NEW YORK CITY!!!

My mom blessed me and my sister this Christmas with a mother/daughter trip to New York City.  I had never been before, and it was SO much fun!!!  We had a fabulous 3 days in the city, taking it all in and fitting as much in as possible!  I thought Id try to document our trip so I wont forget anything!  Here goes-

Saturday-
-flew in around 11.  Took forever to figure out how to get to Manhattan by subway.  My first experience on a NY subway... very interesting!
-Lunch at a local pizza place, delish!
-Walked Times Square for the first time- INCREDIBLE! Went to the M&M store, looked at all the shops, took it all in :)
-Dinner at Stardust Diner.  Our waitress was awesome and the servers (all aspiring Broadway performers) put on quite the show! We watched the Broncos game then walked back to the hotel.

Sunday-
-Chai at Starbucks 1 block away (this is how we started every morning, of course!)
-Stood in line at TKTS for 2 hours to get broadway tickets to Memphis. SOOOOO cold, the coldest day in NYC so far this winter. 15 degrees.... but worth it!
-Taxi to Century 21 for lots of shopping! Tons of designer stuff for cheeeeap.
-Lunch at Nanoosh, a little organic Mediterranean place we found.  Hummus and pitas, so good.
-Taxi to the 3:00 show of Memphis.  It won a Tony in 2010 for best music- it was incredible! Loved it.  Loved the tiny Broadway theaters!
-Dinner at Carnegie Deli- yum!  Split a hamburger with sis and had the best cheesecake I have ever had!
-Walked through Times Square again (sis is slightly obsessed!)

Monday-
-Starbucks, of course.
-Subway to the 9-11 Memorial, maybe my favorite part of the trip.  There is still a ton of construction, but it was amazing.  The pools they have built were awesome, and seeing the future museum/memorial was just overwhelming.  There were videos of people talking who lost their loved ones and a really neat time line of the events of 9-11.  Very cool. Very sad.
-More shopping at the Century 21 further downtown :)
-Subway back uptown, put our names on the list at Serendipity, then had lunch.  Went back to Serendipity and waited another hour (2 and 1/2 hour total!! reservations next time!) to be seated.  Had the BEST frozen hot chocolate in the world!
-Shopped at H&M, FAO Schwartz, and walked the 5th street area.
-Went back to Carnegie Deli to get Nathan a cheesecake as a souvenir. They freeze them solid and they last forever!
-Taxi to the airport, sad to be leaving such a fun city!

SO MUCH FUN! It was definitely a fun place to be, but being there with my mom and sister is really what made it the best.  Lots of fun memories, thats for sure. I tried not to post too many pics, but its hard to choose!

Tribute to Trains

I just want to mention real quick that having a fun train set for the boys has CHANGED MY LIFE!! I absolutely love it!  The boys got a phenomenal train set and table from grandma and grandpa for Christmas, and it has been such a blessing.  The set is really detailed and has lots of fun helicopters, planes, trucks, a fire fighter building, taxis, bridges, trains, etc.  The boys will spend HOURS playing on it, and its so great!  If I need to cook dinner for 30 minutes without interruption, Ill just remind them about the train and they go running upstairs!  Ah, 30 minutes of uninterrupted time in my house is priceless, and Ill take it!! I highly recommend a train set for any family with boys :)

Soccer and Locomotion

Owen started soccer practice 2 weeks ago, and he is such a stud!!  He has always been a big runner, and soccer seems to really suit him.  He started out in the 18mo - 3yrs class with Nathan by his side the whole time, but it seemed a bit too easy for him.  So, last week he went to the 3-4yr class without Nathan and did really well!  They play lots of games, practice foot/ball control, and just learn the basics of the game.  He goes to a big indoor facility right up the road called Soccer Zone.  There are only about 5 kids in his new class, and he loves it!  We are really enjoying his first sports experience.

Our other winter outing this season has become Locomotion, a play area about 10 minutes up the road.  It is a HUGE place with lots of bounce-houses, slides, balls, toddler play areas, dress up, etc.  We usually take our lunch and eat, then come home and take niiiiiiice long naps :)

 

 

This winter is proving very fun and eventful!  It is so fun having 2 energetic boys!!

Christmas Fun

We spent this Christmas at Nana and Pop's house in Argyle, and we had a wonderful time!  Nathans side of the family is pretty big, so we had lots of fun with extended family and friends.  We got to spend lots of time with baby Emma, Owen and Caleb's cousin.  I got to see some high school friends, whom I love.  Nathan got to hang with some of his closest friends.  Overall, we just loved being around the family and seeing the boys super happy.  Nana and Pop spoiled the boys with love and gifts, of course, and we enjoyed playing with toys.  Owens favorite present was his T-ball set, and Caleb has really taken to the blocks he received from Aunt Lynn.  What a fun Christmas! Here are pics!

Apologies and Updates

My apologies for not blogging in a while.  Honestly, I attempted to blog about 3 times and finally gave up when my video wouldnt load. So frustrating!  The video was Owen singing in his Christmas presentation at school.  It would load and load but never show up.  Im moving on and and have lots of updates to share! 

Here are a few pics from the Christmas presentation.  Owen and his class sang "Ring Ring Ring the Bells."  We practiced and practiced, but Owen just sat in silence during the presentation.  Little booger!  He looked super cute though  and rang his bells loud.  He's never going to be the kid in the very front of the crowd, singing at the top of his lungs.  But Im ok with that :) I love my Owen.

Owens Prayer

I know I posted this on facebook, but I thought Id repost.  Im going to save or print out this blog eventually as a sort of scrap book for the boys, so i need to put all the fun things my boys say in it!

i found the boys playing in our closet this morning, and this was the conversation-
owen: bubba, you wanna pray?
caleb- yeah!
owen: thank you God for daddy and mommy and going to Locomotion and my feet and your (calebs) face and socks. in Jesus name,
both: Amen!

Partay

And for the last blog about Owens birthday... Although we had 2 parties with family members, I was starting to feel a bit guilty about not having a "friends" party for O. So, at the last minute, I threw together a quick party for our 2 wonderful neighbor families and a few of Owens favorite babysitters at church!  We reused grandmas Toy Story decorations (thanks!), ordered pizza, and ate more puppy chow. It was short and sweet, and Owen felt very loved. Here are a few pics and a video of us singing him happy birthday.  And yes, I put candles in his cup of puppy chow.  When eggs are not an option, a birthday cake is not an option!  Puppy chow is about the only sweet thing he will eat, so puppy chow is what he got!