nyc trip--part 2

After the zoo we did some shopping. Here's the standard big piano pic from FAO Schwarz.


Here's an action walking shot. Everytime we saw people crossing the street Audrey said, "Wow! Those people in the street are really brave!"

We grabbed a quick lunch at Speedy's and met Sarah who had just returned from a trip to London. I'm sure she was exhausted but she was a real trooper! She took us to SweetiePie, an adorable restaurant in Greenwich Village that she read about on Alston's blog. Audrey was enthralled. She summed it up pretty nicely, "Ooh, this place is so lovely and pretty and pinkish!"

These cupcakes tasted as good as they looked: strawberry lemon mousse and peanut butter chocolate.

Our super sweet waiter who had the major hots for Crystal



There were lots of "cheers" during our meal here.

We said goodbye to Crystal who had to go back to work. Here's the last shots of the BFFs in Penn Station. Yes, Crystal stole electricity to charge her Blackberry nearly every place we went.

On Sunday we weren't able to make our morning flight back for Kalan's shower. We were really sad about that. But in the end it turned out great because the weather was best on Sunday and we got to spend a little longer with Sarah.

We slept in Sunday and shopped in Union Square then ate a great lunch at Max Brenner's. So fun. I love this little hug mug.

We headed down to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty and Audrey actually got to pet and touch these snakes! Sorry for the random picture, I didn't have my camera.

nyc trip--part 1

Last week after an amazing banquet, Audrey and I hopped on a plane to NYC to see Sarah and Crystal and cheer on our Baylor Bears at the NIT Championship! (Yay for flight benefits!) We had such a great Mommy/daughter trip. Audrey behaved wonderfully and we really enjoyed one another. Josh was so excited for us he packed Audrey a special backpack for the plane with crayons, books, NYC-themed movies (Muppets Take Manhattan, Enchanted, etc.) and even got up at 6 am to send us off with donuts!

Thursday we arrived about 5 minutes before the game at Madison Square Garden. Audrey wore her Baylor cheerleader uniform and attracted lots of (postive and negative) attention. Those Big Ten fans are psycho intense. Audrey dictated the players' names and asked me to write them on a notepad and she held up this little sign for the whole game. It was really cute.

At one point in the game they showed JoePa on the JumboTron and the whole place went crazy.

We lost the game and some of the Penn State fans were not so nice. Some kids threw a cup at her and said, "Baylor Sucks!" and some drunk college students told her, "go home and change! Your team lost!" Seriously! To a four year old! Josh has always liked Penn State but after this he said No way.

Friday it rained most of the day so we hit the Children's Museum of Manhattan. It was neat and Audrey had a great time. It made me realize how nice our Mayborn Museum is. The quality is very comparable! We also went to Toys R Us in Times Square and rode the ferris wheel, and then bought tickets for Mary Poppins on Broadway. Mary Poppins was so good!

I loved it, even more than Lion King. I didn't realize until it started that Audrey thought we were going to the movies. When it started she leaned over and whispered, "Hey Mom! This is a really real movie!" Then the intermission came kind of suddenly and Audrey cried, "No! Please! I want more Mary Poppins!" After the show she actually got to meet one of the actors, Ruth Gottschall who plays Miss Andrew. She shook her hand and said, "You did a really good job." Here is Miss Andrew giving Michael his brimstone, treacle, and cod liver oil.

Saturday we met Crystal at the Central Park Zoo because Audrey wanted to see where the animals from Madagascar are from. Imagine her disappointment when we found out this teeny-tiny zoo didn't have giraffes, zebras, lions or hippos. She did immediately recognize the Delacorte Clock which I guess is in the movie (I haven't seen it).

Here's my Itsy-Bitsy Spider:

And the bunnies.

Terrible twos meet Clark

Our lil' man turns two tomorrow. Doubt we'd be able to do a blog post on a Friday night so here it goes. He's done a complete 180 from last year's birthday post. Apparently last year he was a sweet, calm, unassuming little boy. I have no recollection whatsoever of those days. Don't get me wrong. This lil guy will give you some of the sweetest snuggling that you could ever have, but if you aren't careful it might be followed by a punch in the face followed closely by laughter. The expression boys will be boys fits this lil guy perfect. I can't tell you how happy it made me last week when he brought me his baseball glove, my baseball glove, and a ball. For everyday the past two weeks he's carried his Chuck E Cheese tokens around and begged to go "shoot ball chuck cheese." Tonight we indulged him. Here's some pics of my son who brings us immense joy.

Dress Up Like a Book Character Day

Monday at school everyone was supposed to dress up like a book character and Audrey chose to be Lisa from Corduroy. I made her a super-short 60s style dress (though I think it turned out a little more 70s) and made Corduroy some green corduroy overalls with one button. A dinner napkin finished her off.

More quotes

Last night I got back from a run and came in to get some water and invited Audrey with me on a cool-down walk. I told her to go ask Dad if she could go because I heard bath water running and didn't know if he wanted her to get a bath.

