like work: take vacation and spend as much overtime as you took off once you get back.

Today Madeline had her Sunday School celebration for the end of this unit. She didn't perform or anything this time. The new unit starts next week. Uncle Ron came over and sang with Maddie a little bit. She was a little too embarassed to sing in front of him though and spent most of her time curled up in a near fetal position on the floor wiggling her behind. Ahhh, to be five again.

Fashion Show

Heading to the show...

Collage of the models (notice Maddie's fabulous photo)

The stage

It's blurry. I couldn't use a flash because of the other photographer

My cutie patootie in her moon and star pajama set.

The evening went well, save Anna who was not happy that we left her. She'd gone home from school a little early on Friday because she spit up twice. We were not sure if it was a gag spitup or vomiting. Maddie was excited. She was in the third section of the show so she spent a lot of time in the dressing/waiting area with the Junion League ladies making crafts and having fun with the other models. She made a little foam pencil holder and a bead necklace. Ryan and I enjoyed a tasy dinner during the show. Maddie was on right after intermission so Ryan ducked out with the other escorts. I was worried she might get stage fright, forget to smile, fall or something like that. But guess what?! She did absolutely PERFECT. She was super cute in her little jammie set. I heard "awwww's" from the crowd when she did a little curtsey. I can't wait to see the professional photos. After the pajama section all the PJ girls came out and pretended to have a slumber party. Maddie had it in her head that it was a REAL slumber party so she was disappointed to find out that it wasn't. She told us it was "100 percent BO-ring". She's such a ham. She said she wasn't nervous at all going down the runway. I think she'll probably want to do it again next year.