So she asked him, "Dad I'm going for a walk, is that okay?" He (not knowing I was going too) said, "No way." When I walked in to say hi and Josh said, "Oh I didn't know you were here. I thought Audrey was asking to go on a walk by herself."

Audrey said, "WHAT?! Is Dad cray-cray (crazy)? Kids don't go on walks by themselves! That's how kids get lost forever!"

Stuff they say...

Wanted to jot down a few of the things they have said lately.

Clark has really been talking a lot, adding sentences and is a little parrot. "Have a great day!" or "More bilk (milk) please, Mommy." or "bye bye Cheese shoot ball with daddy" which means (Can we please go to ChuckECheese and shoot baskets with dad?).

When I picked up Audrey from school on Friday she saw me walking up to the playground and I heard her tell her teacher, "Mrs. H! It's my mom! And she's wearing a skirt!!"

Just now she told me, "Mom, you and I are obsessed with Princess Genovia, aren't we?" (She means Princess Mia from Princess Diaries which she saw part of in a hotel last year.)

Easy Living

Pretty sure that there's not many things better in life than being in our backyard on a beautiful (humidity and mosquito free) evening with the kids. I am getting worried about Audrey. Just the fact that she already has a look like that at age 4. Plus, Shannon told me that they ran into a boy classmate of Audrey's at Sam's and Audrey got weak in the knees. Here's Clark doing his favorite thing: throwing. Anyway you look at it though spending time with them is priceless.

Lake wedding

Brigid and Joey's wedding was a lot of fun and God even stopped the rain for the ceremony. We don't want to steal any of Brigid's thunder and will let her show all of her pictures. These are just a little taste of some of our family. Check out Audrey's Matrix like dance move.

Dancy-Dance Friends

Audrey was in heaven as she directed all of Fer-Fer's dancy-dance friends. She taught them such moves as the "Chips and Queso" dance and the "Read the Book" dance. Then of course after the structured dances, she told everyone to just "go crazy." As you can tell, Clark wasn't too interested.

To Each Their Own

Here's an example of how different our children are and how the each fill their gender specific roles. Audrey would like rollers in her hair with her princess nightgown and little man would like a baseball to go to sleep with.

Help Clark Decide

Clark has narrowed his choices down to two pairs of what is known in the optical industry as "birth control glasses." Please help Clark decide the lesser of two evils. Should we go Elton John or the Da-da special?

Our little girl turns 4

Here we are again at another birthday, our little precious angel is one more year older. She's lost her red hair she used to had but continues to steal more and more of our heart everyday.

The Cuteness that is Clark

Oh my.

This long break from preschool has made me exceptionally thankful that they wear uniforms. Every day we have major battles about what Audrey would like to wear. Audrey, in the tradition of Black Sarah, only wears dresses or skirts with heels or flip-flops.

Last Thursday it was really chilly so I put my zombie child in front of the television and completely undressed her and dressed her without her even noticing! Then, as soon as Yo Gabba Gabba ended, she looked down at her adorable poodle outfit and said, "Hey! I didn't want to wear pants!!" I said, "Oops, well it's time to go! Sorry!" and threw her in the car. I don't think she'll fall for that again.

It was freezing this morning when we got ready to go grocery shopping and she was furious that I wouldn't let her go bare-legged. "I look like a ridiculous weirdo!" she said after I finally wrestled her cute boot-cut jeans on.

She was so melodramatic I took a picture.



An hour later we got home from the store and Audrey disappeared. Then I heard her yell, "Mom, you can take my picture now!"



Oh my.

Pure Terror pt 2

These pics speak for themselves.

I'm not talking until I get a lawyer

Despite the repeated torture tactics, Clark would never confess to anything.

Pure Joy and Pure Terror

Clark's love for dogs can only be matched by Audrey's fear of them. Here's a picture of a little boy with sheer delight on his face.

Christmas Card

Here's our Christmas card this year. If you failed to get one don't feel left out because no one else got one either.

Christmas Eve

Clark wasn't very excited about going to sleep Christmas eve.

More Audrey stories...

I'm sure Josh will be in soon with a Christmas post, but I wanted to hurry up and write these stories down before I forget them.

One of Audrey's favorite books is Guess How Much I Love You. (Side note: I hate it. How many times can you say Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare without getting sick of it? Twice.) Anyway, she and Josh always say the last lines of the book to each other. Josh says, "I love you right up to the moon." And Audrey says, "and back." Well I messed it up and said the whole thing to her, "I love you right up to the moon and back." She had a very puzzled look on her face and said, "Well I love you to Salado and back." About 28 miles. Gee thanks!

Yesterday, Audrey said, "Mom, Macy is a funny, funny boy. He likes princesses!"
"Audrey, Macy is a girl. She has short, beautiful hair. She is a girl," I replied.
"Mom! That was really rude of you! Macy is a boy and he will not like that!" So we spent some time yesterday googling women with short hair. In her defense, it is kind of hard to tell when they all wear the same uniform!


Then yesterday during nap I heard her singing on the monitor. We are trying to get her napping in her room instead of mine. I burst in her room thinking I would find her out of bed playing with toys but she was in bed and said, "Mom, I'm just quietly singing. Is that wrong?"